#it was a very long and gruesome process though because they had to do a bunch of other shit to make it happen-

[avamoeba]

life update for tha mutuals👯‍♂️💕

[itsabouttimex2]

Taken Abroad is sooo good! And the accompanying memes are great too 💖

Bro imagine if demon reader went full hardcore one day and just keeps letting to circlets dig into their flesh and bone until their hands just fall off, using the second they separate to vanish. Like they are a forest demon, so what if they just regrow their hands? Or make prosthetic nature ones? Like I’m sure their freedom wouldn’t last long (thanks to Monkey King’s gold vision) but I’d love to see the group’s reaction to such gruesome determination!

Taken Aboard:

Amputation

I’m glad you like it! I really thought that the Journeyfam should have a mix of goofy and tragic, because the novel itself can get pretty damn funny.

Another ‘funny’ thing? This little stunt wouldn’t work at all. Given what we know about Wukong’s powers, he can rip his head off and regenerate it (His beheading contest with the Tiger Strength Immortal in the novel) and since he’s still got the circlet after that…

Y/N will still have theirs.

And obviously no one is happy to see that this child would do something so horribly gruesome and bloody to themself, leaving to a wide array of horrified reactions.

Ao Lie is devastated that you would hurt yourself for any reason at all. Once you’ve been dragged back to camp by the snickering Monkey King, the dragon prince rushes to your side and snatches you up, nuzzling you to his chest. “Oh, I’m glad you’re alright! You poor little thing, what were you thinking? Trying to slice those bands off! Sweetie, what if something had gone wrong during the regrowing process? Here, let Brother Lie wash the blood off of you!”

He dotes on you for a good hour or two, starting by thoroughly scrubbing you down in a shallow washbasin. (He heats the water in his draconic form.) There’s a mixture of very light scolding and extraordinary concern, scraping all across your body with a wooden bath brush. Once you’re nice and clean you get wrapped up in one of his spare robes to dry off, forced to sit and listen to one of the monk’s lectures as Lie brushes out and braids your hair.

“I think you need to start sleeping in Brother Lie’s tent from now on, sweetie. Maybe it’ll help to keep those little feet from wandering, hmm?”

His voice is gentle, even as you’re forcibly stuffed into a thick sleeping bag, the same one that Lie always uses. For a moment you think he’s simply going to watch you to prevent any further escapades, but then he squishes in beside you, wrapping you tight in his arms.

“Sleep well, sweetie. Big brother will keep you safe.”

———————————————————————-

Sun Wukong laughs at you first, having tried the same thing by: smashing his forehead inwards, shattering his skull entirely, ripping his head off, etc. “You could have just asked for some advice on the cuffs, bud. I would’ve told ya that they jump back to your real body, y’know!”

His hands work through the tangled locks of your hair, plucking out juicy bugs and crunchy twigs. “Shut up,” you huff, squirming around in his lap. “I hate them. And you wouldn’t have known whether or not it would’ve worked! You only have one of them!” ��S’not fair,” he half-heartedly agrees, if only to set up his next few word. “You should’ve just had one- around your neck to shut you up!”

The Great Sage giggles as you lunge at him, dodging your attempt to bite his wrist. “Easy, easy! C’mon, I was just teasing you!” He grabs your waist and wrestles you to the ground, his fingers dragging lightly across your skin as he tries to force a few giggles or even just a smile out of you. Between angry laughs you manage to throw a punch, feeling his snout bend under your hand.

And though it doesn’t hurt worse than a mild sting, Wukong is still a little astounded that his ‘little sibling’ got outright violent with him. “…you know what, bud? Maybe you do need some ‘quiet time’. I’m gonna keep you here in my lap for a few more hours, I think. And! No saying even a word!”

And before you can argue or complain he tacks on a “How bout I tell you another story from my time back in Flower Fruit Mountain, huh?” Of course you get a story, because this isn’t really a punishment, after all. He’s just framing it as one so you ‘have’ to sit and spend time with one. He’s a pretty clever monkey.

“…a story about killing hunters?”

“Sure thing, kiddo.”

———————————————————————-

Sha Wujing has no words. He’s hurt and saddened that you would do this to yourself, nearly in tears at the sight of your wounds. He finally has people who accept not only his mistakes and misdeed, but his demonic form alongside them.

And now one has done this.

To Wujing, this isn’t just a team of random travelers. This is his family. You are his family. And he cannot bear to see you so upset and distraught that you might switch to such gruesome and self-injurious behaviors.

The river demon will switch to baby gloves afterwards, treating you like a porcelain figure that is bound to shatter when mishandled.

He’ll carry you on his shoulders and his back and in his arms, squishing your tiny form perfectly into his protective chest. For hours on end the demon will usher you about, never daring to let you free from the safety and security that his power offers.

Instead of allowing you to feed yourself, Wujing will first cut your meals into pieces and then feed them to you piece by piece, ensuring that you won’t choke (intentionally or otherwise) on them. And he won’t let you get dressed alone, either. Sleeves are a useful tool, after all.

He sees the severance of your limbs more as a form of “self-harm” than an attempt to escape, unfortunately for you. It leads him to think of you as a danger to yourself that needs to be properly wrangled and tended to.

All you can do when he’s around from then on is submit to “Brother Sand���s” loving care, and pray he might stop thinking of you as unstable and prone to breakage.

———————————————————————-

Zhu Bajie is thoroughly disgusted, though that revulsion is born mostly of worry. Nobody wants to see a kid slice off their own wrists, and he certainly wasn’t hoping to see you standing in a puddle of your own blood, your torn flesh bubbling sizzling and bubbling up as it regrew.

And he especially didn’t want something so awful to happen to his little sibling. Not to someone so very precious to him.

Bajie really just… doesn’t know what to do.

You’re hurt. Usually this scenario ends with him either eating a human or smashing a demon’s head open with his nine-tooth rake. And he’d fight off the monk’s reprimands with his own volley of justifications. “Y/N is a child! Any jerk who would hurt them is unforgivable!” He’d declare, his mouth stained with fresh crimson. “A demon who would put their hands on a child is just a monster, that’s all,” the pig might yell, clutching you to his chest protectively.

Neither of those are options when you’ve the person that hurt you is yourself.

All the swine can really do is hold you and try not to scream your ear off about never hurting yourself again, rocking back and forth like he’s trying to soothe a baby to sleep.

Maybe that will help.

Maybe if he holds you long enough and keeps his grip tight, Bajie can prevent you from being hurt by anyone or anything ever again.

Or maybe it’s just his way of keeping you from leaving him and this little family again.

———————————————————————-

Tang Sanzang, reasonable man that he is, understands that you’re not in a great headspace right now. If things got so bad that you viewed the gory removal of your arms as a reasonable option to escape, then what you need isn’t further punishment… but a firm and guiding hand.

So the monk refrains from the sutra and chooses instead to tend to your fragile condition. Reassurance that he isn’t angry at what you’ve done to yourself, a promise that you’re already forgiven for running. I think he’s likely to mandate constant surveillance of you from now, always to be under the eye of either him or one of his disciples.

He tends any wounds or aches with balm, stitches the tears in your clothing, then puts you to bed with a canteen of water at your side.

His well of patience is truly endless, only leaving room for an occasional reprimand or a quick tightening of the blessed bands on your wrists. There’s no lashing out, no brutal punishments.

Hurting yourself has not changed that.

Sanzang will spend each early morning before travel checking you over for new wounds and changing out any bandages you’ve got wrapped around old injuries.

The Great Monk stills cherishes you, of course. He’ll never stop cherishing you.

He’s just a little more gentle with that love now.

[hotdaemondtargaryen]

TOM GLYNN-CARNEY INTERVIEWED BY HOLLYWOOD REPORTER MAGAZINE.

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO READING THIS GRUESOME TURN OF EVENTS WHEN YOU FIRST LEARNED ABOUT IT?

"I knew it was coming."

"When it was coming, I wasn’t aware."

"But my immediate reaction was about how it came together by our amazing writers with this sort of amazing, theatrical, rousing, terrifying, unpredictable craftsmanship that I was very happy to be on the receiving end of."

FIRST LOOKING BACK ON EPISODE FOUR, WHILE IT SEEMED PRETTY OBVIOUS TO THE VIEWER, I'M WONDERING WHAT DO YOU THINK WAS GOING THROUGH AEGON'S MIND WHEN HE GOT ON SUNFYRE AND WENT CHARGING INTO THE BATTLE?

"He’d been a bit backed into a corner by all the things that have accumulated over time with being king, where his worst fears and insecurities were coming into plain sight and becoming true."

"He felt weak, and he was seen as weak, and kind of useless — with what Alicent (Olivia Cooke) had said to him (“Do nothing”) in his chamber, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back."

And he was just resigned: “I don’t have any option, I’ve got to prove myself in some way.”

"But you know, being the way he is, and not being an actual warrior with that sort of fearless courage that other people have, he had to numb himself and so he got blind drunk and jumped on a dragon."

HOW DO YOU THINK HE FELT ABOUT AEMOND'S BETRAYAL? IT SEEMED LIKE IT WAS CLEAR? I DID WONDER IF AEGON WAS TRULY SURPRISED...

"I think the moment of recognition was the fact that the fireball was coming at it."

"I don’t think he had time to think that he’s done this on purpose."

"If those thoughts are to come off, they will probably come later."

"As a viewer, I’m still unsure."

"I want people to make up their own minds."

THERE'S AN ARGUMENT TO BE MADE THAT SINCE THE BATTLE, AS DISASTROUS AS IT WAS, WAS EVENTUALLY WON, THAT HE SAVED THE DAY? AEGON THE HERO? OR NO.

"You’ve got to take them where you can get them."

"Yeah, he’s a hero."

WHAT'S THE PROSTHETIC PROCESS LIKE FOR YOU MOVING FORWARD?

"Long."

"Very detailed."

"I got to know my amazing hair and makeup team very well."

"I also got to know myself very well."

HOW DO YOU MEAN?

"The amount of time I was spending in that chair with those people in my own thoughts…. But yeah, [the prosthetics] really influences and informs my performance."

"It sort of instructs me how to move now."

"How you breathe, how you speak changes."

"I have a piece inside my mouth that I asked for to sort of distort my speech."

"So all this is great because it makes me feel like we’ve made a shift."

"Aegon has to have changed after this."

"We’re going to find a difference in him and and allow that to continue and [impact] his decisions and have a new approach to life."

YOU'VE MENTIONED CHANGING HOW HE MOVES. IN A PREVIOUS INTERVIEW YOU MENTIONED HOW AEGON USED TO MOVE DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU DO. WHAT WAS THAT DIFFERENCE?

"He’s a little bit more hunched."

"He is a bit narrower."

"I feel it’s a bit weak and more weaselly."

IS IT WEIRDLY MORE FUN TO PLAY HIM AS NOW? BECAUSE THIS IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH MORE THEATRICAL, IN A WAY.

"Yeah! It feels like we’ve transitioned from Richard II to Richard III, if that makes any sense to you."

"Almost like a level up — though on paper, obviously, it’s a level down."

"I think what he loses physically he gains emotionally and mentally."

"I’m trying to see it like that."

THERE'S OBVIOUSLY A PARALLEL THERE TO HOW VISERYS WAS AT THE END, INFIRM AND GHOULISH. DID THAT INFORM YOUR PROCESS AT ALL?

"I mean, it’s just fraught with danger, isn’t it?"

"Having a crown on your head."

"Something nasty is going to happen to you at some point."

"Isn’t it being not having my crown on yet?"

"There’s definitely a Viserys comparison, especially toward his final days and in bed."

"No quality of life whatsoever."

"It was only weeks, months before his dad was in that same position and in that same bed."

LET'S SAY HIS FATE WASN'T LITERALLY WRITTEN. WHAT, IDEALLY, WOULD YOU WANT FOR YOUR AEGON'S FATE?

"I want it to be, in an ideal world, for there to be an opportunity to prove himself and make decisions that he has made — not somebody else who thinks they know better."

"To carve out his own path as king."

"And then just see if he fucks it up as much as people think he might."

"I’d like to give him the space and the time to work it out."

"It’s a dangerous request because they could go horribly wrong."

"I think people underestimate him."

I FOUND IT INTERESTING THAT NOT ONE PERSON SAT BY HIS BEDSIDE OR HELD HIS HAND OR TRIED TO COMFORT HIM IN ANY WAY — AT LEAST NOT IN THIS EPISODE. SEEMS PRETTY HARSH.

"It’s desperately, desperately sad."

"Aegon is a boy in a man’s body and all he’s ever wanted is to be shown love and made to feel seen or not judged."

"All these things that he’s done in the past that have given him a reputation, I believe he’s felt that any attention is good attention."

"Unfortunately, he’s made a name for himself now — people kind of want to keep their distance and they see him as a poisoned chalice."

"At the end of the day, he’s a product of his history."

"He hasn’t had the emotional intelligence to be able to deal with that in a healthy way and move forward from it."

"Back then, therapy wasn’t really a thing, was it?"

"He’s been left to his own devices."

[eldritch-spouse]

GIMMIE THE ANGST IT FEELS TO WARM AND FUZZY AROUND HERE

 (I -I really like like your characters Pinnie)

When Adrul takes full control of Perdition that means most, if not all, of the Ring’s inhabitants respect and fear him. As his partner nobody would dare to harm us -we’re mostly safe, but not completely. 

There has to be some radical group somewhere that believes a half human demigod doesn’t deserve to rule. 

So what would happen if, on a day Adrul had some important business with his parents at the clergy, his beloved was attacked and succumbed to her wounds before Adrul could return? Despite all the protection placed around them and the highest medical care, they still died. Adrul wasn’t quick enough. He wasn’t prepared. He miscalculated. He wasn’t as in control as he thought he was -and that cost him his heart.

What are Belo, Admin, Miara, and Krulu’s thoughts about this?

What does Adelo think of him now that he’s finally failed at something?

How much of Krulu’s callous apathy did Adrul inherit?

[Hellow and thenk you!- I'll humor the scenario, but know that it is out of character, Adrul is far too cautious to leave you, supervised or not, in any part of Hell while he's in the surface.]

TW: Death; Gore; Torture; Suicidal ideation.

For as much as his Lord-Father wishes he take command of Hell, sometimes Adrul has to agree with his celestial father. Demons are the scum of this planet. They're the lowest of the low, the most disgusting lifeforms to ever enter the planes of existence. Made out of spite, made to spite-

Belo had always been right. Perdition doesn't need to be ruled over, it needs to be decimated. Torn asunder, rent to a crisp. And its verminous inhabitants should be hunted down to the very last curly-tailed imp...

But alas, orders are orders, and Adrul's fate had been spun long before his mother birthed him. So Hell still stands, mocking the universe.

Sometimes, now more than ever, Adrul feels that he's a clown. A fool made to lord himself over degenerates. It's a sinking feeling that curls in his gut like poison, and now, he has no means of escaping it.

See, demons, in their endlessly abundant mental stunting, fail to grasp that Adrul is not some half-human nitwit. He's less than a tenth human, if he had to guess... Father weaved his power into both his and Adelo's development during pregnancy, there is absolutely no way he would have allowed a half-lesser child. They both know this, and truthfully, are also grateful for such.

But again, demons are just brainless. They're hardly even people, in Adrul's eyes. So it's no wonder they can't put two and two together, it's no shock groups of overconfident scumfucks gather to plot against the King of Perdition on a daily basis.

Adrul simply... Underestimated them.

It's something harrowingly painful to admit.

Because it implies he's getting out of touch, he's lowering his guard too much, getting tired maybe. It means he's succumbing to something, that his thought process is deteriorating, that he's not as competent as his parents trained him to be, that he's a let-down, useless- He makes mistakes because he is a mistake, they're all extensions of him.

And his biggest mistake, was letting his heart die.

Carelessly tossing you to a brutal end, the details of which gruesome enough that Adrul can't bare to recall lest he fly into another soul-shattering meltdown. His most selfish action, marking the day he lost everything.

Adrul's reaction to your death was stone cold.

He's never been good with displaying emotion. Never been very facially expressive, strayed from hysteric tones, hardly laughed and hardly cried. Though, in that moment, he felt that he didn't react because he simply couldn't. Reacting would have killed him. It would have broken his mind beyond saving.

The servants didn't know what to do, rushing back and forth, too afraid to direct any words at him, everyone hovering around the scene of the crime, trying not to touch what's left of your body or the mess that spattered the rest of the area.

Adrul collected your butchered remains silently, slowly following the trail of blood leading to other divisions, indicating you had put up a valiant fight. The constant dripping off your torn body echoed through the walls, reminding him that it was over. That you were gone, that he would never get to hold you again, or hear your voice, feel your touch. He would never love again. He would never want again, he would never live again.

Hell burns. But Adrul is cold.

You were handed over to people he knew could never betray him, ordering them to fix your form as perfectly as they could- Because their lives depended on it. And while that happened, the prince crowned King went hunting for the animals that did this, the insects who couldn't even fathom the horrors they'd face.

It wasn't hard. Adrul knows how to manipulate crowds. Turn them against each other. All he had to do was identify the culprits, offer compensation, and allow the entirety of demonkind to turn against each other, a slaughter the likes of which not even Kalymir could dream of. The Icons themselves are involved in this search, which means whatever rebellious sect initiated this had less than days to get their shit kicked in.

Most of them were brought to him captured, alive. Others dragged in dead. Some stragglers who made it to the surface in hopes of escaping were severely wounded but there nonetheless. Adrul kept the leaders to himself.

And then, he loaded the rest into a transportation device, preparing to visit the surface, and bring the news to his family...

Adrul hadn't shed a tear yet.

Admin was devastated. She could not imagine a fate more disturbing for the human Adrul favored, for the one her, Belo and Krulu approved of. A lesser truly worthy of uniting with her son... She was the first to offer Adrul solace and comfort, and the first to see him react minimally, face twitching erratically, silent tears flowing down his face. She understood Adrul is just like his Father, that he doesn't show what he's really feeling most of the time, that she shouldn't expect him to bear his heart to her in this time- But she wouldn't be a good mom if she didn't make it very clear that Adrul needs to process things and mourn you properly. Easier said than done. She couldn't imagine the grief it would cause if either one of her partners died, if she died.

Adelo, for once, took something seriously. Adrul had spared him a venomous look upon first sight, as if expecting the angel hybrid to crack a tasteless joke, and it genuinely wounded him to know his brother thought that little of Adelo. He's always been bad with wording things, so the older brother merely offered his condolences and volunteered any sort of necessary help. He could tell Adrul was dead inside the moment he glanced upon his brother, having learned to read the monster quite well. It was hard to witness, and he figured he ought to keep his distance for a while.

Belo was equally stunned. That's always been the problem with lessers, hasn't it? They're endlessly fragile, they need constant surveillance, constant protection- A herculean task. Like Admin, he cried for his son, he joined in her comforting efforts, using his properties as a celestial to offer calm, and did his best to guide poor Adrul into calm mindsets. Belo knows what it's like to want to drown one's sorrow in work, productivity is oftentimes a coping mechanism, so he urged his son to work and help around as he visited, keeping him safe from his thoughts, gentle silence shared.

Krulu's gaze is hard. Adrul did fail, he said to his own son's face. That was failure, there's no escaping it. And before Adrul's soul could shatter deeper, the siadar proclaimed that Adrul didn't have the luxury of following you. Adrul is bigger than you and he serves a purpose that precedes your involvement in his life. You were a marvelous lesser, and he recognizes his son loved you more than anything- For his eyes blazed with the same intensity around you as his do towards Admin. Although it may have felt that way, Krulu reminds his inwardly grieving, breaking son that not all was lost. That he couldn't let himself fail further.

Miara deflated like a balloon at the news. She was looking forward to seeing you and him become a big, happy family. Adrul was hastily invited into her main lands, and after some bickering with both Krulu and Belo, Miara convinced the stubborn bulls that their son needed rest, distraction, care. Not pain, not being around people who remind him of his responsibilities. Adrul needed healing of the highest degree, he seemed to attract misery and those who covet it like moths to a flame. To see wraiths hover around his vicinity like vultures was infuriating and extremely disappointing. She had wisdom to impart on the demi-siadar, and more than enough nurture to spare, as well as guidance for Admin in how to care for her wounded son.

The rebellious demons who had been transported to the surface were handed to none other than his Lord-Father.

Adrul knew that, no matter how creative he got, Krulu would always be able to unleash torture the likes of which he can't even conceive of. Seeing the mind-shattering terror on the demons' faces as they got swept into the bowels of The Clergy's Eye, taken into the depths of it by his Father, it was something truly marvelous.

Krulu used these demons for just about everything, spending most of his free time delighting in their meticulous torture. For once, his chosen and his dove were invited to see the process, to aid in it. Not Adrul, Adrul was still too shattered to glimpse into those instances and Krulu knew that. Although, his son does get a couple of "finished pieces" sent back to his residence in Perdition, with a message from the higher suggesting that he should display them where all could see. Beautiful omens born out of pointless lives. Adrul did like them, enough to show them to the mangled leaders of the resistance.

They don't get to die, naturally.

After all, Adrul didn't get to die either. To this day, he's not afforded that luxury. He has to drag himself onwards with his many legs, pretending to feel any sort of drive for anything, pretending he doesn't just want to loiter around the garden the two of you made, now a burial ground of unimaginable beauty, and curl up next to your headstone for the rest of time.

Adrul was merciless and blind to morals when he hunted down the families of those leading demons. He forced them to stay by his side, bound and gagged and screaming, because they knew exactly what was going to happen when the King ordered his most loyal warriors to bludgeon and massacre and do anything they wanted to those innocent lives. Wives, parents, sons and daughters- Adrul smiled, grinned, it was the first time he laughed ever since you were taken from him.

The demi-siadar almost wished he was a wraith, just so he could savor the pain his prisoners felt as they froze, or erupted into hysterical babbling, screaming at the top of their lungs until their throats tore.

Adelo and Adrul are sons of Protector Saudramar, of Plaguemaster, of Lord-Master Krulu.

Sure, they may also be born of Admin and Belo, elements that keep them minimally grounded, bearable. Still, it would be foolish to assume they couldn't choose their Father's path when poked just right.

The King of Hell became something uncontrollably evil.

Adrul is now consumed by a rage not too distant from that of Krulu's. Having his most important element in life mauled to an untimely end, then forced to rule over the cretins that did it, forced to think in their best interests and keep them safe, keep the comfortable.

As if they fucking deserve the bare minimum consideration.

He can't take it.

He can't fucking take it anymore.

That's why Adrul seizes any opportunity he has to slaughter hundreds for the smallest of misdeeds. A trail of bodies follows Adrul wherever he ventures in his own domain, the streets cleared for him. If he could, he'd wipe out the entire population of all rings. Even if he knows it wouldn't fix him. It would be just.

It would be fair.

Sometimes, he comes back home showered in blood, letting droplets taint the flowers of your garden as he lays on the ground and speaks to you.

Begs you to take him with you.

To forgive him.

He failed you. He failed the person who was there for him through thick and thin, through his anxieties of wanting to live up to his role and getting caught up in tornados of endless conflict. He conquered Hell for you, in the end, because of you.

And now... It means nothing to him. Everything Adrul spent his youth training for, attaining, means absolutely fucking nothing to him.

He just wishes he could die, anything would be better than this joke of an existence.

And maybe, it's that desire to shed his husk and his life, that brings Dorem to Hell.

Granted, the ruler of Limbo isn't there for small talk or a pat on the back. No words are spoken between Adrul and the soulkeeper when Dorem produces an intricate container of what appears to be (but definitely isn't) glass. Inside it dances an extremely bright light, molding into all shapes and states as if agitated.

Then, once passed onto his dark hands, it calms immediately. The entity flattens against the glass, drawn to him, emitting a comforting warmth he could never mistake.

Dorem fades with the shadows.

It's you.

It's the essence of you.

Adrul sobs so hard he chokes on his own screams.

[dis0rderly-cl0wn-nerd]

Curls

Ledger!Joker x Fem!Reader

Warnings: None just pure fluff

Summary: J and the reader bond over their shared hair type.

Author’s Note: Okay this was pure self indulgence 😅 I have curly hair. J has curly hair. I just had to write this. I’ve been up since 4am so I decided to make use of my time by writing this little oneshot. It’s current 8am now so I managed to finish this pretty quick. As always, enjoy! 💜

Taglist: @alittlesmartcookie

If anyone else wants to be added to the list let me know! It’ll be for all my J x Reader fics ☺️

It was late in the evening and pouring rain outside. Your ideal night in with J. The sounds of a thunderstorm helped you both relax and fall asleep faster, especially J. You weren’t quite ready for bed yet but you began your nightly routine anyway.

You started with a shower and washed your hair. Now, your hair is different from most people’s. It’s curly and has a mind of its own. It gets tangled very easily and has oh so much frizz. But you loved your natural curls and how they look. 

J loved them too. His hair was a bit shorter than yours but he had curls of his own. Unlike you, he didn’t care too much about his hair to try and tame them. 

You finished up in the shower and wrapped yourself in a towel. With your hair temporarily straightened out from the wash, you took the opportunity to brush it out.

If you brushed it out when it was dry and curly, one of two things would happen. Your hair would become extremely bushy or the brush would get stuck. You didn’t want either to happen.

When you finished brushing, you walked out into the bedroom and changed into a hoodie and shorts. Your hair was already beginning to take on its original shape again as it dried. 

You crawled into bed with J and nestled close to him. You were pleasantly surprised that he had already taken his shower and washed his hair. His make up was removed and he smelled like his shampoo.

You chuckled. “You took a shower? Who are you and what have you done with my J?”

J huffed. “I needed one. Today’s work was gruesome.”

“I know,” you shuddered, “You were covered in blood when you got home, especially your hair.”

“Yeah. Speaking of that, can you, uh, untangle it? It’s still damp. There’s a huge knot towards the back.” 

“Of course. Hang on a second. Let me go grab some things.”

You went into the bathroom to get a comb and your detangling spray and climbed back onto the bed. J sat up, leaned back towards you, and let you work. He’d watched you do this before. You had mastered the art of detangling stubborn hair. From years of practice of course. 

You divided the big knot into little knots and went from there. You hated to pull on his hair but J didn’t seem to mind. You sprayed, picked the tangles with the comb, and pulled some apart, repeating the process until J’s hair was tangle free.

You set the comb and spray down on the nightstand and admired your work.

J exhaled. “Ah, thanks doll. Feels much better now.” 

You smiled. “I just like your curls. They’re prettier than mine.”

“Nah. I wouldn’t go that far. You know, I used to have hair just like yours back in high school.” 

You laughed. “What? No way.” 

“Yes way. It was long and pretty like yours. I looked like I belonged in a rock band or something. It went down to ‘bout the middle of my back. But I cut it short because it got annoying after a while.”

“You should grow it back. I’d love to have seen that.”

“No, this is as long as I’ll go. Long flowing hair is a weakness when you’re fightin’. One yank and I’d be thrown off balance.” 

“Yeah. I’d still like to see it though. I bet you pulled it off nicely.”

“Oh I did. I hated to get rid of it but it just became a nuisance. I like this a lot better.”

The thought of J having such hair was so amusing to you. You laughed out loud again.

J raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“I’m just picturing you headbanging to your music with that hair.” You told him through a fit of giggles.

J grinned. “I did a lot of that actually. You can’t listen to a good metal band and not.” 

You regained control over your laughter and you kissed J’s scarred cheek. 

“I’ll love your hair no matter what you do to it. I’m glad I can share my curls with you.”

“Back at ya, bunny.”

[lokiondisneyplus]

The good news is that Loki has been able to find some familiar faces at the Time Variance Authority — and they recognize him, too! The bad news? He can’t stay in one place for very long because his entire body is constantly being sucked through time and space across The Multiverse due to a pretty painful-looking phenomenon called “Time Slipping.” Didn’t think it could happen in the walls of the TVA? Well, think again, because it’s happening to Loki.

The second season of Marvel Studios’ Loki kicks off with the God of Mischief trying to get a grip, literally, on the timeline as he struggles to stay in one place long enough to have an actual conversation with Mobius. Unfortunately, because Loki has been thrust across The Multiverse timelines repeatedly, he keeps popping in and out of places, both past, present, and future as he races to not only steady himself but also keep the TVA from imploding from an overloading Temporal Loom, too. Just another day at the office, huh?

“Loki is having a problem which is that he’s in space, but he’s not rooted in time. He’s essentially glitching and being involuntarily molecularly disassembled between different points,” Returning star Tom Hiddleston explains. “It’s incredibly disorienting because he doesn’t know where he is or which time he’s in and it becomes like a mystery or a riddle that he’s got to solve. Why is this happening to me?”

Essentially, as Hiddleston jokes, Loki’s “had a really, really bad day and the day is getting worse.”

Though it looks scary on-screen, don’t worry, Hiddleston isn’t really getting torn apart molecule by molecule. As he explains, “This is where I’m embarrassed to say that in my limited carpet bag of physical abilities, I can’t in fact Time Slip.” However, the actor did commit to making Time Slipping look as painful as possible for the camera, constantly contorting his body to create uncomfortable situations, at one point considering using actual ropes and cables on wires to move his body in different ways.

“Tom is one of the most, if not the most, dedicated performer I've ever seen” Executive Producer Kevin Wright explains. “It wasn't that it wasn't painful in the script. We knew what, functionally, it was doing in the story. As everybody starts to get in the room, you have to start having those conversations of what is this? How do we see it on screen? What does it become? It kind of came about just through Tom's process.”

Hiddleston got maybe a little too into the process of Time Slipping. “I’ll do different variations of being spun into or spun out or ripped away from or pulled into reality.” He continues. “I’ve found that trying to put my own body under tension is strange to do. Your body doesn’t want to be under stress, it wants to be comfortable but that feeling of as if you’re being twisted out of alignment like a piece of elastic tor tearing and ripping, that’s the hard thing.”

All of this would eventually be sent to VFX to mesh it all together, and as Wright explains, Hiddleston, “Took it upon himself to be like, I want to be every single element in that VFX. So, if he's slipping, it’s the character conceptually being in six different places at once. He wanted to play all six of those performances, and then VFX will stitch them together.”

The countless takes of Time Slipping were worth it, though, because “It gave VFX and sound and everybody stuff to work with, where it's just making it even more gruesome and pulling tendons.” Wright adds. “You have all these elements of vocals, the stretching, bones cracking. We'd turn them up and turn them down, depending on the slip. But it was more about making it a bespoke performance, each one of those slips.”

Hiddleston praises VFX crew working behind-the-scenes on Loki who made the Time Slipping look seamless, removing certain frames, and adding them in a quick succession so it really looks like his body is being ripped apart. “A kind of very intense visual effects sandwich,” he jokes, “I take my hat off to the visual effects team for helping me out because it’s been a more physical [process] than I thought it was going to be.” 

Editor’s note: The following interview was conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike began on July 14, 2023.

[dumbingofage]

how long have you known mike was going to die? was that a tough decision to make? did you sacrifice him for the sake of the plot/other characters' development, or was there another reason he had to go? he's my favorite out of all your characters, and after he died i went and reread all of shortpacked just to cope, haha. and now i want to know everything about your thought process re: killing him. if you have the time!

Mike never really fit in very well in Dumbing of Age? There was always somebody who'd be better, narratively, delivering his observations. If he's saying something cutting and acerbic to Joyce, then that's something that Sarah would be better off saying. If somebody was going to be a sarcastic wise-guy, that's Walky's wheelhouse. If I want somebody to be mean out of spite, there's already Ruth. He was kind of a drain in that specific way. Plus, like, in a cast mostly full of ladies and such, it felt off having this white dude off to the side always there to have their upper hand. He worked better in a different comic.

That didn't mean I never tried to make him work, though! "Of Mike and Men" was an attempt of mine to give him a better foothold in the story, in that world, with (I think) limited success. You can only give the guy so much more depth without making him Not Mike. It's a very narrow tightrope to walk, with him. All the room for his growth was essentially covered in Shortpacked!, and I didn't want to retread that.

The plan for Mike's death came in the wake of my own mother's death. I wanted to process feelings about death, I suppose. At that point, I hadn't decided yet that Amber and Becky's evil dads were also going to die, and I figured, oh, hey, I'm doing a timeskip. I can kill somebody. Those are the rules I gave previously, the "Not Killing Anybody Because Of IRL Years Of Depression And Sadness, Because Of How Slowly My Comic Moves In Time." I was already going to skip ahead months, and so my need to figure things out aligned with my upcoming planned timeskip, and I had to figure out who was going to go so I could process those feelings. And after some "no, not them, not them, not them, no not them," I remembered, oh, huh, Mike fits into this need almost perfectly. 1) He's at odds with the narrative, as established above. 2) I just set up this "origin" story with him that I could directly follow through on. 3) He'd be dying before being able to "redeem" himself fully in the eyes of other people, which is important to the angle of story I wanted to tell. I've got so many other characters who have done shitty things and are working their way through them to hopefully a better space, and it was important to me to have somebody who didn't get that chance. Somebody who left their standing with other characters at an awkward place.

And I remembered one of my walking tours of Indiana University, and seeing a bunch of stairs on the side of one of the buildings, and thinking, Hrm, that's an Amazi-Girl setpiece.

And it's high up.

and it's one of the least gruesome and/or body-horrorish ways in which to die, so

anyway, tl;dr: since summer/fall 2019

[blooming-violets]

Hi! This isn't a request but how do you think Peter would react to reader being a Funeral Director? Let's say it's like a blind date (set up by Auntie May ofc). Im asking because a good amount of your fics that you write with Peter revolve around death- weather it being Ben's, Gwen's, and/or what he see's around just being Spider-Man.

Lol this is coming from someone who's about to get their license to become a f.d if you couldn't tell :)

omg over a decade ago i used to roleplay with an oc who was my dark humored, lil goth queen and she was studying to become a funeral director and even though it was so long ago, once an oc, always an oc. she still lives up in my brain with the rest of every other character i've ever created in my life time. i'm going to channel her energy into my soul for this one

Ok, so! I love this.

(using gender neutral "they/them" for this character)

This might sound slightly gruesome but I'm going with it! May is getting a little older in age. Nothing crazy but she's a realist and she wants to be extra prepared when it's her time to go because she doesn't want to burden Peter with such things. She knows what it's like to go through the entire process of burying a dead loved one when you are in the middle of the worst grief of your life. She doesn't want Peter to have to make any of those choices like where to go and what casket to chose. She's a planner and is going to keep nurturing her boy even after death.

Soo she starts doing the rounds of looking into funeral homes, types of caskets, potential flower arrangements, details for the service, how she wants her body to be prepared...she's got it all figured out and in a binder with laminated pages. And she's having the time of her life doing all this because any chance to pull out some stationary is a good day in her book.

Peter freaks when he finds out because that's his girl and he refuses to let her die ever. But she calms him down by reminding him that death can happen to anyone, at any time, and she wants to be prepared for him. All he will have to do is hand over this binder to the director and they can do the heavy lifting so he can just take time to grieve. He's still not happy about it. Aunt May will never die. He doesn't even want to entertain the idea that it's a possibility even twenty years from now.

But then she throws in a lil twist.

"Oh, by the way, Peter...you have a date next Saturday night. I set you up with the director of the parlor. They were just lovely! So accommodating, so funny, absolutely gorgeous, not anything like I was expecting. I told them I had a nephew who was single. Showed them a picture of you. You know that picture I took last summer of you at the beach eating a Ninja Turtle popsicle next to the ice cream truck? I just love that picture...reminds me of when you were a boy...anyway, they agreed to meet up with you! Isn't that wonderful?"

And he's standing there speechless and mortified because only Aunt May would start prematurely planning for her death and then go around showing embarrassing, shirtless pics of him to his potential suitors...who are also helping her plan for her death. He tries to refuse to go but it's May and you can't say no to her. She will always win.

She picks out his best outfit for him and makes sure he's all dolled up (also to be sure he actually goes through with the date and doesn't bail).

He's shocked at how young and attractive they are when he meets them. Even though May insisted they would be a good match, he still was picturing some creepy old, sickly pale, skeletal man wear a dark suit. He's been dating a bit lately but nothing really sticks. This date feels different. He starts off by making a dark joke about dating the person who's going to bury his (still very much alive) aunt. Which gets a laugh from the both of them. They start in on how lovely it was to meet her and how she brightened up the house when she came for a meeting. And Peter talks about how baffled he was to find out she was even doing all that in the first place. He would have gone with her or been more than willing take care of everything. But they insist that May was adamant on doing it on her own. Peter asks a lot of questions on why they would ever want to go into this line of work but they just laugh it off. They're helping people, even after death. Helping their loved ones have the best final goodbye they can have.

The first date flows smoothly. They both try to avoid the death talk after the first few minutes and keep things light and happy. Peter is unknowingly smitten at the time but finds that once he goes home for the night, he can't stop thinking about them.

A second date is soon to follow. And a third. And fourth. And so on until they are officially dating.

I think as they get more comfortable with each other and open up to each other more, Peter will start to reveal how badly of a relationship he has with death. Reader has a healthy outlook on it. They don't mind taking care of the dead. They enjoy being able to provide that kind of service. Nothing really turns their stomach at this point. Peter can't remember much about his parents or their funerals, Uncle Ben's was a blur, and Gwen's is blackened out from his memory. It really upsets him to picture Reader doing any kind of body preparation. He keeps having intrusive thoughts about them working on Gwen's corpse and it kinda fucks him up. (They obviously weren't the one's who did that but his mind is putting the two people he cares about together without reason). Sometimes it makes it hard for him to look at them. It causes tension in the relationship. He starts to resent that they do that job. He think that they are "better than that" and they should leave that sort of job to someone else. He thinks it's gross and upsetting.

Reader would take massive offense to that. They love what they do. It's very important to them. Peter keeps not being able to hear what they're saying and is throwing his own uncomfortable attitude into the mix. They represent death to him and he hates death. Almost like they're a constant reminder of everyone he loved who has died. Cue the climaxy fight part where they separate for a bit in order for the growth to happen. Peter goes off to sulk and eventually ends up on May's doorsteps like a lost, sad puppy.

He'd need to go have a heart to heart talk with her about why he feels so uncomfortable dating someone who is so close to death. She'd talk about his past traumas, losing so many loved ones, and how he never allowed himself to put those people to rest. That's what Reader does. They helps other's put their loved one's to rest. And that frightens Peter because he's afraid of letting go. They represent someone who is at peace with themselves and Peter is living in a constant state of turmoil. In order to love properly again, he has to let go of the past. Reader can become a healthy path forward but only if Peter is able to cut off the baggage that is holding him back.

He'd let that talk sink in for a few days until he finally crawls his way back to their home with a box of their favorite chocolates (not flowers because they've seen enough flowers to last them their entire life time). He's met with nothing but a gentle smile and open arms. He'd open up to better explain himself to them so they can understand where he's coming from and see into his past. It's a healing moment for him to overcome.

Over time he'd warm up more and more to the idea of them working so closely to death. They both like to lighten any dark moods with some terrible jokes and dumb comments. A lot of silly ghost/ haunting talks. A lot him questing them about things. Like if guys can get an erection after death. Or what exactly is embalming fluid (bc he likes science-y things). And trying to find out the craziest things they ever experienced while working. They have endless stories to share so there's never a dull moment.

And when they finally find out about Mr. Parker and his big, giant Spider-Man secret, they threaten Peter that he better never end up on their table or else they'll mutilate his corpse by cutting off his dick and keeping it in a jar. (too dark? lmao not for them!)

Peter loves it. It makes him feel loved.

[averygayplant]

Jay headcanons! Why? Because I fucking hate him (sobs in kin) Here we goooo~ (Shout out to @giddlygoat, he loves Jay hcs)

Jay doesn't really have a normal sleeping schedule. My projection of ADHD onto him makes it so that he wakes up and just goes and goes and goes until he crashes, and when he crashes there is nothing that will wake him up again until he does so naturally- at least, not without functional repercussions.

Jay has very hypersensitive hearing that is specifically attune to electronics due to a funky combination of his ADHD and his powers, and it's something he's experienced since he was a child. Unfortunately, other sounds are louder for him as well- So as useful as this ability could be, it's incredibly difficult for him to differentiate sounds if there's too much noise, and he ends up tuning most of it out.

Jay gets mildly staticy when he starts to panic, stressed, or otherwise fueled by anxious energy. The rest of the Ninja aren't super affected by his shocks anymore, and for Lloyd they tickle, but for a normal person it'd be a pretty painful and shocking zap, like touching a door handle in the middle of winter.

Jay is hypermobile- he's double-jointed in a lot of places and just generally flexible in ways he shouldn't be. It's useful for his preferred fighting style (calculated combos of light, fast strikes, speed and evasion prioritized over strength and endurance) but he often overextends things without realizing and wears a lot of braces under his gi and casual clothing to stop himself from doing any permanent damage just by moving around.

Small dogs people are memably stereotyped as aggressive because they have less overall body mass to contain all their anger, and Jay is no exception to this rule. He's literally a human tazer. Oh, and he totally kept the promise he made to Cole in Skybound and bit him when he became corporeal again in DotD, even if he wouldn't remember it. It was totally worth getting flung on reflex into the wall behind them and you'd have a hard time convincing Jay otherwise.

Jay is SUPER gender queer and doesn't have the mental capacity to process it between saving the world all the god damn time. All he knows is that he/him pronouns are great and all, but being called Nya's girlfriend and having she/they occasionally used feels way better than it should for a supposed cis person. It doesn't really matter either way though, because he's definitely into drag and glamrock and glittery sparkly things. (He totally would have done the makeup section of their show if Dareth let him)

Jay is just generally clingy, not just toward Nya but the other Ninja too, and it's largely because touch and physical proximity is his go-to reassurance anchor. It doesn't matter if he's scared or upset or hurt, his first instinct is to grab someone's hand or lean into their shoulder or reaffirm their presence to himself in some other way. Touch is his preferred method to comfort others too, often reaching out on impulse whenever someone is upset.

Jay eventually does end up losing his eye, and there's no conveniently placed time travel to undo it. It was a pretty gruesome and traumatizing experience... for everyone except Jay. He doesn't remember a lick of it. Blood loss and pain makes the memories too fuzzy to recall. Anyway, he ends up going a pretty long time before realizing exactly why his jokes about it aren't really landing and managing to stress Kai out by mentioning he wasn't surprised, since he'd been wondering if he'd properly lose it ever since looking in the magical FSM tomb mirrors- If you'll recall, Cole had no reflection (you thought I couldn't squeeze Lava in here? FOOL! MWAHAHAHHAHA- HACK-)

Jay was genuinely scared of thunderstorms as a kid because of how loud they were, and technically still are for him. It's not as bad now that he understands what the noise is from, but it was a noise that haunted his nightmares growing up. Jay called Lloyd 'bug' when he was little, and Nya calls him 'lightning bug' affectionately now. You can't tell me otherwise. I mean, you can, but you're just objectively wrong

[recurring-polynya]

*raises hand slowly* major fan, love your work! I actually only recently discovered your Bleach works in the last few years and I think I've reread all of them at least 3 times. But after reading your "The Greatest Family in Soul Society" series, I've been wanting to ask: How do you think they reacted/handled the aftermath of events in the Bleach Special One-Shot? Specifically Ichika, who possibly for the first time witnessed one of her parents in legitimate danger?

But anyway, CONGRATS ON 1 MIL!!! YOU DESERVE IT! :)

Thank you very much!! 💕

So for starters, if the Hell Arc every actually becomes a thing, I strongly suspect that this will be get addressed on-screen. Kubo clearly intended both Ichika and Kazui to have prominent (although probably not protagonist-level) roles. If this happens, Rukia and Renji will probably either handle this in some terrible way that causes Ichika to feel like she has to go against them and redeem herself or they'll get, like, trapped in Hell or something and she and Kazui will have to go rescue them. It is incredibly rare to see good relationships between parents and their children portrayed in fiction, and my expectations are on the floor for this one.

I talked to my husband about this for a long time this morning because I couldn't think of a single example of a good parent-child relationship in media where both characters have roughly equal narrative weight, and he couldn't either. Usually, the choices are a) parents dead or out of the picture, b) parents are awful and selfish and learn the error of their ways, or b2) generational trauma, which is the same, but parents bad behavior is excused because their parents did it to them. There is also c) stoic parent with lifelong duty raises stoic child to fulfill the same duty, which is the best of the lot, but it's still not great. It's also not really Renruki's style, especially because they've got Byakuya right there as an example of what being raised like this does to a person. 

Maybe Kubo will come up with something interesting, though! I would love to see it if he did!

With all that out of the way, I'll lay out how I think it should go, or how it would go if I were writing it, I guess.

For starters, we are still in a shounen anime. Bleach plays the "young person witnesses an act of violence and is saved" card constantly. As anime goes, I think Bleach actually does a fairly decent job of acknowledging the trauma that goes along with this, but it's also usually deployed as a thing that spurs the "witness" character to want to get stronger. Furthermore, the witness character usually has no sort of support system and receives no comfort after the fact--Kensei saves child-Shuuhei and then calls him a wuss before peacing-out. I doubt Shin'ou had any sort of trauma support group for Renji, Momo, Izuru and Shuuhei after their disaster fieldtrip --in all likelihood, the attitude was more like "wow, you got to see Captain Aizen in action, how lucky for you!" Even in the aftermath of the scene where Renji rescues Jinta and Ururu, Jinta is shown sitting by himself rather than seeking comfort from either of his "parents" (who, granted, are focused on healing Ururu).  That one has an added bonus ofJinta-has-always-treated-Renji-extremely-disrespectfully and then Renji saves him and gets gored pretty gruesomely.

In contrast, Rukia and Renji have both been on the "witnessed the trauma" side of this before, and never had adult figures in their life to help them process anything. They lost and buried three friends before they even went to shinigami school. I think they know how much that sucked and how much damage it did to them psychologically and would be pretty sensitive to what Ichika is feeling. It's actually kind of funny because if they hadn't gone through a lot of trauma together, they might just be stoic about it and think that maybe their own kid should just suck it up, but they were definitely able to see how much it affected the other one. Like, part of the reason they even had a kid was to try to make up for the shitty childhood the other one had to go through.

Rukia and Renji probably run a pretty weird household because on one hand, they spent their own childhood taking care of themselves and making their own decisions and living with the consequences. They did a lot of actual crime, like a lot. Trying to tell their kid what to do would feel like a weird overreach to them. On the other hand, they're soldiers, so they are used a formal discipline system where sometimes you get punished because that's how you learn and make up for your mistakes. Overall, though, I think they respect Ichika as a person they are trying to guide to adulthood, much the way you guide a green recruit into becoming a strong officer. Yeah, she shouldn't have snuck along on a mission for lieutenants, and now she knows why. They're probably still going to yell at her and make her sweep the yard or something, but that's she's their kid, and they know that waiving the punishment would make her feel even worse.

Also, while this may be the first time Ichika has witnessed her dad getting stabbed (and it may not be), it's not like this idea is new to her. I'm sure Rukia and Renji have come home with injuries before, or not come home, and she had to go visit them at the Coordinated Relief Station, or possibly had even go stay with Uncle B for a while. (Uncle B, whose own father actually did die in the line of duty and I've read at least one fanfiction where he was there). A thing I like about Rukia and Renji as characters is that they respect each other's decisions about what danger they are willing to walk into. If they err, it's generally on the side of not stopping each other enough, and I think that is both very stupid and very charming of them. It speaks to the overinflated confidence they have in each other, and also I am tired to death of overprotectiveness being spun as romantic, when 90% of the time it's just patronizing or selfish.

I guess to sum up, I'd say I would like to see Ichika come out of this with more respect for the gravity of her parents' job (vs. the 'dad and Ikkaku went to have fun without me no faaaaaiiirrr' attitude she started the one-shot with). It is interesting that she was able to see the Hell-guys when the lieutenants weren't able to. I hope that isn't something that just gets dismissed (and if nothing else, I think this is a case where Kyouraku as Head-Captain would be like "no I want to hear this" where Yamamoto would have been like "I don't listen to children!") I would prefer to see her get included in the action intentionally, where she's nervous about it, but trying to put up a front of bravado (both because she doesn't want anyone to know how much it scared her seeing her dad get stabbed trying to protect her and also because this is peak Young-Rukia-and-Renji behavior). Seeing what her parents are like on the job, realizing they're both extremely cool but also huge doofuses, and slowly gaining real confidence in herself because they show confidence in her would be a pretty refreshing story, imo.

[esamastation]

"It's a what?"

"A Sephiroth clone."

"No, I mean - what? It's - what a fuck?"

Cloud stares at the… thing. Egg. It looks like an egg, a translucent green egg with silver trimming, sitting on a pedestal like some sort of priceless artwork. He thought that was what it was, some sort of statement. Fetus in egg, held on a pedestal. He thought the thing inside it was a doll.

"It's alive?" Cloud asks faintly, bending down to peer inside. Then he puts a hand on his sword handle and fires up the Master Materia in its core, washing the egg over with a pulse Sense magic.

Vincent folds his arms and says nothing. He doesn't need to - the Sense answers Cloud loud and clear. The thing - the baby in a glass egg was, indeed, alive.

"It's -" Cloud begins faintly and then doesn't know how to continue. Because that's a baby in a glass egg. And it's not a - normal looking baby. Or. Complete? No, its - fuck he knows about babies. "It's tiny."

"It's a twenty eight week old fetus," Vincent says and steps around the egg. "Premature."

Cloud makes a noise of vague understanding and objection. "What," he starts, clears his throat, and then pulls his wits about him. "Shinra, I assume? Hojo?"

"Mm-hmm," Vincent agrees. "One of his secret laboratories."

As explanations go it's not very informative, but it's informative enough. Hojo, making another Sephiroth clone. Same old, same old. Except. "Hojo died over twenty eight weeks ago."

Vincent hums. "The process of sealing the fetus in the artificial womb halted its development," he says and takes out his phone. "Here."

Cloud accepts the phone and reads through the gruesomely practical report about what happened to the kid.

Hojo used a surrogate mother to carry the baby. About six months into the pregnancy the woman got into an accident - slipped on stairs, hit her head and went into a coma. It didn't look like she'd make it, so Hojo had the baby removed and put into the egg - and about a week later, president Shinra the Elder died and then the company had bigger things to worry about. Hojo never went back to the kid, leaving it in an automated system to finish developing or to expire, whichever came first.

Only, the kid did neither. Now, almost ten months after having been put in the egg, it's still the same, an twenty-eight week old fetus.

"Okay, what the fuck?" Cloud says, wishing he had something better to say. His brain has kinda stalled though and he can't get over the Sephiroth fetus in a egg.

"Its mother is still alive," Vincent says and takes the phone back. "She's in Junon, in the long term ward. Brain dead, on life support."

"Okay," Cloud says again and drags his hand over his face. "Why are you telling me this? What am I supposed to do about it? Why not go to Reeve or, fuck, Rufus?"

Vincent hesitates and then puts the phone away. "There's something… off about it."

"You don't say," Cloud scoffs. "It's an apparently immortal fetus in an egg!"

"Beyond that," Vincent says and gives him a look. "Do you sense it?"

"Sense what?"

Vincent doesn't answer, just watches him. Cloud gives him a look right back and then, with a tsk, turns back to the green egg. It's the fetus swimming in mako? Eurgh.

He's so utterly creeped out by all of this that he doesn't figure out what Vincent means, not at first. He's already on goosebumps and shivering at the mention and memory of Hojo's fucking experiments, so he misses it at first.

Then he sees something. A shimmer, a tendril, barely visible, squirming around the kid like a tentacle. It's there but not there. It's -

"He's… connected to the Lifestream?" Cloud asks slowly, trying to wrap his head around what he's seeing.

"Directly linked," Vincent agrees grimly. "By an umbilical cord."

It takes actual effort not to go what the fuck again. "The hell does that mean?" Cloud demands.

"I don't know," Vincent says slowly, giving him another look, like he's supposed to fucking understand. "But either way, I am not comfortable with any remnant of Shinra learning about this new development, are you?"

-

Not exactly what asked but it's what came out. Sephiroth BB in a egg, let's go.

(also these will be unbetaed and written on phone, typos are highly likely and probably inevitable)

Next

[onigiri-dorkk]

Attack on Titan AOE vs. Final Fantasy VII Remake/Rebirth Parallels

Alright fam. This is my ultimate multi-fandom post! This will go out to fellow AOT x FFVII fans -- especially those who have been looking into the AOT/ANR theories regarding AOE.

Obviously there will be heavy spoilers for both Attack on Titan as well as for Final Fantasy VII (OG and Remake).

Recently I've dived into the theory and lore to FFVII and a LOT of it lines up with what's been theorized for AOT regarding different medias being different timelines for one entire story:

For AOT, the manga is theorized to be a different timeline than the anime.

For FFVII, the original game (OG) is now officially implied to be a different parallel timeline than the current Remake.

In AOT, Eren and Paradis Island's fate from the Manga ending is death, that Paradis is still destroyed despite everything he does to prevent that. In the Manga, he reaches 80% Rumbling and then dies by Mikasa's hands; a sacrifice he was willing to make in order to allow Mikasa, Armin and friends to be heroes and live long lives (which they do) and for Paradis to survive -- however the cycle of hatred still continues on when Paradis is bombed, negating most of what he acted towards.

Before I get into this next part, let me also mention that the Cabin dream is implied to be a previous or parallel timeline -- in this, we see Eren die; his eyes slowly close, fading to black to his peaceful death as Mikasa says, "See you later, Eren..." which directly reflects the beginning pages of the manga of the moments and words he sees just before he wakes up underneath the tree. In other words, when Eren dies in Cabin timeline, he awakens to what we know to be the Manga timeline. It's a peaceful wakeup, sitting up against the tree as he had been sitting at the Cabin during death. He doesn't cry -- he only wonders why Mikasa's hair was long (because when he saw her last in Cabin timeline, her hair was short). Then the manga story ensues, leading up to his inevitable death by Mikasa beheading him -- a violent, gruesome death in the Manga...

...To which he wakes up in the Anime, in fright and shock, laying down on the ground with his head laying directly where Mikasa had laid his headstone in the Manga post-war, as if he'd just woken from his violent death in manga.

This is very similar to what is actually happening (not just theorizing) with FFVII right now.

In the original (OG) game, Aerith is killed by Sephiroth while trying to save Midgar/the world from Meteor destruction, then her soul is essentially absorbed into the Lifestream. In the end, Cloud defeats Sephiroth (who also goes into Lifestream), but in the process, Midgar is still completely destroyed by the Meteor as it was too late to completely save everything, even if the rest of the world was saved.

There are already some parallels here:

Rumbling = Meteor. The world is saved, but still experienced mass destruction. Lifestream = somewhat like Paths, allowing people to transcend time/space/etc.

However a big thing paralleling AOT theories is that the FFVII OG game ends with Aerith (remember, she was killed), surrounded by Lifestream energy, closing her eyes... Then the Remake game opening with Aerith, surrounded by Lifestream energy, opening her eyes as it leads to the new game unfolding.

Aerith woke up in a new timeline.

And there is plenty of evidence throughout the Part I that shows that she knows what is fated to happen based on the OG game/previous timeline:

She knows details about Cloud even though he didn't share/she acts like she already knows him well.

She gives him a flower because he's a 'special' customer, and says that the flower is a symbol for when lovers reunite.

She knew that the Plate would fall and destroy Sector 7, even though Tifa and Cloud were doubtful, but she couldn't tell them. (Tifa: "Aerith... What are you not telling me?")

She knew Tifa wanted her to save Marlene, even before Tifa even said it

In the special cut scene between Cloud and Aerith, she tells him with sadness that everyone dies eventually. And she advises Cloud to never fall in love with her (because she knows how that tragically ended in the original). She KNOWS she's fated to die.

And these are ALL differences from the OG game -- Aerith didn't have any of these reactions, dialogue, thoughts, sentiments before. She is implied to be operating in Remake with the knowledge of how things ended before: that she would be killed, that Midgar would still be destroyed, that Sephiroth would still be alive.

Except this time, with all that knowledge of OG fate, Aerith is now trying to actively veer things away from the tragic fate and destiny laid out before them. (Side note, Whispers are also game-original and are trying to reel things back to fate/destiny. Also, Sephiroth, being part of Lifestream from OG, is also operating with the knowledge that he failed in the OG. Like Aerith, Sephiroth is trying to change destiny.)

And if that isn't enough yet to convince you that it's a different FFVII timeline... ZACK IS ALIVE. They show him make it out of the battle that killed him before. It is an entirely new journey. (I will cry if/when Zack and Aerith reunite)

Now we circle around right back to AOT.

Like Aerith, Anime Eren is theorized to know how things ended in the Manga: his death, Paradis' destruction, etc. He gained this knowledge when he kissed Historia's hand (in both anime and manga), gaining access to memories of the future... and of the past. But not just memories of the Anime timeline. Founding Titan Eren is interconnected with Paths, the way Aerith is to Lifestream, both of which surpass time itself, as we've seen with Eren/Zeke traveling through his memories. (There's a lot of imagery alluding to Manga art intertwined with Anime, but that's a sub-sub-sub-theory)

There is also a side theory that Aerith transferred memories to Red XIII (as she pressed her hand to his forehead upon meeting) because he was already most attuned to the Lifestream itself, and he becomes her aid almost. Likewise, there is a fun theory regarding Eren using Falco as a messenger/Falco receives memories from Eren (which is why in Anime, Falco recalls memories of 'flying around with swords'... Which couldn't have come from Ymir Freckles. You can only see memories once you HAVE the Titan shifter; Falco at the beginning of S4E1 was still just Falco. Falco has also already been used as a messenger of Eren's letters. Falco is also one of the most neutral characters who shows empathy and understanding of both sides. He is a special character. If AOE happens as theorized, many think Falco will play an important role)

Now there is a certain tragic ending that we think Isayama has been alluding to for forever. I'm not gonna say it here because some of you will get triggered over attachment to certain characters/ships and whatnot. But the core of it is that we think Eren is going to do things very differently to change the fate and destiny -- that maybe, instead of choosing others over his freedom, instead of only committing 80% Rumbling (leaving enough people to lead to the demise of Paradis)... Maybe Eren will even choose his freedom this time via 100% rumbling, etc.

Honestly, who knows! There may be an entirely new ending that's the best of both worlds for every single fan. (...Sarcastic, though, because not everyone can or will be pleased. Even for FFVII, OG purists are frustrated by it veering off.)

I do not believe AOT Anime is going to end the same way the Manga did even if I have reasons for wanting it to stay the same (y'all know me and why I would NOT want it to end different; there are special scenes between my OTP I need to see, especially post-war) but it's because we've seen many consistent things throughout the anime -- through the story, dialogue, recurring imagery, etc. all for a separate detailed post -- that Isayama could have potentially been foreshadowing since 2013 towards a new ending.

"What's the lie? What's the truth?"

The fact that Tetsuya Nomura (maker of FFVII) is already doing this meta-narrative of having one media/game being an entirely different timeline than the original content is SO cool, and affirms that if Isayama is pulling this same stunt, it's not because of fans trying to riot and change an ending, but because that's... well, that's what could've been planned from the start, and because it's a really unique storytelling technique that would elevate a work by making many pieces come together as one, singular, consistent story in a brilliant way.

Obviously there's no IRL link between FFVII and AOT, but again, Nomura doing this makes it less crazy and more probably for another Japanese mastermind storyteller to do this, too. (And I won't even START on Muv Luv/Muv Luv Alternative! But it's the same thing, too!)

I'll stop there for now. Any AOT AOE x FFVII fans out there?! PLEASE tell me I'm not alone LOL

[bendingwind]

For the writing meme! :)

8. What project(s) are you currently working on?

16. At what point in the process do you come up with titles?

19. Give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs.

:D

This got long so I'm putting it under a cut.

8. What project(s) are you currently working on?

I have just like an insane number of Bleach plotbunnies running around freely in my brain these days, but right now I'm mostly focused on three four stories; One is a pre-relationship Renji/Rukia story I've been talking about, The Most Eligible Bachelor in the Seireitei, in which Renji becomes very popular among minor noble houses as a prospective match. It's not really about that so much as it is about Renji and Rukia beginning to mend and rebuild their friendship in the wake of the Soul Society arc, though, under the shadow of the upcoming war. With a little jealousy in the mix. I think I'm going to finish this one today or tomorrow, edit Sunday, and post sometime next week hopefully.

The second is an Ichigo/Orihime story from Ichigo's POV that I'm still hashing out. I had an outline all prepared and then you actually reblogged something that made me rethink the whole thing, so that one's back in the drawing board stages lol.

I'm gonna preface this next one with the disclaimer that there is no combination of Rukia, Renji, Orihime and Ichigo that I don't ship.

The third is one I may not ever post, because I kill Renji off in it (not a spoiler, the entire topic of the finished prequel is Rukia mourning) and it makes me very very sad. In it Ichigo dies unexpectedly in his 40s and a proactive local Shinigami sends him to Soul Society via konsō, causing him to lose his memory, and Soul Society being what they are, nobody can seem to find him despite his massive spiritual energy. Everyone mourns and eventually moves on, and the story starts after Orihime dies of old age and joins Squad 11 (this is hilarious to me and makes absolute sense in context of the story and is one of my favorite parts) and she and Rukia rekindle their friendship. It starts out Rukia & Orihime, becomes Rukia/Orihime and eventually becomes Rukia/Orihime/Ichigo. There's a possible Byakuya/reincarnated!OC!Renji story sequel in the mix as well I think? There's also a much!older!Karin/Toushiro story that I vaguely want to write in that universe, which is a ship that I don't generally like unless you give Karin like forty years at a minimum to marinate.

I'm also planning to work soon on a Rukia & Orihime story in which Rukia asks Orihime about her feelings for Ichigo and why she's never acted upon them. It focuses a lot on how Ichigo protects everyone and Orihime wanting to be the one to protect him.

(I'm also vaguely trying to figure out my headcanons for Byakuya/Hisana and Ikkaku/Yumichika because I really want to write some stuff for them, but I don't have anything really concrete there at the moment)

(ALSO I can't remember if it was you or polyna who headcanon that Renji had a gruesome crush on Ikkaku back in the day but if nobody else is going to write it I WILL)

----

16. At what point in the process do you come up with titles?

Sometimes I have a title going into a story, and sometimes I write a line in the story that I immediately know is going to be/inspire the title, but more often than not I finish a story up, slap a Hozier lyric on it, and call it a day 😅

----

19. Give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs.

I don't think I'm likely to ever finish this little series of micro-vignettes about Isshin and Ichigo so I'm just gonna use this as an excuse to post what I do have written!

****

It’s a bad idea for a hundred thousand reasons, Isshin thinks.

Their child will be an abomination in the eyes of some, an unholy amalgamation of shinigami and quincy and hollow. He knows the stories from history as well as anyone, and even they do not describe this thing that the two of them have created.

But Masaki places his hand on her belly and he feels the baby kick, and he sets his apprehension aside for the sake of the smile that graces her lips.

****

Ichigo is an entirely normal little boy, Isshin tells himself. So what if he turns his head when ghosts pass by? Children are sensitive to that kind of thing regardless, aren’t they? 

Masaki thinks he can see them, and frowns every time it happens. It was inevitable, she says quietly-- even if he were just quincy, it would be expected.

Isshin hopes she’s wrong. He wants their little boy with Masaki’s clouds of orange hair and his eyes to grow up safe and sound and normal.

He knows better, but he’s always been good and lying to himself.

****

He catches his son talking to the ghosts sometimes, as he grows a little older. He’s a happy child, as prone to laughter as he is to tears, all skinned knees and sticking weird shit in his mouth if they take their eyes off of him for a moment.

He resigns himself to this one quirk of his son, who is sweet and perfect and otherwise remarkably normal. He shows no signs of quincy powers, and Isshin learns to count his blessings.

“Dada,” Ichigo calls, and he stands.

“What is it, my son?” he booms, and Ichigo giggles and toddles towards him.

[espinosaurusrexex]

Sunday's almost over here but I saw this tweet and had to bring it here.

https://twitter.com/theradrady/status/1665478337697808390?t=aRFIAATcC7c2B6XhSEvN8A&s=19

How do you think Bucky would react to each of those other characters? Bucky and Nick would be a really interesting interaction imo😂

Don’t worry about it you can ALWAYS send asks about anything - it’s not exclusive to Sunday 💓

Okay so I feel like most of these character’s problem is their giant ego. And this makes things so interesting when it comes to Bucky because he doesn’t necessarily thing nightly of himself. Yes, he’s a little sassy and I knows that he has skills but he doesn’t think of the world as destructible. I feel like Bucky is very aware of how things can affect him especially because he is affected though the court mandated sessions and such.

So I think meeting them or hearing about them would go a little like this:

Bucky - Nick

They’d definitely meet through a mission lmao

And Bucky thinks he’s just another asshole with money and control - which he hates

He is a little surprised when Nick suddenly shows some skills in fighting but other than that he is just annoyed his wealthy ass slipped past the radar for so long

He end him, of course, but it feels just like another mission to him

Bucky - Steve

First time he hears about cannibalism’s at this caliber, he’s just so confused and kind of scared like this meme “teenagers scare the living shit out of me” lmao

It’s times like this when Bucky jokes about the Winter soldier having solved a problem like Steve in no time - given he unter went less processes because he worked beyond the law with Hydra

He immediately doesn’t like him when he learns about Steve’s business and is just very grossed out

“What’s the Problem Barnes? It’s not like you haven’t seen chopped body parts before”

“This is different, this is so much more gruesome than war”

He can’t imagine someone voluntarily living in a house with a cooler full of body parts AND EATING THEM?! wtf

So when he meets him for the first time, idk maybe they infiltrate Steve’s house to lock him up and save the women, he violates mission protocol and just knocks Steve unconscious as soon as he steps foot in the house

There’s no acceptance for guys like him and he finest even flinch when Fury benches him because of his fifth violation - it was so worth it… and necessary

Bucky - Lance

Now this one’s interesting because it’s two total opposites running into one another

Lance who’s had everything going for him all his like and then Bucky who took tragedy after tragedy

Maybe he’s a little jealous at first because Lance’s life seems so glorious but then he quickly realizes what an asshole he his

Bucky has trauma, yes, but he tries to be invisible and not the center of attention especially when people don’t like him

And that’s another thing, lance doesn’t have a clue about his environment and it makes Bucky really appreciate his own attentiveness

Overall, I think they would have a little appreciation for Bucky because of how skilled he is and ruthless he seems (sometimes). Nick probably made an offer about hiring him too. Not Lance though, he probably made a stupid joke and almost earned a broken arm just in time for the Olympics had Sam not intervened.

Okayyy that’s it, I liked this very much! Thank you for asking 💞 what do you think? Feel free to reblog with other Sebastian Stan characters too!

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Soy Luna Paper Girls AU!

Ámbar, Luna, Nina and Yam are four girls in 1988 (who at the time is 12 years old btw, it's important for the story) who works as paper girls, when suddenly strange people come and starts attacking them, so they run away and then accidentally time travel to the year 2016. They go to Nina's house and find adult Nina, who they find out lives alone, no kids, no husband, nothing. 12 year old Nina is like "Why is my life so sad help???" and adult Nina is kind of starting to vent about "yeah no Nina these girls you came here with? You quit your job as a paper girl the day after, they don't even know who you are, you never had any friends, you grow up and now you live alone" and just crushes all the dreams Nina had. So very obviously, Nina does not want to end up like this and hopes that when she goes back to 1988 she'll fix this. These strange people are after the girls now and they don't know what to do, or why they're after them. They just wanna find a way to get back to their own time, and adult Nina tries to help them the best she can. She tries to search online all about this, and in the process the girls are like "omg you can search for anything??" and then they try to search for themselves. Yam finds out she's a singer and gets really excited about that - and that a recent news article says she's "recently has become a mother to her second child". She's like "oh wow I've imagined I'd have children, though I can't imagine having a husband. I wonder if I'm a single mom… should I check… oh wait. No. I wanna leave that a mystery". Adult Nina however, who obviously is aware of adult Yam's singer-stardom, just smiles knowingly. Anyway, Luna searches for herself next and she does not seem to be that famous, but it says what street she lives on. So they plan on going there. Before they go, they ask Ámbar if she wants to look up herself. Ámbar just shrugs and says "if my godmother got her ways, I don't wanna know my future". Anyway so they get to Luna's… and Luna is immediately baffled when she finds out she lives in this giant mansion… and for fun's sake, we're taking back this crack idea I had a while back, so Luna has triplet girls who roller skate around the neighborhood as they arrive. And then adult Luna sees them and is immediately like "oh my god it's myself from when I was 12, ok come on in!" and does not question it in the slightest.

Anyway 12 year old Luna asks how they are rich and adult Luna just tells her that it's a long and complicated story, but something's gonna happen when she's 16 and it's gonna be really exciting. She also tells her that her daughters are adopted, because as she's adopted herself, she wanted to give other children that life too. And in "classic Luna fashion" it turned out she adopted triplets instead of one kid. Adult Luna then tells herself that "yeah no you're a single mom, I was just never into romance that much, I hope I don't let you down" and 12 year old Luna is like "nah that's ok :D" Adult Luna then turns to Ámbar and tells her that they still talk in the future. Ámbar: Why would I talk to you?? Adult Luna: It's a long and complicated history, but you're happy, Ámbar. You're really happy. She does not have time to explore more of that, because these strange people start to chase the girls down again, so they need to leave. They don't know what these people want, but they know it's bad - they have guns and they said something about destroying them… or erasing their memories, they weren't sure. Anyway they flee and then end up in 1999. In the Paper Girls show, one of the girls as an adult follows them and then dies by some future robot some minutes after landing in 1999 - I really don't wanna go that gruesome route here, no one dies, no adult comes with them.

So they arrive in 1999… and they hide from the strange people just patrolling, looking for them… and then just give up and leave. This is when in the show one of the girls gets her first period and another girl just straight up steals tampons and they have a weirdass conversation how tampons work because no one has any idea lmao. And then they just give up and the girl who stole it was like "yk what I'm just gonna go get you a diaper" (she means a pad, she thought it looked like a diaper), Either way, figuring out which girl it would be is… idk, it honestly could be anyone of them. Either way, they go to Ámbar's house now, because they look at the date and during this time of the year, Ámbar says they're most likely on vacation, so the house should be empty. Well, except for the fact that it's not. There's a party in the mansion. The girls sneak in and they look at it from afar. Lots of people, etc. Ámbar sees herself at the party. She has that awkward smile, the stiff posture… she knows she does not want to be there. And then her godmother comes up and brags to some person about Ámbar. So 12 year Ámbar cringes, her future was exactly what she feared. But then young adult Ámbar excuses herself and goes up to her room, and 12 year old Ámbar curiously follows her. She goes inside her own room and notices that… much is the same, yet… she feels something is different. She then hears footsteps and hides in the closet. In comes Ámbar, talking to someone… and that someone is Emilia.

YA Ámbar: Ugh, I just want the party to end! Emilia: Yeah, but it's just one more day, then we're back, you and I… in New York. YA Ámbar: Ah, godmother is still so mad that I didn't go to Paris like she wanted to. Emilia: Hey, she can't control you all your life. You control your own life now. YA Ámbar: I sure do! Emilia, suggestively: Does she still try to set you up with boys? YA Ámbar: Oh, you bet… if only she knew. Emilia: If only she knew… The two then proceed to make out, with 12 year old Ámbar watching them from the closet like 🧍‍♀️

Meanwhile Luna downstairs hears Sharon muttering something about the "fortune for the Valente girl" and she's like "wait what" and then someone was like "she's your niece, it's her right, you should just let it go" and Sharon just gets really angry. Luna was like "… my last name is Valente huh wait". Little does she know of that whole thing (but she got her fortune eventually as she noticed from the future) Anyways the girls get outta there and find out Yam in 1999 is just starting her singing career by performing at small gigs. So they go to one by randomly finding a poster about it.

Young Adult Yam is like super chill and she notices the girls as she's performing. And as soon as she finishes, she goes over and is like YA Yam: Hi, I'm sorry… you look really familiar- 12yo Yam, blurting out: I'M YOU FROM 1988 YA Yam: YA Yam: Huh- Anyway she very quickly is like "Oh my gosh… my little time travel babies omg please come to my apartment we'll fix this come on" So they spend the night there and the next day, they tell her more or less everything. Yam from 1999 is curious about her life in 2016 and 12yo Yam is all bubbly like "Oh we have two kids!!" YA Yam: Oh! That's so fun! 12yo Yam: But I don't know who the dad is. I can't imagine having a husband, but maybe I can imagine that when I grow up? YA Yam: Oh. Well… Then she's not sure if she's gonna tell herself that she's a little baby gay, or let her find out by herself. Meanwhile Nina tries to calculate how time travelling is possible, Luna tries to figure out wtf Sharon meant with "the Valente girl" and Ámbar is just processing the fact that she saw herself kiss a goth girl.

Also Yam's apartment has a bunch of posters and vibes of a late 90s lesbian. She even has like, a book collection of "Dykes to watch out for" and 12yo Yam is like "why tf do you have these" And… idk how it all unravels next but basically the strange people come to attack them again, but this time one of them is nice and is like "Ok just come with me and I'll take you back to 1988". So that is the plan, they go to the very far future where they from there are gonna go through time travel pods that takes them back to their own time period. However, the bad strange people who wants to destroy them try to stop this so they can erase their memories or kill them or whatever. So the girls have to run and eventually, they split up into two different pods - Luna and Ámbar in one and Nina and Yam in the other. Then they get separated and time travel to different time periods. Now, I am not sure where Nina and Yam end up, but Luna and Ámbar end up in 1978, where they meet themselves as 2 year olds - specifically before Luna's biological parents died and before Ámbar was adopted by Sharon - so now they'll learn "oh shit we're connected, oh so this is our lives before we got adopted I see", etc.

Anyway and by this super long spontaneous AU essay thingy… that's all I have x)

[atcarpenter]

Sam remembers how closed off little Amber was but she always saw little glimpses beneath and found little ways to make her smile and noticed how close she and Tara were and was happy to see them both finding friendship

I have a headcanon that Amber's parents were separated and she lived with her mom who was working a lot and saw her dad often enough but less as she got older and she could feel them growing apart. Amber lived with her mom in Brighton Beach while her dad was out on Long Island with his other family and Amber never felt she fit in and like she was just being tolerated, not helped by her siblings being significantly older and so not having much of a relationship with her either

Amber used to love girly things but she never fit in with others who did. She remembers going to horse riding competitions and hearing more privileged girls making fun of her accent and treating her like she didn't belong

Richie just made things worse by making her think she had to hide all those parts of herself. She used to have to pretend to hate music she loved because Richie made fun of it and have to dress in more muted colors because he used to snark about more feminine girls and praised her for not being like that

But she's trying very hard to work past that and Tara's encouragement make a huge difference. Tara lets her know that truly tough girls don't care what anyone thinks and aren't afraid to embrace what they love, even if others sneer at it

The gang aren't quite sure what to do with Amber's new behavior but they all support her anyway and Chad reassures her that wearing pink and smiling more in no way makes her less intimidating which Amber is genuinely moved by

It's still hard for Tara to talk about how bad things could get, even to Sam. Partly because she thinks Sam would blame herself for it which Sam definitely would and also because Tara herself still struggles with processing it

They're both really trying and they give each other leeway when they mess up and they both make sure to own up and apologize when they do which is something Christina never did

Definitely and she can get really into the gruesome details of crimes because she's just that kind of person who isn't squeamish at all. The gang all go to see The Substance and Sam, Chad and even Mindy all feel sick and nauseous after and Amber and Tara are perfectly upbeat and making plans to go for food and discussing how hot Margaret Qualley is

Amber really values those memories and she even reaches out to her mom on Rosh Hoshanah to wish her well and discuss their different plans for Yom Kippur.

And Tara loves learning about the different holidays and traditions and hearing Amber talk about them in such a sincere way and helping her plan her celebrations for them

I like to think that Amber at that age wasn't the best at handling her own emotions which led to some mixed signals. At times, she would preen almost at being shown affection by Sam when she babysat them and even enjoy the times when they'd all watch movies and she would allow herself to cuddle against Sam's side, though usually she would always try and hog Tara's personal space. At other times, Sam would ruffle her hair and Amber would kick her in the shin for it, petulantly going, "I'm not a child!" (yeah she is). Sam took it in strides though. And she would like the moments when Amber actually let anyone close, but especially when Sam would see Tara and Amber forming a close friendship. They were really cute besties back then ok.

I like those hcs for her family. I think that her always feeling merely tolerated added to her attitude that she always just had to suck it up and pretend it didn't bother her when she wouldn't get what she wanted or needed from her family or Richie or when she felt hurt. And those girls making fun of her only added to that as well T-T

I think she always liked a bit of both worlds, and others couldn't understand that or relate, and that's what led to her feeling ostracised by those girls. The same would happen when she would do more guy-ish things with boys.

Yeah, exactly 😔 Also with movies or anything else she liked, she pretended not to like it, getting to the point where she actually just fell out of love with things she used to love at some point. Might be reversible. And she liked his praise for being different, so she reasoned she got more out of things that way if she picked things he liked and made them parts of her personality. I'm not gonna shut up about that praise kink

Tara gets excited whenever she sees Amber wearing or doing something that she knows she's self-conscious about and feels wrong for. She's proud. And happy because she likes a lot of the stuff to and they can share now. Also, Amber starts wearing Tara's clothes more often, which makes Tara happy

Chad is very supportive. And always ready to be faux or for-realsies scared of her

Sam would blame herself for everything that Tara tells her. Amber might occasionally tell her things that she's witnessed that Tara hasn't mentioned or refuses to talk about. She's less reserved when it comes to talking about it, and she does think that Sam, who she knows is just concerned and wants to help, has a right to know these things

Yeah, Tamber are a bit bananas in a good way. It happens rarely that they get grossed or weirded out at a movie or spooked by it. I can't think of anything I've seen that would get to them. I haven't seen the human centipede. Maybe that, I don't know

I like that she reaches out. They both miss spending all holidays together, but it probably doesn't happen a lot anymore. They're both just happy to stay in touch though and still share the holidays via modern technology, sending pics and facetiming too, and it's enough for them, even if they do look forward to the next time they might spend some holiday together in person again

Tara gets really excited about the fact that it's something that matters to her girlfriend and soaks everything up like a sponge when Amber talks to her about it, and Amber loves her interest in learning about it and helping