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oshiawaseni · 2 years ago

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Trails of Love Hori's been paving down in the build up for the series' ending

Part I: The Shape of an Eternal Bond

Romantic Love. Falling in love. When we break it down, what really is it, but a deep emotional connection formed with someone, an overpowering instinct that screams at you to protect that person, and the vulnerability you allow yourself to succumb to when your logical 'self-preserving' mind and it's hurt-proof walls is completely overrun by your heart's most based need to be close with them, the object of your affection.

And who shows these feelings for each other the most in BNHA? Bakudeku, right? Of course it's them.

It's something so obvious and yet this somehow feels overlooked by almost everyone in the fandom: I’ve never actually seen Izuku feeling happy or excited about his relationship with Ochaco, nor elated about getting to spend more time with her. But Izuku and Kacchan? The feelings they both have of longing to be closer to the other and every single action they took for that, chaotically and passionately smashes the "stable pleasantness" of IzuOcha right out of the park.

Izuku views getting to speak 'normally(?)' with Kacchan as a miracle on the exact same level of importance as being mentored by the greatest hero of their generation (and his U.A. room looks like what it looks like). This scene gave the cutest 'Work life: check. Love life: check' vibe.

Is it really all that surprising that BKDK have had plenty of development in this area while IzuOcha has had almost none? In fact, as BkDk became closer, the "expected end game" pair has gone in the opposite direction. And why does this not strike odd to "bkdk canon" doubters or the fans that ship IzuOcha? It really is no coincidence how many moments we’ve accrued about this mutual feeling and attraction that exists only between Izuku and Katsuki.

I want to be closer to you. I can't imagine life without you. vs Why are you so confused when I show you I care about you, too?

It's so simple - but maybe it being so simple is why this is not something we really stop and take a minute to think about specifically. About how this 'obvious' concept of two people desiring to become closer is one often shared between lovers and those who are falling in love.

And how that fits with bkdk because this longing for deeper connection has existed between them almost since the beginning... and we haven't been talking enough about it.

I want you to think about the true feelings and meaning lying behind these moments that have inspired the writings of many fic and meta:

Izuku's desperation and suffering at Kacchan being taken away...

the hurt and loneliness that pools within Katsuki's heart from his fear of being left behind (and alone) by Izuku...

the regret they both felt in not using their own hand to reach out and connect to each other (believing their hand 'wouldn't be enough') and putting those feelings aside to prioritise their boy's rescue and safety...

the distress Katsuki felt in facing his biggest fear of all - losing Izuku for good - forcing him to become a true hero, for his sake...

and the total overwhelming despair Izuku felt in realising he didn't make it in time and he had lost his hero.

This is it, this cover was Hori locking them in. Holding his Kacchan so precious, placing his hand gently over his heart, trying to somehow connect to it. The appearance of an enraged and protective alpha ready to strike down the monster who did this to his mate. This is the vision Hori wanted to draw for bkdk and it cemented the deep romantic love and bond that's been growing between them, rewarding those of us who have picked up on their trails of love and causing meltdowns baked in confusion for the rest.

They've had many scenes like these throughout MHA. Scratch a little at their surface and what lies underneath every single one of them is the pining desire Izuku and Katsuki both share of wanting to be together. The need for the other to be by their side and within reach.

And they don’t share this feeling with anybody else.

It’s always been this way exclusively for them and I think this aspect of their relationship was established by Hori to tell us they will stay feeling this way forever.

If Izuku is right and he takes back everything and the course of their future gets put on track again, then maybe the idea of them holding onto each other and never letting go isn’t all that far from reality.

After they graduate, I can't imagine these two not choosing each other every single time, until the very end of their days: becoming a hero wonder duo, moving in together, living their best domestic life complete with their adorable husbands banter (but repackaged into something so much more loving and soft which befits them), nurturing their relationship... letting themselves fall deeper in love...

It's so easy to imagine this all happening, simply because of their desperate need for closeness to one another in the manga.

They can’t imagine their life without the other.

Their love is a multi-threaded story that's been told to us over, and over, and over again. Through Izuku and Katsuki's every action and by the mouths of others (which I'll be covering in my next post).

I honestly believe that since the beginning, Hori has been carefully leaving trails of their passion for each other, simply to say this: While this series may be coming to a close, Izuku and Katsuki’s bond, that brings them only closer and binds them tightly together, will transcend the very last of their inked pages and never end. ❤️

Part Two -> Intro & Compress

#bakudeku #bnha meta #op #bkdk canon #hori trails #the good stuff dream ships are made of #he's basically made them this romantic to immortalise them #this was about the love and affection they've displayed for each other - next one will go into depth about the many outsourced displays!#and there will be alot to cover #and why is tumblr for mobile so buggy and awful x.x

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drconstellation · 11 months ago

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Monkey Business with Furfur

This is a 2024 Smut War meta

(NSFW? I tried to keep it reasonably clean, just filled with innuendo.)

Time to dig up some dirty dirt from before the Fall.

Memory problems? Oh, Hell no! There was no way Crowley was going admit to remembering this bit of history between him and Furfur, especially not in front of Aziraphale.

On the surface this incident with Furfur in the dressing room at the Windmill Theater adds weight to the appearance that Crowley has holes in his memory, just like Gabriel does during S2. But a closer look at the language being used during the post-magic show scene actually reveals quite the opposite - something that is - well, I shouldn't say totally unexpected because I've written about it tangentially before - but something that I think will shake up the way we view things between the three of them.

Firstly, lets review what I call the sub-story theme running underneath this section of the episode: King Arthur and Camelot. I talked about it length in my meta Once and Future Royalty. Here's the important paragraphs from that work for this particular meta:

Yes, poor old Furfur. Two's company, three's a crowd, as they say. Now we know we're in Camelot, we need to be reminded of the central tragedy of the Arthurian story, that ultimately led to the golden kingdom's fall. Lady Guinevere, Arthur's queen, famously loved Sir Lancelot, and the two were passionate lovers. It was essentially a love-triangle at the top, with Arthur being jilted, but he wouldn't/couldn't discard his queen. Where do we see this playing out in 1941? Furfur, pleased with himself for catching an angel and a demon in the act of consorting together (with the help of the zombies,) barges into the backstage dressing room, and confronts the lovers with their crime. But who is playing who in the Arthurian love triangle? I would say Furfur is clearly caught in the role of Arthur here. Consider the following exchange:

[See GIFs at top - I will quote relevant script shortly in detail]

Furfur claims a past intimate relationship with Crowley, which Crowley spurns offhandedly. Crowley is playing Guinevere here, jilting Furfur/Arthur, which leaves the demon-smiting Aziraphale standing in for the handsome hero Lancelot (with his French connections, no less), and doesn't he make us weak at the knees when he drops his voice an octave in dominating disgust. (Is it suddenly getting hot in here...?Phew!)

Recently someone posted more images of Furfur's costume, and the sash was shown reversed, where a red crown can clearly be seen under the stag's head, which to me just adds weight to the Furfur=Arthur role.

Next we need to take another look at this line from Furfur:

FURFUR: I was right next to you. We did loads together. You used to jump on me back, little monkey in the waistcoat.

Everyone took this too literally.

Really.

I mean really really.

There are two things - ok, three things - this set of lines tells us.

The first is the most obvious and likely the surface impression - maybe Crowley did turn himself into a monkey. But this is a misdirection to the real information here, so forget that. Put it to one side for the moment, at least.

Secondly, Furfur had a "monkey on his back."

We see by this turn of phrase that he was burdened by a problem, or something he couldn't let go of, and in this situation it clearly looks like a long held bitter feeling towards Crowley and his apparent freedom on Earth.

CROWLEY: Oh, we shan't, this is ridiculous. [leans back and puts hat over his face] FURFUR: No, what's ridiculous is demons like you doing what they please. And somehow still getting on, while demons like me graft for hundreds and hundreds of millennia and never get a sniff of a promotion! Well, not this time. Expect a Legion to come for you first thing tomorrow. Enjoy your last night on Earth.

Thirdly, the whole thing indicates there is a past history of "monkey business" between Furfur and Crowley, before the Fall. This is further emphasized by Furfur's greeting on arrival:

FURFUR: Hmm, well, well, well... What have we here? AZIRAPHALE: Sorry, have we met? FURFUR: Oh, no, you never had the pleasure, but... we have, haven't we? CROWLEY: Have we?

Ohhhh, Crowley. o_0 No, no, no, no, nooooooo..........

Can you see it? Can you see why he would deny knowing Furfur? That they did "loads together?"

Do you know what "monkey business" is an alternative phrase for?

Remember the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle?

Do you think Crowley is going to admit this in front of his angel?

Uh huh.

Really. Really really.

An "unreliable narrator" indeed.

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #crowley #aziraphale #furfur #good omens 1941 #1941 minisode #good omens after dark #goad #smut war #ineffable smut war #monkey business #monkey on your back #king arthur #camelot #you'll never look at that scene the same way again #bring on 1941 part III

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fractal-quadrilioquy · 1 month ago

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This entire project was just an excuse to write Primordus meta. Sorry to have deceived you all, it's time for The Big Boy who is here to Eat Rocks and Have A Good Time (for him! not so much others.)

My interpretation of Primordus here, as Conflagration of Molten Curiosity, is a very specific interpretation, but with a lot of thought behind it. I'll elaborate on more under the cut, but in short - Primordus is fast, Primordus is mobile, Primordus is very aware of the surface despite being underneath it, and Primordus is, canonically, good at mimicry.

(Lore descriptions and thoughts under the cut!)

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Conflagration of Molten Curiosity

Life always changed on the surface. Wing-beasts, forager-beasts, always always something new, something to sculpt, easy even from below. The ones-who-speak have been here for a long time, always new but very old. It learned how to remake them long ago, through its constructs of fire and rock. But these new ones…

Invaders, the ones-who-speak call them. These ones don't seek to placate many of the above-grounds, but build and build and build, reaching up high.

It wants a closer look. Rock and earth part like water, fissures foaming hot.

It has been a long time since it last surfaced.

Play Style

Continually shifting its presence, either through adding and destroying it, and/or shifting to new lands with every Invader phase. Deals small amounts of damage at a time, often at point blank range, but can build up some badlands to increase its destructive potential.

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Primordus is my favourite of the Elder Dragons, and what really gets me is that he's everywhere - or perhaps more accurately, if he's not already there, he'll be there soon enough. Destroyer burrows appear all over Tyria; though all of his siblings have their various areas of Tyria (Zhaitan claiming Orr, Mordremoth incorporating Maguuma, Jormag descending from the north and beginning to threaten the Shiverpeaks, Kralkatorrik's Brand carving through Ascalon and Elona), Primordus pops up literally everywhere, as is natural for him - Since he can move underground, literally beneath notice.

In addition, Primordus is fast - It's common in many fantasy things that entities associated with rock and earth, even volcanic ones, are slow to build up but destructive on impact. Primordus, however, both opposes his counterpart - Jormag, renowned for their slow and creeping influence - and is associated with lava and magma, which if you know anything about pyroclastic flows, add up to being exceedingly quick. He's been the first one to attack both of Glint's scions while they were still in their eggs, and was quick to capitalise on and process his siblings' magic after their deaths, both Vine-Touched and Death-Touched Destroyers populating Draconis Mons, while the Commander only faced one Icebrood that was doing anything similar.

It shows that he's not only aware of much that's happening on the surface, but that he also has the speed and thought to do something about it. Despite everything that Jormag is saying, Primordus is not mindless at all - and, considering that he's been able to keep up with and take down Jormag for the entire time that they've both existed, his level of thought is actually quite advanced.

I love my fire son dearly.

The main challenge when interpreting Primordus in Spirit Island was that there are already several spirits representing the earth and bedrock of the island. Serpent Slumbering Beneath the Island, for one, is quite self-evident - But the obstinacy of earth in Stone's Unyielding Defiance and the vulcanism of Volcano Looming High both mean that making a spirit that is distinct from all of those three while still being Primordus was difficult. In the end, my major thought was - None of these spirits actually care that much about sentient life, other than the destruction that the Invaders threaten with their actions (though arguments could be made for Stone shoving them places and making them stay there), but Primordus actually very much does.

(It's interesting, the parallels you find with Jormag - though Jormag tends to prefer their minions somewhat sentient, every corrupted Icebrood we see has been warped into something distinctively monstrous and other, seen most evidently in Icebrood Norn and Kodan. On the other hand, Primordus doesn't bother subjugating other races and instead mimics and recreates them, from crabs to trolls to harpies to wyverns to giants, and sticks to that. The exceptions that I'm aware of is the Stone Summit group found in Forging Steel, who ritually bound themselves to Primordus, but Primordus as far as I know, didn't really have a hand in that aside from being the power source they drew upon.)

So, I made this mimicry and curiosity his main aspect! He follows the invaders, surfacing where they are and either drawing himself close or drawing them to him - whether that be to a different biome or straight down into the earth. He doesn't care about the Dahan, for he's gone through that process before, ages ago, likely before the Second Reckoning, but these Invaders are both new and threaten to stop the evolution and creation of things he likes to mimic - therefore they have to go, so he's killing two invaders with one stone!

His two innates are also a bit of a reversal to Volcano's - Adding presence at fast, and destroying them in slow. It represents him surfacing and diving again with each turn. It's fun to imagine the Badlands he creates as being pools of lava or swarms of Destroyers that make life particularly dangerous to exist there.

This constant moving is also why he's got Water as a secondary elements - Fire, and lots of it, being the main one, but Water and Earth as he swims/swarms beneath the surface, and Sun for a little extra power.

#guild wars 2 #gw2 #spirit island #kye says #anyway can you tell i have Thoughts on Primordus?#usual 2g bounty on image sources!

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vergess · 10 months ago

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vergess can you actually explain classpects to me... i was super into them before the muse/lord thing was revealed and the "meta" about classpects changed. so ?????? how do

Well, first things first, I never kept up with the meta on classpects. Not when I was running @godtiertalk and not now.

I use classpects for myself as a fun toy. It's a bit like pokemon. I understand conceptually that there are people using classpects/pokemon in wildly different ways, but I'm over here looking at my shinies and thinking about breeding groups, not consternating myself with what a head-to-head matchup between Time and Space would look like at a numeric level.

With that in mind, I've generally taken a "what and how" approach to classpecting, rather than the more traditional "personality and narrative role" approach. That always struck me as deeply limiting in its applications. First of all, real human people don't have a narrative role, so jot that down, but secondly it means not being able to classpect a character until after a media property has concluded, which is not only Way Less Fun, but also!

Also!!!

Literally not how classpects worked in Homestuck itself.

So for me, classpecting a character involves asking myself what the character does, and how they do it. The "what" will go towards their aspect, and the "how" towards their class.

For example, I might say, "Haumeath is a classic space character: she likes experiencing and exploring for their own sakes. What she does is wander. But in terms of how she interacts with her wanderlust, she's very confident in it on the surface, but hugely anxious underneath that something about her Is Not Good Enough. How she engages with her wandering is compulsively."

So then I would ask myself what kind of class gets compulsive about the use of their aspect, and the answer to that is generally Knights (see: Dave's timeloops, Latula's obsessive overcompensation, every negative thing karkat has ever done). So logically I would conclude Haumeath is a Knight of Space.

Except then, and this is the part I have the most fun with, is to look at the whole title not just the sum of its parts, and see if it still fits. Which, in this case, it absolutely does NOT. While Space is a highly passive aspect associated with stability and inertia, the combination with knight (one who exploits a limited supply) brings up an image that makes simply no sense compared to Haumeath herself: someone fighting against a limited supply of space to just Be. Haumeath has almost the opposite problem of too many options.

Which raises the question of inversion: is Haumeath's title actually the opposite of Knight of Space, namely the Sylph of Time? One who is passively created by the passage of change and the weight of destruction? This title immediately seems more fitting, with sylphs (Kanaya, Aranea) often appearing calm on the surface but hiding immense anxiety and self doubt that leads them down some staggeringly stupid paths.

And then, of course, the most important part of all: imagining a little pink dragon wearing this costume with its silly sleeves so that every time she takes a step there's like 8x more tails to deal with than she's ready for.

And isn't that what it all comes back to in the end? Imagining your favourite characters in a dumbass costume?

#Asks #Answered asks #shipfishwrites #classpects

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chattegeorgiana · 1 year ago

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I admit I didn't really like SasuKarin back then but I decided to give it a chance after reading On Sasuke Uchiha and his bonds with Itachi Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Karin Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno and your posts concerning them. I still don't ship them but my opinion has changed of it a lot and I actually think those two had a better chance at becoming a pair. But I think what raised my respect for it even more was their fan children. I have a soft spot for fan children so it's not really a surprise, but they are all so cute and beautiful! My personal favorites are Akari Uzumaki and the U-Twins! Speaking of the U-Twins, you and Pumiih did an awesome job on them! They look so cool and mysterious just like their parents and I love what they are meant to represent! They're hairstyles also remind me of Madara so that's funny to me lol. I also really like the idea of Sasuke growing his hair out into a ponytail to honor Itachi. The side shavings on his hair makes him even cooler in my opinion. I also noticed something. I don't know know how to properly explain it but I'll try. We see more male Uchiha clan members than female (despite there being some such as Naomi, Izumi, and Mikoto) and we see more female Uzumaki clan members than male (despite there being some such as Ashina, Nagato, and Naruto). It's almost as if those certain genders hold the more importance. So I think it's interesting that it's reversed with the U-Twins. Sorry if I didn't explain it well (couldn't really find the right words) but all in all, I'm excited to see what you'll do with them in the future, make sure you don't rush, take your time and rest, and again, awesome job! 💜❤️

Anon, I don't know who you are, but first of all THANK YOU for your kind and introspective message.

I want to say this is one of the messages that definitely won my heart because you SAW what I meant to do. You explained everything PERFECTLY! That's exactly what I wanted to do. A "gender roles swap" to show that change that is meant to bring in more ways than one.

Because while I do express these changes through my preferred ships, I never really forgot about the CORE elements of what made the Naruto story so beloved, and one of that is the clans & the shinobi system.

Their design have a thought about element from the very strand of hair to their overall design... I don't know if you know me for a long time or not, but one of the things I'm obsessed about is symbolism. So when I create something, there's a symbolic meaning behind almost everything!

When studying Literature, symbolism has been one of my favorite parts. I just love how one can transmit certain themes, ideas, beliefs etc in a symbolic way.

I feel as if this manages to stay with the reader/viewer better. It somehow enters your soul.

Being part of the Shinachiku Kosen team & doing Kaika myself, I can tell you that both Akari & the U twins have a great deal of symbolism behind them & were created with much love.

I know people don't taste SK that good, especially given how the great metas of the past about them has been lost. I only touched in that analysis you mentioned like a small, surface-level way.

If you would've been here in the past when Skania or Homusubi wrote their metas (both great known names in the SK fandom), you would've at least been able to understand where the SK fandom comes from. Or came. There aren't many left anyway.

You don't have to ship them, ofc.

I didn't particularily do it either in the beginning, but then when I saw the symbolism that was building up, Sasuke awakening such power to protect Karin and their similar backgrounds, I couldn't help but fall for the possibility of it. Plus, the comedic act of it. It was something different about them. But alas...

Once again thank you for your kind and introspective message! I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. And trust me, as a writer-wanna be, it lit my soul on fire to see someone properly getting the "underneath beneath the underneath" I was trying to show there. Gives me a lot of mood to keep pushing through this, even if I'm so late with how I planned for the project to go & all that. But hey, adulting will somehow do that with your plans lol. This year has been quite busy on a personal level for me. But now things start to look up, so I should be able to soon get back to it & bring about all this vision I had in my mind to life. So thank you once again for your message and your interest in Kaika! All the best,

Chatte.

#anon message #kaika saisei #kaika au #sasukarin #u twins #kaito #saiko

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thatscarletflycatcher · 2 years ago

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Regarding Little Women 2019, I think what Gerwig did with Amy bothers me the most, even if it’s not the worst of the character assassinations. This was hyped as the most feminist LW that finally gives Amy her due, but what’s actually there a huge step down from the book. 2019 Amy is more emotionally fragile and insecure, when, in the book, she’s mature, composed, & knows how to handle Laurie.

Hi, anon! And sorry for the late response.

I don't have much to add, really, I have said this myself before, so you will forgive me a couple sort of related thoughts:

One, really, the power that an actor's energy and interpretation has over the character as it was written on the screenplay. Because while I think for some people it is that they are seeing what they were told in promo stuff, and for others that Amy having Jo envy makes her pitiable and so more likeable, most of 2019! Amy's perceived strength, independence and agency are in Florence Pugh's acting only.

It is another issue entire that I don't think her take on the character has anything to do with book!Amy, who is in her general presentation and ways, tall, ethereal, if always firm; Galadriel to Jo's Eowyn. In that way, I think FP would have made for a better Jo, and Saoirse Ronan for a better Amy. FP has that sort of weight, bluntness of air that Wynona Rider desperately tried for in 1994. And like... SR cannot even look solid and grounded in almost comical police officer outfits (as seen in See How They Run); there's something delicate and sharp to her countenance and physicality that are the very opposite of what Jo is as a character.

Little Women adaptations more than any other period drama adaptations I have seen, are dominated by some of the most primal, visceral projections and emotions of the writers of their respective scripts. You can *feel* the way they feel about characters and plots and how they will present them under strange lights and distorted mirrors. I think my favorite example of this is 2017 Amy: in general 2017 tries to stick to the books in many, many ways, down to trying to portray Fritz Bhaer in a fair light, even if his screen time is severely cut, despite the scriptwriter's declared dislike for the character, but it just cannot, CANNOT bring itself not to present Amy at every turn as a cold, self absorbed, cruel, devilish person (from big plot changes such as putting the Limes episode and the foot mold episode during Marmee's absence, down to details such as "in the growth and change and hardship montage we witness Amy drawing her self portrait because this girl is OBSESSED with herself").

I think the only ones that really want to engage with the text as it is are 1970 (BBC, has the best Laurie ever and in every other respect getting through it is like chewing glass, on the surface faithful and bit by bit, and yet the feeling and sentiment underneath is so wrong) and 1978 (which is a very imaginatively written screenplay, and in many, many ways, if it were filmed by more modern standards and a different cast it would be my favorite adaptation of all by a mile. Because it really sits with the text and asks questions and then it rearranges the plot to try and convene themes and ideas, instead of replaying all the nostalgia bits AND the writers meta commentary on the book. In that way it reminds me a lot of War and Peace 2007).

#anonymous #ask #little women

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potaracandy · 26 days ago

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Lmao Vegito's muse is still kinda...tilted from yesterday. In my verse with Kona (kiealer), it takes Vegito a long time to move past his hatred of Zamasu enough to not cause problems the second he sees him. Up until that point, he's thinking Nina was bugging and Zam should be reduced to atoms because hello just look at all of the terrible shit he did. But he plays nice (see the tag's name) for Nina, because if she has her heart set on something like this, he knows it's something she truly believes in - for better or worse. And he does have a lot of respect for her, that his adopted daughter who he loves after all, so he chooses to believe in her judgement.

The stars frankly aligned for Nina since she has Zeno in her corner, and no matter how much he wants Zamasu gone (at least at first) - Vegito ain't risking his universe to do it. So make no mistake, HE is not the reason why Zamasu continues to live. He wanted him dead from the beginning.

People can hate Zam as much as they want to, he VERY MUCH deserves it and Vegito will never speak in opposition to that or defend him (outside of keeping people from beating his ass to a pulp because that'll just anger Zeno), but accusing Vegito of things that aren't true at all is just gonna aggravate him. He's not gonna be interested in having debates or trying to change minds, he doesn't care for someone else's opinion of him like that (and if they really have an issue then square up & fight him), but anyone lying on his name will only make his own opinion of them fall if it wasn't low already.

In Vegito's eyes, anyone who actually knows his true character or AT LEAST believes in his care for his loved ones & Earth would recognize that he wouldn't just let someone like Zamasu live for no reason.

#v (w/kiealer) // ✸ i'll play nice‚ for you. ✸#meta // ✸ take a look underneath the surface ✸

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fusiioneternal-a · 4 years ago

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Something that came up during jackbox games I was in with some mutuals yesterday, was a headcanon I’ve made but haven’t talked about yet. So, I’ll just talk about it now!

Vegito can’t ride the Flying Nimbus. The reason is because he’s half made of Vegeta, who wasn’t / isn’t a pure person by any means. Vegeta’s essence basically corrupted Goku’s purity, resulting in Vegito being deemed impure by Nimbus, thusly preventing him from not falling through the cloud when attempting to mount it.

Now, Vegito can still call Nimbus. And when he falls through it, he falls slowly at least. But neither are enough to make him feel better about it. The fact that he can’t use something that was treasured deeply by Goku when he was a kid, frankly angers him.

Part of him even holds it against Vegeta, in a psychological way. Vegito’s aware that he doesn’t need Nimbus, he can fly FAR faster than it can, but it still stings.

#[do not reblog.]#meta // ✸ take a look underneath the surface ✸

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linkspooky · 2 years ago

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MAKI ZENIN AND NORITOSHI KAMO

More culling games analysis this week, in my continued to prove this arc is more than just fighting and there’s a lot of thought put up into the matchups between these characters. This meta will focus on why Noritoshi and Maki two characters who had almost zero interaction before this point are now teaming up together in the fight against Naoya. Though this fight is their first interaction to date, there are actually a lot of parallels already set up between them which I’ll elaborate on underneath he cut.

1. The Dutiful Son and the Rebellious Daughter

The first and most obvious difference between Noritoshi and Maki is established all the way back in the Kyoto Goodwill Event Arc. Maki is the reject of the Zenin Clan. Her intentions towards the conservative are revolution and reform, she leaves with the intention of returning and taking over as the clan head. Most importantly her way of battling with corruption of the Zenin Clan is from the outside rather than from within.

Noritoshi when first introduced seems to be not only the literal opposite of Maki, a dutiful son, and obedient to the conservative faction of the clan, and even to the other Kyoto kids someone who is exremely strict on the rules, he is also shown to be obedient to the rules of the higher ups. Maki rebels, Noritoshi seems to keep his head down.

They are opposites even in how they decide to handle Itadori Yuji, Maki protects him right away without question, whereas Kamo on the surface seems to follow orders of the higher ups in regards to what to do about Yuji Itadori and even leads the charge against him in the battle arc.

While Maki is treated like a rebellious child and outcasted, Noritoshi curries a special favor with Gakuganji one of the biggest players in the conservative faction, and is even entrusted with special tasks by Gakuganji. Kamo’s clearly seen as a leader among his peers as well, and tries a little too hard to act in that role, to the point where is friends regard him as a stiff stick in the mud always lecturing people like Mai that they should behave more within the expectations of heirs to one of the three great clans.

Kamo’s projected role of the obedient son however, is shown to have more complexity than it at first seems. Yes unlike the revolutionary faction he does several things that seem to encourage the status quo and he seems overly obedient to both the elders and the conservative faction, but the first small detail revealed is that he has a reason for acting this way.

Kamo is actually born to similiar circusmtances as Maki, in that they are both designated as outcasts by births to their extremely traditional and restrcitive jujutsu clans. Maki is an outcast due to being without cursed technique, and Noritoshi is the son of a mistress who is looked down upon and tormented by the clan, and he himself was only welcomed because he was born with a cursed technique that was useful.

Noritoshi plays the rule of the dutiful Kamo heir, because quite literally his mother’s life is on the line. The only real difference between Maki and Noritoshi’s situation is that Noritoshi was born with the cursed technique of his clan and was welcomed into the clan (but only to be used and was seperated from his mother as a result), and Maki was born with no cursed technique in the Zenin clan that prizes cursed technique above everything else and then was eventually shunned until she left. And even after she left they did everything she could to become a sorcerer.

These seem like opposites but, first Kao isn’t like the chosen son of the clan, he’s a kid they took in because he was useful and are currently using him for their benefit. Maki and Kamo also have the same internal motivators, they are both outcasts to their clan, but their desire for reform comes from a desire to make these clans a better place for their loved ones. To explain briefly the terminology I’m using, an external motivator is an enemy to face or something on the outside that the character that the characters are fighting against.

An internal motivator is more often than not an emotional conflict deep isndie the characters, and sometimes contains a hidden motivation they won’t admit to out loud, therefore you know, internal.

Noritoshi and Maki’s external motivators are opposites, Noritoshi’s goal is to be the dutiful son and the ideal heir of the Kamo clan, and act in the interests of the three great families. Maki is the rebellious daughter of the Zenin Clan, and wants to from the outside smash the Zenin clan’s superiority in order to prove them wrong.

Their internal motivators are the same however, their family member was mistreated and abused by the clan, and Noritoshi and Maki both want to protect them. Maki wants to create a place Mai feels like she belongs in the Zenin clan, and Noritoshi wants to become clan head to make his mother a lowly mistress have a place in the house.

Noritoshi and Maki have practically identical motivations, and it’s only the means by which they hope to accomplish their goals that are complete opposites, and apparently opposed to one another. You can’t rebel without smashing tradition. You can’t obey tradition without quelling rebellion.

2. KYOTO VS TOKYO

Now o analyze a bit of the methods of Noritoshi and Maki. Maki’s seem a bit obvious, while her original goal was to essentially gain enough strength to ascend the ranks of sorcerer from rank 4 where she was stuck at, and even eventually surpass the clan head and force them to acknowledge her upon her return, tragic circumstance instead made her massacre the entire Zenin in an act of revenge after Mai’s death.

Either way, by surpassing the Zenin under Gojo’s tutelage, or destroying them, Maki’s methods were always from the outside. It makes sense because that is her role in the clan, due to not being born with cursed technique she was always going to be ostracized and treated as an outsider.

It also reflects the philosophy shared commonly among the Tokyo Students. The whole point of the Kyoto Goodwill event is to show the battling philosophies of the Kyoto Students taught by Utahime, and the Tokyo students taught by Gojo. The Tokyo students in general are staunch individualists, who not only follow Gojo’s philosophy of becoming strong enough to surpass the previous generation in order to support their goals, but also have a tendency to always fight alone, and try to accomplish everything through strength. Gojo’s students fight like Gojo does, who ever would have thought.

Kyoto students in general tend to value cooperation over individual strength. Due to that fact, they’re often regarded as individually weak, and yet they cooeprate far better as a collective whole than any of the Tokyo Students. Tokyo’s strategy in pretty much any crisis situation is for everyone to split up and go off on their own. The Kyoto students may no be powerhouses, but they have areas where they succeed in, one theyre just more cooperative in general.

For example, even someone like Noritoshi who is rying to be as strict of a traditionalist as possible, is trying to make a connection to Megumi here and sympathize with his circumstances.

There are a few key moments where Kyoto students show up, and it’s cooperation that wins the day, rather than a power-up. The biggest exmaple I can think of is, Todo showing up in the Mahito fight. If Todo were not capable of encouraging Yuji when he was at his lowest point, and if Todo and Yuji’s teamwork wasn’t so well developed and on point they would have lost the fight.

Maki is also, only able to gain strength to defeat her family because of Mai’s sacrifice. Maki left the cla to gain personal power because she wanted to be a jujutsu sorcerer, Mai stayed behind and resented Maki because she just wanted to have a sister. Without Mai’s sacrifice, Maki would have just died in that pit.

Mai’s sacrifice and her selflessness protects Maki at her lowest point when all the strength in the world doesn’t really matter. Of course, Maki and Mai only being able to work together when they are on their death bed, and Mai having to die for Maki to accomplish her strength, is actually something tragic.

To bridge to my next point: Indviidualism doesn’t always work, and collectivism doesn’t always work either. Jujutsu Kaisen isn’t a story about good vs evil, it’s about characters who represent both the good and bad aspects of certain ideas or philosophies attempting to find balance with other people.

Maki and Mai were set up to work together, but they coukdn’t find that balance in time and as a result Maki’s development became incredibly skewed, and even her victory against the Zenin clan was a pyrrhic victory with way too high a cost. Maki would rather have Mai, then the strength to defeat her enemies, and yet that’s what she wound up with because of her inability to find a comrpomise between herself and Mai.

Noritoshi’s efforts also similiarly failed, his cooperation with the Kamo clan led to absolutely nothing, he wasn’t able to reform the Kamo clan from the inside like he iwshed, nor could he use his influence to try to pettition the conservative faction to lighten their sentence on his friends. The conservative faction was just too embedded for him to change, quite literally a several thousand year man who is the villain of the story and the symbol of the traditional aspects fo Jujutsu Society running rampant over the youth, showed up, became the clan head, and kicked Kamo out.

Everything he did to gain favor and try to influence both the elders and the clan heads as an heir of the three great families, amounted to nothing. SO you have Maki, the extreme end of an outsider rebelling and her efforts fail. You have NOritoshi on he extreme end of playing politics from the inside in an attempt to gain power to make that change, also fail.

However, both Maki and Noritoshi are alive, and all is not lost because the chance of cooperation is still there. Noritoshi may not have received a great big power up like Maki, but he has a lot of strategic strenggths that Maki does not have. Maki is for he most part reactionary, you hit her, and she hits back, she doesn’t really think of the big picture. Also, like any Gojo student she does most of her fighting alone.

While Maki acts as the muscle in the fight against Naoya, it’s Noritoshi who mainly coordinates things. Noritoshi essentially starts playing what is the Megumi to Maki’s Yuji, by coordinating betwen the two of them, keeping communication up, and also most critically being able to set himself aside and act as a supporting role.

It’s Noritoshi being able to set himself aside, and give Maki higher priority that buys her a chance to recover. Noritoshi’s reasoning as well is that Maki gives a bigger contribution towards their group and the end objective as a whole so he has to priortize her life over his. He’s not just thinking of this fight, but the next one beyond that. Gojo says that cooperation is all well and good, but there’s notthing wrong with selfishness, and there’s no reason to hold yousrelf back from swinging fromt he fences. That’s true, and what’s equally true is that sometimes you need to cooperate and make sacrifices in order to achieve a bigger goal. At the moment Maki despite receiving a power up that allowed her to massacre all the Zenin, isn’t strong enough to take the evolved Naoya. The fight would be lost here without Nortisohi’s cooperative personality.

However, the sacrifice Noritoshi is trying to make here also reeks of suicidal ideation. It essentially read sa sNOritoshi has almost given up at this point and wants to sacrifice himself for a common goal they all share, because his desire as an individual to reunite with his mother and make the Kamo Clan accept her, is now completely lost.

Which is how in return he could also probably use Maki protecting his life, and not letting him throw himself away at this stage. It’s not that either one of them has the better philosophy, but rather a comrpomise between the two of them that will win the day.

#jjk 194 #jjk 194 spoilers #jujutsu kaisen #jjk meta #jujutsu kaisen meta #noritoshi kamo #maki zenin #spoilers warning

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xirae · 8 months ago

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What really resonates with me is this tragically funny urgency behind this skit. In one dimension, you buy into the skit's fantasy. She riffs on the stereotype of the overly optimistic, hopeful young woman, who believes in her own inner stardom, enough to sing it out in her mundane life, connecting to a classic zeitgeist song on yearning for a better life, shamelessly bungling the lyrics. This woman is relatable because she is mundane yet holds the naivete we do not give for ourselves; whereas we are jaded by the world and trapped by social convention (we know we are not special, and we know others will judge us for thinking we are special) this bold unassuming completely irrelevant Mundane Jane dares to sing her song, yet not even her own song - and she messes up the lyrics!!!! We all cannot but wish we were her, oblivious to own failings and irrelevance, out in society ready to sing our own song on our own terms.

Then there's the meta drag reading where you take into account that this is Bailey J Mills in bad, very scant drag in some random store. The tone is light and I don't want to overstate things, but at this singular moment she is also out in the open and in danger bc she looks ridiculous at the kindest. Part of the humor is that this is an illusion that simply cannot hold; she gets caught and the fantasy is shattered, forcing her to flee to safety. The hopeful young woman played is erased as "reality" violently reasserts its dominance. The hopeful young woman cannot overcome the dreary capitalist convenience store she walks in.

Then the genius is the choice of song, which ties this mere skit into a genuine hidden work of art, whose lyrics bring the meta reading into higher focus.

"I dreamed a dream of time gone by" - Bailey J Mills, who grew up getting called a faggot, being put in special needs schools, just generally shit on in general, recalling the happiness she felt trying on her mom's clothes

"I dreamed a dream a life worth living" - the tragedy of the current moment, the confinement of reality as embodied in the store that is doomed to crush her, to take away the joy she takes in singing her stupid little song in her stupid little outfit playing out her stupid little character. She might look bad, but there is actually a hidden urgency - a desire to live - buried within it !

The botched lyrics could suggest the dream of life worth living now is a continuation of the dream of time gone by. Dressing in her mom's clothes made life worth living then, and what makes life worth living now is the right to be silly-funny-stupid, to dress in drag, to have fun and look bad doing it. Underneath this is the fact drag is saved by its commodification and its relegation to the nightclub, yet even as a somewhat privileged queer way of being it is relegated to specific spaces and not allowed in the more mundane and regular capitalist spaces. What Bailey dares to do in her skits is to try to break the mundane surface for however long she can, even though she will inevitably be submerged again - and through this she makes life worth living.

I Dreamed a Dream beautifully parallels the skit's outcome and the meta struggle it symbolizes with its closing:

"I had a dream my life would be / So different from this hell I'm living / So different now from what it seemed / Now life has killed the dream I dreamed."

The situation is dire; we are trapped in within a paradoxical cycle, we are all already dead yet about to be killed again and again

Ugh she makes me so happy you don't understand

#oops #well at least i had fun #this is why english teachers like me #i have a whole lot to say about nothing #ok wait until i connect this to fame era gaga or something insane like that

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internalsealpanic · 2 years ago

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In Altercations Long and Fierce

summary: 4 times you fight the team plus 1 time you fight along side them. a/n: Listen, this is basically just me writing a bunch of fight scenes with a very thin plot stringing them together. I have no excuse but also I do not care. Happy birthday to me. warnings: blood, violence, flippant attitude towards canon and any existing timeline.

The swing is infinite.

The motion yawning until time snaps back into place with the sound of knuckles hitting bone. It wasn't a clean, intelligent spar. That notion had gone out the window the moment you'd feigned injury just to elbow Connor in the face then jam your knee into his groin.

You could take Connor.

Pound for pound.

What you had lacked in raw strength, you made up for with a certain feral quality that told Dick that you were a brawler by nature. The jagged cousin of grace singing in your corded muscles with every blow you two exchanged.

Your clasped hands smash down on the back of Connor's skull and the half-Kryptonian goes down with a resounding thud that rings throughout the team's bones. Connor grabs for your ankle, pulling at it to throw you off balance and possibly crush the bone underneath, but you retaliate by stomping the heel of your foot into the crown of his head. There's another sick wet sound ringing throughout the arena.

The fight, if you can still call it that, is all hard brutality. Your hand threads through Connor's hair, yanking him up and showing off his bloodied face to the braying crowds. With a flick of your wrist, you shift your grip. In the space of a breath, Connor's body is colliding with the impenetrable glass walls of the arena. His head lulls back, consciousness drifting out of reach.

The team holds its collective breath. What else could they do as you stand over their friend while they watch helplessly from their own containers? Dick could hear muffled shouts from the cases around him, the rhythmic pounding of a fist against glass, and a body hitting a surface over and over.

That all goes still though when you bear down menacingly on Connor, a knife sliding into your hand. But before your hand even gets comfortable around the hilt, a hand wraps around your wrist, raising it victoriously. Your shoulders relax. It's only visible to Dick because ... well, Batman training.

You glance furtively behind you and you release a relieved breath.

Dick makes a note.

Even if you turned out to be just another run-of-the-mill villain, that was interesting.

The trident in your hand swishes through the air, bright steel cutting an arc of light that looks like it could slice a man in half. Dick narrowly but gracefully dodges with the appropriate amount of flare as he cartwheels out of reach. For good measure, he throws a few bird-a-rangs which you swat away easily.

Artemis groans and Kaldur shouts at Dick to keep his distance.

Dick knows that and he keeps it in mind as he slides under your trident to close the gap between the two of you. The loud, wet squelch of Connor’s face against glass is still very fresh in everyone’s minds but the lack of proximity is necessary.

Why?

Because you see, Dick is running an experiment.

Is it based on previous quantifiable evidence?

No.

Is it safe?

No?

Is it at all advisable?

Bruce swears Dick is the reason he's getting gray hairs. It definitely has nothing to do with the fact that he risks his life nightly and maybe has the worst choice in partners. Ok, Selina isn't that bad but Talia? B, really?

See, his theory is this: you're one of those people who probably got the wrong career test or something and some how winded up with henchman instead of, he doesn't know, pro-wrestler or something. He's very aware of how specific this is and how nonsensical it sounds. But he sort of figured after they assessed Connor's injuries. Nothing fatal. Just cosmetic. Sort of. Just something he could theoretically survive.

You put some distance between the two of you, jumping back, pivoting, then immediately redirect your attention to one of the metahumans on his team. Making short order of slamming the flat side of your trident against Wally’s stomach, slamming Wally to the ground.

The wood creaks from the force, the weapon splintering from the impact. Wally's on the floor wheezing and you take the opportunity to kick him into Kaldur who falls off-balance.

God, you really are graceful.

Dick shakes the thought out of his head and jumps back into the fray. The dance is chaotic, sprawling with frenetic as you maneuver your way out of their attack, sweeping and slamming the flat head of your trident against their bodies.

Inevitably, your weapon breaks. You hurl the head towards Artemis to pin her hand to the wall then slam your foot into Connor's face who still manages a punch that sends you careening to a wall.

You spit blood and draw yourself up. Your limbs coil, ready to lunge at Connor and return the favor when Dick takes the opening to block your path.

You freeze, catching the kick Dick aims at your side, grunting as you force it down.

You stare at him, human and so very confused. "Oh my god, no," you wince, "I'm not fighting a 10-year-old."

"I am 14," he protests, throwing another punch which is actually just a distraction to latch a (possibly explosive) bird-a-rang to your suit.

You catch his hand and wrench the device out of his hand. You squint at it then at him. "Go home, kid," you sigh and toss the bird-a-rang behind you. You really just called him kid even though you are literally only a year or two older than him.

Dick shifts his posture, tilting his head to the side. "You literally beat a two-year-old in a cage match." Confusion ripples across your features. You look around at them then back at him for clarification. Dick shrugs. "Superboy is technically less than two years old but we round it up to make him feel better."

And huh.

Horror unfurls on your face as your eyes flicker to Connor. Dick takes the opportunity to land a hit on your sternum. You don't block it but you grab the side of his neck and toss him towards them. M'gann is nice enough to catch him.

You and Dick stare back at each other, your face etched with horror. Dick, well, he's positively delighted.

Hypothesis proven.

The plan had gone sideways.

To be fair, he wasn't exactly expecting it to go smoothly but he wasn't exactly expecting it to turn into this.

No matter, this isn't Dick's first hostage situation. It's not even his first time as the hostage. He'll just take comfort in the fact that your plan had gone just as sideways as theirs. That's fair, right?

"Wild seeing you here," Dick says. It engenders a look of mild irritation on your face but there's a familiarity there if not some weird, twisted fondness.

"It's not all that wild," you huff, tightening your arm around him.

Well, that's true. Kind of.

Crush, Wally's voice taunts in the back of Dick's head. Interest, Dick always corrects mildly because he knows if he puts any real heat into it Wally would just tease him more. I mean no matter what tone Dick takes Wally is still on his case about it because Dick keeps volunteering to fight you. And well, ok, it looks like that but that's not it. Not really. He just knows you. Well, he knows your type.

It's not a bat thing.

It's ... normal to feel familiar with someone who almost biweekly throws you around like a rag-doll but yanno, does it gently because as Dick had discovered, rather quickly, you preferred not to hurt people excessively. No more than you were required, at least.

That little revelation had left Dick bright, sparkling, and positively evil.

He just honestly thinks you've got potential.

Seriously.

You take a tentative step back as the team closes in on the both of you. M'gann is already phasing through the floor and Wally crouches ready to snatch him away from you the second your grip loosens.

"Could you at least look a little scared?"

Dick glances back at you, feeling you consciously fight the urge to wring his neck. "Why would I do that?"

"Worst hostage ever", you mutter too quietly. He only hears it because you're right by his ear. Now, he has to fight down the urge to laugh.

You hiss and click your teeth. "I'll let you go as soon as your teammates stop following me, yeah?"

Dick glances at you again. Not worried. At all. "They’re following because they care," he says, drawing out the last syllable. You do a good job of not reacting to that, not rolling your eyes at him and curling your lips. Dick is both impressed and unhappy. "You know you could have tied them up more tightly."

You wince. An expletive is mumbled and well, Dick can't contain his laughter.

You hiss again and cover his mouth. "Your friends can fly, right?"

Dick's answer is muffled by your hand.

In an instant, you pitch him off the side and make a break for it.

As you run, you glance back and you and Dick make eye contact as M’gann catches him.

You let out a relieved breath.

Dick crouches low, avoiding the spinning kick and using the momentum, he concentrates his center of gravity forward and shoves the heel of his palm against your chest. The thump of the impact is loud and palpable. It feels exactly like hitting at post after miscalculating the trajectory of your grappling hook. Your limbs go ice electric cold. Your vision goes white from pain and your hearing rings.

You go down hard, your head replete with freeze frames of the fight. Where you could have aimed a kick, what angle you could have landed a punch when you could have just driven Dick's face into a wall.

Whoever this new Nightwing character is, he packs a punch, you think, picking yourself back up and letting out a shuddering gasp.

Dick winces a little. He may have gotten carried away. An apology burns on the back of Dick's throat but then, you clutch your chest and lower into another fighting stance, shaking the pain out of your body. His tongue prickles with the taste of exhilaration. His entire body thrums with excitement.

You put your hands up in a boxer's stance, rolling your shoulders. Dick perks up. He licks his lips in anticipation and mirrors your posture.

You make a slow stride to the side, circling him. It's strange. It's cautious but not the same kind of careful he's used to. You've always treated him like a nuisance before but this caution is for a threat. That's ... surprising. Maybe it's the new suit.

"You look a little traught, (Y/n)."

Your shoulders drop. "The fuck?" You breathe. You squint at him and your face opens up piece by piece with the realization. "Robin?" Your eyes flicker to search his face and you hiss another expletive. You look him up and down for any sign of robin-ness. Now that you look, you can see it.

It's the same smarmy little bastard but taller? This fucking brat.

Dick makes the first move, throwing wingdings your way.

You duck and weave, launching yourself at him.

"The hell?" You hiss, elbowing him. Your face is flushing something awful right now. You can feel it.

"The heck do you mean the hell?" He says catching you by the wrist.

You scowl at him and grab his shoulder, using it as leverage to pull yourself up and wrap your legs around his neck. "I thought you were dead."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Dick asks, falling back to try and shake you off.

You tighten your thighs around his neck in response. "Fuck, buddy, everyone thought you were dead. They thought I did it. Jesus." There’s a little bit of heat behind the words, almost enough to cover the strange sense of relief you feel.

Dick hears you rambling on but he can't quite bring himself to pay attention. He's ... Well, he's a little distracted. He swears it's by the lack of oxygen and not the fact that he's between your thighs. Fuck, they're very firm though. Dick's face flushes under the domino.

Wally may have been on to something.

It's a little embarrassing when Dick passes out, his vision blotchy and his limbs numb.

You huff, feeling him go limp between your legs, slapping him lightly to check. He could be playing dead or he could actually be dead and you have no fucking clue which would present more problems. You have time to mull it over as you drag him away to somewhere safe and hidden from your colleagues.

When you crouch over him, you smile a little. It's fond and soft and fleeting. You wipe it off the moment you hear someone approaching.

"Welcome back, birdy."

+1:

It's a flurry of limbs and steel, blood and the bitter taste of adrenaline. Deathstroke smashes the hilt of his sword into the side of your head and does it with such force that it sends you careening through a stack of crates containing God knows what and into the concrete wall. The sound of your skull crashing into the hard surface piercing through the air.

"It's not the time to throw a fucking tantrum, kid," Deathstroke says, sheathing the blade.

You turn your head blearily to the kids huddled at the far end of the port. They look so small. The twisting pain in your chest overcomes the possibly serious concussion you have and you spit your reply, in a jagged collection of syllables.

You draw yourself up and crouch low, ready to fight. Flexing your right hand, you wince feeling the dull throb of fire-scorched skin on your right hand. This wasn't how you'd planned your grand betrayal. It wasn't honestly supposed to be a grandstanding sort of even but maybe Robin— Nightwing— Dick Fucking Grayson has rubbed off on you.

Deathstroke clucks his tongue and rolls his shoulders. Shoulders tensing, you feel your fight-or-flight instincts go into overdrive but it only takes a second glance to your side, your eyes catching on the bruises on the kid's faces and hell, now you've really screwed the pooch.

Wiping the blood off your lip, you grin wolfish at the man. "C'mon old man, you didn't think I'd play lackey forever, did you?" You sweep low, the motion beautifully smooth but Slade knows how you operate so he knees in the face. He grabs you by the hair and slams your face to the ground.

The pain comes in waves, overwhelming your neurons. It's tempting to pass out from it. Fuck that. You grab for one of the knives strapped to his leg, driving it into his arm right where the nerve should be.

He draws back with a gasp and you fall to the floor with a laugh. It's wet and sticky from the blood in your mouth but it feels so much like a release.

You brush your hair back and brandish your carnivorous smile, none of that acrid fear on the back of your tongue showing on your face. You can see it irks him maybe even more than the fact you've just inconvenienced him by damaging a nerve. Good.

You scowl and the kids seem to get the hint because they book it somewhere else, maybe somewhere a certain terrible influence is. There's a voice in the back of your head that reminds you that you've never won a fight with Deathstroke. There is no chance in hell you're leaving this fight alive.

Well, you think, at least there's no chance he is leaving this fight with his dignity intact. His dignity for your life? Seems like a fair enough bargain given the situation.

His dignity and the kids' futures, a voice, so very Grayson-like, whispers in the back of your head. You make a disgusted snort. On the off chance, you make it out of this alive, you're going to kill him.

The next few seconds are a blur of movement. Falling back on instinct as you fight down the urge to run. You throw all your weight into your blows but it still feels distinctly like punching concrete. Just like always, you fight raw. You are teeth and fire and blood as you scrape together whatever semblance of fight you have left.

The old man is having more trouble than he's willing to admit. You land blows in quick succession and pull dirty tricks you've learned from friend, foe, and people in between. There is nothing more dangerous than someone with nothing left to lose.

Still, it's not enough.

You're tired from taking down the others and your head is still spinning from the concussion. Both you and Slade can see that. You both know how this fight is going to end.

Dick has a different point of view though.

Dick enters by landing a perfectly executed flying kick to the side of Slade's face.

Naturally.

There's a look of awe on your face and Dick, the showman that he is, can't help but wink at. You dart your eyes away from his face. If Dick were less inclined to memorize your gestures, he would have dismissed it as you simply refocusing on Slade but he is inclined and the smugness that wells up in him is golden.

Months of flirting with you and goading reactions was in fact worth it just to see those little signs of returned affection.

"I hope you don't mind me cutting in," Dick chirps.

You let out an incredulous breath but you smile at him. See, Dick isn't one for puppy love (lies) but that small smile sends him up the air. "Missed me?" He asks, the giddiness pulsing through him loosening his tongue.

"Sure," you say, shaking your head. You turn your attention back to Slade who looks livid but briefly you glance at Dick. "This is all your fault by the way." But before Dick can wring a clarification out of you, you launch yourself at Slade.

Dick huffs, running ahead of you. It occurs to you that you've never seen these two fight. Slade swings at him, his fist like lead, but Nightwing dodges beautifully, an impressive arc of his body into a backflip that he uses to kick the underside of Slade's jaw.

You slide underneath the whole thing and make a grab for one of his other knives. The old man hadn't been stupid enough to leave one of them embedded in your body. He's old but not senile.

Unfortunately for him, you're not stupid either.

You stab him in the side then withdraw the blade, kicking his back once Dick is out of the way. *If* you had the energy, you would gut him just to slow him down. It's not like it would kill him. Still, you're running low and even with Dick's help, you know you need to end this quickly.

You regroup and Dick flicks his eyes towards the crumbling ceiling a few meters away. That would work. Dick slips you one of his wingdings. You take his hands, spinning and flinging Dick towards Slade.

This wasn't the best plan. Admittedly, it was a terrible plan but it's all you had at the moment.

Dick lands flawlessly on Slade's face, using it as a springboard for a flip that lands his heel on top of the man’s head.

There's a tiny bit of hope in you, springing from how much of a joy Nightwing is to witness in a fight.

But there are too many unknowns and too few knowns.

It really was a stupid plan. It relied on Slade being stupid and he certainly isn't that. He sees what you two are going for, lowering his center of gravity and raising his sword above his head. Dick is still midkick, careening towards the path of the blade. What you do next comes to you in quick snapshots.

Your pivot, pushing the full weight of your body forward, knocking Slade out of his stance.

Cold metal tears through flesh. Hot, searing pain cleaves through your shoulder as you both fall to the concrete floor. Tears. Your eyes are leaking from the pain of it. No time for that. You scramble to get up and pin him down, the blade still sawing through your flesh. Your expression as you look down at him is manic with fear. Looks like you were gonna end up dead after all. Good effort, Nightwing, you think.

Slade grabs your face and slams it to the ground. He pushes himself up ready for the killing blow when Dick steps behind him, electrified escrima sticks pressed to Slade's temple.

There's a loud thud near you and in your splotchy vision, you think you see Slade go down.

Huh.

You won.

"What the actual fuck, Wing?"

You side-eye Dick 'they'll be fine with it' Grayson. He ignores you in favor of trying to salvage the situation. You wish him the best of luck because Tigress is not having any of it. It’s impressive that she has a rebuttal for every single one of Dick’s bullshit. Must have had a lot of practice.

You look blearily at the team of heroes surrounding you and wonder how it took them this long to notice you.

“We can trust her.” “Wing, for the last time, we can’t trust her and we absolutely can’t take her with us back to HQ.”

For the last time.

You are now confused, lost in the middle of a conversation you'd just stumbled upon even though you feel like you'd been part of it longer. That. It's a strange, invasive feeling that makes you irritable and that wasn't ideal when you had multiple flavors of discomfort already whirling around in your head.

“Well, we can’t just leave her to the Light,” Dick bites out.

You reach out and brush your hand lightly on Dick's gauntleted hand. The movement causes everyone to shift into a defensive stance including Dick who steps just a little in front of you. "Dick, it's ok, I get it. I'll just mosey on."

Your face is scuffed up and the skin of your right hand is singed. You can't see it but you can feel the blood leaking down your arm soaking into the fabric of your uniform. It's fine. It's fine. You just very badly want to pass out in a room that isn't a cell. That's all you need.

Everyone stares at you.

You shrink a little under the weight of their attention.

"You know his secret identity and haven't shared it with anyone else?" Connor asks slowly with a brow pitched up almost to his hairline.

There's a tickle of memory there, a vague recollection that it was supposed to be a something. What’s the word? "Yeah," you pause, trying to figure out why this was suddenly so important. "I've known for a little bit..." You give up on trying to guess. "Uh, anyway I can go ..."

There is a palpable shift in the air.

"You're injured," M'gann says slowly, the first to lower her defenses. The others follow suit, still weary but not ready to attack. You tense with the change in the atmosphere but Dick being in your corner puts you a little at ease.

"I'm serious. It's fine. I can—"

"What," Dick says sharply, "are you gonna call an Uber from 10 thousand feet over the Atlantic?"

You wrap your arm around yourself in a gesture that is too vulnerable not to look like you're hugging yourself.

"When we land then," you amend, "I'll—" What can you do? You've just betrayed the biggest crime organization in the world with no plan for the fallout whatsoever. You're scared but you can't find yourself regretting it. Not when you're so sure the kids you rescued are going somewhere safe. "I have a few safe houses," you lie. You try to wrack your brain for any country to disappear to. The concussion is making that very difficult.

"You have one in Bludhaven, right?" Dick suggests, very pointedly.

You nod.

"That's settled," he says, clapping his hand on your shoulder. "If you'll excuse us, (Y/n) is still very much bleeding."

He drags you off to the medbay before anyone can formulate any reasonable argument against it.

You shift uncomfortably like the ground beneath your feet would collapse and given you're on an alien ship the assertion isn't wrong. The sheer discomfort you display in a place Dick would consider safe, and oh God is that rare, feels so wrong.

"Safe houses, huh?"

You wince. "I was a little overwhelmed," you sigh. The heat of embarrassment flourishes over your body.

Dick snorts, "Let's get you whelmed then, yeah?"

"Weirdo," you mutter under your breath but you take the hint and sit down.

It surprises Dick that you don't fight him on treating your wounds like you usually do. Maybe, he reasons, you've had enough fighting for today. What does surprise him is that you know exactly what to do before he instructs you to do it.

"You know how to do this?" He prompts but really he's asking, "Has this happened before?"

"Not him. I—" Breathe. "— Don't worry about it. It's the cost of training ..." You shrink a little knowing how that sounds but you know following it up with "It's ok. My healing factor always keeps me from dying" would only start another argument. A very long, very stale argument that you two have had before.

He was Robin back then. It was weird getting lectured by someone a foot shorter than you.

The conversation turns to silence because neither of you know what to say to make things ok. Not at the moment. You fix your gaze on the door and soak it up.

"I have some safe houses in Bludhaven you can stay in," Dick says, bandaging up your hand. He squeezes your wrist gently to assure you this is a genuine offer.

Your throat is tight. You glance towards him, not his face but more his chest. "You know if I turn out to be what they think I am, you're shit out of luck."

He does this easy one-shouldered shrug. "Lucky, you're not then."

You make an exasperated noise in the back of your throat. "God, you're an idiot."

"Say that to my face," he says and the grin in his voice is so clear and crisp that you feel just a little bit of petty energy flow into your veins. Getting in his personal space, your foreheads pressed together and your lips barely touching. "You're—"

Well, Dick tried.

He really did. He swears by that. Maybe he didn't try that hard but he tried. He leans in, closing the gap, his lips touching yours, taking in the heat of your skin before quickly pulling away.

You gape at him, tripping over thoughts that come too fast for your mouth to shape them into words.

He can't wipe the grin stretching from ear to ear off his face. That time, he can admit, he didn't actually try at all.

"You were saying?"

You bluster and protest about a concussion. Dick is listening but he is definitely glowing in his smugness. "About those safe houses."

You gape at his nonchalance but you're tired and you have never in your life won an argument against Dick. "Fine. Only for a few weeks. Just til I get my feet under me again."

"Alright," he flicks his gaze towards you, "You know they would trust you more if you told them you were our informant."

Your face falls a little. Right. You forgot about that card. You hitch your working shoulder. "Need to know basis."

"Like my name?"

"How do they know I wasn't just calling you a dick?"

Dick hums a little. "You would do that huh."

You smile again. It's that little thing that only lives in the corner of your lips because stretching it more might make it break. "You know me so well."

#dick grayson x reader #nightwing x reader #dick grayson imagie #Young Justice #yj

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murdertoothpick · 3 years ago

Text

kinktober day 27

corruption/training | boba fett x fem!reader

warnings: rough piv sex, boba's use of 'princess' - 'girl' and 'thing' used once or twice. TALKS OF ANAL, and a little bit of anal play but its not explicit and nothing goes in, 18+ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, AND shoutout to @thesithformerlyknownaskenobi and her writing wisdom because i was super nervous about writing this - it's kinda meta, me incorporating something not in my usual comfort zone in a fic about being corrupted soooooooo... | w/c: 870 | full kinktober masterlist

Boba grunts as he thrusts into you again, the force of his hips jolting you forward. You cry out as you turn your head to the side, your cheek roughly sliding along the cool surface underneath you. He snarls when you do, one hand leaving its place on your hip to pull on your hair, pulling your head back up and forcing you to look into the mirror in front of you.

'See how you take my cock?'

You nod, tears streaming down your cheeks as you claw helplessly at the ground, his length reaches depths you didn't even know were possible until this new angle.

'Fuck princess,' he gravels, driving himself into you again, eyes darkened as he watches you shake in front of the mirror. 'You ever let anyone fuck you like this before?'

You shake your head frantically, unable to think of words to respond with. 'No,' you choke out, whimpering with the dig of his fingers into your hips as he pulls out, 'Never.'

'Fucking knew it,' he grits, clenching his teeth as he thrusts into you again, this time more forceful and with less time to wait before he's withdrawing himself. He slams into you again, his pace quickening, though enough for him to draw this out and have you begging for release. 'Innocent little thing...'

'Boba!' you cry as a thrust hits something devastatingly good inside you, 'Oh my g—'

'Dirty girl,' he interrupts, 'Look at yourself.'

You hadn't realised you had dropped your head, and when you look back up you're met with the same view as before, except this time, you really see yourself. You like this - You like what he's made out of you. What you don't see is they way your pussy spasms around him every time he pushes in, or the way you're positively dripping from your cunt and milking him before you've even fallen over the edge. And it's for those reasons, and how you so easily succumb to him, that he knows you like it too.

'Innocent girls don't get fucked like this,' he asserts, the pace he sets on you leaving no room for argument.

You gasp, 'Only you, Boba—' you begin, before being sharply interrupted by your own moan.

He swats your arse, smiling wickedly from your words. 'Only I can fuck you like this, right Princess?'

Took the words right out of your mouth, took you time and time again, and every time, you're more eager than the last.

'What else would you let me do to you? Huh?'

You can't fucking think. You're grounded, physically, with the way his hands still grip you and he fucks you so that your knees are planted in the floor. You have to tune out the slapping of his skin on yours in order to focus on the rough gravel of his voice.

But then his hands slide back, each palm on your cheeks and spreading them apart. You're completely exposed to him, your brain short circuiting as you understand what he's getting at. You keen against him, the stretch foreign that you can't even begin to imagine how it would feel to have his cock from behind.

'Would you take it in the ass?' he grits, lifting his head to meet your eyes through the mirror. His eyes burn with this raw intensity, though there's a slight sincerity in them and genuine intrigue in hearing response. You need a few seconds before you can even conjure up the words because that's when he decides to slam into you with the full force of his hips.

And fuck - this is so wrong. There is no propriety in the way he fucks you, and no dignity in the way you let him. Boba Fett has bruised you skin, left indents with his teeth and nail, stained and tainted you time and time again. So fuck, why not?

In the time you've taken to think over your thoughts, Boba has settled on receiving no reply. He fucks into you rigorously, pushing and pulling your hips to meet every thrust of his hips. There's a harsh slapping noise that almost drowns out your meek reply. Almost.

'Yes!' you squeak - and then, it stops.

He's holding your hips firmly, breathing heavily as he lifts his gaze up to meet your eyes. It makes you feel weak, and you would have swallowed your words if not for the glimpse of affection in his eyes. 'What did you say?'

You let out a shaky exhale, your breath far from steady with the sudden stop. His cock twitches inside of you, both of you having been so close to the edge, but neither of you are currently concerned with your impending orgasms falling out of your grasps.

You swallow, 'I would...' You struggle to say the words, 'I would let you. Just you,' you clarify, deciding that that is a good way of answering his question without needing to reflect the vulgarity. He's rough edges and sharp corners, you'll leave the rest to him.

His jaw clenches, and then he's sliding one hand up the expanse of your back, 'Next time, princess,' he replies, before he's forcing your body back down and ramming into you again.

#mt2021kinktober #NOT PROOFREAD BECAUSE WORKING ON MY FINAL CODING ASSIGNMENT AGAIN #anyways #boba fett x reader #boba fett x you #boba fett x reader smut #boba fett x you smut #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian x reader smut

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