#kinda slow to write bc

[redheadarcher]

i’ve been thinking a lot about this lately—i feel like i’m gonna start to focus more on the comic universe rather than the mcu to be honest. there’s a few things that i truly enjoy about the mcu ( like i genuinely like the russian fam and that’s something i still want to explore more, the upcoming young avengers and some other small things ) BUT there’s a lot more new stuff than i just don’t like so… idk.

i guess i’ll be mixed but more comic inclined ( or just more divergent when it comes to anything that happened after endgame idk). i feel like my main verse fits both ways so nothing would really change but would open so many possibilities ( like i could mention the x-men & a lot more heroes that don’t really exist in the mcu and the avengers are still a thing & all that ) so.. yeah. it’s a thought.

[burrythebusy]

Every single chapter is important. Every panel, all the dialogue, every page and how it transfers into the next one... I 100% believe no questions that every single decision made in hrkg is intentional. Even the tiny chapters that are like seven pages, they're important! Even if it feels like nothing happened in the chapter, something did. Something important. If it's not glaring, it may be a tiny reflection. If it's not super loud, it might just be quiet. But it's there. I promise you it's there. A lot of this comes from the fact that i am obsessed with this piece of media and I don't expect casual enjoyers to analyze every chapter, but just because you don't see it doesnt mean it's not there. The development, the meaning, the purpose, it's all there and always has been, it reveals itself bit by bit and i stand by that

[ecoterrorist-katara]

I’m so tired of wlw background ships in mlm fandoms.

mlm shippers almost never develop wlw ships to the degree that the audience feels invested in them. The conflict and character development and love story rely on tropes rather than actual narratives, yet fandoms act like they’re doing wlws a favour by shoehorning in this shitty “representation” when it’s just golden retriever x black cat over and over and over again in different fonts.

To be clear I don’t blame anyone for not having big wlw ships, because most major media out there do not have two fully fledged female characters you can ship together. If you want to write mlm ships, good for you! If you want a lazy wlw ship in the background, that’s fine! But don’t act as if the fandom actually cares about them, or that anyone did the legwork to make them characters that you can care about. Most of these female characters are never properly developed in the canon source material, and they’re almost never properly developed in the fanon material either. You can always tell by how these women are like, one archetype + gay (sporty gay, feisty gay, slutty gay etc, like some kind of gay Spice Girls). Yet fandoms just love to act like these background wlws mean so much & have the best love stories & everyone just should ship them. It’s all so performative.

wlws are not an aesthetic. wlws are not 2D happy couples to round out your queer utopia, a queer utopia that somehow still manages to foreground men. Women are always treated as 2D characters in narratives, except now there’s a subgenre where these 2D women are gay. Groundbreaking.

[busterbby]

— how they hold hands.

fluff. gn!reader. hcs. ichiro, jiro.

note: tried to make these sweet and short but alas. please enjoy!!

Ichiro . . . holds your hand so tender yet firm — not too loose, not too tight. just right

they're much bigger than yours. Ichiro can fit your entire hand in his

his hands are heavy too. they have weight to them; they’re full of calluses and cracks, scars and frost nips, dirt underneath his nails from the harsh odd jobs he’s worked. they’re not very pretty hands, but they’re gentle even with all the wear and tear. they hold so much love for you and his bros: the entire weight of his heart

they hold you so delicate and light. they’re comforting as they lay on yours, not too heavy or anything. it’s paradoxical, how such heavy hands so full of brute — cracked and bruised from all his fights in his youth — can be so tender and loving towards you

his rings dig into your skin, cold. but his hands themselves are so warm

and he does this thing where he rubs his thumb over your knuckles gently. it’s just a little habit of his — Ichiro doesn’t quite notice it, really — but it’s very sweet

“it’s alright. i’m here.” he says in that deep hushed tone of his, when he notices you’re anxious or holding onto him a bit more firm. he holds your hands gently, rubs his thumb in circles over your skin soothingly like a lullaby

he’s here. and you know it’s so when he holds your hands, how your heart eases instantly at the familiar touch: the slightly rough skin, the calluses at his fingertips, and warmth he holds

sometimes, the weight of his hands is the most comforting thing to your heart.

Jiro . . . holds your hand tightly and fully in his. He doesn’t like to let you go

he likes to hold hands! everywhere he goes, really. walking in the school hallways or lazily holding your finger underneath the desk during free period.

jiro is a very touchy boyfriend. he doesn’t know; he just likes to hold your hands and have you close. it feels right, y’know??

his hands are warm and heavy too, in that, jiro doesn't quite know the limits of his own strength. he just knows that he likes to hold you tight and close! so sometimes, he may squeeze your hand too much, and you can see the little marks his rings leave behind

but of course, he doesn't mean it! just let him know~

jiro wears his heart on his sleeve, and you pretty much hold it in your hands oh so sweet. when you give his hand a little squeeze, you can see the way his heart skips a beat with the way he gets visibly flustered. eyes a little wide, lips slightly parted; it’s as if you’re squeezed the love out of his heart too, with the way he gets all shy, covering himself with the hood of his cap and gazing off to the side. but, he always does give a squeeze back, tighter than yours

his knuckles are cracked and a little bruised from the one too many fist fights he gets himself in; and they're probably covered in bandages from all the scratches he's accrued from chasing after that damn neighbor's cat (dogs and cats don't get along, after all)

when you hold hands, your fingers brush over all the bandages he wears and the wounds that still sting. they’re not very pretty, but they’re jiro’s

but even as much as the isopropyl stings at his wounds, and jiro cringes as you scold him for needing to be more careful and use his head for once, jiro thinks he’ll always love it when you bandage his wounds

you hold his fingers so gentle in your hands, with so much love and care. jiro’s gaze softens, and his heart beat rings in his ears, as he lets you tend to his wounds. he watches you like a dream, perhaps a little too wistful. and there’s nothing better in this world, he thinks, than when you finish up and give him a quick peck to his lips

the way you tend to his wounds, hold his bandaged and bruised hands so tenderly in yours. they’re smaller than his and much prettier too — complete polar opposites. but somehow, someway, your hands look good together

maybe he can get used to it.. (even at the cost of alcohol stings)

[quirkle2]

first amv be nicies to me about it or else

[mirandaputsherbestbuttforward]

I do find it kinda........... Interesting how ppl in certain RP circles will say they support female OCs, but then............. if the female OCs aren't of a particular type and kind (often women of colour, not conventionally attractive, and/or aren't accessible to their male muses for shipping, for example), then they don't get interactions, don't get asked about, don't get cared about.

[skitskatdacat63]

It's just still brainrotting me so badly, LIKE WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?!?!?!?!

[birdmenmanga]

💢ＦＵＣＫ　ＴＨＥ　ＷＯＲＬＤ （ａｎｄ　ｍａｙｂｅ　ｍｙ　ｍｏｍ ｉｎ　ｐａｒｔｉｃｕｌａｒ）💢

1. ミザン／バルーン & ぬゆり ft. flower & 歌愛ユキ

2. 嫌われ者の詩／164 ft. GUMI

3. メーベル／バルーン ft. Eve

4. CUT／神山羊

5. 怪電話 ／r-906 ft. ROSE & POPY

Tanabemas gift for @wojtekaneko!! This is an Eishi-and-his-mom playlist!! It sort of tracks how their relationship sort of changes throughout the series, starting from the controlling relationship they had even before prologue, and culminating in Eishi's flight away in Flight 42: Open Your Eyes.

Most of these songs are on here because I think the lyrics are a really good match, but I think the video for Miseen (1) and Mabel (3) are worth watching. The album cover image is actually from the Mabel video, I just drew in the Eishi and Kiriko.

The opening and closing songs I see as duets between them, while the three songs in the middle are purely from Eishi's perspective. But of course you can interpret it however you want! I think all these songs are fun and I'd be very happy if everyone listened <3

LYRICS TRANSLATED

Miseen／balloon & Nuyuri ft. flower & Kaai Yuki

hated person song／164 ft. GUMI

Mabel／balloon ft. E ve

CUT／Yoh Kamiyama

A Mysterious Phone Call／r-906 ft. ROSE & POPY

[perilegs]

my resolution for this year was to learn hiragana and katakana (not even japanese as a whole. just. some characters.) and i figured i'd learn how to write my name bc it'd be embarrassing if i didn't know how to do that and is it just me or does it look kinda cute. like, レービ <- that's like U_U* or -_-* to me

[birdricks]

getting sooooo emotional abt how like. when rick and bp meet again during the federation stuff its like theyre completely different ppl from who they were when they last saw each other. but it almost makes them become closer instead of driving them apart… until of course their values clash in the worst possible way

[seventh-district]

Could've left me just the way you found me, but you came and put your wings around me. You went out of your way, to fix what you didn't break.

This song is so incredibly Sam & Darlin' coded and no one can tell me otherwise.

[lots of lyrical analysis below the cut] [there's also a short little fanfic blurb of them stargazing down there too (this post got really out of hand lmao)]

For those not fully caught up, note that the following commentary contains various spoilers for Sam and Darlin's stories.

Note: Unfortunately this song is gendered, using the word 'girl' several times. Which sucks a little bit for immersion purposes, not only for keeping Darlin' gender-neutral, but also because I see this song as a duet between them, and Darlin' obviously wouldn't be addressing Sam with the word 'girl' either. So! As with most songs on their playlist, we're just gonna mentally omit any gendered terms we come across.

Side note: Frustratingly, this is one of those songs that didn't really even need to gender the subject in the first place. No part of the story or message is lost without it. But alas, many songs are like that, and so the playlist-makers of the world shall continue to suffer. [/lh]

Anyways, preamble's over. It's lyric time now yay!

Sam's Part

I was a ten-year train wreck

Technically for Sam I suppose it was 13 years, but ten is close enough (and 'ten' admittedly flows a lot better in the rhythm of the song than 'thirteen' would.) Anyways, we're not here to split hairs, (I have to remind myself), we're just here to point out similarities.

In Sam's Dec. '22 HBW, he says "For the last 13 years or so I haven't had to care too much about how I look. Seemed a little redundant after turnin', considerin' I didn't wanna be around much'a anybody anyway."

I think he's mentioned or alluded to that roughly 13 year period of time more than once, but that's the one I remember best so it's the example I'm using. There's still about 4 Sam audios I've yet to listen to as of making this post, so if I'm missing some Key Lore I'll edit this later. But for now, I don't think Sam has given many specifics on exactly how bad things got during that time. Luckily, 'train wreck' is a pretty broad and subjective term, so it easily covers any degree to which he may have fallen apart during those years.

It also feels like a very 'him' way of quickly brushing over the details of his past/his hurt, as he seems to tend to do with Darlin', (not all the time ofc but it's still something I've noticed) putting his own hurt on the backburner to prioritize and attend to theirs. Even outside of his dynamic with them, I think as a healer, it's something he learned to do. And now he does it with everyone. Put on a brave face, compartmentalize things and unpack them later, etc. I could go on and on but there'll be time for that in other posts I'm sure. For now, lets get back to the song at hand.

With a last-call longneck

Due to personal reasons, I've yet to decide if I want to HC him as having used alcohol as a coping mechanism during that time. I don't recall him having mentioned alcohol much, if at all, (maybe one mention of whiskey that I don't have time to find right now) so I don't think it's necessarily canon that he did, but it's certainly possible. My personal preferences aside, I'll admit it makes for some good additional angst. (And- self-indulgently- it makes some other songs on my playlist for them more fitting.) So, for the sake of this song, let's imagine that he did.

I was searchin', I'd been hurt real bad

This one feels pretty self-explanatory given what Alexis did, (and, if you wanna get even angstier with it, whatever his family did earlier on in his life) so there isn't much commentary to add on my end.

I HC that in spite of 'not wanting to be around anybody', he- like Darlin- still had a tiny part of himself buried deep down that was, in a way, 'searching' for someone to find solace in. (No this isn't me projecting onto them both haha what are you talking about-)

Movin' on, gettin' sidetracked One step forward and five back

This is generally applicable enough that I don't feel the need to give too much of a specific example. Anyone who's recovered or is recovering from trauma knows this non-linear, back-and-forth struggle well already, and I'm sure he was no stranger to it.

If I were to give some examples though, I could point to Darlin's (and subsequently, Sam's) encounter with Alexis at the summit, or the shit that Quinn dredged up about Fredrick and threw at Sam in the interrogation room. Those are both more recent examples and I imagine these lines of the song to be coming from a place of him prior to meeting Darlin', but still, they're some instances where I'm sure he felt like the past was pulling him back in. I'm sure that there's been many throughout those 13 years that we were never witness to.

Not your fault, I was scared to fall

This line reminds me of their 'Cuddles and Confessions' audio. I don't think he ever explicitly said he was 'scared' per se, so afaik there's no specific line I can quote, but in that and every audio prior, he was obviously hesitant to admit, perhaps even to himself, that he was gradually falling for them. Even after the initial confession, there's certain limits of his (e.g. biting) that he carries for far longer, and some that I (and others) HC that he'll carry forever. So this line feels to me like him reassuring Darlin' that his reluctance isn't the fault of them, but his past.

Darlin's Part

You were the star in the pitch black Shine the way on the way back

We don't have any canon instances of them comparing Sam to a star, but I can see it being something they'd say (perhaps less poetically, but the sentiment would be there) one night while laying up on their roof watching the stars with him. Maybe they're dead-tired, talking nonsense with lidded eyes at the end of a long day, fighting sleep in favor of more time spent with him.

"What- what're you pointin' at Darlin'?"

Their hazy focus is trained on the brightest star visible in their line of sight, arm stretched out to the sky above them. "That really bright one, to the... to the left."

Sam does his best to follow their less-than-specific directions of 'to the left', their pointed finger doing little to help given the difference in perspective. Luckily, after all these years, he knows this stretch of night sky like the back of his hand, so it isn't hard to locate the brightest one. Ghosting his fingers up along their arm, he takes their hand in his and brings it back down to earth. "Okay, yeah, I see it now. What about it though?"

"That's you." They say, matter-of-factly.

"That's me?" He questions, humor in his tone.

"Mhm." They nod with finality, blinking slow.

Sam considers the odd statement for a moment before gently correcting them. "I'm uh, I'm pretty sure that's Sirius, actually."

They scoff. "I am being serious."

Sam stifles a laugh into their hair. "No- no I mean- like... what's another name for it... Oh! It's also called the Dog Star."

"C'mon Sam, at least call it the Wolf Star if you're trying to turn this around on me..."

He shakes his head and readies himself to explain further, but they cut him off before he can start. "But no- no, this one isn't about me. That's you."

He decides to play along, finding something endearing in their overtired nonsense. "Okay... then would'ja be so kind as to explain to this confused old man just how, or why that star is me?"

Their frown is audible in their voice as they latch onto the wrong part of his sentence. "You're not old, Sam. ...Do I need to tell Asher to kick the jokes down a notch?"

He smiles at their over-protectivity. "There'll be no need for that, now. Was just a joke, darlin', I promise."

They huff, but thankfully shift focus back to the prior topic. "It's... I dunno. It's just you, Sam. It's... bright. Light. Something warm, out there in the cold dark. Standing out amongst all the rest. Calling to me, stealing my attention. I... I didn't come out here looking for it, but there it is. ...There you were. In the dark. The only bright thing I'd seen in... fuck, in years. Years of chasing fleeting warmth, tripping over myself in the pitch black, falling into... places 'n people I shouldn't have. You were the light in that darkness. Even there, surrounded by the ghost of him. You outshone it. Your warmth didn't hurt. I didn't have to squint when I looked at you. You weren't the blinding sun. You were the brightest star I'd ever seen. You guided me back home."

In the back of their mind, they recall something they once heard, something about light, and time, and distance. Space. Something about... how you can see a star that's already burnt out, because it's light hasn't reached earth yet. The ghost of a star that's already died. Only still perceptible thanks to time, and distance.

They remember Sam's words, once whispered to them on this very roof.

"Whatever your choice is... I'm not gonna live forever. I made that decision a long time ago."

They think about dead stars.

They think about time.

"...-lin'? Darlin'?" Sam's calloused hand slides up their forearm, pulling them out of their thoughts. "There you are. Think I lost ya' for a minute there... you good?"

They look up at Sam, concern creasing his features, shadows cast across his face from the light of the dying stars above him.

They reach out, pulling him down into them. Burying their face into his collar, Sam's concern grows when he feels it saturate with tears. A human might struggle to hear their words, muffled against the thick fabric, but his hearing catches it just fine.

"Don't burn out too quick. Please. I still need you here. I don't- I don't wanna be left in the dark again. Please, please Sam. Don't leave me here. I'm not selfish enough to ask you for forever, but please. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet."

.......Whoopsies! Really, genuinely didn't mean to improv an entire scene there, good god. Also didn't mean to swerve hard into angst at the end but uh. that's what came out! so I'm rolling with it lmao. Aaanyways let's move on, it's getting late and this is a song analysis post, not a fic.

Out of nowhere, answered all my prayers

'Out of nowhere' reminds me of Sam's words from the same HBW video I referenced earlier. "You came into my life like a damn wreckin' ball. There was no preparing for that, clothing or otherwise." While those were Sam's words, not Darlin's, I still feel like they feel similarly to how suddenly Sam came into their life as well. (Not in a bad way, mind you!)

[the significance of 'answered all my prayers' edges into my own personal more headcanon-y/personal/OC-ified Darlin' territory, so we can just gloss over this one for the sake of at least attempting to keep this more universally applicable]

Picked up the towel that I threw in Took in a heart that was ruined

Again, largely self-explanatory I feel. (*proceeds to explain anyways*) I imagine that Darlin' was at the point of throwing in the towel, hellbent on a solo-mission to find Quinn regardless of the danger it posed to them. I doubt they were looking toward the future anymore, (to reference Sam,) fully willing to throw themself at their problems until they really did break.

The specific use of 'ruined' hits hard here, because after everything they went through with Quinn, and especially after he recounted it all to Sam in that interrogation room, I imagine that they really, truly did feel ruined.

Showed me the past ain't a tattoo Loved me even when you didn't have to

These lines in particular make me sick with emotion every time I hear this song, because I feel like they hit the nail on the head for how Darlin' feels.

I'll be here citing various quotes all night that I feel showcase that sentiment, but we don't have time for that! So instead I'm just pointing to the entirety of 'Quinn's Aftermath' video, and leaving you with this single quote from it.

"Everything that he said reflects nothin' on you, and everything on him."

Equally Applicable Lines

And I don't know why Why you saw something in me, baby But you saw right through All the pain, and you came and saved me Yeah, I know you didn't leave me lonely Weren't the one that put the heartbreak on me Picked up the pieces It wasn't the mess that you made Could've left me just the way you found me But you came and put your wings around me You went out of your way To fix what you didn't break

Again, I think these lines are all pretty self-explanatory, and are just as accurate coming from either one of them. To me, at least, their entire dynamic is that they saved each other, in their own ways.

(But I will admit, the final verses about 'going out of your way to fix what you didn't break' are definitely conjuring up memories of Sam in the early days, literally going out of his way to visit and heal Darlin' after their fight with the two vamps. In general, his continued/repeated healing of them after they once again hurt themselves is the very literal definition of fixing what he didn't break.

But! While we may have more blatant examples of Sam being 'the fixer' so to speak, I think he'd argue that Darlin' has done plenty fixing of their own. Physical wounds aren't the only things that need healing, after all.)

-------

[shameless self-promo of my Sam & Darlin' playlist for those few of u interested enough to make it to the very end of this wall of text. if u liked this then u might like some of the other songs on there soooo maybe go check it out and maybe perhaps give it a follow so i can get a little serotonin boost or dopamine or whatever the chemical is that's released when Number Go Up. ...okay that's it i hope u enjoyed my fixation-induced ramblings! thank u and goodnight]

[imageingrunge]

I loved their love....

[eatyourmaker]

I don't know how to word so I just. Send hug gif

I hope you don't mind me sending these kfdngskdfn

🫂 thanks

Sorry if I bummed anyone out

It just kinda sucks

I was so excited to have a place that felt!!! So accepting!!! And it felt like everyone was just toying with the characters in their own creative way, whether that be ships, blogs, rps, etc.

A place where a weirdo like me could thrive.

But

Idk lately this place is starting to feel as draining as any other aspect of my life. Idk what changed... in reality it's probably only me that's changed.

Like I'm constantly scared of something,,,

Maybe I'll just disappear until the next ep drops again fjdksndkdnns

[memento-morri-writes]

Once again, the only writing I have to offer is dnd-related, and once again, it's also both angsty and whump-y. This is expanding on a scene that got glossed over in a session MONTHS ago, but uh, anyways, here you go:

tw for references to serious physical injury

He felt rather than saw Sigmar shake his head. “I should never have left you. If I’d known she’d bring Deadringer into this… I shouldn’t have let you go off to fight someone like him without me.” Once again, Rook was surprised at the weight of the emotion in his mentor’s voice. He wanted to say It’s not your fault. Or maybe, I would have done it anyway, but his mouth wouldn’t cooperate. So instead he just rested his head on Sigmar’s shoulder. The damp chill that had come over him on the way here was getting stronger and he leaned into Sigmar’s warmth. “‘S cold,” he mumbled. Sigmar picked up the pace a bit, a worried edge creeping into his voice. “Come on, come on. Just a little further.” Rook’s eyes were heavy, and his awareness of the world was fading. He heard a door open, was dimly aware of a brightly lit, white-painted room, of being laid down on a bed. He could hear people talking urgently, unfamiliar voices joining Sigmar’s. His muddled mind only caught fragments of their words. “Concussion … Severe blood loss … Not enough…”  Multiple sets of hands touched his skin, and the familiar warmth of healing magic (when had being healed become familiar again?, he wondered dimly) flooded his body.

[starry-sophrosyne]

@pen--anon ...

(while holding back a excited scream) literally bowing down to you rn.. on my knees your angst writing is so good please teach me... ╥﹏╥

/gen tho, your writing is really amazing and its also of the boys.. it's legit the best out of everything under the ao3 tag... cue the nick joke "when i grew up, i wanted to be an lawyer astronaut, now i realize, i want to be pen brent"

[flashbic]

do 2 + 12 for le lorrain pls 🥺✌️ good morning

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

That he's 100% one of the good guys but ALSO that he's allowed to be a bit of a jerk! I love that while he says he regrets what he did to Falconi, just a few hours earlier he's right there, literally taunting him about it and being a dick. We know he still lies to ladies for attention! Despite how well that went the one time! In that other ep his dad is literally asking for his help, and sure he wants to help, but he was actually still going to say no before Cartouche stopped him because he was more focused on keeping his identity as a Cartouchien secret.

He's a nice, smart guy, and he comes off as smooth so it's not as easy to notice, but you kinda get the impression that he hasn't completely lost the asshole vibes! And i think that makes for a fun character!

(special mention to the one bit where he walks next to Demachault and messes up his wig Just For Funsies, it's so gratuitous and i just think it's funny ok)

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Bisexual le Lorrain REAL. I like the idea that those aren't feelings he ever really did anything about, because ultimately he likes flirting with ladies a whole lot and that's enough for him… but maybe he had some confused feelings for his bestie Cartouche for a little bit, and maybe that's part of what made him tag along when they first met.

In general i don't really consider that orientation as something that would've influenced the way he treated Falconi back when they were rivals; for the most part i like to think that he saw that relationship more as competition initially, and that things turned sour because he couldn't stand having someone he thought of as beneath him beating him at anything. Also i see him typically being more attracted to people who are outgoing, funny and talkative, and Falconi being generally none of those things wouldn’t have helped asdfjgk (the fun point being that maybe Falconi could've been a little bit more like that if he hadn't felt like people were constantly antagonizing him)

My other headcanon is that he’s a single child ans is absolutely a mama’s boy <3 She taught him music (canon!) and maybe spoiled him a little too much.