#most traumatised transformer

[cleverthylacine]

IDW Soundwave.

Soundwave came into the world as an uncontrolled receptive telepath on Functionist Golden Age Cybertron. 

His range even then was ridiculous. Everyone and everything was in his head. Then, because he was not competent to perform an assigned function, he ended up in the Dead End of Rodion on Functionist Golden Age Cybertron.

Soundwave experienced murder, assault (possibly including sexual assault), oppression, and other forms of violence from both sides, and it started almost as soon as he came online. 

Not all of the trauma Soundwave has experienced was actually his own, but he lived through it anyway, and as a newbuild fresh from the forge or the ground or whatever, no less.

No wonder he was a revolutionary.

Then he spent the next 4 million years working with Megatron and watching Megatron disintegrate and become corrupt.

How did this guy even survive.

Another good candidate is IDW Glit.

Glit came from Kiss Players originally, which is bad enough, but in KP he was a Decepticon medic who looked exactly like Ravage, only white and blue and red instead of black and silver and red.  Glit was a very compassionate person and one of the best field trauma surgeons in the history of ever.

He pissed Megatron off a lot by healing everyone regardless of faction. Anyhow, late in life, disgraced, discredited and a drunk, he got drafted into the Kiss Players project as a member of Rosanna's friendship and peace-promoting interspecies band because he was discovered to have an excellent voice through his obsession with getting drunk and singing karaoke.

IDW made it all worse and had Megatron send him to work as the medical officer at Grindcore, the most infamous death camp prison planet in Decepticon history, under the command of the guy who grew up to be Tarn, the leader of the DJD.

You can almost hear Megatron saying “If you like taking care of Autobots and aliens so much, I know where you can do it to your heart’s content.”

It sure explains the drinking problem, anyways.

For the anon who might be doing the most Traumatized Transformer character, I personally think it would be either Prowl, Sunstreaker or Fortress Maximus tbh

They’ve been through a lot

Would be cool to see

Hmmmmm

To be honest, I think there are too few IDW Prowl fans to carry their boy to the top, even if it is a “most traumatized character” thing.

But objectively, I agree that he’s gone through enough to belong close to the top.

I don’t know enough about Sunstreaker to say for sure. However, I can definitely see Fort Max being close to the top as well.

[lostcauses-noregrets]

Bad Boy

A few meta-type thoughts about Bad Boy, now the dust has started to settle.  There could hardly have been more hype in the run up to the release of Shingeki FLY, but Bad Boy certainly delivered.  It’s classic Isayama; for such a short chapter it really packs an emotional punch, blending real pathos and tragedy with shockingly graphic violence and body horror.  It doesn't really add anything to the over all plot, which is to be expected, but it does provide insight into Levi’s character and answers one question that fans have been speculating about for years.

The story of why Levi holds his tea cup in such a peculiar way isn’t new. Isayama mentioned this in a magazine interview (I think?) way back in 2014

Q: …why he has such way of holding cup? Isayama: About that, I was thinking of drawing this one day. When he was a kid, Levi was living in slums and poverty. He was yearning for a life in clean & neat environment (not rich life). When he finally obtained the tea and tea set those he has been desperately wanted, he was rejoicing that finally he can drink it. But when he started to grip on the handle and lift up the cup, the handle came off and his cup was shattered. He was so traumatised by this experience and that’s why he changed his way of holding cups to not using the handle.

However we now know that the cup belonged to his mother and the extraordinary lengths Levi went to recover it. What is new is that we finally have confirmation of when Levi’s Ackerpowers were awakened.  Fans have been arguing about this for years; some thought it was when he killed the man with the knife immediately before Kenny left, others suggested it was when Farlan and Isabel were killed. Now we finally have an answer.  It’s not exactly clear how much time has lapsed between Kenny taking Levi in, his powers awakening, and Kenny leaving, however the fact that Kuchel’s tea set hadn’t yet made its way to the surface suggests that not much time had passed at all. 

Levi’s description of his powers awakening is fascinating;  

“Strangely enough I didn’t doubt what was happening to me at that moment. The pain had vanished, my head was calm, as if it had been immersed in water. Clear instructions on what to do came to my mind. I simply followed them one by one.”

This is the most information we’ve ever had about the famous Ackerpowers and goes some way to explaining Levi and Mikasa’s preternatural calm and focus when they're fighting.   They really only succumb to panic and despair when their loved ones are threatened.  Think of Mikasa in Shiganshina and at Fort Salta, and Levi when Farlan and Isabel die and when he allows Zeke to escape after Erwin rode out to his death. 

The panel illustrating Levi’s powers awakening is also interesting as it looks very like a Titan transformation. This suggests there is more than a grain of truth in what the Yeagers said about Ackermans being a by-product of Titan science, who were able to access the power of the Titans without becoming Titans themselves.   

It’s not difficult to draw a direct line between the abuse and persecution Levi suffered as a child, with his determination to use his power to protect those in need.  Initially he used his strength to protect the vulnerable people of the Underground, such as Isabel, however once he met Erwin he was able to exert his power to serve an even higher goal - saving humanity. Isayama discussed this in the Answers Guidebook way back in 2006 and I think his comments are worth repeating here. 

Isayama With the heroes of American comics, conflicts dealing with the situation “with great power, comes great responsibility” have been depicted. In Levi’s case, if he had no power, he would probably have been an ordinary person with no responsibilities but, as a consequence of having power, that he became a person excessively burdened with responsibility. Kenny talked about “everyone… was a slave to something…”, when he put the question to Levi “what is yours!?”, Levi himself too perceived it. That he himself too was a slave in regard to his own strength. The sense of duty that “I must become a hero”. …the same thing can be said of Mikasa too but…, for the Ackerman family, in the service of their master, there are many people who are able to manifest their power to its maximum.

[Translation by @tsuki-no-ura]

I think it's also very in keeping with Levi's character that he remained devoted to saving humanity after the Rumbling; providing succour to the children in the refugee camp, and working to renew the environment destroyed by Eren's genocide, despite his injuries and regardless of whether he retained his Ackerpowers.

The title of the chapter, Bad Boy, is also interesting. No one actually calls Levi a “bad boy” in the chapter (though he is called worse) which suggests that this is how Levi sees himself.  It makes me wonder how much he internalised the thug’s insinuation that his mother would have been disappointed in him, and it also recalls Levi’s speech to Historia and the 104th, where he says he’s fine playing the role of the violent lunatic.  Poor baby.

Another point the chapter clarifies is the origin of Levi’s belief that Kenny was his father.  To be honest, it’s hardly surprising that Levi assumed this considering Kenny clearly had some kind of relationship with his mother and took him in without question. Still, knowing that the seed of that belief was planted by a thug who was willing to torture and kill a child, or sell him into sexual slavery, really twists the knife. 

[Translation by krtk.]

I am a little sad that we didn’t see more of Kenny in the chapter, but his presence certainly looms large.

I had expected to see more of Kuchel but at the same time I’m almost glad we didn’t.  Her life was brutal beyond measure and we’ve already seen her tragic death. Several fans have suggested that the reason we only see Kuchel in partial profile is because Levi’s memories of her are so hazy, all he really recalls is her grace 😢

It’s remarkable that Kuchel was able to retain such poise and grace despite living in such desperate squalor.  @momtaku has made the point that Kuchel appears to have been born into at least modest comfort, judging from Grandpa Ackermans’ home, which would explain where her elegance and also her fancy china came from.  It’s heartbreaking that both she and Levi clung on to this small memento of a better life. 

Levi’s devotion to his mother, his desire to emulate her grace and cling on to her belongings is devastating, is very much in keeping with everything we know about his character.  Levi has boundless compassion, is deeply loyal, and never forgets those he loves, whether it’s Farlan and Isabel, Erwin, or his squad.  He’s also very sentimental; saving his mother’s tea set, and drinking tea evokes a direct connection to Kuchel and the only good thing he remembers from the squalor and cruelty of his childhood. This makes Erwin’s willingness to indulge his sentimentality and bend the rules to procure a steady supply of high quality tea for Levi all the more poignant. 

There's been some debate about Gabi's reaction to Levi's story in the final panel...

Some people have interpreted her expression as holding back tears, while others have suggested she's trying not to laugh. I'm definitely in the stifled laughter camp. It just seems so very typical of Gabi and her relationship with Levi...

Gabi: - winds Levi up - Levi: - trauma dumps - Gabi: - stifled laughter / more wind up - Falco: - actually upset - "Would you guys stop??" Onyankopon: - shade -

It's also very typical of Isayama to poke fun at his characters like this, and it stops the story from tipping over into bathos.

There is one burning question that Bad Boy doesn’t answer and it’s this - what tf was kid Levi doing in Mr Smith’s classroom?? 

Despite hoping against hope, I never really expected Isayama to answer this, because he does love to troll his readers.  Is it too much to hope that sometime down the line he’ll reappear with another chapter called School Boy?? 

[moonstruckmoony]

So a long while ago @lamieboo tagged me in this post (I'm not reblogging bcs it'll be way too long sorry 😢) I made some art and wrote a whole one shot for it because it was the perfect opportunity for a Winter lore I've always wanted to make. Please be kind lol 💀 I haven't written in ages and I'm such a noob when it comes to writing, also English isn't my native language. I had to run my draft through multiple writing tools back and forth to find better phrasings and dictions that better express what I want to convey. Roughly ~1,000 words.

Green and Gold

She stepped forward as the wardrobe creaked open, the boggart slipping through the narrow gap in the door. Long, flowing golden threads emerged first, and Winter drew in a sharp breath.

The rest of the boggart soon took form—a woman in a pale blue dress, slumped weakly on the floor, her calf bleeding from a deep slash. Golden locks framed her worried face, and her piercing blue eyes, so much like Winter’s own, locked onto hers. Winter’s hand instinctively went up to the scar across her left eye. The woman’s chest heaved with silent breaths. The faint murmur of the students lining up behind Winter faded until she could hear nothing. Then, the woman’s lips parted, as if to speak.

“Close your eyes, snowflake.”

Was that truly her mother’s voice? Winter couldn’t remember if boggarts could speak. Could they mimic human voices? Or was it only mouthing the words while the voice echoed from somewhere deep within her mind?

Her hands went clammy. A bead of sweat ran down the side of her face. 

She knows what’s coming next. Behind her mother’s beautiful, tear-streaked face, a blinding green light appeared. Winter swiftly squeezed her eyes shut and raised her wand. “Riddikulus,” she whispered, her voice trembling as she kept her eyelids tightly closed.

· · ─────── ·❄ ❅ ❆· ─────── · · Sebastian went pale, even as the swirling Mallowsweet leaves spun into a twister before him, which without question, the most mesmerising form of the Riddikulus charm he had ever seen. It wasn’t a form he would laugh at, unlike most transformations of the charm. It was breathtaking. But no, what had truly gripped him was the green light that followed her mother’s appearance. He had never seen Winter like this—paralysed by fear, gasping for breath, drenched in sweat. She was always so composed, so captivating. Full of life, curiosity, and wonder.

He hadn’t realised this was her deepest fear.

And it was the very same curse he had cast just last year. On his uncle. Right in front of her. What had she looked like back then? He couldn’t quite remember. The sound of her laboured breathing lingered faintly in his mind, and he recalled her standing frozen for a moment before following him as he fled the catacombs. But the look on her face—he had no memory of it. Was she shocked? Horrified? Traumatised? He had been too distraught, too consumed by his own turmoil, to notice. Merlin, how must she have felt? Watching her best friend cast the Killing Curse—the very same curse that had taken her mother’s life—right in front of her? His throat went dry. His insides twisted painfully. Clenching his hands into fists, he dug his nails into his palms.

Was this… was this the reason she had refused to learn the spell? Not that he had wanted her to; in fact, he had been relieved when she didn’t. But it left him with questions. She was his kindred spirit, after all, and he knew the Dark Arts intrigued her, even if it was purely out of curiosity and for the sake of knowing. She wanted to learn, and had learned the other two curses. He had thought, perhaps, she would eventually ask about the last one, even though he wasn’t sure if he could bear to teach her—not after what happened to Solomon, to himself.

To Anne. But she was adamant in her refusal to learn it. She had said so out of the blue, when they began speaking again after the catacombs—after weeks of silence between them. Now, he finally understood why. And his heart broke for her. “Sebastian? Sebastian, what just happened?” Ominis’ voice snapped him back to reality. His best friend’s face was filled with concern, surely anxious for not being able to see what’s happening. Just this time, Sebastian is glad he couldn’t. He wouldn’t want Ominis to witness her in such a state. He opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. He tried again, but his gaze drifted to Winter, who was slowly making her way towards them from the front of the line. Another student—Arthur Plummly, perhaps—stepped forward to face the boggart, but Sebastian hardly noticed. His focus was solely on Winter, her head bowed, arms wrapped tightly around herself, her body trembling slightly. “Winter…” She looked up at him, her eyes wide. They stood there for a moment, locked in each other's gaze. “I… I’m sorry.” He finally managed to speak. “What... what are you apologising for?” So much. Even though he’d already apologised to her and Ominis countless times, he hasn’t apologised for this one. “You—you know why.” He knew she understood. They’d always had a way of reading each other, and this was one of those moments. “That’s… It’s not—you shouldn’t…” She trailed off. And Sebastian was thankful she didn’t finish. Because he did feel like he should apologise. Even though hadn’t known about this, what he did that day might’ve stirred up memories she had buried deep down. Just like the cursed boggart had just now. Another silence passed before he slowly pulled her into an embrace. One hand rested on her back, the other gently cradling the back of her head. She froze at first, startled, but after a moment, her body softened into his arms as he tenderly stroked her hair. From his peripheral vision, Sebastian saw Ominis approached hesitantly. His alabaster hand tentatively found Winter’s smaller one, which still hung limply at her side, and she allowed their fingers to entwine. Sebastian could see the questions lingering in his best friend’s furrowed brows, but he’s certain that Winter would talk to him–she would explain everything to them when she’s ready.

He glanced forward, aware of the curious eyes from the students waiting in line—some watching with intrigue, others with quiet sympathy. It was a peculiar view, after all: Winter with her two best friends huddled together in such an unusual position. Up front, he caught sight of Amit ducking as his boggart morphed into harmless paper planes flying about after his successful Riddikulus. Sebastian hadn’t seen Amit’s boggart, but he imagined it was likely something ordinary, like a failing report card marked with a dreaded “T” in Astronomy or History of Magic.

None of that mattered now. The only person of importance was the girl in his arms, her trembling slowly subsiding, her once-laboured breathing easing into a soft, steady rhythm.

· · ─────── ·❄ ❅ ❆· ─────── · ·

[newkatzkafe2023]

Fem Humanoid King Kong Y/N Part 2?

Wukongs Brothers. Sisters, friends, and enemies meet King Kong Y/N?

Lol how would they react to this strong, giant, female King Kong, AKA Queen of The Apes

Like Wukong just brings his brothers, sisters, friends, and enemies to an island and their waiting for her, when a GIANT TALL ASS KONG appears and they are all freaking out except for Wukong who just yells out "WIFEEEEEEEE 😍🥰" and just transforms into a the same size as her and hugs her. Everyone is happy for him or is traumatised. (Tho I can see the adoptive children of the Wukongs like her).

Thanks!~ ❤️

(LMK Wukong) He was pulling Mk and the gang to an island 🏝 place. He was so excited that he's actively chirping in joy. MK, Macaque and the others were confused and suspicious of him.

Mk: Umm Monkey king where are we going??

Wukong: we going to skull island 🏝😊

The others were confused and slightly scared

Tang: Um why???

Wukong: well duh to meet my wife

Everybody jaws dropped hearing the news. Wukong was married and he never heard shared the news with them. Then again he has many other secrets but this one, is something they didn't expect him to hide.

Just like how they didn't expect his wife to be a giant gorilla and for her to be THE LEGENDARY QUEEN KONG!!!!!!🤩🤩🤩🤩

Mk and Mei were Fangirling and Fanboying all over the place, Redson looked pale as he called his parents Wondering if they knew about this, Tang was speechless, Sandy waved a you as a greeting, and Macaque....Uh he looks like died all over to again.

Pigsy: (Sigh) Why does this make so much sense???😒😤🤦‍♂️

(Mk Reborn Wukong) The monk was curious about where he sneaks off to when he's on his free time. Sandy was to scared to ask and Pigsy thought it was something shady. So he went to quietly follow Wukong and Fruity one day and what he found shocked the hell put of him.

Pigsy: Master I found what the monkey was hiding!!!!😱

Master Tang: Oh and what is it🤨

Pigsy: um well you It might wanna come and see for yourself.Because you're not gonna believe me if I told you😧

The monk was confused but not deterred, because the next day the pilgrims secretly followed Wukong and Fruity. To their usual spot and behold Wukong had wondered back to the same giant gorilla women that saved them a year ago and the most shocking part.

Wukong showering you with affection and care while fruity flew around your head calling you mama.

So the monk fainted, sandy was pale as snow, and pigsy bit into a tree branch seething in jealousy😵😱🤬

(NR Wukong) Li and Su were at a standstill as they looked at a Tall giant gorilla that sat behind Wukong.

Wukong: Li, Su I want you to meet my wifey (Y/n L/N) or well Yn Ln Wukong now🥰

Li's jaw dropped as his brains were buffering trying to wrap his head around the whole situation. While Su was dumbfounded by who she saw.😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵😵😵

Su: Wukong....... YOUR MARRIED TO QUEEN KONG??!?!?!?!?😲😲😲😱😱😱

Wukong nodded as he cuddled into your giant arm. Meanwhile your wondering why Wukong didn't tell you that he had grown children🤔

(HIB Wukong) The kids immediately loved you already, in fact silly girl was dying to see you again and loves you so much. Wukong was blushing harshly when Silly girl would cry mama for hours because she missed you awfully. Luier loves you too, you seem to be more patient with him and would listen to him talk endlessly as Silly girl would climb on your back like she did the first time. Yes Wukong didn't need to be worried about the kids because they love you as much as you love them. Meanwhile pigsy was scared sh*tless because you snared at him for flirting with you to much.

(Netflix Wukong) Lin and Dragon king were pulled to skull island by Wukong as a surprise was waiting for them.

Lin: Seriously where are we going??

Dragon king: Yeah what are you trying to show us??

Wukong: Lin, dragon king I want you guys to meet my wife.

Both: wait what???

So Wukong chirps into the forest and waits. Then suddenly, the ground shook as you made your way to your husband. Lin and Dragon King soon saw a giant female gorilla. Wukong got excited and grew into his kaiju form and hugged you tightly. The second Dragon king saw who it was he fainted.

Dragon king:(scared) Queen......Kong😰😨😱😵

Meanwhile Lin sat on your hand as she looked at you in Astonishment.

FEEL FREE TO REBLOG 🦍

[ha1taniwh0re]

BSD TOPICS

‼️Spoilers,ped0 mentioning, mafia content?‼️

Ready for hate once again

So im back at watching BSD and im currently at season 5, so I want to talk about some things I see on tik tok recently.

Mori effect

We all know about Mori's "children". Dazai, Yosano, Elise, Q and how Mori traumatized them. First Dazai, he was traumatized before he even met Mori so Mori didn't traumatized him but he did gave him some bad memories(aka killing ex boss Infront of Dazai), Yosano wasn't really traumatized directly by Mori. Mori is a person who will try not to make much mess, he would rather make one person to lose mind than millions of people lifes. Let's remember that ADA and PM have same job, they protect Yokohama's people, ADA is light and Port Mafia is dark so Mori isn't really heartless, he killed ex boss so millions of people wouldn't die just like in war(The leader of an organisation is at the pinnacle of the organization and, at the same time, he is its slave. The leader must be more than willing to commit any atrocity in order to insure the survival of the organization.). At the time yosano was traumatized by Mori she was in war. That experience is already traumatising, her ability was really helpful but it wasn't just Mori who traumatized her but also a soldiers too. They started to hate her at some point because of her ability Mori is doing what anyone in military would do if they were in Mori's position while they are in the middle of the war. Elise, elise is his ability. Yeah yeah she was a young girl before Mori transformed into little girl, but now she is just an ability and Mori controls her how he wants she can't be really traumatized as ability, she doesn't seem like she remembers that she was a real person before. Q is indeed traumatized by Mori too but most by Dazai, Dazai was the one who locked Q.

ADA member transfer to PM

Where to start here? There are some of things that are hinting on Dazai being next boss. Mori predicted that Dazai will be boss at 23(now he is 22), Dazai took off his blue thing off (that was sign that he is with Ada), Mori not sitting in openings and Dazai is scene before that and after. All ADA members having white background in outro s5 but dazai has red. And much more that I saw. People also said that Dazai won't be a person will be back to PM because of Oda. Let's remember that Oda was famous mafia member that never killed someone. So Dazai can be like Oda and he is still keeping his promise to Oda but also he will save ADA people from being in PM.

Better villains

BRO YOU GUYS COULDN'T HANDLE THESE TWO AND YOU WANT "BETTER" VILLAINS. They are THE BEST villains you guys just see one wrong thing and you become blind af. You saw for Mori being ped0(still bad not defending) and never saw anything else but he just is soooo not important. If he wasn't important he wouldn't be still alive. Fukuchi was SOOOO GOOD never could guess he was fifth member. Poor Tachihara became blind T^T

[vroomvroomwee]

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I think Guillermo still wants to be a vampire.

The entire transformation traumatised him. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. Derek nearly killing him and spraying the entire shop with Guillermo's blood, Derek not knowing how to train and prepare him for becoming a vampire like Nandor would undoubtedly have done, the transformation itself being really fucking slow and how the entire ordeal wrecked Guillermo's friendships, especially with Nandor who he cared most about and them just not knowing anything about how the transformation is supposed to work while Nandor knew everything down to the Van Helsing heritage and even how all Guillermo needed all this time was simply blood. Imagine you're going to France for your honeymoon and then miss your flight, have the plane engine break down, lose your luggage, lose your room in the hotel because you were late, have your possessions stolen in the middle of the night, drop your phone at the Eiffel tower, get mugged on the street, get sick only for things to end in divorce. This was the exact same thing. You want to get married and you want to go on your honeymoon. You just got the wrong person and the wrong time.

Guillermo needs the right person and the right time. He got neither the first time around.

That being said, they could have easily resolved the issue if Guillermo just said he could drink from a cup

[johannestevans]

have you/will you ever do Interview with a Vampire fics? Also are you familiar with Anne Rice's previous aversion to fanfiction?

Probably not - there's nothing that makes me feel unsatisfied or desire to write in the gaps or margins of in the TV version of Interview With The Vampire, and the film and book versions have nothing of interest to engage me.

I am aware of Anne Rice's legacy of harassment and abuse, and I'm glad that her son and the broader production team of IWTV take such a different approach to art and response to art.

Rice was a deeply traumatised and unwell woman who took any criticism or creative response to her art as an attack on her person and her autonomy, and while the feelings themselves were understandable for her to have, the ways in which she responded to them - personally attacking and sometimes doxxing people, organising dogpiles, threatening litigation, etc - were shitty as Hell. Obviously the books have flaws beyond her behaviour, like the racism etc, but it's sad that for a woman who created such iconic characters that have such a wide ranging impact in film and fantasy literature that her legacy is in part the memory of those abuses and her toxic behaviour.

I think with that said that there's a real joy in that many people working on the show now are able to make textual aspects she could never make as explicit - the queerness, aspects of gender fluidity, etc - due to response at the period as well as her own lacking language or concrete assurance in queer identity, and also that those aspects of her work that are most harmful, particularly the anti-Blackness and narratives around slavery, are able to be responded to and rewritten by Black creators and actors, lending agency and voice where it was lacking.

All creative work and expression exists in conversation. Every book, film, show, play, etc, contains dialogues, but it forms a dialogue with its readers, its audiences, those who would adapt, translate, transform it.

This conversation, once the work is made available, never ends, no matter that its author might be dead.

[thehyperfixationspeedrunner]

This is me trying

On ao3 too

Summary: It's been a month since what Cardan has been calling the "reptile accident" when he decides to get up before Jude, not knowing the consequences.

OR these two are traumatised and they may not acknowledge it, but I will.

Trigger warnings (already put in the tags but I'm not sure if I did it right so better safe than sorry): panic attack, cussing

It's weird how easily you fall into routine. It's barely been a month since what Cardan has started calling the "reptile accident" or the one he likes best "revealing his true form" (although that one isn't used in front of Jude, she's not sure why but she prefers it that way). Anyway, it's been a month since Cardan has been transformed into a snake, since Cardan and Jude has started to live together as the King and Queen of Elfhame but they have already established a routine, even if neither of them has noticed it until today.

Jude is always the first to wake up - Jude was raised by a general and Cardan by a prince, so that part is obvious. She dresses first, giving Mr. Lazy time to sleep, and then she wakes up sleeping beauty even though he always complains that while there aren't people busting into the room saying he's late, she's waking him up early. He never says he hates it. Jude suspects is because he can't lie. From then, Jude orders breakfast while Cardan dresses up, and they eat together before having to deal with their royal obligations.

Today, however, was different. Shockingly, Jude was able to have some good 6 hours of sleep and woke up a bit disoriented. See, this is the bad part about sleeping a lot. When you wake up, your senses take a while to turn on. That's definitely the reason why Jude barely sleeps, at least that's what she tells everyone when they ask her. Because of that, she took a bit to notice that she was alone in bed, which triggered something in her brain. She instantly gets out of bed and starts to look in every corner of their room repeating to herself that everything is fine, Cardan just woke up earlier and is dressing up or putting the hundred of layers that he puts every morning because "I know I look impressive naturally but I am the High King, Jude, I have to look perfect". Except he is nowhere to be found.

See, a small but important part of this quickly created routine was when Jude woke up and she would always look to the side and see Cardan relaxed and asleep, would look at his chest rise and fall and make sure that, yes, he's alive and, no, this last month was not a fever dream, he really is here. Without that confirmation, Jude is starting to spiral, and the fact that Cardan is not in the room doesn't help.

She tries to take a deep breath. She's the High Queen goddammit, she can't panic every time a minor routine change happens. But the truth is that she cannot take the deep breath. She cannot even take a small breath. She's pretty sure she's not breathing at all. But she has to because Cardan needs her. Jude goes through her options: one, he did wake up earlier, got knocked off in the room but somewhere hidden where she didn't check; two, he got knocked off somewhere in the castle and his unconscious body is lying there; three, he got abducted while he slept; four... Maybe last month was a fever dream. No, she is not going to think about option four.

While she does a more precise search through their room, she also tries to think of who would do this. He's the King of Elfhame, so it's obvious that he has a lot of enemies, but she is not remembering anyone who's this mad at him right now. However, her hands are trembling and there's still not enough air reaching her lungs, so maybe her memory is not the best at the moment. You were almost deadly stabbed before the incident.

Ok, he is not in the room, so option number two. This one is not the most likely. If someone knocked him off, they wouldn't just leave him in the middle of the corridor, and Faes don't just slip, so he couldn't have knocked himself out. Besides the palace is huge, it would take too long to search. Maybe you were less healed than you thought. Option number three it is. There are three windows in the room. The climb is hard but not impossible, she has done it herself while having a major injury. A major injury that could have been infected. Jude shakes her head and checks the three windows. None of them is broken and they are all locked from the inside, like they were when they went to sleep, which she knows because she always checks that before going to bed. Unless the person was a master spy (which is an option), she doesn't know how someone pulled that of. The other way into the room is through the door, so she quickly opens it, revealing two knights part of her security.

"Was there any disturbance last day?" She would be surprised that her voice somehow didn't fail if she was at all worried with that right now.

"We heard or seen nothing different than usual, your majesty."

"Have you fallen asleep or abandoned your post anytime during your shift?" The knights were visibly offended by that, but she had to clear all her options.

"No, your majesty. Is everyth-" Having her answers, Jude closes the door, leaving the knights to their jobs. If she was in her right mind she would have noticed that she was still in her bed clothes, her hair was mess, the room was worse and her hands still trembled and her breath was still labored. But she was not her in her right mind. Cardan is missing- He was not here at all. Her husband is missing and she is going to find him. Maybe he was taken outside their bedroom and there is going to be some kind of clue outside of it.

She is about to open the door again when a thought crosses her mind. The lover's bedroom. There is a pathway between that room and the High King and Queen's room. That is how whoever took Cardan got in. No one got in. Hallucinations caused by infections are common, at least for mortals. She slides through the pathway towards the other bedroom but is met with a similar scenario. No window was broken and all of them are closed from the inside, same with the door, no signs of breaking. Stop looking for what you won't find. You know you can barely remember anything after cutting Cardan's head off. It was the serpents head. You know that's the same thing. There was a battlefield where you broke down. You could have easily been stabbed. I would remember it. Would you? Sometimes, our mind purposely forgets traumatic memories. You could have passed out. No. You could have dreamt. Stop. Cardan is dead and you have been feeding yourself this fantasy because you can't deal with the guilt. STOP. You killed him and now you're living in a world without him and you'll keep living in it because that's the reality. I SAID STOP.

Jude. The sound of something breaking. She can't do it. She can't go back to those three days. She can't live without Cardan's mockery. She can't live without his laugh. She can't.

JUDE. She's shaking now, or someone is shaking her, she's not lucid enough to understand. God, he's her anchor. She doesn't know what to do without him. She wants to go back to sleep. She wants to go back to their routine. She wants to hear him complain about waking up early again. She wants to feel his fingers playing with her hair again. She wants-

JUDE! Cardan. She opens her eyes (since when were they closed?) and faces the love of her life's face. He looks adorably worried, full make up and hair nicely treated. She can't help but smile. "Cardan" she whispers, trying not to force her voice tired from screaming and crying (curious, she doesn't remember that). She puts her head in the space between his neck and shoulder and he starts rubbing circles on her back. "Stay" she pleads. Because that's what she's doing, pleading to the universe to let her stay in this fever dream, to have more time with Cardan, even if it isn't real, even if he's dead, even if that's her fault and there's just her to blame.

"Always" and that pisses her off. Because that's what Cardan would say, that's how Cardan looks, that's how Cardan acts and this mind prison has no right to be this close to reality.

"Liar" she spits. He looks mostly confused and a bit hurt but she doesn't care, this isn't real so nothing fucking matters.

"Jude, I would never abandon you-"

"But you did!" she's close to screaming now, but she doesn't care, her voice was cracking, but it doesn't matter. She has to get this out. "You abandoned me for three days because of that prophechy bullshit. You left me to rule Elfhame while simultaneously dealing with the schemings that my father and the frozen royalty was fucking doing and the fact that the love of my life was a goddam snake and then I, and I-" she can't get it out, she still can't believe it.

"You saved me."

"I killed you." she is fully sobbing now, but she can't stop. She gets up (she was sitting down?) and keeps going "You're dead and this is just a manifestation from my brain, because somewhere else I'm also dying and I hope I do because I can't live in a world where you're not. I physically will not be able to continue without you!" She sinks into the floor using the bed as support and Cardan sits in front of her. He has a puzzled expression in his face. They stay some time in silence, Jude catching her breath and Cardan trying to put pieces together.

"Why do you think I'm not real?" he finally asks, his voice tiny as if he's afraid of the answer.

"You weren't there." Jude matches his tone. "When I woke up. I always check to make sure you're there because if you are, then that means you're real and I'm not dreaming. At first, I thought you were kidnapped. That's why I'm here, I thought this was how whoever took you got in."

"My wife, scheming even when she's panicking." he's looking at her with that adoration in his eyes that never fails to take her breath away. "Let's keep scheming, shall we?" He looks at her, waiting for an answer so she nods. "You say that you are dreaming, you're in this coma and you can't wake up. Well, let's test this theory. Did you know that you can't read in dreams?" Another nod. Cardan gets up, picks a book from the bedside table and hands it to her. "Well, can you read?" The answer is yes. The book was a mortal romance that she was sure she had seen in Cardan's hands. That meant that this was real, Cardan was here and she hadn't killed him. Immediate relief washed over and with that came more tears that she hadn't noticed when they stopped. God, she was a mess. This is ridiculous, she is being ridiculous. Trying to look less like she just had a mental breakdown over nothing Jude attempts to clean the tears that don't stop. Of course this is reality, of course Cardan just woke up earlier and went to do god knows what. She's the fucking High Queen and she can't stand when her husband is out earlier, can't keep a cool head, can't-

"Stop." Cardan gently takes the hands that are trying to hide the tears that keep coming, why don't they stop? "Don't do that." His tone is gentle but secure and so goddamn grounding, how does he do it?

"Do what?"

"Close yourself. I could see the moment you realised that this was the reality because that was the moment the mask came back on. You're probably thinking that you don't have the right to feel this way because you can't show weaknesses or whatever bullshit your mind thinks of." Sometimes it's scary how well he knows her. "Don't close yourself from me." He is rubbing circles with his thumb on the back of her hand and it feels so right, everything about him feels so right.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not." His tone is becoming more frustrated. "This is obviously bothering you, but I had no idea and because of my ignorance you just had a fucking panic attack." Her eyebrows went up. "I may have been reading about mortal psychology, but that's not important, what's important is," he moves his hands to cup her face and cleans the tears - that have finally stopped - with his thumb. "You don't have to pretend with me."

"You're one to talk." She retaliates but doesn't push him away. "You haven't said another word about those three days since I asked what it was like being a snake on the same day you stopped being one." Cardan laughs because he's Cardan and he laughs when he's nervous and he is not the only one who knows the other too well, she can see in his eyes that the thought of having to speak of those three days of hell terrifies him as much as her.

He moves to her side and sighs. "We really are made for each other, aren't we?" He seems to consider something before saying. "Let's make a pact. Whenever we want the other to open up, we say a code word and they have to do it after we reveal something that has been bothering us. No lies, no tricks, just the plain truth. Deal?" He gives her his right hand. It is always dangerous to make a deal with a fae, but this is Cardan, they have passed the backstabbing phase when she came back from exile. She takes his hand and shakes it.

"Deal. But we have to choose the word, something that we won't say normally."

"California." The place they went on their honeymoon instead of being on the two weeks celebrations of the Mortal Queen's victory over the serpent. The place where they were just two teenagers in love and not The Queen and King of Elhame, not the warrior and the prince, not the people with traumatic childhood, not the two broken pieces of what should be two whole people.

"Sounds great."

"I said it, so I start." He takes a deep breath and speaks. "I woke up earlier today because I had a nightmare. I wasn't someone trapped inside the snake like people like to believe, I was the snake. When the snake died, I died, even if for a few seconds." Jude takes a sharp breath, she always took comfort in the fact that she hadn't cut his head, but what was trapping him, that he hadn't felt anything. Cardan notices and takes both her hands and looks at her straight in the eyes. "I don't blame you, nor will I ever. If I say something assumimg the opposite, you have the premission to cut my head because that is not me. But as I was saying, when I saw you taking out the sword, I couldn't help but feel relief, but when you dealt the blow I, I-" another deep breath "I couldn't feel anything. I don't remember anything. I died. And that terrifies me. I was. I wasn't there. I replay that in my mind countless days, but today was so vivid, I couldn't fall back asleep, so I got out. I needed fresh air. I needed to be alone with my thoughts. I should've come back when it was time to wake up, I should've woken you, I didn't know that you needed that, but if I did, I would have done it."

They stay a few moments in silence, taking deep breaths and deep in thoughts.

"Your turn."

She wants to sugar-coat it. She wants to say that it wasn't that bad, she doesn't want to see guilt in his face even if it isn't his fault. But Cardan didn't sugar-coated when he revealed that what she did hurt him even if he knew it was going to hurt her. So instead, she says:

"Those were the worst three days of my life. I honestly thought it was going to be ok when we were negotiating with Madoc. That we won, they were going to surrender and we would be fine. Then I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to believe when Grimsen said that only death would save you. I went to Baphen, I went to the Old King, but all of them had the same answer. Somehow I had to rule the fucking kingdom while grieving a death that I didn't believe in. On top of all of that the court of teeths was on my throat, making plans to try to turn you and me into their puppets like their daughter. The relief that I had when I saw you alive was bigger than anything I thought I could feel, but the time between that and when I cutted the sna- your head it was my lowest. It was a hole and I was at the deep end with no way out. I cannot live without you." She stops to look at him. Look at his black hair and his eyes that look like black holes. His pale skin and his small mouth. No, she can't imagine a world without him. But that moment was close, so close. "I am so scared that I will go back to that void, I'm so scared that the universe wasn't as kind as I thought, I'm so scared to not wake up next to you."

He puts his arm around her shoulder and she puts her head on his. Jude looks up and sees tears running down Cardan's face, so she hugs him, feeling his other arm surround her. They stay silent for some time while Carden cries in Jude's shoulder and Jude just holds him close, all her tears wasted a few minutes ago.

"I'm sorry." Cardan was the one to break the silence.

"Not your fault."

"Liar."

"I wouldn't lie to you." It's the truth.

"May I remind you that you said you were fine while bawling your eyes out a few minutes ago?" OK, half true.

"When you have a nightmare, find me. I don't care if I just went to sleep, I don't care if I hadn't slept in days, I don't care if I'm not even asleep and you have to drag me out of my work, find me."

"When you feel like this is not real, find me. I don't care if you have to send someone to do it, I don't care if you run around the palace screaming my name, I don't care if I'm in the most important reunion, find me."

They break the hug to look at each other and say at the same time, "Deal".

"Sooo, do you want to have breakfast in bed and completely run away from our responsibilities?"

"We're the King and Queen of Elfhame."

"Exactly, there is no one above to stop us."

"We have an entire kingdom depending on us."

"Well, as the High King, I order you to stay in bed with me."

"As the High Queen, I'm going to refuse that order."

"Come on, you're mortal, you can say that we are sick or something." Jude's going to retaliate, but honestly? She's exhausted and spending the night in bed with her husband doesn't seem the worst idea.

"You are a horrible influence, do you know that?"

"Does that mean I win?"

She sighs. "Yes, you win."

"Yay" He says, getting up and doing a little spin like a child who was able to negotiate bedtime with their parents. She can't help but smile at his shenanigans.

Next, he does an extremely exaggerated bow and continues. "After you, my queen."

At that, she fully laughs, takes his hand and goes down the pathway with him. She hates being vulnerable, but with him, it isn't that bad. How do we take the armour off? A piece at a time. She feels like they just took another one.

-‐----------------‐-----------------‐----------------‐----------------

So, I had this idea since I finished Queen of Nothing and since I didn't see any fic like this I decided to make it myself. The characters may be a bit OOC, I'm not tha familiar with them. I am not a writer and my first language is not English, so apologies for any mistake. 🫶

Btw this was way bigger than I thought, no idea how many words, but damn, I'm having a brain riot.

[starwarsmum]

Chapter 6 of Introducing: Mousinette! Results Day 😁

After Marinette left Gotham behind (hopefully temporarily) she braced herself for the final school term. She woke on the first morning back at school and felt melancholic - this was the last time she would start a fresh term with her current friends. Sure, it wasn't like she'd never see them again but still.

“Tikki, why is change so hard? I had a wonderful time in Gotham, but how is it possible that lycée is over so soon?” she sighed, ruffling her fingers through her hair as she took a final look in the mirror. Tikki gave her some encouraging words and she smiled, grabbing her backpack as she walked out of the room.

Approaching the lycée, Marinette slowed down and checked her phone for messages. Now that she was back in Europe, her new American friends were unlikely to message her during her morning routines and school - they should either be sleeping or working. But Adrien had found time to message her, asking about her trip and whether she was ready for school again.

She smiled and sent him a short text saying that she was happy but also sad and nervous about the next step after this. The rest of this term was about preparing students for their next step in life, rather than learning about topics. She kept her smile all the way to her desk, thankfully able to block out Lila's high pitched (and likely false) recounting of her break.

Sadly, she could only ignore it for so long, Alya dragging her into the conversation by asking how her break was.

“Isn't it crazy that you were both in Gotham? Lila was just saying that she spent most of her break with the Waynes, which is so cool! Didn't you say you went to view the Gotham U campus with your aunt and uncle?”

“Yeah, and we met up with my online friend's family. She has a younger brother planning to go to GU, same as me! He's a bit of a jerk, but you know, I don't have to spend time with him if I get accepted. I've already started researching fashion internships, in case. How was your break?”

“My break was boring, mostly spent it babysitting and being relieved that there's no more tests! Ooh, your online friend that sent you flowers on Valentine's Day? Did sparks fly when you finally met face to face?”

“Um, no, I think I traumatised her, actually. And she definitely only sees me as a little sister, so I spent some of my time getting over the tiny crush I had,” Marinette shrugged. She had grown massively from when she would sob about how unfair it was that someone didn't love her back. She had a better sense of her own self-worth and wasn't going to waste her energy on trying to force things to change. “Besides, she's almost twice my age, I'm not sure I would have liked her as much if she did have feelings for me.”

“Oh, that's such a shame, Marinette!” Lila cooed, drawing Alya’s attention back to her. “I'm sure you'll find someone eventually , some people are just unlucky like that. Like my friend, Damian, he told me he has feelings for someone, but she doesn't feel the same. I've told him I'll help him confess but he won't even tell me who it is.”

“Ooh, girl, you don't think he could be crushing on you , do you?” Alya had taken the bait, and Marinette had to work not to audibly groan. She knew it was all lies, because after spending two evenings with Barbara's not-quite-family, she had worked out that they were the same Waynes that Lila had been bragging about for the past few months. When she had asked about her, they had claimed confusion and she let it go.

“Oh, I hope not,” Lila replied, managing to sound both flattered and crestfallen. Honestly, if Marinette didn't detest her so much she would be impressed. “I would hate to hurt a friend, just because I don't feel the same. I mean, we all know how certain people,” she added significantly, eyes darting to Marinette, “can't handle when people don't return feelings. Our friendship might not be the same again!”

Gritting her teeth, Marinette turned away as Alya continued the conversation and tried to get a handle on the flash of anger that had flickered through her. It's my last term with the lying witch, she consoled herself. And then I'll be away from here, actually friends with some of the Waynes and she'll drop into obscurity.

_ _ _

Barbara was in the batcave when her phone started belting out Katrina and the Waves’ Walking on Sunshine. The others around her, getting ready to call it a night after patrol, glanced over to her, quizzical looks on most faces. Damian was scowling, but given that was his usual look, she paid it no mind.

“Hey Mari, what's up?” Barbara said as she answered the phone. Jason snorted at the ringtone and Damian seemed to freeze before shrugging it off. She eyed him speculatively for a moment, before focussing back on the call.

“I got in!” Came the shriek from the other end of the line. “I got my BAC score today, and I got a freaking 19 and I only needed a 16 to get in so I'm going to Gotham University!”

“That's incredible, way to go Mari! Does that mean it's time to apply for those internships? Oh my god, you have to promise me we'll do girls nights when you're here,” she was babbling, but she wasn't used to having civilian friends any more. It would be nice to let loose with Marinette, even if it was only once in a while.

“Obviously we will, but I have to go for now, I need to go down and tell my parents! Talk to you on Saturday.” And the dial tone rang in Barbara's ear suddenly. She grinned, shaking her head. Chances were, Marinette would realise she had called Barbara at 3 in the morning, Gotham time, but she was pleased that she had wanted to tell her so much that the time difference hadn't even crossed her mind.

“I take it that your…friend will be attending the same university as me this fall?” Damian said suddenly, standing to the side. He huffed slightly at her brisk nod and walked away without another word. She glanced around and caught Dick's eye, but he only shrugged as he walked over to her.

“I don't know what that was about, he hasn't mentioned her to me since the day we went to tour the college,” he said. “You know what he's like with new people though, he's probably just worried we're going to make them hang out.”

Barbara hummed in agreement, picking up her phone again when a message chimed. She smiled when she saw that Marinette had indeed realised the time in Gotham and was both apologetic and a little concerned that Barbara had still been awake.

Across the world in Paris, Marinette had messaged Chloe, Kagami, Adrien and Alya to let them know the good news. She was grinning from ear to ear, bouncing around her room and squealing every now and then. She had already started packing almost everything, regardless of if she would need it between now and when she moved to Gotham.

“Tikki, it's really happening! Oh my God, it's going to be so incredible, we can move into the dorms, make friends and learn so much! And I need to find an internship, God that's going to be so stressful!” She threw herself into her desk chair and let it wheel her to her computer, throwing herself onto her arms.

“Marinette, I'm so proud of you! You worked so hard on your BAC, and you have so many options with internships thanks to the work you've put into commissions!” Tikki was fluttering around her head, smiling and squealing. “We’ll need to consider our options because we can't let any dorm mates know about me.”

“Ugh, right, magical secrets,” Marinette moaned, thinking hard. “The dorms we looked at were pretty small, not a lot of privacy and no soundproofing. That doesn't sound like I'd be able to keep you out of the box…okay, new plan! We're going to secure an internship and get an apartment, that way it's our space. It'll probably be easier doing commissions anyway.”

Now that she had made the first decision, it was easy to see what next steps to take. She started looking at the listings near the university for 1 or 2 bedroom apartments, writing off several that looked beautiful but had ridiculously low prices. She settled on two or three that seemed reasonable and sent emails to them.

She then started to scout out internships, checking the employees testimonies and looking at potential salaries. She sent emails to all of them, but took extra care on the ones she wanted. Wayne Enterprises was at the top of her list, both because she knew them personally and because it was high on the list for employee treatment. 

She sighed and stretched again, checking her phone and grinning at her new messages. She opened the one from Kagami first, the slightly formal manner making her glow with pride at how well she had done. Chloe's was more relaxed but just as proud. Alya hadn't messaged back yet, but Adrien’s was sweet.

Hey Bug, that's so awesome! I knew you could do it, you've always been the perfect one of the two of us. Let me know if I can help at all with the changes etc. <3

Although it had been a hard decision at the time, breaking up was the right thing to do. When they had revealed their identities after catching Hawkmoth, it had been awkward and tense. They had decided together that there was too much between them now, and that being friends was better than trying to force it to work.

They had both made token arguments, trying to keep the relationship, if only because it turned out they were Ladybug and Chat Noir, Marinette and Adrien; their friends shipped them so hard, they had practically cried when the pair finally started dating (Alya totally cried when they stopped dating, too). 

Their new friendship was built on the solid foundation of having spent time fighting a supervillain, shared stresses of hidden identities and dealing with mini gods. But moving in with his aunt in England meant that Adrien had had to break up with another person - Plagg. Plagg was getting some much needed rest in the Miracle Box, coming out occasionally to chat with the Guardian and Tikki.

Now that she was out of texts and tasks, Marinette decided it was time to do some designing again. She had a free day from lycée and planned to utilise it properly. All of the joyous energy that had flooded her was ready to be honed, and she wanted to see what she came up with. 

So it was several hours later that she heard the chime of her emails, and realised that she hadn't moved in that time. Cursing softly, she made her way to the bathroom, went down to the kitchen to grab a drink and a snack, before settling down in front of the computer again. She opened the new email, squealing when she saw it was from Wayne Enterprises.

Dear Miss Dupain-Cheng, 

It was a pleasure to receive your application for the internship offered here at Wayne Enterprises and we are considering your application currently. We do wish to clarify some things regarding your experience up to this point.

You have successfully worked with Mme Audrey Bourgeois, and won a competition with the brand previously known as Gabriel. Based on those, we would just like to discuss what you have worked on since your brand ceased trading in the past year.

We look forward to hearing from you,

The Office of Timothy Drake-Wayne

Co-CEO

Marinette chewed her lip, wondering if she was ready to out the face behind MDC. On one hand, this was why she had rebranded, she needed to get her work out there and make it easier to break onto the fashion scene later. On the other…the anonymity meant that she didn't have to deal with paparazzi, or people trying to be friendly with her just because she was kind of famous. Her hands hovered over the keyboard before deciding, and starting the email back. She checked the time and saw that it was still early in the day in Gotham.

Good morning,

Thank you for your speedy reply, I appreciate that you are a very busy company so it means a lot that you have taken the time this morning.

In regards to my brand, I rebranded in December last year. Prior to the rebrand, I had kept my connection to Jagged Stone secret as I am still 17, and did not wish to present myself to the media yet. As this is still the case, I trust that you will treat this information with discretion.

All of my current work can be found under my new website, mdcdesigns.fr  

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, either by email or phone,

Marinette Dupain-Cheng (MDC)

She tried to relax but was checking her emails every few minutes. She figured they would need to check her claims out, but she so badly wanted this internship. It was the best paid - ie, not volunteer work - and the company had raving reviews from long standing employees.

After what felt like hours, but was only minutes, her phone buzzed with an incoming call. She picked it up hastily, not bothering to look at the screen as she did so. She felt herself physically deflate when Alya responded to her greeting.

“Girl, a 19? That's crazy amazing! We have to celebrate, like immediately! I can have the girls ready to go in half an hour, tops, and we can do whatever you want. I'll bet the others will want to celebrate their scores too, and anyone who doesn't can commiserate!” Alya was so enthusiastic that Marinette couldn't help laughing.

“Als, it's, like, Wednesday. We should wait until Friday, that way we can plan something spectacular,” Marinette mused, already jotting down a couple of ideas. “Now, I'm not 18 yet, so that vetoes a couple of options, but we could go for a meal, get glammed up and head to this new dance club, it allows 16 and up, you just can't drink without ID. Oh, or we could go listen to a band somewhere, although Kitty Section is obviously a no, since they'll want to relax too. Hmmm, why don't we- oh, sorry, that's another call, can I catch you back in a little bit? Thanks, Alya, speak soon!”

She switched calls while Alya was still laughing and went to say hello when someone else interrupted immediately.

“How could you not tell us you were MDC?” came Tim's voice. He sounded highly affronted, and Marinette choked back a nervous giggle. “You knew we wanted to know, Babs must have told you we were fans, so why didn't you say anything?”

“Uh, hi Tim, nice to hear from you,” she replied awkwardly. “Well, first off, I said in my email why I didn't say anything. Also I know Babs pretty well but I only met you that week? Anyway, Babs was the one that wanted it kept a surprise.”

“I didn't think you were so malicious, Miss Dupain-Cheng,” Tim said gravely, although he undercut the gravity with a snort a moment later. “God, no wonder we couldn't find out though, I bet she designed your website, didn't she? I knew the code was familiar when I struggled to crack it, but she didn't say anything so I didn't put it together.”

“She did, and off the record, the reason I needed a new site is because someone started spreading rumours that I was stealing someone else's work, so I had to shut my old one down. That's why I needed Babs' help to set up a new one, I couldn't trust my friend to do it without blabbing.”

“Oh, well, that sucks. Whatever, I already talked to Babs and she confirmed that you are who you say you are so I wanted to call personally and offer you a job.”

“Don't I need to interview for the internship? Aren't there, I don't know, a bazillion other candidates that need to be sorted through?” Marinette was alarmed at how quickly it was all moving.

“An internship? Oh, hell no, I want to hire you as the fashion consultant for Wayne Enterprises. We don't have one currently, just sort of pick up the odd suit and have Alfred tailor it, but if you're willing, we could give you a job to be in charge of our public event wardrobes.”

“...you know I'm going to be a student in the fall, right? And that I can't be a full time employee because I'm not even 18 yet?”

“Oh, well, sure, but there's no point giving you an internship when we could take you on part time. My understanding is that you're getting a full ride to GU and therefore don't need the money for school fees, but I promise as a part time employee, your pay would be significantly better than an intern’s. Plus, that leaves the internship open to someone who needs it.”

“How do you even know about the scholarship?” Marinette was stunned. He wanted to hire her? No awful internship, she could do what she loved for people she knew and liked? It sounded too good to be true. “Wait, no, that's not the point. I mean, yes, obviously I want the job, when do you want me to start? I can't move to Gotham right now, because I have to finish the year, and my birthday isn't until July, but then I could make my way over in August?”

“Okay, awesome, what if we hired MDC as a independent consultant, through your website, for the next 2 months, you can start making some designs for everyone, and then you can sign an actual contract just after your birthday, then whenever you move to Gotham, we can set you up with an office and creative space?”

It was more than Marinette could have dreamed of, and she was quick to agree. They hashed out the logistics, but he sounded just as gleeful as she felt when the call disconnected. She squealed and did a happy dance, picking up her phone to call Alya back. 

_ _ _

Once Damian knew that he would be seeing Marinette again, he decided that he needed to change his behaviour. It was not a sudden revelation, he had been thinking about their interactions more often than he would admit ever since she had gone back to Europe. So over the next week or so, Damian made an effort to improve his conversational skills. He spoke to random students at his high school, worked on being more patient with Kent, and asked his father to find him some work at his company to spend time with a range of different personality types. 

He of course did not relay this particular reason to his father, giving a more general explanation of wanting to get a feel for the business before he began working towards his economics degree. His father readily agreed and Damian found that he was more than capable of marshaling his temper around buffoons.

He did not want his brothers to make more of his change of behaviour than there was, and so he seldom interacted with others at the same time as them. Even so, Grayson had commented more than once that his patience had improved drastically, most likely referring to the fact that he had not threatened anyone who had been overly familiar with him.

He was determined to make a better impression on Marinette the next time they met.

[guide-to-world-domination]

I can’t stop imagining spider becoming an absolute badass, like the amount of ideas literally keep me up at night. For example, imagine that one day, Neytiri just goes off on Spider and says the most foul things to him - stuff that was so horrendous, even people who equally hated Spider being around had to try and calm her down, because what she was saying was completely out of line. To spider, he’s heard this all from the People, the Scientists, the McCoskers - but Neytiri always strikes a cord that can’t be fixed or shrugged off easily. The only thing that snaps him from his thoughts, was what Neytiri said next while she was being pulled away from the situation.

“You will never be One of the People. Your father is a Demon, and your mother is worse for ever loving him and producing such Spawn”

There it is the breaking point. Spider has always turned the other cheek when it comes to people that insult him or insult him by comparing him to his father. He always found that retaliation and tantrums only proved his accusers assumptions correct. But nobody. Nobody insults his mother. Spider could have screamed back and shouted bloody murder at her, but at this point, he just doesn’t care. She isn’t worth trying to prove himself to. His siblings know who he is, that’s enough.

From that day on, he doesn’t go to High Camp again and doesn’t wear his loincloth. He starts wearing cargo pants and tank tops, but he keeps his armbands, knife and jewellery. He wants to come into his own identity, but he can’t shed what remains of his past life (trying to be part of the Omaticaya). Personally, I don’t think that Norm and the other Scientists wouldn’t care too much about what spider does until he crosses a line or breaks a rule that they haven’t outright told him (that kind of behaviour is traumatising, I would know 🙂). So when figures out to give himself piercings and tattoos, they are livid. They are shocked at the transformation - where painted blue stripes used to be, there were inky black stripes that passed over every limb and even on his face; where dirty brown locs used to be, golden blond hair was fashioned into a Viking braid reaching down his back (similar to a kuru).

The only person that understands and doesn’t overreact is Max. Personally, that man was a dark horse in his family before he came to Pandora, I know it in my soul (Headcanon coming soon or after this post). He takes it on himself to support Spider and nurture his clear talents. He wishes he could have raised spider as his own, but knew that he would be shunned by his colleagues for raising his son - he couldn’t be seen as a disgrace after his time as a child.

Spider had a number of talents and skills, including Engineering, Chemistry, Languages, Marksmanship and martial arts. Max helped to nurture each and everyone. Some days, he would have Spider build and repair weapons and tech. Other days, Spider would learn chemical reactions or a new language. Every evening, Max would instruct Spider in combat and would exercise and lift with him to encourage him. Over the course of a month or two, Spider was unrecognisable. He took in information like a sponge and soon Max was running out of things to teach him. Piloting Samsons and Scorpions - took a few tries, but Spider was truly a born pilot like Paz. Stealth and parkour - He was already a natural, but he was fooling Na’vi warriors more often than not after a week of practice.

Eventually, when Jake started performing raids on RDA Trains, Spider knew it was time to put this all into practice. You see, deep down, he still wanted to prove himself to the People, but not so he could be one of them. He wanted to prove himself, to show them what he forged himself into despite them. However, he knew Jake would never approve him going along - he was still a child. The thought to Spider was ludicrous; Spider never believed he was a child, because no child goes through what he did and remains a child. So he decides to go anyway and doesn’t bother with permission. Though, he does ask Max, who understandably forbids this from happening. After reasoning that he would be safer if he got support to complete this venture, Max relented after hours of back and forth.

And thus, Araña was born. Imagine Winter Soldier getup (Hydra-controlled Bucky, not White Wolf armour) where the half mask acts as his rebreather so he doesn’t risk glass from a regular mask entering his eyes. All manners of weapons are strapped to his body including an Assault Rifle, a revolver (nobody knows that it was actually Quaritch’s revolver that delivered the fatal shot to Grace), A bow and quiver, a LOT of knives and a grenade or two. He looks terrifying but despite this Max feels proud - not about his boy going to fight in a war that has devastated everything he loves, but because this kid, his son, has stepped into his role as a defender and Max is proud of how far Spider has come to reach his goals.

Queue Spider being the biggest menace to RDA society that has ever existed. There was no reason for the Na’vi Ground forces to blow up the rail line, because Spider had already hijacked the train and pulled the breaks. The look of an anonymous Sky Person swing around the train killing and disarming grown men confused everyone in the raiding party, especially the Sully’s. There was something familiar about the acrobatics of this mysterious warrior, the answer on the tips of their tongues. It was only after Spider saved Lo’ak and Neteyam from the missile strike, that everyone realised who this person was. Nobody believed it until Spider spoke and then all he’ll broke loose.

I apologise if this too long or weird, I just needed to get this out of my head. I’ll definitely be adding to this given time, regardless of whether or not people like it, and the only thing that can stop me is my undiagnosed AuDHD.

Farewell to all, Yours sincerely,

Your Favourite Evil Overlord

[miqotepotatoe]

All of my Ninjago AUs because I am insane & autistic + it's fun

(disclaimer, a vast majority of these focus on cole brookstone because favouritism bias)

My Nonexistant Friend - Ghost!Cole AU where Day of the Departed...did not end so well. He's trapped in the Airjitzu Temple and is effectivly erased from existance. He suffers in nonexistant puragtory for 300 years until Lloyd's future students move in and the Master of Earth of this new era befriends the ghost. Fluff, feels & the power of friendship ensue

Perma Ghost - Ninjago but Cole remains a ghost. To prevent him from fading he anchors himself to friendship bracelets all the ninja + Wu & Pixal wear. He can't stray to far from anyone wearing a friendship bracelet but he doesn't mind he's always with a friend.

Curseworlds - Possession bad end, heavily inspired by The Star from Fionna & Cake. The Preeminent has won and has cursed all the realms and ghosts torment the remaining living souls. A small faction of survivors is fighting to take out the Queen of the Cursed, but it's very difficult with her two princes causing havoc. Anyone order evil Sandstorm?

Reverse - An alt Ninjago where Wu was bit by the Great Devourer instead of Garmadon. Wu becomes an evil dictator, Ninjago is in a lawless era, the og ninja are all traumatised child soldiers made to do Wu's bidding, Garmadon and a few familiar faces are fighting back.

Genderswap - As it says, everyone is genderswapped. But it's like Fionna & Cake where some stuff is different because of the swapped genders.

Elemental Anacondrai - Chen decides to be extra twisted and mark all the loosers of the Tournament with the Anacondrai Mark as a sign of ownership. When the cult is transformed into Anacondrai, they too. So for the last two episodes of ToE, Skylor, Karlof, Gravis, Bolobo, Ash, Cole, Jacob, Chamile & Tox are turned into Anacondrai.

Constrictai!Cole - Cole isn't dehypnotised at the end of Home and is taken prisoner by the Hypnobrai. When the Fangpyre are free and team up with the Hypnobrai, Skales has them turn Cole into a Serpentine. He ends up a Constrictai. The ninja end up rescueing him durring Can of Worms, remove the hypnotism with some anti-venom tea, and now Cole must adjust to his new reptilian body. Lots of Glacier

Lost But Never Found - AU where Cole ends up in the Land of Lost things after running away from his school. He becomes a Finder and is living his best life with his new found family. Sora also ends up there after running away and Cole adopts her

Vampire!Cole - Cole ends up becoming a vampire after getting attacked by one. Lots of hyjinks & vampire hunting (hunting other vampires, not Cole)

Wu Adopts Cole - Wu finds Cole a lot earlier then canon, at 10 years old. He's an orphan, his mum passed from illness and his dad drank himself to death. Wu raises Cole, trains him in his Elemental Power, very wholesome Dad Wu stuff.

Amphibijago - Ninjago + Amphibia crossover. Cole, Kai and Jay take the places of the Calamity Girls and end up in Amphibia. Cole ends up with the frogs, Kai ends up with the toads, Jay ends up with the newts. What could go wrong

The Oni House - Ninjago + The Owl House, basically the Owl House but with Ninjago characters. Cole is a troubled teen about to be sent off to a performing arts boarding school when he ends up in a realm of witches, demons and magic after wandering through a portal. There he meets Lord Garmadon, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles and his baby dragon demon Rocky. Lava time

Ninja in Eorzea - Ninjago + FFXIV. The ninja play the criticly acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV with an extended free trail with unlimited playtime that allows them to play the award winning expansions Heavensward and Stormblood, and they get suckef in...litterally like Prime Empire.

Miraculous: Tales of Firefly & Charcole Cat - Ninjago + Miraculous. Ninjago City is being ravaged by supervillains created by someone known as the Dark Lord. But new heros have arisen, known as Firefly & Charcole Cat, ready to protect the city from the Dark Lord while trying to balance school & dating. HONEYCOMB MY OTP

Age of Elements - My original Ninjago story set 300 years after canon. Lloyd is training 7 new ninja, the Elemental Masters of Fire, Earth, Wind, Nature, Water, Lightning and Ice to protect the world because a prophetic vision of the furure said so. He's trying his best to make sure they aren't super traumatised by having them keep their ninja identity a secret, not keeping secrets about the FSM family lore, having them go to school, but trauma as a Ninja is a canon event. Got 18 seasons planned and counting

[lime-bloods]

The theory used to be that Caliborn was his own dad. Thematic echoes ring around the story; his followers' obsession with "MOTHERFUCKING" evokes the Oedipal undertones of Yaldabaoth imprisoning and corrupting his creatress Sophia. And Aranea, often misinformed but rarely, if ever - in spite of the school of red herrings surrounding English - intentionally misleading, seems to hint at such a possibility: Caliborn and Calliope's home planet is the former home planet of their father, which is in her words "a loc8tion now conspicuously occupied 8y a truly massive 8lack hole". Now that the comic's over, and we have a more comprehensive idea of English's life and times - he was born, he fucked with the trolls, left to try to kill his sister, and then died - it seems pretty unlikely that he had the opportunity to go back to the era of his birth and spawn himself... in the incarnation we're most familiar with, at least. We've known from much earlier on that there were Englishes in "countless universes", and that the "mobster Hulk" menacing Homestuck itself would never be fully representative of all of Caliborn's crimes. And now that I've spent some more time looking over the mechanisms by which Caliborn is able to exist in so many countless universes, I'm not totally convinced that he isn't his own dad?

Cherub romance is chiefly two things; it's caliginous, and it's incestuous. One way in which it is widely understood to be incestuous is by way of being masturbatory: in its mate, a cherub looks for "qualities its other half once had", seeking to replace the aspect of itself it once referred to as brother or sister. But increasingly, I also think cherub mating is incestuous by way of being cyclical. Indeed, it's difficult to draw a line between 'cyclical' and 'masturbatory' for a race who couple by forming an ouroboros; but as touched upon already, the planet around which Caliborn's father intertwined with his mother was also the planet around which his father's father intertwined. Because cherubs always mate around black holes.

It's easy to fall back on the simplest, most surface-level observation of the black hole, that it's a symbol of Lord English. I have described the singularity in the past as English's mouth, the orifice that swallows suns in the same manner the god of time Cronus swallowed his own son. But once more, English is ouroboros; the mouth that swallows his prey is also the mouth that swallows itself. The number of times I've pointed out the significance of white and black holes in Homestuck could be aptly called ad nauseam: but for the comic's metanarrative purposes, being a gateway out of the story also makes the white hole a gateway forward into progress, and by contrast, the black hole is necessarily a pitfall into regression. Just as the black hole is where the god of cycles is swallowed by his own cycle, and is therefore a signpost of Lord English's resurrection, it is also where cherubs go to enact violence upon their sibling-spouses because that is where their parents, and their grandparents, and their grandparents' grandparents, enacted violence upon each other.

Bruce Banner was transformed into the monstrous green Hulk halfway by radiation, halfway by a brutal childhood at the hands of his own monstrous father. Cronus devoured his son, black hole-like, because he received prophecy that his children would overthrow him the same way he had overthrown his own tyrannical progenitor. Even Oedipus was an early victim of the time loop; had prophecy not deemed him at the moment of his birth to be responsible for his father's death, his infamous transgression upon his mother could never have taken place. Whether we choose to believe English literally stepped through that black hole in some winged incarnation to commit the Oedipal sin, or if the rift through space and time is simply a symbolic wound - the bleeding hole left by generations of fathers traumatising wives and sons - the end result is the same. By becoming the Lord of Time, that god of cycles, and embedding himself in the very story structure cherubs dedicate their lives to upholding, Caliborn must embody that cycle; and the Oedipal is in the cyclical just as much as it is in the incestuous. Whether or not Caliborn's dad is him is irrelevant to the simple fact that Caliborn is his own dad.

[ambyandony]

heres the limbo fusions with the rest of the vento aureo main protags

Limbo + Mista

Mimbo - any pronouns

"Are u lost bbygrl? :)"

(They give a weird stare if asked for a full name. They only use Mimbo, even though it’s a combination of Limbo’s forename and Mista’s surname.)

most stable Limbo fusion merely by virtue of Mista’s simple ability to just not give a fuck.

GET YOUR GUN OUT OF YOUR CLEAVAGE!

bitch gon step on my fuckin toe bitch with them fuckin cowgirl fuckin boots

VITALLY important that you know that despite being easily mistaken as fem on first glance, Mimbo also has the deepest voice of any Limbo fusion for literally no reason other than it’s funny to me. They also have sideburns

Stand: Mighty Wings - Redirects Signals. Still a colony Stand, looks like tiny little pastel fighter jets!

Limbo + Abbacchio

Lio Adkio - they/them

“Don’t say SHIT about my mascara or my eyeliner.”

“In fact, don’t fucking look at me or I’ll have to kill you or myselves.”

stable only because when Limbo started panicking in the mindspace, Abbacchio simply pointed and snapped at her to CALM THE FUCK DOWN. and she did so immediately.

nicer than Abbacchio. not by that much, though… but weirdly apologetic about it.

the eyeliner doesn’t appear to be due to crying, it seems that it just looks like that.

bazongas?

Stand: Keeping The Faith? Never Too Late? Shawty like a melody-

“rewinds” signals to previous states or connections and/or can do a “replay” of those signals’ succeeded actions (i.e. having a phone replay a prior conversation) Unfortunately, it’s pretty useless in combat.

Limbo + Giorno

Glimbo Giovadkins - she(?)/they/them

“Wouldn’t you like to hear one of my 765 fun facts about aerodynamics, animals or Air Bud?”

“I also have a few facts about botany, blood and birds.”

stable, until they’re not. they’re incredibly calm and delightful, but when they think someone’s mad at them they panic and start excessively apologising.

genuinely the softest cutest sweetest lil bitch you’ve ever seen. also traumatised with a guilty conscience and can flip on a dime in a terrifying way.

shortest Limbo fusion for no clear reason? shorter than both Limbo and Giorno.

Squalo’s worst fear.

sounds pretty much how you would expect.

Stand: Crystal Dolphin - can transform signals into life—by taking the signals out of something, typically disabling it, they can create life like Gold Experience can. The more complex the device, the bigger its potential creation.

Limbo + Buccellati

Bimbo Luno Adkellati - they/them

"...I've lost the conversation. I'm gonna go make pizza!"

Megan Thee Stallion?!

has no idea what’s going on for some reason? always looks a little confused and loses track of conversations very quickly.

very good with kids! practically unable to have a coherent conversation with Abbacchio. They don’t seem too distressed, but they just stop making much sense and seem to confuse themselves.

Stand: When Doves Cry? Perhaps Freewill? Uhm… I don’t know? Maybe it can sort of, ���zip’ signals together, combining two or more functions into one sent signal? Bruno's ability is just so specific... I can't think of many ideas.

Limbo + Fugo

Fimbo (Pannalimbo Adkigo) - they/them

"STOP TALKING ABOUT FREUD BEFORE I KILL YOU WITH MY FUCKING BRACELETS!!!"

( Note: all currently depicted instances of Fimbo seem to be post-PHF, as Fimbo is almost always seen with the mouth scars hidden by the tattoo.)

enemy of the state. punches fascists. lovecore punk goth. in terms of authority figures they only respect Buccellati and Limbo’s dad.

AuDHD trauma poster child. Short fuse but very friendly until something sets them off and they start screaming and or burst into fucking tears.

Self-love in the sense that the fusionmates care about each other deeply and both sides are trying to look out for the other knowing the other won't look out for themself.

Stand: Cabin Fever - Terrifying deathly virus that, rather than being airborne like Purple Haze, is passed though signal transmission. Fimbo doesn’t know if the virus is the same as Purple Haze, a different strain of it, or something entirely different. It spreads most quickly through vocal communication between two people.

Limbo + Narancia

Nimbus Ghirgins - he/they/she

"tummyache... :("

Libby why does my stomach feel like it’s going to fucking collapse in on itself and why are my knuckles torn? aren’t they supposed to bruise when you punch?

bad relationship with food. Hanahaki disease, what are you doing here? (/ij)

sometimes they find Mista sitting around, sit next to him and fall asleep on him immediately

incredibly bad with emotions and doesn’t even get angry they just get overwhelmed instantly at any presence of significant emotion

Stand: Falling in Love/Hard on the Knees - who the fuck let this kid control CO2 emissions?? They can barely control themselves???

[paint-it-dead]

I googled the Belladonna of Sadness and: “To take revenge, she makes a pact with the Devil himself who appears as an erotic sprite and transforms her into a black-robed vision of madness and desire.” (Femto, the blessed king of longing) “The spirit visits Jeanne once again and rapes her in exchange for more riches“ (Gennon and Griffith) ”the baron offers to make Jeanne the second-highest noble in the land, but she refuses, saying she wishes to take over the entire world.” (Ok Miura HAD to have seen this, right? Wtf…Griffith…)

omg if you havent watched it check it out, check it out, check it out!!!!!

i think i read somewhere that Miura was inspired by it in writing Berserk? but i cant say that with full confidence...

but the parallels!!! the story goes even deeper than what you said! its been almost a year since ive watched it, so my memory of it is not 100%, but ill talk about what i can remember!

(spoilers ofc)

it contains incredible artwork and its set in pre-revolution France(remind you of another manga berserk was inspired by?) and it talks about a beautiful woman- The Most Beautiful Woman Alive!!!- who has just gotten married to the love of her life! but the marriage can only be made legal by the king/ the baron of the lands(an aristocrat of sorts i dont recall properly) who immediately as he sees her, takes her and rapes her. what should have been the happiest night of her life spent with her lover, is spent being defiled, helpless as she is to fight her fate; a poor powerless woman against the all powerful aristocrat. she becomes someone else; traumatised and desperate and her husband cannot look at her the same anymore. but amid all the grief regarding what was taken from her and how she was changed, arises a new emotion: rage. she wants power. she wants vengance. for every petal of hers that was wilted, she wants to birth a new thorn.

now if you're trying to draw parallels, ig this can be a perfect parallel with griffith getting tortured by the king. the helplessness and the toll of it all. the way how it affects his decision-making in the series.

but now as our beautiful woman is stuck in her bottomless desparate anguish, a new character appears before her: a small evil spectre! he looks her straight in the eyes and says. i am you. and you are me. give everything you have to me and i will grant you what you wish for: a chance to make things even. she is poor, she has nothing to give. so the spectre takes her body. defiles her the same way. and she is granted success. she is granted money. her husband and her reap the benefits of her new powers. now the aristocrat is feeling threatened by her status, tries to appease her-offers her lands and riches beyond a simple commoners imagination. but she, unbothered, responds:"money? lands? im not interested in something as small as that, beacuse im going to take over the world." appalled by her ambition, the aristocrat orders she be exiled as a witch, never to return. this whole time the spectre just grows bigger and bigger. stronger and stronger. the more she hates and gains and succeeds, the louder it roars. the more angry and resentful she becomes, the hungrier it grows. its goal: to break her strong spirit piece by piece, little by little. and when she is exiled and thoroughly broken, it reveals himself: he is actually the devil. he asks: what do you crave? he knows what she wants: power. she asks him to make her into a devil, into a wicked, ugly, wrathful woman who will strike fear into the hearts of anybody who crosses her. she doesnt want to be desirable anymore. her beauty was her cage, her curse. and thats what the specter does. transforms her into an all powerful demon.

but as she aweakens from the transformation, she notices that she has become lovlier, more desirable than she ever was before, an otherworldly, overwhelming type of beauty. she anguishes over this. asks for explanations. she wanted to be terrible, scary and full of rage and anger. to this, the devil responds: "who says that anger and rage cannot be beautiful?"

in berserk, this could be a parallel with the godhand offering griffith his option to sacrifice at his lowest point, and griffith's transformation into a devil -femto- and later into an otherworldly beauty - neo-griffith. there is nothing lovely or lovable left in him anymore, but he is the most lovely and beloved character by everyone in the show after his neo-griffith transformation. his power knows no equal and he strikes fear into the hearts of all who dare cross him. nothing will ever touch him again and nothing will ever be taken from him again, unless he wills it.

so she lives in exile, her otherworldly powers making her a diety of sorts, one people love and worship. one day, her husband, mad at himself and sick with love for her, goes to her to ask for her forgiveness. he couldn't save her when she needed him, and he couldn't protect her when she was taken from him, so all he does is ask for forgiveness. and amid her power-hungry, hatered spinning days of rage, she blooms with love for him, everything else thrown aside or forgotten. he was all she had ever wanted once after all. they fall into each other, one last time before tragedy strikes.

the aristocrat, terrified of her, her power, the support people gave her, orders for her to be burned at the stake. as the flames overwhelm her and she cries out one last time, the people witnessing the scene, cry out in uproar. they kill the king, avenge her and become a lingering flame in the calamitous fire of the french revolution. even though she is no longer there, she achieves exactly what she wanted- vengence against those who wronged her, and world domination, as the uproar from her tragedy, is what kickstarts the world to change.

now the whole parallels with griffith i made clear in italics, but there i dont think that thet is where the parallels with berserk end. there is another character, whose case could be argued, might have been inspired by this movie: casca. the unfortunate fate of the woman, the defilement and heartbreak she experiences because of conditions she cannot control, her story is drowning in them. i believe, if Miura was indeed inspired by this movie, that casca's story takes root in this unfortunate fate this character suffers through, but the only element present in casca's story is the heartbreak and pain, the rage and vengeance part is yet to be seen.

this movie seems to overlap both of these characters journeys, emotions and characterisations. if i have made a post about their alikeness before, this movie would be the main thesis for it. they switch roles and imagery within this "belladonna" character to the point where you cant make a case for one without mentioning the other. he becomes a demon, she becomes a witch. he falls in desperation, she falls into her lover's arms. he takes over the world, she gets burned at the stake. he gets the purpose, she gets the tragedy.

overall, berserk or not, belladonna of sadness is a beautiful story and 100% worth the watch. it contains some of my favourite lines of dialogue and scenes ive ever seen in animated media. its experimental and different, but man, isnt it captivating. WATCH IT!!!

[wastemanjohn]

spn fic rec fest day 2 - whump

under cut

tw non con

edit forgot to tag @spnficrecfest

deanbobby. dean loses his memory, sam disappears and bobby takes care of dean (kind of). love the moral ambiguity of sam and bobby in this fic, bobby's disturbing backstory and of course hurt!dean my sweet baby ❤️ and so gorgeously written.

i don't even know what to say. traumatised closeted dean haunted by the worst kind of experience with a shifter and his dad. i haven't read the most recent part yet but everything i have read has been fantastic and broken my heart which is exactly what i look for in fiction. make me sad.

deancain AU where criminals are punished by slavery. definite whump for dean but as this is kink day too this one... works on both counts for the heavy bondage/non con elements. it's also just so beautifully and eerily written and i revisit it often.

[wordsandrobots]

As threatened, a Genshin Impact fan-fic I in no way expected to be writing.

Come enjoy my thesis on why the Knave is the most strictly moral of the Harbingers thus far, why the House of the Hearth makes a ton of sense as the project of deeply traumatised kids trying to take control of their lives, and why Lyney is probably going to be a great leader some day, stress-induced heart-attacks permitting.