#it is a bit funny to me how we ignored the canon clues for a possible canon ship in KGY & YHP

[cripplepunkbarbarian]

My feelings on the finale in general are incredibly mixed because there were certain things I REALLY LOVED but probably a near equal amount of things that super put me off lol

[teafiend]

Oh, But She Loves, Sweet and Right and Merciful

(Title taken from the lyrics to “Cherry Wine”, by Hozier)

Summary: Conversations on the edge of the night.

“How did you even manage to remain a priest for so many years?”

She blurted out as she came down from her high, breathing uneven, his lips still lingering between her breasts. He loved the spicy scent he tasted on her skin; briny, musky and an essencendefinably Kang Gil Young.

His tongue peeked out from between the prison of his teeth, licking at a tiny bead of sweat. “Hmm... because I didn’t know any better, and haven’t yet fallen in love with you,” he whispered, nibbling on her lower lip before dipping in for a full kiss.

He thoroughly enjoyed the blissed out physical ecstasy of his orgasms, but what he truly craved was the intimacy and connection after their lovemaking.

Those windows of naked moments when they were more open with each other, with less emotional barriers and physical distance in between.

It had been a continuous struggle.

While the both of them - and especially Gil Young - was always frank and open with their feelings, especially when it came to their pasts, it had been particularly difficult for him simply to take off the armour he had built up all these years.

Only the fact that he was faced with the one woman whom he owed everything to, his life included, which pushed him beyond what he was comfortable sharing under normal circumstances.

With her, every word was a confession. She was a living, breathing confessional box. He knew he had been granted forgiveness because she had told him he had done nothing wrong. It was not his fault. None of theirs.

What did it matter that he was still taking his own sweet time in forgiving himself? As long as he knew Kang Gil Young and the Lord did, he would arrive at grace at his own pace.

The Lord did not mind, and even if she would occasionally grouse, he knew she did not, either.

He sat up, leaned against the wall, and pulled her up with him, letting her sit astride him. She rested her cheek against his, arms loose around his waist. He tucked the blanket tightly around them.

“You know why. It’s the reason we are here, together. It was the right thing to do until you. Only path opened to me then,” he replied somberly, though he knew that was not what she was referring to.

“Was it difficult? Looking at you now, I can’t believe you managed to stay celibate all those years,” she queried, genuinely curious.

They had never really spoken about this, though her initial question was a farcical joke more than anything.

Their pasts were iron shackles which bound them together. The act of padding the sharp edges with silk and cotton did nothing to lessen the harsh interwoven weight it bore on them.

However, just the reality of having her beside him to share his burdens with made the struggles more bearable. The stain would always be an inescapable and indelible mark on their psyche and lives, but the lightened load was still a blessing.

“While certainly more bothersome when I was younger, it was nothing too vexing. It was also a part of our training and practice. Furthermore, I had other more pressing issues to focus on,” he explained, rhythmically stroking up and down her back, the action meditative and soothing.

“It helped that I had never felt anything for anyone. I was too emotionally closed off, and had no intention of remedying that lack. Until you, I was content with the way things were,” he added, a note of pensiveness in his voice.

“You were not running around having relationships with anyone all these years, either. And you were not required to live a celibate life,” he quipped at her, a small smile on his lips. “Now look at you, jumping me left and right. How did you cope before?” he teasingly shot back at her, attempting to add a dash of levity to their conversation.

She rolled her eyes at him playfully but conceded to his points, “You are not wrong, but I settled my own sexual needs when I had them. You couldn’t do that, right?”

“Well... I admit to breaking the rules now and then. It’s not uncommon for the clergy. We work at being celibate, it doesn’t come naturally for many of us. That said, it had never been a major issue for me, personally. It became a conundrum only after I fell in love with you,” he replied ruefully.

“I sleep better after making love with you,” he admitted, embarrassment clear across his features.

Her arms around him tightened imperceptibly, “Me too.”

They let those words sink into their hearts, silent except for their composed, synchronized breathing.

“I love your hair. I was surprised you kept it so long. I hope you will always keep it loose when we are alone. I feel privileged to be the one to see it,” he murmured, curling a few lustrous strands around his fingers.

She looked so incredibly lovely with her hair down, he could not help but entangle his hand into the sleek threads each and every time, marveling at its silkiness.

The many ways it transformed her from a tough and courageous detective into a highly desirable woman just by being unbound had always been a wonder to him. Not to mention how easily the image heated his blood.

He felt as if magic was weaved in every strand. It was an extremely old-fashioned sentiment, and he had thought it improper to put into words out loud. Until now.

While he had always thought of her as beautiful, he could not deny that with her hair down, Gil Young was a different creature, a siren who laced temptation into his very soul.

“It’s my concession to traditional femininity, I suppose,” she admitted, somewhat bashfully. It took his breath away, this hidden side to her. He wished to be the one to nurture and protect it, for once. Just as she was his guardian angel.

“Gil Young-ya, thank you for being you, for accepting me into your life,” he murmured reverently into her hair before tilting her chin up for a meeting of lips, tender and ardent.

*** *** ***

“Yoon-ah, is this what an ordinary life feels like?”

He seldom heard her with such vulnerability laced through her words. His heart ached at the grief in her tremulous voice, a loss he felt all too keenly himself.

“Hwa Pyeong said he wanted to lead an ordinary life after Park Il Do. Sometimes, I wonder whether I am attempting to do that on his behalf,” she rested her forehead against his, eyes closed.

“Were you in love with Hwa Pyeong-sshi?” he could not help but put into words his own insecurity.

She started and stared at him, seeming to search his expression for something, “No. We were annoyingly teased about it, though. It was not something which crossed my mind given the circumstances. But after, who knows. If he had survived, perhaps.” She choked slightly on the tears she did not let flow.

Yoon brushed his thumb softly against her cheek, catching the stray tears on his skin.

“You have to admit the chances of me ending up with Hwa Pyeong was higher than the thought of you and me,” she rationalized, blunt and to-the-point.

He did realise that, and it was akin to having a thorn lodged in his heart and mind, the implications of his own thoughts.

She held his face gently, not allowing him to avert his eyes as she pressed on, “But that’s the past. Both of you are my dearest friends, the only ones I have. Now, I only have you, and we are family, Yoon-ya. Whether or not we make love, you are first and foremost family.”

The scar on her palm, a physical reminder of that night, scorched his skin where it was held against his cheek.

Her scar had always reminded him of the stigmata, a symbol for the bearer of unimaginable burdens.

“For all we know, you might have been the one who ended up with him?” she teased, though with her normal sobriety, and he was pulled up short by those words.

He mulled over her words, pondering on whether any such potential might have existed, though given his background, a complete no should have been his first reaction.

He came to the conclusion that yes, his heart was full of love for Yoon Hwa Pyeong-sshi too, running deeper than they could fathom. Still, he could not say that the love extended to sexual or romantic interest.

“I don’t know. All I can say is that you are the one I am in love with. All I will ever want or need,” he declared softly.

She nodded minutely at his answer, a small, beatific smile on her lips. She kept her silence, simply burrowing into him more closely.

“You can be sweet at times, Choi Yoon. I love you too,” she whispered against his bare skin.

He took Gil Young’s right hand in his and kissed the raised scar. He knew she - they - had been lucky. The damage could have been more severe than it had ended up being. Even then, the use of her right hand was no longer quite the same.

Just like them, trying in their broken, jagged ways to build a life together. To find meanings to the tragedies which had scarred their lives.

He never could have imagined that this frank conversation between them would come back to haunt him in a few months time, bringing with it an understanding of what they needed to come to terms with.

The Lord had answered his fervent prayers that moonlit night in the sea. Their friend was saved, and survived.

[sunflowersandcherryblossoms]

The character everyone gets wrong?

7. What character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how the fandom acts about them?

9. Worst part of canon?

The character everyone gets wrong?

Oh boy... Let me be a bit controversial here, even towards my mutuals, probably:

Kuchiki Byakuya!

Because it's very easy to say "Oh, but only what appears on the Manga is really canon" and ignore that all of it, even the fillers and omakes leave an impression on us...

And Byakuya is seen by the majority of fandom as this cold, stoic, arrogant man and he's just...not?!?

First and foremost Kuchiki Byakuya is so Autistic coded it's not even funny. Some people don't see him as such because people forget autism is a fucking spectrum!

Many people think only about Rain Man and such as a general portrayal of autism on adults.

Byakuya is for me on the high functioning side of the spectrum, but damn it if I don't look at the man and go "He's like me for real!".But then again no one believes I'm autistic either so ... There's that.

Also, he's trained himself to be always in control of his emotions, but if you paid any attention to TBTP, you know deep down inside he's got a short fuse.

He's also a lovable dork who takes things too literally, as issues with social clues, relating to others, hyperfixates on his OC, Wakame Taishi and become hyper protective of his sister the second that switch flicks in his mind that sometimes rules really suck!

Many people don't truly develop his personality beyond the Shinigami and the Head of the Clan and make him bland and boring.

Sure, write your fanfictions with him being stoic and closed off in his professional life and with people that aren't part of his inner circle, but give him a fucking personality in his mire private and intimate moments!

Also, — and this is a pet peeve of mine...— stop writing that man as the dominant person in his relationships!

He's a Captain and a Head of the Clan! Let that man relax and give control over to his partner (I'm taking about Ichigo here... We all know I cannot and will not ship these two with anyone else but eachother...)

Let the man learn how to do things that canon keeps telling us he can't do!

Let him be the opposite of what everyone else expects when he's at home.

Okay... Done with Byakuya.

Now on for question number 7.

Hisana!

Fucking Hisana!

I cried when I saw the episode with Byakuya telling her story to Rukia. I liked her as a plot point.

But man oh man... It's always the fandom, isn't it?

"Oh, she was perfect and they were truly in love with each other..." No.

"You don't understand! She was suffering! That's why she abandoned Rukia!" Listen... I tried taking my emotions out of it and consider culture and history, but I just can't excuse abandoning a baby.

There's a space of a hundred years between Hisana and Rukia dying in the World of the Living and her marriage to Byakuya.

(did I say I was done talking about Byakuya? I lied...)

She lived in Inuzuri for all that time, apparently. We have zero info on what she'd been doing, how they met, but it's kinda implied she either didn't really look for Rukia for years or she's just really bad at tracking down a child that looks exactly like her and becomes knows on their specific Rukon district for being kinda gangster...

"Byakuya should have died because he had no reasons to live for as a widower..."

I'M SORRY... WHAT THE FUCK?

And here's the fucking thorn in my side with her character: She's used as an anchor around Byakuya's feet.

Fandom denies him a life, because apparently you should be faithful forever to a dead person. You should entomb yourself in life and only live to mourn them forever.

No more laughter for you, sir... No more joy... No more love... No nothing.

You're sanctifying a plot device character that has no presence in the actual story of Bleach.

And now.... Drum roll...

Question 9:

The award for Worst Part Of Canon goes to:

The fucking ending!!!

Ichi//hime...

Boxer Chad...

Doctor Uryu...

Translator Ichigo...

Dropout Inoue...

Antichrist Kazui...

And the fucking new Hell Arc...

Like....

Excuse me???

No. Just no...

And let's not forget erasing everyone's character growth in one sweep by showing us that EVERYONE allowed for the new Sokyoku Hill Execution Scaffold to be built...

It's like we walked this path for absolutely nothing!

[nagashima-shou-fanclub]

feel free 2 ignore if sum1 has already asked but: shou or mashita for the ask game? :>

I'll do both! I put it under a read more because they got a bit long, haha...

Shou Nagashima

How I feel about this character: I love him so much, he's my all-time favourite character in the entire Spirit Hunter Series!! From his design to his personality, I love everything about him!!! He's so interesting to me, I love the bits of backstory we get about him. My favourite fight-first-ask-questions-later delinquent. (~ ꈍᴗꈍ)~♡

All the people I ship romantically with this character: I'm too embarrassed to say, lol... maybe one day I'll talk about it.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Him & Mashita!! I love them so much!! I want them to investigate cases and chase after criminals and go for drinks and smoke together!!! And he & Moe because the two of them being friends and going after spirits and being successors to Mashita & Yashiki makes me happy. ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ

My unpopular opinion about this character: I'm not a fan of how everyone in the fandom mischaracterizes him... I hate veering from canon and nobody even makes the fanonization interesting! They just turn him into an idiotic scaredy cat or some other cliche... It's really disheartening. He's canonically in a gang and he gets into fights and he went wild after his knee was injured and he got kicked out of his school's baseball club and he hates his school coach and he repeated a year and he has an unexplained scar on his face and he's the strongest out of all of the Mark Bearers!! There's so much to take and work with!!! But everyone turns him into either an idiot or a scaredy cat or... I don't know. It can be said about every character in Death Mark and NG, but Shou is special to me because he's my favourite, so it sucks the most to see it happen to him...

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon: Let him beat somebody up with his bat! Let him get into a fight and show off his strength!! Let him and Mashita be friends and investigate cases and solve mysteries together!! Let him show off his street smarts!!! ＼(≧▽≦)／

Mashita Satoru

How I feel about this character: I thought his character was funny and pretty interesting throughout Shiin, but he was especially funny in Shibito Magire! I like to think Shou's swearing wore off on him after those four months of being around each other, lol. Overall, he isn't one of my favourites, but he's definitely one of the characters I'm more interested in. ~(°▽°)~

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Sometimes Daimon, Hiroo or Ban. There are other characters, but they aren't coming to mind right now.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Him & Shou!! Thinking about the two of them investigating cases and watching out for each other and hanging out together heals my soul. ♥(ˆ⌣ˆԅ) And also him & Yasuoka, the way the two of them talk to each other is really funny, lol.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I don't like the ship between Mashita and Yashiki... it's always very fanonized and involves taking away the best parts of each character just so they work romantically. If it were canon-accurate, I might like it, but... I doubt it, lol. They work better the way they are in canon, as close friends and with Mashita as a person Yashiki can depend on for help in tough situations!! \(・∀・)/

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon: I want a Mashita game where we get to investigate cases, solve mysteries, and slowly veer into the world of spirits!! And I want more information on what he and Shou are like together since there are only clues to go off of in canon.

[iobsessoverfictionalmen]

The Sounds of Justice (4)

Warnings: canon typical violence, mentions and descriptions of jail, cursing, non-consensual drugging, descriptions of character death, car crashes, lying, manipulation, guns, yandere themes, mafia AU, mafia Rafael Barba (trust me, he needs the warning), mentions of rape (not to the reader), and unwanted advances (nothing happens to the reader).

Spanish translation

¡Darle respeto!  ¿Me entienden? - Give her respect! Do you understand me?

Chapter 4

With mounting frustration, Rafael replaced the empty coffee pot into the machine on the counter.

“That’s just perfect.” He thought venomously, “Something else that I need to fix.”

A knock at the door jolted him from his thoughts and his brow furrowed.  No one at SVU ever knocked if they needed something; it was one of his pet peeves when it came to the squad.  While Carmen always knocked, she was out at lunch and so it couldn’t be her.

Confused and curious as to who it could be, Rafael disregarded the matter of his empty coffee pot and opened the door to reveal one of the NCIS agents on the other side.  His mouth thinned at the fact that this agent’s boss disliked him on principle because of his job but then he noticed the object that the agent was holding and he felt a flicker of warmth spread through him.

“Does the coffee come with conditions?  Or any more of your boss’ rules?” Rafael bit out before he could stop himself.

You shook your head, “No.  Each one of us has been there with long days and impossible cases.  Because we worked together so much, we got into the habit of doing coffee runs for the team.  We rotate so the job doesn’t fall to just one person.”

You offered him the coffee and Rafael accepted it.  His gaze darted from the coffee cup to you.  Catching his gaze and the meaning behind it, a wry smile decorated your lips, “It’s not poisoned.  I asked Sonny how you usually take your coffee and he told me.”

Cautiously Rafael took a sip.  He wouldn’t put it past the detective to mess with his coffee in retaliation for Rafael ignoring him earlier but to Rafael’s relief, the coffee was exactly how he liked it.

“Perhaps it’s against Fordham Law’s moral code to mess with coffee considering he too needs it to function.”

“You have impeccable timing Special Agent (Surname).  Come in.  Have a seat.” His mother had done her best to instil certain, preferred values in him and he wasn’t about to disregard those lessons.  He had an image to maintain after all.

“What made you decide to become a Special Agent and work with NCIS?”  He asked cordially as he sat down behind his desk.

You smiled, “I didn’t set out exactly to become a Special Agent with NCIS.  When I was seven, I had a cold and had to stay home.  My dad stayed with me so my mum could go to work.  I was pretty miserable so he told me the joke where Watson and Sherlock are camping and someone steals their tent to cheer me up.”

Rafael felt envy spear through him as you recounted your story and your bond with your father.  He took another sip of his coffee to calm himself.  The surge of caffeine helped him to focus on your voice.

“I knew the joke was funny but I had no idea who those men were.  When I was feeling better, my dad gave me his copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.  I read it cover to cover for the next five weeks and every time that I read it, I noticed a different detail.  It bugged my parents when I analysed people on the street and family members.  Years later I made my way to the BAU and then I transferred to NCIS.”

Rafael tapped his finger on the side of the coffee cup, “It sounds like you were very good at your job.  Why did you transfer?”

“Flattery counselor?” You teased, “There’s no need; I’m already working alongside you with your team.”

Rafael resisted the temptation to point out that they weren’t his team, not really.  He didn’t want to give you any clues about his other life. 

“You’re lucky we’re not in the courtroom right now,” he shot back teasingly.  “I might think you had something to hide by the way that you’re evading the question.”

“I’m an open book.”  You retorted.

“I doubt that.  You wouldn’t have become an NCIS agent if you were too easy to read.”

“If that’s the case, you won’t have any problems answering my question.”

“One of my teammates,” there was that word again.  Rafael’s hand twitched slightly but he disguised it as bringing his coffee cup to his lips for another sip.  “Described our job as getting in the mind of our unknown subject.  There were times when I felt like I had absorbed part of our subject’s mind after a case.  I started to get that feeling more and more and then I wondered what I was losing at the same time.”

Rafael set his coffee cup down abruptly on his desk, “Take a walk with me.”  He ordered, standing up and pulling on his jacket.

Perplexed you remained seated, “Why?”

“I need fresh air and I hate walking alone.  It’s unlikely that we’ll experience any danger and if we do, I’m sure that you’re more than capable of handling it.”

“I appreciate your confidence in my skills, counselor.”

 “Call me Rafael and I’m certain my confidence isn’t misplaced.”

You gave Rafael permission to call you by your name. Then you and Rafael left the building and walked through the streets of Manhattan.

“Tell me about D.C.”

You shrugged “Not much to tell really.  The main things appear to be the same as the city, the transport, and the variety of food options.  The only difference is that D.C. is a little warmer this time of year.”

“Cold is cold no matter where you are.”  Rafael made no attempt to disguise the distaste in his voice.  He preferred the warmer weather and sunny days.

“That's true. Especially if the heating breaks and your teammates and boss end up crashing at your place.”

“You’re that close with your team?”  Rafael asked incredulously.  He couldn’t imagine ever being that open and vulnerable with the SVU team.

“You can’t work with people as much as we do and not grow close to them,” you replied.  “Our bonds are fo--”

The rest of your sentence was cut off by an obnoxiously loud wolf whistle and with narrowed eyes, you whipped around in the direction of the sound, placing yourself between Rafael and the direction the sound came from.  Since your back was to Rafael, you didn’t see him narrowing his eyes too as he pinpointed where the sound had come from.

Two young men were making their way towards you and it took Rafael precious seconds to identify them.  His fury rose as he recognised the two men because they looked familiar enough to their fathers who worked for Rafael.

The men stopped in front of you.  One of them positioned himself slightly behind the other and Rafael knew you would have picked up on that detail as it was signalling that the man closer to you was the leader of the two.

His suspicions were confirmed when the man closest to you spoke, “I would remember if I had seen you before.”

Rafael’s opinion of you grew as you gave no reply and chose to meet the leader’s gaze.

Sensing that he wasn’t getting anywhere with his current course of action, the leader tried a different tactic, “Why don’t you ditch grandpa and come with us to the club?”

Rafael raised his chin and was about remind the two men of who they were dealing with, damn the consequences, when you spoke, “Are you referring to the comedy club on sixth?  Clearly you’re desperate to fill those empty seats.”

Rafael switched his attention to the second man.  He was clearly the smarter of the two, though that would be of no benefit after Rafael was through with him, and Rafael noticed the instant recognition appeared in the second man’s gaze and he realised who they were dealing with.

The second man reached forwards and grabbed his companion’s wrist, “Let’s go.  She’s not interested.”

The leader of the two scoffed and wrenched his arm free.  He sneered at you, “There’s no accounting for taste.”

“Nor class apparently.”  You replied coolly.

“¡Darle respeto!  ¿Me entienden?” Rafael growled lowly at the same time.

Insistently, the second man reached forwards again and pulled his leader to his side.   Since he was within earshot, Rafael was able to pick up the rapid Spanish that the second man whispered into his companion’s ear.  There were a few words that Rafael was unfamiliar with and he reasoned that these two men either grew up with different vocabulary than he did or their family came from another Spanish speaking country.  Either way, even though there were a few unfamiliar words, Rafael was able to get the gist of the one-sided conversation.

The leader drew back, horror crawling across his face as his gaze flickered between you and Rafael before focusing on Rafael with a plea for forgiveness in his eyes.  Rafael decided then and there that his plea for forgiveness would go unanswered.

For now, he would let the two men think they were off the hook, “You accosted a NCIS agent in the presence of one of Manhattan’s ADAs.”  He turned to you and casually asked if you wanted to press charges.  Whatever you said wouldn’t change his plans too much however, the men would probably feel like they were shielded from his wrath if they were locked up in a cell.  They would be wrong.

“Just go on with your day.”

Rafael slowly let a smirk cross his face, “You heard her.  Go.  Enjoy the rest of your day.”

The men gulped and Rafael knew that they had heard the hidden meaning in his words: “Your time is limited.”  They were out of his sight within milliseconds.

“That’s never happened in D.C.” You remarked as you stared after the men.

“I wish I could say that it was a once off,” Rafael replied, glancing at you out of the corner of his eye.  “I once had a man threaten me on the steps of a courthouse.”

Disbelief was etched across your face as you turned to him.

“Don’t you believe me?” He asked, adding a hurt tone for the right effect.

“I do,” you replied hastily.  “I just…” You trailed off and shook your head exasperated, “can’t believe that people don’t seem to have any decency or standards anymore.”

“On that note,” Rafael motioned that it was time to head back to the office.  “I heard you received an anonymous call yesterday at the precinct.”

“You know I can’t talk about an ongoing case.”  You refused as you walked back into the building.

“Sonny told me.” Rafael lied as the two of you reached his office.  He smiled warmly at Carmen and introduced the two of you.  Carmen then informed him that there weren’t any messages and he noticed that her coffee cup was empty so he encouraged her to go grab a refill.

The two of you entered his office, and he added the final touch, “Keep me updated.”  He declared softly, “We want the same thing.  We want to bring whoever killed Ensign Michael Burns to justice because that will mean justice for his victim as well.”

Later that night, long after Carmen had finished and bid him goodnight, Rafael left his office.  He strolled into the derelict apartment where the two men from this afternoon sat tied to chairs and with gags in their mouths.  Evidently, their captors had grown tired of their pleas for mercy and judging by the redness in their eyes and the tear tracks on their faces, they had been begging for mercy for quite some time.

“How long have you had them here?” Rafael questioned uncaringly as the two men renewed their pleas for mercy.

“Two hours,” his second in charge replied.

“And the drugs?”

“Not in their systems yet.  Their fathers have been taken care of.”

“Hmm,” Rafael mused thoughtfully, his gaze on the laced food.  “Such a shame that they had to pay for their sons’ mistakes.”

His second in command smiled eerily, “Indeed.  I thought you might like to do the honours.”

“With pleasure,” Rafael replied as he picked up the first piece of food.  Understanding his boss’ plan, the second in command moved silently over to one of the men.  He seemed to realise what was going to happen because he thrashed around uselessly as the second in command removed the gag from his mouth and Rafael stepped over to him.

[redux-iterum]

I really love that Raven is leading the investigation this time around, and Fire has a more personal reason for finding the truth- he’s desperately hoping it’s not Tigerclaw.

Really love the dynamics shown, where Gray and Raven already suspect Tiger and have to clue Fire in, while keeping in mind that they’re casting suspicion on their friends dad

Unrelated but Also!!

When Raven explored snakerocks alone I was so nervous I was expecting him to find and kill a snake, like a nod to canon, but this time being for investigation, but somehow Tiger finds out and manages to blame the poisoning on Raven.

I don’t know how that plot would work but I was convinced and I’m only sending this to you bc you write a book or two ahead so you can’t just insert this idea in you’ve already written what happens

You are correct about that last point! We have planned pretty far ahead, both in this arc and others, and I do my best to avoid taking other people's ideas (it's why I don't read other rewrites, or really any Warriors fanfiction) so I can't be accused of being a thief. I know how it feels to have stuff wholesale lifted from your content.

You're actually not the first person to mention Ravenwing and his adder hunt in the canon books. It never really occurred to me to add it in. I guess my reason would be that I found it a little more funny than cool, and weird for someone as scrawny and flighty as Ravenpaw to catch such a dangerous animal. But then again, I've been ignoring the books a good deal and taking bits and pieces as needed, so what do I know?

[gleefullypolin]

Oh my fair non-canon ships, I love them. My forever and ever ship is and will always remain not canon but I'm with you, I never once argued or tried to push it against the canon ships. What other people think of my ships is not my business and I'd prefer them do me the favor of keeping it to themselves, hah.

The CS angst was a lot, wasn't it? How many times can one man die?

It's tragically abysmal how they discount her isn't it? She's out there making the best of it and yet, people always gotta get themselves in a mess. Which is funny how everyone blames her for it like 90%+ of them aren't doing it where people can see and the other 10% has been to protect them. Okay then. I am eternally grateful the things I was doing at 19 are not on some list of unforgivable crimes I get held to every time something in my life happens.

Eloise, my love. You are decently self centered and I think now it's slightly harder to ignore. I remember thinking that in RMB too tbh. She was very cagey about what she was doing while demanding Penelope tell her everything. She seemed a bit put out about Colin and Penelope having this whole relationship she was unaware of like her idea of Penelope shouldn't have to change.

I do think we had Colin being more protective of her for a good reason not just as a set up to where he hurts her at the end of the season. If he hears something beforehand or knows something she doesn't, I think he won't handle it well. Bringing in book elements would almost have to mean some version of his reaction. He was so angry but so worried for her. I think Hero Complex Colin is very capable of coming out in full force.

Oh for sure, I doubt too many people are going to remember any of rumors or other stuff after we get a full season of Polin. I've seen some of the worst takes I've ever seen today, ha, so I think it's possible someone somewhere is going to write an essay on how she should have ended up with LOWK but that seems like a personal problem. I totally get why people might be unhappy about either direction but I agree with you, after their first kiss I have doubts about any of this infighting being a thought worth anyone's time.

I would say 95% of my ships are canon, I dunno I just seem to for the most part end up liking canon storylines. But I would never deny something someone else might enjoy. But I just don’t see the point in going after each other for no reason. Or in the case of what I’ve been seeing today, having ships on the same show attacking each other. Like I just honestly don’t get the point. Shipping is supposed to be a lovely thing that you enjoy that gives you feels. It should make you happy. Not cause grief and anger to others. I like the pretty pictures and the giddiness of all the fan fiction that makes the heart skip a beat.

HAHA Hook did have a way of dying A LOT but God he looked good doing it!!!

I totally agree though about Eloise, she was running around with a lot of her own secrets being very cagey but she was very angry that Penelope didn’t share her darkest secret with her. And book Eloise even more so. So going into Season 3, very very curious if we get any scent of her keeping secrets from her family at this stage of the story seeing how they are tied together in the book but also knowing that we could very well either skip into Benedicts story from here or go into hers next season.

I do think we are going to see a very curious Eloise as she starts to sniff out something going on between Pen and Colin. I am just not sure if it will be that she will try and warn her brother away from Pen because or her knowledge of LW or if its genuine curiosity of what is going on between them because I don’t think she has any sort of clue that either one of them would have feelings for each other at this point.

I want the scene where Eloise finds out that Colin knows about him knowing to be her in shock that he isn’t angry about it. And him being more upset with her that she is still angry after knowing for this long. Because damn girl, talk about holding a grudge, its been a whole season! Lol

Today has been a day of people being angry and floating red flags and angry feelings and sadly, Colin is taking a lot of the brunt of the anger so I’ll be happy for the next 3 weeks to go by quickly so everyone can get the season moving and realize (hopefully so) that they got bent out of shape for nothing. And maybe so some of the other ships in the Bridgerton family can be a bit more welcoming to the next family member up because honestly, that’s the whole point of this show I thought! Next season will be a different person all together. Everyone gets their day in the sun. There is enough love to go around people! Be kind!

[magireco]

out of curiosity what do you think of the characterization of homura in rebellion? i hugely dislike it but get the impression you enjoy it which i think is interesting cuz we seem to have very similar thoughts on homura pre-rebellion (CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG)

THIS IS INTERESTING BECAUSE IT DEPENDS ON WHAT FLAVOR OF REBELLION HOMURA YOU MEAN. i really really like the way she was done in the first half of the movie but as for the twist at the end...? mmm...

...okay, so... i've been thinking about saying this at some point but i keep avoiding it in fear of causing discourse and such bc... this is a really unpopular opinion apparently, but I really do not think devil homura was done properly. read under the cut if you wanna know why i feel this way!

the first issue i'm going to address is that there wasn't NEARLY enough buildup for it. i'm going to explain this from the perspective of a first-time viewer: what would you have thought would happen after the very last scene of rebellion leading up to them breaking homura out of her soul gem? when homulilly got purified and the flowers on her head turned to sakura flowers (y'know, the flowers that symbolize life and rebirth, homura being reborn from her witch)? did you think homura was suddenly gonna undermine madoka's godliness? because, uh, first-view me did not think that at all. and neither did almost anyone i know who watched it for the first time. not only is that poor setup but it's just so sudden and it feels so out of character compared to what we'd seen in the entire series as a whole, especially considering that the entire last part of the movie leading up until that was about purifying her... and saving her... there wasn't enough buildup. most people are like "but the flower scene happened!" but that's still way too vague...? it's hard to tell what conclusion homura comes to at the end, because we don't get to see any of her internal monologue... there is no other buildup after the flower scene... it just skips to homura realizing she's a witch. wouldn't that bring the viewer to think the flower scene was something that made homura realize she was a witch rather than her suddenly starting to form her plan? it always felt like to me the conclusion homura came to at the end of the flower scene was that she was validating madoka's bravery and telling her that if it ever came to that, she'd have the ability to make that hard decision. which is... so... weird? because i always interpreted that as homura coming to terms with what happened? i could just be interpreting it wrong though, but isn't that supposed to be our proof scene? our buildup scene? why would they make it so hard to understand? we need to know such important buildup points just as blatantly as the natural buildup to homura becoming a witch was. that's just from a moviemaking & writing perspective though.

secondly, i'm gonna discuss homura's motive. i actually ended up understanding were she was coming from after a while of being like "what the hell that makes zero sense!!!!". madoka is a 14-year-old girl who, in order to save the fate of every magical girl, literally had to sacrifice herself and erase herself from the world, and in the end, madoka just ended up saving homura again, and that must've made homura feel like her promise with madoka was never fulfilled. it's unfair what happened when you think about it and the law of cycles should not have been run by madoka herself because she, as any other 14 year old, deserves to be happy on earth. although it was said in magireco that madoka felt happy with what she was doing (and she felt like it truly gave her a purpose), she did admit to feeling lonely and homura probably made that assumption big time. but the way the writers went about it just made her seem so sinister... so out-of-character-ly sinister. what with the evil smirking and the deepened, almost... uh, sensual-seeming voice, and homura completely ignoring madoka's fear. it feels like they twisted her character extremely suddenly and it throws the viewer on a loop. they could've gone with that ending without making such drastic and sudden changes to homura's character, and if they were planning on doing that, why did they not give us more buildup? buildup that wasn't extremely cryptic that you have to scan and search every detail to get a clue? something i love about rebellion is that every time you watch you find something new, but how come some of the only clues illuding to devil homura's existence are in the op? it's odd. why didn't they go with something like making the incubators run the law of cycles? they were the ones at fault for causing it to be created. but honestly, the incubators cannot be trusted with anything, which is why it'd make sense for a magical girl to run the law of cycles, but if homura and madoka had the combined power to do so, what if they just remade the law of cycles so it was less unfair to madoka...? i don't know. either of those possibilites would make more sense than what happened.

something else that kind of irks me about it is that they demonized(literally, lol) homura's love for madoka. homura is very much a canon lesbian, and it's incredibly discomforting to me that they made her seem, outwardly to the viewer, so selfish...? please don't get me wrong, i'm not ACTUALLY calling homura selfish -- i know the entire akumura facade is a mask she put on, but like, it's so much more blatantly sinister than she is in the series when she's putting on the coolmura facade. it's going to really confuse the viewer and see every single one of her actions from the entire series in a completely different light, INCLUDING stuff that happened in rebellion itself. like the genuine sadness homura felt, the way we saw into her soul and felt her pain, that genuinely made a lot of people i've seen think that it was ingenuine upon first inspection... they made homura turn "evil" out of her love for madoka, as if it's a bad thing to fall in love, and as if love for another girl was what corrupted her soul gem... i understand that gen urobuchi probably wanted to explore that kind of path where love leads to obsession or whatever, but homura was selfless to a fault, constantly trying to force herself away from the others in order to not get attached, and deeply afraid of seeming creepy and predatory and scaring(she said this herself), which is exactly what she ends up doing at the end, and i feel so awful that they did that to her... how is the viewer supposed to know what her true motives are at that point? it gets all scrambled up after they did that huge plot twist. i'm going to address another thing super quick before people jump in my ask box over this, i understand also that it would make sense for homura to be obsessed with madoka, but in the series, it was never shown in this light, and like i said, if they were going to do this, why'd they even have the purification scene at the end at all? the buildup is all wrong . it also just made me upset that this ending caused SO many people to start literally believing homura is evil because of her actions at the end, and it made people become even more vehement on their beliefs that homura is obsessive and ps*cho...

i was really confused when i watched it for the first time (and also sobbing hysterically, literally, my funniest rebellion story as someone who has genuinely watched the movie 40-ish times, i remember vividly the first time i watched it i started sobbing on my hands and knees on a yoga mat in my mom's room). also like, just to prove my point a teensy bit more, the ending was so ambiguous and out of nowhere that one of the first google results to "madoka magica rebellion" is "madoka magica rebellion ending explained" because it shocked people so much that that was the first thing they needed to google. also, the fact they left us on such a vague cliffhanger and then abandoned the movie series for a total of 8 whole years only to make a sudden comeback in god's holy year of 2021 was almost cruel. LIKE GUYS I JUST FINISHED UP MY DEVIL HOMURA HEADCANONS IT TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH!!!

...anyways, um, i really have to address the sexualization. madoka magica, previously, was a series that avoided fanservice in the show, at least, but why did they make akumura's design look like that...? it shows an unsettling amount of skin and like, every three seconds in the end they're focusing intensely on her lips and her eyes and... it's almost like the writers forgot she was 14, but they never seemed to forget that in the series? what happened????? in the transformation scene, we get closeup views of homura's thighs and back and stuff and it's all open everywhere... they made her tights into thigh-highs... in the whole series, even when she went to school, she always wore tights, and she was wearing tights in her magical girl outfit too... they absolutely deliberately did that to sexualize her further so they could make official art with her thighs out. speaking of official art that unsettles me, why does so much of the official art make the whole outfit just glued to her body and you can see all the shading on her features... it's just. ugh. anyways.

i went off a LITTLE too much on this and i know this is probably gonna get me some weird glances in the fandom and i am open to hearing other people's opinions but i don't think i'll ever stop disliking the effect this plot twist had on the fandom's interpretation of homura and although i'm like UNDENIABLY incredibly hyper excited for the next movie, i'm kind of...nervous for what this is going to bring? i don't want this next movie to cause the same amount of discourse the ending of rebellion did and i legit just want to see homura happy. another one of my main issues with the ending is just that homura is SO unhappy when she literally deserves to be happy SOOOOOOO BAD and just take a break from all the loops ... i'm Praying to madokami out there that that's what happens.

i know this is all really funny coming from someone who draws devil homura on a regular basis and literally writes her, but like... i'm a lesbian i'm allowed to<3

ANYWAYS thanks for listening this was a fun ask!!!

[radiantmists]

pjo + rqg?

(send me two+ fandoms and I’ll give you some thoughts about a crossover!)

Okay, juicy! I ended up spending way longer on this than 10 minutes but I had fun...

The obvious point of meeting is the greek gods being real in both settings, but the challenge with using that approach is that the gods in PJO function as actual characters, albeit powerful ones, whereas in RQG they're very removed forces of nature. They don't have specific interests for which they give quests; they have a sort of general value set and as long as you live by that, you have their favor. And compare the glimpse of Hades we get in RQG Rome with the portrayal of him in PJO-- very different, yeah?

(at this point i got distracted by something and when i came back i didn’t remember where the above was going, so i’m just gonna leave it there to contemplate)

But! I’m now thinking about the rqg cast as demigods, and specifically the fact that Zolf is like, older, which is established in PJO as an unusual thing for demigods and especially kids of the big three. And like, his brother died in a mining accident, so maybe that was Hades or some other god trying to kill him and getting Feryn instead. And so Zolf goes to sea where he’s not constantly harassed by Hades like he would be in a mine, and miraculously survives a shipwreck (or two?), probably thanks to his powers, and maybe one of those wrecks is partially caused by a monster that’s attracted to his demigod-ness so he’s got some more self-blame attached to that, but he’s also  got this weird relationship with Poseidon where he doesn’t want to be ungrateful for his own life being saved and his powers, but he also resents him for all the suffering that’s happened  around him because of his heritage, and that Poseidon hadn’t shielded his family and friends at all.

So he comes on shore after his last shipwreck, having lost the leg to whatever monster there is, and he decides that now that he’s got no one he’s really attached to, he’s going to just fight some monsters. And one day he comes upon some girl getting attacked, and wades in.

Sasha  in this scenario would be a child of Hermes, which I especially like because iirc children of Hermes get basically no powers, they just tend to be sneaky and have the base demigod build. She never knew her mortal parent, and instead got picked up by Barrett, who’s most likely a mortal who can see through the Mist and keeps some monsters on the payroll as well as some demigods to keep them in line. he doesn’t tell her a lot about the grander system, just makes use of her abilities. At some point she’d encountered Eldarion, who’s some kind of minor immortal, maybe a dryad or something, who plays the role of Chiron but... worse. 

Sasha gets away, but out of Eldarion’s protection the monsters who work for Barrett track her down, and this is when she meets Zolf. She’s a bit leery of him at first because the other fully-adult demigods she’s met have all worked for Barret and made questionable compromises of morality in  order to stay alive, but she’s  starting to realize that she genuinely can’t make it on her own, so she agrees to travel with him when he asks. For his part, Zolf is like gdi I can’t believe I’m getting attached to someone again, this always ends badly, but he can hardly leave her to fend for herself either, right?

Within a fairly short window of meeting each other, maybe the same encounter actually, they come across Hamid, who has no idea about any of this myth stuff. Neither of them can figure out who his godly parent is bc he manifests some accidental fire powers, but he really doesn’t seem like any child of Hephaestus they’ve met. Zolf also really can’t leave this one to fend for himself because he has no freaking clue what’s going on and is horrified by killing monsters. He’s not sure how Hamid survived this long by himself.

So they go off together and eventually encounter Wilde, who’s mortal but the Oracle of Apollo. The idea of prophecies and fate has always vaguely infuriated Zolf, plus Wilde is still Wilde, so they don’t get off on a good note, but you also can’t ignore prophecies, so when he says he’s been  guided to them and then goes all funny and vomits a poem that, when recited back to him, he scoffs at the quality of, they don’t much have a choice.

The prophecy probably involves them foiling some plot by a child of Hades, which is maybe why Hades has been so aggressive toward Zolf in the past; along the way they discover that Hamid is actually the child of a monster, specifically a dragon, which iirc is a thing in actual greek myth even if i can’t remember it coming up in PJO. (this is how he’s survived so long; monsters aren’t drawn to him bc he’s not a demigod). 

hamid, i think, figures this out a bit before the rest of the group, and is very freaked out by how his friends will react to it so he keeps it secret. the secret gets blown wide open soon after they meet grizzop, who joined the hunters of artemis bc she’s cool and because immortality and is now off away from the others, tracking some monster involved in the main plot. i think when they reconvene with the hunters, one of them recognizes what hamid is, and then there’s a whole drama where the others have to deal with the revelation while also preventing him from being killed.

wilde manages to be pretty useful despite being mortal and they all get attached to their squishy poet friend, especially when the fact that he never quite asked to be an Oracle and the way it messes with him becomes clear to them.

azu is a child of aphrodite and probably comes from a place where there is a more camp half-blood claiming, group training structure, but she’s definitely the black sheep of the aphrodite group because while love is important to her, she’s really interested in fighting. when whatever oracle they have tells them an aphrodite person has to go on a quest she’s pretty universally nominated, not that she has a problem with that.

cel is a sorceror person along the lines of medea or circe but less evil; i’m not sure where exactly they fit into the plot though. ed is also definitely a child of Apollo in this, and the things with dyslexia and adhd from PJO canon definitely come into play in his backstory as the black sheep of his own family.

zolf and,  to a lesser extent, sasha, tend to come into conflict with grizzop and azu who buy into the whole ‘greatness of gods’ and ‘fate’ stuff a lot more. azu starts to get somewhat disillusioned of all this as the quest goes on and she sees what being a hero actually means. zolf gets into a lot of shouting matches with poseidon, though i think in this universe it would be reparable bc poseidon is a bit more like PJO poseidon who isn’t perfect but is less of a remote dickhead.

i don’t exactly know how things resolve immediately, but an epilogue would definitely be sasha establishing a sort of school/home/camp for demigods that doesn’t push them into roles the way the ones azu and she knew tended to do, and focuses more on giving them a safe place and enough fighting skill to survive, as well as a community who understand, the way zolf helped her. 

[erithel]

Well... keith also does start some of the fights. “The size of your brain can fit in a paper airplane” anyone? and the way he copt some attitude at Lance for just going to the same pool. Not to mention in the later seasons him being a dick to Lance telling him he didnt want to be stuck with him, how he didnt have time for him after Lance wanted to hug him. And he had a bad attitude towards Pidge, Allura and Hunk too (someone reminded me recently that Keith called Hunk a coward???). I’ve seen people just gloss over this but he’s not that much better but because of a tragic backstory his attitude can be explained away I guess..?

So a bit unfair to lump it all on Lance when the two of them are both equally abrasive characters.

They’re also teenage boys and the immaturity is a given on both their parts but as far as canon Lance have been, he at least improved a lot in sincerity and genuine warmth towards others. Yet in the meanwhile I dunno what the writers did with Canon Keith half the time cause his disposition and behavior is all over the place. Cause one minute he’s soft for his friends but in other scenes he’s back to being this hardass. I wouldn’t change canon Lance for anything save giving him more episodes to show us his growth, but the character the writing team have been non consistent with is /Keith/.

And this is probably from pent up frustration but it’s kind of sad people are ignoring the good parts of canon Lance lately to paint him as this unforgivable character? When he’s canonly a very empathetic character when given the screentime.

He compliments Keith a lot and show admiration for his abilities and is usually the first to want to spring to his rescue, he protects Hunk and Pidge all the time, and he is a good advisor to Allura when they removed the romance from it, and he treats their allies and even strangers with deep trust and respect (laika and kolivan?).

And i never read that fic the other person is talki by about and I’m not likely to because you can really sense the major stan biases in some of these angst fics, but Pidge being the one to give a lecture on immaturity and hurting others is a bit rich since she canonly exhibits the same behavior when she picks on Lance for his lack of intelligence compared to her and have no qualms about inflicting physical harm on him for a joke (cause yeah electrocuting someone is soooo funny).

Which given her age and again they’re all teenagers, is a given behavior trait.

Anonymous also adds:

"I just sent the other ask and just wanted to add on: we get to see a explanation behind Keith’s abrasive attitude and the audience learned to either relate or at least sympathize with his behavior or actions. And it’s largely forgivable because the show is friendly in giving reasons for the flaws Keith has. Even if they continue to write him inconsistently.

But they never grant the same privilege to Lance and they made it so it is up to the audience to infer through context clues why he is behaving that way. And when you leave it up to people to make their own conclusion things fester. So while we can infer it is because of external pressure and stress (and Keith starting the rivalry when his “i dont care” lazy flying and deliberately crashing into Lance’s ship in the flashback), it’s not given the same proper outlet and writing attention as Keith’s abandonment issues and his general lack of close friendship with people his age to socialize. There’s more to it then we know but we don’t get to see any of it in the writing."

Ok. So. I was a little worried this would happen, as most people relate to Lance, and it can be hurtful when someone talks badly about someone you relate to on a personal level. This is why I always try to see the good and bad in each character because, personally, I don't like when people dismiss or bash someone or something as if their opinion is the ultimate truth. Not saying that is happening, here. Just saying. As I said in the previous ask, it's been a while since I watched the show, so obviously my memory is a bit foggy on specific details or instances. What I will say is that I am not touching the "space mad" scene (Keith calling Hunk a coward) because I could actually write a whole breakdown of that episode and what was good about it (yes, good lol). I think what it boils down to for any character is that we need context for why they act the way they do, as this person pointed out. We are given a bit more backstory on Keith, but it's still not much. This is where the audience comes in and supplies what they feel applies to the situation. They create their own backstories for the characters, and give them reasons why they act the way they do. This is why some things are taken as "bad traits" by one person, and justified by another - and this is how certain fics come into play, as writers use them as an outlet to vent their feelings toward a certain character or event. Of course it is not fair to lump all the bad onto one character, because yes, both of them had moments of being dicks to each other in the beginning. The thing that would have fixed this was a character arc between the two of them – which was set up beautifully in the first season. Watching them start out lashing out at one another, then gradually realizing how well they worked together and learning to trust each other? Building a solid friendship between them to the point where they could look back at they way they used to act and laugh about it because it was so ridiculous? That's character development and growth. That leaves no room for interpretation on who was more of a dick to the other. Anonymous makes a good point here, because we do get a tiny bit more justification for Keith's behavior, whereas we are just meant to accept that Lance is the way he is just because. The perfect example of this is the little blogs they did, where Keith talked about his abandonment and anger issues, and Lance talked about...Allura. Both of them started out as immature teenagers (Pidge and Hunk as well) because they were immature teenagers. But none of them were given the proper time and stories to grow out of that and become the people they were meant to be. I use this as an example a lot (because it is the example) but if you watch Avatar The Last Airbender all the way through and then go back and rewatch episode one, you can see that Aang is an entirely different person. This is what you want for your characters, and this is why there is still discourse in the VLD fandom because we were not given that in any way.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hey so I can't stop thinking about Loki kiss as in why was Kang the conqueror included? This was weird enough for me that I measured the time of the kiss (about 9 seconds) and I measured the time that Kang was included (about 3 seconds). During about one third of the sylki kiss we could watch kang watch them kiss. Sylvie kisses Loki, they move and the camera moves with them but then, instead of stopping on them front and center, it includes blurry Kang. Who's just sitting there. Watching them. Was that supposed to be awkward/funny? Or dramatic bc Kang is so dangerous (even if he really doesn't seem to be)? Or make the whole thing just this bit weirder? Like it just makes no sense to me?? What was that about? (im asking here bc i genuinely would like to know the reason but anyway feel free to ignore me and release yourself of this ughh) 

inatshej asked: Okay um I'm sorry about my previous ask about loki kissing scene. I just realised that kang was visible to foreshadow the ending where Sylvie still decided to kill him. That even if things seem to be going in the right direction (LOL if you ship sylki MAYBE), something bad can still happen, and happens. So yeah sorry xD took me a few hours to figure it out by myself tho xD

(just an heads up, if anyone is wondering why this question interests me, is because I was posting about LOKI during its runtime, in case you missed it) [FINAL THOUGHTS HERE]

** SPOILERS FOR LOKI **

Hey Lovely!

Hahahah no worries at all!

Here's my thing about Si1ki: I have no problem with the ship (I mean, I ship Sherlock with himself sometimes, so I would be a hypocrite if I shat on the ship), but I JUST DON'T SEE IT; it felt REALLY forced. I understand the metaphor they were trying to go for (you need to love yourself before others) but like.... the WHOLE "romance" felt weird. Mobius, ON SCREEN, even said it was "sick and twisted", so like, once he said that, I couldn't unsee it, and I think that was the problem: You on screen still acknowledge it, yet you still go with it.

Almost like Disney is more okay with anything else than they are with queer relationships. But I digress.

Please note I am speaking from a Loki X Mobius bias, so take what you will from my thoughts. It felt like they really were gonna go there. But I'm the clown in believing Disney, after canonically confirming Loki's bisexuality, would go there. It's performative activism, and Disney, heaven forbid, have a story with a male and female lead and NOT make them romantic interests... It's SO TIRING. Because up until the weird... THING in Episode 4, I had high hopes they were gonna go the BFF's / sibling dynamic, but yeah, the romance felt REALLY forced and weird, and the kiss even moreso.

I don't think she really liked Loki "That Way", and used Loki's confused feelings against him. I say that because she REALLY showed NO interest in the whole thing they had in Episode 5, and he's just SO desperate for love and companionship that I think he is will take what he can get. The Lokius Hug in E5 felt REALLY genuine, like two people who care and understand each other, and two people who – if nothing else – share a platonic Philia love for each other. AND they had a chemistry that shined on screen. I don't FEEL that with Loki and Sylvie. They care about each other, that's all I really got out of it.

If they were writing a romance, I PERSONALLY thought it was poorly written and executed even worse. The kiss was cringe, didn't make the romance "more real" and didn't give me the same vibes that the hug did, and it SHOULDN'T do that if it was well written. BUT I've never been in any serious relationship ever, so what do I know. Maybe I'm just too ace to "get the clues" but even movies where I KNOW that the main characters are supposed to be together, I feel the chemistry. I love both Tom and Sophia as their characters, but the "romantic" chemistry wasn't there.

Anyway, just my own gripe about it all.

BUT YES, your second ask in regards to Kang being there is also how I took it, and the kiss was a distraction. He knew what she was going to do; he studied her character all his life, he KNEW she wasn't going to just NOT do it. She never had the love of her family, and bitterness and resentment is all she knew. She didn't get to go through the character arc / development that our 2012 Loki got to, and HONESTLY? I think it's because she didn't HAVE someone like Mobius who believed in her. And Loki knew that, and unfortunately, his verbal trust in her came too late.

That said, I think we'll see her again, but I don't think she's gonna ever be a "good guy"; she'll be a morally grey character like MCU Loki was, and will probably go out in the same way, somehow.

I do like her, I just REALLY felt like the whole romance was shoehorned in by some top exec at Disney who thought it wouldn't be successful without one.

[ebaeschnbliah]

Still at the centre of the web ….

For the 10th Anniversary of Sherlock BBC (July 2010) the Royal Mail released a lovely collection of six stamps, that display key characters from several episodes of the TV show, as well as hidden messages only revealed under UV light.  (X)

I took a closer look at those stamps in the Anatomy of a Stamp Series:  A Study in Pink   The Great Game   A Scandal in Belgravia   The Reichenbach Fall   The Empty Hearse   The Final Problem

Alongside those stamps and in partnership with The Royal Mint (X),  a special medal has been crafted as well to ‘celebrate Sherlock’s genius – and his nemesis’ ... to explore Sherlock’s ‘turbulent relationship with arch-rival Moriarty’ as the description says. 

A little sideways glance at that medal and the collage of images with which it is surrounded couldn’t be wrong, I thought. :)

TBC below the cut .....

That anniversary medal is available in two versios (cupro-nickel&sterling-silver) and it displays:

on one side - Moriarty’s message ‘Get Sherlock’, the note he carved on the Crown Jewel glass case in TRF, to invite Sherlock to play his game

on the obverse side - ‘The Game is on’, which is meant to be Sherlock’s modern take on the literary version ‘The Game is afoot’

James Moriarty is known to be the famous archenemy of Sherlock Holmes. Contrary to canon, Sherlock BBC introduced that character already in the first episode A Study in Pink and Jim commits suicide (alongside Sherlock) in the sixth episode of the story, which consists of 13 so far. According to canon, Sherlock fakes his suicide and comes back after his hiatus. Although Jim is considered to be really dead for years by now, notes and messages of the character turn up repeatedly on various data carriers ... electronic as well as paper. 

Interestingly, it has been chosen for the 10th anniversary of Sherlock BBC to create fan memorabilia which focuses mainly on the confontration between Sherlock and Jim, whose life ended rather quickly at Bart’s roof in The Reichenbach Fall. A great honour for a character who is long dead and seems to be irrelevant for the ongoing story of this adaptation, in which another character - Mary - married John and shot Sherlock and therefore became a sort of new archenemy. Nonetheless, not only every stamp is - in one way or another - linked to Jim Moriarty, the medal and the collage of images with which it is surrounded, displays also mainly text messages connected to Sherlock’s (in)famous nemesis Jim Moriarty. 

Here’s a summery of those texts + the corresponding screenshots in the episodes. It surprised me though, that I couldn’t match all of them. There are some interesting exceptions. First the obvious ones:

A Study in Pink

Two images have been used to create this manip for the medal collage. Both are visible thoughts out of Sherlock’s mind palace. And both screenshots don’t turn up side by side. Sherlock’s entire thinking process lies between them. Jeff Hope, the man who killed the lady in pink had been sponsored by Jim Moriarty.

RACHE  German (n.) revenge

The correct letter settles into place ... Rachel

He squats down beside the body .... wet

He reaches into her coat pockets and finds the umbrella ... dry

He moves up to the collar of her coat ... wet

He inspects the delicate gold bracelet on her left wrist ... clean

... then the gold earring attached to her left ear ... clean

... and then the gold chain around her neck ... clean

The wedding ring ... dirty

Conclusions appear in front of Sherlock’s eyes ... married ... unhappily married ... unhappily married 10+ years

While the outside of the wedding ring is still showing ... dirty

the inside registers as ... clean

Sherlock has reached a conclusion ... regularly removed

The final deduction about her ... serial adulterer

The Great Game

Three different scenes from this episode have been used for the collage. Two are connected to a serial killer called The Golem, who asphyxiates his victims. One is directly connected to Jim Moriarty, who has planned all the cases in TGG. 

1- The Golem killed Alex Woodbridge, security guard and hobby stargazer. That killer appears for the first time on Sherlock’s radar when he searches on his phone for ‘most wanted’ criminals:

JOHN: He’s dead about twenty-four hours – maybe a bit longer. Did he drown?

Sherlock has called up on his phone: Interpol Most Wanted Criminal Organisations Regional Activities LESTRADE: Apparently not. Not enough of the Thames in his lungs. Asphyxiated.

2- The Vauxhall Arches turn out to be the hiding place of the Golem and Sherlock gets the address from an informant of his homeless network. It’s a note written on a piece of paper:

SHERLOCK: Hold that cab. (John trots back to the taxi while Sherlock goes over to the girl.) HOMELESS GIRL: Spare change, sir? SHERLOCK: Don’t mind if I do. JOHN (to the cab driver): Can you wait here? (The girl hands Sherlock a piece of paper. Unfolding it, he sees that she has written “VAUXHALL ARCHES” on it. Smiling briefly, he turns and walks back to John.)

3- The third image out of this episode is one of the exceptions, because they’re not imagined or written words but an actual text line spoken by Jim Moriarty during his showdown with Sherlock at the pool.

JIM: I’ve given you a glimpse, Sherlock, just a teensy glimpse of what I’ve got going on out there in the big bad world. I’m a specialist, you see ... like you! 

A Scandal in Belgravia

It is Jim Moriarty who adviced Irene Adler how ‘to play the Holmes boys’. It is Sherlock though, who wins that game and is able to get access to Irene’s camera phone. The confirmation of his success appears on her mobil phone screen:

IRENE: Everything I said: it’s not real. I was just playing the game. SHERLOCK: I know. And this is just losing. (Slowly he turns the phone towards her and shows her the screen. She looks down at it, tears spilling from her eyes as she reads the sequence which says: I AM SHER LOCKED

The Reichenbach Fall

Three different scenes from this episode have been used for the collage.

1- Jim Moriarty sends Sherlock his invitation to play the game, while sitting inside the smashed glass cage of the crown jewels, dressed as and equipped with the insignias of a king. The message appears on Sherlock’s phone. This starts the game.

JOHN: Sherlock ... SHERLOCK: Not now. JOHN: He’s back. (Sherlock lifts his head and takes the phone. The message reads: Come and play. Tower Hill. Jim Moriarty x.

2- Sherlock searches for the traces hidden inside the residues of the kidnapper’s footprints. What might be the fifth element? Those five big questionmarks+the number 5 appear as visible thoughts out of Sherlock’s mind palace and are embedded between Sherlock’s rememberence of Jim’s threat ‘I owe you’ and Molly asking about this afterwards. It turns out to be the clue to find the kidnapped children and it marks the beginning of Sherlock’s downfall. 

SHERLOCK: I ... owe ... you. SHERLOCK: Glycerol molecule. He sighs heavily as he struggles to identify the item, seeing it in his head as: 5. ????? SHERLOCK: What are you? MOLLY: What did you mean, “I owe you”?

3- Claudette Bruhl, one of the kidnapped children, seems to recognize Sherlock as her kidnapper. The seed of doubt is sawn at Scotland Yard. Then the letters  IOU appear on the windows of a building opposite. This message proves to Sherlock that it is indeed Jim Moriarty who is behind that kidnapping case.  

LESTRADE: The kid’s traumatised. Something about Sherlock reminds her of the kidnapper. JOHN: So what’s she said? DONOVAN: Hasn’t uttered another syllable. JOHN: And the boy? LESTRADE: No, he’s unconscious; still in intensive care. (In the building opposite Scotland Yard, all the lights in the offices come on. On the second floor, spray paint has been applied to three of the office windows. Sherlock stares at the enormous letters that have been painted: I O U

The Empty Hearse

From this episode two different words out of one of Sherlock’s mind palace deductions have been used for the collage. Sherlock is working on the fake Jack the Ripper case (How I did it), which had been planned by Anderson to lure Sherlock back to London because he firmly believed the detective not to be dead. Sherlock notices the trick though. He comes to the conclusion that the fake corpse is only six moths old and its Victorian outfit had been exposed to first: sun and then: fire damage. (Sun exposure, fire damage, undead .... it’s a bit hard to not get ideas about Dracula here ... X X X  :)

The words ‘pine & cedar’ are displayed again as visible thoughts out of Sherlock’s mind palace. And just like in ASIP those words lie several screenshots appart. For some reasons ‘spruce’ has been ignored: 

LESTRADE: This one’s got us all baffled. SHERLOCK: Mmm. I don’t doubt it. (..... Sherlock sniffs at the body and tries to decide what he is picking up: PINE? SPRUCE? CEDAR NEW MOTHBALLS Moving on, he sniffs again: Carbon particulate ... He sniffs more deeply: Fire Damage

The Final Problem

Images of three different scenes out of this episode have been used for the collage. 

1- The movie Mycroft is watching in his private cinema at his place is interrupted first by images of an old family video, then by Eurus’ message on screen ... “I’m back”. It  announces the return of Eurus, the secret sister.

I’M BACK VOICE: Mycroft ... Mycroft ... MYCROFT: Why don’t you come out and show yourself? I don’t have time for this. CHILD’s VOICE: We have time, brother dear. All the time in the world.

2- Sherlock stands in front of the ‘funny gravestones’ at Musgrave Hall and puts together the dates on the stones until he has a long string of numbers in front of him ... visible thoughts out of Sherlock’s mind palace. This brings Sherlock finally the solution to Eurus’ riddle.

.... 1520 1818 2426 1617 1822 32

3- Just like the numbers, the four verses of Eurus’ riddle appear as visible thoughts out of Sherlock’s mind palace. He connects the string of dates from the gravestones to the verses. It is the second verse that has been used for the collage.

I that am lost, oh who will find me? Deep down below the old beech tree Help succour me now the east winds blow Sixteen by six, brother, and under we go! Without your love, he’ll be gone before Save pity for strangers, show love the door. My soul seek the shade of my willow’s bloom Inside, brother mine - Let Death make a room. Be not afraid to walk in the shade Save one, save all, come try! My steps - five by seven Life is closer to Heaven Look down, with dark gaze, from on high. Before he was gone - right back over my (h)ill Who now will find him? Why, nobody will Doom shall I bring to him, I that am queen Lost forever, nine by nineteen.

The exceptions ...

So far, these have been the obvious links between the images used for the collage and the corresponding episodes of Sherlock BBC. Beneath follow the less obvious and the ones I failed to find a match for. 

Blue chemistry ...

There are two episodes in which chemical formulas are displayed in the form of drawings. 

1- In The Hounds of Baskerville (S2/2) Sherlock is looking for a monstrous hound from hell. Instead he finds the H.O.U.N.D. project in which experiments had been conducted with a deleriant drug, based on fear and stimulus. The informations on this project are key-coded by the name MAGGIE (short for Margaret Thatcher)

2- In The Six Thatchers (S4/1) Sherlock tries - with the help of Toby the bloodhound - to track down the person who smashes plaster busts of Margaret Thatcher in order to find a hidden flash drive with secret informations about A.G.R.A. a group of terrorists. One of the four members had been Mary Watson.

Although there exist several drawn chemical formulas in both episodes, very similar to the one used for the collage, and despite I scanned those scenes screenshot by screenshot, I wasn’t able to find a perfect match. Maybe I still missed something. Maybe that formula on the collage is indeed just an unrelated decoraton .... But it’s interesting to note that the story connects this kind of ‘chemistry’ always to Hounds and Thatcher. (more about chemistry)

Red drop of blood ...

That blood drop used for the collage appears actually in each official episode (TAB as well) because it’s part of the intro. And for the creation of the medal collage, that image has been used two times. In the background there is a smaller and paler version, which is overlapped by a bigger and darker version in the foreground. Of that one, only the lower half is visible. Using two times the same image in one picture, always reminds me strongly of the many Pairs, Twins and Double oh’s mentioned in Sherlock BBC. 

Mostly I connect that ‘sign of two’ with John Watson. In my theory he represents the ‘fixed point in a changing age’, the ‘eternal just-friend and still stubbornly ‘not gay’ Watson, the very aspect in Sherlock’s experiment, that needs to be transformed into a modern version of the same character. In other words: the old king has to make way for the new king. According to the original meaning of the Musgrave Ritual that says about the crown of a king: “'Whose was it? His who is gone. Who shall have it? He who will come.” 

With this in mind it was easy to compare the drop of watery liquid that falls onto a drop of blood in Sherlock’s experiment, to John in the well, drenched by the water Eurus exposes him to. Emotional context indeed. :))))

When a drop of emotions/chemistry brings the blood to a boil ... (1 2)    Drop of blood 

Search: London Bridge ...

That’s the most mysterious addition to the collage. While all the other words and images can be linked to the show .... this one is the absolute exception. A ‘search for London Bridge’ doesn’t happen throughout the whole story. Not once. London Bridge doesn’t even play a role in Sherlock BBC. At least not yet ...

Bridges of Sherlock BBC:

In ASIB Irene Adler texts Sherlock that she can see Tower Bridge from her room. In TST Sherlock stands on Vauxhall Bridge while he realizes the involvement of fake AMO, Vivian Norbury. 

In TLD Culverton Smith gives the cryptic advice ‘We must be careful not to burn our BRIDGES.’ ... at the same time Sherlock walks with Faith through London and crosses Millennium Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridge beside Hungerford Bridge.

In TFP little Sherlock stands on a small wood-bridge while he is searching for his lost dog Redbeard.

‘Bridge’ as extension of names:

In TGG security guard Alex WoodBRIDGE is found dead at the bank of the Thames, between Waterloo Bridge and Southwark Bridge.

In TSOT guardsman Stephen BainBRIDGE consults Sherlock and starts the case of the Mayfly Man. He is the first of the three guards (Bainbridge, Sholto, Mary) in this episode. (Changing of the Guard)

London Bridge though does not appear in Sherlock BBC so far. This leaves the question ... why is the note to search for that bridge even on the collage? Where does it come from? And why is it so closely connected to the episode spanning double image of the blood drop from Sherlock’s experiment? The words are displayed inside the smaller, paler blood drop. One wonders .....

(Thanks @gosherlocked​ for deciphering ‘London’ in that bridge’s name. :)))

The blue ribbon ...

Something that looks like a ‘blue ribbon’ runs through the lower part of the collage. The very distinctive loop, right under the name Moriarty, gave me the idea that this ‘ribbon’ could be the river Thames. And really, my assuption turned out to be correct, it is the Thames. What’s even better, at this distinctive loop the river coils around the peninsula named ... Isle of Dogs. 

It surely isn’t an unusual thing to add a part from the map of London, including the Thames, to a collage of images related to Sherlock Holmes. After all, Sherlock is a most famous residient of London. It it is also quite fitting, especially for this adaptation, to display Jim’s name side by side with ‘dogs’. Dogs and hounds do play a major role since the beginning and are closely linked to Jim, John and Sherlock. The barking of a dog in the night can be heard right after John wakes from his nightmare in ASIP, missing shoes lead right away to the villain (very similar to the original Baskerville case) and TFP is all about a lost dog/boy. But there is a little bit more that came to mind, when I recognized the Isle of Dogs.

TheGameIsNow ...

During the run-up to TheGameIsNow-Escape Room Event, (summer 2018) a video was released .... a call-out from Mycroft Holmes to recruit volunteers for The Network. As a part of that call-out, Mycroft mentions a ‘rush of incidents across the capital’ and while he speaks, a map of London is displayed on screen on which a red line runs along and strings together the involved locations, which are marked with the ‘eye-sign’ of The Network. And that red line stops exactly at the Isle of Dogs. That’s why I recognized that peninsula immediately.

Again ... one wonders ...

All in all, one can not deny that a lot of considerations, of work and also of knowledge regarding the show, have been put into the creation of those stamps, the medal and the images used for their presentation. And as usual with Sherlock BBC, some little intriguing mysteries have also been woven into it.  :)))

I leave you to your own deductions. Thanks @callie-ariane​ for the scripts. 

January, 2021

[crystalkleure]

Haha hey remember that post I made awhile back, speculating on what a bad idea it might be to fuse dead things in the godless Frankenstein fossil machine

Meet White. He is a reanimated corpse. Two of them, actually. Or more like 1.5. [And I whipped up this half-assed partial reference sheet in one night instead of sleeping, so don’t look too hard at the chickenscratch lineart and visible guidelines, and kindly ignore the total lack of shading as well as any other messy jankiness.]

White is a product of me wondering not only about what happens if you NecroFuse a human with a Pokemon, but also what happens if you make it even worse and specifically fuse that human with a Pokemon capable of mega evolution. Because canon seems to imply that mega evolving is at best deeply uncomfortable -- and at worst outright agonizing -- for whatever creature is going through it.

Character Lore under the cut. Lots of text:

White is one of actually multiple undead guys who got mashed together with bits of dead Pokemon. They’re science experiments, so they've got the dex numbers of the Pokemon they're spliced with tattooed on the backs of their necks, and those numbers were treated as their names In The Evil Science Lab.

In his Original Life, White [and some of his buddies] got gored to death by some escaped Horrible Fucking Monsters that were accidentally [...and then not-so-accidentally] created via Two Pokemon At Once In A Fossil Resurrection Machine, because hey, it is SUPER easy to think you got Just One Thing's Bones from an excavation dig but then later you realize that Some Of Those Bones were from something TOTALLY different that just died in the same place. It happens. So, some Fossil Scientist People accidentally resurrected an Abomination, realized they fucked up pretty fast...and then started wondering if they REALLY fucked up or if this is Cool, Actually. And then the team of Science People split into two Morality Factions, with one half being like “This is unethical as shit, we need to make sure this doesn't happen again because it's not natural so who knows how this poor fucked up creature is suffering” and the other, cooler half being like “WE NEED TO DO THIS AGAIN RIGHT NOW BECAUSE SCIENCE. IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES HOLY SHIT.”

Cooler group splits off from the Horrified Group With Morals, and they promptly use their Science Knowledge to Construct More Machines and Make More Monsters. Doesn't take too long for them to realize, however, that Abomination Pokemon are stupidly hard to control, because not only are they suffering, their masters obviously don't care for their wellbeing, so Revolt Inevitably Occurs and they escape to wreak havoc upon the nearest congregation of townspeople. They promptly maul some people to death at a nearby local rock concert, scientists chase after them to clean up the mess, realize “Oh Shit, Manslaughter Charges Impending”, and then realize...

Science Guy 1: “...Hey, what happens if you put a dead person in the fossil machine?”

Science Guy 2: “Hey, people probably listen better than Pokemon. We can, like, TALK to people.”

Science Guy 3: “Lads, I got a stellar idea just now. And we got plenty of Dead Guys to start with right here! Great way to hide the bodies too, probably.”

This goes approximately as well as you would expect, and precisely as ethically. A smashing success!

However, because they Fucking Died, the reanimated Newly-Monsterized dudes do not remember shit about who they were pre-resurrection. They're not technically even the same people, they’re more like clones. They've been remade. So, all they know now is Science Lab Life, and they have no initial attachment to eachother aside from "that other guy is also a Science Experiment Person just like me, so Same Hat @ Labrat Neighbour ig", in spite of several having been friends or even family prior to death. They also just...don’t know/remember things in general. They are fresh blank slates. And to a morally-bankrupt team of scientists, that’s perfect! They can train these guys to behave however they please!

...However, people might be People Instead Of Animals, meaning they can be Reasoned With And Manipulated And Coerced far better than animals due to their far better communication abilities with the Science People, but...there is Still A Problem in the sense that Holy Shit, A Person Can Only Take So Much. You can only treat someone as "Experiment [number]" for so long, blatantly putting no value on their life outside of The Value Of Scientific Research, in spite of literally basically needing to raise them like a normal child due to the Lack Of Memories issue. Eventually they're not gonna be able to take that anymore and they are gonna Fucking Leave, too. And they’re gonna be much harder to track down than the rampaging Pokemon were. Impossible, actually, once they’ve ripped out their tracking chips.

So then there's just these monster dudes, who don't actually know what they are because they weren't ever told anything more than necessary to get them to cooperate with Tests And Experiments, just Escaped Into Civilization and having NO idea how Anything works. Fun! Especially considering how, at first glance, these just look like Normal Dudes. Their monster bits either aren't apparent or just look like funky body modifications.

They've also got Science Things in them and they Don't Know What The Fuck Those Things Even Are. They've just got these little Devices in/on their chests, and they were never informed of the exact functions of them because there's no reason to explain to the experiment What Is Happening, just that the experiment needs to Hold Still and Cooperate and Now Do This, Now Do This, Now Do That, Good Job That's Enough For Today, etc.

Those devices contain both key stones and mega stones.

If you were a Mad Pokemon Scientist, you would most certainly be interested in the mega evolution phenomenon. What would YOU do if some of your Undead Fusion Experiments happened to be spliced with bits of Pokemon known to be capable of mega evolving? You’d kill two birds with one enigmatic set of stones, that’s what you’d do. Your Frankenstein Experiments can even TALK to you and tell you exactly what they are experiencing when you run tests on them! It’s perfect!

So, if a rock-bearing monster’s heart rate goes too high, part of the little device, which is a barrier between one type of rock and the other, opens up and Exposes One Rock To The Other Rock. Which exposes the monster to the Rock Energy Reaction. The greater the stress, the higher the dose. And I’m sure you can see the snowball effect that’s gonna create, at least the first time or two.

They were INTENDED to eventually be made to Physically Fight With Eachother to gauge the effects of The Rocks™️ when the Guys With The Rocks are under Stress and need to Do Some Self-Defense. The Science Squad was basically trying to suss out the Actual Purpose of mega evolution. Because mega evolution is weird -- it puts ENORMOUS stress on the body of whatever is undergoing it, so the hypothesis was that its true power is probably drawn out best via a perceived life-threatening situation, like it’s a type of hysterical strength, because what else would cause a need for that kind of ability. And aren’t ethics a bit overrated?

So, there’s our premise. White is just wandering around without any particular purpose outside of never ever going back to Science Hell, and he has no clue what the funny little doohickey buried in his chest does until it activates one day and absolutely fucks him up [...as well as everyone around him. Mega Absol radiate an Aura Of Sheer Terror that can literally scare people with weak hearts to death if they’re not careful.]

And now, some Miscellaneous Character Info:

The bit about Lots Of Death happening at a rock concert specifically was important. White was actually the vocalist of the band that was playing. He doesn’t remember that now, but he still loves music and has the same strong vocal cords. And THAT is important because White is partially an Absol now and Absol naturally learns Perish Song. These Fusion Monsters are absolutely capable of using Pokemon moves, though whether they’re aware of this is a different matter entirely. Imagine what happens when they end up tapping into those abilities accidentally.

That band was a relatively-unknown little local band. White was by no means anywhere near famous. Very few people even realized he was gone, and most of the ones who would have noticed also ended up Equally Unalive.

That black stuff between the belts on White’s arms is mesh. Like, stocking mesh. It gets Ripped The Fuck Apart when he goes Mega Mode and his arm fur gets Extra Spiky. Hence one stocking being a bit tattered in that reference pic. He frequently has to replace those things, they are fragile.

“How did White get his name if he doesn’t remember his original name and didn’t have a real name in the lab” I am glad you asked! Post-escape, he eventually encountered a situation where someone asked him what his name was, he bluntly told them “I don’t have one. I am #359.”, they said “Well That Is Not A Name, I need something proper to call you”, and he was just...Super Apathetic. So, the other person picked out the name “White” just based on the fact that White’s hair is white, and he just shrugged and rolled with it.

As you can see in my Incredibly Quick And Rough Sketches, the backs of White’s shirts are open to accommodate that huge amount of fur that bristles out into false wings when he goes Mega Mode. Because his Actual Normal Hair is relatively long and overlaps with that fur, it blends in with his Actual Normal Hair and doesn’t look too odd [when it’s down]. Probably mostly because nobody’s expecting it to be anything OTHER than Perfectly Normal Hair That Just Happens To Be Very Long.

White does not particularly like violence. White does not want to beat you up. He will, though, without a bit of hesitation, if there’s some logical reason he feels like it’s the most practical course of action. Being essentially raised by Cold, Emotionally-Sterile Scientists With No Care For The Wellbeing Other Living Beings uh, tends to affect a guy a little bit. White has a bit of an internal dilemma regarding “It would be efficient for me to just Harm This Other Person to defuse the current situation, because attempting nonviolence will be overall more risky somehow” vs. “Holy shit it feels bad when I hurt people. Why does it feel bad when I hurt people. Is it...SUPPOSED to feel bad when I hurt people?? No one ever felt bad for hurting me.” He Figures Out How Empathy Works Eventually. He is a good guy at heart. He is a Monotone Snarker, but not actually Cold or Malicious at all.

If an Absol can do it, White can probably do it. He has incredibly keen senses and a STRONG ability to Detect Impending Doom. He has exactly the amount of Supernatural Absol Powers you would expect. He is also stupidly physically strong, way more so than he appears to be.

White can’t punch people. Look at the fist he’s making in the pic, he’s doing it wrong. If you punch someone like that, you WILL break your own thumb. That’s not a Revving Up To Sock Someone pose, he’s just tense. He’s using his thumb as a buffer between his long-ass Sharp As Fuck claws and the flesh of his palm. If White tries to punch anybody, or just makes a proper fist at all, he will impale his own hand on his nails. Like, all the way through. He CAN slash straight through things like metal and bone with those claws, though.

White...is unsettling. Completely accidentally, and unknowingly. He just radiates an Aura Of Intimidation [...or Pressure], even when not in Mega Mode, that scales depending on his mood. Just being near him tends to put people and Pokemon on edge. Thus, he’s generally avoided.

The latter point is especially unfortunate, because White’s preferred method of Socializing and Bonding is to just kind of quietly hang out in the same room as whoever he is trying to Socialize and Bond with. He just wants to, like...chill out Near A Buddy and watch a movie and share a bag of chips or something. His social skills are predictably not good.

[dumbfuck-mojave]

Lily Chen SFW Relationship Headcanons

Character: Lily Chen from The Shadowhunters Chronicles written by @cassandraclare

Author’s Notes: This is the first thing I’ve written in a while and it feels good to be back! I’m experimenting with post formatting as well, and I like the little squares (Tumblr won’t let me have my square bullet points :( ). I haven’t fully read all of Lily’s scenes but I have skimmed and done enough research that I think this is in-character enough. If it isn’t, who cares? She needs more content, please and thank you. I will make that content. I have something else with her in it coming soon. 

Warnings: I don’t know, nothing too in-depth/graphic. Vague mentions of trauma and talking it out because you should support your partner in a relationship. Since she's a flirtatious character, there’s some of that, but this is still SFW. Also, she’s a vampire, so general vampire stuff. It’s fine, this probably wasn’t even needed. Also just way too many emojis, I need to calm down-

Being in a relationship with Lily Chen:

(This was supposed to be written as a neutral thing as to whether the reader was a member of the shadow world or a mundane, but it turned into strictly mundane. Sorry about that).

You probably met at an establishment that caters to mundanes and the shadow world.

Has a preference for women but is into dating anyone, so get ready.

She’s with some of the other clan members and locks onto you and the others are like “She’s at it again.”

Lays the charm on HEAVY. Slides up to you and is like “👀👀”.

Whether you’re super flustered or not, she’ll keep doing it. 

She never comes off as creepy though, a real casanova in the ways of romance~

She’s on official business for the Alliance, picking something up from the little shop you’re both at (a drag because she can’t go out with you right now 🙄) but she hands you her phone with a smirk so you can put your number in. 

You might think she would’ve taken yours to do some flirty nonsense like putting her name in as something… flirty, but she wanted to see what you would put your name in as (Uno Reverse).

Made dead sure there was nothing you could see beside the number input screen though, not even notifications. She doesn’t trust like that. 

You put a little heart after your name and smile at her and she lowkey freaks out. This feels different what’s going on, oh no-

Her phone case is a blinged out vampire smile Clary gave her as a gag gift. She isn’t being subtle (this should’ve been your first clue, but nah). 

So she and the others show up at the Alliance meeting (It’s at Magnus and Alec’s today because they’re dealing with warlock business) and she looks kind of uncomfortable? Not uncomfortable in the usual way, just a little blushy and nervous.

Alec is like “You good?” and she’s like “MMMM YEAH?? I THINK??”

She isn’t IN LOVE right away but it does feel different from when she usually picks up hotties 😉.

The only thing she mentions about it during the meeting is a quick “Yeah I saw some cutie before we got here 😎” because if we only do surface level emotions we don’t have to discuss our actual feelings nice one Chen-

It doesn’t work that well. Sometimes she can pull the hiding stuff off but today is not her day.

Elliott and Jacob are looking at each other like “??” because Lily’s usually joking around and not taking anything seriously during smaller meetings like this. Alec is staring at her trying to figure out what’s wrong because he’s way too oblivious for this, help him.

Magnus KNOWS. He’s sipping on tea and raising an eyebrow at her and Lily notices and glares at him because he always gives her THAT LOOK like he knows her and Lily doesn’t vibe with it-

(Magnus wants to be a better support system for her, but he isn’t going to poke that bear. She’ll come to him when she wants, if ever. He’s everyone’s dad.)

She gets back in her groove by the end of the meeting, it’s like 2 in the morning now and she pulls out her phone and texts you.

“Hey, u up?”

She’s good at flirting but also sucks at it at the same time.

You text back immediately. Don’t ask me what you were doing the pretty girl with the cool hair just texted you it’s GO TIME.

 While ignoring the implications of that type of message, you text back “Yeah what’s up.” 

So this breaks her. She honestly wasn’t expecting a text back right away and we’re back to square one. Stay cool Lily, stay cool. 

After 5 minutes of staring at the phone on her end and you waiting for a response (a bit impatiently because it’s 2 AM) she responds “When are you free? I wanna get to know you as soon as possible 😘”

“Is that so? Well tomorrow night should work, pick me up at 9?”

Congrats, you unknowingly played her again. She’s off her mojo today.

“Of course 😉. I’m looking forward to it~” Not off her mojo enough to not be cheeky though.

You just barely smile and give the nerd your address. She better tell you what you’re doing before then though (You want to dress smart and also aren’t trying to get murdered)

You both end up talking throughout the day (Well, your day. She’s supposed to be sleeping) and you figure out where you’re going. 

Earlier, she was literally breaking down over where to take you.

“Is going to a club to cliche? What counts as trashy? Will they want something more intimate or casual? Taki’s? Is Taki’s good?”

Elliott’s just standing there, watching her and waiting for his booty call to show up.

She may be good with flirting and casual hook-ups but relationships? Genuine, honest relationships? That about scares her right back into living.

She wants this to go well, to maybe lead to something more, and that makes her nervous.

Anyway she ends up taking you to a really casual but classy run by a nice couple (of Downworlders).

It’s really nice and fun, typical first date “get-to-know-you” type questions. Stuff she can come up with while still being guarded.

You can already tell by the way she treats the staff and owners that she’s a good girl.

(She was a waitress, she knows the pain.)

She walks you up to your door at the end of the date and you turn to her and tell her you had a good time and maybe… maybe if she did too, you could do this again. 

Then you go inside. 

She stands there in silence for a few minutes then skips back to the car she “borrowed” and speeds off to go brag about how well it went to Jacob because his last date ended up with the girl crying.

Magnus has many cars. Magnus knows Lily took one of his cars.

Ok just imagine getting more steady with her because I need to stop the set up and actually do what the title says:

She’s literally an amazing girlfriend. 

Jokes around a lot but does a pretty good job at seeing when things need to be serious or if you’re uncomfortable with anything. 

RESPECTFUL. SHE KNOWS WHAT IT’S LIKE TO DISRESPECT AND BE DISRESPECTED BUT NOT WITH YOU!!  NEVER!!

One night, she asked to come into your house. Which, mind you, she’s done before, but she had this look in her eyes like she needed to tell you something important.

That was the night she told you everything about the shadow world.

“You aren’t supposed to do that!” She does NOT care.

Because she genuinely feels bad hiding it from you if you’re going to go steady + the unknowing danger you can be put in if you’re with her. 

She talked about it with Alec, he says he’ll handle it if anyone gives you trouble. 

They already went through it with Simon, they got this.

She talks a lot about you to Alec and that’s how he knew you were important.

No matter how you react, she knows what to say to make everything fine. 

The first time she took you to the Dumort you were pretty amazed. Like, c’mon. Your girlfriend did all of this. She shows you around and while you’re busy being amazed by the decor she’s side-eyeing anyone who tries to get out of place.

The other vampires show you a good time though, it’s great. 

Now to explore my favorite headcanon: Lily’s a secret nerd.

She’s not as much of a nerd as Simon or Clary but she’s still with it. 

Granny is hip with the kids you know. 

Another thing I know is- she absolutely kills at Dead by Daylight.

If you don’t know what that is; PVP survival game.

She’s a fair but absolutely ruthless killer. 

Tries to get you to play, if you don’t want to try, at least watch it makes her happy. 

Has max leveled all the killers, doesn’t play survivor, if she ever let’s Simon know she plays she makes him cry. 

Also, plays a lot of Nintendo games. 

Got Animal Crossing: New Horizons the second it came out and that and DBD are like all she does when she’s free.

Absolutely the person to do the arm yawn thing during movies and laugh at horror movies. 

Into pop culture, but doesn’t know ALL pop culture, so introduce her to stuff, she has an eternity to enjoy it. 

This is getting kind of disjointed so end of Nerd!Lily for now.

Like I said, she’s a charmer- So if you’re in good standing with your parents and introduce them to her, she’ll make a stunning first impression. 

It’s important to her so no funny business.

Some funny business she’s a little comedian.

Speaking of little, there’s a good chance you’ll be the taller one in the relationship.

She’s only 5 foot but don’t try to do the armrest thing she bites, literally. 

It’s canon she’s polyamorous so if you’re down for it, she is too. If not, that’s also fine. 

Just in all aspects, she’s down and flexible for most things if you’re comfortable.

Is really smart and knowledgeable, but no one can know everything so if there’s an aspect of you she doesn’t know a lot about, she’ll research it and let you explain it yourself if you choose.

Never change yourself. She loves and respects you as you are. 

You’ve been on every date imaginable at this point.

Aquarium where she bought a huge shark (she bought you something too but she wanted that shark with all the passion in her tiny body).

She has an old projector so you can have private movie dates.

Elliott tries to sneak in. Lily yells at him to get out. Elliott gets out.

She likes planning them but you take her out sometimes too. 

You both even went to Build-A-Bear one time and she did the whole bear ritual thing. Vibes with kids, so she wasn’t embarrassed or anything. 

Kisses the plush heart you put in your bear aw. 

Ok now to get into some more serious/angsty ones.

Has very vivid dreams. Not good when your dreams are usually nightmares. 

She appreciates it if you wake her up and hold her (she likes being held regardless but it’s especially true in this situation).

Doesn’t usually like to talk about it.

You need to work with her to open up about things. Like REALLY work.

Feels bad if she ever gets snippy but she doesn’t like feeling cornered or pushed.

But she has A LOT of trauma and baggage that she deals with in unhealthy ways.

It happens eventually though, and it’s a really important moment in your relationship. 

Obviously, will do the same for you. She’s good at giving advice. 

Sometimes she’s really sad about never being able to have kids herself and sometimes is so thankful she can’t, because while she loves kids and is good with them, she’s scared she’ll mess up her own somehow. 

Doesn't even know if she'd adopt because then she knows she took this kid away from having a better home than with her (even if it's all false and she would be an amazing parent). 

Same with being a vampire. She flip-flops on how she feels about it. 

Struggles with depression and it got even worse after Raphael died, so just support her with it. 

I know she smokes, but she drinks a ton as well. Not even spiked blood, just normal alcohol because she feels a thrill in testing how much it takes to have some effect. It's frightening.

Misses her mom, like a lot. Many of her crying fits are over it.

It’s why she’s more susceptible to woman authority/mentor figures than men.

Hates her dad. She wishes she was the one to kill him after she got out of the brothel, but she couldn’t track him down in the few months she stayed in Hong Kong. 

Really insecure and hates showing it. Always afraid you’ll leave her alone and she despises she thinks that way.

I’m getting too sad. Roll out the last ones.

She may have a lot of sad memories, but she has a lot of happy ones too.

In all fairness, she doesn’t have the best memory, and although she really tries not to, she forgets a lot of stuff. Don't get too mad.

A really good driver. A fast driver, but a good one.

Takes you on motorcycle rides and one time she drove up the side of a bridge and almost gave you a heart attack. 

Talks to her bike like it’s a horse. It’s semi-alive in a way, which both freaks you out and fascinates you.

Also good at roller skating/rollerblading and skateboarding.

Um,,, going back to biting; if you’re down with it she’ll take blood from you. In… many scenarios (you probably get what I’m talking about huehue). 

Made you sign one of the consent forms as a joke but not really- 

Smokes a lot but is respectful enough to control it around you. You have human lungs, regardless of if you smoke or not. Can't be damaging those.

Help her dye her hair and do her makeup! It’s bonding! She can’t see herself in a mirror! 

Exquisite music taste like ugh 👌👌👌 

Pretty good dancer too. 

The girlfriend who hypes you UP. Wolf whistles included. You’re perfect to her and anyone who disagrees with that gets the knife🔪.

Seriously, she'll fight and probably kill for you (something to probably discuss. Like more in-depth than that specific scenario.)

She likes to style things. Your room/house, you, your car. Get decorated.

She’s into nicknames and prefers “babe” and “baby” in a relationship.

Brings you trinkets constantly she’s like a bird. 

“Babe look at this cool rock I found.”

Surprisingly, doesn't have tattoos. YET. 

Matching tattoos?? Maybe.

She has piercings, though, and will get more. Come with her and she'll let you pick out a charm.

Does that stupid "ahaha" f-boy meme thing constantly. If you don't know what I'm talking about you're lucky.

Is eternally 19, acts like it. 

Party hard baby.

Gets you involved in her political life and responsibilities; she is an important figure after all.

Was kind of nervous her loved ones wouldn’t like you. Irrational; of course they love you.

A pretty decent artist. She likes drawing you :).

Nude modeling 👀. JK JK, unless-

Likes to take pictures and likes to send pictures so just be ready.

She's a big fan of karaoke and I'm sorry but you'll absolutely, 100% get dominated. She didn't come here to mess around, she has 80's songs on standby.

She's like a cat- fast and flexible. It's fun until it looks like she's broken herself.

She really likes your voice and talking to you.. which means you'll get hit up at midnight if you aren't with her. She just really, really loves you but please figure out a sleep schedule.

Has a lot of money. You're kind of concerned where she gets it from. 

But that just means she can treat you 👏. Vacations to wherever you want baby.

Overall, it’s a very good, fun and healthy relationship. You teach each other things and make a ton of memories together. 

Isn’t really looking forward to having to face your death if you don’t become immortal but hahaha we’re done with angst headcanons for now-

I’m done for now I could go on all day in more detail but I’m sick so thank you for reading and leave a comment, like, share, reblog, whatever ;)

[electricbluebutterflies]

Could you do an 'I didn't know I was pregnant prompt' where somehow Abby, who's a doctor and won't ever live it down, doesn't realize that she's pregnant until she's in labor. Possibly with it being conveniently when she's alone bar delinquents, and someone has to go track down Kane and inform him of what's going on.

Canon-divergent from early s3 ish. Also featuring Raven being awesome and Clarke trying not to have a breakdown, so hopefully I wrote those two darlings okay. Content warning for vague / non-graphic and questionably medically accurate descriptions of childbirth. PG13ish for that and also swear words. Also on ao3.

The thing about quiet is it doesn’t last. She should’ve knownbetter.

It’s been a year, maybe a little more than that. Time flowsdifferently here, but one of the kids – and Abby knows they are not that anymore,most of them are so much more capable than her, but in her mind they are stillso small – is pretty sure they saw a snowflake yesterday. So, bit more than ayear. And about a year since she broke down and let herself be reckless and…

All of this hits her in the worst way as she realizes whather body is doing. This pain is not cramps, but she can’t blame herself forgetting confused, it’s been a while since she’s had her normal cycle and-

Yeah. This is what she gets for ignoring her own body aswell as she does. Dammit.

The worst part is, Abby thinks as she paces across herworkspace because so help her she is not letting this nor anything else stopher, she justified everything. Her last implant had expired shortly after shewas widowed, and she’d passed on getting another one because she was on theedge of forty and had zero plans to ever let anyone else touch her and she didn’twant to waste resources like that, and she’d just… forgotten about that detaila year and a half later when she’d gone and taken a new lover anyways. With orwithout the implant, her cycles were always erratic and she stopped trying topredict that ages ago. Nausea got justified when she wasn’t the only person whoate bad meat (turns out mutant might’ve-descended-from-a-raccoon needs to be cookedlonger than that attempt was); a little weight gain because she iseating more, because that’s a possibility now. Said weight pooling in herabdomen is normal enough for a woman her age, right?

She justified everything, she was wrong, and now she is-

Fuck.

Okay, so right now pants are a mistake. They’re soakedthrough anyways, and somehow the idea of someone wandering in and seeing hernaked from the hips down is one of the less embarrassing details of this wholedisaster. Normal people have seven or eight months to process imminent parenthoodbefore it comes. She won’t even have that many hours. Supposedly births getquicker the more a person has had, and given her track record there…

Another wave of pain hits and she grabs the edge of the tablefor support. At least she’s having this crisis – she is trying to use everyword for it but what it is, and she will go through the guilt spiral later – inmedical. Ideal place for this nightmare. If she has to give birth on herown, as is looking more and more likely, at least she is doing so in a safeplace. That’s about the only thing going right here.

There is, after all, the small issue of her partner havingno damn clue about any of this.

Last she checked – and she tries not to hover, she is notthat kind of woman and their more recent trust in each other has eliminatedsome of her tendencies – Marcus is out on a hunting / scavenging daytrip. Whichmeans he may or may not be back before this is over. Either way, explaining howshe managed to be oblivious for close to nine months about something so significantis not going to be a good time and she is more than a little nervous about thatand-

Abby hears the door open behind her. Great. Now thenightmare is complete.

“Are you…” Raven, thank goodness, at least the intruder issomeone who occasionally has common sense. “Screw that, you’re not okay.”

“How willing are you to believe things right now?” Abbyasks, turning her head to look at her friend. Group bonding across generationsis rough, but she sees a different kind of potential in the younger woman thanmost people do. Like this one, if she doesn’t accidentally kill herself beforeshe turns thirty, has some serious untapped leadership potential. And moreimportantly right now, Raven is extremely well-connected and has a highertolerance for crazy than most people. So, again, ideal person.

“From you, pretty cooperative,” Raven shrugs. “What happenedslash who do I need to electrocute?”

“I somehow managed to ignore being pregnant and… it’scoming.” And saying it out loud sounds even more damning than realizing it herselfhalf an hour ago, dragging another person into this mess with her and puttingthat weight on someone who doesn’t need it. “Feel free to judge me.”

“Nah. Not sure what you need me to do but…”

“Get someone. Anyone. Nothing against you as a person but Ido not trust you to-“

Another contraction hits before Abby can sufficientlyexplain why she’d rather not have someone who interacts with technology betterthan people as her backup here. Great. If she factors in the number of timesthis has happened that she really did think were cramps, and how long it’s beensince closing her legs felt like a good idea… shit. Yeah no. There will be noexplaining this to her partner before it’s too late.

“What I’m hearing is radio your idiot and tell him to gethis ass back here as soon as humanly possible but do not tell him whybecause that’ll break him, grab the first person I can find who I’d trust tocatch something and send them in here to help you, and go through the storageroom and hope there’s still baby clothes in that one box I found some in lastmonth. Anything I’m missing?”

If Abby were more mobile, and/or felt less like her body wasabout to explode, she would hug Raven right now. “Yes. I… yes. Thank you.”

“And try to keep this on a need-to-know basis. Far as anyoneelse is concerned, you figured out you were incubating at a normal enough timebut you decided to keep quiet about it because you hate attention. That work?”

“I’m not sure that’s going to be believable when-“

“It’s believable if you’re a couple weeks before your duedate and you can pass that particular dramatic shitshow off as being more aboutthe timing.”

“I’m not sure if you’re an angel or an evil genius.”

“I’d like to think I’m both,” Raven laughs. “Now, if youthink you have enough time here for me to do that, I’m gonna go.”

Abby assesses herself quickly. Unless something somehow goeseven more wrong, she’s got at least half an hour here. “I’ll be alright.”

And again she is alone, she thinks as the door closes behindher. This is… not an absolute worst-case scenario, but pretty damn close. At best,she’s got a lot of explaining to do when it’s all over. At worst…

Describing this as an accident is a serious understatement. Therehas been no conversation about whether or not to have kids together. It neverseemed necessary. They’re older enough that the risk seemed so low, and therearen’t restrictions on that here, and she didn’t think…

She didn’t think. That’s what this all comes down to. A temporaryvacation from her normal instincts and look what that got her. No time tomentally prepare for a tiny vulnerable creature, no time to think about theimplications for her relationship, no time to even find out if her partnerwants this enough to stick around for it, no time to-

Getting closer. She is not attempting to measure herself butshe can feel the process. Timing-wise, she probably is a few weeks earlyhere, in that comfortable space where that won’t mean any problems for thelittle creature and a normal person’s biggest concern would be not being quitedone with their preparations. Whereas she has done no preparations, whatlittle of her fate isn’t in her own hands right now has been entrusted to atwenty-one-year-old who has even less of a baseline for this, and-

It’s all too much, and Abby starts crying. Most confusedemotional release she’s ever had, not sure if it’s stress or fear or pain oranticipation or probably all of those at once. Overload enough that the nextcontraction feels muted by comparison, overload enough to overlook how uncomfortablethis all is.

It’s just a little ironic that this started bent over atable and it may well end that way too, at the rate she’s going. That’ll be funny,in a couple months when any of this can be, maybe.

She hears the door open again and this time multiplefootsteps, this time she is too exhausted to even turn her head, this time-

“Mom? What the hell?”

Limited options, Abby reminds herself. Limited options ofpeople she would trust to be her backup here, and her own – possibly soon to beolder? – daughter is one of them.

“Clarke, I can-“

“Raven filled me in,” Clarke mutters, sounding so familiarlydisapproving. Abby’s always thought her daughter takes much more after her latehusband, but sometimes there are familiar flickers in there. “You basicallyneed me to catch it.”

“Basically, yes. There should be some towels in-“

“I know where things are. Learned my organization systemfrom you.”

“And I can grab stuff,” Raven adds. That would be the secondset of feet, the bright-red jacket Abby can see in her peripheral vision. “Iwould rather not see the nightmare fuel here but I can hold things or whatever.”

“Any luck with-“

Abby swears she can somehow hear Raven roll her eyes. “Wrongperson picked up, but we tried. The group at least knows something is goingdown here and hopefully I yelled enough to-“

The next pain is strong enough to blur Abby’s vision. “Nextone is it.” She’s amazed she can even talk clearly right now, but her presenceis not going away just because she’s in a crisis. She’s gotten through worse. Rarelybeen on this end of it, rarely felt so helpless, but she will not let anythingstop her. “Be ready.”

Around her, the girls attempt as much prep as they can. Abbydoes not know what they’re doing, does not think about it. There is only this. Thereis her, and the little creature that is about to exit her body, and her olderchild who is surprisingly calm about all of this, and another member of theirfamily who is at least trying to do the same, and a black hole where herpartner should be and-

She screams.

She lets it be a blur. She does not want to remember thesefew moments.

She knows one of the girls is hovering under her with alarge towel in hand, and the other one is yelling, and she doesn’t know whichis which and she doesn’t care. She knows that this is at least a familiar pain,and the first part is the worst, and the little creature – now officially hersecond child, she will let herself process that later – is slick andcooperative and how the child of two such stubborn people is so easy to dealwith in its first moments she does not know but-

“I have a little sister,” Clarke says somewhere in thebackground.

Abby wants to collapse. Wants to sleep for a very long time.She focuses on her body, on all the things she knows. There is still pain, waitingfor the afterbirth to come out. She suspects she’s torn but not as badly as itcould’ve been, and her breasts ache and at some point soon that too will beuseful, and-

She fades out. Exhaustion is a wonderful thing. She knowsher body will do what it needs to, and she trusts the girls enough, and… shecan’t do this anymore.

When she wakes up, she’s somehow been moved to the cot –which means someone else has seen her questionable condition, great, just whatshe doesn’t need – and she’s in a clean shirt and someone has placed cold clothbetween her legs to help the hurting and-

“You really didn’t know?”

She’s not awake enough for this shit.

Abby turns her head and yep, there is her partner (but howmuch longer can she call him that, she wonders) in a chair someone must’vebrought in, looking at her like he does not know where to start but he has alot of questions. It’s been a while since she’s had to interpret that look, andshe is concerned.

“I didn’t know,” she repeats. “You’ve known me since we werechildren, you know I can justify anything, I thought-“

“Alright.” And now for the scary-calm. That particularversion has evolved over the past year and a half or so, as Marcus has learned howto be more of a person, but she still knows it too well. He’s harder to readthis way, and more dangerous to those around him. “When I found out… I thought…”

“Do you really think I would’ve hidden this from you if I’dknown?”

“I had to ask.”

“I wouldn’t… I just went through hell,” she hisses. “Involuntarily.Again. And I wouldn’t have had to if I’d paid more attention to myself but youknow I don’t-“

“I believe you.”

She’s not sure she believes him right now, but she isstill too exhausted to move so that fight can wait a day or two. “Where is…” Shedoesn’t know the right word. My daughter? Ours? Which of those will hold longer?

“Raven’s looking after her. You needed to rest, and… I canlook after you here, Raven can keep the baby in her workshop except when sheneeds to feed.”

Abby rolls her eyes. Yeah, keep a newborn in the mostdangerous place in the settlement, great idea. On the other hand, Raven’sspace is at least warm. “And you’re…”

“Still processing,” Marcus finishes. “Someone tried to radious but we were a few miles out, and when we got back I didn’t have time tothink before someone shoved what looked like a bundle of towels in my arms and…”

“It is yours. If that was going to be your next question.”

“It wasn’t. But good to know.”

“I just… I ignored everything, and I…”

He reaches out for her hand, and even that feels like toomuch physical contact right now but it’s a nice gesture anyways. “I’m notblaming you.”

“Well that’s new,” she mutters. He’s been decent for a year,she should have more faith, but… “Are you going to stay?”

And now for the look of stunned horror, the wide eyes and haltedbreaths and for a moment she’s broken him. “Am I… how is that a question?!”

“You are aware how many bad choices I’ve made here…”

“You’ve always been a little impulsive,” he counters. “And stubborn.And usually right. And I don’t know why you think this kind of innocent mistakewould push me away.”

“It’s a screaming liability of a mistake?”

“It’s ours. And I want… if you want…”

“Yeah. You’ve never done this before. You do not realize thehell you’ve just volunteered for.”

“I’m with you. How bad could it be.”

He leans down and kisses her forehead, and the scratch ofhis beard is way too much, and… yeah. They’ll be okay.

[brooklel]

my thoughts on worlds end club, under the cut because it’ll probably be long and also spoilers

so i bought the game today at around 9am and played it until i beat it at around 11:30pm ish? so ha uh yeah it took a little while but i was very enthralled in the story

the story and characters are hands down the best part of the game. compared to literally any of the danganronpa games, i like the cast of characters so much more. like there’s always one or two in a danganronpa games group that i just don’t like but in wec i loved all of them. i’d usually dislike chuko’s tsundere character type but i actually ended up liking her. my least favorite is probably dragon power ranger kid whatshisname but i don’t hate him or anything i just found him to be the weakest character tbh. but i do really like his character design

speaking of the character designs OOF they’re all so good. i didn’t realize until looking up stuff on the characters but they’re all based on the animals of the Chinese zodiac which is cool and the design elements are subtle and it’s not narratively important but i mean they didn’t need to be. there’s a few offhand remarks here and there like comparing kansai to a tiger and chuko to a rat but they’re not really shoved in your face which is nice

oh also i wanna compliment pai in particular. she’s the boar character which first of all i feel like people would usually make male, and if they made her female, then she would be angry and stubborn and probably not conventionally attractive but she’s not any of those! also she’s a little heavier than the rest of the girls which 1. makes her even more adorable, and 2. no one in the game brings up or makes fun of her for which is nice. mowchan sadly didn’t get exactly the same treatment he was still the fat comic relief character. he deserved so much better.

the art is all so pretty as well like i already loved the art style from pokemon and in wec it’s even more exaggerated and i live for it. i also like the movie they’re watching at the beginning has more realistic humans that’s just kinda funny.

the humor is pretty good i guess but what i’m really here for is the fun childish but realistic portrayal of friendship and emotions like it does kinda take me back to my own little group of friends in elementary school, where sometimes there would be disagreements, but we were still always friends

i loved reicho as a canonically mute protag and how none of his friends ever minded or even brought it up like that’s so cute. but the reveal that reicho was basically just a big puppet kinda just made it feel a little different... like idk how to explain it but yeah

ANYWAY here’s my obligatory paragraph about pochi because he’s my son now. the writers knew what they were doing by making him a kinda shy gamer kid bc they knew people were gonna relate to him even when he had a somewhat smaller role in the story before turning into the full fledged protagonist. anyway this robot puppy boy is my son i will protect him

the scene where pochi basically gets dunked on by the rest of the team is weird to me like idk it just feels out of character for most of them to be like lol yeah pochis useless RIGHT after he drove an entire train to one of the specific places that those special mushrooms grow and now they can all see vanilla

also kinda unrelated but this is my second game in the past few months where i correctly guessed one of the characters was voiced by megumi ogata because dang i just love her voice. this time it was pochi and the other one was the protag in the famicom detective club games. i legit heard one line and was like HOL UP and googled it lmao

i’m still confused on why the story takes place in the 90s. it doesn’t have a particularly 90s aesthetic and most of the technology just doesn’t match up with 90s tech. like i feel like it works better if it takes place more near present day. if there’s more cultural reasons then i’m not sure what they are but i’m really curious about this. the game is very reliant on japanese culture and locations, which isn’t a bad thing but i’m an ignorant american who was also born after the 90s so im wondering if there’s some specific reason why it’s SPECIFICALLY 90s japan

oh yeah i haven’t even talked about the gameplay yet. it’s.... shitty. maybe i’m a little biased because i’m not a big platformer girl but even so it’s just not.... good...... i kinda got myself soft locked one time because a big snowman guy was blocking my way and i had no way to kill him or get around him, luckily you can just restart from your last checkpoint but still. some of the special abilities/attacks just didn’t feel that good to use, like dragon boi’s and chuko’s felt too short range at times and jennu’s and aniki’s felt a little too slow. the rest were fine i guess. the only one i felt like was done well was kansai’s.

i played on easy mode cuz it was the default one that was highlighted and idk if it effects the platforming sections or the “puzzles” but the puzzles were way too easy. most of them just felt like they were checking that you paid basic attention to the story. the ones at the end are somewhat harder but i still didn’t have any problems with them. the stuff the outright tell you would have mad better puzzles like the xxy thing but at the same time were you even supposed to realize that? the otherworlder aka you i guess says it like no big deal but like i guess the middle x looked slightly different? but not enough to be like OH OBVIOUSLY ITS X TIMES Y. on the flipside i solved the heaven map puzzle before i even had all of the pieces. i guess i have to give it some slack though because it would probably be a bit harder if you didn’t really know english kinda like the danganronpa 11037 thing

also am i just stupid or how were you supposed to know the year the phone displayed was the y number in that puzzle? i forgot to get it before trying to solve the puzzle so i knew it corresponded to the y because it was the only clue i didn’t have so i didn’t have to think about it that hard but like did the phone have something to do with the letter y or was it just like a what clue haven’t i used kinda thing

anyway apologies for the super long post if you read the whole thing then wow thanks i guess? anyway in conclusion pochi is my son