starlightlyr

[wormchaser]

you are complaining about complaining too much while complaining about the fact that maybe people dont like you because you complain too much while complaining about being alone. just stop complaining and do something about it. talk to people. reach out. dont just wait for someone to come to you first.

i have tried reaching out to different people in the past year or so but it never works. i understand its my own fault for letting relationships decay because of my own insecurities and issues but that doesn't mean i can just will myself to think or believe different things about myself. it's a self fulfilling prophecy ; i think people don't like me so i don't reach out so people don't like me etc . i am sure you do not want to hear me list all the things i want to say in response so i will put them in the tags.

[robinyourcreator]

mentors! teachers! librarians! old ladies you see at the grocery or the knitting shop once in a while! middle aged men who are regulars at the same hardware store! the teenagers who come to the local game shops board game events and THEIR little siblings!

do you believe you dont share common humanity with any of these people?????

or do you have bizarre ideas gatekeeping the "sanctity" of friendship limiting it to only people you could have gone to high school with???

"what do a 19 and a 28 year old even have in common"

WE ARE ON THIS BIG BEAUTIFUL BLUE EARTH AT THE SAME TIME, ENJOYING THE GLORIOUS EXPERIMENT THAT IS HUMANITY, GOOD SIR!!!!!

this isnt even about dating-- like fuck no you couldnt PAY me to date someone in their early twenties NOW!!! but this is how we're being about FRIENDSHIP??????

[neos-schlond-poofa]

MY MCD HEADCANONS FOR THE 9TH ANNIVERSARY

i need to post SOMETHING to celebrate the best minecraft series ever but i dont want to do something too big because next year is TEN YEARS I AM OLD so heres my hcs and most are. just canon in my rewrite WHICH I REALLY NEED TO ORGANIZE ONE DAY. someone should make like a google doc layout template thing for us its a hard world theres so much stuff that needs to be rewritten. anywho.

LORD APHMAU

NOT the reincarnation of Irene. Or literally just Irene.

Instead I based her off of my friend's old theory from 5th grade (as a tribute, also my friend isn't dead it's not like an in memoriam tribute but its a tribute to an amazing idea) that she was a fallen angel. But. She isn't at the same time?

Instead, she's one of Irene's daughters. Kind of. ITS HARD TO EXPLAIN AND I DONT WANNA GO ALL INTO THE LORE HERE BUT THERES "SISTERS" OF HERS TOO AND VYLAD STILL SUMMONED HER.

She doesn't have those markings from rebirth; I like them in fanart, but realistically? Why would some random girl have that? Instead, she has weird scars on her body.

Knows the basics of writing and reading... but REALLY struggles with them still. She literally just spawned on this world. She doesn't know everything.

But her natural tendency to help people is in her blood. Like. Irene's whole purpose of these "daughters" of her were to try to fix her legacy in a way. She still struggles with a lot of things though, and all those changes to the village LIKE WHERE SHE JUST BUILT HUGE THINGS obviously don't happen.

She also didn't have good combat skills until she trained with Garroth. Then Zenix. Then EVERYONE. Her combat skills are a huge melting pot of every single person she's fought against or fought with. Of course, she prefers to just use her sword.

SUPER socially awkward but doesn't even realize it. After all, she doesn't have many things to base her social interactions off of; she just got here. But, she does have manners at least.

Can't cook. AT ALL. This is actually a headcanon based off the WORST FANFIC I EVER READ (I lied it was amazing but I was so shocked by the ending like it's the best fic ever but... it SCARRED me PLEASE read it).

About like. 24 years old.

Bisexual and genderfluid and polyamorous.

Endgame is ultimately Garrancemau, but she DOES have a relationship with Katelyn and Zoey during the series. Those will be expanded upon later.

Never has a romantic relationship with Aaron. Also will be expanded upon later.

Can't tell her lefts from rights (just like me) without using her hands.

Once she found out about her relation to Irene, she just felt TERRIBLE. Like. This super cool Goddess EVERYONE loves was basically her mother and she has to live up to that.

BUT OH IT GETS WORSE WHEN SHE FINDS OUT IRENE IS A TERRIBLE PERSON. Now, she has to struggle with telling the world or not, she has to exist knowing she was just created to be a solution to the problems someone who doesn't even care much about her caused.

Has mild generalized anxiety and ADHD. And. Naturally gets a lot of trauma over the series.

Knows how Joan of Arc felt.

GARROTH RO'MEAVE

Kind of an idiot in a way. Like. SUPER INTELLIGENT. But never thought about changing his first name when hiding in Phoenix Drop... he just always ignored people's questions about his last name.

In his defense, Garroth became a fairly popular first name after his birth. It's like when the royals have children and the names they give them become more popular.

Azura helped him escape to Phoenix Drop; they met when he was allowed to go to knight college or whatever its called I FORGOT GUYS!! And he was not in the same class as Laurance... but there any good knight is literally put on the list of Jury of Nine canidates. Like. It's not that hard to be considered. But to be picked? They do like the biggest background checks EVER and secretly watch you to see your strengths.

Naturally a very father-like figure to those significantly younger than him as a result of caring for his brothers and protecting them from his father. I made a whole post about it before. I'd tag it but I. Don't feel like it.

LEVIN'S FATHER!! DILFROTH IS CANON GUYS. But he doesn't know he's the father until after the timeskip.

He doesn't just wear his helmet to hide his appearance from others; he can't stand his appearance. He's a splitting image of his father, the man he truly hates. He hides all the mirrors in his living quarters, he can't stand it. Aphmau is the one that truly starts helping him love himself.

Although. After the whole incident featuring a betrayal, portal, and missing 15 years, he feels scared that he is turning out evil just like his father. He hates it. It haunts him everyday.

Also. HE WASN'T AWARE OF WHAT HE WAS DOING.

Firstly, I just need to say, I head canon Garroth to have depression. And I spoke about this a bit before, but seeing the two people he loved the most seemingly hide a relationship behind his back, instead of being open and honest with him just hurt. He fell into a depressive episode, like it was terrible. AND ZANE BEING ZANE used that to manipulate Garroth, having Lillian use magicks and potions or whatever to mind control him. He only broke out of it once Lillian died AND LAURANCE USED THE POWER OF LOVE!

He never truly figures out everything that happens until after he escapes from the Irene Dimension.

Speaking of which, he is SUPER injured after he escaped from there. I. Um. Actually don't know the specific injuries I'm giving him but all I know is he becomes a cane user. So like. Obviously something with his back but I need to like really get the logistics down that's just how my mind works with these things.

In love with Aphmau AND Laurance. He's so silly.

Bisexual masculine non-binary he/they autistic king that also suffers from depression, PTSD, and survivor's guilt.

Like most people believe, he has a dad bod. Like obviously he's muscular, but he's also chubby.

Can't cut his own hair since he doesn't look in the mirror. When he first revealed his face to Aphmau, she helped him out with his beard and hair (and almost braided his hair).

Around 26 years old.

A good singer, but only sang for Laurance while he was recovering. It's their small little thing.

LAURANCE ZVHAL

Okay so firstly, I'm not putting any Shadow Knight headcanons. That's too much.

However, as a result of being a Shadow Knight, he has poor temperature regulation. Like. He's very naturally warm, so he overheats a lot, but in the cold, it's the opposite. He's FREEZING and has to layer up a lot.

Has two gay dads. Which... is canon?? WHY DOES NO ONE TALK ABOUT THIS. He has Hayden and Joh. They are his gay dads and they raised him. And Cadenza.

Rarely can have a nice, peaceful sleep due to night terrors. He's haunted by the memories of the Nether, and the only times when those thoughts are subdued are when he's sleeping close to Aphmau or Garroth.

Actually the father of Alina. Because it's not Aaron (ew). And he never knows about this. Because he SACRIFICES himself to save Garroth and Aphmau because he loves them, and he doesn't want either of them to hurt or for himself to hurt them due to the calling.

Just to clarify, he and Aphmau did not intend for this by the way. They just had a silly night where they drank a little bit! And then woke up like a rom-com or something and where like "Oh. My. God." LIKE IT SEEMS TO BE SILLY but then it isn't.

Only knows how to crochet a single type of bear plush. Like. NOTHING ELSE.

He had to wash his orange hair like every single day. If he didn't it literally became so greasy and so crusty. And Zoey ended up having to do that while she watched over him. She was so close to just chopping it all off for him.

Garroth was his closest company while he was blind. He often asked Garroth to describe him what he saw in the village.

Once he got cured, he only partially regained his eyesight. He struggles to see a lot, and gets headaches easily. When he goes into Shadow Knight form though, his eyesight gets a lot better; but once he gets out of that form, he experiences so much pain, and his sight goes downhill for a while.

Can braid hair.

Likes to prank his friends a lot through really elaborate scares. SUPER happy once Malachi and Levin started getting involved.

Pansexual and polyamorous and 25 years old.

Sneezes like. Really cutely. Like he has one of those sneezes.

KATELYN

LITERALLY THE MOST MUSCULAR CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRE SHOW. AND TALL.

Her true love was Jeffory. Nothing will ever change that.

When she dated Aphmau, her own grief over Jeffory held back the relationship from blossoming into something more. This applies to all her other relationships as well.

Her anger issues are just simply treated better here. Like. That's all I have to say about that.

Helped care for Aphmau the most (along with Zoey) after Garroth was freed from the Irene Dimension because of how depressed she was over everything. She became really close with Lilith Garnet during this.

Never gets drunk. It's kind of insane. She is wild at taverns and just. Never gets drunk. Her power at that is balanced out with her terrible seasickness.

Doesn't get the appeal of coffee. She hates it, like it tastes so bad to her. She's a tea girlie.

28 years old. But people never guess her age right, like ever. She's eternally youthful despite not having a single skin routine.

Okay this is actually a headcanon and it's based off of a friend I do have in real life. So like yeah I guess in modern times Katelyn is a One Directioner but I guarantee she would be a Deftones fan or something.

okay i planned to do more characters but i literally forgot all mcd characters and my hcs :( SO MAYBE JUST SUGGEST CHARACTERS AND ILL SAY THEM CAUSE THEYRE JUST NOT COMING TO MIND RN also im tired

ANYWAYS HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE SHOW THAT FOREVER CHANGED MY LIFE. without you minecraft diaries, i wouldve never become the insufferable person i am today <3

[eldritchsurveys]

1185.

Do you still remember your first kiss? >> I remember the first time someone kissed me. I don't remember the first time someone kissed me in a non-coercive, totally consensual way.

Are you happy with where you are relationship wise now? >> Not exactly. I still would like to experience at least one close intimate relationship, or at the very least a couple of deep friendships.

How many kids do you want to have? >> Zero.

Have you ever purposely given someone the wrong number? >> I have not.

Who’s the last person you smoked weed with? >> Sparrow, which was more incidental than intentional.

Are you mad at the last person who called you? .

Who was the last person you talked to, other than family? >> The last person I spoke to was Sparrow, as usual. When was the last time you flew in a plane? >> April 2022.

Is there a girl you absolutely can not stand? >> Somewhere, I'm sure.

Have you ever set anything on fire? >> I have. Have you kissed the last person you texted? .

Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos? >> I am always up for another tattoo, but I don't have any specific ideas in mind, seeing as I stopped bothering to think about them because of the expense.

Do you find tattoos attractive in the opposite sex? >> Tattoos are not what make me find a person attractive or unattractive. Who is the person you have hurt the most? >> I have no way of knowing this. Who is the person that has hurt you the most? >> Ultimately, that goes to my parent. Many of the things that affect me to this very day were because of something he did, even if that something was more indirect like "shipping me off to live with extended family members without vetting them as people first".

Have you smoked a cigarette today? >> I have not.

Are you listening to any music? What song? >> I am not.

Ever had a person who was obsessed with you so much that it scared you? >> I can't even imagine what this would be like.

Is there anything silver near you? >> Possibly.

Has anyone ever mistaken you for someone else? >> A few times.

Who are you talking to right now? >> No one. I'm taking a survey.

Have you cried this past week? >> Of course. Say your last ex walks up to you and hugs you, what do you say? .

Would you date someone right now if they asked? >> That... obviously depends on who was asking, doesn't it? Generally I am open to a variety of relationship structures, but not open to any old person who sought one...

Has someone recently told you something you didn’t want to hear? >> I don't think so.

Who was the last baby you held? >> Elliott, and he's four now, so that's how long ago that was.

Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you? >> I do not.

Would you ever get a tattoo? If so, of what? >> I have three, so apparently I would. Have you purposely flirted with a friends crush? >> I have not.

Do you have any siblings that moved away to college? .

Have you had any beer this week? >> I have not.

Is there anything you need to talk about with someone? >> Not to my knowledge. Are you wearing a necklace? >> I am not.

What does text #10 in your cell say? .

Who was the last person who cried around you? >> Sparrow, I assume.

What was the last thing you cried about? >> I was stressed out about how much of the day I lost to the power outage, which lasted for seven hours. It just destabilised my entire daily rhythm.

Who’s the last guy to give you roses? .

Do you think relationships are hard? >> For me, absolutely. Significantly harder than they'd be for the average person.

Did your parents do drugs when they were younger? .

What color are your eyes? >> Dark brown.

Do you listen to music while you fill out surveys? >> I don't, I don't listen to music when doing anything that requires language processing. Would you date someone that had a different religion from you? >> Religiosity wouldn't be a dealbreaker on its own. I quite like religion, but people interact with religion in wildly different ways and that's the salient bit.

Would you rather have nice eyes or nice lips/smile? >> por que no los dos

Do you have any secrets? >> I don't. No use for it, really.

What’s your current problem? >> Hmm... well, I can't think of anything off the top of my head. A small miracle and I'll take it.

[synonymroll648]

I mean. if you're willing to share....then yes I am all ears on that sokeefitz angst fic...just saying *eyes*. I put this in a separate ask to give you a space to talk about it, but only if you want! Also no clue what I would want if I was sick, it's genuinely been so long I don't. I don't know what my sick safe foods are? life is so so so hard for people with strong immune systems i'm suffering so much /s

also hi hope you're feeling better! or that if you're still sick that it packs its bags and kicks its own ass to the curb soon <3

i'll answer the other stuff in the og chain; this one's juuuuust gonna be the sokeefitz angst fic lol.

basically: au (that's technically canon compliant, esp since the series isn't over? idk man don't ask) where like the shadowflux echoes in (fanon) fitz's knee, the echoes in his heart end up developing into a chronic condition. but the heart echoes are a significantly bigger threat to his health, like in canon (we don't ever see him get wiped out from the pain in his knee, but we do see him get wiped out from his heart echoes going haywire. there's examples throughout flashback of what i'm talking about). a year or two after canon ends (i'm approximating fitz'll be 18 or 19), livvy and elwin sit him down and tell him that from what they can see, they doubt he'll be able to live past 100.

they tell him that they'll do everything they can to make that statement false, but it falls on ringing ears.

from there, the premise would mainly be exploring how fitz would learn to manage his emotions to keep his heart echoes in check as best as he can - particularly anxiety and anger - plus him learning to accept that he's gone from having a shot at being a famous ancient to bring pride to the vacker family, to an elf that's become the closest to mortality that one can get. and ableism in the lost cities too, because i think realizing that a lot of the people he looked up to when he was younger valued him less as a disabled person would be a good motivator to break away from the golden boy mold and become who he actually wants to be, whoever that is.

and then there's also learning to accept almost-mortality through sophie's unique perspective on it, and helping her accept almost-immortality. slowburn exes to lovers on that front, through the power of - as keefe dubbed it in the books - cognate rawr. i'm also thinking this would be set in level 7 for fitz, so he could be roommates w/ keefe and have an '(unofficial) ex (childhood) best friends to lovers' arc.

sokeefe would be established already in this, but have a conversation fairly early on the fic where they're like 'ummm so i actually haven't moved on from fitz and it's freaking me out-' 'omg SAME' and then help each other figure out they're bi and polyam (that would be a side plot of its own, because, like. you can't do that in one scene lmao). and then once they'd reached that conclusion they'd be like 'hey so you wanna see if we can flirt our way into getting fitz to join our relationship?' 'worth a shot, sounds better than endless pining'.

ofc fitz is super dense though so he doesn't see keefe's advances as flirting until the obliviousness starts getting ridiculous, and he makes up ten million platonic excuses for sophie's actions because we broke up, there's no way she still sees me like that anymore - not when she has keefe the way she does. because as an aro i would do that in his situation and i have decided he's aro-spec <3 but they all get it together eventually. and get a cottage somewhere and fitz gets to be a baker and they just. have their happily ever after.

uuuuuuuuntil fitz is on the cusp of turning 100 and dies. because i'm evil. and i want to explore how much worse keefe's oh my god please don't leave me please please please i'd do anything to make you stay complex would get if he lost a lover and the situation was out of his control. and how much it would differ from sophie's acceptance. and how sophie's acceptance could turn into world-crushing anger and stuff after she stops feeling the need to stay strong for keefe.

and then maybe how much worse the whole please don't leave me alone please i'll do ANYTHING ANYTHING ANYTHING JUST STAY STAY STAY would get if sophie died centuries after fitz from some mission and keefe was truly on his own. just after he started feeling solid about having her in his life for a long time after the present. if i'm feeling particularly cruel by the end.

(there's a lot of scenes that made go OWOWOWOW that my brain conjured up, but. those stay in my brain until i write them. no spoilers :) also ik i'd need to do a lot of research on heart conditions to make fitz's arc more accurate to real life because even if shannon doesn't care about medical accuracy, i do lol.)

[minkkumaz]

ur yungyu rant was so cute 😭 truly the number1 yungyu lover!!!

so far my day has been.. going.. nothing interesting besides my usual bonedo thoughts ^^;

theres sm jaehyun thoughts just flowing through my head atm- like jaehyun with the “dating my best friends sister” trope. honestly ive never been the BIGGEST fan of those because theres always gonna be some form of angst, but at the end of it, its most likely a happy ending.. BUT THIS IS OKAY CAUSE ITS MYUNG JAEHYUN!

im not sure if you’ve watched the WHY ver. of boynextdoor tonight, but a quick recap just in case!! the boys had to go around saying their favorite member, and jaehyun chose riwoo, causing riwoo to squeal and push jaehyun, making him to fall backwards.

so its safe to say riwoos a shy guy, alongside the rest of the other members- because from what IVE seen, they either brush jaehyuns flirting off or give him the most blankest stare..

so imagine!! jaehyun who meets riwoos younger sister, whose the complete opposite of her brother!

jaehyun w a flirty crush!!

Since riwoos more introverted, his younger sister would be the one initiating all the conversations. when she finally meets all the members, she notices jaehyuns face from the many viral videos shes seen of him flirting with her brother.

yn being the bold sister she is!! asks if she can also get the same treatment. jaehyun would most definitely not be used to this.. like all the other members react so differently to his random flirty lines but all of a sudden hes getting flirted back with?!

this caused him to just stand there with their hands like 🤝 and his face 😧. (until riwoo lightly slaps him on the face for even thinking abt it)

so there began the myungyn flirt train!! idk feel like jaehyun would hardly flirt back in fear of riwoo slapping him, until one night he thinks he sees riwoo up for a late night snack. hes barely awake but manages to snuggle up to him as always.

..but it doesn’t feel like riwoo.. riwoo doesnt tense up like this. and to his surprise its his sister!! in riwoos jacket!! he’d do that cartoony fallback and fall onto his butt.. he’d most definitely be scared too and apologize alot.

in short, that night jaehyun and the reader hang out and they grow significantly closer!! and the next following days they always meet at the kitchen to just talk about their day and such..

gradually, jaehyun just subconsciously flirts with her every now and then, and he always manages to end up surprised to get flirted back with..

-🍉

me being yungyus #1 fan🤝 you being woonhaks #1 fan

AND AHH I LOVE THE BEST FRIENDS SISTER TROPE >< SAME GOES FOR THE OTHER WAY AROUND WITH BEST FRIENDS BROTHER like it's the perfect amount of minor angst but also happiness and it's just so ahhh

though i fail to insert myself in this situation because i am not flirtatious at all JSNKFJN in person i can be very shy around people i don't know, but i always try my best not to be a downer ^^;

so for now i will live with the thought of it.. flirting with jaehyun would be so fun especially to see the look on his face. i could imagine jae leaving their house and riwoo going "you need to mop up jae's drool from the floor, this is your fault!" the epitome of 'i can't take you anywhere' HAHA but yn isn't like that with anyone else, she just finds jaehyun especially cute :3

i can imagine the boys all having a sleepover at riwoo's house, and in the morning when they're all cozied up on the couch playing super smash bros or something, reader walks in the kitchen to go get some water all sleepy ehe

jaehyun would have comically enlarged eyes as he just swoons over you while the rest of the boys are watching the tv.

maybe they wouldn't notice if he slipped away for a bit to go hang out with you? ><!!

[mysteriouswolf]

Hi mysterious

You tagged me in a thing and i believe in the power of me and so now im going to answer all of the questions

1. [Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora?] Pandora’s BOX— I use Spotify.

2. [is your room messy or clean?] Messy af, there are so many clothes on the floor and also I need to vacuum since I am literally allergic to dust—

3. [what color are your eyes?] Ooh. Um. Well. There’s actually lore. When I was younger, I told everyone that my eyes were green and they all told me that I was wrong because my eyes looked brown and then I asked my mom and she was like “they’re hazel” and so for a while I believed that they were hazel and then in middle school or late elementary school I just fucking gave up on it and then they were just whole ass brown. BUT ALSO OKAY IM PISSED AT THIS. YOU KNOW PUNNETT SQUARES RIGHT. THEYRE LIES. THEYRE FUCKING LIES. Both of my parents have light green eyes, and mine are literally brown. So for a while, I genuinely semi-convinced myself that I was adopted because the fucking punnett squares lied because there’s no way you get a dominant trait from two recessives. Anyways I have the green life hoodie and when I wore it (its so comfy I would still wear it all the time but it is about a zillion degrees out and I like to sweat significantly less also my school doesn’t have AC which is genuinely criminal. i’m so pissed about it because it’s like literally torture) the green in my eyes was more visible so my eyes were def more hazel then but my clothes palete normally consists of black so they normally look brown. Doesn’t help that my eyes and my hair are normally the exact same color.

4. [do you like your name? why?] like birth name? no. it hasn’t fit me in so long. and when i tried to convince myself i wasn’t genderqueer I reminded myself of when I was in third grade there was this girl in my church choir and I would look in the mirror and wish i had her name because I did not look like my name. like. My name is nice. I wish all the cis girls and trans girls and anyone with that name the best and I hope it suits them. It’s a great name. Just not for me.

current name i go by? it’s okay. It’s my initials, and it works really well as a placeholder and I don’t get dysphoria from it like I do my birth name.

current name I’m interested in? I rly like it. it has some cool lore and thought behind it, and i’m interested in trying it out soon.

internet name? LOVE IT 10/10 I ADORE BEING CALLED ROYAL and just. it’s so nice. also i could go by it irl but i don’t want to? like. i do want that divide between irl and internet. also Royal has some lore connected to it and i’m a huge fan of my whole username because it’s a play on the phrase “morally gray” so i love it

5. [what is your relationship status?] uhhh single, ig. also not ready to mingle. well actually i have a um. is a situationship what you call it? But like we were actually dating, and then we kind of didn’t interact for a while (we both got busy with lives, yknow) but essentially now we’re friends with flirting benefits. she’s the one person i feel rly comfortable making innuendos around and shit and it’s kind of refreshing to have that weird relationship with one person.

Also this is rly long so i’m not doing all of these in one go but Mysterious. You. YOU THAT ONE RIGHT THERE OFFICER—

(i dropkicked that child in self defense)

Mysterious, beloved companion and mutual of tumblr dot com, I shall also ask thee the above questions.

1. Spotify, SoundCloud, Pandora, or some other music streaming service?

2. is your room messy or clean?

3. what color are your eyes, if you’re amicable

4. do you like your name? why?

5. what is your relationship status?

OKAY HAVE A NICE— sleep? you’re asleep right now. probably. if you aren’t, go to bed. y’know what? I might take myself up on that offer.

HAH I KNOW YOUR TIMEZONE I CAN PROPERLY ADDRESS YOU

alright have a nice morning or whenever you wake up and/or whenever you check your tumblr :)

HELLO ROYAL I WILL HAVE A NICE MORNING THANK YOU I GET TO GARDEN TODAY IM SO EXCITED!!!

1- Music streaming service? I use Amazon Music cause that's what my parents have a subscription to-

2- Room status? Uhhh it's kinda in the middle. Actually that's a lie, right now it's really messy because I decided I wanted to make a cardboard dagger before I went to my friend's house so I have little bits of cardboard and hot glue sticks all over the place. But usually I like to keep it clean-ish because my room is pretty smol and it stresses me out if it gets too messy- except my desk. That is always a hellhole.

ALSO ROYAL!! ONE THING THAT HELPS A LOT GET A HAMPER AND JUST PUT IT IN YOUR ROOM. DESIGNATE A SPOT WHERE DIRTY CLOTHES GO.

3- What color are your eyes? They're blue. Sometimes they look more green, but they're kinda like a dark muted blue. Not bright. My eyes are pretty dark. LIKE MY SOUL--

Also Royal you have green eyes. Doesnt matter I have never seen your eyes. You have green eyes. In my head you have green eyes. Always have and always will lol- also I agree not having AC in school is criminal- ours doesn't either and it's just like RAHHHHHHHHHH ITS SO HOT HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LEARN MAN

4- Do you like your name? Why? Okay I can't go into this too hard because I will DOX MYSELF but there is a REASON because if I told you what my name was you would be like "oh, like ____?" And it constantly gets made fun of and I hate it. Other than that, I like my name, but just dkvkkcjvskdkkw.

Now if I ever changed my name, it would be Raven Nightshade because I think that sounds badass as FUCK but that probably won't happen.

Internet name? YES. I LOVE IT SO SO MUCH ITS ACTUALLY SO AMAZING I LOVE BEING CALLED LITERALLY ANY VERSION OF MY NAME ONLINE. I think I just answered your ask about my name, SO YES ANY OF THOSE I LOVE SO MUCH IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY

5- Relationship status? Also single and WOULD LIKE TO STAY THAT WAY PLEASE.

shit I don't know your time zone how am I supposed to wish you somethinggggg-- assuming you actually did go to bed when you wrote this I hope you have a good morning/whenever you wake up :3

[aspectabundgaze]

It's Just Memes, Myself & I!

Do I like memes?? Heck yeah! Who doesn't like them? Ah, memes, my digital best friends in this oh so very vast online landscape. I gotta admit to you guys, got this soft spot for these pictures, short videos, gifs (geef or jeef, potato puhtatoe, same thing, okay?) that I often see on Tumblr, Twitter (I refuse to call it by its new name) and occasionally Instagram. Truly makes me laugh, giggle, and even chuckle. Now according to Merriam-Webster, a meme is an amusing or interesting item, often encapsulated in a captioned picture or video, that spreads like wildfire across social media. I enjoy in the feeling of silliness  they bring to my screen, offering that soft tiny bit of happiness it gives from the turmoil my daily life also gives. But I am here to talk about political memes. I find myself walking on this fine line. While I'm not the biggest politics fan out there, I understand the power these visual anecdotes hold behind my screen. These type of memes serves as picture-perfect companions to complex political narratives, like pictures or drawn illustrations you’d found in a book or descriptions next to artifacts in a museum. Even when politics gets a bit too serious or complex for my taste, these memes become a show how digestible snapshots, allowing someone like me to sort of decode the intricate storyline of the political realm with a touch of humour and feeling that media being relatable.

Personally, I grew up with memes, especially in the late 2000s and early to mid 2010s. But one thing I noticed from reading comic strips from newspapers like The Borneo Post is that it has made me realize that memes and politics go WAY back. Like I said in my previous statement, memes showed up to be this dynamic and engaging medium for conveying political information, creating a wedge between laughs and frowns without trying so hard. By making complex political issues into concise and relatable formats, let’s not lie to ourselves and say that memes aren’t making politics more accessible to a broader audience. Their effectiveness lies within engaging with younger people, taking advantage of the presence of social media platforms. The share this on my timeline quality and viral nature of memes contribute significantly to the rapid dissemination of political messages, creating dialogue and discussions among diverse groups of people. However, like what Spider-man’s Uncle Ben said “With great power comes great responsibility”. It is a reminder for consumers to approach political memes critically, verifying information for accuracy and being mindful of potential biases embedded in the humor. 

Mortensen, M., & Neumayer, C. (2021), states that using memes are considered to be playful appropriations are used to move and demarcate frontiers in various political, cultural, and platform-specific contexts. Memes, as a form of playful appropriation, challenge and regenerate populism, carving out spaces for new identity to be formed while creating a sense of togetherness when things seemed tense. Playful humour in politics involves the creative appropriation of contexts at the intersection of the political and the humorous, allowing for a critical approach to political issues through creative expression. Mortensen & Neumayer also talked about the downsides of memes being used in politics, as it can also be a took contributing to the normalization of racist, sexist, discriminatory jokes and in the wrong hands, could be used for extremism to flourish. The constant playful appropriation of contexts and the contrast of new frontiers allow memes to effortlessly travel between subcultures and wider media environment (Mortensen, M., & Neumayer, C., 2021).

Like I said again and again, memes are amazing, it can be used to contribute to discussions about political issues in a productive way but I've seen it gone down in a Oh. Ma. Gawd. WHAT? kind of way. It has this potential to oversimplify things, causing people to not really understand the bigger issue. And sometimes, I've seen people make memes related to politics and human rights and used it to make a mockery out of the struggles and hard work people put into solving or easing the problems. You might be wondering, why is everything so repetitive. It is repetitive for a reason. With the main purpose to explain how memes = good but also memes = bad. You can make a light joke with a meme about a movie, a fashion show, maybe history but politics? It also depends where you are too. So before I end this post, let’s just say that it’s good to find humour and relativity in memes when it comes to politics, but don’t depend onto it too much that it becomes your sole source on understanding political issues.

References

Mortensen, M. and Neumayer, C., 2021. The playful politics of memes. Information, Communication & Society, 24(16), pp.2367-2377, viewed 29 November 2023

Meme definition & meaning', Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, viewed 30 November, 2023, <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meme>

[flashflashhundredyarddash]

batkids and their relationships with their siblings headcanons. under read more because this got fucking LONGGG

dick

dick is the eldest so he doesnt want to bog down his younger siblings with his problems, but if he DOES, he tends to talk to jason about it

dick and cass start to really begin to bond when Cass shows up to dicks gymnastics class for 3rd-6th graders and then cass shows up all the sixth graders and they get frozen yogurt after lmao

dick and tim are Very much thick as thieves. tim is very much like bruce on the Emotional Suppression scale, so dick just really wants to make sure his little brother is safe and happy ALL the time

Duke and Damian are the only two really permanently at the manor anymore, so when dick drops by he tries to do something with both of them. duke frantically zoom calls dick every other week to help him with his his trig homework. dick shows up to dukes high school graduation with literally the BIGGEST SIGN

everyone insists damian is dicks favorite but he does actually genuinely love all his siblings equally, his relationship with damian is just Very different from the others because of the age gap and being dami's primary caretaker for a year. dick babies dami every chance he gets

jason

would sell Dick to satan for One corn chip

him and cass don't have the greatest start to their relationship because cass is very much Against Killing so it takes a while for jason to warm up to her and earn her trust. now, though, jason is competing with steph by showing cass all the classic American Teenager things she missed out on. steph is currently winning but jason is like 98% positive a crunch wrap from taco bell is going to push him over the edge

tim and jason are currently competing over who can solve the most cases in a month. tim is winning. that won't last long.

jason Loves to Big Brother duke its so embarrassing. duke will get out of school and go to his car and jason is SITTING IN THE FRONT SEAT FRANTICALLY WAVING TO GET DUKES ATTENTION. JASON THAT IS MY CAR. signal has one (1) mission with arsenal and arsenal goes hey did you ask that girl to homecoming yet and duke is like I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU.

Damian is proof that Actually, Little Brothers are Pests. Jason fully believes that he was brought back from the dead PURELY to torment damian and he will fulfill this mission at any cost

cassandra

it actually really upset her when Dick didn't accept her at first. she knows her other siblings really adore dick so his lack of trust was really disheartening. it takes dick a while but once he Actually Accepts that cass is going to be a permanent part of their life and oh, wow, dick you really hurt her feelings he really hyperfocuses on bonding with cass for a couple of months which definitely improves their relationship

she really likes jason!! their relationship doesn't start well but because he's close with steph and tim who are cass's top two favorite people to exist ever, cass is like well i GUESS ill hang out with him more. jason is fun to talk to because he always tries his best to explain jokes and give context to what people are talking about (also tim took her to taco bell already but she didn't tell jason she just wanted to hang out)

cass LOVES tim. they just click okay. tim always seems to know when to give her space and when to push and come closer. Tim's "guest room" is just her room lets be real. tim and cass occasionally get mistaken for twins and Cass Loves it.

duke makes cass listen to metal once and cass loses. her. damn. mind. they bond over music a lot because they both Love Music to a degree the others in their family don't.

damian!! damian is her little brother!!! dami isn't As Hostile to cass at first because he is 100% aware cass has the edge in fighting and respects her. cass likes all of his instagram posts and they have a snapchat streak going

tim

tim Loves dick, dick was his first sibling!! he had Very strong hero worship when he first met dick but it mellowed out when tim got older because wow 17 is really not that cool and mature lol. tim has an open invitation to dick's apartment which he does occasionally take advantage of. tim has more than once scared the shit out of wally when wally comes over and wally is convinced they're being robbed (HA) for half a second. i mean. he's not wrong.

listen. tim understands that forgiving the guy who tried to kill you would be a Struggle for some people and it was! definitely! but also at least he can trust jason to, uh, be open about if he doesn't like tim. which is not an assurance he has with other people. so if the guy who tried to kill him tells him tim is cool now then like. maybe tim isn't that bad or annoying a person? also jason arrested a whole gang and won the cases competition but then it created a power vacuum that the whole batfam had to clean up the rest of the month. thanks, jason.

tim LOVES cass. you know how most of the time theres this empty feeling inside you and you just kind of ignore it because you don't know what will fix it or if you do, you know you can't fix it? cass makes that empty feeling feel a little less empty. they just click. tim always tries to travel with cass whenever she leaves gotham.

tim and duke. Tim is actually the sibling who duke goes to whenever he has questions he doesn't want to ask bruce or alfred about, like, life or vigilante-ing or school or college or whatever and Tim is always like yes!! i love Giving Advice and Solving Problems!! tim and duke and jason fill out their college applications together.

tim and damian. LMAO. ROUGH START THAT'S ALL ILL SAY. at some point alfred goes like fuck it. family therapy. and tim and dami are PISSED. tim and damian get along best when they have a common enemy to work against. their relationship gets much better when damian is older and they actually talk about their feelings like emotionally stunted bats. despite how bad their relationship was, tim will ALWAYS protect damian

duke

very much intimidated by dick at first. dick is so much older and has his own job and friends and life and is very much AN ADULT. dick likes to take duke out to do lots of cool stuff (paintball, lasertag, tech exhibitions, concerts, etc). also, dick PERSONALLY introduced duke to superman and is dating THE FLASH. 10/10 awesome big brother.

was intimidated by jason for 0.5 seconds before jason actually opened his mouth and started speaking. jason is literally. So Embarrassing. which is weird because nobody else really seems to feel that way about jason but duke knows he's 100% in the right here. like yeah jason is also An Adult and does Adult Stuff but he's also at the manor like every other weekend???? and he always complains about bruce but always seems to be in the same room bruce is in????? like okay jason. they bond over literature!! jason and duke and alfred will spend literal hours talking about books and duke loves it. duke is the only one who doesn't think jason is funny and jason gets so upset about it lmao.

cass has this one week where she gets really into photography and by virtue of being nearby (and also not nocturnal), duke becomes her victim subject. duke prints out all the pictures and hangs them up in his room (his favorite is one he took when he stole the camera and took a really bad selfie of them together).

tim is closest in age to duke so duke tends to hang around with him a lot. tim introduced duke to his young justice friends and duke is like yes!!! meta-friends!!!! tim really helps duke out with his powers because tim is always like wow i wonder if your powers would work if we did This? can you see farther than other people? is your visible spectrum of light different than other humans? Bruce does the same thing but bruce is boring about it lol.

damian and duke live in the same house and will be in the same room and just send each other social media posts back and forth. they follow each other on instagram and will, OCCASIONALLY, make tik toks together because they're tik tok fiends. each of his siblings have visited his parents once or twice but damian routinely comes with him.

damian

damian gets a special bullet point to say that it took him. forever to come around to the idea of having siblings. he very much believed that he was Bruce's Blood Son and everyone else were just tagalongs or allies. it took him ages to acknowledge that dick, jason, tim, and cass were his siblings, so when duke came and like a week later damian was like Ah, Yes, this is my brother Thomas everyone else was like dude wtf

listen. LISTEN. Obviously. Richard is very highly skilled. and also Father values him highly. and also Richard will listen to Damian complain about his schoolmates. and also Richard is much more patient with Damian than other members of his family. listen....,,, (all this to say damian kind of fucking adores dick lmaooooo this kid).

Todd is kind of unbearable but damian has been informed this is both a normal feeling when it comes to Todd and also big brothers. damian was an only child for ten years so yes, Father, if Todd attempts to tickle me I WILL break his fucking nose. yes i WILL put money in the swear jar but I want you to know i don't regret it. they always try to sneak up on each other but mostly fail.

DRAKE!!! but no lol once damian grows up and is like I Apologize for attempting to murder you it was wrong and you are just as much a son to Father as I am tim is like UGH i guess its cool since ur being so emotionally mature and all. also im 2 for 5 on siblings trying to murder me so im definitely going to win trauma bingo and damian is like i take it back you are insufferable. When Will My Older Siblings Stop Joking About Their Trauma.

CASS!!! listen. cass is cool. Cass Gets It. They have a special Bond. also damian really likes it whenever cass is home because 1) he gets to hang out and do something cool with cass and 2) he feels significantly safer with cass in the house because Nobody will be able to hurt any of their family if Cass is there. ALSO he tries to call her cain but everyone is like DONT DO THAT and he doesn't want to call her wayne bcus theyre ALL wayne (dick adds it on as a middle name but also Richard John Wayne West-Grayson is just. the lamest name ever so dick needs to reconsider it before his upcoming nuptials)((dick will not reconsider it except maybe whether grayson-west would work better)) and so he tries cassandra but cass is like :) call me cass and damian is like cassandra is more formal and respectful and cass is like :) and finally damian just has to give in.

Duke! him and duke actually live together so they get the Most Bonding Time and have a bunch of inside jokes as a result. (is it bad i wanted to laugh because inside jokes... joker... i'll see myself out). they're eating breakfast together (and also alfred sits with them IM NOT A MONSTER ALFIE'S LIKE 70 NOW OKAY) and duke laughs and bruce is like what are you laughing at, son? and duke is like oh damian just showed me this funny meme and then he shows the phone to bruce and bruce grabs it (both the boys groan) and after WAY TOO LONG is like "i don't get it" and so now duke and damian have to try and explain the comedic intricacy of bob's burgers

[mewmewtric]

The Harbinger’s Dragon (baby) -1

Wassup people, this is going to be a series (if i remember to continue it) of fluffy posts of one of my comfort ships, ChiLi/ZhongChi (the other is probably IttoSara). It’s about Childe having to take care of this little baby dragon (to his annoyance, without the actual dragon Zhongli’s help...). It’s a little something brewing in my mind for quite a while, so let’s go!

no, my exam period is not over. my posting and answering schedule will still be significantly delayed.

"Childe, I will be away for a few weeks."

I looked up from my documents.

"Going to explore the world, Xiansheng? A new adventure to spice up your boring life?"

"No, no. Not exactly. I will be trying out a new life for a short while. It surely will be... interesting."

He gently laughed, which always made me smile without thinking. A soothing sound like an amused parent, with his amber eyes crinkling at the corners...

I clear my throat. "What plan has the crafty Rex Lapis created in that mysterious mind?"

"Oh? Is a Harbinger afraid of this old man? No worries. I will just be retracing my roots. I can forget about the burdens, the regrets for just this short moment."

Eyes tinkling with amusement, Zhongli picked up a bag which seems suspiciously small for someone about to be away for a few weeks.

"Besides... I might still get to see you.”

He left the house without another word, leaving me alone in his courtyard.

I wanted to follow him when he said it would be interesting. Interesting to a fellow warrior, harbouring the same passion for a good battle like me, no matter how much he tried to hide it. I know. I could tell when the person dueling with me was a fellow comrade who takes joy in the art of battle.

But then again, sometimes even we need a moment of peace in our homeland, with our family. Wait, did he even have family?

If I did meet them...

“Stop blushing, Ajax. All he did was smile at you. He won’t be anything more than friends to someone who unleashed his enemy of thousands of years ago to them. Stop it.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite being here just for business and some good battles, I grew to like Liyue.

A bustling city by a harbour, just like a busier version of my seaside hometown.

So one day, I decided to buy some Liyue souvenirs to bring back with me. 

“Ah, a young foreigner. Come in. We have a wide range of items you can buy.”

An old man greeted me by a counter. It was a smaller store, a bit away from the main shopping street, where I already emptied a few bags of mora in. Yet, there were still a few people browsing the shelves. A group of locals and a few foreigners, from Mondstadt and Fontaine, judging from their clothes. Fancy stone sculptures, decorated tableware and chopsticks (ew chopsticks), Rex Lapis figurines… a miscellaneous collection of items crammed in a warmly decorated store of wooden shelves and lanterns.

I had no idea when I would be leaving this place for another mission. Or even when I could send these souvenirs back home and share my experiences - under the guise of the greatest ever toy seller, of course. I even had numerous toys threatening to spill out of the bags I am struggling to carry to keep that image up.

Hm. Perhaps I would get a plushie...not only would it be easy to bring around, maybe my younger siblings would like it as well! A plushie, just like this sleeping Rex Lapis plushie that I was looking at. Sleeping soundly, tucked in a shelf next to more Rex Lapis memorabilia, curled up, innocent to the cruel world. Short yellow tail, chubby body and stumpy horns, it was so cute that I wanted to hug it… until I saw its chest slowly rise and fall.

“That’s right, it breathes.”

The shop owner walked next to me.

“One night, a man in a hood gave it to me. He told me that this dragon plushie is one he made himself, and that he knew the right person would obtain it and lift a curse accidently placed on it. Hard to believe, but once I noticed that it was breathing, I knew that it was no ordinary toy. Now that I think about it, that man must have been an adeptus at the least. Using “one” to refer to himself, a regal, mysterious air...”

A curse… Well, what adventure will you bring today, little one?

I was bored, alright? Liyue may be pretty, but sometimes we need a little spice in our life. Be it a good battle or lifting a curse. Especially with my two beloved dueling partners both away.

“I’ll take it, boss! What is the price?” The words came out easily from my mouth. No matter what curse it has, surely my siblings would love this when I return to Snezhnaya. Maybe I can even show Zhongli this plushie. Cute and snuggly and adorable... imagine if he was once actually like this.

Oddly, I did not buy anything else from that store. Or head to other shops. I just headed straight to the hotel.

I gingerly balanced the plushie on top of the many bags from the main shopping street. I could always get someone to carry these for me, but it would be unfair to a subordinate meant to serve the Tsaritsa, not me. As I made my way back to the hotel, I swore that I felt something rubbing against my chest… But I brushed it away.

[cardentist]

I haven’t been in the star trek fandom for very long (I’ve only just started binging the series in the last couple months), so it’s been pretty surprising to find out just how negative the perception of the reboot movies are.

this isn’t coming from the perspective of someone who grew up with the series, so it hit different for me than it might for people with a different relationship to TOS, but I thought it was genuinely clever and Respectful with how it was handled.

To quote leonard nimoy: “Well the alternative timeline gives them license to escape from canon concerns. I can’t see people saying ‘they shouldn’t do that because…’ or ‘that doesn’t tie in to such and such’ because it is a different time and place. Am I right about that?” [Link]

the entire Premise is that the original series happened as it was presented in TOS, but an event late in Spock’s life caused the creation of a parallel universe in which everyone’s lives were significantly altered through two key changes to the timeline. this gives them the freedom to Both revel in fanservice And explore different facets of the characters and their relationships. 

the destruction of vulcan Vastly impacts the characters and the plot moving forward, and its a detail that a lot of people take issue with. but the emotional impact of sarek admitting Directly to spock that there is value in his humanity, that his feelings Aren’t wrong, that sarek married amanda because he Loved her cannot be understated. you can read all of these things into sarek as he was in the original series, but he Never had an open conversation about these things with spock. this creates a Believable and Rewarding change in their relationship, where we get to see a different facet of them Because of the changes made. and that’s exactly the appeal. showing us pieces of these characters that we never got in TOS that are nevertheless undeniably Them.

everyone is Different yes, but they’re also fundamentally the same people at their core and that matters.

kirk’s personality obviously takes the biggest change, with him experiencing trauma at a young age, losing his father, and having an implied abusive father figure after that point. he has a harsher personality in reaction to harsher conditions, he’s spikier and harder to love. but he’s also still fundamentally a Good person whose willing to risk everything to help people. he still has what made kirk prime a good captain and a good friend.

I’m not gonna say that it’s the most nuanced story in the world, but it explores a version of kirk that was born from even Less fortunate circumstances than kirk prime, exploring a kirk brimming with potential who learned to bite back after he was kicked down. exploring those themes of trauma and loss, of insecurity and growth, and coming to the conclusion that Fundamentally He Is Capable Of Good isn’t a Bad thing. you don’t have to like it, but his growth into a better person is The Point. they deepened his flaws (all of which were present in a less exaggerated form in TOS) To Show That Growth.

and then of course there’s his relationship with spock.

people are totally justified in not liking that they had a rough start to their relationship, I usually don’t like to see that kind of thing in reboots or hollywood adaptations either, but the way people talk about it is just unfair.

Yes kirk and spock and bones have a very strong relationship in TOS, they also already know each other by the time the show starts. to look at them having to learn to get to know and trust each other when they first meet and say that it’s Bad because they were already full on ride or die for each other in the og series is silly. TOS kirk and spock had to meet and fall in love with each other too, it didn’t just happen over night kings.

secondly, the entire point of the first movie is that Even With reality itself being altered to pull them apart they are fundamentally compatible people that are Bound to each other. they meet each other on bad terms because of circumstances outside of their control, and yet they’re still pulled into each other’s orbit and find the other slotting into place next to them as if they always belonged. one of the first things that spock prime says in the movie is “I am and always will be your friend,” spock and jim are Meant for each other and the movie goes out of its way to explain that. which is what makes it so Weird to see people complaining about how they don’t like each other.

it’s a Different relationship, but it’s absolutely no less steeped in yearning or queer subtext. 

speaking of queer subtext ! some people are Very unhappy with spock’s relationship with uhura.

first thing I wanna say is that making the argument that they’re doing anything that the original series hasn’t done is just, completely untrue. kirk has fallen in love with more girls in the og series than he knew what to do with, leonard nimoy was a heartthrob in his time (and he deserves it, awooga) and spock reflects that ! Spock usually turns the women who come onto him down (or when he doesn’t it’s because a plant has literally altered his mind), but there are exceptions to even that. all of three of the main boys have plenty of romance subplots, it happens. if that takes the possibility of them being queer off the table for you (which it shouldn’t, m-spec people exist) then I’m sorry to say that TOS is not exempt.

now, I can understand why Specifically This Relationship could rub people the wrong way or being disappointed that they didn’t outright depict kirk and spock as having a relationship (if not in the first movie then in the following ones after they’ve gotten to know each other), but even in that context the way I’ve seen people talk about it comes off as insensitive.

no, the relationship did not come out of nowhere. they considered having spock and uhura date each other in the original show (and you can see signs of this in the earlier episodes, where uhura very obviously flirts with him and they spend time together in their down time) before they decided against it, and spock was originally going to kiss uhura until shatner insisted that he wanted to do it (because it was the first interracial kiss on tv). [Link 1, Link 2, Link 3]

nichelle nichols was asked about this exact thing (spock and uhura’s relationship in the movie), you can read the interview in full here [Link] but I’d like to highlight this paragraph in particular:

“Now, go back to my participation in Star Trek as Uhura and Leonard (Nimoy) as Spock. There was always a connection between Uhura and Spock. It was the early 60’s, so you couldn’t do what you can do now, but if you will remember, Uhura related to Spock. When she saw the captain lost in space out there in her mirror, it was Spock who consoled her when she went screaming out of her room. When Spock needed an expert to help save the ship, you remember that Uhura put something together and related back to him the famous words, “I don’t know if I can do this. I’m afraid.” And Uhura was the only one who could do a spoof on Spock. Remember the song (in “Charlie X”)? Those were the hints, as far as I’m concerned.”

the film makers looked at the fact there were Hints for uhura and spock, that they were Interested in exploring an interracial couple for the first time (both before and immediately after interracial couples won the right to legally get married) but Couldn’t because of the circumstances of the times and decided to Make that depiction. you don’t have to Like their relationship just because of that fact, but it’s Incredibly reductive to play down it’s significance as just a No Homo cop out. explicitly queer relationships are not the only progressive or culturally important relationships in fiction.

moreover, if you can’t imagine polyamory in the communist utopian future that’s on you.

moreover, this perception that this was a soulless cash grab is just, unfounded.

leonard nimoy returned to the role as spock for the first time in 16 years (since 1991) and this was Entirely because of the respect they had for nimoy, spock as a character, and the franchise as a whole. 

Lets look at some quotes from nimoy in interviews regarding the film:

Leonard Nimoy: When I first read the script (...) I immediately contacted J.J. and said “I think it is terrific…I think you guys have done a wonderful job. There is still work to be done, but it is very clear that you and your writers know what you are doing and you know how to do this movie and know what it should be about….and I am very interested.” Then as time went by we worked things out with Paramount, but the most important things were J.J. and the script. (...) I am very pleased about that and I am very comfortable with where this is going. I think the writers have done a terrific job. They have a real sense of the characters and the heart of Star Trek and what it is really all about.

(...)

TrekMovie.com: Now in the case of the new movie you have been retired from acting for years. What was it about this one that made you want to act again and go through the make up again? What was it that made you say ‘I really want to do this?’

Leonard Nimoy: You are right, this is a special situation. First it is Star Trek and so I have to pay attention. I owe that to Star Trek. Second place is that it is J.J. Abrams who I think very highly of, he is a very talented guy. Then came the script and it was very clear that I could make a contribution here. The Spock character that I am playing, the original Spock character, is essential and important to the script. So on the basis of those three elements it was easy to make the decision. So those three things: Star Trek, J.J. Abrams, and an interesting Spock role.

[Link]

Praising the cast playing younger versions of characters from the original 1960s TV series, he [Leonard Nimoy] said: “Let me take the opportunity to say this. Everybody at this table [the cast] are very, very talented and intelligent people.”

“They found their own way to bring that talent and intelligence to this movie, and I think it shows. (...)  When Karl Urban introduced himself as Leonard McCoy and shook hands with Chris Pine, I burst into tears. That performance of his is so moving, so touching and so powerful as Doctor McCoy, that I think D. Kelley would be smiling, and maybe in tears as well.”

“The makers of this film reawakened the passion in me that I had when we made the original film and series. I was put back in touch with what I cared about and liked about Star Trek, and why I enjoyed being involved with Star Trek. So, it was an easy way to come on home.”

“[In this Star Trek] they said things and showed me things, and demonstrated the sensibility that I felt very comfortable with, and I think that shows in the movie. I like it.”

[Link 1, Link 2]

again, you don’t have to like it just because leonard nimoy did, you don’t have to Agree. but the idea that nobody working on the film Cared is provably false. near everyone working on the project was already a fan of the series or were excited to be involved and did their homework. it’s genuinely a Miracle just how much of a labor of love this was, and in my opinion you can feel that through the movie itself. I’d highly recommend looking into interviews and behind the scenes details about the movies. they had a respect not just for the source material, but for leonard nimoy as a person.

there’s definitely more I Could say about this, but it’s 4 am now so I’m gonna shelve it jklfdsa

that said! it’s Fine to not like the movie, not everything is going to be suited to everyone’s taste, but the specific criticisms I’ve seen feel very off base

[pwnyta]

Idk if you have ever watched Katekyo hitman Reborn, but I was part of the fandom even before the anime boomed (it’s like… 2010-11-ish, I think?I was a little younger than MCs, so around 11-12 yo and now I am 20+) and I remember out of all characters liking Tsuna (mc) the best, even tho he was a loser and wasn’t really all that cool… and I still remember how anime boomed bc the artstyle changed significantly in the later arcs and suddenly all characters started to look really hot.

And god how much I’ve hated it! Bc suddenly there was shit ton of people who were actively thirsting for all of those characters but also there were A LOT of people who were hating on Tsuna, and I really, REALLY disliked it :)))) Idk maybe I’ve really related to the fact that he was a normal guy just thrown into the world of mafia and crazy people out of nowhere, in a way that I also experienced a lot of bullshit I didn’t want to be a part of back then(but no one asked my opinion obv).

For that reason I really disliked the fact that so many people have joined KHR bc characters were hot… it rubbed me the wrong way and I think I also didn’t really like majority of the cast all that much? Characters like Hibari seemed to be just hot and crazy without any personality outside of it. I wouldn’t say that my years in the fandom were miserable, but it sucked to constantly hear that your fav character is annoying and dumb…

………..

…And then I’ve decided to rewatch the show a lot of years later :’))))) AND GOD FUCKING DAMMIT I AM SO FUCKING PISSED.

I don’t even know how to say it… but after I’ve rewatched KHR I’ve realized that majority of the characters I’ve disliked are actually pretty cool and I love their personalities and little quirks, and as for Tsuna… holy fucking shit he takes the medal for literally not changing AT ALL. Like, at first everything was fine, but then I’ve realized that he legitimately practically didn’t change from the very first episode. Then again, I don’t know if you’ve watched it but anime have ended on the arc where Tsuna and his friends literally have saved SEVERAL WORLDS (it makes sense in the context I swear) and then in next arc (two last arc weren’t animated) he was beaten up by fucking SCHOOL BULLIES… bruh wtf… I mean, sure, he was beaten up while trying to help another person to get out of troubles (which he probably would have never done in the beginning of the story) but I still can’t get over the fact that so many chapters/arcs later he is unable to defend himself…

What I am trying to say is that is an extremely shitty feeling to return to the franchise you love just to find out that your fave sucks ass practically didn’t change from start to finish, while a lot of other characters get a lot of growth and actually CHANGE. I’m so salty about it you have no idea :))))))

Reborn was THE fandom for me back when it was pretty popular!

I dont remember Tsuna being hated all that much but as always I mostly stay on the fringe of fandom because I know how people can be. But yeah... I do know the KHR fandom was one that you just wanted to avoid due to its size which is usually true for most fandoms.

Hibari (who I actually liked), the guy who looked like he was from Black Butler, and Gokudera... as is typical of fandoms of kind of douchey characters... a lot of the fans were also douchey and probably insist that the characters who were nice were too boring because they werent assholes.

I disagree with you that Tsuna sucked, he did largely stay the same but he was fun and funny. I enjoyed his rapport with the most of the cast and even though he had his typical Shonen protag vibe... like I just didnt expect him to NOT be that. He filled the roll he was made for. Gokudera was the loud jag that bitched about everything, Yamamoto was the clueless powerhouse that just was cool with all the crazy shit happening around him, Hibari... had a deranged love for his school for some reason, Tsuna was the power of friendship good boy who did his best even though he was a fucking idiot...

You were not wrong or dumb for liking Tsuna he was a sweet, idiot boy with the power of frienship! Dont feel influenced by the shittiest parts of fandom just because Tsuna wasnt MEGA deep. He doesnt need to be, he was a fine protag in a shonen series that was largely there just for fun. There was mafia babies, there was a bitch who kept poisoning her brother, a guy who couldnt function unless he saw his boys, an infant who shot himself with a bazooka when he was upset, a little baby that didnt have ears and you think its just a stylistic choice until theres a story involving her bad eyesight in which they get her glasses but she cant wear them because she doesnt have ears! ...

It was never that deep.

Tsuna didnt have to be anything more than he was to carry the series. People need everything to be like top tier and mega nuanced and shit... and its so boring... Just have fun with a series...

Like you dont expect Hocus Pocus to be that deep... the characters have a pretty predictable not that EXTREME change throughout but no one cares because its a fun movie. Do I wanna watch Citizen Kane? Or do I wanna watch Hocus Pocus for the millionth time?

FUCKIN HOCUS POCUS. Citizen Kane is fucking boring.. I wanna have fun.

Thats all Im saying sometimes a series is Hocus Pocus... you know what I mean?

-Signed a mega fan of Yamamoto and Ryohei the two dumbest mother fuckers in the series.

[still-a-morosexual-help]

OBEY ME! LESSON 56 DETAILED SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION/THEORIES

*I wrote this days after the lesson was first posted and never bothered to go back and edit it so meaning there will be me theorizing about the next lesson as well

*I write a small para for each chapter and I write it immediately after finishing that chapter so there’ll be theorizing about the next chapter too

*I swear more than usual here

*Some of the dialogue is heavily plagiarized and a few is lifted directly from the story, the game is to figure which is which.

*Summaries and Discussions/theories for all the other lessons can be found on this blog under #obey me spoilers or #my theories or #my headcanons

This has one locked lesson cause of course it does

Belphie’s upset that their names got called on the loudspeaker as if they were the lost children and not Diavolo. MC says the others won’t let them ever live this down if they found out and Belphie says he’ll be teased for centuries. Belphie tells a story about how he once got lost in the Celestial Realm and spent hours in a tree crying, MC asks why he was on a tree, and he says cause he thought he’s be able to see the direction of the celestial palace from there. It had eventually been Raphael who found him and he ended up taking a liking to the tree so he would climb it and nap up there whenever he wanted to avoid work. MC asks whether he like Raphael. Belphie says he never thought about it either way but that Raphael always looked like he had it rough (course he did – he had to try to get Belphie and his brothers under control cause Lucifer was much more lenient those days. I’ve mentioned this before but I’m certain that Lucifer blames his leniency as what got Lilith killed and that’s why he’s unreasonably strict with the brothers now) MC asks what Raphael was like – he says he worked hard for little reward and his job was looking after Michael’s needs no matter how unreasonable (and they really are the Lucifer and Diavolo of the Celestial Realm aren’t they!?). He was meticulous and methodical and he always had a sullen, irritated look making him always seem like he was in a bad mood. And his evil eye looked so evil you could almost mistake him for a demon. Belphie says he hasn’t seen him in a ling time and wonders how he’s doing. Belphie says all this with a smile on his face and this is the first time we’ve heard someone talk about Raphael in a positive light and this supports my theory that Belphie sees the Celestial Realm in a more positive light than the others probably do (which is why he irrationally directed all his anger at the humans). I’m also 10% certain the person Simeon was meeting with was Raphael not Michael cause I don’t think we’ve heard Belphie mention Michael once so it makes sense that they would have him recognise the angel he would later talk about. They get to the desk and Belphie goes to give their names but MC cuts in with ‘snoozy’ before he can say his. The employee comments on the name and Belphie blushes and says it’s embarrassing and asks MC to stop laughing about it. The employee gives them the note which happens to be a ransom note. Lol this guy is fucked.

Belphie complains about Barbatos failing to teach Diavolo not to walk off with strangers (in my very first theory/headcanon posts I compared Barbatos and Diavolo’s relationship to the one between Alfred and Bruce Wayne and I completely stand by that. I think Barbatos is significantly older than Diavolo the same way Lucifer’s significantly older than his brothers and similar to Lucifer and his brothers I think Barbatos had a hand in raising Diavolo. Given that we now know that Barbatos might have powers that rivalled the demon king it’s possible that he may be as old as him, or just slightly younger, than him as well. Tldr; Barbatos gives off heavy Alfred Pennyworth vibes). Belphie doesn’t want to deal with this and MC says they can’t just ignore it (also they will be murdered twice over if they do) and Belphie says he knew they’d say that and agrees to humour this stupid fucking human. He says he doesn’t wanna get tortured by Lucifer and Barbatos but the idea of going and rescuing Diavolo like one of his good little pawns makes him sick too. They head to the circus tent and are greeted by a happy and beaming Diavolo sitting on a chair with a man holding a gun to his head and demanding money (what a fucking amateur ass kidnapper at least give ‘em time to go and get the money! What you think people just walk around with wads of cash in their pockets!?) Belphie ignores him and scolds Diavolo for just waiting around for them to come get him and for leaving them in the first place. The man panics and tells them to stop moving closer unless they want him to shoot Diavolo. Diavolo also ignores the man , apologising and saying with a bright smile after the ride he was feeling sick and this man stopped and checked he was alright. Diavolo calls the man considerate cause he promised to help diavolo find the two of them and look! He kept his promise! Bsdjfjibvdmck this poor fucking kidnapper… Belphie groans and asks Diavolo if he even realises what’s going on rn and says even after being from a royal family he can’t be this sheltered and oblivious. The man’s just getting more stressed at how no one here seems to care about him as he keeps screaming about being serious and blowing Diavolo’s head off his shoulders (This poor guy – even MC who’s lived the most normal life from the three of them has faced more threatening life or death situations to give a shit). Belphie just tells the man to shut up with the most bored expression on his face. He then transforms into his demon form resulting in the man screaming his head off. Belphie just tells the man he talks too much, casually asking if he should make it so that no one has to ever listen to the man run his mouth again. The man stutters, calls Belphie a monster and tells him to stay back and panicking points his gun at Belphie. MC either using their very on magic creates a wind (called ‘wind of protection’) strong enough that it stops the bullet when he shoots or a raging fire (called ‘fire of judgment’) that takes over the bottom of the screen that’s powerful enough that it actually melts the bullet mid-flight and then rushes to the man making him scream and making the whole screen flash red (I had a moment of ‘HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIT DID MC JUST BURN A MAN ALIVE!? DID ALL THIS LEAD UP TO MC COMMITING MURDER!? WHY AM I LOWKEY EXCITED!?’) but no the guy’s still alive, I think the fire just made him move back from all of them. (but can we talk about how powerful MC’s own magic is and how it seems to be at its most powerful when they’re protecting the people they love? (like when they unconsciously counteracted all the curses in the reaper’s cave that should have killed the brothers, or when they saw Satan use a healing spell once and were later able to effectively use it on Mammon later despite the fact that the were having trouble picking up the spells Satan was actually trying to teach them). The man screams asking what the two of them are (ajfkjfcijzh didn’t Solomon say just last lesson that they were supposed to keep this all secret!!!!???) Belphie says bullets can’t actually harm him but he still smiles and thanks them. Diavolo seemingly in shock says that the man fired his gun at Belphie and that he was trying to hurt Belphie (despite the fact that Diavolo knows a gun wouldn’t hurt Belphie it’s the fact that the man didn’t know that and had the intention to hurt Belphie that sticks with him and I think that means a lot), A pale purple aura starts swirling around him and he instantly transforms into his demon form, looking furious and screaming “HOW DARE YOU…!” The man screams.

The man drops his gun and runs away. Diavolo says, serious for once, that they can’t let him run away and that he’ll contact Barbatos to get the royal army and – (bro you’re gonna start a war bro chill), Belphie says he can’t bring the army here he might accidently bring about the destruction of the humans (funny how a couple yrs ago Belphie would have been all for this plan) and Diavolo looks sad saying he can’t just let this go. MC and Belphie both get Diavolo to try and calm down, with Belphie telling Diavolo he wasn’t hurt and transforming back to his human form, before saying that Diavolo didn’t need to transform as well & that if Lucifer and Barbatos find out Belphie’ll get in trouble. Diavolo transforms back and says the man tried to harm a dear friend and he couldn’t help but get angry. Belphie blushes and can’t come up with words. MC teases Belphie asking if he’s blushing and he denies it while still blushing. Diavolo also notes that he’s flushed and is worried that it’s a sign that he’s been hurt somehow. Still blushing Belphie says he’s not hurt and to stop worrying about him and that they should leave. Diavolo says since they’re here at the circus tent they should watch the circus perform since Belphie likes human world circuses.  Belphie’s surprised and asks Diavolo how he knows that, Diavolo says Lucifer told him a long time ago, Belphie asks why and Diavolo says when they’re alone Lucifer talks a lot about his brothers, specially Belphie (Lucifer also has random pictures of his brothers that he takes without them knowing as they go about their daily life… This man is such a proud dad. He pulls out his wallet and a whole roll of pictures unfold all the way to the floor and across the room and he’ll tell the story behind each picture to anyone who listens.) He’s also told Diavolo about Belphie’s favourite tree in the Celestial Realm and the story of how he found that tree. Back then Lucifer always thought whenever Belphie wasn’t with his siblings he’d be up in the tree napping or down in the human world watching the circus and that’d made diavolo determined to see the circus too. Diavolo then asks if they can see the circus together. Belphie’s still shocked but then he blushes again and agrees. Inside Belphie and Diavolo are both clinging to MC as they cheer, scream and argue about the safety of the trapeze artist. MC can ask Diavolo if he wants them to cover his eyes cause he’s scared for her safety despite Belphie telling him there’s a net, ask Belphie if he wants to hold their hand cause he’s just as nervous or excited or comment to no one how they’ve got a demon attached to both their arms.

It’s night out and as a reward for coming to get Diavolo Belphie was allowed to pick all the rides they went on, Diavolo looks like he’s gone through hell, stuttering and asking if that was all. Diavolo asks how MC’s doing they say they threw up in a bin and are feeling better now (or they can say they had fun) Diavolo says he threw up in so many bins he lost count. He asks if they should head home and Belphie says there’s one last thing he wants to ride, Diavolo starts stuttering again. Belphie says it’s the ferris wheel, Diavolo’s shocked and asks if it’s cause Belphie remembered him saying he wanted to ride it, Belphie tries to deny it but Diavolo doesn’t buy it – instead he smiles brightly and gushes about how nice and sweet Belphie is which makes Belphie blush and demand him to stop. Diavolo marvels at the lights from up in the ferris wheel and how they look like stars, Belphie says he’s getting too excited. Diavolo ignores this and points out his hotel and the brothers’ manor. Belphie says he sounds like a child and Diavolo laughs and says that Lucifer says the same. Diavolo, while still smiling, says that in a way he is a child, a child who spends his time alone and never gets to do anything interesting (and holy shit that’s sad – he really did grow up alone in that huge castle…) Belphie doesn’t know what to say to this and Diavolo asks what’s wrong. Belphie says he’s surprised cause he never knew Diavolo saw himself that way. Diavolo laughs and says he never expected Belphie to treat him with kindness and Belphie asks what kind of heartless monster did Diavolo imagine him as (look despite all the shit I give Belphie I do really love him but also I mean…. He does kinda make it known how much he dislikes diavolo…) Diavolo laughs it off, he says today he learnt things about Belphie that even Lucifer hadn’t told him and that there’s probably a lot about Diavolo that Belphie doesn’t know about either. Diavolo says he knows they’ve had there differences, specially cause Diavolo had his position to consider and that he had been very strict with Belphie in the past and that he still doesn’t consider that a mistake (YES!! FINALLY!!) and that despite all that they were still able to get along well today, he thanks MC for their help in bringing them to this point. They say they didn’t even do anything special, Belphie says that he agrees with Diavolo and that they did help. Diavolo says he wants to talk more with Belphie and if Belphie agrees nothing would make him happier. Belphie’s silent for a bit before he slowly agrees. Diavolo thanks him and says there’s one more place he wants to drop by.

They end up at the brothers’ place. Asmo welcomes them back, Diavolo says “I’m home!...just kidding pardon the intrusion” AND you just KNOW this man wishes he wasn’t kidding and that he could really live with all of them. Asmo asks how his day went & Diavolo says he had fun. When beel asks Belphie says he’s really tired. Asmo invites Diavolo to stay for dinner, saying Lucifer & Barbatos are cooking. Diavolo says he’ll go and help them but Belphie makes him sit down and tells him to relax after the day they had. Diavolo beams and thanks Belphie for worrying about him and Belphie blushes and tries to deny it, saying that since him & MC aren’t helping if Diavolo goes to help it’ll just make them look bad. Diavolo says he actually wants to help and that the other two can wait here (hey Lucifer and Barbatos are Diavolo’s closest friends right? And you tend to tell your closest friends everything that happens… MC & Belphie are so fucked). (this next interaction has such strong sibling vibes? Like I’m telling you I’ve had this exact same conversation before) Levi & Mammon seem to find the whole interaction between the two of them interesting and make noises about it, when Belphie asks them what, Levi says it’s nothing and Mammon asks how it went. Belphie says they went to a park and now they’re back. Satan says the others meant how it went with Diavolo. Belphie says like he said before there was nothing to it. Asmo says the interaction between the two of them says different and Satan agrees. Beel congratulates him and Belphie blushes and says he has no idea what they’re talking about. Mammon then asks MC if there were any problems, if they wondered off and got lost. MC either denies it so harshly it’s immediately unbelievable or says no…not really. Levi asks what ‘not really’ means. Belphie asks Mammon why he asked that and if he remembered the time he got lost in a park. Beel also then remembers that. Mammon says he’s not the one that got lost and that it was the twins. The three of them then argue about who really got lost. Asmo tells them to each say their side of the story. Mammon had been playing darts when the twins disappeared and he’d ended up searching all over for them and he’s been really freaked out. The twins say they went to buy soft serve and when they came back Mammon wasn’t there and they ended up going around finding him. MC, Satan and Asmo says it sounds like all 3 of them fucked up. Diavolo then calls them for dinner. (This whole arcs gives me ‘taking your new partner’s kid who hates you on a day out so that you can bond’ vibes with MC there solely to act as the buffer)

During dinner they talk about their day at the park, apparently they rode the freefall of death thrice in a row and Belphie happily tells Diavolo that next time they go they should ride it again. Diavolo very obviously reluctantly agrees to, which Mammon points out. Diavolo said he did enjoy it but next time he wants a break between riding it over and over again. Belphie says it wouldn’t be a marathon if they took breaks. Diavolo says next time they should all go together and maybe even try out a different theme park. Levi suggests a space themed park with another insane ride that tries to kill you, Mammon reads the description of the ride and immediately nopes out. Satan teases Mammon for being scared which he protests to, Beel asks for a place with good food, Levi says he was waiting for Beel to say that and Diavolo happily laughs and after being alone for so long a lively dinner like this full of people he cares about who care about him in turn was probably something he always wanted. After dinner in the warmly lit music room Barbatos brings Lucifer coffee, Diavolo and Satan are playing chess, Levi is rambling to Asmo about the game he and Diavolo were playing and Asmo happily tells him he has no idea what he’s talking about, and Belphie asks to talk with MC. He tells them despite how much he initially complained he had fun and he thanks them, they say they’re happy things turned out well. He says he never thought he would end up feeling like this. Lucifer then calls the both of them to him. He says they did well today and seeing the relaxed way Diavolo’s getting along with the others like there’s no tension between them is a relief. He thanks them. Belphie smiles as he says that Diavolo looks like he’s having fun with the others. “By the way…” Lucifer says with a smile ‘Diavolo told me about what happened today you little fucks’ (told you he’d snitch to Lucifer) Belphie’s shocked and speechless. A purple aura starts rising off Lucifer as he smiles sweetly at them, “Perhaps you’d like to explain to me exactly what happened?” “DD! …Why’d you have to tell him!?” screams Belphie before he accepts his fate and the screen goes black.

MC leaves the house to walk Diavolo and Barbatos to the street to drop them off, for which Diavolo apologises for troubling them. Barbatos says he could have ordered a car to come right up to the door of the house (Barbatos pls read the room!) and Diavolo says he doesn’t mind catching a taxi from the street. Barbatos is silent and contemplative for a moment before he says he forgot to tell Lucifer something and heads back inside (he read the room!). When they get to the street Diavolo worries cause Belphie had seemed really pissed when they left, he says when Belphie told him to keep it a secret he’d genuinely thought Belphie meant the picture they took together. He assumes Belphie told him not to tell about the ransom right after he told him not to tell about the picture but Diavolo had been so thrilled by the picture he hadn’t processed most of what Belphie said. He worries he messed up all the progress he made during the day. MC says though Belphie’s mad now he’ll get over it in time. He’s still worried that next time Belphie won’t be as willing to talk to him like he did today (he was still calling him DD though even when he was pissed so I don’t think it’ll be a problem. I hope they keep up the nickname Lucifer will hate it and that at least should be incentive for Belphie to keep using it). Diavolo says he had a lot of fun today and that he’ll never forget it. He goes on to say that growing up he lived a very sheltered life and that he’s never felt more free than he did today, though the ride was too much for him. He says even thinking about it makes his hands shake and he shows them to MC. MC can either take his hands or do nothing. If they take his hand he blushes and says it’s strange but that made him calm down. He says he wants to spend more time together and asks if they can go for a walk. MC agrees and he’s delighted by it. He says he’ll message Barbatos to let him know but that it’ll probably not be necessary since Barbatos went back to give them space anyway (You know Lucifer saw Barbatos come back alone, figured out what is happening and is now pacing a hole through the floor

They go to a park with a lake from where they can even see a ferris wheel in the distance. Diavolo asks if they think it’s the ferris wheel they rode today or a different one. He then laughs and says the human world’s really beautiful from the trees in daylight to the buildings at night. He asks if he can hold their hand and they can do that or put their arm through his. If they hold hands he says they almost look like a couple. If they do the second one he’s shocked but smiles and says they saw through him and realised what he actually wanted to do even though he wasn’t smooth enough to ask. He says his mother dies during childbirth and his father was always very strict with him, and he doesn’t know if that’s cause he was training him to be the next demon king or because he resented Diavolo’s birth for taking away the love of his life (I also HC Diavolo looking a lot like his mom. ALSO this confirms what I said earlier in one of the other lesson summaries about demons being born through biological reproduction like humans and unlike angels). He says growing up he never got a chance to talk to anyone outside the castle until he met Barbatos who told him stories of the outside world that fascinated him (this really does give the vibe that Diavolo was a child while Barbatos was an adult at the time). He liked Barbatos so much he begged him to stay with him. Barbatos had kept saying no but Diavolo had refused to give up. He’d thrown a tantrum then and said he’d refuse to be the next demon king unless Barbatos stayed with him and Barbatos had given in. Then he gets sad saying that what Belphie said today hit him, and how he always used his royal status to get others to do what he wanted. He asks if it’s possible that he’s forcing Barbatos to stay against his will. (and I get that what diavolo did was shitty but the fear he must have had for the rest of the day since Belphie said that cause he thought Barbatos will leave too and he’ll once again be truly alone in that castle is heartbreaking). MC who spent the last two lessons with Barbatos more or less talking about Diavolo (or Solomon) reassures Diavolo that Barbatos is staying cause he wants to. Diavolo’s happy for a bit before he becomes sad and doubtful again. He then says MC reminds him of Lucifer cause Lucifer is also constantly saying similar things to him (AND THE IMPLICATIONS!!? FIRST IT WAS THE OTHERS COMPARING LUCIFER’S FONDNESS FOR MC TO HIS FONDNESS TO DIAVOLO AND NOW IT’S THIS!!? Can I just say again: remember how the twins wanted to share MC if they ever got together with one of them? I think Lucifer x MC and Diavolo x MC make a lot more sense if it’s all three of them together. And in any case where MC doesn’t choose one of them, they get together like the LIs in The Arcana do). He asks if it’s possible that Lucifer and MC flatter him too much. He then says it can’t be fun listening to his childhood stories but that he wanted them to know about him and that he wants to know more about them too. He asks what kinda food they like. The options are sweet, spicy and sour. He likes sweet too. He asks if they like animals. Options are they love them, don’t or it depends on the animal. Look after all the time in the devildom, after two paws events, after bathing Cerberus and after the brothers all having their own vastly different animal representatives MC can’t not love all animals. Diavolo says imagining them playing with different animals is really sweet. He says he’s known them for quite some time now but there’s still so much he doesn’t know. He blushes and asks if they can do things like this more often, where they just spend time together. He then confesses and asks how they feel about him. If they say sorry he smiles and asks them not to apologize, saying that he didn’t say it to make them feel bad but that he understands. He asks if they’re in love with one of the brothers an they can say yes, no or stay silent. He smiles sadly and says he guessed. He says that even though they don’t have feelings for him it doesn’t change the fact that he still loves them. He says he still wants to get to know them more and asks if they can still meet up. He thanks them for being a part of his life. (While I still don’t think the side characters liking MC makes much sense and I still much prefer them as very close friends I like how all their confessions are very one and done. The brothers romantic plotlines with MC are still going on and there’s never a “I love you, do you love me? No? okay I still love you but I’ll back away too” moment. MC never gets the chance to reject them. But with the side characters MC rejects them, they understand that MC loves someone else, they accept the rejection really well and they go back to being friends and I really like that. It feels like it probably won’t be explored again after you reject them.)

[multi-lefaiye]

ALRIGHT after having a Brain Bad moment that actually lasted like three hours i think i am going to jump headlong into the concept of making eden’s story its own thing

i don’t know how to word the basic premise so far into a snappy summary, but it’d center around Eden stumbling into magic in a world where magic is NOT a known and accepted thing, and all the consequences that follow. Featuring my usual heaps of metaphors and symbolism, Eden’s daddy issues, and a story that I’m summarizing in my head as “local transmasc pHD student goes fucking feral and probably almost causes an apocalypse.” It’s fine!

brain a bit too fuzzy for picrews right now so uhhh here’s the list of important characters so far:

Eden Linnaeus - 28, trans male, he/him A pHD student who has thrown himself into his studies without abandon. Eden struggles to make connections with others to begin with, and he clings to his identity as a prodigal genius to make up for how deeply lonely he is. He is very self-destructive and impulsive at the best of times, and his desperation to prove himself better than his father has made him bitter. At his core, Eden is driven by a lack of self-worth and a need for others’ approval, though he’d never admit it, and he hides his anxieties under a rude, cocky veneer to drive others off.

Hannah Linnaeus - deceased (died at 32), cis female, she/her Eden’s mother, who passed away when he was 12 years old. Hannah was generally a kind woman who did her best for herself and her family--unfortunately, though, she was a rather neglectful mother, which only grew worse after her husband Abdiel left her. Her chronic illness made it difficult for her to work consistently to support herself and her children, and ultimately overworking herself led to her death when she was 32.

Michael Linnaeus - 25, cis male, he/him Eden’s younger brother, who looked up to him throughout their childhood but has grown apart from him in recent years. Generally a very kind and understanding person, though he has significantly less patience for his brother than he used to. The two have completely fallen out of touch, and Michael doesn’t know where Eden is now. He does miss him, but he isn’t willing to reach out at this point.

Abdiel Linnaeus - late 50s, cis male, he/him Eden’s father, who walked out on him and the rest of the family when he was 7 years old. Abdiel was never a particularly attentive or loving father or husband, so in hindsight perhaps it wasn’t a surprise when he left. What was a surprise, however, was that he cut the family completely off financially, doing nothing to support Hannah or their sons. Abdiel was known for his incredible scientific work and the many advances he made in the field of medicine, and Eden has dedicated his life to destroying his father’s legacy.

Kader Al-Masri - 29, cis male (?), he/him Eden’s childhood friend and ex-boyfriend, who has grown apart from him in recent years as they’ve moved on to live separate lives. Still, Kader tried to keep in touch, and he does want to remain Eden’s friend. Unfortunately, their relationship has become very strained in the aftermath of a nasty, explosive argument they had, during which Kader told Eden that he’s just like his father Abdiel, that he’s going to die alone if he keeps treating others the way he does. Kader ultimately wants to do good by those around him, but everyone has their limits.

Laurette Wright - 28, trans female, she/her Eden’s only friend at university and academic rival (though it’s very one-sided, for the most part). Laurette is in the same pHD program as Eden, but they’ve never gotten along. At most, the two have a begrudging respect for each other as both being “misunderstood geniuses,” and they tolerate each other’s presence. Doesn’t mean they’ll be nice to each other, though.

[randomsnakesimp]

Attempt number two at adding my thoughts on Cedric to the theories:

He appears to have some sort of love for Meridian and its people, as seen in the fact that he seems fairly accepted in the city (one merchant feels comfortable clinging to his coat, and his response is merely a very blase insult - no punishment, no violence or threats; also, he can waltz up to a throng of rebels and pick up Elyon while a few seconds ago, there was a full on rampage against the guards going on), which makes me think he did at least try to conserve some type of order in the city. Also, he gets severely homesick while on earth, this even being seeming more relevant to him at some points than the body dysphoria brought on by being trapped in human form.

This is important for two reasons: it throws up the question why he then goes along with Phobos' destructive rage and it makes me believe that however he got to the castle, there's no love lost between him and his people.

Now, there also seems to be little prejudice against his people. Not that there is none, but I feel if his people were truly despised and he worked for Phobos, he would encounter much more hatred.

I also feel pretty comfortable assuming that Cedric can't be older, or at least more than one to two years older, than Phobos. Now why I also feel he looks like it, I am aware that they aren't the same species, so that's not what lead to this assessment. Rather I feel like both his temper tantrums and his extreme dependence on Phobos mark him as younger. Phobos doesn't seem to have had much contact with Cedric for years, so the moment they bonded must have been when Phobos was pretty young. Now Cedric seems to be both rather intelligent and rather aware of his intelligence (read: insufferable know-it-all), so if they'd met as children, where age differences are more prominent, and Phobos had been significantly younger, he would have likely kept him in mind as a younger sibling or a protégé rather than looking up to him. He would have still been overly attached, but I feel in a very different kind of way, like the mother of a problematic child who keeps telling the principal her son is just misunderstood and surely was acting on the best intentions when he set fire to the gym hall.

Now, up to this point, I feel comfortable starting a friendly debate on things. However, I am well aware that the rest of what I made of that is purely a matter of personal story telling taste and there are countless other possibilities just as good if not better. Here goes anyway:

I believe that Cedrics people, let's just call them serpentine for now cause that's what little ninjago-fan me called them, were, indeed, subject to colonial mistreatment by the Escanor. I will not go into further detail than needed for my theory here as I am too uninformed and scared of accidentally being hurtful, and please inform me if I do say something wrong.

I think that this mistreatment started when the Escanor first came to Meridian. In the centuries since, they slowly realized their mistake to an extend, but the damage was done, and they had driven the serpentine to neat extinction, with only a few tribes surviving in sanctuaries granted to them or places uninhabitable by Galhot/Escanor.

By the time Elyons mother Weira came around, the people had started a few amends, but the relationship was tense and still not equal, so she decided to take a stand and arrange a marriage to officially show her support of the serpentine. Since she could hardly marry off her cursed son of doom to them, she had the heir of their leader - or the closest the scrambled populations had to a leader - named fiancé to her daughter.

Hence, Cedric was brought to the palace to be raised and taught in the ways of a future king. Since he was very young at this point, he didn't see it this way, though, and rather felt his mother had abandoned him. Adding to it that he now lived in a world of faux niceties and gossip, and was likely met with at least some prejudice, he probably developed trust issues, including losing the trust in himself as people kept telling him that HE was the problem, or at least insinuating it. Therefore, when he met the prince, who was in a similar situation, and who understood him, and maybe as a toddler was not yet above proclaiming what an awesome monster form his new friend had, he was in head over heels.

However, as we know, Elyon was kidnapped. Which likely didn't sit too well with the serpentine, who might have started to think that the motive wasn't Phobos, but rather the attempt of "rescuing" her from Cedric. They withdrew even further and in turn fueled Cedrics resentment toward them for abandoning him even more.

The reason I believe him and Elyon were meant to be married is mainly the way they interact - like, they both know they don't love each other, he even knows she has a crush, yet they somehow both seem to try to be in a romantic relationship. And why would Cedric do this as a ruse if, y'know, Elyon had a crush, and on Wills love interest nonetheless? Wouldn't that be a much more worthwhile pursuit? Nah. Everyone in the palace knew they had to get married, and so Cedric couldn't not tell her.

It also explains the extreme reaction Cedric has when Elyon compares her life to a fairy tale. His job is to placate her, and keep her naive, yet when she just throws away this line he snaps? Twice? She tells him to stop, and he goes on. Maybe his mother used to tell him tales of true lovers finding each other, only to then dump him off to marry someone?

And last but not least - wouldn't it explain why Phobos happens to let Cedric into his gardens just when Elyon returns? Wanting him away from her? Maybe fearing Cedric might, after all, decide to switch sides for one reason or another?

As I said, this is all pure speculation now. Thanks, as always, for reading to the end, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I am planning on ending this little mini series with a few canon-divergent scenarios I have set in this theories' universe, and maybe a list of headcanons. Feel free to tell me if you feel that would be spam, I won't hold it against you.

[five-rivers]

Adoption (part 2)

A gift for @a-flower-lover!  This wound up being more along the lines of vignettes...  Little snapshots into Danny’s life after being adopted by Clockwork.  I hope that’s ok!  (PART 1)

.

Mr. Lancer had met Charles Worth before, albeit briefly. The man had fostered a number of Casper High students and with that responsibility came parent-teacher conferences. He had struck Mr. Lancer as being steady and reliable, if, perhaps, impersonal, despite his predilection for clocks and ominous announcements. A decent foster parent, if not... ideal.

Mr. Worth just didn't seem to connect with his fosters, although he certainly didn't neglect them. Then, too, were the persistent rumors that his home was haunted.

Alright. So, Mr. Lancer didn't think Charles Worth was really a children person. Oh, he was a good person! It took one to do well as a foster parent, but... yeah.

Which was why the scene in front of him surprised him so much. Not the who of it, but the what.

The who was Daniel Fenton and Charles Worth waiting outside the office. The what was smiling and having a conversation. True, Mr. Fenton's smile looked like it was pasted on over several layers of anxiety, but it was genuine.

"Mr. Worth, Mr. Fenton?" he said, tamping down his surprise. "Come on in."

"Hi," said Mr. Fenton, his voice hoarse.

Mr. Worth smiled and nodded, pushing him up with his cane.

But Mr. Fenton must have noticed the curious look Mr. Lancer was giving him. "I knew Cl- Uh. Mr. Worth before this." He winced and smiled widely to cover it up. "So, uh, make up work? Since I missed the past week?"

"Yes, well, circumstances being what they are," aka his parents trying to murder him in public, in broad daylight (and didn't that give Mr. Lancer a chill?), "your teachers have put together a few packets for you to look over this weekend. They should get you more or less up to speed with where your classes are. I'm also willing to stay after school, to help you with anything you've missed in my classes."

.

Jazz knocked on the door of the Worth house. She had been made aware, via various supernatural (she did not particularly appreciate writing suddenly appearing on her fogged-up bathroom mirror) and mundane (Danny did have her phone number) means, that the man known as Charles Worth was actually the ghost known as Clockwork.

How this had occurred was not entirely clear to her. She assumed ghost powers, specifically time travel, were involved somehow.

But, to be honest, that didn't really matter to her. It was secondary, less than.

What was important here was that she hadn't been legally allowed to see her little brother in over a month. To keep her parents from contacting him. To keep her from letting her parents near him. Because they were legally barred from seeing him.

Because they had tried to kill him.

Jazz planned on never seeing her parents again, as soon as she got all of her and Danny's things from their house.

But now that prohibition had been lifted, because Clockwork had forced through what had to be the speediest adoption in the history of adoptions, and Danny was now legally his son. In the eyes of both humans and ghosts. Which was... Well. Danny seemed to be excited about it, anyway. He'd looked up to Clockwork for a while, from what he told Jazz.

Internally, Jazz had more than a bit of trepidation. She didn't know what adoption meant to ghosts, didn't have any context for it. And ghosts, even the good ones, even Danny, tended to be... obsessive. Extreme. She wasn't sure how that would translate when it came to interpersonal relationships.

The door creaked open, ever so slowly, the squeak it made grating on her eardrums. At first, it appeared to have opened on its own, then a hand gripped the edge of the door, and Clockwork, in human guise, leaned out from behind it.

Jazz raised an eyebrow.

Clockwork raised one right back. "This house is haunted, you know," he said.

Okay, never mind. The only thing she had to worry about was the fact that her brother and his mentor both had terrible senses of humor.

"Hi, Jazz!"

Being used to having a half-ghost brother, Jazz only yelped a little bit at his unexpected appearance behind her. Then she sighed and ruffled his hair. He hugged her and then bounced over the lintel into the house.

"Come on! I want to show you my room! It's so cool!" His voice became fainter as he went farther into the house, until his last exclamation was an eerie whisper.

Jazz looked at Clockwork as she stepped inside. "Is he doing that on purpose?"

Clockwork smiled blandly. "I am very fond of the acoustics in this house."

She looked at her surroundings with a skeptical eye. "It seems... dark in here."

"We are ghosts," said Clockwork. "Daniel is very excited to show you his room, by the way."

"He's human, too, don't forget," said Jazz.

"I won't."

.

The house was creepy.

Really creepy.

This was coming from someone who had spent most of her life living under the same roof as two ghost-obsessed mad scientists.

But Danny seemed to enjoy it, and he was the one living here. It wasn't like there was anything wrong with the house. Or anything in the house. It was just... off.

Danny was half-ghost, however, so maybe this was something he needed. Perhaps not all of his peppiness could be attributed to being the heck away from his murderous former parents.

Even so. Jazz had a duty, both as a big sister and an aspiring psychologist.

"I already read it," said Clockwork, setting a cup of tea down in front of her.

"What?"

"The book you were about to give me. I've already read it. And a number of others. I am not the kind of person who goes into things unprepared."

Danny rolled into the kitchen on the ceiling. This was easy to ignore. After her life, an Exorcist reference made by her over-excited younger brother, was, well. Underwhelming.

(Okay, she was a little distracted, but only by his glee.)

"Well," she said. "That's good."

.

"I know this house is out of the way," said Clockwork, craning his neck to look up at his coworker, "but you are rather conspicuous."

"Hm. Am I?" asked Pandora, craning her neck down to look at her comparatively tiny colleague.

"Yes. At that size, humans with average eyesight will be able to see you from town."

Pandora looked out over the trees. "Interesting," she said, mildly. "Do you think the ghost hunters will come?"

"You've spoken to Daniel."

"Yes. He stopped by earlier today, on his way to visit Mattingly. Although, I suppose you knew that already."

"Indeed I did. May I ask, is it your intention to lure the ghost hunters here, fight them, defeat them, and then leave them just close enough to here to constitute a breach of their terms of bail and the restraining order against them?"

"I am not terribly well-versed in human law," said Pandora, "but, why, yes. That is exactly what I'm doing. Best to get it done while Daniel is visiting friends, isn't it?"

"Yes. If you had done this while he was here, I would be significantly more annoyed." Clockwork smiled the sanguine smile of a parental figure who would commit murder if their child was upset.

Pandora returned a matching grin, one that promised retribution against persons who had harmed said child in the past. "Please, Clockwork. You know me better than that. I wouldn't subject him to being in the presence of those fools."

"Good," said Clockwork, eyes glinting.

.

"Hey, Clockwork? Do you know why there were police cars driving down the- Oh. Hello?" He stopped at the sight of an unfamiliar woman sitting at the dinning room table, next to Clockwork. He blinked and tilted his head to the side. "Wait. Pandora?"

"Perceptive," said the superficially human olive-skinned woman. "You seemed so happy when you stopped by, earlier. I thought I would come check in on you."

"You didn't have to," said Danny, beaming.

"Pandora has been trying to convince me to set her up as one of my relatives," said Clockwork, rolling his eyes. "Would you care for a cup of tea, Daniel?"

"Umm," said Danny, dubiously. "I'll try one, I guess. Does that mean you'll be my aunt?"

Pandora smiled. "Why, yes, it does."

Clockwork groaned theatrically.

.

"Ah," said Mr. Lancer, at the next parent-teacher conference. "Are you Mr. Worth's wife?"

"No," said Pandora, grinning. "I'm his sister."

Mr. Lancer looked back and forth between the two very different-looking entities. "I... see."

"We're adopted," said Clockwork.

"Oh! Alright then. Now, about Daniel..."

.

It was a bit strange to see Danny with so much energy, Sam reflected. Strange, but good.

It just went to show how drained he had become over time, how much the constant ghost attacks and worry, all the lies and stress and impossible expectations had worn away at him over time. She hadn't seen her friend this happy since freshman year. If that.

On the other hand...

"Dude," said Tucker. "Your house is spooky. And this is coming from someone who's been inside a literal mad science lab."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Mad science labs are campy, not spooky. Besides, you knew coming in that this house was haunted." He draped himself over the back of the couch, rolling until he was 'sitting' upside-down. "Anyway, what kind of movie do you want to watch? We've got a bunch, because Clockwork apparently collects media from doomed timelines."

"He's got a hobby?" asked Sam.

"Yeah, three," said Danny. "Gardening- you should talk to him about that, by the way, I think he'd like it- baking, and alternate timeline movies. And some books, too, I think. He's got a huge library back in Long Now. I've read like. Two books from it."

Clockwork's voice floated in from the other room. "You've read significantly more than that, Daniel."

"I guess," said Danny, doubtfully. He flopped off the couch, picked himself up, and started prodding at a shelf of movies. "This is from a timeline where the Earth got beaned by a massive asteroid. It's, like, a romcom, but it was made when everyone knew the asteroid was coming. This one is, uh, this is actually a dramatization of real events, apparently, but their timeline split from ours in like the fifties, so the events are pretty wild." He waved the DVD at them. "It's surreal?"

"How'd they die?" asked Tucker.

"Wacky superscience. No, really. Irradiated the entire planet."

"How do you know?" asked Sam.

"Oh, Clockwork puts notes on the boxes. He thinks it's interesting. And there does seem to be some correlation between how cursed the movies are and how bad the timeline was. Which maybe shouldn't surprise me? I mean, if they were bad timelines..." He shrugged. "Oh, this is a CGI Lion King. I can tell you: very cursed. Absolutely soulless. And this is from a timeline where copyright laws weren't changed, so Mickey Mouse and a bunch of other stuff was in the public domain."

"Isn't that a good timeline?" joked Sam.

"You'd think so," agreed Danny. "But apartheid in South Africa apparently never stopped, and they got a nuclear bomb, and, well... World War Three."

"Is that like, a domino effect, or...?"

"I'm not sure... Anyway. Uh. Genre?" He clapped his hands together.

Tucker leaned forward. "I want the wildest version of the Matrix you have."

"Ooh, good choice. There are, like, six with Will Smith. I haven't watched them all yet, but I think the one where they've got another sequel and Zion is also a- Wait, I shouldn't spoil it."

"After that, can you see if there's a non-crappy version of Dracula?" asked Sam.

"Sure. I haven't seen one yet, but I will look."

"I have popcorn," said Clockwork, entering the room, "and various baked goods. No dairy."

"You're the best."

.

Clockwork selected a thick blanket from the chest, then teleported himself to the living room to drape it over the three teenagers passed out on the couch. Overall, he found pretending to be human oddly enjoyable, but it could be trying at times. Tedious. All the finicky little motions humans had to go through to do the simplest of things added up over the day.

So, Clockwork tended to ease off of them when no one was watching. It made life easier.

Heh. Life.

(He would say that Daniel's puns were rubbing off on him, but in truth Clockwork's sense of humor had been like that for, well. Eons.)

He put the kitchen in order with an absent wave of his hand, and double-checked the stove out of habit. It wasn't nearly as good as his actual oven, back in Long Now, but it was serviceable.

One of Daniel's friends mumbled in their sleep, and Clockwork looked in on them. Still peaceful. It was good for Daniel to have them here. Beneficial for both his human and ghost halves.

He hummed to himself and patted Daniel's head as he thought about their plans for the weekend. He had arranged for some truly aggravating evangelical missionaries to darken their doorstep. It would do Daniel good to inspire a touch of terror. In an entirely controlled and risk-free way, of course. No matter how unpleasant the people coming were, Clockwork had no intention of harming them, or suggesting anything of the sort.

But, well. They were ghosts. Being feared was soothing.

(Clockwork knew this wasn't what Jasmine meant when she suggested Clockwork engage in family bonding activities with Daniel. But what she didn't know...)

.

"I think my teeth are getting sharper," said Danny, pulling a face at the mirror. "Is that normal?" The last was shouted, to get Clockwork's attention. Intellectually, Danny knew he didn't need to do that, but a lifetime of habit was hard to shake.

"It is difficult to say what is normal for someone like you, but many ghosts do have fangs," said Clockwork. "Including myself."

"Hm," said Danny. "This isn't, like, a ghost puberty thing, is it? Because I already used up most of my evil puberty jokes."

"Oh, only most?" Clockwork slid behind him and started rubbing the tension out of his shoulders.

Danny shrugged. "Eh, give or take. But, seriously."

"No, it isn't a ghost puberty thing."

"Oh, good. Because dealing with one puberty is more than enough."

Clockwork was silent. Danny looked up and met troubled eyes in the mirror.

"Clockwork?"

"Daniel," started Clockwork, before giving Danny an uneasy smile. "Speaking of puberty..."

Danny blanched. "No."

"What?"

"No. Nope. Not doing the talk today, no sir. I got that at school."

"Daniel, as strange as Casper High may be at times, I highly doubt they taught you anything about immortality."

"What."

.

"It's why ghosts put so much forethought into relationships like this," explained Clockwork, careful not to look directly at Daniel's hiding place. "They might last forever. I certainly hope this one does."

"But I don't want to be a teenager forever!" wailed Danny. He had mastered the art of making his voice sound like it was coming from a completely different direction than it actually was.

Clockwork was older than human civilization and had been worshiped as a god by several civilizations. He did not wince at the heartbreak in his child's voice.

"Your shapeshifting abilities should come in after a few years," said Clockwork. "You'll be able to pass as older."

Daniel answered with a moan.

"I must confess, I'm not sure why you are so upset about this. I can see that you are, but could you explain why for me?"

"I don't knoooooowww..."

.

"I don't want everyone to die and leave me alone," admitted Danny, hunched over a carton of ice cream. "I don't want to see my- my people die." He sniffled.

"We don't have to stay in Amity Park if you don't want to," said Clockwork.

Danny shook his head. "No! That's worse," he said, hating how his voice tilted into a whine. "That's- I can't abandon them! I can't- can't miss their time. I just..." He let out a huff of air. "It's hard."

Clockwork wrapped an arm around Daniel's shoulders. "It may not help much," he said, "but people in Amity Park have a much higher chance of becoming ghosts. It's the ectoplasm in the air."

"Promise?" asked Danny.

"Promise. Although, who, exactly, becomes a ghost is outside of my control. All I can tell you is that the people here have a better chance."

Danny leaned against Clockwork. "Thanks," he mumbled. "Clockwork?"

"Yes?"

"You don't think I'm a freak, do you?"

"Of course not."

.

Mr. Lancer squinted down at Daniel Fenton's latest assignment with a mix of appreciation, disbelief, and shame. This was easily the best work he had ever received from Daniel. In fact, it rivaled papers he had received from Jasmine.

It made him wonder- How long had Daniel been suffering? What had Daniel been suffering? He was no expert when it came to abuse, but all teachers had some training, and he knew that abusers tended to escalate, starting with something relatively innocuous and ending with a travesty. For things to progress to attempted murder... What had it started as? When had it begun?

(Could Mr. Lancer have stopped it?)

(That question would haunt him more than any ghost.)

Well, there was a silver lining to this, Mr. Lancer supposed. He had rarely seen two people who got along as well as Daniel and Charles Worth. It was good, he thought, for the man to have someone in his life on a more permanent basis, rather than the revolving door of temporary foster children.

How rapidly the adoption went through was a little odd, but... Mr. Lancer shrugged. Undoubtedly, Mr. Worth had taken the time over his years as a foster parent to familiarize himself with the system, and with Daniel's former parents unfit to be anywhere near children...

He shrugged again and stamped Daniel's paper with an A+.