#it's canon I'm sorry I don't make the rules

[galactica7071]

let's diagnose the Irish guy from punch-out

disclaimer: I am but a lass with ADD, so while I do know a lot from both my own experiences and research, you should still take my ramblings with a few grains of salt. I encourage anyone reading to form their own headcanons, and would love to hear them!

So, the Punch-Out wiki (in its current state) implies that Aran Ryan has some sort of mental disorder, so I projected onto dissected him like a deep sea specimen, and may have found out what's going on in his very empty and screwed up head

🎉congrats! it's attention deficit hyperactivity disorder! (probably)🎉

ADHD has a bunch of characteristics that go with it, but I'll only be going over the ones that apply to Aran and are displayed in canon. Of course, I'll insert some speculation here and there to further support and reason through some of my points. For more reading, I suggest checking out organizations like Mayo Clinic and the National Institute of Mental Health, as well as any self-reports and blogs by people with ADHD (the latter tends to be more personal and far less clinical-sounding, but are just as helpful). Wikipedia is also a good place to go for anything, and you might even find yourself down a few rabbit holes!

Hyperactivity and restlessness

Aran exhibits this in PO Wii heavily. He has a high-stamina fighting style with lots of shuffling around, always bouncing around Little Mac. He can only be stunned through counter-punches and being faster than him (During round breaks, Doc Louis literally says "beat Aran Ryan to the punch"). It is extremely difficult to KO or TKO Aran without intercepting him due to this mechanic. During round breaks, regardless of how beaten and bruised he is, Aran will bounce his leg constantly in Contender and harass the audience in Title Defense.

Impulsivity and recklessness

This one's consistent between his two appearances, surprisingly. In Wii, Aran is portrayed as a dirty cheater who would "do anything to win", according to supplementary comics. He has the most rule infractions in the Punch-Out series, at 32 combined. He stuffs his gloves with horseshoes before his Contender fight and brings a homemade flail made from a broken boxing glove to his bout with Little Mac in Title Defense. During matches, he makes use of headbutts and elbows quite frequently. These are both illegal and very stupid moves, due to the potential of self-inflicted trauma. His flail in Title Defense could be a sign of creativity by thinking outside the box, which is often seen in people with ADHD. In supplementary material for Super Punch-Out!!, it's implied that a fight usually broke out whenever Aran was made fun of in school, showing that he was reckless during his childhood as well.

Emotional dysregulation

In Super Punch-Out!!, Aran Ryan is rather grumpy, and is one of two characters in the entire game to never smile in any of his sprites (the other being Nick Bruiser). Compared to his Wii portrayal, Aran is as clean as it gets in this game, even complimenting the player during the credits. Supplementary material attributes his lower mood to the teasing he endured during his childhood, and that he got into boxing to channel some of his pent-up anger. Depending on how you view it, him being so angry over his peers making fun of his name could be an overblown reaction. This hot-headedness is retained in PO Wii (which could be a sign of impulsivity), but he's essentially the inverse of how he was in Super. He's boisterous, reckless, dishonest, and smiles even while he's stunned. Many of Aran's reactions to being hit are him laughing, which might imply masochism on some level, but is nonetheless seen as an inappropriate response to being hit. He displays some antisocial traits, even, as seen when he throws aside the referee in Title Defense. This is likely caused by a low tolerance of authority, but is still an extreme reaction to the referee just trying to maintain order in the ring (good luck with that, ref...).

Difficulty starting tasks

This is a sign of executive dysfunction, which is closely linked to inattention in people with ADHD. It's exhibited in his Contender intro, where he spends the first three frames of the cutscene messing around. For this one, I'm going to compare Aran's behavior in his Contender intro to all the other boxers that spend their entire intro cutscene in a gym/dojo/training environment, spend the majority of their cutscene explicitly training, or are in several training environments. Here's a neat little chart, where the numbers represent how many slides they spent being "off-task":

can you tell that graphic design is my passion

I've counted any activity that builds strength and endurance (like eating, running, lifting, or practicing magic in Tiger's case), or requires a large amount of work put in to do (like chopping trees or playing hockey, for Bear Hugger). Some of you might be wondering why I didn't include certain characters, but that's because they're either in a combat setting, switch from training to non-training settings, or are doing unrelated things in what could be a training setting.

If Aran has 3 instances of being off-task, he ties with TD Kaiser, Don, and Macho in terms of how long they're off-task for. If "gearing up" is being counted as being on-task, he only ties with TD Kaiser and himself. Of course, context matters heavily. TD Kaiser, Don, and Macho aren't off-task purely for the sake of slacking off, but show developments of their story throughout Career Mode. TD Aran is off-task for storytelling as well, but it's not motivated by a grudge towards Mac like the other three and falls under the normal definition of "slacking off". Speaking of cutscenes,

Inattention and distractibility

Aran shows this several times in Title Defense. In his intro, he notices a rope in the trash can and gets the idea of making his flail, seemingly forgetting all about training for his match with Little Mac. During round intermissions, he's distracted by the audience throwing objects at him, and threatens them instead of spending the break resting or strategizing.

Anxiety

ADHD is highly comorbid with anxiety, due to executive dysfunction (mainly sensory processing), and the risk of overthinking. I admit that this one is a bit of a stretch, since general restlessness and anxiety are linked in many mood disorders, but it's shared between both of his appearances. Super's version of Aran being caught up in his own past can be a sign of social anxiety as well as falling victim to overthinking. In PO Wii, the leg bouncing can be a sign of anxiety for various reasons, whether it be physiological (ex. outside stimuli being unpleasant) or psychological (ex. overthinking the match). His stance in Exhibition's menu for his Contender match is also a little shaky, which is common in fight-or-flight reactions, though it could also be plain hyperactivity.

Pressured speech

In PO Wii. Aran usually talks very quickly, which can be caused by the classic ADHD experience of "having a lot to say, and feeling like there's no time to say it". It's very likely that it's just be a characteristic of his accent, though.

🍀🌠🌈this is a cool section break🌈🌠🍀

There's plenty more symptoms you could make arguments for, but these were some of his more prominent traits. ADHD shares symptoms with a lot of other disorders, though, so let's see some other possibilities...

Counter-Diagnosis #1: Bipolar II Disorder

Bipolar II, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, is characterized by a a pattern of depressive states and hypomanic states (notice the hypo- prefix). We can attribute Aran's demeanor in Super to a depressive state, and his demeanor in Wii to a hypomanic state. I've chosen bipolar II instead of I due to the specifications of a "manic state" not fitting his Wii portrayal as closely.

Hypomania (literally meaning "less than mania") shares many characteristics with full-blown mania, but is more toned-down. People who have experienced genuine hypomanic states usually describe it as helpful towards their productivity, while manic states are notoriously more harmful and often directly affect productivity. Symptoms of mania include restlessness, racing thoughts, pressured speech, overconfidence, increased agitation, impulsiveness, a disconnect from one's surroundings, extreme anxiousness, and many others. Already, we can observe many of these symptoms in Aran's Wii portrayal that are shared with the ADHD diagnosis. However, hypomania tends to lack the "reality disconnect", and we can see that Aran is very aware of his surroundings. Him being in the World Circuit in both Super and Wii can be interpreted as a sign of the hypomanic states being more helpful than detrimental (maybe less so in Super because of the existence of the Special Circuit, but I digress).

I think this take has a lot of ground, maybe more than the ADHD hypothesis. A lot of my earlier points in favor of him having ADHD can also apply to him being bipolar (specifically hyperactivity, recklessness, and especially emotional dysregulation) as well, which blurs the line in some places, but it's still a very strong argument.

Counter-Diagnosis #2: Oppositional Defiant Disorder

According to Mayo Clinic, ODD is "a frequent and ongoing pattern of anger, irritability, arguing and defiance towards parents and other authority figures". The characteristics of ODD can be observed in both SPO's and Wii's Aran.

I think this one's weaker, for a few reasons. First, ODD is considered clinically relevant only during childhood; from then, it can "evolve" into a number of other conditions, including but not limited to borderline personality disorder and the aforementioned bipolar disorder. Obviously, Aran isn't a child, but he could have had this disorder in the past and "grew out of it" from a clinical standpoint.

You could make an argument for the anger issues due to a few of his behaviors, as well as his voice lines in Wii having a sort of "growl" to them, but his irritability is infrequent and mild enough to where it can be attributed back to emotional dysregulation, and the "growl" could just be how the character or his voice actor naturally sounds (I haven't found any clips of Stephen Webster speaking out-of-character, but if anyone has any, I'd love to hear them).

Counter-Diagnosis #3: Antisocial Personality Disorder

The DSM-5 defines APD as consistent displays of deceitfulness, issues with authority, impulsivity, irritability, recklessness, and a diminished capacity for remorse after hurting someone. Again, a few of these symptoms are shared with ADHD, so there's a significant grey area here. Yet, I believe it's stronger than the ODD argument, since his cheating can be a sign of deceitfulness and his apparent antisocial traits in Wii. However, boxing as a combat sport doesn't leave much room for feeling remorse, since doing so can result in throwing or forfeiting a match. I'm not going to count the lack of remorse due to the nature of the sport, but you as a reader can interpret it how you like.

Counter-Diagnosis #4: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Because of how broad the autism spectrum is, you could easily go crazy in-depth with this. I'll do a miniature version of the ADHD symptom setup, which includes traits observed in canon. I won't be including every shared trait, but do keep in mind that ADHD is comorbid with a bunch of different spectrum disorders, and misdiagnoses, especially in women, are fairly common in the real world because of it. I know I'm going to fail to list certain symptoms due to just how many ASD traits there are, so if anyone reading has any more connections to make, be my guest! This "counter-diagnosis" section is for provoking further discussion, after all, and I'm happy to learn from you all.

Hyposensitivity

In PO Wii. To wind up for his right uppercut, Aran hits himself in the side of the head, and after round breaks in Contender, he hits himself repeatedly. Considering his gloves are confirmed to be loaded in his Contender fight, his relative indifference might be a sign of this. People with autism have reported tuning out various stimuli if they become overwhelmed by a bunch of them (sometimes related to meltdown or shutdown), and it's possible that that's what Aran is doing here. The bright lights of the venue combined with the crowd noise and the feeling of being sweaty could be overstimulating, and the supposed hyposensitivity towards being hit is caused by this "tuning out" to avoid a shutdown mid-bout.

Stimming (repetitive movements)

In PO Wii. The leg bounce in his Contender round break can be interpreted as a stim, as well as the wind-ups for his right uppercut (bopping himself in the head) and headbutt (choosing to wind up on the ropes). His bouncing around Mac could also be stimming.

Pathological demand avoidance

This phenomenon can also be comorbid with anxiety, which happens to be a risk factor for ADHD, so we're looping back around with this one. PDA is characterized by a person exhibiting an intense aversion to something that is asked of them, even if they wanted to do it beforehand. It can be associated with feelings of unfairness and like they don't have any control, so someone with PDA may "break the rules" to feel as though they have some control over what happens to them. Aran's high infraction count in Wii could be a sign of a more obsessive form of this. Avoiding the process of carrying out the demand can be conflated with executive dysfunction as well.

TL;DR get this man into a psychiatrist's office ASAP

[iamespecter]

Ok, idea About Gummigoo for your An Unexpected Reunion! (I don't know if you intend to have him in the au since he's pretty new to the universe in general) We all know what the dentures did to him, but just imagine: What if he wasn't completely reset (assuming that's what happened), but had the memories stored in a separate file, and Caine (in case he had the chance to get access to the circus files), found it by accident and showed it to Pauline in the sense of "Look at this weird file I found" and just opens a folder with a sentient model of an NPC that he thought was random.

I like this idea. I really, really, REALLY, LIKE this idea.

I'm going to have to blame you for this idea too, anon. :)

[5aph0]

SHADOWZEL SLOW BURN "Your queen turned on you, and my Goddess turned on me. Perhaps we have more in common than we dare admit to" You can get rare additional dialogue you can get if you wait until late Act 2/Act 3 to speak to Shadowheart about her attacking you in the middle of the night in Act 1. (Related to Enemy of Shar path/Orpheus Path) "At least I know I won't find you atop me the middle of the night now. I mean.... Nevermind, lets consider the matter settled." 5 minutes later:"Don't you dare stop."

[talons-and-teeth]

Your Taste, Forever on My Tongue

Pairing: Elain/Lucien

Rating: M

Summary: Elain's office is running a Secret Santa event that coincides with the launch of the new website which she's leading on. She happens to get allocated the last person she could ever think of getting a gift for.

Merry Christmas, @makememakesense ! It's me, your Secret Santa!

Thank you so much being so lovely and giving me so many ideas for this AU, I really hope I got it (somewhat) right!

Thank you also to the @acotargiftexchange organisers for giving me this opportunity. This is my first ever fic and I've been so nervous about it, but I'm so glad to have done it for such a joyful community. Special thanks goes to my wife @mmiscbutterflies for helping me brainstorm and bring my 'Love, Actually' vision to life, and generally talk me down from the proverbial ledge when I became anxious/was not in the right headspace to write. Love you always.

Read on AO3 here

Snippet below:

Elain was late.

Not her usual, sorry I’m late-I couldn’t resist-there was a new cafe I just had to try on the way- late, but a fuck me-I slept through five alarms-maybe I spent too long watching reruns of Bake Off-or was it the bottle of Sauvignon?- tardiness, which left her cursing profusely while she tripped over her tights, slapped on eye cream and was out the door.

[shadowfloofster]

Watching Bad's vod where q!Foolish, q!Cellbit and q!Baghera are trying to set up q!Bad with q!Forever, now with CC!Bad's comment about his character being oblivious in an aromatic way is great

The others talking about who to ship q!Bad with while he sits in his chair, the aromantic and skephalo flag slowly fading into the background because this man will not be with ANYONE unless it's Skeppy

And I love that about him. They're currently talking in metaphors and q!Bad is just "????? I don't understand" and I love him for it.

Foolish: we're talking about the emotions in your heart right now!

Bad: Diamonds are forever!

Either he did that on purpose or that's the best coincidence to ever happen

[moe-broey]

HELP maybe this is influenced by how I'm writing this, or maybe it was supposed to be gleaned from canon and I just. Haven't fully thought about it til now. Haven't Deeply analyzed it beyond the blaring alarm bells that go off when reading this. But. Alfonse's,

Straight into.

This isn't him doubling down. This is him BACKTRACKING. This is him going, "oh fuck I think maybe I came on a little too strong maybe I was a bit too vulnerable and that's really scary. How do I fix this" and he's running through all the dialogue options in his head like Okay. Play it Cool. Keep it Casual. Proclaim your undying loyalty and devotion to your Trusted Partner (person he just told in the beginning of this conversation that he didn't intend to become friends with) by making yourself a blade and shield for them. NAILED IT 👍

[the-gay-prometheus]

The era of British and American Frankenstein is OVER.

OVER, I TELL YOU!

The next time I see Victor Frankenstein in visual media he better be wearing lederhosen and a funky little felt hat blowing on an alphorn trying to sell me extra strength Ricola that'll raise a man from the dead

[conspirartist]

Yo folks, I did it! The wedding illustration is done!! I really like how the whole thing turned out, I think the boys look very sweet... I just love this two a lot.

And yeah I may have just ignored their cloths because armor is hard to draw... But I also think that marrying into 'civilian' wear symbolizes their union as something more personal to who they are as individuals, as opposed to their roles as Golden Saints. So it wasn't pure laziness from my part, I swear!!

[kanene-yaaay]

The v cool @carrie-tate ​asked about my tickle headcanons of Teruki (EVERYONE HERE SUSH IT’S <3 <3 h i m <3) in This Asky because of This Post and I shall answer because Teru is one of the most interesting and fun charaters to me so! Let’s gooo!!

🦁 Teru’s Headcanons 🦁

(Teru's new hair reminds me of a lion cub so that is the emoji of today VWHGWYWGW)

He is just so *incoherente noises*. This guy has just so much Vibes I can’t take it

Tickling someone? YES. Being tickled? Absolutely yes. He is perfect for everything and that is a fact.

First of all, Teruki is a hell of a ler. Not only because he knows how to look for sweet weak tickle spots and has teases dripping freely from his lips before the person can even realize what is happening, his attentive eyes actively searching for everything that makes the bean that is being tickled flustered and giggly and just latching on those things until the person is lost admist laughter and tickly tingles.

(Mob lost the count of the amount of times Teru would manage to make him squeal tickling spots that he isn’t even aware he was ticklish in the first place)

But, anyway, he is one of the biggest lers ever because he. is. so. smug.

He is very good at making people a mess of giggles and he knows that. And he knows that you know that he knows that. So, the entire time attacking someone with clawing fingers and distracting pokes he will just have That Smile. The Smile. The Smug, Teasy, Playful smile that automatically makes shivers run across the your spine and makes giggles bounce on your throat.

He doesn’t have a very good poker face because of that, btw. Mah boy can’t pretend that he didn’t realzie he was tickling someone by accident or feigning innocence for his LIFE

Teru doesn’t do a lot of antecipation too. He is more of a:

            “Hmm. I think I am going to tickle you.”

            “Wha-”

And then give the person no time to process his words or run away sdfghgfdsdfg

EXCEPT when it comes to Shigeo. Because he is extremely cute trying to not titter and yelp every time Teru decides to tease him w anttecipation by lightly - very, very lightly - skittering his fingers on his torso and wondering out loud about “What tickle spot should he gave his especial attention today?~’

Talking about cute and soft things, Teru is an absolute SOFTIE. Yes, he is an evil, teasy, smug, playful and meanie ler who can and will use all his tickly power (both metaphorically and literally because no, he is not above using his powers to help him tickle someone sdfghjhgf) but he is WEAK for cute things. He will forever deny it but making someone just... laugh is very nice. It’s fun. It feels like he is able to make something important, to impact someone’s live positively even without his powers.

Now, now, talking about adorable things, don’t even get me started on Teruki as a Lee. Because ohhh gosh.

Oooohhh gosh

Before everything I 100% agree with your Teru’s in a Lee Mood headcanons and they are *chef kiss* fabulous, perfection, incredible absolutely amazing.

Now picture with me: Mob in a Ler Mood and being too shy to do something about it and Teru realizing. And he wants Mob to loosen up a bit more! He wants him to just feel free to be playful and silly with no worries

So he decides to be a gremlin.

Teru will act a bit like the way he is when in a Lee Mood, but with less embarassement. He will be stretching all the time, wearing crop tops and asking for Mob’s opinion, tapping his own fingers on his stomach or sides, laying on Shigeo’s lap and putting his hands behind his head, sometimes even giving Shigeo a poke or two to show he would be okay w a tickle fight in that moment.

And then Mob (and here I am heavily LOOKING at Otomiya’s idea of Mob tickly “”power”” building up until 100%) will finally attack and Teru IMMEDIATELY will go from a grinning come-on-tickle-me-I-dare-you to NONONONOWAITWAITPLEASEPLEASEWAIT in like half of a second.

That man can’t take what he dishes out AT ALL. If someone gives him a single one (1) jab on his side and he is falling on the floor he is smiling like crazy he is pleading for mercy he is ded.

Maybe it’s because he was so used to being feared and looked upon during his entire life before his fight with Shiego but the idea of someone being silly? Tickling him and being teasy and having fun and paying attention to him and not his powers his reactions and smiling and caring makes him very, very, veeeery flustered. And extremely giddy. And at least 100% more ticklish because holy gosh-

99,9% of the times he is tickled he was almost sure he was melting and honestly by the awed way Shigeo looks at him when he is tickling the blonde maybe that is still a possibilty SDFGHJKMJNHB

He has ticklish elbows. Mob can tap-tap his way from his wrist to his elbows and he will giggle and snort his head out. Sorry that is the true I don’t make the rules.

[sui-imi]

Can creators/aspiring creators join the UnderNet Prtocol?

hmm... that's a good question!

I'm going to say that if creators find the code for it, they can observe, but they cannot directly interact with it. let's say it's... a compatibility issue...? (we're too four dimensional? haha i don't know)

I think it's best if it stays as an in-multiverse thing, if that makes sense. (also if Admin knew that creators could use it, he'd lose his mind and start annoying each one hahaha)

edit: this also means that creators can't look at/order through UnderEats... i'm sorry 😔 (but you can get your ocs to get some for you)

[spacestationstorybook]

in‏‏‎ ‎games‏‏‎ ‎ponies‏‏‎ ‎play‏‏‎ ‎the (false) games‏‏‎ ‎inspector calls‏‏‎ ‎dash‏‏‎ ‎"speedy" twice which i think is precious and i WILL be stealing it as an affectionate nickname for astral to call her. btw i'm on season 4 already and i'm very tempted to slow down and take my time more but then i'm also worried i'll never finish it. i'm normal <3

[quatregats]

Hornblower literally is one of the genders of all time

[windfighter]

Not only thunder roars

Prompt: ”I’m scared.”

-----

Takeru curled up next to Yamato and Yamato put an arm around him.

”I’m scared”, Takeru whispered.

Lightning flashed across the sky, thunder roared. I’m scared too, Yamato wanted to say. But he couldn’t. He needed to be brave, Takeru’s rock. Needed to be a good brother. Or else mom and dad might start fighting again.

”I know it looks scary, but lots of things that look scary aren’t”, he said. ”Like that bug you found yesterday!”

A bug was far from the same thing as lightning though. Another flash crossed the sky and Yamato supressed the need to flinch. Takeru did instead, pressed harder into Yamato’s side. Yamato lifted him into his lap. Part of him wanted to suggest they hid in the wardrobe. He pushed that part as far away as possible.

”Why is the sky angry?” Takeru asked.

Yamato didn’t know. He raked his brain to find what he had done to wrong the sky, but nothing came up.

”Maybe….” he started and tried to think something up on the spot. ”...maybe there’s just been too much work for it lately. Like how it is for dad sometimes.”

Thunder roared again. Takeru gripped Yamato’s shirt and pressed his face against Yamato’s chest. Yamato watched the rain run down the window.

”He’s not angry at us, just very loud”, Yamato said.

He wished he could believe his own words. Takeru seemed to calm down a bit though, the tight grip around Yamato’s shirt loosened. Yamato lifted a hand to his cheek. The bruise had disappeared, but the pain was still fresh in his memory. He swallowed and hugged Takeru.

”He could never be angry at you”, he whispered.

”Is the sky angry at you?” Takeru asked.

Yamato blinked. Shook his head.

”Maybe it is”, he said. ”Maybe it’s angry I’m holding you in here instead of letting you go out and greet it.”

Takeru looked at him. Yamato did his best to grin and Takeru laughed. Settled more comfortable in Yamato’s lap and looked through the window. Yamato did as well, tried to keep the memories of dad’s hand and the pain away. Takeru leaned his head back and looked at Yamato.

”You’ll always protect me when it’s angry, won’t you?”

Yamato wasn’t sure what they were talking about any longer, but he knew one thing. He ruffled Takeru’s hair and gave him another hug.

”I’ll always protect you.”

[carewyncromwell]

“All those decisions that I made back then  That shaped who I once was... I've turned my back and grown away from them  To be who I am now! 'And are you fine with that?’ Yes, I'm fine with that. Diving down with arms outstretched, further from land, Deep into the sea of dreams, lost --  Destroyed by my own hands -- And you...oh, you...bright and innocent youth... Please stay that way in forgotten days...”

~“Sea of Dreams (cover)” by RafScrap

x~x~x~x

Okay, this drawing didn’t exactly turn out the way I wanted, but since it’s taken me this long to finish, I figured I’d just go ahead and post it! 

So a while back, I was chatting with fellow Rakepick fan and rewriter @dat-silvers-girl​ and I shared this song with her since I both really liked it and really thought it had Rakepick vibes. Listening to the lyrics, I couldn’t help but imagine Rakepick looking back on her past mistakes in a Pensieve...so what I wanted to try to capture was the sort of inky aesthetic that we see for Pensieve memories in the film adaptations of HBP and Deathly Hallows -- 

As I said, didn’t exactly turn out like I hoped, but there you go!

One huge unanswered question I’ve had about Dumbledore in the game for a long while is why he decided to trust Patricia Rakepick in the first place. Just about everyone looked at Rakepick with suspicion, and yet Dumbledore both actively sought out her help and expressed no distrust of her, even though her Occlumency was strong enough to keep Snape out of her mind and likely Dumbledore as well. It’s well-established that Dumbledore isn’t the sort to trust blindly and is a chess-master who always plans five steps ahead too -- so why trust someone like Rakepick and let her into your school? Well, from a meta point of view, Dumbledore’s strange trust in Rakepick clearly parallels his trust in Severus Snape, which is likewise questioned by plenty of other characters and seemingly seems unjustified when Snape “turns” on Dumbledore. But we ultimately learn that Dumbledore trusted Snape because of his love for Lily Potter -- and so, at least in my headcanon that diverges completely from the game as of the end of year 6, Dumbledore ultimately decides to trust Rakepick for a very similar reason.

You see, when Dumbledore sought Rakepick out in Egypt, he initially was a lot more suspicious. He knew Rakepick had always been interested in the Cursed Vaults, and he did find it more than a little suspicious that she was suddenly so reluctant to return to Hogwarts to help him with them, as well as that right after school, Rakepick climbed the ranks at Gringotts so unbelievably quickly with seemingly no connections from public social groups like the Slug Club. Dumbledore had also caught wind of rumors -- forwarded to him by Mundungus Fletcher -- that Rakepick had made contact with Jacob Cromwell right after he’d been expelled from Hogwarts, and therefore may have been one of the last people to see him before his mysterious disappearance. Yet when he brought up Jacob and his family to Rakepick, she was dismissive.

“I’ve heard of them, certainly -- the Daily Prophet does travel, even this far out...”

“I don’t recall the Prophet discussing Jacob’s sister,” Dumbledore said, raising his eyebrows. “Yet you seem to know her, all the same.”

Rakepick crossed her arms, turning away with a slight huff. “Hardly. I only ever saw the girl in passing...I’ve never even spoken to her.”

And so when Dumbledore finally did leave Hogwarts to meet Rakepick, he approached her far more critically. He broached the subject largely by talking about the young student who’d already stumbled upon the corridor outside the Ice Vault, a girl called Carewyn, and although Rakepick’s mental shield was strong, Dumbledore got the sense that Rakepick had known Carewyn and her connection to Jacob long before he first brought up her name. He visited Rakepick a few more times, both trying to convince her to come deal with the Vaults as the professional she was and to gather more information about her connection with Jacob, when Rakepick finally and abruptly agreed to return to Hogwarts to deal with the Vaults. Dumbledore, however, had one condition for allowing Rakepick unfettered access to his school.

“You must give me something first, Patricia,” he said gravely. “A memory. Specifically, the memory you have of Carewyn Cromwell.”

Something in Rakepick’s expression flickered. 

“I told you I’ve never met her,” she said lowly. 

“You said you never spoke to her,” Dumbledore challenged her, “but that you saw her in passing, nonetheless. I require that memory, before I make my decision.”

Rakepick was a bit reluctant, but finally agreed to place the memory in Dumbledore’s Pensieve so that both he and she could view it. 

Dumbledore noticed immediately how incredibly dark the recollection was, with many faces and locations oddly blurred. He wasn’t sure whether it was Rakepick placing little value on these things or the work of active tampering...but one thing was crystal clear, and that was the tiny girl dancing down the street all by herself, singing Don McLean’s American Pie:

“Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye,

Singing ‘this’ll be the day that I...die! This’ll be the day that I die!”

The details of the memory were vague enough to be compared to shadows -- even Rakepick’s reasons for being there, or even much of what happened after Carewyn ran by, were seemingly selectively dodged...and yet this little girl, in all of her blazing innocence and charm, was as clear as if she was really running right past Dumbledore at that very moment. And as she darted past Rakepick, completely unaware that anyone was watching her, Dumbledore saw a strange melancholy pass over the much younger woman’s face -- a melancholy he knew all too well, after all of the pain he’d caused his brother and sister...

And so it was Rakepick’s storge for Carewyn -- that love usually found among parents for their children, stained by remorse and regret -- that persuaded Dumbledore that the well-regarded Cursebreaker was someone worthy of his faith and trust. 

[cyrusthedragon]

Homelander with his own team: *threatens to laser them, pulls out their guts, tries to pick out their eye with his finger*

Homelander with his fake ass enemy: *heart eyes* WILLIAM!! *shifts from foot to foot* may I come in?? *sighs offended when sees him with other man* YOU CHEATER! *sad cat look* I'll miss us...

WHAT THE FUCK, MAN-

nothing just canon

[paranoir-antares]

near far wherever you are