#is this a head canon or an actual fact??? that I do not know but all I know is that suddenly me finding him to be a mood makes so much sense

[qhazomb]

so some recent art by @we-cool-beans reminded me of this one "sharing a body" au i've thought about.

i've talked about my other one where it takes place post-canon, with the temporary body-sharing happening in order to save gordon from a life-threatening disease he developed (likely from all that radioactive raw sewage...), but this is one that takes place during canon.

(this is using my headcanon that benry's true form is just a big glowing cloud of rainbow cosmic energy containing a consciousness).

after gordon's hand gets chopped off, and then benry realizes humans cannot in fact regrow limbs, he's not exactly jazzed over the fact that he got gordon perma-fucked up. he's also not a big fan of the fact that he can't un-fuck him up. benry doesn't know how to make someone else's body regrow limbs, just the body that he's in!

....so then he gets the idea "oh i'll just pop into gordon's body to fix it, then."

so benry abandons his own body somewhere (not important, he can just make a new one later), and slips into gordon's when everybody's asleep. when he gets there, he originally intended on just fixing gordon's hand and then leaving, but holy shit this guy is a LOT more beat up than benry thought. this hev suit's kinda sucks at being armor, huh. there's new wounds that are looking pretty rough, and benry also notes evidence of old injuries that don't look like they healed the way they're supposed to. he's got a looooot of work to do.

when the science team all wake up, they're all extremely surprised to see that gordon is no longer down a hand. the others of course make light of it, but gordon himself is feeling a weird mix of relief and what the fuck over the fact that he just... regrew a limb. like a fucking lizard or something. the rest of the team try coming up with theories on why this happened- "Perhaps the hazardous materials you've been swimming in have given you mutant powers!" "Are you sure you're actually human?" "Maybe Black Mesa's been secretly experimenting on you without you knowing it."

gordon of course does not like any of these theories.

at one point gordon gets a cut on his hand, an sees that his blood is a LOT darker than it should be, which freaks him out further. and then, again, when that cut heals up pretty much right before his eyes, he's not sure if he should be thankful or freaking the fuck out over it.

gordon also doesn't like the fact that benry's been missing again for A While, which normally he'd be thankful for, but given the current circumstances, it's putting him extra on edge.

gordon finally finds out both why he has a hand again and where benry went when he has a big emotional outburst... that's accompanied by sweet voice.

"I didn't know you could use the Black Mesa Sweet Voice, Gordon!"

gordon insists that he can't, and his panic is rising as more coloured orbs spill from his mouth (which tommy comfirms means gordon is panicking. bubby makes a comment like "Yeah, we can tell.")

it's then that benry, who has been just been staying quiet the whole time, finally speaks up in gordon's mind. "hey, calm down maybe?"

obviously this just freaks gordon out even more, albiet in a different way.

when gordon says he can hear benry in his fucking head, there's definitely some jokes in there from the team about gordon hearing voices now/being haunted again, pff.

eventually benry's able to explain himself (the best he can, at least). he's in here because gordon couldn't heal that good on his own, and benry couldn't heal him without being in here. and he's staying here because gordon's weak lil baby human body is just SO easy to break, like damn, so benry's gotta stick around to make sure it stays put together. he's the maintenance man, now.

gordon of course HIGHLY objects to this, but it's not like he can force this weird cosmic energy being out of his body.

(and though he's not saying it out loud, he does appreciate how all his usual aches and pains have been completely gone ever since benry started this "maintenance" work.)

gordon does at least get benry to agree to get the fuck out of him once they're all out of black mesa, though.

and then through the rest of their journey, understandings happen, and bonding happens. i've imagined one point where gordon is feeling Overwhelmed with Emotions and having a bad time because of it, when benry tells him to just, sing it all out with sweet voice. gordon begrudingly does so, and then... actually does feel better afterwords. turns out sweet voice is a really good way to get Big Feelings out. huh.

now the thing that we-cool-bean's art specifically reminded me of, is when they get to xen. benry obviously isn't here to be the big bad final boss, thus the nihilanth is still kickin' around, and proving to be just as dangerous as xenrey. during the fight, benry gives gordon a lil power-up: RAINBOW DEATH MODE

(gordon doesn't get freaky shape-shifting like benry does when in RAINBOW DEATH MODE, he just gets glowy. there's extra orange in there as that's gordon's life energy colour signature!)

i picture gordon getting to land the final blow on the nihilanth, managing to get up on its head, prying open that noggin' to expose the crystal... but then being unsure what to do next.

benry yells in his mind "song of death at it!"

"How do I do that!?"

"just think about how much you wanna kill this guy and SING!"

the 'singing' that comes out of gordon's mouth sounds less like the angelic theramin notes benry sings, and more like death metal screaming, but hey it gets the job done all the same!

in the end, even after benry's vacated the freeman, it soon becomes aparent that gordon is... not entirely human anymore. having benry spend so much time hanging out within him, and then giving that RAINBOW DEATH MODE boost at the end fully cemented gordon's own connection to the cosmic ether, which is what sustains benry. now it's sustaining gordon, too.

...aaaand gordon's gonna need some lessons on how to keep from spitting out sweet voice when he gets a bit too emotional while in public :B

[mollywog]

What are your thoughts on Possibility of Peeta in Canon feeling guilt over a perception that he forced Katniss into the Star crossed lovers?

Oooo -Thank you for giving me an opportunity to talk about this.

One of Peeta’s main survival tactics is his ability to read people and situations…. And he’s pretty good at it (which probably was helpful to him far before the arena with a volatile mother but that’s maybe more the stuff of HCs so moving on)

With that in mind:

One of the first things Peeta says to Katniss upon her discovering him in the arena is:

"Lean down a minute first," he says. "Need to tell you something." I lean over and put my good ear to his lips, which tickle as he whispers. "Remember, we're madly in love, so it's all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it."

Even in his fevered state, Peeta is aware that this is an act (at least on Katniss’s side)

Later - when he’s trying to convince Katniss not to go to the feast and she claims that she isn’t, he says:

"You're such a bad liar, Katniss. I don't know how you've survived this long." He begins to mimic me. "I knew that goat would be a little gold mine. You're a little cooler though. Of course, I'm not going." He shakes his head. "Never gamble at cards. You'll lose your last coin," he says.

‘I knew that goat would be a little gold mine. You're a little cooler though. Of course, I'm not going.’ -> all moments he (accurately) clocked where Katniss wasn’t being 100% honest if not outright lying

The ‘I don’t know how you’ve survived this long’ part is particularly interesting to me but I digress.

So then fast forward to after the feast where Katniss risked her life to save him:

"No! Just don't, Katniss!" His grip tightens, hurting my hand, and there's real anger in his voice. "Don't die for me. You won't be doing me any favors. All right?"

I'm startled by his intensity but recognize an excellent opportunity for getting food, so I try to keep up. "Maybe I did it for myself, Peeta, did you ever think of that? Maybe you aren't the only one who ... who worries about ... what it would be like if ..."

I fumble. I'm not as smooth with words as Peeta. And while I was talking, the idea of actually losing Peeta hit me again and I realized how much I don't want him to die. And it's not about the sponsors. And it's not about what will happen back home. And it's not just that I don't want to be alone. It's him. I do not want to lose the boy with the bread

"If what, Katniss?" he says softly.

I wish I could pull the shutters closed, blocking out this moment from the prying eyes of Panem. Even if it means losing food. Whatever I'm feeling, it's no one's business but mine.

"That's exactly the kind of topic Haymitch told me to steer clear of," I say evasively, although Haymitch never said anything of the kind. In fact, he's probably cursing me out right now for dropping the ball during such an emotionally charged moment. But Peeta somehow catches it.

"Then I'll just have to fill in the blanks myself," he says, and moves in to me.

In this moment Katniss inwardly acknowledges that she has real feeling beyond the act and Peeta, again, reads those feelings correctly.

This is the turning point for him.

So, then imagine his surprise on the train tracks (and all the self doubt):

"It was all for the Games," Peeta says. "How you acted."

"Not all of it," I say, tightly holding on to my flowers.

"Then how much? No, forget that. I guess the real question is what's going to be left when we get home?" he says.

(Just picture Peeta replaying the games in his head and trying to figure out where he missed the tell.)

We often joke about Peeta being oblivious to Katniss’s feelings for him in Catching Fire, but really: He’s been burned by ‘misinterpreting’ her before and he’s trying not to make the same ‘mistake’ again.

In a way

“You love me. Real or not real?

Is a remnant of that doubt.

Anyways - back you your original question:

There wasn't a single person in Panem expecting the Gamemakers to allow for two winners prior to the rule change... 73 years of one Victor: It's unprecedented.

The star-crossed lovers strategy, under normal game circumstances,

Benefits them both. The romance makes them both fan favorites to sponsors. But, at the end of the day, there can only be one Victor. So when one were to die, public sympathy would swing sponsors towards the broken hearted other.

Relied very little on Katniss; she didn't have to opportunity to state her feelings for Peeta to the audience after the interview and in the arena, up until the rule change, she barely saw him. Had he died before the (unprecedented) rule change, there wouldn’t be much for her to do but appear sad. The star-crossed lover but is eventually just a sound bite.

No one could have predicted that both Katniss and Peeta would be crowned victors and have to maintain the strategy indefinitely.

So yes, on top of believing he mistook Katniss’s feelings for him in the arena, he then discovered they’d have to maintain the pretense of lovers for the rest of their lives… I’m sure he felt all sorts of miserable ways about that.

[thoughtfulchaos773]

Sorry my English isn’t great but Can we have more thoughts on Syd & Carm and sex? How do you think they would both go about interacting with it and each other if we ever got a scene of them like that? (Which I don’t think we will but one can hope 😭)

Don't apologize! Fun fact- I used to write E fanfiction, but nothing for sydcarmy (yet maybe in the future)

But if we're talking cannon: it would happen in the daylight similar to the table scene. Morning after and just the beginning. There wouldn't be anxiousness from Carmy in the morning or showing Carmy's mind somewhere else. He's very present with Sydney and always aware of where she's at. She takes space in his head anyway - so sex would be all about her pleasure and strong eye contact.

You know what would be great for me? They don't even have to show explicity sex, show me the morning after Sydney has spent the night and Carmy is ready to go down on her- she's the first thing on his mind in the morning and she's in bed- with him, post sex? Yeah, he's not wasting a moment.

After all, it’s FX—it's an MA-rated show, so we already expect explicit love scenes and how they will be portrayed. Give us a good surprise! They've already shown explicit positions of certain characters, so why not illustrate how things are different this time?

Here are my thoughts on Sydney and Carmy: it's a popular belief that Sydney is the dominant one, I think Carmy actually holds a more dominant role in bed, at least at first. There’s a suggestion that in the end, Sydney will always have emotional power over him; she has his heart in her hands and ultimately calls the shots when it comes to the core of their relationship.

I think based on the show- Sydney has a praise kink, but it seems to be specific to Carmy. She pokes fun at Marcus in the show when he gives her praise. But Carmy gives her praise? She melts. So imagine Carmy giving her so much praise during sex?

Their relationship shows how Carmy pulls vulnerability out of her when he reads her. Being a dominant partner is a skill; it helps the more submissive partner switch off their racing thoughts and open up. For the submissive partner to really let go, they’ve got to trust that their dom will catch them if they fall. If the dom doesn’t support them, that’s when problems come up.

Sydney and Carmy play these roles on the show, dont they? and it's a challenge. Carmy is working on being someone Sydney can rely on to catch her when she falls, and for Sydney, she knows how scary it is to completely give in. When Carmy is confident enough, he reassures her by saying things like, “I won’t let you” showing that he’s up for the challenge and ready to give her what she needs. He's ready to care for her because she cares for so many people- so wouldn't it be nice for her for someone to take care of her? To make her happy and satisfied?

For Carmy, stepping into the dom role is great practice. He wasn't really feeling it when Claire was leading the chase; she lead the getting his number, in their private scene notice she's the one leading the questions to get to know him more, she's the one in the morning telling him "everything is fine" the morning after- Claire is the one on top of him while Carmy sits up at night.

Carmy wants to build enough confidence to take charge himself with Sydney, and after she gives over, he looks to Sydney for a bit of reassurance, asking her if she liked what happened. He’ll gently ask her to share what she enjoys and what doesn’t work for her - Carmy is the one who leads with questions.

Even if Carmy is the dominant one, Sydney won't make it easy for him. She doesn't make it easy for him anyway, and he deserves to be questioned and challenged as she does in canon.

[sillylittleguy420]

It always sort of upset how much people in this fandom seem to misread Giyuu and Shinobu's relationship? Not in the sense that it "is or isn't romantic" but more so in the sense that Giyuu is a sensitive wittle baby and Shinobu is bullying him - I hate that read, it feels like a lot of people have just NEVER had actual friends in their entire lives - and more importantly I feel like it downplays the obvious fact that these two are really fucking tight.

I mean I could bring up the fact that Giyuu manages to match Shinobu's passive aggressive energy, Shinobu being the only person outside of Ubuyashiki who GETS Giyuu in any meaningful way (According to the Light Novels, which we can assume are canon. I mean hopefully, that's literally where half of the dynamics come from, BECAUSE THE MAIN SERIES SURE AS SHIT NEVER ESTABLISHED ANY OF THESE -), Giyuu having a clear reaction to her death in Infinity Castle, or even Shinobu knowing exactly what Giyuu means when he says "I'm not like you guys" and telling him to explain himself. But instead - I will raise another point!!!! It's clear that when these two banter there's a clear sense of Catharsis between them. Shinobu gets to drop the act and actually be herself, and Giyuu can loosen his shoulders and relax. I think them gnawing at each others throats during Mount Natagumo is a pretty clear example of their dynamic - even if it's more violent than it would usually be. It's very sibling coded if I had to put a nail on it? There's not really a sense of decorum between the two of them, it feels like at any moment either one of the two will throw a jab at the other. Maybe a "You're not reaching that, even on your toes." Or a "Ah, Your awful expression scared those kids away! For shame." And I think both of them appreciate that level of comfortability. If she was paired with anyone else during Natagumo, I don't think Shinobu would've been so biting? Like if it was Rengoku, Mitsuri, or even Sanemi? (Who I think she's also VERY close with, but in a completely different context to her relationship with Giyuu) I think she would've kept up the air of kindness, instead of jumping straight to "Nobody likes you, you fucking dork." But because it was her favorite Wet Cat of a man, she felt comfortable in being so crude. Even if Giyuu probably sat on that for a while for sure. He probably made direct eye contact with Tanjiro and went "Kamado likes me. . ." in his head. But ah, that's a part of the reason I view it as so sibling coded. I wish we got to see more of Shinobu and Giyuu's dynamic, we got a bit in Giyuu Gaiden, and some in the light novels, but it never felt substantial enough for me - and that's probably why so many people misread it so thoroughly, because the series doesn't really do a good enough job of establishing their sibling-like relationship and ribbing tendencies. Then again. . . Demon Slayer and not expanding on these fun and interesting characters in any meaningful way outside of the exact moment where they fucking DIE go pretty hand in hand.

[oceanwithouthermoon]

im confused about the time loop, i thought since theyve lived 6 extra years but didnt actually grow 6 years older that theyre mentally 16/17 still and havent experienced that brain development but i saw someone say the time loop doesnt affect their brains? because memories are a physical part of your brain and they still remember everything

its very unlikely that asou thought this deeply about this or had this real world information, and i say this because its actually physically impossible to apply real-world logic to this, even if we apply the fair amount of suspension of disbelief that naturally comes when talking about psychic powers, unless you cherry-pick it to get the answer you want.

its canon that the time loop does not effect memories (ex: toritsuka knowing he transferred to pk years ago, since the brainwashing only effects his ability to comprehend that fact too deeply. if it affected memories, there would probably be some crisis over why he was suddenly living in a different area, even if short lived due to saikis brainwashing 😭) and in real world logic, yeah that would naturally make me assume that the time loop doesnt effect the brain and that would mean it would be continuously maturing as it normally would, HOWEVER... if thats the case-

1: i find it hard to come up with a way saiki would turn back time on peoples bodies but not their brains? your brain is not magically floating in your head, its an organ that connects to every functioning part of your body, and saiki canonically reverses time on the WHOLE of something and is unable to reverse it for just one part. we know for a fact that he reverses time on their bodies obviously, people dont grow, so i dont think this would make sense.

2: babies and toddlers would probably be extremely intelligent and probably frustrated to be stuck in little baby bodies lmfao

3: there would probably be an epidemic of old people being diagnosed with dementia or other disorders.

these are the two areas of life where your brain is changing at an extremely rapid pace. old peoples brains deteriorate pretty rapidly so if peoples brains were deteriorating faster than their bodies it would be pretty concerning and noticeable. maybe itd go unnoticed if it was like a year but six years??

neither of these things happen as far as we know, and we WOULD know since we do see plenty of little and old people in the show, plus saiki would probably feel extremely guilty about it 😭

again, its unlikely that asou thought this hard about it since all together it doesnt make sense. you cant try to apply one piece of real world information that theres no in-universe indication of, but disregard other real world information as you please and call your very specific interpretation of that cherry-picked information "canon", see what im saying? but if i had to try to give a reasonable explanation (for fic purposes or something), it would be most likely that it does affect their brains but saikis brainwashing functions in a way that manipulates peoples memories as well somehow when hes doing the time loop, making them able to remember the year even though their physical brain development was reversed. again, asou probably just didnt know or take into account the fact that memories (as well as other things that affect your mental state and all that) are a physical part of your brain though lol

[night-market-if]

is the MC canonically average/short?? 😭 idk how to take the line “ducking his head low to press against my own” LMAOO cuz my mc is like over 6’0 so… fbdjjd welp this is awkward (but the theory of chrysanthemum being the actual baron?! i was thinking abt that possibility too omg… will this ever be confirmed if it’s not?? i feel like i should really wait to ask (im going to search through the tumblr & play the book 2 demo IMMEDIATELY after pfft) but the thoughts are running while playing LMAO my apologies)

*hides sheepishly

No, MC is not canonically short. That is a me thing. So, one thing I didn't take into consideration when I first started writing the Night Market, was how much variation there would be to things I would just naturally write. Because, over time, whether I want it to or not, a MC of my own begins to form. In traditional writing, that is not a big deal. In fact, it helps when you are writing to keep a consistent flow. Trying to train myself out of that has been difficult.

When I went back to edit the first book, I kept a look out for those things. But, I will be the first to admit that editing book 1 was a project way over my head. Trying to keep all the paths straight, trying to remember the variations, trying to clean up the code. It was a lot. And I know things like that got missed.

One day, I do plan to do another pass over of book 1 and clean more up. Maybe even tighten up some of the things I'm not happy with. But I have to be a bit more financially secure to take the time to do that. But please, feel free to always send when you find something like that. I actually keep them all in an edit file to help me in the future.

[lemon-shark-gamer]

Thank you sm for the fic recs I'll be sure to check them out! In regards to your tags, I have to admit I laughed at the "there's two wolves inside of Diluc except there's 16 of them taking turns gnawing at him" but its so true. I hadn't considered all his contradictions until you laid it out.

I think the man is plagued with cognitive dissonance. He hates the organization of Favonius Knights itself but the reason he'll work with Jean and Kaeya and Albedo is because he isn't working with Favonius Knights officially but working with them as individuals.

I don't think he can even work with the Knights officially without being a Knight--the Traveler is a honorary knight and Diluc's story quest seems to implicate this as well. The irony is strong that the nation of freedom would ban vigilante justice.

On some level, I think Diluc acknowledges the current Knights are not corrupt. But he can't bring himself to forgive the organization and his eyes are open to all its faults. Such as Varka leaving Mondstadt practically defenseless.

Small head-canon, but I like to think Diluc heard that Varka left on an expedition taking all the senior knights and went "gods fucking dammit Varka" and that largely fueled his resolve to return.

I don't really think Diluc ever saw himself taking over the Dawn Winery. He probably always saw himself as a knight first and foremost. I can easily see Crepus passing the reins over to Kaeya who is smart, good with words and actually enjoys wine.

But it's the only part of his father's legacy aside from his vision that he can uphold so he burdens himself with it. Sure, it acts as an informant network (which I suspect was the case for Crepus) but I don't think he enjoys it.

Grief and depression can really mess with a person's psyche, making them do contradictory things. I do agree that Diluc probably struggles to untangle his own emotions and actions. Mr "I acknowledge the past but refuse to speak about it because it's pointless" is in desperate need of so much therapy.

What drives me insane is we just see the aftermath of it all. We know he was once known for strolling Mondstadt with a warm smile. He was probably just as passionate, loyal, fiercely devoted to Mondstadt but much more openly wearing his heart on his sleeve and seeing the good in people.

At his core, underneath layers of trauma, I think Diluc is still that same person. He just struggles expressing himself as freely as he did prior to it all. The fact he's willing to hear out the Traveler and Venti in the Mondstadt prologue so readily speaks to this, even if it was in some small part because of his grudges against the Knights.

The Genshin Impact fandom is fascinating to me when it comes to fanfics, because I feel like I struggle to find any fics that really *get* the characterization of certain characters and I'm loathed to write my own because dammit I just want to read the specific itch I crave without resorting to creating it. Give me three more months and I'll cave in.

For example, Diluc is one of my favorites and I find his backstory fascinating in terms of his father Crepus possibly being more morally ambiguous than most fans are willing to admit and how little we know of Diluc's murder spree in Snezhnaya.

For example which Harbinger(s) did he have a run-in with? Will we find out more about the secret intelligence network that took him in, that he apparently had a high position in? Did he ever find the answers he was searching for? The list goes on.

It's hard for me to find the specific characterization of him I crave for in fics because I think his platonic relationship with Kaeya is incredibly nuanced and complex but I feel like his character often gets assassinated for Kaeya angst but like, the man had the worst birthday ever?

Imagine being Diluc, living through a literal worst nightmare. Your dad is dead after you failed to protect him yourself. Not only is your dad dead but he died after wielding a delusion--you dont even know what a delusion is but its clearly bad news. Why the fuck did your father have it and how?

On top of this, the Favonius Knights--the organization you proudly served and the very organization that your father heavily encouraged you to serve--insists on covering up the truth because it makes them look bad. The Favonius Knights, who are supposed to be honorable and uphold integrity, are anything but that.

Then your adoptive brother, who you've known for years and trust with your life, shows up and tells you he's been spying for a foreign nation since you were kids with the intent of harming Mondstadt and everything about your relationship is possibly all one big lie and well--how do you not snap??

Now, I'm also incredibly fond of Kaeya and he was just as traumatized by Crepus's death. He was wracked with guilt for *feeling* relieved that he didn't have to worry about betraying his birth father for his adoptive father since Crepus was dead. He anticipated Diluc's anger and felt like their duel was a punishment for his lies.

To me, it hints that Kaeya probably didn't reveal the truth expecting Diluc's understanding, but rather he knew how he would react and perhaps he wanted Diluc to strike him down in that duel. Or at the very least, he wanted to distance himself from Diluc and cut off ties in order to avoid emotional attachment stopping him from his mission.

I personally head-canon that Diluc withdrew upon seeing Kaeya's vision because well--why would the gods bless Kaeya with a vision if he truly had the intent to harm Mondstadt? So in spite of what Kaeya revealed, he isn't a threat. But there's still a lot of hurt there to navigate through.

I think it's fascinating seeing where they stand in present game because Kaeya obviously has the ideology of working the system from within. He stayed in the knights (even taking over his brother's position) and with Jean rooted out the Inspector and his cronies.

Meanwhile Diluc just isn't that type of person. He doesn't settle, he refuses to work in a system he views corrupt, he rather accomplish what he can outside of it. Curiously, he doesn't challenge the status quo beyond being vocal of his distaste of the Knights.

This is head-canon fantasyland, but I like to envision Kaeya and Diluc do use a lot of the same informants and collaborate on intel relating to the safety of Mondstadt (especially since Diluc can move in ways against the Fatui that the Knights can't due to political reasons) but they struggle to have the same connection as before.

For example, Diluc's story quest--Kaeya was essentially giving Diluc an alibi with the Knights. Even if Jean damn well knows who it is, they still have to have official documentation stating otherwise.

Kaeya is good at reading people, he has to be given how he was raised to be a child spy. But I like to think he struggles to read Diluc like before. Diluc is much more jaded, pessimistic, quieter than before. He prefers to work on his own as much as possible. From Kaeya's pov, the only person he's seen Diluc willing to fully trust enough to work alongside with is the Traveler, and he states as much.

The opposite is true of Diluc. Kaeya was his shadow, a quiet but inquisitive, witty observer. Cavalry Captain Kaeya is much more outgoing and friendly, his charm on full display. Did he ever really truly know Kaeya or did he only show Diluc what he wanted him to see? Is Kaeya happier this way?

Fanon often depicts Kaeya as essentially being barred from the dawn winery from the duel by Diluc himself, but I don't think that's quite the case. Much rather, given the reason he told Diluc that night, I think he views himself as undeserving due to unresolved guilt.

Canon seems to hint at all of this through his hangout and Hidden Strife, the latter of which is unfortunately a time-limited event that occurred before I even played (hoyo please stop having heavy lore drops occur in time limited events).

I think the two want to trust each other again, but both are afraid of destroying the tentative truce they have so they leave all of it unaddressed. Kaeya refuses to be completely truthful ever again and Diluc acknowledges the past but refuses to discuss it. The tragedy in their relationship that neither is at fault for what happened--it's a twisted emotional mess of grief and heartbreak.

The last point I'd like to touch on is the parallels between Kaeya and Diluc both being essentially child soldiers for their fathers' causes.

For Kaeya, being abandoned in Mondstadt to be a child spy is the most overt. For Diluc? Despite Crepus's strong ambition to be a Favonius Knight and to have a vision--neither happened for him. In Diluc's vision story, it states that he views his vision being a result of their "shared" ambition, hinting that his vision was granted after Diluc's strong resolve to achieve his father's dreams for him.

We know Crepus heavily encouraged Diluc down this path at very young age, given Diluc received his vision at age 10 and became the youngest Captain at age 14. In some ways, I'm sure Kaeya was a bit jealous of Diluc for having a loving father present in his life that was overtly proud of him.

I am not saying Crepus wasn't a good father, I think he cared immensely for Kaeya and Diluc both, but I do think he did some morally grey shit.

Diluc abandoning his vision is fascinating and it's almost never explored in fics. He is the only vision holder we know of (aside from the Inazumauns whose visions were taken by force) that had their ambition for their vision shaken in such a way that they voluntarily discarded their vision for a time and only took it back after reigniting a new ambition to have it (and as far we know the only allogene that faced no negative setbacks from using a delusion long-term without their vision present).

I don't know where to end all of this, except if you have ragbros fic recommendations that you believe cover it in a more nuanced way, let me know!

[cryoverlife]

The Seven’s sexualities are as followed:

Leo: hot people (pretty much everyone), he definitely had a crush on everyone on Argo 2 like once even if it was for five seconds

Piper: Who Knows At This Point, anyone can be pretty as long as they aren’t jerks

Jason: thought he was straight and is now suffering cause he’s friends with Leo and Piper (not cause he has crushes on them but because they enjoy shattering his world view by asking him if he thinks *insert random person* is hot)

Bonus for Jason: might have a crush on Leo

Percy: Annabeth, not actually but he has her so he doesn’t actually care about finding out.

Annabeth: suffering (refers to the entire paragraph in MOA where Annabeth thinks about her entire love life and the only thing good about it was like three months), but also Percy cause no way he’s ever leaving her

Hazel: a poor oppressed child who didn’t even know Not Being Straight is a thing until now, has a type for the precious ones.

Frank: honestly the straightest one of the group but at this point nobody actually knows

[soullessjack]

trying to explain that there has never been a single instance in the show to indicate that jack is intended to be a child/toddler/baby in any way and that all canon actually makes it pretty clear he’s supposed to be a teenager/young adult is like trying to explain that the cheese is under the sauce in a Chicago style pizza

[onepiece-polls]

I love your polls and it’s great you try to be on both sides to give fair chance to everyone, but the way you talked about shanks/buggy is crazy They’re fine together but in canon they’re brothers and your shipping googles got so tight you actually sounded like you could believe they’re anywhere close to canon which is u know stupid af

lmao, okay, this came out of nowhere 😂 Like... I talked about that months ago. But okay.

Anyway, Shuggy is canon. They're making out behind you right now.

[misteria247]

Watching Night Mind now on Welcome Home and I'm reading the comments and apparently it's believed that Wally's autistic coded????? At least that's what I'm getting?? I'm not sure if it's a head canon or a fact but anyways-

Suddenly me relating to him makes so much more sense right now.

[queermania]

in season five, dean takes cas to a brothel so he can lose his virginity afaik. dean has sex with prostitutes enough to know where to find them and this is shown on screen.

did dean have sex with one of the sex workers while at the brothel? or at any other point in the episode? no? oh okay then i guess you weren't able to provide me with an example of dean having sex with a "prostitute." sorry. i guess that means you're getting blocked now.

[lovinglin]

reassurance

[hopecomesbacktolife]

I don’t have the words to articulate this more fully without getting way too into the contextual plot and subsequently giving away so many spoilers, but I think José Tyler in The Rift by Peter David just saw their future post-transition self as an out and proud trans woman?! good for her honestly ♡

source: this convo José has with Pike on pages 36-37 (in this edition at least) (convo begins w/ “there was a chime at his door..” ends w/ “come on. let’s greet our guests”)

[felinenthusiast]

sigh. realising an understanding about one of my favourite characters of all time has just greatly shifted. i need to reconfigure my entire brain because this character has changed sexual orientation to me lol

[bijoumikhawal]

"Hath not an augment eyes?" Julian asked. "Or would you prefer it as it is in the original?"

Worf looked away first. "I have never liked that play."

"I have come to find it edifying, in some ways."