#it's because i'm weak for them

[flyingwargle]

watch party for japan vs. argentina men’s volleyball match tonight @ 8 pm!

osamu doodles jerseys in the corner – his brother’s #11 and his boyfriend’s #20. he stands to admire the sandwich board, startling at the voice behind him. “not #18 fer aran? that’s disrespectful of ya.”

“kita-san!” he whirls around to greet him, bowing slightly. “i know, but i have a feelin’ if i don’t put ‘tsumu’s number, he’s gonna blame me fer givin’ him bad luck.”

kita’s smile is slight, amused. “an’ suna?”

“that’s my boyfriend that yer talkin’ ‘bout.”

“yes, yes, as if i’d forget. i’m comin’ by later, so save me a seat, please. let’s talk more then.”

he watches him continue along, likely to visit the other shops on the block, and then ducks back inside his restaurant. it’ll get busy, if the tokyo olympics set any precedent, especially with how vital this match will be. after losing to germany, they’ll need to win, and then perform well against usa. only then will they qualify for the quarterfinals.

inside, the decorations have changed. the jerseys on the wall, once msby and ejp, are now their olympic counterparts. although the photos still show onigiri miya’s humble beginnings, he added a few taken with the team, including one where they’re all holding his onigiri. it pained him being unable to watch any of their games live, but he wouldn’t change it for the business it gave him.

for the rest of the day, he and his staff work to serve their customers, fulfill takeout orders, and prepare for the watch party. about half an hour until eight o’clock, he tunes into the sports channel, where subtitles of analysts discussing japan’s performance and future odds appear on screen.

there are two tvs – one on a shelf over the bar and the other in the corner of the seating area. he has a tablet set up behind the counter to watch whenever there are orders, but the livestream is still on standby. he turns the screen off as the door opens. “welcome back, kita-san. ya want the usual?”

“yes, please.” he takes the empty seat directly across from him, the same where any of their friends would sit whenever they visit. “are ya expectin’ a full house?”

“yeah, it’s usually busy. i imagine it’ll get busier once japan qualifies.” osamu takes a handful of rice and begins molding it. “they’re under a lotta pressure. ‘tsumu was almost in tears when he called.” it hurt that he couldn’t physically be there, relegated to phone calls and video calls, but if listening helped air out frustrations, he’d gladly sacrifice his sleep.

“the world is expectin’ a lot from them after they placed second in the vnl,” kita agrees. “hopefully, they’ll be able ta get it together tonight.” the two of them watched their friends and family compete mere months ago, bringing their nation to the podium, and consequently, to the top of the world. it’s natural to assume it’ll happen again, but so far, it isn’t easy as it sounds.

the clock strikes eight, and the broadcast starts with official warm-ups. atsumu and kageyama are setting to their players at the net, jumping to spike. it changes to serves, the players taking turns to warm up. osamu watches suna, who spins his ball as part of his pre-serve routine, and then tosses it for a jump floater. it isn’t as fast as atsumu’s, nor as deadly as kageyama's, but it’s earned them aces in the past. he hopes it’ll happen again.

the teams line up to sing their countries’ national anthems. a solemn silence falls over the restaurant as everyone follows along, osamu included. the camera zooms in on their faces, strict with determination and focus. suna looks into the camera when he’s in frame, and osamu whispers a voiceless prayer to him.

atsumu is the starting setter, along with ushijima, sakusa, aran, suna, and hakuba. yaku is their libero. the others stand on the sidelines. “must be goin’ fer heavy hitters to blow past argentina’s blocks,” kita comments. osamu nods in agreement.

oikawa tooru is argentina’s starting setter. the whistle blows, and the match begins.

c’mon, guys. i know ya’ll can do it.

the first set doesn’t start off well. japan falls behind in the first half, falling short to argentina’s clean sets and spikes. hakuba is rotated to the back, and suna steps on, hands in front of him. he gets a hand on the spike, and sakusa receives it. atsumu sends it down the middle, suna jumping and rotating his torso to get around the block. japan gets the point.

his customers cheer. osamu hides a small fist pump under the counter. he shares a smile with kita. the commentators are just as excited as he is. “what an unbelievable spike from middle blocker suna rintarou! he’s known for his flexibility and game sense. will this give japan the push they need to get ahead?”

and he does. japan matches and overtakes argentina. kita claps at atsumu’s clean set to ushijima, who slams it down in the opposite court. the team huddles for a cheer and then take their positions. suna is back at the net, hands in front. his eyes widen at the camera pointed at him, and he rotates his fingers to form a heart, mouthing a message. he turns away at the whistle, but that’s enough for the world to see and wonder exactly what he said.

only osamu knows those words by heart.

japan takes the first and second set, but argentina comes back for the third. however, japan takes the fourth, after switching in hinata, and they cheer in celebration. argentina looks devastated, oikawa most of all, and osamu doesn’t miss how japan’s athletic trainer, iwaizumi, pats his arm off-court. he’s sure there’ll be more gestures once the cameras are turned away.

the customers begin to call for their bills and shuffle out. osamu gathers their dishes, kita helping despite osamu's protests, and it isn’t long before they’re the wiping tables clean. they listen to the post-game interview with the players, starting with aran, the captain, and then atsumu. finally, they talk to suna.

“you did an interesting gesture in the middle of the first set. would you like to explain what it means?”

osamu turns to watch. suna has a towel around his neck, hair unruly after the match. his voice doesn’t waver when he replies, “there’s a certain someone that i know is watching, and i wanted to let him know that i appreciate his support and love him.”

“is that related to what you said to the camera? fans are dying to know what you said, by the way.”

“yes, but that’s between me and him.” suna winks, turning slightly to face the camera again. “and if he’s watching – i know he is, by the way – i want him to know that i couldn’t have gotten this far without you.”

the broadcast ends. osamu smiles to himself, adding his rag with the others. he’ll lock up, head home, and text the team his congratulations. atsumu will probably call him in the middle of the night, again, to put him on video as they celebrate. osamu will lose sleep, again, but it’s worth it, seeing his brother happy, seeing his best friend glowing, and of course, his boyfriend living his best dream.

watch me, 'samu.

osamu will never take his eyes off him.

---

inspired by this fanart of suna's gesture and osamu's reaction! <3

[scapegods]

neither of them are thinking about makeup rn

[demaparbat-hp]

Toph as a Goalball player 💪💚

[clowndensation]

thinking about connor in prague saying "dad's theory was you got two fighting dogs, you send the weak one away, you punish the weak one." in relation to this episode, and the way the siblings view abuse inside their own family.

shiv and kendall and their belief that connor and roman are the weak dogs that got the brunt of logan's worst behavior, because abuse is reserved for the kids who can't behave - the ones who aren't smart and mature enough to make it in the world. abuse evokes pity, because abuse is what happens when you expect too much from people who obviously aren't capable of more.

and then they go forward in life, believing that they're just naturally more intelligent and more capable than connor and roman, as if being raised seeing what happens to you if you aren't a perfect child wasn't the entire point of the "punish the weak dog" mentality that logan instilled in them. the looming threat implied behind any praise they do receive that tacitly tells them "you're not like roman and connor" because everyone knows what happens to roman and connor.

the absolute height of the rich capitalist mindset. "we're succeeding because of our own merit, and other people fail because they don't have what it takes" when in reality they're succeeding because of arbitrary rules made up by someone who knows that infighting makes meaner dogs.

[screwpinecaprice]

Sorted my folders and I actually added a dialogue to this?

[mionkings]

Making Heads Turn 🫨

Jason had become a father to a little baby boy, taking him in when he found the poor thing on the streets, in a cardboard box, wrapped in a space themed blanket.

While the obstacles a new parent goes through is tough. He knows it's worth it to have Danny, his baby, his son in his life. He doesn't regret adopting him.

Danny is now at the stage of his little life that he babbles and giggles, Jason always had fun having a conversation with his baby. Although Jason's sure that his hair is getting whiter with the chaos Danny brings now ever since Danny's baby brain realized that he can CRAWL to PLACES >:D

However this new development... is a little strange.

Whenever Jason puts Danny down in his crib to make dinner or any other important errand. Danny will begin to babble to the air, as if his little tyke is trying to talk to someone, making grabbing hands and scooching over to grab someone's attention.

It sent a slight shiver down his spine...

Ever since he made his introduction to Gotham as Red Hood, for the first time to those gang leaders with the bang of the AK-47. Taking over the Gotham underworld by storm with anger and precision.

He always felt a chill down his spine... When he was alone, yet... the Pit Madness flared everytime, making him feel enraged and paranoid. As if he was just waiting for a fight... for a confrontation...

Being alone in his apartment, having nightmares, more like repressed memories of what he had done... Lots of things, but for some reason—his mind... keeps going back to the moment he threw that duffel bag at the table infront of the gang leaders that night... the night he went after the lieutenants, taking their heads.

He doesn't know why.

But ever since the precious cargo that was his baby Danny, arrived in his life. That all went away as he took care, fed, and loved his baby boy.

Jason never had an episode with Danny; he couldn't bare the thought of hurting the child.

Jason was even having less episodes when he was with the Bats!

The chills; however, Jason still feels them occasionally... but they would always disappear the moment Danny would demand attention or to nap.

And instead he would feel something else hang over his baby everytime Danny slept peacefully...

———

Second ever DPxDC prompt that I've ALSO been getting brainrot over ❤️ I'm having fun 😄

Basically this prompt idea is Jason adopting a baby Danny, while seemingly unaware that he's being haunted/watched by the people's he's killed to become a crime lord. More specifically, being haunted by the heads/headless ghosts of the lieutenants Jason killed as Red Hood.

While Jason can't seem to see them, he can feel 'chills' from them. Danny, however, CAN see them mostly because I based this on that thing where babies/toddlers can see spirits in those typical YouTube videos that list ToP 5 ScArY gHOstZ VidEOz!1!1

Whatever happened though, this causes the ghosts to instead focus more on Danny than on Jason.

How much will Jason freak the fuck out when he finds out? Who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Although Danny is absolutely having fun here ^^

Anyways, I might add extra stuff soon to this!

[quazikam]

HATE that I'm randomly remembering this post relating to shuichi's development because I feel like crying now

still can't fathom the people who say saihara had no development like the fuck? sorry but did you play the game

In chapter one, Saihara is weak- he relies heavily on Kaede and sticks with her for practically the whole chapter

In the trial, he is too scared to reveal the truth of the crime to everyone, fearful of condemning yet another person

the biggest point to mention here, though is that Saihara didn't try to stop her death. He's not strong enough to at this point

Kaito is furious, exclaiming to him that he *should* have done something, that she had BELIEVED in him, and that she had 'passed her wish' onto him, yet he did NOTHING to stop her death

let's just say saihara definitely took this to heart- (5 chapters later of growth and support thanks to kaito and look here)

this line-

THIS LINE DAMMIT

IT SHOWS HOW MUCH SAIHARA HAS GROWN

KAITO PUT HIS FAITH IN HIM AND HE'S MANAGED TO CHANGE HIM FOR THE BETTER

[nouverx]

Collection of One Piece sketches from the last few days

Made a special one for Law for his birthday 💖

[quadrantadvisor]

Alright new Jason Todd headcanons in a dpxdc setting:

Danny is a "liminal" ghost, rather than a "half" ghost. He's alive and dead at the same time. (He's like Jesus Christ (in the church denomination I grew up in), fully ghost and fully human.) Danny, in human form, can go through a ghost shield, because he IS a living human.

Jason, however, is a reanimated corpse. He isn't a ghost, wouldn't have a ghost core, etc, he has a normal human system that runs ON ectoplasm. Jason CANNOT go through a ghost shield, because he is always an ectoplasmic entity. Danny can go through the Fenton Ghost Catcher and be split into a ghost and a human; if Jason went through the ghost catcher, he would straight up die.

(For my purposes I'm gonna say that Jason became an ectoplasmic entity upon his resurrection, but wasn't very stable. Dunking in the Lazarus pit stabilized his system but also poisoned his ectoplasm.)

I do think that Jason could learn certain ghost abilities if he learned to harness his ectoplasm, especially if they detoxed him off the Lazarus waters. He's probably already enhancing his stealth and strength in ways he hasn't really noticed. I think he's held back by the amount of physical matter he's lugging around, so maybe he couldn't fly, but I'm imagining temporary invisibility, or intagibility of like, a limb at a time. Maybe he can't walk through walls, but in a fight he can dodge by instinctively making the targeted part of his body intangible.

[moongothic]

So I rewatched the entirety of the Baroque Works saga for the first time in quite a few years, and before that I did also finaly watch MelonTeee's video essay about the East Blue Saga. And naturally I am now plagued with some Thoughts™

So in her essay (which you should go and watch if you haven't already, let's be real) MelonTeee discussed how one of East Blue's key themes was people's treasures, be it items, dreams and most importantly other people, and the way people are willing to sacrifice their lives or their own dreams to protect those who are dear to them. Rewatching Baroque Works Saga, the key, long running themes I picked up on were that of

Trust and betrayal (Laboon at the time being under the impression that his friends had betrayed him and left him to rot at Reverse Mountain; Whiskey Peak is all about backstabbing people; Little Garden was about Dorry and Broggy's friendship being too strong for either party to believe the other had betrayed them; Croc's trust issues in Alabasta being his ultimate downfall)

Friendship and unbreakable bonds (Laboon's new bonds with Luffy and co; Dorry and Broggy again; the comparison between Chopper trying to say goodbye to Luffy and co only to be denied vs Vivi's farewell)

What makes a country, a good ruler and if/when is overthrowing a ruler justified (Drum and Alabasta explore these together)

And perhaps most importantly, protecting that what is important to you. And that one in particular I feel like is the Alabasta arc's main theme on its own, as it comes up over and over again.

The Rebel Army wants to protect their country from their "corrupt king" by overthrowing him; the King wants to protect his people from needless bloodshed and tries to avoid combat; Vivi wants to protect her people but also her friends and can't find the strenght to beg them for help lest they get hurt on her behalf; Luffy wants to protect his friends and Vivi so they don't get killed by the likes of Crocodile. Protecting those you love is an important theme in this arc, it is the arc's very heart as the conflict is was born out of that love. And that's why it's so interesting to me how Crocodile's motif seems to be being a protector, a guardian. And I'm not just talking about the "Croc is based on Sobek the Egyptian crocodile headed protector god" and "Guardian of Alabasta"- if that was all then I'm not sure I'd even go as far as to call it a "motif" for him, but it comes back to haunt us again in Marineford with the ever legendary

And that is just... curious. Because Crocodile as we know him is just Some Asshole with no weaknesses and nothing he cares about except for his own ambition. So being a protector being his motif, of all fucking people, is really interesting. Like, One Piece doesn't really do shallow villians, there's always a reason to why a character has become the way they have and why they're doing what they're doing.

Kaidou was raised in an environment where one justified the reason for their existence through strenght and combat alone.

Doflamingo hates the world and wants it to just fucking burn because he never let go of the entitlement of being a World Noble.

Lucci was brainwashed into becoming a warrior for absolute justice since he was a small child.

Arlong watched his people suffer from the oppression of humans first hand and that hatred consumed his heart.

Wapol was a spoiled nepobaby manchild who thought he should be allowed to do whatever the fuck he wanted because he's King.

Why the fuck is Crocodile the way he is. Why does he want to create a utopia, a military nation powerful enough to rival the WG itself. What has driven him to to strive for that goal. Why is being a protector his motif.

East Blue explored the things you are willing to do and the lenghts you're willing to go for your "treasure", the ones you love and care about. And Alabasta is about protecting them; even if not called that explicitly, Alabasta is about protecting your treasure. On one hand, having the man with no treasure, nothing and no one he wants to protect, as the primary antagonist of the arc that about protecting your loved ones is a great juxtaposition. Like there is an argument to be made that the reason Crocodile lost is because he had nothing to lose, while everyone else in the arc had everything to lose in this conflict and thus couldn't afford it, as they'd be left with nothing. And, looking at Alabasta on its own, as a standalone arc, that does work. But when you look at One Piece as a whole, when you look at everything that came before and after, I can't help but to feel that can't be the case, can it? Surely Crocodile has something he did want to protect after all?

[backpackingspace]

I am once again thinking about how odysseus who witnessed the horrors that the captured women went through (one of his main duties in the iliad was taking the women back home and making sure they were as comfortable as possible and safe because he was the only one trusted not to violate them further due to his devotion to penelope. And in the odyssey part of the reason circe sent him to the underworld was so that he'd have to listen to all these women's stories (before he could talk to the prophet) ). Who was one of the few that saw women as people and respected their space and opinions. And was then put in those exact same situations. I don't have the motivation right now to do a full literary analysis of this (I'll site the sources too) but oh man one day I'm going to write a full essay on this.

[unlivresanstitre]

normally I limit myself to one reread of Capri per year (in June because I find it's the perfect month for this book) but the brainrot is so strong, I need want to reread it now

[sysig]

It’ll all go fine if you’d just don’t worry about it, probably (Patreon)

[oyeixcher]

Every OyeiCher scene (28 ¦ ??)

O: "Cher." C: "Yes?" O: "We've been together for a while. You know every angle of me. Though I may not always be nice, I have a sharp tongue and get moody easily. But if you give me a chance, I want to take care of you for the rest of my life. What's next?" C: "This." O: "Ah. Look. Is the ring pretty? Will you marry me?" C: "I do." ... O: "You're becoming a big softie again, little one." C: "Your proposal was so sweet." O: "Now is the time people would cheer for us to kiss." C: "Go ahead. What are you waiting for?"

[kacievvbbbb]

Maybe it's just me and I just don't understand the arc. Or maybe this arc will get some grand conclusion I'm really starting to doubt. But like I'm sick and tired of Tashigi being used as Zoro's misogyny proxy. Like the "a woman swordsman could never beat a man" belief and trauma made sense for both Kuina and Tashigi and was a very valid fear way back in the East Blue when they were still fighting relatively normal people and had no scope of how big the world is

but at this point where there are literally 20 feet tall dudes and people can blow up a whole city with just Haki the only reason Tashigi is still weak is because she is being written that way. Which is really hard to understand because it seems now more than ever One Piece has been getting more and more strong female characters so I don't know why every time Tashigi is on screen with Zoro we have to rehash this. It's even worse cause all she does in the scene is prove Zoro right by getting in a fight that she can't handle and needing saving. It's such a confusing message and honestly doesn't really apply or come up anywhere but with Tashigi and Zoro (outside of that one time where Zoro yells at enel for blasting Robin because she's a woman which was weird because Robin's been in a lot of fights before but seemed there just so enel could point out just how ruthless it is.)

Hell with the exception of the G5 all being in love with her. She is treated like a regular character and not just "the woman"

It honestly feels like both Tashigi and Smoker got lost in the narrative and Oda just doesn't know where to put their arcs. It feels like she was being written to help Zoro overcome whatever mental block Kuina's death instilled in him about facing female opponents with his sword. But she is just sooooo far behind him it renders the point moot and strengthens his convictions (it's weird that he will literally crush a woman's face rather than use his sword and is the only reason I won't say he doesn't fight women he does he just seems to have a mental block about cutting them down especially if they fight with anything blade like) but also we've only ever seen him face female character he knows can't challenge him it would have been interesting to see what he'd do in a fight against someone like big mom, tsuru or smoothie doubt that will happen though. But here's to hoping for Tashigi to have an actual arc.

[averyshittyseal]

Some Sketches of my favourite dorks

(And my inconsistency in drawing Harry)