#not to mention it both ending in them killing someone who represents something More to them in the end

[timbourinedrake]

reread the last few issues of Batgirl (2000) today and then went and saw The Dark Knight at the cinema

the parallels between Cass and Bruce are giving me brainrot. the fight to save everyone no matter who they are, only to end up getting more and more people killed leaving them to question whether there's any point to their moral code at all

[madlori]

On Tommy and narrative threads

So some fans who are vehemently anti-Tommy frequently use the talking point that they need to have Buck confront Tommy about his past behavior while under Gerrard, or have him find out about it if he doesn't already know, and that he should break up with him about it. Or they need some kind of reckoning to happen with Hen and Chim in order to move forward.

I'm 95% sure neither of those things are going to happen, and here is why: the show considers that narrative thread to be closed.

It has run its course. It's done. It's been resolved. As fans and viewers - and as many of us are fic readers and writers - we always want to see things hashed out onscreen in exhaustive detail but that's not practically possible. The narrative sometimes has to signal that threads are resolved in other ways, in the way characters act towards each other and speak about each other.

Throughout the course of the three Begins episodes in which he appears, the writers clearly selected Tommy to represent the "firefighter who acted kinda jerky but got better through personal growth and friendship with new people" narrative. By the end of Bobby Begins Again, this narrative is more or less complete, as we've now seen Tommy act to support Hen and also be accepted into a friendly relationship with both her and Chim, not to mention Bobby. When he reappears in season 7, nobody acts like he's anything other than a friend, and Chim outright admires him.

This is the conclusion of this thread, as far as the show is concerned. Did he ever sit down with Hen and Chim and make some big speech or have some big discussion about how he's learned and changed? Probably not. Those kinds of direct conversations sometimes do happen in reality, but more often than not, you just spend years working with someone and your opinion of them shifts as all of you change. And remember, Hen and Chim worked with Tommy for years before Bobby even showed up.

And ask yourself this question: if Hen and Chim have both moved on, and have accepted whatever direct or implicit apology Tommy offered, how is it Buck's business to decide that no, that's not good enough, HE'S going to demand some kind of restitution on their behalf? That's patronizing as fuck. These are people with their own agency who don't need Buck to advocate for them and exact some kind of retroactive revenge for something they're not even mad about anymore. Would he be upset that Tommy ever made off-color remarks, or was less than welcoming to people who are now his friends? Maybe. Is he upset that Eddie nearly killed a man? Is he filled with moral outrage and disappointment that Hen cheated on her wife? Chim physically assaulted him, and so did Bobby. Is he still holding that against them? Is he upset NOW that nobody's speaking up on HIS behalf when Gerrard targets him? Buck's an adult. He knows that people frequently look back on their past behavior and cringe at what jerks they were, himself included.

Tommy has several times alluded to being ashamed of his past actions. He knows the score. The message we're meant to take from those comments is that he's taken steps to not be that guy anymore. Need he flagellate himself forever? Does this need to cost him and Buck a relationship they both value? It can't have been easy to come from a terrible father, go into the army, then into the LAFD with a terrible captain, and then to meet people who challenged your behavior and made you want to be a better person. The fact that he became a better person is something he should be admired for, not punished.

[v3suvia]

On Diomedes of Argos.

Typically, when people think about their favorite heroes of the Trojan siege, they think of the likes of Achilles, or Odysseus, or even Agamemnon (or if you’re based, Hector.) And while these are all valid to whatever extent— because let’s be real, no one is choosing favorites based on who has the purest moral standpoint— they’re not exactly remembered for the noblest of reasons.

Achilles spends half of the Iliad inside his tent as a sulky burrito, and the other half slaughtering Trojans and crying over the consequences of his own actions. Odysseus is a chronic liar, and Agamemnon is Agamemnon. But at the end of the day, they’re still remembered (for better or for worse, really.)

Though, on the topic of Homeric heroes, I feel there is one who is often overlooked despite achieving great feats over the course of the epic; Diomedes of Argos. (Note: arguably the most metal of the Achaean heroes at Troy.) So, let’s rant talk about him!

Diomedes was one of the key players in Homer’s Iliad— a recount of the last year of the Trojan siege. Being summoned to fight under oath, Diomedes headed his fleet of 80 ships to Ilium. As well as having a whole chapter dedicated to how kickass he was [read more about that whole thing here], the king of Argos was also a master strategist, and extremely noble— not just in his war efforts.

For example, there are multiple points in the Iliad where he checks the leader of the Trojan expedition, Agamemnon, calling him out on his cowardice or for otherwise being an inadequate leader, [Book 9; ‘Agamemnon, I will begin by taking issue with you over your proposal… do you really believe the Greeks are the cowards and weaklings you say they are? If you for one, have set your heart on getting away, then go.’] [‘Zeus has granted you many things… He gave you the sceptre of power and the honour that comes with it, but he did not give you courage— and courage is the secret of authority.]

And one instance where he truces with the Trojan hero, Glaucus— both of them exchanging armors (on an active battlefield, btw) to honor the fact that their grandfathers had been allies, [Book 6; ‘So let us avoid each other’s spears... And let us exchange our armor so that everyone will know our grandfather’s friendship has made friends of us.’]

He is also one of the only soldiers in the war who avoids committing hubris in the entire epic, which is probably the most telling of all his virtuous traits.

Diomedes also has a proverb named after him! ‘Diomedean Necessity/Diomedean Compulsion', which basically means when someone does something for the greater good (despite the reluctance of the person in question.)

This is taken from the myth of Odysseus and Diomedes taking the wooden statue of Athena— dubbed the Palladium— from Ilium. During this heist, Odysseus tries to stab Diomedes in the back to steal the acclaim of taking the Palladium for himself.

Rather than punishing Odysseus on account of betraying his ally for personal gain, Diomedes ties him up and drags him back to camp instead, because he knew the Greeks couldn’t win the war without Odysseus’ wisdom.

Anyway, why the rant? Sure, I could sit here and convince you that he’s the coolest Greek hero, but what would I be trying to accomplish in doing so? Well, it’s simply because while every other Homeric hero is recognized and represented in modern media, Diomedes isn’t.

He wasn’t even mentioned once in Troy (2004), the film adaptation of the Iliad! Despite him being the focus of multiple chapters in the book, as well as playing a big role in the Achaean army’s over-all victory.

I’m sick of everyone (and by that, I mean most modern media) depicting him as though he was just some dude™ in the Iliad when he was actually (from a mildly biased standpoint) one of the best of the Achaeans at Troy.

TLDR; Diomedes of Argos = Based. He solos ur favs (probably. He almost killed Ajax the greater at Patroclus’ funeral games 💀)Put him in more movies/shows/games so me and the other two Diomedes fans can be happy.

[justmeinadaze]

Created A Monster Part 2 (Steddie X Kas Y/N)

A/N: Totally new for me here. Reader kind of takes more control in this one but I'm not calling it Sub/Dom dynamics. As someone going through some shit right now, this is kinda something I needed with the angst and their strong need to please her <3.

Enjoy!

Part 1

I can also leave it here or add another part. Up to you!

Warning: Steddie & Kas (vampire) Reader, SMUT, I read that bats give off pheromones so that was KINDA utilized here but all three here are consenting, dirty talk, boys desperate for her praise, etc. FLUFF, reader has memories of the guys that she forgot thanks to Vecna, it shows the love they had/have for each other. Memories are in black bold.

ANGST (because I'm me), she does insult them a lot through the beginning and they do what they can to make her remember them. The feels are abound. There is a cameo from the envision they have of her from part 1. She's always represented with italicized font. She mentions being hit by Vecna which makes the guys mad (rightfully!). There is a moment in the upside down near the end where Vecna expresses disappointment in her. That world is in red font. Cliffhanger ending.

Word Count: 6099

"Got you on your knees, beggin', "Mommy, please?" Girl I used to be, now she isn't me, say, "R.I.P."

Call a doctor I think I created a monster She's got a psycho inside her But I think that I kinda like her."

After removing your armor, they hastily tied you to a pillar and waited for you to wake. 

“I watched her die in my arms, Steve. I held her till she took her last breath and even then people had to drag us away from her. How is she here?”

“I don’t know. She looks different…harder. She was always a badass but…’My master sends his regards.’ What can that mean?”

“In D&D there’s a character called Kas. He’s a solider with a sword who Vecna grants eternal life and in turn he becomes his right-hand man killing Vecna’s enemies.”

 “But then why would she come after us?”

“I mean we did help take him out—”

“No, asshole. I mean why is she, Y/N, coming after us, the men she loves?”

Growling catches their attention as your eyes flutter open and you take in your surroundings. 

“Sweetheart.”, Eddie coos as he holds up his hands in surrender to show he’s not a threat. “How are you feeling? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine but you aren’t. As soon as I get out of here, I’m going to rip you apart.”

“Oh, well, that’s nice.”

Steve rolls his eyes as he steps closer to you.

“Do you know who we are?”

“Steven Harrington, the former pathetic king of Hawkins who helped hurt my master by setting him on fire and Edward Munson who helped by distracting his babies so they couldn’t protect him. Still on the run, freak?”

Their eyes darkened as they listened to you speak. This wasn’t the girl they fell in love. You would have never said things like this to them before. 

“And who are you then?”

Your body straightens as you raise your chin in defiance. 

“I am my master’s right-hand and his strongest knight. I protect him and kill any of his enemies that he asks of me.”

“Ah, I see. So you’re his bitch?”

Baring your fangs, you hiss Eddie’s way causing both men to jump back before regaining their composure.

“My master takes care of me. He saved me when I was left bleeding to death on the concrete after you and friends tried to kill me!”

“Is that what he told you? No. No, honey, that’s not what happened. You were on our side of that fight.”

“My master said you would lie.”, you growl.

“HE killed you, Y/N. Him and his ‘babies’.”, the metalhead responded in an equally angry tone. “You were supposed to come back with us but you sacrificed yourself by distracting those things. THEY pinned you down and THEY bit into you. You died in my arms, sweetheart. How can you not remember this? I was fucking screaming at you—”

“Y/n! No, no, no, no, no. Stay with me, baby. Don’t you fucking close those beautiful eyes. Henderson! Go get Steve. Fucking hurry!”

“Be nice, a-asshole.”, you try to chuckle. “Eddie…I’m scared.”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of, ok? I’m right here and Steve is on his way. We’re gonna get you to a hospital. I just need you to keep talking with me.”

“I lo-ove you both…so much.”

“Hey, don’t you do that. Don’t fucking tell me goodbye!”

“It’s not goodbye… it’s—”

“…See you later.”

When you cut off Eddie’s story, his eyes locked with yours and for just a moment he saw the old you reflecting back within them. Their tiny victory was short lived however when your features hardened once more and you spit in their direction. 

“Let me go now and I promise to kill you quickly.”

“What should we do?”, Steve asked his friend, ignoring your threat. “We can’t tell the others about her because then they may want to kill her.”

“Maybe we can take turns watching her and talking to her? Get her to remember who she is.”

“And what if that’s a lost cause?”

Both men glanced your way as you tried to pull out of your binds.

“Then…we kill her.”

####################

While Steve laid in bed, he stared at the ceiling above completely unable to sleep as the events of the night you died run through his mind. 

He, Nancy, and Robin ran to where Eddie was clutching your limp body to his chest as he sobbed. 

“No! NO! What happened?!”, Steve screamed as he slid to his friend’s side. 

“She didn’t come through with us when we went back through the gate. She stayed behind to distract the bats and fight.”

“O-Ok. Ok, um, need to get her…get her to a…a hospital.”

“Steve—”

“NO!”, he shouted cutting Robin off as he reached over to pry you from the metalhead’s grasp. Dustin placed his hand on his shoulder when it took him a moment to let you go. “Honey?” His voice cracked when he felt how cold your skin was as he cupped your cheek in his palm. “Y/N, come back, baby. We won. We beat him. Vecna’s gone. We-We can go home.”

When your body remained lifeless in his arms, he desperately shook you.

“WAKE UP, Y/N! PLEASE!”

The realm around them began to quake almost knocking them off their feet. 

“We need to go NOW!”, Nancy instructed. 

“Ok, we-we need to lift her and—”

“We can’t Steve. We’ll barely be able to get Dustin back through and—”

“I’M NOT LEAVING HER HERE!”

“Neither am I.”, Eddie growled angrily at the thought. 

“I don’t blame you for having to leave me behind.”, the vision of you coos softly from beside him. “Maybe if you hadn’t I wouldn’t be in the living room right now.”

“That’s not you.”, Steve whispered. “Whoever that is, is what Vecna made her to be.”

“Hm. That’s one way to look at it. What if a version of me was hidden there the whole time and you didn’t know.”

“Please. The girl we knew would never let anyone tell her what to do.”

“Oh wow. Is little Stevie disappointed?” When he rolled away from you, your light laugh echoed in his ears. “You always did like those nights when I took control, didn’t you?”

***

“He’s talking to himself in there.”, you say sarcastically to the metalhead sitting on the counter in front of you strumming his guitar. 

“Yeah…he does that. He’s actually talk to you; a version of you.”

“Hm. We’ll that’s pathetic.” When he doesn’t respond or react to your words, your try to pull at your binds to no avail. “Do you also talk to a figment of your imagination?”

“Sometimes but I go to your grave to do that so I seem less insane.”, Eddie sighs as he readjusts his instrument. 

When his fingers start making a melody, you freeze as you listen to the notes. 

“I know that.”

A small smirk paints his lips as he plays a bit louder but softly murmurs some lyrics. 

“In touch with the ground I'm on the hunt, I'm after you Smell like I sound, I'm lost in a crowd And I'm hungry like the wolf.”

“You always loved that song. I would tease you because you would stop anything you were doing to watch the music video if it came on.”, he chuckles at the memory. 

“It was the fedora hats. Gave off this Indiana Jones vibe I always found attractive.”, the image of you beside Eddie laughed along with him. 

“We surprised you once by buying the outfits they wear and dressing like the band for Halloween. You felt bad because you thought we should all match so we ran to the corner store and bought you this headband with ears and a tail you could clip to your jeans. As soon as we stepped outside you howled real loud like a wolf.”

Eddie’s head hung at the memory, desperately missing those times when you made him unbelievably happy. 

“Baby, it’s ok to have hope that you can bring me back. You know it will kill you if you both don’t try.”, you try to soothe as you step closer to him. “It also ok if I don’t but you accept this new…powerful…stronger…sexier version of me.”

The metalhead snorts out another laugh as he glances towards the chained-up version of you to find your black eyes watching him curiously. 

“Oh come on. I know the armor and attitude got you all riled up.”

“Am I turning you on, freak, or the imaginary friend you both talk to?” A wide toothy smile stretched across your face as you inhaled through your nose. “The other asshole is turned on to if it makes you feel better.”

Eddie listened to you manically laugh as he jumped down from the counter so his friend could take over watching you. He couldn’t handle your snarky attitude anymore. 

#################

“Hey, man. You alright?”, Steve asked as his best friend sleepily came down the hallway rubbing his eyes. 

“Yeah. I think I slept for like a total of 20 minutes.” Eddie’s gaze shifts to your sleeping frame that was now sitting on the floor with your head resting on your shoulder. “When did she knock out?”

“Um, around 6am. I was going to ask you; it seems like she’s a vampire like you said. She has the fangs and hates the sun.”

“Hm and the silver chains seem to be keeping her in place. She’s probably going to be hungry soon. I wonder how she eats. I mean it’s not like Vecna is the kind of asshole to give her blood.”

“Ed…she’s killed a lot of people, remember?”

“Steve?”

The sound of you calling out the man’s name grabbed their attention as the metalhead slowly stepped closer to you. Your eyes were still closed but your breathing had gotten shallow as your head lolled to the other side. 

“Y/N?”

“Steve…Eddie’s…missing…”

The former jock’s eyes widened at your words as the memory flashed through his mind. 

“STEVE! Did you see—”

“Yeah, baby, I did.”, he pants out as he runs around the Family Video counter to take you in his arms. 

“Eddie’s missing! We have to find him! He’s probably terrified and panicking.”

“He’s probably at another friend’s house.”, Robin suggested. “Do you know who else he could be with?”

“I’m right here, sweetheart. I’m not missing anymore. You found me…you always did.”, he cooed. 

His ringed hand shook as he slowly reached for your cheek, breathing a heavy sigh of pleasure when his thumb caressed your cool skin. 

A low rumble left your chest and he promptly retracted when your eyes snapped open. 

“Don’t fucking touch me!”

“You were having a memory.”

“One of your lies imprinted in my brain!”

Steve angerly kicked one of the lower cabinets before leaning against the counter. A thought crossed his mind and you both watched him as he ran to the tv, searching through the plethora of VHS’s before finding what he wanted. 

Standing back, he pushed a button on the remote and the sound of your laugh echoed through the apartment.

“Steve! I’m going to laugh if we play this back and you’ve been filming the wall the whole time!”

“Honey, the lens is pointing at us. How would it capture the wall?!”

“Here, maybe, if we squeeze closer together…”

“Eddie! You’re crushing my ribs!”, you whine as the metalhead pushes you three closer together. 

Their eyes scan you over as you watch the video in front of you and your whole demeanor softened. 

“You guys are so dumb.”, you giggle and sigh. 

“Yeah but you still love us.”

“Damn right.”, you coo as you tilt up to kiss Steve’s lips. “So why did you spend money on this bulky thing?”

“Because…a few years from now when we’re married and have our six to ten kids…” The boy smiled when you rolled your eyes and your palm reached up to pet Eddie’s curls as he laughed into your shoulder. “… we can look back on this and remember. Remember a time when we were done fighting monsters and villains. A time before I became some awesome businessman working with Robin and making a ton of money.”

“A time before I became a fucking rockstar and women were screaming my name.”

“Oh my god, Ed.”, you laugh before he grips your chin and turns you towards him. 

“I’m sure even then all I hear is you.”, Eddie smiles as he kisses your lips. “What about you, sweetheart? What will you be doing?”

You softly grin as you pull them closer. 

“I don’t know yet but as long as I’m with you two I know I’ll be happy.”

“…I know I’ll be happy.”

When your words echoed alongside the ones in the video, another pang of hope pierced their hearts. 

“Did we fake that? Or imprint the idea in your head?”, Steve asked trying to hide the pleading in his tone. “You loved us and we loved you.”

“So much.”, Eddie added. “Still do, baby.”

A tear fell down your cheek as your eyes stared into a void, fleeting subtly from left to right as if you were sifting through your brain trying to decipher what was real. 

“Leave me alone.”, you commanded in a soft tone as you hung your head. 

Nodding, they did what you ask, surprising even you when they didn’t try to argue back.

***

“Ed! Wake up, man. Something’s wrong.”

Eddie’s head shot up from the chair he had fallen asleep on as his friend began to shake him. 

“Wha--? What’s happening?”

“I don’t know. She’s really clammy and growling.”

Without hesitation, he headed your way and carefully took you in. Your eyes were now fully black as your head leaned back against the wall and you panted heavily. Your shirt was damp against your chest as sweat fell from your temple and your stomach rumbled. 

“What’s wrong, Y/N?”

When you didn’t answer, he stepped forward before abruptly pausing when you hissed his way. 

“Hungry.”

“O-Ok. Um, what do you eat? Do need blood?” As he began taking off his bracelets and rings, Steve grabbed his shoulder to stop him. “She needs to eat or she’ll die, Steve.”

“What if she kills you?”

“Then she kills me. I lost her once; I’m not losing her again.”

You blinked as you listened to them speak in such absolutes about you. Your master told you that they were vile, selfish men who left you for dead to save themselves. But then why were they offering to feed you? Why were they trying so hard to keep you around?

“Here, sweetheart, take what you need.” When he noticed you looking at the scars on his wrist, Eddie lightly chuckled. “My, uh, beauty wound.”

“I…have them…to.”

“Yeah.”, he sighed. “I tried to save you but those little fuckers were everywhere. They got me pinned before I could get to you but, um, thankfully Steve saved the day.”

“Y/N! Y/N, I’m coming, princess. Fuck! Let me—ugh!—let me go!”

You shook out his voice screaming inside your head as pain shot through your body and you growled. 

“Shit. Ok, come on, Y/N. Go ahead and eat.”, the metalhead instructed as he placed his wrist by your lips. His scent wafted into your nose as another memory filled your brain. 

“The fuck are you doing you, weirdo?”, Eddie teases when he feels you inhale and nuzzle into his neck while you were straddling his lap as he tried to read. 

“I like the way you smell.”

He cackles through his teeth making you smile as you hug him tighter. 

“I smell disgusting. I haven’t showered in like three days and you know I smoke like a chimney.”

Tilting back, you tenderly kiss his lips. 

“Its YOU. I love the way YOU smell.”

While you were lost in your head, Eddie couldn’t help but caress your cheek and to his pleasure you turned into his palm. 

Suddenly, your teeth sunk into his flesh making him wince as the other boy stepped forward before he held up his free hand to stop him. As you drained his blood his chocolate eyes flutter closed as he groaned, falling towards you as his palm shot out to catch himself against the wall. 

“Talk to me, Munson.”

When his friend didn’t respond, Steve swiftly jumped into action, yanking him from you so hard he fell to the floor. You loudly growled at the action, your wings expanding as you push forward and broke the chain around you. Tackling him to the ground, he did his best to fight against you but you were stronger as your fangs sunk into his neck. 

The former jock’s fight slowly left him as his panicked whimpers were replaced with hefty groans of need as his fingers reached up to lace in your hair. 

“Ok, now look.”

As you slowly open your eyes and see your reflection in the mirror, you let out a loud “HA!” as you cover your mouth to stifle the rest from escaping.  

“What?! You don’t like it?”, Steve teases with a big grin as his large hand lightly pats your floofy hair being held up currently by a ton of hairspray. “You said you wanted to look like Madonna in that one video and for some reason trusted me to accomplish that.”

“I just thought that Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington would have some knowledge into hair.”

“Well, honey that was your mistake, not mine.” The boy’s laugh echoes through his always empty home as you gently hit his arm and he falls onto his back bringing you with him. “I still think you look beautiful.”

Your smile grows as you kiss his lips and he wraps his arms around you. 

“Eddie’s gonna have a field day though.”

“What?”, Steve asked breathlessly as he cupped your cheeks. “Keep going, baby. T-Take it. Take it all if you need to.”

At his words, a bunch of memories flash through your mind at once, overloading your brain as you tumble backwards on to the floor. 

“Whoa! What’s going on, sweetheart?”, Eddie asked as he hastily slid to your side. 

“I guess, um, we’re lab partners today?”, Steve forces a smile as he extends his hand to you. “I’m Steve Harrington.”

Eddie cautiously hands you a cigarette as he eyes you up and down as you both lean against the brick wall. “I’m Eddie…Eddie Munson. What’s your name?”

“Christ, I suck at this. The last person I said this to didn’t feel the same but…I don’t know…It’s just different…with you. What I’m trying to say, Y/N, is…I love you.”

“I love you, sweetheart, so much. I never thought I’d ever feel this way about anyone.”

“STEVE! Oh my God! Are you alright? When you got pulled under again I got so scared. Oh, fuck you’re bleeding. Nancy, do you have anything we can wrap around him?”

“I’m buying you more time. Don’t worry, Eddie, you can spank me after we finish this.”

“Y/N! No! Baby, please! Y/N! Y/N! Y/N.” 

Both men covered their ear as you tilted your head back and screamed. Before either of them could do anything about it, your wings expanded and you flew out the window.

#################

“What happened?”, Dustin asked after Eddie silently opened their front door and he saw their destroyed apartment. “We, um, Mike, Nancy, Robin, and I have been trying to call you guys these past couple of days. Did something happen? Someone break in?”

“No…nothing happened.”, the metalhead responded sullenly as he threw himself down on the couch. 

The young boy’s eyes flicked to Steve who was seemingly fuming as he paced back and forth in their kitchen.

“Did you get cut?”, Dustin inquired as he gestured towards his friend’s neck. 

“She has to come back. We know she’ll come back. She’ll remember. She’ll remember. She’ll remember.”

“Ok, no. Something’s not right! Now tell me or—”

“Or what?”, the former jock snapped. “Or WHAT, Henderson?!” Thrown off guard by his tone, Dustin slowly backed towards the door as his friend stalked his way. “Nothing then? Didn’t think so.” After lightly shoving the boy’s chest, he slammed the door and went back into the kitchen to pace. 

“That was rude.”, the vision of you scolded.

“Fuck OFF.”

“Oooo Mr. Harrington… are you…needy?”, you cackle mockingly as he glares your way. “Hmmm. Who would have thought you were into biting?”

“I’m not…you…you did something…”

“Who? Vampire Kas me? Ha! To be fair, it’s been, what, five months since either of you have gotten any? Feeling me on your lap again probably kick started your cock, you bad boy.”

The sound of glass shatters loudly as Steve throws a plate against the wall towards the vision of you. 

“Would you calm the fuck down!?”, Eddie shouts. 

“Fuck you!! Fuck everybody!”

The metalhead rises to his feet and stomps towards his friend before shoving his chest. 

“I feel it to but you don’t see me screaming at hallucinations and throwing shit!”

“Ugh! What did she do, Munson?!”

“She’s a fucking vampire now, right? Bats give off pheromones… Don’t look at me like that, Harrington! I don’t see you coming up with anything better!”

As night fell, they did everything they could to distract themselves but images of you constantly clouded their mind way more than before. They barely even heard it when your feet landed on the tile in the kitchen and your wings retracted. 

When their eyes landed on you, they thought they were envisioning you again. Your hair was laying down against your shoulders along a clean white tank top with matching shorts. Slowly, you tip toed to the couch where Eddie was laying drenched in sweat. Silently, you grabbed the back of his hand and place his palm against your cheek as you keened into the feeling. 

When his eyes found yours, his eyebrows knitted together as he pushed up on his elbow and his thumb ran along the purple bruise under your eye. 

“What happened, princess?”

Steve crawled from his place on the floor near the hallway till he was right beside you both and used his fingers to brush your hair behind your ear.

“Did I do that? Did we…?”

You shook your head as your gaze averted from theirs. 

“I…I asked my master…too many questions…”

The boy growled as he forced himself to his feet and stumbled towards the sword he had defeated you with on the ground. 

“I helped kill that fucker once, I can do it again.” 

Steve blinked in surprise when you were suddenly in front of him, gently prying the weapon from his hand. As he fell back against the wall, you fell into him and he limply circled his arms around you. 

“I’m sorry, honey. We’re not all…all here…”

Tenderly grabbing his hands, you placed them higher up your back before the sound of your wings expanding filled the apartment causing Eddie to roll off the couch and stagger your way. 

“No, NO, sweetheart, please…don’t go…”

Shaking your head, you place him beside his friend and lightly flap your wings their way. That feeling of need washed over them again causing both men to groan. 

“You were too close.”, you say as you gesture behind you. “It’s meant for enemies…to defuse a situation…I panicked…too many memories.”, you whisper sullenly. 

The metalhead tugs on your wrist, bringing you to him as he pushes your head against him. When your lips pressed against one of his tattoos, he practically melted, moaning at the action. Steve followed with a mewl of his own when your hand reached out to run along the hair that was sticking to his sweaty chest. 

A prominent whine escaped them as you took a few steps back with Eddie falling to his knees and crawling as he tried remaining as close to you as possible. Your eyelids fluttered as his lips trailed from your feet, along your calf, and up your thigh till he reached your stomach. 

After petting the long-haired boy’s head, you sauntered past them both down the hallway, pausing to beckon them with your finger and both men immediately follow. Laying down on the bed, they kiss and run their tongues along any part of your skin they can reach from your neck to the tips of your fingers.

Each pant and heavy whimper that left their mouths knocked something loose in your mind that turned you on more and more. 

“That’s it, Eddie, baby. Harder, please.”

“Fuck, Steve, I can feel you in my stomach.”

“Oh my God, pretty girl. You’re so fucking tight. You take us both so well.”

“That’s it, sweetheart. Ride my cock just like that.”

Lightly guiding his head with your fingers in his hair, you maneuvered Steve between your legs and helped him pull down your shorts while Eddie did the same with your top. 

The metalhead promptly latched onto your tit as the pretty boy pressed gentle kisses against your pussy lips till his tongue licked a long stripe through your folds. 

“Oh fuck, honey. I-I never thought I’d be able to taste you again. Still so fucking sweet.”

As his face fell back in your cunt and his mouth wrapped around your clit, your fingers softly played with his hair.

“That’s it, Steve. Such a good boy for me making me feel so good.”

Jealousy coursed through Eddie at the encouragement, desperately wanting it as well. Rings dug into your flesh as the long-haired boy sucked and nibbled on your breast a bit harder causing your back to arch into the man below. 

“Aw—mmm—does Eddie need some attention to? Fuck, your both gonna make me cum.” 

Both men hurried their rhythm just as desperate to hear you come undone and as you tumbled over the edge, you clung to them tightly as continuous moans fell from your lips. Grinning drunkenly, it took you some time to come down from your high but when you did you were met with animalist grunts as they pushed at each other. 

“You just ate her out! Why do you get to fuck her first?

“Because I can!”

A gruff growl left your throat as you pushed up and gripped Steve’s chin between your fingers roughly. 

“Don’t be greedy, Steve Harrington. You’re both mine and you’ve had a taste. It’s his turn.”

The boy nodded when you let him go, pressing his lips to yours.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. You’re right. You’re right. Forgive me, baby, please.” At his last sentence, Steve’s voice cracked in pain and in return you kissed his forehead. “Thank you. I’m sorry, Ed. I’m so sorry.”

The metalhead curtly nodded as if to say he forgave his friend and when he turned to focus on you, he was rewarded with your legs open wide as your hand rubbed slow circles against your clit.

“Come here, Eddie. I can help make you feel better.”

After climbing the length of your body, his beautiful, glassy eyes locked with yours as he slowly guided his cock into your warm core making him loudly groan. 

“Ahhh my god, Y/N. Y-You feel…” He tried to control the strain in his tone but Eddie was so overwhelmed by the feeling of you as he delivered small, pointed thrusts that had little pants falling from your lips. 

“How do I feel, baby? Tell me.”

His long hair tickled your cheek as his head fell beside yours and your legs wrapped around his waist pushing him closer to you.

“You feel so fucking good. I missed you so much, sweetheart, you have no fucking idea. I’m sorry I failed to bring you back. I broke our promise.”

“You’re safe with me, pretty girl, and I promise nothing is ever going to hurt you as long as I’m here.”

Clinging to him, your lips tenderly kiss the skin along his shoulder as Eddie’s pace hastens and his hips slam aggressively into your own. 

“It’s ok, baby. You did everything y-you could.” You tried to say that as confidently as you could but the truth of the matter was you just didn’t remember. These past couple of days, your brain had been sifting through two timelines and it felt like sometimes you were viewing someone else’s life. But they were hurting and you could feel the sincerity when they spoke. 

Your master told you he loved you and would protect you; that he would never lie to you. But when you asked him questions about your memories, he became angry.

“WHY ARE YOU QUESTIONING ME?! After everything I’ve done for you, Y/N. You let them get in your head didn’t you? Made you weak? I knew I should I have left you on the concrete.”

“Hey. Hey, hey, hey.”, Eddie cooed as he lifted on to his elbow to look you over when he heard you start to sniffle. “Are you ok? Am I hurting you?”

Shaking your head, you encourage him with your palms to keep moving. His lips gently press a kiss to your forehead and down to your cheek as finds his rhythm again.

“Just l-like that, sweetheart, fuck. Your cock is so deep, Eddie.”, you whisper in his ear. “I love you.” 

Your eyes roll back as the coil snaps and your nails drag almost painfully down his back but the metalhead doesn’t care as he chases his high, falling flat on top of you as he rolls his hips and releases his seed inside of you.

“Good boy, baby. It’s Steve’s turn now, ok?”

Lazily nodding, he rolled to away from you as the other boy grabbed your arm and pulled you his chest while he laid on his side. After lifting your leg and hooking his arm under your knee, you helped guide his length into your sensitive hole causing your back to arch off the bed as you moaned. 

“Mmm—Stevie, oh my God—you’re so big. Stretching me open, baby boy.”

“Fuck.”, he groaned as he steadily pumped his hips. “Look at me, honey, please. I n-need to see your face.” When you craned your neck to do what he asked, his palm grazed your forehead, moving your hair back so he could see everything with no obstruction. “I missed you, Y/N. F-Fucking—mmm—dreamed about you every night.”

You mewled as he pounded into you and his arms abruptly pulled your body tighter against him.

“I tried, Y/N. I prayed you would never see the monsters in this town. I tried to—mmph—shield you.”

“Steven! What aren’t you telling me!” The man’s head hangs as he sits in his bedroom after you and Eddie picked him up from the hospital after the mall caught fire. “Baby…look at your face. That’s not just from a fire. Someone hurt you… Please…”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”, he murmured under his breath. 

Reaching out with your fingers to move his hair, Steve winces as a tear falls from his wounded eye. 

"Try us.”

Your fingers thread through his as his rhythm picks up and his cock abuses that spongey spot inside of you. 

“I’m sorry, baby. W-We weren’t fast enough…”

“It’s not your fault. Make me cum, Steve, please.” Pushing up on his elbow, his eyes met yours as he did what you asked and your mouth fell open in a silent moan as he thrust into you harder. “I love you to.”

Lips crashed to yours as your body trembled and you came with him following as he warmed your insides.

Both men clung to you as the kissed along your sweaty skin, thankful that you were between them once again. 

################

Vecna sighs from his spot in his crumbling home those insignificant kids tried to burn down. Idiots. He was slowly getting stronger and soon they would feel his wrath. Until then he had to depend on you; a friend and girlfriend to the people he despised. You had proven useful these past few months but when you disappeared, he thought they had killed you and began moving forward with his plan without you. 

When you flew in with half your armor missing and blood dripping from your mouth…he was disappointed. 

“What took you so long? I thought you were dead.”

Your head tilted at his aloof tone as you fought the urge to cry.

“I’m sorry, Master. Eddie and Steve were much harder to dispatch than I thought.”

“Hm. Eddie and Steve, huh? I thought they were the freak and asshole. At least that what’s you called them.”

“I-I-I…”

“Fitting men who hurt you and left you to die.”

“Did they?”

You didn’t mean to say it out loud but you still stood up straighter when he turned to face you, his intimidating eyes taking you in as he stepped forward. 

“Are you questioning me?”

“No…N-No, sir. I just…I’ve been having these…flashes and—”

Vecna’s large hand across your face cut you off as he smacked you hard and you fell to the ground. He reprimanded you and you flew away to your “home” to rest so you could go back out when night fell again. You thought he didn’t know your secrets but he always did. This WHOLE WORLD was his home. 

He felt the wind of your wings when you descended to the apartment building you felt safe in for some reason. The vine that you moved out of the way as you opened the window to a “random” apartment and curled up on a dusty bed. The pin of the thumb tac you put in the wall to replace the generic frames that were there with a banner from the trailer you explored next to where you woke up. 

You didn’t know what “Corroded Coffin” was but for some reason the design gave you peace. After removing your armor, you would sift through your closet for clothes you lifted from that same trailer and another house a few miles down the way. Dozens of polo shirts and band tee’s that were much bigger than your tiny frame but they calmed you as soon as you put them on. 

You had hidden little Knick knacks in the drawer nearby hoping one day you’d get the courage to ask your master why they felt so important to you. There was a 20-sided die beside a book with notes about dragons and dungeons and hair gel that smelled familiar but you couldn’t pinpoint where. You had four metal rings that sometimes you put on your fingers as you slept feeling like someone was holding your hand in the dark when you did. In the house you found the polos in, there was a pair of sunglasses on the dresser that you ignored at first because there was no sun here but something in your stomach tugged at you to bring them with you. 

“Weak”, Vecna thought every single time. 

When morning came around and you didn’t come home again he shifted from disappointed to annoyed. Maybe he needed to do this particular task himself. He still wasn’t as strong as he was before but he had enough strength to take out two measly men. 

You would learn…one way or another…

****

You gasp as the strong feeling that woke you slowly recedes but are hit with the peak of sunlight that penetrates the through the crack in the shades causing you to hiss as you jump out of bed and push your back to a corner. 

“Whoa! Ok, baby. It’s ok!”, Steve calms as he hastily throws off the covers and runs to fully cover the part of the window that had sun coming through. 

Eddie slides down to his knees in front of you as his eyes look you over with concern. 

“What’s going on, Y/N? What happened?”

“We…we…we have to…I have to go… I have to…”

“Sweetheart, it’s noon. The sun will hurt you—”

“Ok, then you need to leave. Right now. RIGHT NOW!”

As you stand up and start to push forward, ring covered fingers keep you in place before you growl and the man lets you go holding his palms in the air.  

“Just talk to us, honey. What’s going on? Let us help you.”, Steve pleads as he takes his place at his friend’s side. 

“He’s coming for you because I failed.”

“Who?”

Your worried gaze shifts between them both as you sigh and shake your head, annoyed that they don’t already know. 

“Who’s coming for us, baby?”, Eddie asked again as he stepped towards you and carefully pushed some of your hair behind your ear. Closing your eyes, you turn your cheek into his palm and kiss the skin as you place your hand over the back of his own. 

“My master.”

###############

Tip/ Ko-Fi :)

@dashingdeb16 @nailbatanddungeon @hardladyheart @hiscrimsonangel @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @iheartmyguitars

[dayshift-confessions]

(To the davesport is toxic anon, Respectfully)

That was A LOT!

I'll quote specific things from that essay to respond to, btw thank you I can finally go over the things that most people ignore in the story [:

So get ready cause it might get longer than a chapter of dearly detested!

"Just because Dave isn't aware of how awfulhe's being to Jack doesn't mean he still isn't being that way."

Never said he isn't being that way, breaking into someone's property isn't morally good! Nor is killing kids!

if it were actual people with common sense, yeah that'd be toxic.

But does an orange man who kill kids just beacuse a random SCP with a new york accent told him that it'd get him out of the contract he signed have any common sense?

"Let's start with the good endings. The ones where Jack ceases to do anything harmful. Dave continuously pops up, preys on his insecurities 'You're only about as human as a hammer or a wrench, sportsy, and that's what I and phoney see you as.'"

And why wouldn't he..???

seeing the context, Jack works against him.

Like a brick wall, slowing him down from revenging the man he cares about the most.

Not to mention, he is actually furious against Jack there.

Just look at his diary (company computer). In the first day, he is all excited to continue his partnership with his new fella, but when we refuse? He is furious. He feels betrayed.

So how can we tell if they'd be toxic with each other in a relationship by comparing a single line from a route where they're literally enemies. Also, in that same route, Jack still happily says hi to Dave(trap).

Peter literally had to remind him not to befriend the enemy😭🙏

Cause again, Jack doesn't care all that much.

"He still follows Jack from location to location."

That's actually the contrary.. Dave is always seen to be there before we get the job. WE find him, not the other way around.

And in the other locations Jack worked at, Dave was never stated to be there.

"Dave is horribly attached to someone he sees as a tool. This is EXTREMELY unhealthy for both him AND especially Jack."

Ok, and that's the point where things start getting into a mess.

Dave. Never. Saw Jack. As a tool.

Doggo stated that himself: Dave saw Jack as a replacement for Henry. and you'll see how everything goes into a full circle when we arrive at your final point.

But first off, let's start with the marrion ending flashback.

Dave immediately starts comparing every part of Jack to Henry's.

The scars. The eyes. The soulless grin.

He says he is perfect.

If Jack represents Henry to Dave, he is everything but a tool in his mind.

But something to note, im talking about dsaf 1 dave, Jack is basically a Henry's lookalike stranger to him.

Now you would wonder why he abandoned us every time we failed at something.. well, it's simply because he has based standards for Henry, and we all know what they are. So If we aint worthy of doing everything right like henry does,, we are out of his legacy. (Again, dsaf 1.)

But by dsaf 2, he spends more time with old sport and starts appreciating Jack for who he is, not who he looks like.

The real noticeable shift is when we play as peter in dsaf 2, and Dave says "the fucker tried to do a flip in a springlock suit! I love that bastard."

First time we see him actually appreciating Jack's character, he is starting to know him, finds him FUNNY, something that Henry isn't.

But dont expect him to like us the first time he sees us step into that saferoom and sniff some coke with him in vegas

"Yes, this is a product of what Henry did to him, but he still does it. He still preys on Jack, because he's perceptive enough to notice his weaknesses and use them to gain what he wants."

How's Dave a mastermind using someone's insecurities in his advantage when he is just bold with every single aspect of himself. Literally telling a stranger within the 4 seconds of meeting him, he killed tons of toddlers.

He doesn't manipulate Jack in any way since we can literally get out of his plan whenever we want to, and the times when he kills us afterward are almost all by accident. (In Dsaf 1 AND in dsaf 2)

Our ONLY positive responses to him telling us his entire plan are:

"Sure, why the heck not?"

OR

"Anything to get away from this job."

"And Jack. Jack 'seems' to be okay with it, but he's notorious for pushing down his feelings. He's not a "human, after all, so why should he care what happens to him? This mindset is exactly why Dave is able to get him to do anything in the first place."

That's also one of the main problems

Most things go into the headcanon section, and things that weren't directly confirmed in game, nor by doggo.

And it's totally ok, but from an official game perspective, the only confirmed aspect here is

the fact that Jack has a hard time expressing his feelings, doggo confirmed it on his tumblr responding to an ask basically asking who Jack generally is as a person:

"Firstly, Jack is a bastardman not very touchy-feely. We can see this in many scenes, where Dave more or less says "I love you" and Jack responds with deflecting humour. or outright scorn When Dave says it for the final time, this time, Jack tries to say it back, but can't outright, only getting out: "Why is this so hard?" and "I hope you can find peace with what you've done." Which Dave understood the meaning of.(Hey, better than Henry (LEGACY Jack) hearing "I love you" and proceeding to tear Dave limb from limb, huh?"

So yes, that part is canon, but the rest? Who tells you he only 'SEEMS' ok with it.

But, if you prefer it like that, thats totally fine.

Everyone is allowed to like it how they want, that's what a fandom's about <:

"Dave went into him and Jack's partnership with the intention to use, abuse, then throw him out. Even in the bad ending of DSAF 1, it ends up with Jack thrown out on the side of the road for "hoarding coke." Dave's plans changed, of course, but his methods of coercion never changed"

Dave will NEVER throw you out if you work with him according to plan.

And about the ditching him in vegas part, that was in dsaf 1, and again, Jack is still a stranger to him at that point. Plus it isnt like he doomed Jack for going back home without alerting him? Jack can take the bus back to Colorado on himself.

And they fought over coke. Can you imagine how high the both of them were?

Dave was just mad, so he left without him!

"Fun thing, did you know that Dave was lying in the first game when he said that he needed Jack to get him out of Freddy's?"

Indeed, i did know! But i alas i also know that that was old info from doggo's deleted tumblr account, and thus, nuffin in it should be taken as accurate.

Also, because it absolutely makes no sense since the phone guys themselves say that the employees who tried scaping freddy's were found and killed! Dead in the ben outside freddy's! Charming

And also assuming Dave actually lied, that would throw the entire concept of the red contract out of the window.

Y'know the contract Steven warns about, because since he signed it he wasn't allowed to see his nonexistent family for the past 10 years or smth!

So yeah, Dave was definitely not lying, for all these in-game reasons.

"And before you say..."It's mutually toxic, what about the end of bad route DSAF 3???!!" Yeah okay that still isn't a mutually toxic relationship. Jack was coerced into a rigged springlock suit that Davetrap KNEW would end up with Jack getting impaled, all because Davetrap wanted to make himself feel better about his own physical state."

First off i have no idea what you were talking about in the first part, cause i dont think its at all mutually toxic in dsaf 3, Davetrap is just a whole other story because he ISNT stable at that point, and Jack doesn't change all that much other than growing in maturity.

But we are not talking about THIS right now, we are gonna talk about the full circle thing I referenced earlier.

Davetrap, NEVER springlocked Jack because he wanted to feel better about himself. (In fact, at that time, he left better than ever in it. It was the first thing Henry built for him, a GOLDEN RABBIT according to doggo's dsaftales: "nothing", Da golden rabbit was like a GIFT for Dave. So he felt like he was GIFTING this to Jack at best, and he literally refers to it as a gift too)

Davetrap still sees Jack as Henry.

Davetrap's WHOLE character is about the part that got the most fucked up by henry, the part that can't let go.

The part that still sees Jack as Henry's vessel.

Notice in which suit Dave springlocks Jack.

It's Henry's. Henry's suit.

And that's when everything goes into a full circle.

For Davetrap, at that instant its all coming together.

Him and Henry, reaching vegas, reliving the golden days, filling the empty hole inside of him.

But all that ends up being in vain.

That's when we get the plot twist that Dave can't actually feel anything bla bla bla lobotomy bla bla bla realizes all of Henry's bullshit bla bla bla yknow the slack

Oh and Flipside Dave, in doggo's words, is as Dave when he was a child, aka no lobotomy, just lies fed to him, thats why he turns against Herny so easily.

Btw guys, if you are in lack of lore or anything, just go on doggo's tumblr, search anything Dave, davetrap, Henry related and boom, Doggo spills the lore for you! (You gotta scroll down a hundred posts though.)

Oh also about the "I don't want you to take that kind of relationship as an example"

Trust me, I won't, I'm aroace and do not plan on killing toddlers any time soon!

But again, I see people that just find it more interesting to interpret them as toxic, and I totally agree, I FREAKIN LOVE TOXIC YAOI!

This whole thing was just to settle my point because it seems I didn't expend my yapping well enough in my last confession. BUBYE!

:o

[creatingblackcharacters]

Hello!

I've been reading your posts for a while now and they're incredibly informative. At the same time, they got me worried that I'm accidentally putting a racist portrayal of a black character in my story. Could you please help me with figuring out whether I'm just overreacting or are there things I should change? I really don't want to insult anyone with the character and it makes me lose sleep, to the point that I'm considering rewriting the whole story or even removing them to not accidentally hurt someone's feelings with her.

So just as a quick setup - the setting of the story is a somewhat modern fantasy with different humanoid races. There is racism and discrimination among them, but not based on their skin color, rather on their species. The overall story is kinda reminiscent of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice but more modern and fantasy elements

The character I'm so worried about is a black woman, representing the more discriminated race of this world. She's your typical self-sufficient freedom fighter, who eventually settles down with the main character (who's a white guy, but a member of the same species as her). A very important point of the story is that she gets killed by a person who's the closest thing this universe has to a police officer (they had a previous conflict + this guy is prejudiced against their species already). Then the story is about how her man tries to bring her back to life and does some fucked up stuff to achieve that but that's besides the point (I think). Oh, and also she uses the type of magic that's connected with shadows, but that's something she was born with, + it isn't related to her skin color.

On the other hand, whenever I introduce this character to my friends, they really like her, both in design, personality and story so I can't make up my mind, am I overreacting or am I actually doing something wrong? I'm considering completely rewriting the story (including a version that makes her the main character), or rewriting her as a character - I don't wanna completely scrap her, but I can imagine myself doing that if needed.

Sorry this ask is so long, I'm just really worried about writing a silly little fantasy story and accidentally turning it into a racist caricature 😅

You apologized for Black in another message, so that's fine.

As for your worries, please refer to the lesson series on stereotypes here! I would also just suggest running through the syllabus as a whole if you want to see if there's anything you missed that I can't determine from your description.

I also think you should definitely read this lesson on violence-

-especially since you want to make "Eurydice's" death reminiscent of racist police violence. You need to know the depth of what you're implying, with this, and how some people might not feel like a losing ending will be something they want to read- we already lose most of these cases in real life to systemic injustice.

[teasibby]

My thesis idea got approved and so far I am working on it under a wip name of "Storytelling and use of affects in Dungeons and Daddies". My first hypothesis is that Anthony's experience as a writer shines through in the base story and collective storytelling adds to that, with the dice bringing elements of improvisation and humour. That's all good, I am thriving with this section and it is so fun.

The part I am struggling is my second hypothesis is that each family represents some sort of conflict within them and each child represents an emotion. The dads need to face both, the emotion of the child and the conflict of the family before they can move on. The conflicts are handeled with a help of fantasy genre conventions. But this is where I am stuck in!

(The overanalytical drabbles of my ideas under the cut)

The Oaks are like super obviously dealing with a generational trauma that is a physical creature in the fantasy world. Lark and Sparrow are repserenting love and hate, both of them. The thing is that one internalises the hate and gives out love to cover it; one gets consumed by the hatered and aims it outside and is repulsed by the idea of love fixing everything.

The Stamplers on the other hand! The conflict starts out as Terry rejecting the idea of Ron as a "new father". He is grieving, not ready to let go of Terry sr. He goes through literally every step mentioned in Patrick Colm Hogan's book "What Literature Teaches Us about Emotion" (2011) So Terry represent grief, quite clearly. But that conflict is solved by the end of Saving Terry arc! The next conflict starts when we get to Ron's memories and we see how Ron never recieved parental love. It is being spelled out how Ron tries so hard to be something he never got to have; a safe father figure. But Ron doesn't have quite as clear conflict as Henry or say Darryl have, and I am struggling to put this thought out with fewer words.

Aaand The Willsons have such a good conflict and Grant says it out loud, thank you Anthony! They speak, but they never talk. Carol and Darryl's marriage is falling apart because they do not talk about the things that are bothering them. They are stuck to pretending that everything is okay, taxes mean sex and movienights are dates. Very safe, very mundane, very not passionate. Grant has never seen his father cry. When Yeet and Killa are discussing if Grant should kill someone or not, Grant says out loud the problem in their family "If my father has taught me anything, it's that we can always talk about it later." He is just 12, but Darryl forgets that very effectively. He guides Grant by framing close and serious matters to be more distant. ("Hey buddy, I need your help here a bit. Kill that chimera and we can make burgers, you'd like a burger, Yeet would like a burger yes?") Grant therefore represents distance and not being good enough. Darryl is very proud of his son, but never says it to his face in a way that would reach. The silence is also funnily enough incorporated into the fact that Frank's vision can't talk to Darryl.

Finally, The Closes. Where do I even start. So the conflict is the other parent dying. It affects both of these characters but neither of them is willing to face that feeling. They wrap it in a narrative of "We will do. It's fine, I'm cool, doesn't even bother me". Where Terry is allowed to grieve his father, Nick is not (by Nick, I think he denies it himself in order to please or impress or appeal to Glenn). Glenn doesn't do it either, because as we hear in the trials, he felt like Nick needed a strong father who had his shit together. The moment Morgan was gone, Glenn switched to a survival mode. They both describe their relationship to be buddy-like and "tight", they are very laid back. As much as Darryl, Glenn also tends to forget that Nick is like what, 12. I think Nick's need for a father can be found in his saving arc. He's so excited to have found a forest full of drug-flowers, because he knows Glenn likes that. He asks if they can "leave the others behind and stay here". The fantastic isn't scaring Nick, he sees it as an oppoturnity where Glenn isn't going away and he gets to be around him. But where I struggle is to put this in one emotion that Nick would represent. Is it seek of approval? Grief? Safety? Stability?

So... That's quite a lot. If you have any thoughts on the feelings or conflicts feel free to comment or slide into my DMs! I am not in the official discord but just know that if I were this would fly out there so fast. I also might not answer right away, I don't have this app on my phone lol.

I just need to get this out and I figured you might appreciate these more than my poor loved ones who don't even listen the podcast. My three hour yappings about each kid just goes straight through xd

[rainbowolfe]

Famine

Chaos | Pestilence | Conquest | Death

Finally... it is here.... delivered while I was asleep. The song's actually pretty good too.

Famine... and Pestilence, you say. Right after my theory about how Heket and Kallamar favor each other. They are two domains that go hand in hand, after all. Famine breeds disease.

Once again, a summary of the tarot cards first. Heket's cards are: The Bomb, The Arachnid, The Burning Dead, All Seeing Sun, The Hearts I, Telescope, The Hearts II, The Lovers II, and The Deal.

HEKET'S THE FUCKING LOVER?

I——This changes everything. Stop the fucking presses, I would've never guessed in a million years that she was supposed to be one of the Lovers. When she said she sacrificed, she was not fucking around.

Just another summary for now, but I'm having thoughts. Big thoughts.

-A connection to Paean, the Fleece of Fervour's Favor, Hathor, and maybe also Forneus.

-She's potentially missing "a pound of her flesh". In a theoretical sense, she's missing half her heart. One of her loved ones. ((Leshy))

-Either witnessed or was the cause of the wrongful death of a God, resulting in punishment (that eternal night mentioned in Chaos) for all.

-She belongs to the entity represented by the Leviathan Cross.

-Either she is the jealous Lover, and her partner is afraid of her. OR an actual spider is, and she's afraid of them. There are three options, and they're all purple.

-Something happened. Something big. Which leads directly into "The Deal" which most definitely connects back to Leshy dying/almost dying. She traded her owner/master for another.

On to the song!!

I thought the song was oddly repetitive, but thinking on it for a bit... I think that might be the point.

Because no matter what she did or said, the outcome was the same. All the pain, all the sacrifice, it was repeatedly not worth it. "Every vessel is the same." The content of what's said doesn't hold much substance* because it's more about how the content's being used.

Heket's story is a cycle of violence, vengeance, and misfortune that she can't break. (That or it's the irony of how she now has to experience what she subjected others to)

Speak no evil, as we bind the chains Cut my throat bloody, rags hide the pain. Each and every vessel ends the same. Broken, bleeding, underneath the blade.

I believe this part specifically is Heket speaking. The majority of the lines on this track are someone speaking directly to this entity. So Heket can either be this beginning voice or the speaker for the rest of the song. But she can't be both.

And the direct reference to a bloody, slit throat wrapped in rags makes it most likely that this is Heket. It would also be rather fitting for Heket's story to be spoken by a third party, because she can't speak. (And even when given the ability to speak, she chooses not to share)

Anywho.

I've always had the suspicion that Heket and Kallamar were vessels before they were Gods (to act as an opposite to Leshy and Shamura, who would've started as Gods because the being attached to their Crown was already dead). So this line about the fate of vessels interests me.

It could be taken as a throwaway line about the Bishops brutalizing Red Crown vessels, but "underneath the blade" is a pretty explicit reference to sacrifice. Which wasn't something done to the past Red Crown vessels. They would just be killed. And since they never completed their tasks, TOWW wouldn't sacrifice them either.

Another thing. The order of events is presented in reverse. Heket losing her voice comes after binding the chains. Binding the chains came after her throat being slit. Etc, etc. So it can't be talking about the vessels TOWW sent after his exile.

I would think this means Heket was a sacrifice turned vessel. Or a vessel about to face the inevitability of her position, depending on how you split that sentence up.

The one you serve can't help you now You slay my kin; I can't allow You will suffer. To this I vow The crops will wither as I drag you down

*Here's where that asterisk comes into play. Listening to it the first few dozen times, it sounds like Famine is just recounting the events of the game from Heket's POV. Which I thought was weird, because Leshy's song covers the past and alludes to greater events.

But what if these lyrics are about the past? And it's just that history is repeating itself.

This verse would suggest that someone seeks revenge on Heket after she kills their family. And oh boy, did they make good on their promise to make her suffer.

Heket was Damned and/or cursed in a way the others weren't.

Famine and Pestilence Will be your punishment And now your end awaits From which you can't repent

Just like in Chaos, this part is the Yellow Crown speaking through its wearer. First the original bearer, to Heket (and company). Then Heket, to Lamb (and company) but now the words are distorted and glitched.

Corrupted, if you will.

Though it would also be funny if this is meant to mean that Heket and Kallamar themselves are someone's punishment by way of existing.

Make your peace. Creature. You will not leave this temple Make your peace, creature. You will join your kin in slaughter.

Again referencing Chaos, this would be the actual embodiment of Famine speaking. The Old God attached to this Crown. Which, we don't have a name for like the other ones, but they do exist. The one who's corpse is apart of Spore Grotto ((and might not actually be dead in a way that matters)).

At some point in the timeline, Leshy is on the brink of death, saved only by the intervention of others. If Heket killed someone's family, then the logical conclusion would be that they kill her family back. Leshy's on his way out, and they intend to take Heket out next.

Of course they, uh, lose.

This might even be why this section loops and skips so much. They died. That's what the Bishops were doing in Purgatory. Experiencing the same final battle over and over and over again to the point of confusion. Even when they realized what they were doing wasn't real, they physically couldn't stop.

But for all that, there's no clear cut answer to who is speaking to Heket. Someone she wronged. Someone she defeated and forced to join her cult. Someone she's attacking under the instruction/will of someone else.

I underestimated The strength of your resolve Condemned to join the flock and follow And live out all my days in sorrow

Shot in the dark. It could be the Fanatic. They were tortured into submission; Heket is known for her brutality. There was exactly one God they cared about enough to call by name, and she was killed by one of the Bishops. Fanatic was so sure of their own resolve, that even they were surprised by how quickly they broke. And Fanatic's pilgrimage brought them to the Old God in Spore Grotto.

It's pretty heavily implied (imo) that they didn't kill Fanatic, so it would make sense that they were made to join the Old Faith as a Follower. Shamura was interested in their cooperation in the first place. And Fanatic certainly wasn't happy about the loss of their Crown, to put it lightly, whether or not they were recruited.

There is, additionally, the implication that whoever this is was a God of Death.

The crops will wither as I drag you down

Down to Hell. Down to the underworld. Down to the next life. The Realm Beyond. Wherever down is, it's related to the Death domain.

It could be Turua, who literally drags sacrifices down to... somewhere. And who also resides in "the depths".

It could even be Ala, who's real-world counterpart is responsible for both the judgment of the dead and the earth(soil). So the crops would certainly wither if she decreed it.

Pain prompts punishment.

[ancientbygone]

okay. Sleep Token/Teeth of God Slay the Princess AU, from someone who's never played Slay the Princess itself and has only watched videos and read the wiki and heard its friends talk about it, but thinks it has enough ground covered for a basic concept.

major spoilers for both Teeth of God and Slay the Princess ahead; i won't put them under the cut as i rely on folks who don't want to see that stuff to have blocked the tags or read the post from the beginning til now. sorry.

basic idea: this is an alternate ending to Teeth of God where the Director did not submit himself to the lunar anomaly but, much like StP's Narrator, has decided to try and stop it from destroying reality by imprisoning it in a construct and confining it to a being, as well as create another to kill it. an avatar. a vessel, if you will.

the thing is, unlike the Shifting Mound and the Long Quiet, i don't quite know where Sleep and Vessel stand in terms of what they are. Sleep is clearer to me - much like the Shifting Mound, it is change, metamorphosis, and, as things stand, death, too. Vessel... i'm not sure where he would come from, and thus not sure what he would represent. this could very well be different from the original narrative of StP, and have a different message and story entirely - given the theme of human connection throughout Sleep Token's history, Vessel could very well represent humanity's, and the Director's, last embers of hope and fervor to survive, but i don't quite know how to spin it.

in terms of appearances... much like the Player in StP is bird-like, Vessel would have more of an insectoid appearance, perhaps? drawing partially from the "angels" in ToG, for certain, and some from Euclid. Sleep (who would definitely need another title in its form like the Princess) i envision as the TMBTE titular creature/the God Mother, but way more... regular. human. no wings, no tendrils; a simpler dress, hair covering her face, perhaps a mouth peeking out from underneath it, sometimes. i am still committed to not giving Sleep a "normal" face. the variations would likely take from different TMBTE characters, and, perhaps, Vessel's stage appearances and masks in places (i definitely want to give the Nightmare Vessel's 1st full face mask haha). i definitely think she would go full on God Mother as the Tower & Apotheosis. the Beast & Den taking more influence from Vore, the Adversary & Eye of the Needle, perhaps, closer to The Apparition. i won't list everything out here. the Director, in his brief appearance... like the shards of a broken mirror and the shadow of a crow, i imagine that appearance to have something to do with his broken mask, and slowly revealing what he has turned into as he disappears.

the voices. i remember when i mentioned this crossover for the first time, someone said the voices would be the TMBTE characters. it's a fun idea, but i think it would be alright to just leave them shattered pieces of Vessel's psyche. perhaps model some of them after the other three vessels, because i really think that would be funny. dunno who would be who, though. i think iii as Smitten or Contrarian would be really fucking funny (though i also think he would pull the shit Opportunist does in The Princess and the Dragon). ii perhaps Skeptic, iv perhaps Cheated or Stubborn. i really dunno mate.

not much else i have to say on the matter, but here are the ideas for now. if you have suggestions, please do go ahead. i am not at all familiar with the game, to be completely fair, and i would appreciate help here LMAO

[banana-breaded]

Bryce Lawrence was an excellent plot device

both in how he represented the failings of the Twelfth Legion and how he presented Nico with a clear enemy in "HoO".

Starting with the latter, Bryce pursued Nico and co. in order to find Reyna and bring her back to the Romans to be unjustly tried and convicted. For what? He didn't know. Not until he overheard her confiding her darkest secret into Nico. Upon hearing this information he scorns Reyna for her past, for something that wasn't her fault or even bad, and promises that she will feel pain and shame when he informs everyone of it.

Quoting directly, Bryce says, "I can't wait until your little secret comes out."

This sentiment is then repeated in italics, serving to represent Nico's thoughts (since it's in his point of view) and how he therefore zeroed in on this statement. He did so because of his outrage for how his friend (!) was being treated, yes, but also because of how the statement mirrored his greatest fear.

Nico was petrified of his own secret being revealed, and being presented with a callous, cruel person who would obviously not accept him and instead revel in his despair was, as seen in the book, a switch being flipped for him. It's mentioned that whenever Nico felt like someone was judging him, he'd usually push them away by yelling at them. This means his typical response was one of anger, and in this case the anger was entirely justified.

Nico was tired of lurking in shadows, tired of fading away. Symbolically, he felt as if he couldn't be himself, not in broad daylight, in the view of others. He was tired of hate and grief welling up inside of him and not having an outlet, having someone to talk to because of his inner turmoil (though he was getting there with Reyna).

In that way, I think him disposing of Bryce was a release. To do so, he revealed all of his secrets, all of his darker emotions (which was most of them) and completely eviscerated a target, a clear enemy, in the process. I think that how easily this was done also serves to show that Bryce is nowhere near strong enough to endure what Nico has.

He did this not only to protect his friends, but to stand up for himself. Murder is usually not a condone-able thing, but since Bryce was explicitly portrayed as an unrepentant killer who delighted in harming and slaying innocents even if it meant ending the world, we can give Nico a pass on this one.

On a side note, I actually think Nico's way of getting rid of him, albeit dark, was merciful. Bryce was transformed into a nameless, voiceless, presumably personality-less spirit. This indicates that he probably ended up in Asphodel rather than the Fields of Punishment, where he was undoubtedly going otherwise. Personally, I think an eternity of nothingness is preferable over an eternity of excruciating pain, so Bryce got off easy.

And to address that first initial point, I think it's incredible that for all of the rules and structure of Camp Jupiter, they still manage to fail on so many fronts. Like in the case of how easy it was for a corrupt Apollo legacy to seize power, for one, and how that same legacy would be able to impale a fellow camper and get away with it.

No wonder Octavian took such a liking to Bryce.

Another failure would be how they decided that, rather than trying to detain or reform a murderer, it would be better just to unleash him onto an unsuspecting world of mortals. "Not our problem now, even though this unstable and cruel person who is more powerful than the average citizen, and who has a history of killing things, is now allowed to rampage without being monitored." Wouldn't you know, he ended up being a problem for the good guys (and likely committed several atrocities in the period in which he was left unchecked). Who woulda thunk it?

Needless to say, Nico's story has always been the most emotionally charged, the most filled with symbolism and growth, and the least fun for a character to experience*. No wonder he's such a fan favorite.

*seriously, everyone else had several wacky, zany adventures along side a large group of close friends, and the silliest things that ever happened to him up to this point were being turned into corn (not pleasant) and wearing funky shirts, and in the first scenario the people with him didn't even really want to be near him. and of course, he went through an ordeal, so yeah, not fun.

[anderscim]

// DRDT spoilers up until ch2 pt. 1

okay, so i actually do have a more… debatable reason why i believe J is the chapter 2 culprit. i’ve never mentioned it before, so i might as well.

time to break it down. ^^

————

again this is more of a personal interpretation that can be argued one way or the other, but for me, J’s secret quote regarding Mai Akasaki is one of the major indications of J being the culprit.

i’m not going to elaborate on what the secret quotes are since i assume many people know about them already—but for clarification, i am referring to the ones that appear on Mai Akasaki’s info page.

okay, so my point: until at least the chapter 2 victim, each character’s secret quote and/or bonus episode related to Mai Akasaki happens to be correlated with the reason behind their death.

i’m just going to work through some examples.

Xander’s quote regarding Mai is as follows:

“She couldn’t stand to do nothing.”

(also fun fact—when i went to fact-check, the first quote that appeared for me was coincidentally Xander’s. what luck.)

this quote is specifically about taking action—though we don’t have any details that could indicate what exactly Mai was trying to do, it might’ve been a plan exposing the fatal flaws of Hope’s Peak that went terribly wrong (and resulted in Mai’s own death).

in my own interpretation, Xander himself takes actions that represent the need to do what it takes to end the killing game, even if it means going against his own morals. but in the end, he trusts in himself that killing the-person-who-may-be-somewhat-responsible-for-the-killing-game is the right decision, and he goes through with the plan. this ended up in his attempt to murder Teruko, and consequently, his own death (though due to Min’s intervention). in other words, Xander’s choice to take action was the very decision that led to his downfall.

…please let this be a definitive correlation.

alright, moving on to Min’s quote regarding Mai:

“An average girl with nothing special at all about her.”

(´-`)

…okay, maybe not the most helpful. but there is a different source of information i can use, thankfully. time to refer back to Min’s bonus episode with Mai.

towards the end of the video, Min says this:

which is… incredibly ironic in correlation to the events of the first chapter. Min, in fact, does help someone. Teruko. Min defends her from Xander after he stabbed her. but Min’s intervention is exactly what led to Xander’s death—and consequently, what tied Min to the same fate. if Min hadn’t been there to defend Teruko (albeit the whole “manipulate the crime scene to make Teruko seem to be the culprit” part), she likely wouldn’t have died via execution like in chapter 1. so to me, Min’s desire to help others—as was detailed in her interaction with Mai—was exactly what led her to her fate.

either way, for both characters, a core theme that was involved in their “cause of death” (or motive to murder depending on how you look at it) was also closely linked to their relationship with Mai Akasaki.

okay, so how does this relate to J? at all?

well, uhm—might be best to take a look at J’s secret quote related to Mai.

“She kept it a secret, and told no one.”

this quote is very likely related to J’s connection to Mariabella Rosales—which is detailed very clearly in her motive secret.

so… quite frankly, i’m scared this is a major red flag. it feels very fitting for the person with a quote related to their secrets to be the chapter 2 culprit—after all, it’s not only related to the official murder motive, but the secret detailed in this quote is something that J is incredibly defensive about and would hide at all costs… if it wasn’t for Arturo exposing her in front of everyone. it would be interesting if somehow, the already-revealed motive secret was a major motivation for the murder. i feel like it would also make sense for J to have a bonus episode that discusses her origins and the deeper reasons behind her hatred of the “selfish and artificial celebrity” lifestyle she was forced to live in for so long.

but… that’s more speculation, not an actual claim. it’s why i never addressed this in my death predictions post. (-.-;) well, at least this is one way to show my thought process.

as always, take all of this with a grain of salt.

[futurehauntedghost]

Project Eden’s garden, Predictions and discussion. Chapter 1. Spoilers below

My queen who I thought nothing of at the time your so good!

I’ma be real with y’all, this is what I THOUGHT Kaede was gonna be. Before I knew she was gonna die of course. And honestly I can’t help but feel like that was intentional, their designs are pretty similar.

Also, I know people are thinking that Her, Kai and Damon are gonna be a dynamic trio, and I think so too. But I don’t think that it’s gonna be immediate. At least not during chapter 2.

Come on. No way Damon’s gonna like her that. Seeing that her trying to be a beacon of hope pissed him off.

Honestly my dream scenario, for just the chapter, SHE’S the rival. At least in Damon’s eyes. I feel like Kai would still be the duo for the two, but Diana isn’t there yet.

Damon would suspect it would be one person, and Diana would shut that down cause, “So-and-so, would never do something like that.” And she’s right and that would piss him off.

But the ultimate thing that could happen that would great, is if during the trial, Damon gets suspected, and while Damon didn’t do it, he doesn’t have an alibi that can be vouched. He’s cornered he doesn’t know how to defend himself, until Diana pipes in:

“Damon would never do such a thing! He’s been helping toward the trial this whole time! Why would he be leading us to find out he’s the killer?”

And this surprises, and after the trial. (You know after Bloopy Blooperson, Ultimate Blooper is executed) Damon goes to Diana and asks why she believed in him. She had zero reason to believe he wasn’t the killer and she’ll be like. “Well, yeah. But then I thought, maybe you weren’t the killer. And I couldn’t rule out the possibility.”

IDK this game has a big Pessimism vs Optimism theme going around it. And I just feel like both Diana and Damon are both good representatives for that.

Not to mention you know Damon is one chapter away from going:

(Also call this copium but that last scene with Diana just proved to me she’s gonna make it through the end of the game but I’m not coping at all nonono)

ANYWAY ONTO WHO I THINK IS GONNA DIE

Ulysses’s fans are sucking so much fucking copium thinking he has more of a survival rate than Wenona and Grace Madison.

Wenona, thanks to her conversation skills, is easily able to convince people of her view of things. Not to mention, she’s a good view of what Damon COULD be. A huge pessimist seeing only the worst in things in people. That would be great for development for Damon.

And Grace? That girl’s gotta whole arc ahead of her I’m sure. You don’t lock your ENTIRE FTE for one chapter and not expect it. If nothing else she’s living in chapter two. You know who else’s FTE events were locked for a good portion of the game. Maki and Fuyuhiko. Maki’s didn’t open until chapter 3 I think, and Fuyuhiko’s didn’t until CHAPTER FUCKING FOUR.

Not to mention it would be unfair to kill someone off like that. They can do that for Eve and Wolfgang because they die first it only makes sense. The only reason you’re unable to complete someone’s FTE is because you didn’t wanna spend time with them or you gave them the wrong gift.

[duckies27]

Here is the Ellga angst I have been BEGGING for.

Spoilers ahead for the most recent arc of TFTSD!

@demis-alted you caused this bug in me, you must suffer the consequences

Also @beeware-of-lulu you also get pinged, suffer

It had only been a week and yet Ellga didn't miss home. After so long of staying in the same house with the same people, the same decorations, the same walls...she was someone new. Chip really had been taking care of her and Mathide was funny and Barney was sweet (for the most part). She almost didn't want to go back to the Vamspire. It represents the world she left behind, the world that has always felt wrong.

As the party worked through the tower, Ellga only grew more nervous. She hated this feeling in her stomach, the anticipation of arriving home and most likely staying. She did her mission, why go back out? But she didn't want to stay! She loved her new friends and honestly hadn't felt so alive in centuries. As they wandered the halls, looking for her family door, Ellga kept stopping and trying to inspect the doors slower and slower to draw out the time.

"Kiddo, I think I see the VB door you were telling us about!" Chip cried, putting a hand on her tiny shoulder. He could feel her tense under his touch, hiding tears in her eyes.

"O-oh! Thank you Chip-" Her hands shook as she reached for the doorknob and pushed the door open. Her heart sank when she saw her house in shreds. She didn't want to come back, but she also didn't want to see her childhood home completely destroyed. Not to mention-

"GUH-" Her hands shot to her head, stumbling back. Right into Mathide, who caught her. They recognized this sight, the intense pain. Past memories from before death, before being reborn.

"Mama?! Papa?! Evenna?! Where are you!" A tattered house stood in front of the panting Ellga. A hand was to her neck, a bite still freshly bleeding. Everything hurt, it was as if someone injected poison into her veins. But it wasn't just killing her, it was changing her. Rummaging through the damage, the wreckage, she could only find the remnants of her life. The life that no longer existed.

With a pained grumble, Ellga pushed herself back up. "L-let's look around, I'm sure something here can help!" The vampire threw herself into her work, ignoring the panic rising in her chest. Where was her father? Where was Evenna? Mother had been gone for years, but the other two were constant.

Though still in a funk, depressed as all hell, Chip has noticed the tears in Ellga's eyes as they moved from room to room. The way she gripped Boris the moment she saw the state of her room, the way she kept holding her cape and calling out the names of her family. This was a child who was missing more than just nice things. She seemed to constantly be shaking. It didn't help that they reached both bedrooms of her family members and they were nowhere to be seen.

Silence fell over the party as Ellga started crying. Not only had she never shown any other emotion, but she was completely sobbing. The small girl ran to the unliving room, sitting in the mass of destruction and just sobbed. It started like a normal childish cry before it turned into agonizing tears of pain. Her hands covered her bite mark as the memories started to flash more intensely. Mathide was by her side, but they could only do so much to stop the visions from practically knocking her out of consciousness.

The hunger, the pain, looking into the mirror and no longer seeing the same elf. Her hair suddenly curled unnaturally around her face, fangs that seemed to constantly poke her tongue, the constant need for the blood.

Then he walked in. A man, acting so kind and caring, taking her and Evenna in as his own. Raising them alongside a woman before she disappeared. Yet she could swear he-

Chip flinched as the sob turned into a scream of anger. He rushed to her side, scooping her into his lap and starting to hug her tightly. Rage would end bad in this situation, especially after the stressful day they'd had.

Ellga tensed at the touch, but seemed to relax once she recognized the calloused hands and soft smell of dirt off of Chip. She shifted to hug him, hiccuping weakly. "I-i-i'm s-s-scaaaareeeedddd" she pathetically whined, pressing her whole body into him.

Chip ran his fingers through her hair, quietly humming. "You've been so brave, I'm so proud of you...just take a moment to let it all out, okay?" He kissed her temple, just like he always would after a nightmare. He really had become her father figure.

Ellga stayed close to him, slowly calming down. "Thank you..."

"Anything for you kiddo." He shifted to hug her tighter, picking her up like any dad would pick up his daughter. "Let's keep going gang, Ellga just needs some time to recover."

Mathide nodded solomly, rubbing her back before moving forward. No need to push the other undead to talk about the memories, she just needed space.

Barney picked up Boris, showing Ellga that he was safe. "I'll just keep an eye on him while you calm down, okay?" He made the bear wave at her, which made the emotionally exhausted girl giggle.

She nuzzled against Chip's shoulder, letting the others take charge for once. Though it still hurt, and the memories flashed from time to time, it seemed to have tamed. For now.

[eliza1911o1]

So interesting that, when we have gotten communication between Ed and Stede this season (particularly in ep 4), Stede has never once brought up Chauncey. The dude not only stole Stede away from eloping with the love his life, but also died right in front of him in the same way as his brother moments after verbally abusing him

S1 was heavy with Stede’s internal thoughts and feelings, from the Badminton ghost to full childhood flashbacks; in s2, we’ve seen this shift over to Ed, such as with Hornigold and memories of his past. Since the emphasis has been on Ed’s, we have rarely been shown obvious cues to Stede’s anxieties and insecurities, though we’re well aware of them. Then, just as Stede has finally achieved everything he thought he needed to be, it all falls apart and, for the first time in quite a while, scenes of Stede as a child come back

This post reminded me that Stede has actually become more and more unhappy with himself and never reconciled with his emotions of inadequacy, no matter how happy he seemed. This is what makes Chauncey important, or, at least, his lack of mention

The Badmintons represented everything Stede was born into (particularly the insecurities his father imprinted onto him) that persuaded him into piracy. They aligned with norms, they bullied him for acting differently, and they even succeeded due to/within the limitations of norms as officers. Stede has always been told that being kind, liking nice things, enjoying intellectual activities, being adverse to violence — all that made him, him — were the wrong things for a man to be. This doesn’t change when he becomes a pirate; others still continue to point out his failings (Izzy in ep 5, Ned in ep 6, Zheng in ep 7). Stede has long internalized his strengths as his shortcomings, so while his personal methods and, truly, some luck are the real reasons things always manage to work out, he attributes his growing skill in piracy to be the true answer

Both Badminton’s die right at his feet and though Stede still takes on the responsibility and guilt, they really die due to their own carelessness. Killing Ned is done to cement his position, paralleling Nigel’s death in s1, but different in that it is an active choice. When Stede becomes a “real pirate” after killing Ned, for the first time this season (someone can correct me on this but it’s 3AM and I’m not double-checking rn) we see flashbacks, a moments of doubt and anxiety, quickly squandered because everyone likes him now, right?

Just when Stede finally manages to prove himself notorious as a worthy pirate, everything else begins to fall apart; Ed leaves, his crew almost leaves, he almost dies, yet again, and he’s back to feeling as weak as he always has. Everything, literally, blows up

Stede knows he isn’t a capable man (people always keep reminding, so it’s hard to forget), he knows he’s a failure and a mistake, he knows trying hard just brings misfortune to those around him, but he so badly wants to prove everyone otherwise and the only way he knows how to do that is by becoming something in their eyes. however, in doing so, Stede keeps surviving, untouched, while everyone continues to be put in harms way or, when it becomes too much, leaves him. Nigel and Ned dying bought respect, but Chauncey’s death reminded Stede of what he always felt like; a failure who ruins nice things. Now, at the end of the season and at his lowest, Ed has also left, so there’s no one to tell him otherwise

[maoam]

I have a question why Toji wanted to be a hitman he was handsome, strong and intelligent could he be something else I never understood that

The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth. - African Proverb

Kishimoto and Gege seem to have the same mindset on how much love and empathy or the lack of them can impact a person. Think about how Kishimoto wrote Gaara and Naruto.

Gege said Toji became unstable while living in the Zenin household due to the abuse he suffered. He received his scar when he was young after the Zenin clan threw him into the disciplinary pit of cursed spirits. He was also told by the Zenin clan that his life had no value and this idea stayed in his mind and became the curse that haunted him for the rest of his life. And we must remember he had no one when he still lived in the Zenin household unlike Maki and Mai who at least had each other. So he suffered both physical and psychological abuse as well as extreme isolation. Toji only had a brief period when he was a bit more mentally sound due to meeting Megumi's mother. After she died he relapsed and ended up the way he was.

As we see Toji had a gambling problem and he was terrible with money, so he went from woman to woman before Gumimama (how Gege calls Megumi's mom). He also asked his work partner Kong to help with Megumi when he was still lost after the death of Gumimama. He did love Megumi and he tried to take care of him but unfortunately it was not enough. He thought Megumi with his talent would be better off in the Zenin clan than with him. His actions generally aren't the ones of someone normal. That's also why he forgot Megumi when Kong asked about him.

It's not that hard to understand Gege's storytelling and paneling and that Toji copes with thinking he doesn't care, repeating this thought over and over again. But it did hurt him that he wasn't fit to take care of Megumi. Both times when he died, his last thoughts were about Megumi. Gege also made two scenes in the same arc where someone who is not in control of his body comes to his senses for a moment because of their strong feelings towards someone who is alive. With Geto, who strangled Kenjaku after Gojo told him to wake up. And with Toji, when he recognised Megumi. He was happy finding out Megumi was a Fushiguro and not a Zenin, and killed himself so he wouldn't hurt Megumi. Even his eyes went back to normal and he smiled.

Just like he loved Megumi but didn't have the ability to take care of him in a way which would have kept Megumi in normal condition, he didn't have the ability to live a normal life like getting a normal job. He was simply too damaged and mentally unsound.

Toji was also known as the Sorcerer killer, and this has to do with how he was seen as not having any worth by his clan due to his lack of cursed energy. His brutal actions as an assassin result from his dejection towards the jujutsu world as he attempts to spite it. So he defied fate by killing sorcerers who were supposedly better than him, to get back at the Zenin clan. Even after his fight with Geto, he mocked him for the fact that a "monkey like me" could defeat him and Gojo. As I mentioned, after meeting Gumimama Toji stopped gambling and also stopped hunting sorcerers.

Gojo as the strongest, the six eyes, represented the world that had shunned Toji since his birth. During his fight with Gojo, Toji's instincts were telling him to run away, but his pride and his intense need to spite the jujutsu world and the Zenin clan made him ignore all of it, and this cost him his life. In the end, he lost to his inner demons and wasn't freed from the Zenin curse. However, him entrusting Megumi to Gojo paid off. Finding out his son was a Fushiguro, he found some peace of mind. And we know Maki took care of the Zenin clan as a sort of a second Toji.

The only time we see Toji express himself in a way that has nothing to do with violence, it's towards Megumi. Praising Megumi for being able to free himself from the Zenin clan. During his last moments, he was always thinking about his child, his 'blessing'.

[itstokkii]

I’ve seen your forbidden trio art and I really love it but I don’t think I’ve seen you represent Japan and South Korea alone? (I might be wrong)

How would you personally depict their modern day relationship? I think I’ve only seen people go two routes. Either “everything is fine and they love each other and they don’t mention the atrocities at all” or “they can’t be in the same room without Korea trying to kill him”

finally...assorted korpan hcs

here's the thing. a lot of chinese culture was spread to japan in mainly 2 ways, and this was through korea or ryukyu(okinawa). whenever korean envoys went to japan and came back, they'd always criticize and nitpick everything japan did wrong. your "emperor" is a king, not the emperor! that's reserved only for the son of heaven in the chinese court! how could you write the date wrong, it's not in order!

korchupan relations across the centuries are basically like you and a senior girl in highschool bullying a girl that's a year younger than you two, and then suddenly the one being bullied traps and tortures you in a basement during half of university while stalking the senior girl, and now you're in the workplace and you have to work with her now as colleagues while the senior girl is now the enemy

a lot of koreans absolutely despise the japanese govt, but most of the time the general attitude is "today's people aren't the govt, criticize the system of ignorance rather than the people themselves." if they do see a japanese person online denying warcrimes or something, though, koreans are quick to respond, since they still don't let that kind of apologia fly, and correct the person.

korea's the older one, she and her older twin brother reported the discovery of japan to china, and immediately became the middleman of "hey lil bro do you have a moment to talk about confucianism?" to this day she sort of teases him for being the younger one.

in a similar vein to amekor, things are relatively positive between japan and korea now, but she still holds him at arms length. japan enjoys kpop, and korea enjoys anime. yoasobi actually performed IDOL on M countdown(basically where kpop idols perform as fans vote for the top 10). yoasobi isn't a kpop idol, so her appearance was a surprise, and many koreans viewed it positively.

oshi no ko did quite well in korea, and walking around stores at least 1 gacha machine has oshi no ko merch.

anime fans like combining the kpop concept of photocards and like decorating merch cards of anime characters too.

there will be moments where jp spots korea at an anime event, both in cosplay. they're like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE" and meanwhile korea spots jp at a twice concert and same thing happens.

japan also secretly enjoys kdramas lol

in the Olympics, when korea is against japan, many koreans keep yelling "get 10 points get 10 points" and then to japan "get 9 points get 9 points," so in that sense korea's quite competitive especially against japan.

korea also destroys him at league overwatch and valorant lol

in amekorpan meetings, both korea and japan actually share a similar disdain towards america, as he's the naive one that simply wants them to get along without much hassle. he's never been on the receiving end of embarrassment or defeat, so he wouldn't understand having to work with someone who's frequently expressed desires to invade for centuries. korpan also feels a shared sentiment of "he's the youngest in the room, why is he telling us what to do?" and if they both ever get a moment of privacy, they'll shittalk him lol

I feel like korpan only really gets along through a common enemy tbh. sometimes they'll talk abt how china was centuries ago, as the "older sibling" that insisted he knew better. and nowadays, they both shittalk him because "gaah communism our capitalist asses can't stand him!!"

however, sometimes they'll argue over who china liked more...lol

in short, korpan hates constantly being a sort of pingpong ball for america and china.

they come early to an amekorpan meeting to fight in the parking lot. hong kong and taiwan livestream these and split the superchat donations. after a few times japan and korea even learn to bring a change of clothes so they can show up to the meeting slightly early without bloodstains on their jackets. america never suspects a thing

when one of them dozes off or close their eyes during breaks, the other will get a cold can of coffee from the vending machine and place it on their forehead or neck. "no slacking"

she'll rarely invite him to her house alone without others. even though they have a lot of cultural exchange in the modern day, she doesn't consider him a friend, and no amount of online cafe gaming and street food sampling will change that. japan's more like a reluctant ally since america insists the both of them "get along!"