#its just another common case of 'if love could have saved you you would have lived forever'

[transjohnnycash]

Ah. The grieving

[thisgirlnamedblusy]

you should make a donna x reader where donna has a dream about y/n and becomes obsessed with her, thank you!!!

Yess!!!! Thank you for your request!!!! I hope you like it and sorry about the language mistakes!!!! :)))

Dreams

Pairing: Donna Beneviento x Fem! Reader

Warnings: Angst, slightly dark themes, Donna's POV, Donna being Donna, happy ending

Word count: 7,782

Summary: Were you real?

N/A: Sorry about the language mistakes!!! Requests are open!!! I'm waiting yours!!! I love you all!!! :))

“Dreaming is a third part of our life”

It was a phrase that always seemed curious to me. I had been alive for a long time, and a number of days, months, and years were insignificant to me. I was no longer a woman, a person, a human being. I couldn’t count the time passing around me. I had lost count for years.

Sometimes I remembered those more difficult, but different times, when time mattered, when days had a meaning, when dreaming was nothing but a waste of time, a silent theft from the countdown of my existence.

But that was no longer the case, my existence had no end, it was like an eternal sentence, like an unlimited time that was granted to me by the grace of the Black Gods. I couldn’t blame Mother Miranda for turning my life into a succession of days and nights, into a constant reminder of better times. What nonsense, there were never better times.

Stripped of the only thing that made me human, my mortality, the limits my life would have, I became a ghost, an erratic soul that stopped looking for its place, it already had it.

Being a Lord was just a nickname, a nickname that served just for the purposes of the same witch who turned me into what I am now, a monster. A monster they said had no feelings, a wounded, sick monster, one more doll of my creations, a puppet that dances to the tune of this horrible village.

Donna Beneviento, a feared woman, repudiated and turned into a terrorizing machine, making people feel the real fear, that was me. I couldn't say that I didn't like having that power over the people who one day laughed at me, who forced me to isolate myself from the world, who believed themselves better for not having scars.

I had gotten my revenge a long time ago, and I liked doing it. Loneliness was a common thing, another companion, like Angie, like my dolls, a dark shadow that surrounded me, that crossed my body day after day, that reminded me of who I was and how I had gotten there. However, there was something that Mother Miranda had not managed to take away from me, something that the Black Gods could not prevent: I continued dreaming.

I wonder if my siblings also dream, if they are capable of traveling to a different world, if they are happy dreams or horrible nightmares. I suppose their personality has something to do with it, that mine forces my subconscious to torture me when darkness is not just a metaphor, when I want to sleep, to make time pass more quickly, even knowing that the next day, nothing would change.

The nightmares were just another routine, the crises, the tremors… Everything imprisoned me even more in myself.

 Why, Mother Miranda? Why save a sick woman like me? No matter how many times I asked myself, I was never able to get an answer.

If I look back, I even dare to miss those horrible dreams, those memories that torment my disturbed mind; screams, terrors, helplessness, all of that was replaced in a moment by something else, something that made me want to keep dreaming, and at the same time stop doing it.

“If you could choose, what would you do? Where would you like to go?” you asked, playing with my hand, looking into my eyes, looking at my face that was not deformed, at what I never was, nor will I be.

“I don't know,” I answered with a smile, letting myself be carried away by those soft caresses, by the sensation of your skin on mine, by the subtle touch of our naked bodies like every night. “Anywhere, as long as it were with you.”

Your laughter lit up my face, your soft voice, your sighs made my heart want to jump out of my chest, it wanted to feel, just like me, the warmth and softness of your body.

“Are you always that romantic?” you asked, snuggling into my chest, sighing again, making me feel like the luckiest woman in the world, in this dark world.

“Only with you,” I said, leaning down to kiss you, to caress your lips with mine. I don't know why I kept trying…

“Hey, hey, Donna, wake up, wake up!” you said in a gruff tone, shaking me by the shoulders. It was another ending.

“Hey, hey, move your lazy ass and wake up!” an irritating voice pulled me out of that scene, out of that feeling of having you near me. Of course, Angie always took care of ending my dreams, forcing me to return to my horrible reality.

“Angie…” I murmured in a sleepy, angry voice, annoyed by the light that illuminated my room, with my faithful doll, my only friend, jumping on my body in a comical, but annoying way.

I pushed her away with a slap as I sat up, glancing sideways at the other side of the bed, where an empty, cold space reminded me that I had dreamed again, dreamed of you.

Sighing, I rubbed my only eye, wishing to return to that alternative world, one in which you were with me, in which I was not completely alone.

“Wake up, wake up!” the doll shrieked, with a mocking laugh, which disappeared with my furious look, with my furious growl at her attitude.

“Oh, Angie…” I sighed, uncovering myself and approaching the dressing table, where the reflection of that cruel mirror revealed my deformed face, revealed my true nature, my true appearance, the appearance of a monster.

I combed my hair slowly, avoiding looking at myself in the reflection more than necessary, remembering that pleasant dream before my mind forgot it. Well, forgot part of it. There was something I couldn't forget, that my head still kept intact: You.

“Buongiorno…” the doll sang, irritating me even more.

“Angie, I dreamed about her again,” I whispered, closing my eye, hoping that, when I opened it, I could return to your arms. I couldn't, I never could. It would never be real.

“Oh, the mysterious girl,” the puppet commented, with a mocking but understanding voice. “Was it a nice dream?”

“Yes, it was,” I whispered, leaving the comb on that horrible dressing table, getting up to start another day, another day of terrible and anguishing loneliness.

It hadn't been long since I started dreaming about you, since your figure appeared in the middle of the fog, dissipating it, making way for you with the light of your beauty.

I didn't know who you were, what you were, I didn't know if you existed, but I wanted you to. There were many possibilities. It could be that my head had created you just to relieve me, so my madness wouldn't get worse, at least during those hours of sleep.

A warm smile, silky and shiny hair, the perfection that I could never have. At first I thought that maybe it was a coincidence, that the nightmares had managed to give a break to my tormented soul, but it wasn't like that; you kept appearing in my dreams, you kept talking to me, telling me that I was beautiful, caressing me...

If you didn't exist, why did I feel you? If you were just a creation, why did you always look the same? Why did my heart beat the same way when I saw you? I never knew how to answer, I never wanted to answer. If you could live in my dreams, at least you would live. If you didn't exist, at least you would do it in my mind.

But the passage of time worsened that desire, that desire to dream, that desire to be more and more disconnected from reality, where you didn't exist, to live in an unreal world where you did. The first few times I took it as a relief, like a balm, a warm bath in the coldness of my dark life.

Little by little, it became an obsession, and I knew it, but... How could I become obsessed with someone who didn't exist? Did you really exist, or were you just like another one of my dolls?

“Have you tried asking her name?” Angie asked, after I got dressed, preparing to live another day without you, a vigil that was torture, just because you weren't there.

“No,” I said dryly, reading a book while eating breakfast, desperately searching for an explanation for your presence.

“I think that's important, don't you?” the doll said, looking at me over that old essay on dreams.

“Get off the table, you know I hate when you get on while I'm eating,” I ordered the puppet, who grumbled, changing the table for my lap. “Angie…”

“Let's see, let's see…” she murmured, turning the pages in an unpleasant way. “Look, Donna, it says here that it can be a recurring dream.”

“Of course it's recurring,” I said, laughing nervously, impatiently, frustrated for not getting answers to all the questions in my mind. “I don't dream about anything else.”

“Okay… Look, it says that it can also be due to sexual dissatisfaction,” the doll joked, making my cheeks turn red-

“Don't talk nonsense,” I whispered, turning that horrible page.

“Nonsense? Tell me, Donna, tell me, tell me… What do you think about when you kick me out of your room at night?” the doll mocked, which made me push her angrily off my knees, terribly embarrassed.

“What do you care? That's private,” I said furiously, pretending to read, pretending not to have your image in my mind.

“Bah,” the doll sighed, with an amused gesture. “You think about her, huh?”

I stopped reading, closing my eye and the book at the same time.

“I can't stop thinking about her,” I admitted, passing a hand over my forehead, holding my coffee cup with a trembling hand. “I think… I think I'm going crazy.”

“Well, that’s not new,” the doll mocked, with an unpleasant tone, with that independence that I gave her and that I sometimes regretted.

“You don't understand... I... I...” I said, gritting my teeth, hitting the table with my fist. “I can't be like this... I... I don't even, I don't even know if... If she's real.”

“In your dreams she is,” Angie said, with a more serious tone.

“That doesn't mean anything,” I murmured, trying to relax, trying not to let my demons force me to break everything, to hurt myself again. “Maybe, maybe I can, I can ask someone for advice.”

“Who?” she asked curiously, with a tone that I didn't like at all.

“I, I don't know... Alcina, maybe,” I said, shaking my head, crossing my arms, scratching the fabric of my dress with my nails.

“Do you know what Alcina is going to tell you?” Angie said, with an ironic tone.

“She'll offer me a poor girl to play with,” I sighed, head down, knowing that Angie was right, that no one could help me.

“Maybe that will help you,” the doll commented, giving me a shiver. No, I could never do that.

“I've already told you…” I hissed, denying to myself that it was one of the reasons for your presence, that I needed a body to have fun with, that then, you would go away, you would leave me alone again “… That it's not about sex. Cazzo, Angie, I haven't even been able to kiss her…”

“But you can talk to her, right?” the puppet asked. I nodded.

“More or less,” I said thoughtfully, letting myself be carried away by my obsessions again, thinking about you, always about you, always about your look, about your smile, about one that I couldn't, didn't want to know if it was real.

“Then ask her name,” she said finally, just as she had advised me at the beginning.

It seemed like absurd advice, stupid, but little by little I began to consider it.

In one of those books something that made my hopes suffer appeared, something that perhaps explained my obsession, the games my subconscious played while I slept. Apparently, a person could dream about someone they had seen once in their life, or had just passed by. The brain, the human mind is incredible. It was designed to torture me with an unknown girl.

Thinking that maybe you were that, a ghost from the past, a random village girl I saw once and whose image stayed inside of me forever was not good news. I wanted to think, to believe, to know that you were real, that somewhere there was someone… Someone who could love me.

There was only one way to get out of doubt, to know if I already knew you: by listening to Angie, by knowing your name.

“It's a beautiful day…” you said, walking hand in hand with me, with that smile so real and so ephemeral, so… You.

“With you every day is wonderful,” I said blushing, enjoying your caresses, your hand in mine, the feeling that could disappear at any moment. “W, wait…”

“Mm?” you murmured, leaning on me, without losing that smile.

“I want, I want to know your name,” I said unsure, not knowing what was going to happen, if I was going to wake up, if I would lose you again.

“(Y/N)” you whispered with an almost imperceptible voice.

(Y/N)…

“(Y/N)? No, it doesn't ring a bell,” Angie said when I told her your name, when I was finally able to name your presence, when you were more than just a beautiful girl, when you seemed more real…

I frowned as I worked on my dolls, an increasingly insignificant hobby, one that I thought would make me forget you for at least a moment. I couldn't do it, once I knew your name my mind only repeated it over and over again, only projected your smile, I could only see your eyes in those porcelain dolls.

“Doesn’t it?” I asked, delicately painting a head, a head with your eyes, (Y/N). “It's not a very common name.”

“Did you know it?” Angie asked, taking me out of my thoughts and ramblings again, making me concentrate unintentionally, not wanting to know if you were just part of my past, if you were someone who really existed but were unreachable for me.

“No, I don't think I've ever heard it before,” I said with a nervous voice, with the trembling of my hands ruining your porcelain face, once again.

“Curious,” the doll said, holding my hand so I would stop ruining her companion, something she hated. “How can you dream about someone you don't know? I mean, you can't know her name if you've never even heard it before...”

She was right, and her question had a possible and horrible answer.

“I think it's pretty obvious,” I whispered, leaving that head in a safe place so my messy strokes wouldn't deform her face, your eyes, your smile... “That's because (Y/N)... doesn't exist!” I said furiously, feeling how the darkness loomed over me, how it forced me to kick the floor when hitting the table, losing control.

“Hey, hey, Donna, no, no!” Angie interrupted, trying to stop my outburst of anger, trying to uncurl my fingers clenched in a glass jar before the rage of knowing that I could never have you shattered it into a thousand pieces. “Don’t do that! Silly Donna!”

“Non ne posso più!” I yelled furiously, losing control, losing my mind, not bearing the true reality of my discoveries, knowing that your name, that you, were just an invention of my mind, that I could never have you, never. “I can’t take it anymore…”

“Donna, Donna, basta, basta!” Angie said, trying to calm me down, fighting my attempts to scratch my ugly face, to pull my hair, to hurt myself for being so stupid, to want to stop existing in a world without you.

Surrendered, unable to even hurt myself, I buried my head in my arms, crying inconsolably, crying for having lost something I never had, and will never have.

“Angie, I… I… L’amo…” I confessed, I confessed a shameful truth, a truth that shouldn't exist, a truth that couldn't be, that didn't make sense, that my mind forced my heart to feel. I couldn't love you, I couldn't, but I did.

“What?” the doll said in an exaggerated tone, patting my back to try to comfort me, stopping as soon as she heard that terrible and delirious declaration. “You can't, you can't love her,  Donna.”

“I do… I… I’m, I’m in love with her…” I said again, sobbing, noticing the absence of Angie, who had retreated with a furious sigh.

“No, no, no, you can't, Donna,” she said with an unsure tone, knowing that what she was going to say would hurt me. She was not wrong. “Come on, come on, you can't love someone who…”

“Say it,” I said raising my head slowly, stopping crying, changing the sadness, the crying for pure anger, for rage, for the pain that such a horrible truth produced, for the dagger that common sense slowly sank into my chest.

“Um, Donna, I…” the doll said with a different attitude, surely due to my cold, dark and dangerous gaze.

“Say it!” I shouted, getting up from the chair, making Angie run away from me, making my madness terrify her again. “Say that I can't love her because she doesn't exist! Say that (Y/N) is nothing but a name I read in some book and she's not real! Say that I'm so disturbed and lonely that even a dream can make me fall in love! Say that I can't love a dream!”

Angie fled under a table, looking at me terrified, unable to say that truth, which I knew and didn't want to see, which tortured my mind, the love I felt for you, the love I felt for something unreal, for a dream.

“Porca puttana!” I screamed, kicking the chair, clenching my fists tightly, hurting myself, injuring my body as well as my mind.

Angie was right, I was disturbed and nothing could cure me, nothing but you, nothing but that non-existent presence I could only enjoy while sleeping.

“Of course… Of course… That's it, right?” I rambled, passing a hand over my forehead, my body shaking, my hands moving erratically. I had lost control and you could never help me. “Donna is a stupid crazy woman, a disturbed woman who will never have someone who loves her, who is so lonely that she can only love in dreams, she can only be loved by women who don’t exist, because, because she is a monster, right?”

“Do, Donna, calm down,” Angie said, hiding behind a table, shaking from my anger, from my nerves, from me. “Nobody, nobody said that…”

“But they think so,” I said, mad, pointing at the doll with my finger, starting to walk aimlessly through the old workshop. “Yes, it's surely their fault. They're the ones to blame! They’re always so elegant, right? With a perfect face, with maids who would do anything for them, with charisma, with… With possibilities of being loved… Donna can't be loved, she can only dream, right? Well, fuck you all! Fanculo a tutti!”

“Come on, come on, calm down,” Angie said, coming out of her hiding place with her hands out in front of her, fearing my reaction, that my madness would hurt her. I couldn't blame her.

“Lasciami!” I protested when her wooden arm reached my leg, shaking her to get her to move away.

“Donna…” Angie said in a sad voice, getting up from the floor because of my push. At that moment I collapsed again.

“Angie…” I whispered, sorry for my attitude, for taking out my frustrations on the doll, on my only friend, a real one. “Gods, I'm, I'm so sorry…” I said, helping her up. She shook her head, understanding as always, too understanding.

“You should calm down, Donna, nobody hates you, I'm sick of telling you that,” the doll said, with a cocky pose. I shook my head, sitting on the floor, leaning my back against a wall.

“I can't stand it,” I murmured, crying again, calming my heart, my breathing, my madness. “I can't stand the idea that (Y/N) doesn't exist… “

“She exists in your dreams,” Angie said, in a more casual tone, sitting next to me, as always. I don't know what I would have done without her.

“I can't live on dreams... I, I can't... But I can't forget her either, she appears every night, every time I fall asleep she's by my side, she hugs me and... She, she loves me and... I... It doesn't matter if it's crazy or if I can't do it, I know what I feel and, I, I love her...”

Angie sighed comically, resting her hands on my knee, letting the silence flood the workshop, the thoughts echo in my head, recognizing my irrational obsession, my stupid love, my heart's inability to stop getting upset just by thinking about you.

“Phone!” Angie shouted, when the screeching sound interrupted my silent crying, my lament.

I nodded, returning to the reality of my sadness, to my duties, to my only purpose in life: to serve the Black Gods, and Mother Miranda.

“Donna, is everything okay?” a soft voice on the other end of the phone asked, my sister, Alcina.

“Y-Yes…” I lied, stifling my sobs, not wanting pity, compassion. No, it wasn't for pity, a crazy woman did crazy things, felt crazy things, it couldn't be understood, it couldn't be helped. I could never change.

“I've been calling you for a while, dear…” Lady Dimitrescu murmured.

Yes, probably the thoughts of you had silenced my hearing, my senses. I could only feel, see, hear you, (Y/N), even if it was only in dreams, in memories…

“I'm sorry, I was… Busy…” I apologized, with Angie tugging at my dress, offering herself as an interlocutor. No, it wasn't necessary. My sadness overshadowed even my fear of communicating with others.

“Mm,” my sister murmured with disinterest, snorting. “Mother Miranda has summoned us for the monthly sermon to the Black Gods. I know it's a hassle for you, but I'm afraid that...”

I sighed. No, being surrounded by the villagers and the rest of my siblings was definitely not what I wanted at the moment.

“I know,” I whispered with a broken voice.

“If you're not feeling well, I can tell Miranda that...” she said, feeling sorry for me, like everyone else.

Poor Donna, she's so crazy...

“No, I... I'll go,” I said abruptly. “I need some fresh air.”

After that, I hung up the phone, telling Angie to bring my black veil, my curtain, my wall that blocked me from the world, that prevented me from being seen, that allowed me to hide that... I was a monster.

The church was too crowded. The whole village was there, everyone was looking at me, judging me. I could hear their criticisms, their thoughts. It was a simple paranoia, but a torture nonetheless, one almost as horrible as the idea of ​​not being able to have you.

“Is everything okay?” Mother Miranda, my creator, my savior and my executioner asked. She was the woman who put an eternal sentence on my existence, an eternity without having you…

“Yes,” I answered dryly, with a voice so low that I doubt the rest of my siblings heard it. Besides, as always, they fought among themselves.

“You don't look well, Donna,” the witch repeated to, putting her golden claws on my shoulders. I moved so she moved away. I didn't want pity, I only wanted you.

“I'm fine,” I said abruptly, clenching my fists tightly, causing the priestess to frown and Angie to squeeze one of my hands, reassuring me.

If Miranda got angry and finished me off, I wouldn't be able to dream of you again. That was a punishment worse than death, than the condemnation of immortality.

“Mm,” the priestess murmured, distrustful, sighing, possibly tired of putting up with a fool like me, disgusted by having such a stupid daughter, a daughter who had fallen in love with a ghost, with a dream…

Then there was silence.

“Children of the Black Gods,” Miranda began, spreading her wings elegantly, moving away from me, standing in front. “I welcome you.”

“In life, and in death, we give glory…” the faithful crowd repeated, like an obedient and sinister flock. I sighed tiredly, wishing that this torture would end, that I could dream of you again.

My ears didn’t hear her words, her untouchable mantras, her prayers and proclamations of salvation and glory. Nonsense, no one could be saved, I could never be saved. My eye wandered absentmindedly through the crowd, watching those perfect faces, imagining them disappearing, those pews empty.

My heart stopped when I looked at the back of the chapel, when I saw a figure that my mind recognized before my gaze did. A young girl leaning disinterestedly against a wall, arms crossed, bright eyes, silky hair, you.

It couldn't be possible, I even blinked several times, shifted in my chair, closed my eye, opened it again. No, I wasn't imagining it, my obsession hadn't overcome my madness. It was you, (Y/N).

The same clothes, the same face, a different expression but with the same affectionate touch, with a tender but tired look, those same hands, those playful fingers tapping your arm impatiently. I wasn't crazy, you were there. You existed. It wasn't a dream.

But the little rationality I had left screamed to be heard, to make me understand that, even if you were real, it wasn't you. Yes, it could be a coincidence, it could be someone who looked a lot like you, too much. I got nervous, I wanted to believe it was you, I needed to believe it.

The sermon ended before I could make sure of the reality of what I saw, before I could know who you were, if you were the girl of my dreams, the girl I had fallen in love with. It seemed crazy, it surely was.

Without saying goodbye to my siblings, I walked away from the altar, pretending to want to leave, to want to go home. Of course my steps weren't as hurried as other times. My walk was slow, opening a corridor of people who lowered their heads when they saw me. They feared me and... I liked that, deep down I liked it.

“Hey, (Y/N)!” a voice caught my attention, a voice addressing that mysterious girl, you, a voice that called you by your name.

(Y/N), that was your name, it was you, there was no doubt.

“We are going to go to Luiza's house to have tea, it's Irina's birthday and we have bought a lot of food, are you in?” that annoying villager asked, talking to you, talking to the owner of my dreams and my broken and disturbed heart.

I stopped without wanting to. I turned my head towards your perfect figure. You smiled, so did I. Your smile was the same, it was you, there was no doubt. I had found you.

“Of course,” you answered with a kind tone. Your voice, (Y/N) the voice that sounded in my dreams filled my ears, calmed my heartbeat, made me sigh. You were real. “But first I have to do some chores at home, I will meet you later.”

“Oh, perfect, perfect,” the boy said, turning slowly, paling when he saw my dark figure looking at him. I wasn't looking at you, stupid. “Oh, Lady Beneviento…” he said, bowing in respect.

Then it happened, your eyes looked at me, your expression relaxed, changed to one different from my dreams, to a worried, thoughtful and nervous one.

I ignored him, I could only look at you, you could only look at me. It was a strange moment, perhaps too strange. I dreamed of you, but you… You couldn't know.

Scared by my own behavior, I turned around, looking at you one last time before leaving the chapel. I could feel it, I could feel your eyes fixed on the back of my neck, that shiver you always gave me when you came close in my dreams.

“Angie…” I whispered, walking slowly, discreetly separating myself from the crowd. The doll, which rested peacefully in my arms, nodded.

“Yes, yes, it's her, it's her,” she said with a slightly lower voice, jumping comically in my arms.

“Yes…” I sighed, not being able to help but smile, to feel happy. I had found you. “Wait, this isn't a dream, right?” I asked, scared, thinking that I would wake up again with the emptiness of your absence at my side. “Ow!” I screamed when the doll hit me hard in the stomach. “Angie!”

“It was just for you to check that it wasn't a dream,” the doll joked, getting off of me and peeking through a nearby bush. “Look, look, Donna, she's there!” she said excitedly, pointing at you.

I approached nervously, watching you from afar, seeing how you chatted with what seemed to be your friends, how you gave them that beautiful smile. I felt jealousy invading me, absorbing the joy of having found you.

“Donna, Donna,” Angie called me again, waking me from those horrible images of me not being your company under the sheets. “What are you going to do?”

It was a good question, the best one, in fact. Now that I had found you, that I knew you were real… What should I do? You were you, but you weren't the same as in my dreams, you didn't recognize me, you didn't know you were part of my life.

But you had to be. I had been dreaming of you for so long, of having you by my side. What you thought didn't matter. All I could see was you, all I could think was that fate made you mine even if you were incapable of knowing it.

I couldn't let you go, let you get away from me, let me stay dreaming of you again, conforming to your distant image in a mass, with your smile that wasn't directed at me. No, my rage increased, darkness loomed over my skin, over my hidden gaze. You had been in my mind for a long time, I couldn't, I didn't want you to disappear again.

“Come,” I whispered to the doll, with a sinister voice, camouflaging myself among the bushes, following your steps, waiting for the moment, the moment when you were alone, defenseless. I don't regret thinking like that, you had to be mine, you already were.

“Are you going to be bad, Donna?” Angie asked, making me rethink my intentions. She didn't succeed, the darkness dominated me. Your body was the only thing I was looking at.

“I need her,” I whispered as I walked slowly, chasing you without you knowing. You, who seemed as intelligent as in my dreams, turned around several times.

Could you do it, (Y/N)? Could you feel me stalking you? Could you feel my gaze following you? Sure you could.

You turned around, frowning, blinking in confusion. You didn't see anything, I wasn't behind you, but you could certainly feel me. As expected, given my subtle harassment, you walked faster, towards the part of the village where you seemed to live, a lonely path, perfect for me, unfortunate for you.

“Who's there?” you asked nervously, scared by my presence, by one that you could only sense. Nothing, I didn't answer, I didn't reveal myself. I simply went a little closer, just a little closer. “Shit, shit...” you whispered, running, scared by something you couldn't see.

I followed you, I ran after you, without worrying that you could see me. I didn't care anymore, you were mine.

“Shit!” you shouted again, turning around, watching how I chased you slowly, without running, knowing who I was, but not what I wanted. I wanted you.

You screamed again, as Angie ran after you, making you trip loudly in the snow. You turned on the ground, dragging away from my slow walk. I didn't want to scare you, but I wanted you, I needed you. I couldn't lose you now that I knew you were real, and not just another dream.

“Hey, hey... I... Let me go... Don’t, don't come closer...” you moaned in pain from the fall, looking at me with eyes of terror, with the fear that I was supposed to generate in the villagers.

You had the sight of a monster slowly approaching, crouching beside you, placing a hand on your forehead and closing my eye so I could concentrate.

“No, no, please…” you whispered, losing the strength of your voice, rolling your eyes as my powers acted on you, making you faint, making you collapse in my arms.

“KO, good job, Donna,” Angie said, while I held your unconscious body, taking some time to caress your hair, to check, once again, that your beauty was real. “Now what?”

“I'll take her home,” I whispered with a cold look, picking you up in my arms, lifting you off the ground, keeping you very close to my body.

“Home, home!” the doll sang, surrounding us, surrounding my dark figure, my figure carrying yours, hugging your body, holding you against me.

You were so beautiful… Even asleep, unconscious on a sofa, I could feel your warmth, your beauty, the one that lived only in my dreams. I, sitting next to you, played with your hair, caressed your forehead. I cried, laughed with joy. I had found you, and now you were mine, you had to be.

My caresses seemed to move you. You groaned confused, frowning, waking up little by little. I wonder what you were dreaming about.

You opened your eyes slowly, focusing on me, knowing who was next to you, moving back weakly, almost agonizingly, causing my hand to stop touching your perfect skin.

“No… No… What…?” you murmured, pressing your temples with your hands, confused, scared, trembling. I only laughed, I could only laugh, cry with love.

“Ciao, bellissima…” I said in a whisper, with a smile that you couldn't see, helping you to sit down.

Hearing my voice confused you and you shook your head, looking at me, as if something I had said had surprised you. It shouldn't have, I was used to adoring you in my dreams.

“That voice…” you whispered, almost without a voice, with that same expression, one that changed instantly, surely when you remembered what had happened. “Oh, my, my…” you said scared, pushing my hand away, trying to get up from the sofa, something that I prevented with a hand on your shoulder, forcing you, perhaps a bit roughly, to sit down again.

“Sit down,” I whispered in a tender voice. Your eyes were still terrified. I didn't see love, only fear in your gaze. It was too late to back down, to consider the terrible possibility that my love for you was not reciprocated.

“Lady Beneviento,” you sighed, shaking your head, blinking several times to situate yourself, to know where you were. Deep down, you knew. “What…?”

“I have finally found you…” I sighed, caressing your face, unable to reason, to do something to calm you down. No, I couldn't, I only wanted you. I wanted everything from you. You pulled away in an unpleasant way, which produced a knot in my stomach. Your gaze didn’t leave its fear.

“What? I, I don't... What am I doing here?” you asked, trembling from my innocent caresses. I sighed. I wasn't going to let you go, no matter what you said.

“You're with me, (Y/N), you have nothing to fear,” I said softly. You blinked again, shaking your head.

“What? Why do you know my name?” you asked, shifting nervously on the couch.

“I know more than your name, tesoro...”  I said with a tender, but terribly dark voice.

“Oh, shit...” you sighed, closing your eyes. “This, this is because of what my friends said about you, right? I, I promise you I didn't say anything. Besides, I've never sneaked onto your property on a dare or something like that and... Shit...” you stammered, more and more nervous.

I started to think that you really didn't know who I was. You didn't know you lived in my dreams.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” I said in a serious tone, slowly losing my patience. I wanted to hear your sweet voice, not swear words, you never said them. You weren't like that.

“I don't know what I'm doing here either, I mean... Why?” you asked, gripping the fabric of the sofa tightly, shaking with fear. I didn't want you to shake.

“You know why,” I said simply, sighing at your passivity.

“No, I don't know, have I done something that could offend you? If, if so I apologize but please...Don’t, don't kill me...” you said, putting your hands together, lowering your head and squeezing your eyes tightly.

“I'm not going to kill you,” I said in a dark tone, nervous, more nervous than I would like. “I've spent so much time thinking about you...”

“About me?” you asked again, pointing at yourself, unable to stop me from caressing your cheek, from feeling the softness of your skin again. “I… I…”

“You are even more beautiful than in my dreams… I can’t believe you are with me,” I said in a delirious sigh, one that scared you even more.

“Dreams? No, I… Please, let me go, please,” you said, stabbing a dagger deep into my heart. You didn’t say that in dreams. I had found you, you were mine… You weren’t going anywhere.

“You can’t go, (Y/N), not when I’ve spent so much time dreaming of having you,” I murmured. Your expression stopped being terrified, your eyes darkened. I could only see disgust in your gaze, disgust towards me.

“No, no…” you said, getting up slowly, scared but confident. “You, you're wrong...I, I don't know what's on your mind but...I , I have nothing to do with it, I'm just, I'm just a villager, I've never hurt anyone, I've never messed with you... Let me go home, please, I’m begging you.”

“Cazzo…” I hissed, moving away, frustrated, disappointed with the long-awaited meeting. “Stop denying the obvious! You are the girl of my dreams! You are going to stay here, with me!”

“You are, you are sick in the head…” you whispered with a pitiful voice, walking slowly, taking advantage of my loss of control. “I have nothing to do with you!”

“Do you think that by insulting me I would be able to stop loving you? I could never do it,” I said, frantic, unable to believe my own reality, that the dreams were casual, a projection of my desires, not yours. You didn't love me.

“Love me? No, no, this is not happening…” you murmured, moving nervously, looking around. “Help me!”

“Don't yell!” I screamed furiously, preventing your escape with a strong tug on your arm, one that made you hiss in pain. Still, you didn't give up, no matter how hard you tried, you wanted to get out, you wanted to leave me, to get away from me. You couldn't do it.

“Let me go, you crazy bitch!” you screamed, trying to offend me. Nothing you said could hurt me. Only losing you could.

“Shut up! Don’t, don't say those things to me...” I protested, pulling you tighter. “Don't insult me, amore mio...”

You growled furiously, pushing me, making me let you go, so you could run away.

“Get her, Donna, she's getting away!” Angie shrieked, pointing at you when you had already reached the hall.

Suddenly, you stopped, staring at my portrait, which hung on the stairs. You were confused and nervous, your gaze fixed on mine, one that you could see.

 I ignored your sudden stop. I just threw myself furiously at you, knocking you to the floor, with my legs on either side of your hips, fighting with your hands, which were struggling to defend themselves.

“Stop! Stop... Resisting!” I screamed, straining with my hands. “Why don't you love me?!”

“Leave me alone! Let me go!” you screamed.

“Fight, fight, fight!” Angie encouraged, among grunts and sounds of effort. You were strong, my love, but I was much stronger.

Without thinking about the damage you were doing to me, you moved your head forward, giving me a painful blow to the forehead, knocking me to the floor. Still, the pain of your blow, of your betrayal, was not enough to stop me.

I roared furiously, reaching out my hand to pull on your ankle, knocking you again as you kicked to get rid of me.

I dragged you across the floor, using all my strength to reason with you, to make you understand why you couldn't leave.

“You can't leave, you can't leave me alone... you can't!” I screamed, pulling you. You took advantage of my weakness again to pounce on me. Running away was no longer an option for you, you wanted to fight. I was falling more and more in love with you.

Your hands fought against mine, moving with me on the floor, with my back pinned to the wood. You were winning, and that only meant I would lose you.

“Damn it...” you hissed when you saw you couldn't do anything against me, that, even immobilized, I was much stronger than you. I always would be, you were my only weakness. “Fuck!”

With that last scream, you managed to free yourself from my grip, moving your hand furiously, managing to grab the black fabric of my veil, tearing it from my face, leaving me exposed. You shouldn't have seen me like that.

Far from continuing to be furious, from continuing to move, you stopped, open-mouthed, catching your breath, losing yourself in my face wet with tears in my eye that shone with rage and desperation.

You ran a hand over your forehead, shook your head and let me go, with a confused and strange look.

“No, it just can't be...” you murmured, also with tears in your eyes, covering your surprised mouth with your hands. “It's, it's you...”

I didn't answer. I limited myself to hating you for a moment, hating myself for living in dreams. I didn't even pay attention to your confused look.

“Gods…” you said in a calmer tone, getting off my body, dropping to the floor, not being able to stop looking at me. A strange smile formed on your face.

I sat on the wood, confused, sad, sobbing, wishing you wouldn't try to leave again. It seemed that, for some strange reason, you didn't want to.

“Oh, it's you…” you sighed again, crawling towards my position, putting an unexpected hand on my cheek, looking at me, then at the portrait. “I can't believe it…”

“It's you, it's you. What are you talking about, stupid?” Angie interrupted, helping me deal with that horribly confusing situation.

“Gods, I… I've been, I've been dreaming about you for months… I… Oh my Gods…” you said as if you had gone from hatred to euphoria. My crying stopped, and my gaze darkened once the voices in my head let me hear you.

“You…?” I asked in a weak, distrustful voice. It could be a trick. “Have you dreamed about me?”

“Yes, I…” you said with a smile, getting a little closer, with a happy glow in your eyes. “Well, I, I didn't know it was you, you know because…” you said, changing your mood completely, gesturing towards your face. “Because, because of that veil and… Well, because, because, you didn't have much clothing on so…”

“What? Are you kidding me?” I said nervously, incredulously, taking your hand away from my face. You cringed again.

“I, I… I don't know why but… I'm telling you the truth. There isn't a night in where I don't see you with me… In fact, when I've heard you talk I… I can't believe it, it's you…” you sighed with a sincere, surprising smile.

“I dream about you too,” I whispered more calmly, looking at the floor, not letting you see me, not letting those dreams you had be tarnished by my ugliness. “Every night. I, I didn't even know you were real and when I saw you, I…”

“You froze,” you finished my sentence, just like you did in my dreams. “I, I understand you, I… Me too.”

“I, I didn't want to hurt you, (Y/N)…” I sobbed again, regretting my attitude. “I just wanted, I wanted… For my dreams to, to come true…”

“I wanted mine,” you sighed, sitting next to me staring into space, like me. “What a coincidence, huh? I didn't even know what you looked like.”

“I'm sure you find me disgusting,” I murmured, pointing at the portrait. “You were expecting something like that, weren't you?”

“The truth is, no…” you said in a low, confused tone. You were nervous too, I could see you trembling. “I saw you just like right now.”

I laughed nervously, scratching the back of my neck, not knowing what to do with that information, with that cruel coincidence. I never believed in destiny, but it was never too late to start doing it.

“It's incredible... It was you,” you repeated, making me more nervous.

“Will you stop saying that?” I said nervously, confused and upset. “How the hell was I supposed to know that...? Cazzo...”

“How was I supposed to know that you existed? I thought I was going crazy,” you said amused, looking a little more like the (Y/N) of my dreams.

“Me too,” I whispered, looking into those beautiful, bright eyes, looking at the reality of your beauty.

“Donna, um… Can I call you Donna?” you asked, touching my hand, grabbing it, interlacing our fingers like in my dreams, like in yours. I nodded. “There's something I've never been able to do in my dreams...”

I looked at you as you approached, fearlessly overstepping my personal space, grabbing my face, looking at me before closing your eyes. Then you did it, you kissed me, your sweet and soft lips landed on mine.

You sighed, I sighed, we kissed slowly, enjoying that unattainable, pleasurable feeling. I cried again, grabbing your body, kissing you deeper, not wanting our bodies to separate.

“(Y/N)…” I sighed, pulling away against my will, overcome by emotions. You looked at me confused, caressing my skin, as if you were feeling the same, something that seemed impossible. “You are definitely the girl of my dreams…”

[heartfullofleeches]

Need more of THIS please. I. Am b e g g i n g.

[Orion (Demon lord) and Priest Reader for context]

"Priest...."

A crimson pendant hangs before your eyes; chain puppeteer by pale flesh which coos to you so sweetly from the shadows. Mutted wails flicker along its cracks; a cry etched so deeply into memory you could hear them as clear as day. Forgiveness your most sacred virtue; you held no anger nor joy at the fruits of your comrades blasphemy. A fool who sought for might greater than your all power lord's, only to be crushed beneath its heels.

To add more fuel to the fire they've started, the devil would not leave after taking their soul. Just like mankind, he had succumbed to greed and longed to corrupt at least one more of god's soldiers before he returned. A delectable feast despite its ease. One could only imagine his delight when you all up ignored him on your first meeting. His promises of riches and fame did little for you, but your passiveness of his presence did wonders for him.

Stalking you to learn your life desires lead to poor success, but something about your devotion was...charming. He soon wondered what it would be like the subject of your prayers. The one who's glory was your own. To have his name rolled off your tongue as easily and life bearing as a second breath. In an urge to satisfy these thoughts, he offered not to take your soul, but instead a prayer for a single wish of your choice. How deliciously cruel was the smile you gave him that day.

"Know they're still alive. You can saved this damned soul and lead them back to God's house if you give me us one thing."

"Hmm.." You light another candle with the wax held in hand, preparing for service as always. "I know that it is in your nature, but please do not lie to me, demon. Even if they were still living, they've choose their path and I aim unable to provide them anything but a mention in prayer."

Orion scoffs at your words. "It may be a common tactic, but I have never lied to you, Priest. My precious diamond. Their body lies in the hospital, correct? Wasting away after that awful fire, but still breathing. Just say the word and they're free to go."

"May we continue this at a later date? I have to open the doors soon."

The embers of the candles die with a gush of wind. Peeling from the cover of shadows, Orion stalks over to you and advances until your back hits the alter. It is part of what drew him in, but how he tires of this little game you play. Stop worshiping a dead idol and give your love him already. In the face of a force overpowering you in both stature and strength, you merely smile as if greeting an old friend. He pins you in place by slamming his fists into the table, sweeping its contents onto the floor as you fall back against it. More hands appeared from the crater in his spine, locking around your legs and waist.

"Don't think you can ignore me, Priest." He hisses. "I will have what I want. Your mind, your flesh, your affection - all will belong to me. Your Creator is dead. Gone. I am all that will ever remain of their former glory so you. are. mine."

A laugh breaks through the quiet halls of the church. A haunting melody, which rings to the heavens and through the devil's skull. He is unsure whether to kiss you, or shut you up and drag you back to hell. In a complete change of direction, you reach for his hand. Yours doesn't even fit round his wrist, yet he follows your command as you bring it to your lips.

"If that is the case, why are you the one who comes to me? Obsessing over the attention of someone with not even a fraction of your lifespan or power. It's as clear as day that you need me. Not the other way around. You worship me, even if you are unaware. Before anything can truly be accomplished you must accept one thing."

His hand siffens as your lips connect with it, smile played against his skin.

"I am your God."

[anthurak]

Shitty Parent vs. REALLY Shitty Parent

So I think this latest episode has finally given us a pretty good idea as to how Prospera Mercury and Delling Rembran act as dramatic foils to one another as the respective parents of our two main characters.

On the one hand, while it’s been hinted at ever since Episode 7, this episode confirms that Delling does genuinely care for his daughter underneath all that distant, aloof demeanor he’s always showing. We seem him in this episode take a proverbial bullet for Miorine at what was very nearly the cost of his own life, all while telling her to save herself.

And on the flipside, this episode also seems to have given us a hint of the true scope of what seems to be Prospera’s manipulation of Suletta. How despite the open care and affection Prospera shows Suletta, it’s clear that she’s also been manipulating and grooming Suletta into becoming an outright killing machine who brutally cuts down her enemies without batting an eye. To the point where it even seems like Prospera may have even subjected Suletta to outright psychological conditioning and indoctrination, given how Suletta bounces back from a major traumatic breakdown once Prospera said a certain phrase to her.

Now this isn’t to say something like ‘Psyche! Delling was actually a good parent all along and it’s PROSPERA who was the terrible parent!’. Delling is still absolutely a shitty father, plus it’s been pretty clear that Prospera wasn’t going to be a ‘good’ parent given how she’s acted shady as fuck basically from day one, particularly is you read the Star Cradle short story.

Rather, what I think we’re seeing here is that rather than the full-blown antagonistic, villainous ‘Big Bad’ parent he may have been initially set up as, Delling is more simply the ‘dysfunctional’ variety of shitty parent. IE; the kind who’s always loved and cared deep down for their child but has never been able to show it due to their own baggage/trauma/ego.

Essentially, Delling seems to have a lot in common with Gendo Ikari, complete with a tragic dead wife.

In contrast, in we’re continuing the Evangelion parallels, then Prospera could be likened to one of the darker interpretations of YUI, as the protagonists mother who acts loving and caring but is actually the true mastermind behind everything in the story. Not to mention if Eri really is in Aerial, it would basically be the Unit 01 situation just flipped on its head.

Or put another way if we look at a previous work of G-Witch’s writer: Delling is a subversive take on Charles Zi Britannia who turns out to not actually be the big bad, and Prospera is a take on Marianne who’s allowed to ACTUALLY BE the big bad.

Basically, both Delling Rembran and Prospera Mercury are shitty parents. The key difference is that Delling is the ultimately more benign ‘dysfunctional, stoic distant father who sucks at feelings but does genuinely want his daughter to be safe deep down’. Meanwhile Prospera represents the much more concerning case of ‘basically a cult leader who’s used her open care and affection to damn-near brainwash her daughter in being an actual killing machine’.

[bosskie]

Deal

Man, how to start explaining this oddness... Welp, this was that one drawing idea I have kept to myself to this day, the one I mentioned revealing if I don't redraw it this year since the original is an unfinished drawing I haven't really shown but just Molluck. So, yeah, here it is, after about 3 years!

This is a reference to another video game's ad where the enemies much work together against a common enemy. If you could figure out the game already, I give ya ten points! And if you didn't, well, it's alright. The game is 'Crash Twinsanity'; just one game I love and especially its soundtrack (it's a capella)! So yeah, there was just speculations of how the story would continue after SoulStorm and one of them was that Molluck and Abe would work together againts the Magog Cartel. So, that's where this idea came from. I kinda wish that this was the case since it might be the only way how Molluck would achieve a good ending.

I was originally going to make this as a Mother's Day thing, as a bad joke, but welp, I did let it be... Molluck just kinda has to destroy his mother in order to save himself, so he could use Abe's help to do it and a part of that deal, he could help Abe to, well, at least see his mother. But well, cannot really make any promises from Molluck's part since he is known to be a back-stabber... (It's how he achieved his position.) So, he could just use Abe but maybe something would evoke inside him that would him genuinely let Abe be, so he wouldn't revenge the disaster Abe did to him... Or he thinks that 'revenge is a dish best served cold', like that one saying goes... So yeah, cannot know about Molluck. But I hope that he is able to work with Abe, even after getting himself saved.

Oh, and yeah, in that ad, that deal is pictured as a marriage, so that's why they got such outfits. I must say that Molluck looks very handsome in that suit! Abe's suit is just a white loincloth and a necklace-robe-something thing with OWI's logo. And yes, he is holding a bouquet. I originally did Lady Margaret to look like the original Mudokon Pop but I changed it to, well, make this less violent. I wonder if it should be called Queen Pop or Pop Queen... I'm not sure of how to draw Abe's mother, Sam, since her head is kinda varied, just like Lady Margaret's, since there ain't 'official version' out there, just these concepts... But I tried my best. I also feel like Abe might be a bit too big here but well, this is what you get when you draw on a paper; it's difficult to edit stuff, if not impossible, and you might realize things when it's too late...

I'm not sure if I should show the original WIP since it's quite unfinished and looks kinda bad but well, some improvement I guess:

I still like the way Molluck looks here, though I did fix the flaws I saw to this new sketch I did. Abe instead has much more flaws, like too human-like anatomy, so yeah, more stuff to fix... But you can probably see better the outfit design I did for Abe here. And yeah, Sam looks different here, mainly because I feel like I understood better how her head 'works'... Lady Margaret looking fine on a stick there but yeah, felt like doing the later version of the Pops to the new sketch...

Man, I'm not really sure about how to explain the things I have been thinking about Molluck recently... I just feel like it only fascinates me, all the possible dark stuff he has done. It just makes me feel interested, somehow amused too since my humour can be quite dark and twisted... It's really like one of the main reasons why I love Oddworld, all that dark stuff! Like, I have probably said this earlier, but for example, that one Lady Margaret's lung transplant concept art just makes me laugh like every time, the one where Munch is basically merged into her body. I also recently learned more about the possible dark arts Glukkons still practice, like forecasting stocks using Mudokon organs... I already got some 'bad ideas' to make it further since 'a liver' is in Finnish 'maksa' and it can also be a conjugated from a verb 'maksaa'. So, 'maksa' can mean 'Pay!' or 'maksaa' is like something costs something or someone pays something. So yeah, such a great organ for this stuff! I feel like my humour is probably one big reason why I'm kinda siding with the Gluks... It's not the same that I supported this stuff, I just enjoy stuff like this.

I also did read the newspapers from the worst ending of SoulStorm again and noticed more stuff. It's not always easy to say what is actually true there but mainly it is. There was just said that Molluck blamed declining resources in wildlife supply on his ongoing diminishing returns but the newspaper said that it wasn't true. I believe that it's true what Molluck said, that those hunted animal populations were getting thin and that's why he did that Mudokon Pops solution; just gotta get that meat from somewhere! It's interesting though how in games, we have only seen how the animals at RuptureFarms are brought from the wilds but in that movie concept, there do are (also) farm animals, like those cow-like creatures. I must say that if Molluck only uses hunted animals, his business model has indeed been quite unsustainable and I don't wonder why he got that downfall and it would actually have been inevitable, so Abe only made it quicker. Though, Molluck was rewarded with that golden medal he wears, that tie thing, so it makes me think that he must have had some other practices too or are Glukkons just into unsustainable things... If so, man, they are slowly killing themselves too. I just believe that Glukkons could practice sustainable capitalism, it would be much more wiser, and if I was with Molluck, I would do my best to get him into this kind of business model, also to save his ass... Well, he did still try to create other products too but welp, they failed... I would still try to help him to save his business.

I have also wondered more about Molluck's actual behaviour, like how bad anger issues he has in reality... It still makes me laugh when I read that 'murderous Molluck' stuff and how awful he was from those newspapers, being said to be 'a psycho'. I just don't personally see him being this awful and I bet that this stuff in exaggerated but has some truth in it. Like, I bet that when Molluck is truly angry, well, he kills. We can see that in SoulStorm, no matter which ending it is, Molluck kills, by himself or via the Sligs. So yeah, do not get on the bad side of him... I'm not really justifying his actions but the world Molluck lives in is brutal and if he fails, he is wiped out, so he must do everything to really survive and retire one day. I just feel like he has needed to harden his heart for this reason. It's just that I feel like I understand Molluck, like why he even ended up killing his Chauffeur. I also just truly love him, so it feels like no matter what is revealed related to him, I'll still love him. I just believe that there somewhere, quite deep inside of him, he still has a heart and is able to love (not just himself, luxuries, his mother, and so on...).

Yeah, dunno what else to say... Just sharing my ideas, thoughts and love for Molluck once more. Frankly, while drawing that new sketch, I still just felt like I cannot really draw well and felt depressed... But I try to just focus on what I draw, not how I drew something since I just feel like I got so much to learn to even make my stuff look good... I just feel like my stuff hasn't good quality... Well, all I can do for that is just keep drawing or just quit. I mainly just post sketches anyway, so they ain't even fully rendered and polished. It's been long since I actually finished a proper drawing... Sketching is just better since I got too many ideas to fart out...

[wistsandmagic]

Any Perceptor headcanons? Also Ark/Teletraan or Metroplex. :P

Heh. You talked about how your Brainstorm doesn't believe when people flirt with him?

Perceptor, for both Eterna and TFA doesn't know how to flirt. Eterna Perceptor understands the existence of flirting, but despite all his brilliance, that is a skill he has never quite managed to master. To him, 'flirting' consists of intense mathematical debates or very deadpan sarcasm, so...it's somewhat difficult to tell if he's being normal or if he is trying to make someone realize he is interested in them. The one true 'tell' he has is if he starts talking in-depth about the stars. He may be a microscope, but he is an astronomer, and it is his first passion. He doesn't share that passion easily.

TFA Percy, on the other hand, does not even understand the concept of flirting. He understands love and lust, despite what some people may think, but flirting does not exist. It is not a skill to be developed, the very concept is so alien as to be nonexistent for him. (Yes, even after Brainstorm 'fixes' him by putting his personality back into place. It didn't exist as a concept before Percy removed that part of his own processor.)

Going back to Eterna, Perceptor very, very rarely uses his alt-mode. He only does it when someone asks him to, for his degree of precise magnification and focus as a microscope is unparalleled, but he does not go into his alt easily or, truthfully, all that willingly. Spending more than 10 minutes in his altmode gives him crippling back pain and a migraine with such intense light-sensitivity that he can't function for the rest of the day afterward. He also has not told anyone this. It used to be bearable, until the Decepticon boarding party on the Ark that shot him in the face and made him lose his eye. Now it is not, and if he can get out of transforming, he will.

Ark and Teletraan, huh? Well, first off, for a very long time, not many people realized that Ark and Teletraan were actually two separate bots. It was 'common knowledge' that Straxus of Darkmount had commissioned hotspot Sparks to be nurtured into Vanguard-class Titan frames, to create an army of spaceships that would carry him and his elites of Praxus off of Cybertron with all the wealth they could carry, leaving the planet to its fate. These bots were supposed to be held as slaves via a computer installed in their bridge, which would allow them to communicate with the much smaller bots that would crew them. For most of the Arks, this was true.

For Ark-23, named Arcturius (though he just goes by Ark, honestly), this was not the case, as a rogue hotspot Spark landed into the frame of the computer that was supposed to enslave the newborn Vanguard Titan, and became another bot entirely, named Teletraan-1. This nullified the slave-coding, and Teletraan became Ark's City Speaker, so to speak, and grew alongside him as a constant companion that no one knew about. Everyone assumed that Ark-23 had designated himelf Teletraan, as all the other ships had given themselves names to differentiate between them, and this was allowed by the slave-coding. Teletraan and Ark thought it prudent to not correct anyone...until Straxus, an active Decepticon sympathizer (because it served Praxus's interests) BUT more interested in saving his own skin than helping any 'cause', began actively planning to leave.

They were going to run away, until a small contingent of Autobots managed to sneak through the Praxian security in Darkmount and stole Ark and Teletraan out from under Straxus' nose. Unfortunately, the Autobots didn't know that Ark was a sentient ship; they thought he was a regular ship with Teletraan being an enslaved Cybertronian bound to the ship. They thought all of the Ark ships had been such, as a Titan-class Cybertronian had not been naturally born in millennia. Eventually Ark and Teletraan told them. Uh. Via...waiting on everyone to leave for the day and having Ark transform into his bot mode to wait on them to get back, while Teletraan waited on his shoulder.

Needless to say, THAT was an interesting conversation.

As for Metroplex, you get a shortie because I have done WAY TOO MUCH RAMBLING ALREADY. How did this get so long?

Anyway. Metroplex has synesthesia. Diagnosed by medics, and that is one major reason the tiny sparkling, not even old enough to be a youngling yet, named Windblade from Caminus was assigned as his City Speaker when Cybertron made contact with Caminus, as she also has synesthesia. The other major reason is that Metroplex and Metrotitan, the Elder Twins, were and ARE the largest of the 13 Legendary Titans, and Windblade is such a strong telepath, that despite her age (or perhaps because of it, as she was branded as a City Speaker at the equivalent age of four) she was the only one that stood a chance of being able to interpret Metroplex's speech without immediately having her brain boiled from the sheer immensity Of Him.

Metroplex honestly prefers communicating via colours and sounds and moving shapes, as actual speech and letters for text communication is still incredibly difficult for him, even after he's managed to heal as far as he has. He still has a long way to go, and straining himself slows down his recovery. Thankfully, his incredibly young City Speaker understands his 'colour-language' just fine, as do both of her triplets, thanks to their connection with her, and Metroplex does not have to strain himself to speak to his charges very often. It's genuinely helping him heal much faster than projected, to the point that he is able to actively look outside his own Speaker Chamber now to watch his charges (the bots living in his cityscape) as they go about their daily lives. He takes great pleasure in watching the tiny cadre of children get into mischief, and, unbeknownst to any parents of said children, sometimes actively encourages their mischief himself via a message sent through Windblade, Sunstreaker, or Sideswipe, depending on which of the triplets is closest to his Speaker Chamber at the time. He enjoys watching the kids get to be kids.

[abbatoirablaze]

Criminal Minds, Season 1, Episode 7

Word Count: 1.9k 

Warnings:  angst, mentions of a miscarriage.

Samantha Reid

Aaron sat, wondering about the fox, while he spun his ring on the table in front of him.

At least, he was trying to think about the case.

Instead, his mind had been on the woman that he loved. 

“Hayley...we need to talk.” She gave him a sad look and his brow cocked, “what is it?”

“You know, don’t you?”

“Know?”

Her own brow raised, and she began to wonder if he was testing her. 

He was, after all, a profiler for the FBI. 

He had to know.

“Aaron, I don’t want to play this game,” she sighed, admitting her own wrongdoings, “I know that you have to know...so just come out and ask me already!”

“I’m not playing games, Hayley.  What are you talking about?”

“His name is Cole.”

Aaron’s heart sank to the pit of his stomach. 

While their marriage had been all but over, and he’d moved on emotionally, there was something that had him upset that Hayley had moved on so fast as well.  She was, his first real girlfriend, and despite the fact that they hadn’t been ‘in love’ for years, it stung him to his core.

“What happened?”

“Don’t make me say it, Aaron.”

“I need to know.”

She bit her lip and sat down at the table, “you should sit.”

Against his own better judgement, he did, needing to hear it from her lips, “tell me.”

“I don’t know who’s it is, okay?”

It felt like his heart stopped, “what?”

“I-I was sleeping with you and him-and he came to visit when you took cases,” she admitted, the tears welling up in her eyes.  She tried to reach across to the table to take his hands, but he slid them off, instead placing them in his lap, “Aaron...I didn’t plan it out like this.  You have to know that.  I-It just sort of happened.”

“So, you’re pregnant?”

She nodded, sniffling even more, “I-I found out last week.”

“Were you ever going to tell me?”

She shrugged, “I-I’m still processing it myself, Aaron.  I didn’t-“

She stopped speaking when he took his ring off and placed it on the table between the two of them.  She looked up at him in disbelief.

“Wh-what are you doing?” she asked.

“When the baby is born, we’re going to see who the father is...me or this Cole gentleman,” he frowned, “but I think that you know our marriage has run its course Hayley.  It’s been over long before you started sleeping around.  Now it’s time to call it what it is.”

“Yeah!” she said sadly, looking back down at her flat stomach.  There was a sad, slow air filling the room, accompanying the silence. That was, until she looked back up at him, her hands now resting on her stomach, “w-would it be wrong if I asked you to stay?  You know, even after the baby’s born?  We could-“

“Hayley...I’m not in love with you anymore...” he said quickly, “just like I know that you’re not truly in love with me.  And maybe this ‘puppy love’ was all that it was...we did fall for each other in high school after all...but now...we’re adults.  And we clearly don’t have as much in common as we thought we did...not enough to save a marriage...and we both know that a baby isn’t going to add to that.”

“Cole-he-he didn’t mean anything.  It was just-he was filling the space in the bed and-“

“I’m in love with another woman!” he said quickly, cutting her off.  This time, it was her that shakily looked into his eyes.  He sat there, steadfast and firm, “nothing has happened between her and I, but-this-Hayley, you were my best friend for so long, that I don’t want to lie about it.  I’m not going to stay with you, even if this child is mine.  I’m in love with someone else.”

“Wh-what’s her name, Aaron?”

“Samantha,” he said slowly, “her name is Samantha.”

“A-and you’re sure that you are in love with her?”

“I am!” he admitted quietly, “I know that I am.”

“Hotch?”

His attention snapped away from his ring, and to the woman standing at the door. 

JJ was giving him a sad look as she stepped in and closed it behind her. His eyes looked to the window, where the team was working on a profile without him, “what is it?  Did something happen in the case?  Did-“

“I need to talk to you about something!” she said quickly, cutting him off, “someone, rather.”

He pursed his lips. 

JJ was observant. 

He knew that.

She may have only been the unit’s liaison, but she was a better profiler and agent than half of his team. 

He also knew that he and Samantha had been having a lot more communication than they had in months.

But he feigned ignorance, hoping that she would buy into it.

“What is it, JJ?”

“Reid...”

“What about him?”

“Samantha.” He tried not to visibly tense or react, but he found himself sighing when JJ walked up to his desk and sat down in front of him, “so it’s true.”

It wasn’t a question. 

“What do you know?”

“Only that Reid, and the rest of the team know nothing.  Either they don’t want to know, or you two are better at being sneaky than you think,” she said smartly, “but I do know that there’s something there.”

“Hayley and I-“

“You don’t have to tell me the ongoings of your separation, Aaron...” she said sadly, “I know about you and Hayley.  I’ve heard her side.”

He frowned.

Hayley always had been good friends with JJ, ever since she started at the bureau.

“When did it start?” she asked.

He couldn’t stop the smile as it reached his eyes as he thought about the day that he met her, “she pointed out that she needed a left-handed holster and told me that without one she’d be sacrificing safety and efficiency.”

JJ snorted as she laughed, looking back to the bullpen, “yeah...that sounds like her.  And it sounds like you too...falling for a girl who’s more analytical than you.”

“When I got one for her...and her fingers touched mine...I-“

She smiled even more as the supervisory special agent found himself at a loss for words, “You fell for her...you really fell for her.”

“It was more than just that though...it was sparring sessions where after the first class no one wanted to pair up with her because she’s a blackbelt in Judo and how she told me not to take it easy on her because a suspect wouldn’t.  It was how understanding she was when we got closer, and I told her about mine and Hayley’s separation.  She never held it against me.  It was how she cared about every person she met, even if she didn’t like them...how she charged onto the firing range because she was the first one to spot the blood from the Quantico Killer’s victims being tied behind our targets.  JJ, she’s an equal to me in every way, and better in some...I-I don’t know what to say...”

“Sounds like you really care about her...”

“I do...”

“Then why did it end?” she asked, “I mean, I know that she must not have been on board when you and Hayley started to try again after the miscarriage...and how she’s acting now?  Seems a little...interesting...especially since you’re mirroring her.”

“Things are...complicated,” he admitted, “I know you remember Hayley’s first pregnancy, and how she lost it...”

“Yeah?”

“It had a lot to do with that night,” he admitted, “when I went to her...and I told her how I felt...how I really felt.”

“How did you feel, Hotch?”

“You know...I never thought I wanted to be a father,” he admitted dryly as he took a sip from the glass. 

You gave him a sad look and stroked his cheek while you remained perched in his lap, “it’s okay, Aaron.”

“I-I shouldn’t be taking it this hard,” he admitted as he put the glass down.  His arms wrapped lightly around your waist, and he pulled you closer to himself.  You wrapped your arms around him and kissed his temple.  While the action couldn’t have taken more than ten seconds at best, when he pulled away, he found tears streaming down his cheeks, “I didn’t even know if the baby was mine.”

“Sometimes...sometimes we don’t know what we want until the possibility of it is taken away from us.”

He looked up and you wiped the tears away from his cheeks.  His grip tightened ever so slightly, “I-I’ve been thinking about it a lot since she told me...and I think that I want to be a father, Samantha.”

You snorted, a little giggle making its way from the back of your throat. 

Aaron frowned.

He had opened himself up to you. 

He was allowing himself to be vulnerable. 

And you were laughing.

“What?” he asked, “don’t you think about it from time to time?  Don’t you want kids?”

This time you picked up the glass of whiskey from his desk, taking a long sip, “I don’t know about all of that.  I mean, I’m only 22, on the brink of being 23.  That would mean giving up my career.  And while I’ve already done a lot for the bureau, I’ve barely started that as it is.  I-I don’t know if that’s something I want to do!”

“You-you wouldn’t have to do it right now!” he tried, hoping for some sort of compromise, “I know that you’re younger than me, and I know that you have goals you want to reach within the bureau.  I’m just asking if it’s something you’re open to...in the next five years or so...”

You frowned and sighed, shaking your head.  Your own insecurities came rising to the surface as you thought about your own family dynamics, “I-there’s some things in this world that just weren’t meant to be, Aaron...I don’t know if what my family has is something I want to pass along.”

“She didn’t want kids.”

The two of them stayed in silence for a few minutes, and Aaron found himself looking back out to the bullpen.  You were at your desk, talking with another agent from some other team.  You were giggling and smiling. 

And it felt like his heart was breaking all over again.

He could remember the days behind closed doors when he could get you to smile like that.  The stolen moments when after a sparring session you would kiss him and say that you could kick his ass all day, but you ‘let him’ win a few times to remind him that he could have control any time with you.

It felt like someone was stabbing him.   

“She doesn’t want kids!” he said, trying to remind himself of his own predicament, “she-she doesn’t think that she wants to pass along her genetic traits.”

“Well, that sounded awfully scientific!”

“Her words,” he frowned, still staring at you.  Then his gaze returned to JJ’s, “she told me that.  Just like that.  And that was the first and last fight we ever had...I realized that what I wanted, what I viewed as a deal breaker, wasn’t something she would ever consider.  I had to ask myself...really ask myself, if that was okay.  If I was alright with the idea of never having kids.”

“And you weren’t...”

“I want children, JJ,” he frowned, shaking is head, “and after the loss of the baby, Hayley and I talked about it.  She felt the same as I did...that’s why we started trying again.”

“Do you ever think about what would have happened if you didn’t give up on her, Hotch?” 

“All the time, JJ...Samantha Reid is the one that got away...the only difference in my case, is that I’ll have to see her move on with someone else so long as we both work for the BAU.”

S1, E8

[vickyvicarious]

aww, why didn't Quincey's VA introduce the gunshot :( I hoped to hear him sound slightly smug. then again this way it isn't spoiled for anyone new

the way Jack says "one's own wonderful experiences" almost like he's rolling his eyes. Not really, he's not being sarcastic so much as using the sense of 'wonderful' that means 'out of the ordinary' but still he has a fun tone here

Jack's surprise at Jonathan not looking like Rambo or whatever is always funny

Ooooh, they've rearranged things again I see!

Jonathan spends so much time on trains lately. Mina must be so jealous.

hehehehehe the way he describes "the... opportunities of acquiring an abnormal thirst" is so funny

"consequent thirst" I love it every time.

hehehehe Jonathan saying "if he knew what I knew he would, I think, have raised his terms" this man has jokes today!

I love Jonathan and Mina working together and getting everything organized. I just KNOW they are such a good team, in such perfect sync.

oh MAN I wouldn't have predicted that tiny whispered "Stop. That way madness lies..." but I love it

Jonathan immediately pointing out Dracula barometer Renfield. I WISH we could see them interact so badly

speaking of Renfield, I wonder if him happily wanting to leave is because he knows there is another vampire out there now and is hoping Lucy will turn him into one?

"to have a strait-waistcoat ready in case of need." ughhh seward

the little rustly paper noises after Jonathan's (tiny) entry

Mina gushing about Jonathan with such a smile in her voice. She is so proud of him and loves him so much. I also do love that she was so worried about him leaving even after he seemed stronger. She's happy he is recovering so well but wouldn't have held it against him at all if he didn't

"I feel myself quite wild with excitement!" The delivery of this line is SO CUTE and also makes me so mad that van Helsing is gonna tell everyone to exclude her. she's ready for a vampire hunt! let her go on a vampire hunt!

the way she speaks of pity for the Count is very perfunctory here. as to be expected, but... well, I'll save that

"It was - to me - a-a painful. meeting" auuuugh

HEHEHE "blowin' my trumpet!" was so fun

Arthurrrrrrr, I love how he gets to cry but also it makes me sad to listen to him cry :( I personally feel like he wasn't quite openly sobbing as much until Mina spoke to him but mileage varies I suppose

ohhhh the hesitation before Mina says "now she is - gone..."

Mina and Arthur skipping straight to cuddles and adopting one another <3

and yet despite him being so open about expressing his emotions he couldn't speak of them. It makes me so sad, and is not at all the sort of thing I want him and Lucy to have had in common

"the sunshine of your life" reminds me of what Mina wished for Lucy to have and I'm so sad about it

I'm not a fan of all this 'no one but a woman can comfort a man' but I love how Mina and the suitors all connect so quickly and comfort one another almost immediately. especially to them she is just a stranger at first but the shared love for lucy unites them

Quincey's declaration after Mina kisses him is delivered so well

Jack why are you suddenly calling them "Godalming and Morris"?? Are you feeling self-conscious about everyone reading your diary (and its many exclamations over their manhood)? usually you full name Quincey Morris and just say Arthur or Art

"Oh, very well," Renfield sounds so deliberately casual. "Juuust wait a minute till I tidy up the place." ahahaha I love this moment

Renfield: *sits quietly* Seward: looks like he's thinking of murder!!! (granted the attack on himself gives him more reason but this isn't the first time)

I LOVE the delivery of all Renfield's lines so much. His voice is SO GOOD akldjflsdf I can't be coherent about it

Renfield dragging Seward so badly here.

ughh, and Seward in turn being so dumb and condescending about being SHOCKED by Renfield talking eruditely and Mina SOMEHOW getting him to do so by... talking kindly to him?!?!?!

Renfield talking in past tense about his beliefs here... once again I wonder to what degree he's being genuine about any of this

Renfield's goodbye to Mina...! I nearly teared up.

van Helsing saying Mina has a man's brain annoys me especially given what he says next but I do find it funny that he immediately clarifies 'a smart man that is'

"the milk that is spilt cries not out afterwards" my favorite line

Mina blushing hehe

Mina specifying when dinner was, again so conscious of time

van Helsing saying that he has "trained" himself to have an open mind is some really interesting characterization if you think about it

I love that almost all of van Helsing's vampire information is shown in Jonathan's journal

the music when vH brings up the possibility of them all becoming vampires

<3 Jonathan and Mina holding hands and sharing a wordless look of understanding <3

~GROUP HANDHOLDING OF FRIENDSHIP AND VAMPIRE SLAYING~

"We have on our side power of-" I interrupt van Helsing: "friendship and document review!"

Ohh I really like the music as van Helsing lists off where the vampire has been

positioning Dracula as a prisoner to his nature is such an interesting description, especially given the thing with keys (I may be writing a meta on this, I was thinking about it the other day)

the music through all this speech is so inspiring.

I love everyone just sitting there awkwardly for a moment after Quincey leaves, then carrying on without mentioning it

OMG THE COWBOY MUSIC AFTER THE GUNSHOT AHAHAHA

art why are you running straight to the window that a bullet has just come through

the muffled "Sorry! I fear I have alarmed you. I shall come in and tell you about it." is sooo funny

I fucking love this scene

but then it's followed by 'leaving Mina out' scene. BOO HISS

Mina I wish you would speak up here. :( She sounds so off-balance and disappointed

Quincey why are you suggesting an evening assault on his home. We just went over the hours when he is weak. For that matter why is everyone else accepting. People, I know you want to prevent other victims but please be smart about it

[ultraericthered]

Why DB's story peaked at the Cell Saga

Inspired by another recent Tumblr post on the Cell Saga.

A lot of times when I've seen talk online about where fans believe the late Akira Toriyama should've ended the original run of Dragon Ball, thus the original Dragon Ball narrative (and this is a question at all because very few fans were really satisfied with where it actually did end, with a weird ass final saga and a really weak epilogue/ending), by far the most common refrain seemed to be that "it should've ended at the Freeza Saga." Not hard to see why this is, as that was easily the most iconic saga of the entire series in Japan, with Son Goku's transformation into a Super Saiyan and domination of Freeza (hyped up as the most powerful villain Goku could ever face and also the one responsible for wiping out Goku's people and why he was on Earth to begin with) in the fight that followed being considered the high point of Goku's entire story, thus of the series on the whole. Many who loved the saga took umbrage at the arrival of Trunks proceeding to completely undermine both the threat of Freeza and the significant uniqueness of the legendary Super Saiyan, which is cause for them to say this is when the series began to go downhill.

To me, of course, this is nonsense.

The argument that the Freeza Saga was laid out to be the perfect possible finale for Dragon Ball is one that requires tunnel vision in order to make. Specifically, tunnel vision on a single character - Son Goku himself. The Freeza Saga being a climactic one for the story of Dragon Ball and where Goku's character peaked is undeniable, as there's not that many more avenues you could explore with Goku's character following him becoming a Super Saiyan and fulfilling his destiny of avenging his race against the genocidal tyrant Freeza. But...what about everyone and everything else? Though Dragon Ball was always Goku's series, its setting and events always concerned much, much, much more than just Goku, and features a wide cast of characters that has many who are just as valuable. So where would the Freeza Saga leave them off were it to end the whole thing?

Gohan just returns to his studies while waiting for daddy to come back home, his own power and hidden potential never receiving any major payoff. Piccolo is back alive but stays on Earth rather than rejoin his people, leaving him seemingly aimless since he no longer desires to dominate Earth nor does he wish to re-merge with Kami. Vegeta is back alive and on Earth (which, if the Freeza Saga was to be the final saga, would not happen) and now wants to become a Super Saiyan to surpass Goku, Krillin's wished back to life but still hasn't found a girlfriend, and other characters like Bulma, Master Roshi, Kami, King Kai and the rest get absolutely nothing, after having had precious little to work with the whole time in this saga.

Now let's contrast with where things go in the Cell Saga:

GOKU, even after hitting his peak as a Super Saiyan, is presented with three new ideas and developments that actually challenge him. First is the idea that for all his strength and for all the fights he's won, he could end up passing away and unable to save the Earth from a new threat due to a simple heart virus, a disease that does end up attacking him and nearly costing him in the present. Next is the idea that there exists a level of power even beyond a Super Saiyan, which he has to put in a maximum amount of effort to ascent to. And finally, the idea of knowing when to walk out from a fight and pass the baton to someone else he knows can be depended on, in this case, his son Gohan. And even with that last one, how dependable Gohan actually is is called into question more than once, and so it takes Goku sacrificing his own life, dying a second, supposedly permanent death and lending his faith and fighting spirit to Gohan from the afterlife, for the fruits of his labors to be realized. Then, to spare his son any further dangers and fights for the Earth's safety, Goku opts to stay dead, leaving everything in the hands of the next generation from his son on down. To me, that's the most ideal end to Goku as the hero, and it would've sent him off with more dignity and heart than later entries like GT and Super would allow him.

GOHAN not only becomes a Super Saiyan himself, but his hidden potential is fully realized when he is the first to make the full, proper ascendence from Super Saiyan into a Super Saiyan 2. When his dad gives up his life to save everyone from something that was partially Gohan's own fault, it humbles him and almost breaks his resolve to fight back and protect the Earth from destruction at Cell's hands, but with encouragement from his father's spirit, he is able to, with only one functional hand, launch a Kamehameha Wave to counter and overpower Cell's, ultimately destroying the malevolent lifeform. It truly felt like a passing of the torch moment, so that even if Dragon Ball proper ended here, Gohan would be set to be the first new main protagonist in any future sequel and spin-off installments.

PICCOLO is finally able to recognize that in order to combat a threat to the world he's come to love as his home and protect the people he now cares for, he needs to re-merge with the Namekian his original self had split off from, Kami Sama. We were first introduced to Kami and Piccolo as two halves of what used to be a whole Namekian, so how poetic is it that Piccolo's arc be completed with him returning to Kami and Kami agreeing to give up his own existence to make Piccolo a whole Namekian once again? And Piccolo tellingly never got much in the way of character development following this saga.

VEGETA is able to become a Super Saiyan, then he becomes an Ascended Super Saiyan, he has a son with Bulma who even has a version of him who time traveled from the future playing a big part in this story, he shows he's able to care about others and fight in the Earth's defense in spite of remaining unrepentantly evil and prideful for most of the saga, and he gets a big redemptive moment at the very end before resigning himself to retire from a life of combat. Yes, he still has a lot more character growth and strides towards full rehabilitation of his character still to go, but for the initial Dragon Ball story, this still would've been a fitting place to end his character arc.

KRILLIN, from the start, got into martial arts partially to impress the ladies and get himself a girlfriend, but for years he was never able to find love. In this saga, he finally does. He and Android 18 don't quite make Official Couple status by the end, but he clearly loves her enough to think of her needs ahead of his own wants, and she's become pretty tsundere for him to, so the implication is still there.

MASTER ROSHI gets a small moment of reflection at one point here, about how he used to be considered the world's strongest man but now he's old, not of much use, and watching the current generation of fighters AND the generation after it leaving him behind, tying into the theme of torch-passing from the past to the future.

BULMA & CAPSULE CORP have a hugely pivotal part to play here, as Bulma is the mother of Trunks, the child she had with Vegeta, and played the Sarah Connor role to Future Trunks in the timeline he hails from. Her company's services and technology are also constantly used, all hands on deck from start to finish, right down to fixing up Android 16 (and removing the bomb inside him, regrettably so). Even the very final scenes of the saga take place outside Capsule Corp, and I can't stress enough how much sense it makes that Trunks exists and takes things in this direction. The series literally all began with Goku and Bulma, so now it (almost) ends with their offsprings - Goku's son mentoring Bulma's son in the future but dying in that world where Trunks eventually ends up killing Cell, and then Bulma's son allying with Goku's son in the present but he dies in that world where Gohan ends up killing Cell (though unlike Future Gohan, he gets wished back to life). It's poetry, it rhymes, it's perfect!

TIEN, after getting a bad deal in the Vegeta Saga and then being all but ignored, gets to have one last big moment where he stands up to Semi-Perfect Cell and hammers him with Tri Beam attacks over and over again so that Androids 16 and 18 can flee, almost losing his life in the process. It's a fittingly badass and noble deed from the guy.

KING KAI, having lost his relevance after the Freeza Saga, returns for the third act of this one...and he ends up dying for it when Goku transports himself and the self-destructing Cell to his home world!

The SUPER SAIYAN transformation peaked here. Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, and Future Trunks are the limit to how many Super Saiyans we needed to see, all of them end up ascending to a higher level of the form, and only one attains the Super Saiyan 2 form in the end. It made sense, did not feel too cheap or inorganic, and was used in moderation and applied to the right characters in the right situations. Post-Cell Saga is when these transformations got out of hand.

The VILLAINS in this saga tied all the way back to the first real "Big Bad" villain(s) in Dragon Ball, the Red Ribbon Army. That alone was enough to give off a "full circle" feeling, but the obvious problem was that 5 different evil androids still just were not convincingly as great and worthy villains as a single Freeza had been. So we got the curveball of the saga's actual Big Bad, Cell, an artificially engineered lifeform made from the cells of all the strongest, most major fighters seen in the series up to this point, Freeza included, knowing all of their techniques, exhibiting many of their traits, and having a unique character progression that made him feel like the worst of all the past villains put together. His very existence marks this saga as the grand crescendo of everything Dragon Ball had been building itself up as during this time, his concept practically screaming that this is a "final boss"-worthy villain if there ever was one. And the final face-off with him did not disappoint of underwhelm, being grand enough to put Goku VS Freeza to shame (and no "longest 5 minutes ever" here!)

The STAKES felt even more personal compared to the preceding sagas. In the previous saga's climax, after everyone was revived and wished off of Namek with the Dragon Balls, the stakes centered entirely around Goku on a distant planet that was already doomed to explode. Whereas here, the stakes are for everyone on Earth, as the villain does not wish to rule over it like Piccolo or to exterminate its life and sell it like the Saiyans, but to blow it up, and in addition we get the threat of him being able to terrorize the rest of the universe so that countless other worlds would meet the same fate! The was more of a need to see this menace stopped than there'd ever been before.

The CALLBACKS that got made to just about all previous ones, right down to resurrecting the World's Martial Arts Tournament concept. Can't even begin to list them all here, but it's just very The Rise of Skywalker-esque in this regard (and it's even the 9th saga, too!)

The ENDING, as I said before, is outside Capsule Corp, and just look how it visually caps off the stories of Trunks and Gohan, and by that extension, of Bulma and Goku:

Those matching faces on Goku and Gohan. Simply beautiful.

Thus the case is made for why the original Dragon Ball ought to have ended at the Cell Saga. And when it did continue into one last saga afterwards, I will never forgive Master Roshi for selling me false hope

Fuck you, old man!

[choicesficwriterscreations]

September MC & OCs of the Month - Special Edition: Ales Spencer Hunt

Help us in welcoming September's MCs and OCs of the month! That's right, plural! Most months, CFWC highlights one randomly selected MC or OC from our Meet My MC / OC List. (More info here.) But this month, we're doing something different.

In August, @lilyoffandoms hosted a Writers Appreciation Month, and we announced the September Writer of the Month would be selected from its participants. But all participants agreed - Lily deserved the honor! Still, we wanted to do something nice for the eleven writers who elected to participate to help uplift other writers in the fandom. So, this month, each of the eleven participants will have one of their MCs or OCs highlighted.

We will introduce each MC / OC individually, and once all eleven have been highlighted, a masterlist for the month will be created. We hope you enjoy getting to know all about them!

The sixth MC of the Month is @lovealexhunt's Alex Spencer Hunt.

Learn more about Alex below...

In your own words, tell us what you like most about your MC. 

Alex was the first MC I wrote about in the PB universe. Alex got me writing again. She got me interested in fan fiction again. She brought this whole world into my life. I had lurked in the Choices fandom before, but it wasn’t until I started writing for Alex (and Thomas) that I really stepped out of the shadows to join. I love Alex and Thomas more than I can express. They have my whole heart. They inspired me to take a chance to join a community, to try writing again, and to make new friends. Without them, I probably wouldn’t be here today. What I love most about Alex and Thomas (because they go together) is they saved me and gave me something to aspire toward. The life she created is absolutely beautiful, and I hope that I can be even half as lucky as her! Alex gives me hope. 

Do you feel your MC is like you at all? How are you alike or different?

Alex and I definitely have several similarities. Our biggest similarity is her love of coffee and all things caffeine. Alex sometimes carries 2-3 coffees with her just in case, and I may… also do that… I mean, can you really have too much coffee? No. No, you can not! Alex also loves animals, like I do. She rescued a black lab, Bogart, who is the most precious, goodest boy ever. I also have a black lab mix that I rescued. She believes in leaving the world a better place than she found it, even if it’s by doing small things, like picking up a piece of trash or pushing a shopping cart back. We both enjoy quiet moments at home with family. We also enjoy watching movies snuggled on the couch.

Alex is more outgoing and social than I am. I definitely struggle more with making friends and taking control of situations than she does. I am far more of an overthinker than she is. She can get in her own head, but she also knows how to get out of her own way; I definitely just get stuck in my head sometimes.

What is most important to your MC? What is their motivation in life?

Alex’s family is absolutely the most important thing to her. She loves Thomas, and her whole heart belonged to him until the day she met her twins. Felicity and Vincent are her entire world. She would do anything to protect them and keep them safe. Thomas and Alex decided that they would alternate projects between them so only one of them would work at a time so that they could be present parents. They love their careers, but with the demanding hours on set and the travel anywhere in the world, they never wanted to be apart or have their children raised by nannies, so this was their solution. The twins are their first thought in anything they do. 

What are their biggest pet peeves/dislikes? 

Alex has an irrational fear of frogs (another thing we have in common 🙈), so that is definitely her biggest dislike. 

Some of her pet peeves are paparazzi (especially once the twins are born), bad coffee (it’s the worst), and unrealistic beauty standards. Alex refuses to have her photos highly photoshopped/edited because of the unrealistic beauty standards set by the industry. If a magazine does edit her photos, she always releases the unedited ones to show the world what is real, especially after the twins are born. She hates that mothers are embarrassed by their post-pregnancy bodies. Everyone is different, and everyone is beautiful! 

If your MC could change one thing - anything - what would it be? 

Alex would probably want to save her father. He died when she was 12 of a heart attack. He was in good shape, so it was completely unexpected. However, after years of wishing to change the past, Alex has realized that it is both the good and the bad that help define us. She desperately wished her father could have walked her down the aisle at her wedding, or met Thomas and their children/his grandchildren, but if she saved her father… then she may not have turned to acting as a source of comfort and to explore her feelings and then, she may never have met Thomas, and her world would be less whole without the life they built. So, in short, she wouldn’t change a thing. 

What is your MC’s favorite quote or song? 

Some of Alex’s favorite quotes:

“Nothing is impossible; the word itself says 'I'm possible!” ~ Audrey Hepburn

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” ~ Neil Gaiman

“Magic is believing in yourself. If you can make that happen, you can make anything happen.” ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” ~ Anne Frank

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh

"I can't stop drinking coffee, I stop drinking coffee, I stop doing the standing and the walking, and the words-putting-into-sentences doing." ~ Lorelai Gilmore (Also any other quote by Lorelai about coffee)

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your MC? 

Hey there, my wonderful fans,

I just wanted to take a moment to send some love and inspiration your way. 

Can you believe this small-town girl ended up on this incredible journey? Being a mom to Felicity and Vincent (and I can't forget Bogart,) wife to the one and only Thomas Hunt, and living my dream as an actress – it's like a whirlwind of amazing! On the outside, it may look perfect, but that doesn't mean it's without its challenges. Every one of us has our own struggles to overcome. 

Remember, life might throw you curveballs from time to time, but that's just a chance to swing for the fences. I've learned that settling is like saying, "Nah, I'm good," to life's adventure. And who would do that? Not me, and I hope not you! Your dreams are just as important as mine! Your best life is out there. If you haven't found it yet, keep searching, keep fighting, and keep believing!

What you are hoping for matters! Your dreams matter. YOU matter! Don't give up on yourself or anything you want. You are a star in your own story. Embrace the challenges as they come, chase your dreams, and always remember that I am cheering you on every step of the way.

Hugs and dreams, 

Alex         

[phoenix-before-the-flame]

Scar anon again I'm so sorry for sending consecutive asks but mashima really made the coolest dude + team ever (laxus n the raijinshuu in case it wasn't obvious) and then refused to elaborate like???good sir I would have paid for a full series of Them?? The raijinshuu are so criminally underutilised like I want to know their backstories!! I want to know how they came to join fairy tail!!! I start frothing at the mouth everytime I think about how mashima did the raijinshuu so dirty esp during the Tartarus arc ;- ; anyways sorry for the rant it's like 4 am and I'm having many Thoughts ok that's all from me for real this time 👍🏼 peace!

Everything after Tartarus is my villain origin story lol, not even joking. It's so messy.

Im not singing praises for everything before it ofc there was some jank from beginning to gmg but after tartarus' end the story and characterization really seemed to start coming apart at the seams and it really tanked everything even though at that stage mashima's art was 10/10. Which is a shame bcus tartarus really was a step in the right direction tonally but it just stopped right there. Copped a massive W then tossed it out for consecutive L's.

But yea man! Laxus and his squad! Laxus will forever be a sorta sore spot for me because of the dropped Dreyar family plot thread. The whole dealio with Ivan, Makarov sending Gajeel to spy on him, Laxus' lone adventures. It really could've culminated in either a small side arc or a B-plot of an already existing arc

(I personally would add it into Tenrou. Take Gajeel off tenrou to have him doin his spy gig, accidentally meet up with Laxus during that, plot details regarding the dreyar family happen all while the events of tenrou go down. The duo gets wind of Grimoire Heart heading to tenrou from Raven Tail due to all dark guilds sharing info. The duo head over to tenrou post haste and allowing gajeel to carry out the iconic gajevy moment where he saves her and justifying why Laxus ended up on Tenrou instead of just randomly showing up at the nick of time. But alas, details lol)

Thunder Legion's always been interesting to me though. I'll admit i dont think about them often but they are a pretty unique squad with varying personalities across the board that, on paper, you probs wouldn't expect em to be friends, let alone friends that close and loyal to one another.

Their magics are also a main point of interest because it really is so out there. Freed in essence has an upgraded solid script (plus those unused transformations the beast lookin one from fantasia and the more streamlined one from tenrou), Evergreen has the petrification magic (alongside her main magic with the energy attacks) and Bickslow? Soul manipulation? That can't be legal man. The magic system in FT is really underexplained and has a anything goes sorta deal (hello summoning gods) but man, i would've loved something there for these 3- power limits or drawbacks, how it works, whether its magic they naturally manifested or learned or both. Something along those lines.

And while i don't think a backstory would've been necessary for them per se, because at the end of the day they still are side characters so relevancy of the information learned throughout the story dictates how much is really needed to be known and this extends to learning about how they joined the guild as well (i personally think they all joined as adults tbh. I know a lotta peeps like to think of em as a teen friendship squad but i really prefer it they were an adult friend group. Having a friendship that strong forming in their 20s feels right to me), but i think even a one line or 2 regarding their pasts could come up in conversation for that information to come up naturally.

Like for eg. Freed gives off rich kid energy, so perhaps he's a runaway rich kid like herself but not from Fiore, that could be revealed in a convo with Lucy at some point to strike common ground between the two. Evergreen feels like an orphaned soul turned away (i personally think she gives off Jessie from pokemon vibes) by others a lot so why not a kinship with her and Juvia or even Mirajane? Bickslow the wild card could spout jokes about his acrobatic skills he learned from being a street performer, just something. They're not perfect concepts no, but they're little ways the characters could've been given even a scrap of info to help learn more about em.

Also uhhhh, it always threw me off that they weren't all S-class wizards so i think it would've been cooler if they were a whole squad of s class wizards who attempted a guild coup instead of just 1 s class and his homies. Aight byeeeeee.

[unolvrs]

how do you add that 'punch in the gut' kind of emotion to your fics? i know how i want my scenes to feel but i can never get the emotion across like you do

<3

my golden four in writing punch to the gut scenes are: italics, repetition, references, and simplicity. but ngl, you can exclude references from there but they really do help. (i just wrote sm things explaining each part in detail but it wasn't saved and i lost my mind right then and there. so i'm going to do a brief explanation instead.)

btw this is long...

repetition

repeat concepts, then conclude with a one-liner.

example: in one of my works, abalone on the shore, the main character is a certain child's mother, more a guardian though than an actual mother; the child never calls the main character mother and it's not considered a problem because it just is that way. but the concept of the main character being the child's mother is repeated, recycled, referenced over and over and over again so when the child finally calls the mc "mom", it hits different. it slaps you across the face.

small detail > bring up later

example: the main character says "i like yogurt with blueberries" in the middle of what looks to be a filler paragraph. and then later on, another character (hits different when it's a love interest and maybe at the end of the chapter) brings it up, "A-ko looks at plate B-ko left on the table: yogurt with blueberries."

repeat paragraphs / phrases

example: “It’s not her fault. Nor the village’s even though they could have helped, could have done something, could have done more.” (begonia, begonia) the repetition of could have adds a sense of urgency and turns the original idea into something 'more' but in a way that mimics how a person thinks and spirals.

as for the paragraphs, it's just as stated. repeat paragraphs tha you consider as the urgent and important elements of the story.

italicized

i think we all know how this works:

italicized words give emphasis and a bit of artistry in someone's writing, imo. the thing about italics is that you can literally abuse the hell out of it: emphasis, sense of dilemma, etc. and it looks good too. i think the main difference between italicized and bold words is that italicized words don't look as jarring to read through than bold ones. bold words sometimes just snap at you but i think italicized ones are more gentle in its delivery? gentle but it gets you there.

simplicity

this is a more personal writing style, tbh. like i said lots of times, i use simple words so that i could be easily digested and understood!

imo, if something is written in a complicated way or if "big" words are used, it's much harder to be understood? i think if i'm reading something i'm very into and i'm very immersed to, and then i encounter a word i have no idea what the meaning of is, the immersion ends. it can either go that way or i'm going to be so impressed because i have no idea what it means and i would want to use it in a sentence one day.

references

another personal preferences! in this case, it prioritizes comparison.

example from among dawn flowers (the face of god) : this is an introduction to one of the first encounters of the main character and the love interest. something to take note of is this culture of the characters and in this case, they're japanese and more traditional than most.

or you can use more common references, ones that will be easily recognized. maybe flower languages, greek myths, fairy tales, movies, books, etc.

this concludes this very, very long explanation. i rewrote this like four different times because it didn't get saved... anyway, hope this helps. (i hope it does i'm gonna cry.)

[wildegeist-old]

🌏,🌌, 🎡, 🎁 These are for Arctos and Caregiver! Chose those four specific questions this time as they're both genuinely curious and also would make fun or funny answers I feel. (Also sorry I've sent two asks while you're at work XD)

It's okay since I get to them once I'm home :') Thank you!

... These answers are gonna have so much tonal whiplash.

🌏 Will they give up the world for someone they love? is this decision easy for them?

**There's two ways I can interpret this question. The first way I interpret it is "giving up the world" as in sacrificing things that are important to them. The second interpretation is "would I choose between saving the world and saving this person in a life or death case". I'll do both.

[ARCTOS]

Arctos would do just about anything for those he loves, especially Clara. He'd sacrifice every part of himself for her, and he'd sacrifice and risk a lot for anyone else important to him- without hesitation, because he values other people above himself. If it's a case of the second interpretation, oh boy, that's not an easy answer. He'd probably make the right choice in the end, but he'd have a hard time doing that, and it'd take a lot of convincing. I don't think he'd be able to handle losing her a second time if he did, though.

[CAREGIVER]

Caregiver hates everyone. That means if there happens to be an exception to that rule, yeah, he absolutely would, if we're talking about the second interpretation. He'd slaughter loads of people for someone he cares about and not feel a thing, I mean, he already kind of does that on the regular. Now if it's a case of giving up on things like his home and his dreams, that's a little more special. He'd most likely not do that though and turn on anyone who asked him to

🌌 What was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

[ARCTOS]

Ixirios is heavily inspired by old fairy tales and is themed around the idea of "spacefaring planet that never fully grew out of its renaissance era despite having advanced tech", so I wanted to give it history with some inspiration from classic fantasy, Arthurian legends, and fairy tales. I always thought knights were neat. Old legends and fairy tales also have common themes of "evil shadowy figures", who usually go "evil" after they're faced with hardship or loss, and "tortured fallen heroes who sold their souls to demons"- I see that trope in a lot of fantasy and I'm a sucker for it.

I noticed these characters are rarely really explored though, or even just stay bad guys who meet unfortunate ends with no chance to ever heal, so I went "what if the legends were a little twisted, and missing a bit of context? What if there's more to the story here? What if I focused on that tragic character and their pain? What if I gave that character another chance to be good?" and I put my own spin on it. Really, Arctos and Sableheart as a whole are a love letter to the fairy tales I grew up reading, but with a lot of personalization. :)

[CAREGIVER]

I can't trace any distinct inspiration. To be honest I mostly wanted to see how fucked up of A Guy I could make at first and make it a horror-themed character. Someone scary, but fun to work with and full of morbid humor. I needed to make more villains and the idea I had was something I felt would be refreshing. The bases of his character were that he's a robot (machine-specter/automa-specter), and that he's an "artist" who makes his "art" out of people, and turns them into monstrosities or fucked up home decor. Adding on to that I also wanted to balance it out by giving him a classy vibe, and make his kind of violence more calculated and precise than impulsive or chaotic. His character's grown a lot since then, but these were the starting ideas, and they've remained intact- they just have some extra depth and meaning now.

🎡 Are they someone who wants to kiss at the top of the ferris wheel?

[ARCTOS]

Arctos doesn't trust ferris wheels or theme park rides much, and would probably be too anxious to think of this while on one, if someone miraculously got him to agree to a ride. However, if Clara got the idea first, he'd probably appreciate the distraction. Emotional support kiss to cope with The Terrors (the questionable structural stability of theme park rides)

[CAREGIVER]

I mean... Caregiver canonically never has a love interest and is never going to, but if anyone's enough of a weirdo to actually want to date him, and he somehow likes them enough not to turn them into an "art project", he'd probably be down. But... why would anyone want to make out with Caregiver? Machine-specters are all tentacles, warped flesh, and tongues (lined with sharp-ass teeth by the way) underneath the metal. I think that would kill the average person.

... Nevermind. I forgot there's a demographic for that.

🎁 What types of presents would they be most happy to receive? are they good at gift giving?

[ARCTOS]

Arctos isn't very materialistic, he doesn't expect gifts or really actively want them, but he does appreciate the gesture. He'd mostly like things that are useful to him, books, clothing (since he does actually like fashion), or alcohol! He really likes fine wines and you can't go wrong with a good red. For gift giving, he'd probably go for something he already knows the person wants- so he's not a bad gift giver per se, but if he doesn't know, then he may be a bit more generic and gift them wine, if they're into that. He's also a huge fan of flowers (both giving and receiving), but that's reserved for romantic stuff. It's really more about the gesture than the item to him.

[CAREGIVER]

Caregiver likes receiving "prime, fresh material" for his "art projects". He'd be ecstatic if someone managed to reunite him with some of his "lost/runaway material" (people he was about to mutilate who escaped, or people he personally hates and wants to take apart), and he prefers them "fresh" (alive, he can't work with decaying tissue).

Sometimes he's very thoughtful and even gives his enemies warnings "gifts", made from some of his most fresh material! These are often things handcrafted by him, specially for that person! They always have quite the reaction. Isn't he generous?

[darthfrodophantom]

The countdown nears its end! Only 3 days until the final chapter of A Secret Uncovered! (It’s getting down to the wire!)

Today we have 3 sneak peeks! That’s right – you get to see three moments in time from the final chapter! I’m putting a spoiler break just in case you want to go in totally blind and surprised, but I think I chose pretty safe ones that won’t give a lot away but should set your brain ticking on what could be happening in this chapter.

“Clockwork you sadistic jerk!” he yelled to the unmoving street. He knew he was watching him, and he knew he could hear him. “‘Changing time comes with a cost,’” he mocked as he paced angrily in the air. “You’re seriously going to make this the cost?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to say anything,” he teased, and she swatted him on the shoulder. It had some power to it, but nothing compared to any of the hits he usually took. He looked from his shoulder to her multiple times, trying to look shocked. “Um ow. I believe that’s ghost abuse right there.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh please, you can take it.”

He uncurled from his ball and wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his jumpsuit. He couldn’t promise himself those would be the last tears he shed, and he knew it, but they’d be the last ones he let delay his mission. He wiped his eyes again, slapped his cheeks, and shook his bangs out of his face. He fixed his gaze on his destination, clenched his jaw, and flew off deeper into the Ghost Zone. “I’ll save you Jazz. I will,” he said under his breath. Despite his overwhelming exhaustion and despite feeling like his heart was tearing itself to shreds in his chest, he pushed on with only one thought in his mind: to get to his destination.

I really hope those sneak peeks didn’t disappoint! I’d love to hear what you think is happening with these.

Should I throw in another sneak peek? Sure...why not.

The chapter is over 12,000 words long.

Countdown List 10 things that happened since I last posted a chapter 9 people I'd like to thank 8 of my favorite memories 7 things I wish I did differently 6 life lessons I learned 5 common questions 4 questions for you 3 sneak peeks

[landlizer]

When reading some commentary for last week's episode I kept finding the occasional complaint that this week's would be just another one-off. And I was like... do you really think it's just not gonna continue off the last episode? Or the very heavy Dagomon/Cthulumon implications means a typical MOTW episode?? Saving such an iconic piece of horror for this long was gonna mean something!!

Anyways,

Oh my God. Spoilers under cut. Major, major spoilers under cut.

One thing I love about Ghost Game is how it really waits to pull its' punches- like the sparse use of Digimon deaths, so when they happen, it means something.

In this case, in this episode... when my watch group first saw Canoweissmon with no evolution sequence, there was a collective "Oh shit." Like it's totally an otherwise minor detail, but Ghost Game has been so consistent with the evo sequences that just skipping them made the episode feel even more foreboding.

And that cut at the end got me good. It was one thing last episode to have that extra scene after Angoramon's little speech, but the hard cut to black before he could even finish this time was chilling. Like, palpably.

...I also can't help but laugh at the ending of this episode. Not the content itself, but... there was a very common complaint of there being no Digital World arc, people really wanted them to go to the Digital World, and then finally, finally, in the summary they made it sound like we are finally going to the damn Digital World........

And then they just deleted it.

.....I'm really gonna miss this season so badly.

[rainydaze-rhys]

Do all 25 for borderlands. Yknow. For funsies.

There will be a readmore line here somehow because on god I’m about to say so much. let me preface: all my hot takes on the matter are a solid 4 years old at minimum, I do not keep up to date on the blands fandom, my enjoyment of the series exists exclusively in isolation these days, etc., etc., if things have changed then I simply do not know about it

1. the character everyone gets wrong

Handsome Jack. He is not a good dad. He is also not in his 30s. That man has an adult daughter and has been married twice. I refuse to believe he was anything under 50 during BL2.

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

DHKDGDJSHDJDJ I sure did forget this was one of the questions. Um. My faves are all verse and no one would refuse to do one thing or another.

3. description of the worst take you’ve seen on tumblr

I saved this for last and then still couldn’t bring myself to remember anything so this doesn’t get an answer because I simply do not want to remind myself of those takes

4. what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

Back in my borderlands days I was afraid of blocking people so I simply did not do it. Took me until only a couple years ago to finally realize “Oh this rules and significantly improves my online experience” and now I block all the time, but this is an entirely separate blog from my borderlands one so it doesn’t have any crossover

5. worst discord server and why?

This one I can’t answer. Discord wasn’t a thing for my original dive into borderlands. We all were just on tumblr constantly and then me and a few friends also talked on Skype

6. which ship fans are the most annoying?

Handsome jack/Rhys. I mean I was there. I was in the thick of it. I could see it. But oh my god the braindead takes on it and the aggressive insistence that it was basically canon! The number of people who actively harassed people who liked the actual in-game love interests! The amount of times I saw people say “I don’t personally like this so I’d rather people not discuss it around me” only to be bombarded with dozens of responses discussing it in detail! Wretched! One of the all-time worst collective cases of people insisting the biggest and most popular ship was effectively canon and getting mad at anyone saying otherwise

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

Handsome Jack. lol. lmao.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Handsome Jack is a dogshit father and every single fluff piece or “Happy father’s day lol” post or headcanon about him being a good dad to Angel is dead wrong to an astounding degree. He put her in a cage and used her as a computer for her entire life and frankly she should have gotten to kill him

9. worst part of canon

Borderlands 3.

I was going to say “I kid” but I don’t. It has its moments, but god, it sucks so bad. Killing Maya, replacing Angel with Tannis, writing off Lilith, doing what they did with Aurelia (she would NOT fuck that man), flanderizing the characters from TftBL (Vaughn’s… whole situation…), and— god I just remembered mid-sentence that New Tales exists. That one was actually worse than BL3 somehow.

10. worst part of fanon

Handsome Jack. I’m just gonna keep saying this for basically every question that asks about the bad parts of fandom because literally… him and the people rabidly defending him. (<- he is my favorite character and also I think he deserved worse than he got. these are not mutually exclusive)

11, number of fandom-related words you’ve filtered

See above re: blocking people, I didn’t filter things at the time and on this blog I follow almost no one who posts borderlands content

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Fiona is weirdly unpopular given that she’s literally a protagonist. The same with Lilith, actually, now that I think about it; people seem to either be “meh” about her or frothing-at-the-mouth enraged about her. And they’re wrong! Fiona is a great character who deserved to actually fucking exist in bl3, and Lilith is really well written as understandably arrogant and capable! Also, Nakayama and Vasquez. I can’t take credit for being into those two because other people with extremely good taste did it first and influenced me, but it remains true. And ELLIE. I know “unpopular” isn’t strictly true of her because I think most people would say they like her, but Ellie is a gold star across every game she’s in and I wish there was even more of her and I wish people appreciated her more. Love Ellie.

13. worst blorbofication

. handsome jack.

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

So many borderlands fics are a/b/o. Mpreg is like the DEFAULT. It boggles the mind. “Rhys Borderlands is Handsome Jack’s PA and then he goes into heat in his boss’s office and Jack is such a ruggedly masculine alpha he takes suuuuch good care of him!” Gives me the ick. One thing they don’t tell you about naming yourself after a video game character is the rammys when you try to read a fic and see Your Own Name in those situations.

15. that one thing you see in fanart all the time

I actually don’t really remember the fanart well enough to say about this. I vaguely remember a lot of art of Rhys Borderlands strung up like a puppet controlled by Jack, but beyond that, I’unno

16. you can’t understand why so many people like this thing

Can I be very fully and entirely honest. I don’t love Tim. I don’t hate Tim! And I’ve turned around on him a lot, his appearance in the Handsome Jackpot DLC in bl3 is phenomenal and he’s a great character! And it’s a super interesting concept! I just still don’t love him.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

I want more fics where Angel survives and gets out from under Jack’s influence. Let the Crimson Raiders be her new parents. I want her to be Maya’s best friend and I want her to date Gaige and I want her to be there in person to kick Jack in the dick when he loses badly and then dies.

18. it’s absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on…

The Pre-Sequel. The Pre-Sequel. The Pre-Sequel. YES the gameplay can be tedious at times. However. I love the Pre-Sequel so much. Love the writing. Adore the plot. Cherish the individual Vault Hunters. The Claptastic DLC remains one of my favorite DLCs. Love Elpis. Fucking love Janey Springs. Hate the way they left so many loose ends to be tied up plot-wise and then just kinda went “lol nvm all that” in the next game.

19. you’re mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like…

IYKYK ;)

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

A lot of the Pre-Sequel is going back and forth across very large open areas using Stingrays which are a vehicle I do not love. A lot of BL3 is also going back and forth across very large open areas using vehicles which control like the Stingrays. There are so many quests that are just “drive around and kill 30 guys and pick up 8 items then drive here and kill 30 animals and pick up 8 more items then drive back and kill 30 guys and give me the items.”

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

I don’t really think there are overhyped things unless BL3 entirely counts as overhyped, which… not anymore. Honestly most of the stuff that’s hyped is fairly understandable. The most popular DLCs are inevitably the ones which are the most well-written with interesting mechanics.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

I already said the Pre-Sequel. Uh, if “everyone else” includes the writers, then TftBL, because they absolutely just threw all of that except Rhys and Vaughn in the trash and then ran those two through a meat grinder.

23. ship you’ve unwillingly come around to

No “unwilling” about ‘em, I’m usually pretty much open to whatever, but I also don’t even poke my head into the tags these days so I haven’t experienWAIT no I just remembered Zer0/Rhys is a thing. I used to not like it. I do now. Silly goofy.

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

“Is it okay to like Handsome Jack?” I will not be elaborating because thinking too much about the endless debates gives me hives

25. common fandom complaint that you’re sick of hearing

Once again I am too disconnected from the greater fandom these days to actually know and be annoyed by what people are complaining about.