#okay fine baby boy >:/

[kenneth-black]

these spot the difference games keep getting harder and harder 😶😶😶

[thedisdainfullysilentvisitor]

AU where when Kathony announces they're leaving again, Ben, Hyacinth and Gregory elect to go with them to India both to share in Kathony's experience and to get away from Lady Whistledown

[catwouthats]

“How can this many people simply vote for Trump in the first place?”

✨Gaslighting✨

And

✨Teaching themselves apathy because they have been pushed to the brink and are only focused on their own survival and think that this guy will give it because he

gaslight themmmm✨

[daydreamalley]

The fact that there’s only one time in Chuuya’s life that Corruption was activated (outside of the lab) where Dazai wasn’t there in the aftermath and that was when Chuuya was just 7 years old and left in the crater of the explosion he created, in so much pain and with gravity probably still fluctuating around him. Nothing but complete destruction, hell on earth, and suffering for a seven-year-old child.

Chuuya is never in good shape after he uses Corruption, and I imagine he wasn’t in good shape after he used the full force of Arahabaki (and by used I mean when it was forced out of him due to Rimbaud). And like, we’ve seen Chuuya close Verlaine’s gate when he defeated the Beast of Guivre, and it left Verlaine close to death (though I also imagine that’s in part due to the fact Verlaine isn’t really human), and we also saw earlier on in Storm Bringer when Verlaine opened Corruption for only a second and then closed the gate that Chuuya was in agony, left to suffer in the hell of what was left of the street he’d been on. 

That scene of Chuuya lying on the ground in what used to be an alleyway in excruciating pain is already hard to read, and he’s 16 then (still so young) but at least Dazai still comes (even though he doesn’t technically have to) and nullifies the aftershocks of Chuuya’s ability that are causing him so much pain. Causing him to suffer.

But imagine Chuuya at 7 years old, imagine how small that is, probably in nothing more than a hospital gown, lying in the rubble of the giant crater that will one day become Suribachi city, experiencing all that suffering and probably more. He’s completely alone in the hell of his own ability’s destruction, in unimaginable pain. His frail body that’s been in a lab for so long probably spasming with the pain as he feels the sun for the first time in who knows how long. And there was no one to hold him or catch him or for him to fall into. No one’s lap to rest his head on. No one to hoist him onto their shoulders and carry him away from the carnage. No one to nullify the pain he was in. No one to comfort him or remind him who he was.

What did he probably have to do when he woke up? Wait until he had enough strength to sit up, wait until the dizziness abated enough for him to stand, and through the disorientation walk on his own two feet despite the pain. He’d been through plenty of it after all, even if he couldn’t remember why, his body remembered.

He’d have to piece together any scraps of memory he had. His name probably came first. Then the horrific feeling of the power inside him and that he was probably responsible for the hellscape he was trying to navigate, cutting and scraping his bare feet in the crater of what was.  

Find the corpse of some military personnel that’d been killed in the explosion Arahabaki had caused, far enough away he hadn’t been completely obliterated, and at least steal some of his uniform to wear, though it was much too big for his skinny 7-year-old frame. And the shoes wouldn’t do him any good, they’d just fall off, the jacket already kept slipping off his shoulder.

And then, in that moment, he was perhaps the loneliest person in the world. Not later, when he was 16 and had someone to catch him and someone had just attempted to sacrifice himself for Chuuya. No, then he had a semblance of a family. But when he was 7, that was when he was just alone, and in pain, with no one to reassure him that everything was alright, that nothing was his fault. That his destructive power didn’t make him less human. If anything, he was probably lucky no one with bad intentions found him. 

And then who knows how long later, he’d wandered far enough away from the wreckage, under a bridge where a couple of other kids around his age found him. Still without shoes and in a military uniform far too large for him. Filthy and starving, but having the strength, having the courage to ask a kid “what’s that square thing?” “Tell me what that square thing is in your hand. Right now.” Last ditch effort of demanding, because somehow he still had a strong will. And the kid was just holding a slice of bread. Chuuya just wanted to know if he could eat it. 

Like, can we just talk about the tragedy of that? How truly sad it is that when Chuuya asked “what’s that square thing” and the answer was just bread. Shirase just explaining“I was holding a slice of bread,” and then having to show him that it was edible. Like, my god. And then Chuuya just… faints, on the spot “like he was out of batteries,” as Shirase describes. Finally all his energy and willpower to survive depleted in this moment of hopeful safety. Shirase also says Chuuya looked half dead he was so skinny.

But at least Chuuya had finally found some people who’d given him some food and water. At least Shirase decided to take him to some shelter, even if it was in the sewers. He finally had people, even if they weren’t well off, they had something. Finally he wasn’t alone. And when he learned he had something to offer them in return in the form of his ability? Well, of course he was going to use it to help them.

Also, just, his first memory was of being alone and in pain. Where he is now may not be perfect, but thank god he’s come such a long way and has people and a home and food and luxuries. But like, he just has to live with that every day.

Oh, and mind you, all this was happening to Chuuya close to the end/in the aftermath of the war, which was already a bad time for people, as Murase talks about. He says “But it was the end of the war, and there were supply shortages everywhere you went. Some kids from the Settlement appeared out of nowhere and tried to sneak inside to steal some food.” So on top of Chuuya’s personal struggles, there were shortages of supplies everywhere, bad enough that kids were trying to sneak into military facilities for food. 

So, yeah, this actually massively got away from me, into the territory of hcs and back out again. But like, every time we see Chuuya use Corruption Dazai is around, because he really has to be. And I love that. But just thinking about the one time where Dazai wasn’t around after the full effects of Chuuya’s ability and how that was probably the worst time and Chuuya was only 7 and alone and woke up in the middle of essentially hell on earth with like no memories. It makes me want to scream, and that’s why I wrote this. And then I reread the part in SB where Shirase explains how he met Chuuya and just got even sadder. Fun times fun times.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

okay but knight!sae and knight!oliver both absolutely have the fussiest brattiest readers ever …… sae only entertains it to a point but oliver (<- awful man) loves it. knight!reo and knight!ness have the sweet little princess type of readers though :3333c

[icewindandboringhorror]

sneeping with his legs up over his head for some reason... weird boye

[renn-aissance]

Wanna know how fucked up BG3 has me rn? I didn’t know that if Scratch gets killed in battle if I summoned him he just went back to camp, so when he died from an explosion I sobbed like a motherfucker.

[gregmarriage]

we be representing during pride month!!!

[memento-morri-writes]

This is far from my best work, but it's 1:30am, and I needed to get this down before I slept or lost my mind. So here, take a snippet of Rook seeing Zara again for the first time in 3 years.

Trying, and failing, to keep his voice from shaking, [Rook] said “Hello, Captain.” Mouth still open in surprise, [Zara] replied “Well, hello yourself.” The reality of what she was seeing seemed to hit her as she rounded the desk. “Rook, is that really you?” He nodded. “It’s me.” Zara ran towards him, stopping just short of touching him, and said “What did she do to you?” Rook’s heart stuttered and he had to brush his fingers together to confirm Sigmar’s ring was still in place. Could she possibly see through its illusion? But then he remembered what Lanny had said. She knew where you were. His throat clenched and he choked out “Two years.” A wave of grief swept across Zara’s face as she said “I’m so, so sorry.” Rook shook his head vigorously. “It’s not your fault.” Zara ignored him. “It is my fault. I failed you. As your captain, it’s my responsibility to keep you safe, and I failed you.” Rook wanted to say something, to reassure her, but she pushed on. “She sent me letters, told me all the terrible things she was doing to you. I… I let you down.” Those words hit Rook with the force of a dozen cannonballs. Lanny had said that Zara knew Wolf had him, but knowing that Zara had been aware of what Wolf was doing to him… somehow that was more painful than any wound Wolf had ever inflicted. He barely managed to force his next words out around the lump in his throat. “Where were you?” And why didn’t you come? “She said she’d kill you if I came to get you. Or if I hired anyone to get you. You’re standing here because I stopped sailing.” 

(honorary one-time tag for @space-writes bc I remember you enjoyed my other bits about Rook and Zara.)

[psalmsofpsychosis]

wAIT A WHOLE FUCKING MINUTE— DAVID MAZOUZ'S EYES ARE GREEN??!!!?!?! GOTHAM TV DELIBERATELY CHOSE AN ACTOR WHO HAS THE EXACT SAME EYE COLOR AS THEIR JOKER???!!!!?!?!

[jackalmeat]

Mostly just throwing spaghetti at my own mental wall and seeing what sticks, but I have Unorganized And Poorly Articulated Thoughts about the fact that Ekko and Jinx are around the same age, lost their guardians and peer groups at the same time and in a deeply traumatic way, etc.; and yet I feel like Ekko's status as a victim of their broken, oppressive, and exploitative social landscape doesn't receive remotely the same acknowledgment or weight as Jinx's.

While I'm sure that that's due in large part to the fact that Ekko has been successful at building a sense of healthy, mutualistic belonging + community with others in a way that Jinx clearly hasn't, it's nonetheless worth noting that [A] he had to build that and learn how to take care of both himself and others when he was still a child, and the maturity he exhibits is a direct and tragic result of his boyhood being cut violently short; and [B] failing to acknowledge him meaningfully as a victim and a kid, just because he seems to have 'turned out okay' or some-such, reads very distinctly to me like an extension of the documented tendency in our own world for people to "adultify" young black boys due to perceiving them as older, less innocent, and more threatening/less in need of protection than their white peers.

[mastershaker69]

After your previous posts.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Ignignokt is a homo.

And you’re also a homo.

No

[softquietsteadylove]

We need more Thena and jack stories!

Let’s say thenamesh and jacks family go to a big amusement park when suddenly 4 giant deviants attack.

Let there be action and a little drama!

"Do you want some ice cream, Aunt Thena?"

She smiled, prying her eyes open and looking down at the kindest hearted human in all the galaxy. "You should be enjoying it, no?"

Jack twisted his little lips and turned the heaping dish of ice cream around in his hand a few times. "Hm, I think it'll be too much for me to eat by myself."

Thena smiled. She had heard loud and clear the urging by Jack to get the three scoop cup, despite his father's insistence that it would be too much for young Jack. He had asked for the three scoops with the intent on sharing. She leaned and pressed her lips to his hair, "thank you, Jack."

The boy blushed, offering the dish to her.

Thena picked up the spoon and took a delicate bite of the strawberry scoop. "Are you having fun?"

"Yeah, lots of fun," he mused idly, swinging his feet off the edge of the bench upon which she had been seated for the last hour. He squinted as the light filtering through the tree over them shifted and changed. "Are you?"

This amusement park was a nightmare designed specifically to be her own personal hell.

Jack had insisted she and Gil come with them, though. Jack always wanted them to be included when they went on family outings, and it was endearing to no end. So Thena endured car rides and school functions and the general crowding of city life for her nephew.

He had let her decline to actually go on rides, though. She had found this bench for herself in the shade, close enough to see them but far enough that she wasn't in the depths of the crowds.

"I am," she smiled, and he pursed his lips at her (in the way that she often did). It made her laugh, ruffling his hair again, "so long as you are."

"Well, okay," Jack accepted, taking a scoop of chocolate for himself while she had more strawberry. "I'm glad Uncle Gil is having fun."

Uncle Gil was currently on a ride with Ben which consisted of going through a completely dark section of tunnel on a rickety metal boat at unacceptable speeds.

"I believe he is quite enjoying the experience," Thena smiled even more. She wasn't sure how else poor Gilgamesh was supposed to experience the thrill of a theme park, so she was happy to be part of that for him as well.

"I've tried going on that ride before," Jack said quietly, looking at his black and purple sneakers. "Baba loves it, but it's too dark for me, and I think it makes Dad carsick."

Phastos was better than Thena when it came to automobiles, but it seemed that the accelerated speed and jerky turns of the rides also reduced him to a motionsick mess.

"Then we can enjoy our ice cream together," she suggested gently. If Jack was going to be melancholy for even a moment of his day of fun, she would not have it.

"'Kay!" he beamed up at her, with his teeth becoming less gappy as time went on. According to Phastos, he was in the process of losing all his small teeth and growing new ones.

What amazing processes the human body could endure.

Thena looked around the park. People were mulling around along the concrete pathways. The sun was beaming, but there was at least a breeze to rustle the trees and people's hair. For as little as she had experienced major metropolitan areas, this was by far the most bustling. There were people everywhere, several children crying as loud as they could, the sounds of machinery, of people screaming in joy. It was a lot to process.

She looked around. Something didn't seem right. It was just something at the edge of her mind, but it didn't feel like the beginning of an episode. Although, even then, she needed to have eyes on Gilgamesh. "Where are your fathers?"

Jack watched her looking around, swivelling her head like a bird of prey. "Uh, Dad said he was gonna look up places to eat after we leave. And the ride Baba went on with Uncle Gil is that way."

Thena followed the point of jack's finger to a line of people no more than a kilometre away. She stood sharply, holding their cup of ice cream, "they should be done by now."

Jack scrambled to his feet to join her. He was no longer so young that he was willing to hold hands just for the sake of it. But he was used to the nervousness that existed in her at times. He reached up, tugging at the sleeve of her white dress. "Aunt Thena, are you okay?"

She inhaled. She could feel something in the air. Something familiar, but also distant in her mind. And her Cosmic Energy was crackling inside of her. "Jack, I think something is coming."

"Like," he huddled somewhat closer to her, "bad guys?"

"Possibly," she murmured. She was thinking more along the lines of a horrific creature designed to look like a beast and a nightmare rolled into one. But she gave Jack's hand a gentle squeeze, "nothing will happen to you, Jack."

He looked up at her with wide eyes, "are you gonna fight them?"

"If I must." She would do what was necessary to protect the humans here, most of all, this human child.

"W-What about Uncle Gil, and Dad?" Jack continued, tugging at her sleeve more to dissuade her from seeking them out. "They'll fight whatever it is. You could let them handle it."

Thena stopped in her hurried steps, looking down at the worrisome boy beside her. "Jack?"

His little lip tightened, both of his hands attempting to anchor her wrist where she stood. "Don't go."

Thena's heart ached. In all her years on the planet, she had no experience to compare with this one. She had never felt the desire to turn away from the fight like she did now, just because Jack asked it of her.

Jack squeezed his eyes shut as she knelt down in front of him, kissing his forehead on the way.

She collected his tiny hands between hers. He would grow up so fast, his hands probably becoming larger than her own in no time. He would become a fine young man, then a grown man, just like his fathers. But that could only happen if she used every breath in her lungs to protect him. "I do not wish to leave you, Jack. But I will let the planet split apart at the seams before any harm shall come to you."

Before he could dissuade her further with his big teary eyes and wobbly lip, she turned away, looking through the crowds. A human would have no hope of seeing from their distance, but she picked out the head of her husband in an instant.

He looked their way, already frowning. He knew as well.

Thena scooped Jack up under her arm and jumped. If she moved fast enough she could probably remain undetected. It was a mere matter of dropping Jack at the feet of his father so she and Gil could deal with the danger at hand. "Do not leave your father's side!"

They were gone in a flash. If there were people recording their surroundings, they would look like blurs of motion. And the world was growing increasingly used to happenings like this.

"I thought they were gone," Gil voiced beside her as they ran towards the outer edge of the park.

"I cannot say I'm surprised by anything, at this point in time," she lamented as they skidded to a halt before leaping over the outer fence. The threat was still far enough away that those inside weren't panicked yet. They may be yet able to stop them within the parking lot.

"You two are show offs."

Thena offered no comment to her snarky brother, already summoning her blades to her hands. The bracelets around her wrists tightened around her skin. "You should be with Ben and Jack."

Phastos huffed at her, his rings floating around them with a gentle tinkling of metal. "They're fine. And I am not leaving you two to handle these things alone."

"How many are there?" Gil asked him, needing no further preparation than clenching his fists.

"Looks like four," Phastos looked at the palm of his hand. "And they're big."

"Then we will have to stop them here," Thena declared. She looked at her hands, reminding herself why she was holding weapons in the first place. No matter what, she could not leave this post. What was behind them was far too precious to risk.

"Hey," Gil whispered to her, touching the back of his fist to hers. Their Cosmic Energy sparked and fizzled at the contact. "You're not alone here, okay? Just stay close to me."

She looked at her husband, trying not to think of the last time they had been in combat. She nodded.

"You two take those ones!"

Phastos faced down the two larger ones prowling closer. They looked crocodillian, massive maws of teeth and scuttling legs at their sides. He thrust his fists forward, leashing them together with lassos of energy.

"Gil!"

He didn't need to be asked, grasping her by the waist and launching her up into the air. The flying ones were always the most troublesome. And this one would be capable of flying over the fences and walls and plucking those inside like ripened berries.

Thena grabbed onto its foot, already enough to shifts its balance. She reached up, climbing up its form until she could strike out, driving her blade through the membrane of its wing.

The winged beast roared as they plummeted, crashing to the ground again. Its body was met with the frame of several cars below. Thena tumbled off and away, rolling a few times before scraping her feet against the pavement. She wished she had the durable boots of her armour, but she was in sandals and a light sundress.

"Y'okay, T?!" Phastos called out from holding the other two at bay, with Gil grasping the tusks of the third one.

She didn't bother answering. They would know she was fine by that. It was if she called out them that would mark cause for alarm. She pulled up her blades again, sticking one straight through the underside of the Deviant's 'beak' and through its head. "One down."

Phastos did what he did best - one of several things, to his credit - sending an electrical current through the creatures tethered to him. They writhed in agony. "Finish 'em off!"

Gil tossed away the tusked one's positively mammoth body just to turn around and deliver a bone shattering punch to one of them. It was easy to tell it was effective when the Deviant's eyes exited the cranial cavity.

Thena leapt over the other one, easily landing with her blade pointed down, driving it in similar to how she had taken down the winged one. She was not going to waste time on these things. They were interfering with Jack's fun day. "That one."

Gil shook out his fist after killing one of the reptilian ones, only to look at the tusked one again, which was dragging its front feet to signal being ready to charge. "You ready, baby?"

Thena grinned. She had almost forgotten what a thrill the hunt could be. The battle thrummed through her veins as she took her stance beside her lover. "Always."

Gil focused his energy into his feet, driving them into the concrete and refusing to budge as he caught the elephantine Deviant by the tusks again. "All yours!"

Thena jumped onto one of the tusks as her launching point, twisting and leaping over its head to the back of it. There was quite a hump there, and clearly it was built to b e durable. But she wasn't going to hack at it blindly (who was she, Ikaris?).

The Deviant bellowed as she found the softness where its neck and head connected, and pierced. The creature reared up on its hind legs in one last ditch effort to rid itself of her.

Thena leapt off, flipping over a few times before landing. She'd had her feet out to land, but she found herself in her husband's arms. She blinked at him.

He smiled at her, "one of your sandals is torn, hon. Don't wanna ruin them before we get home."

She laughed; what a sweet Eternal her husband was. She nuzzled and then kissed his cheek as dust and wind rushed around them, signalling the fall of the largest Deviant.

"Seriously?" Phastos rolled his eyes at them, cleaning off his glasses with his shirt collar. "Can we go?"

Indeed, they had to go. New castors were arriving, crowds building. If they wanted even a semblance of a chance of escaping, it had to be now.

Thena sighed, "where is Sprite when you need her."

"C'mon," Phastos motioned to them to follow him, taking a roundabout route closest to the emerging crowds. They could blend in and pretend to be early spectators.

Gil laid his light jacket over her shoulders, "you feel okay?"

Thena looked down at the bracelets around her wrists. Her powers were in check and her mind was clear. She nodded, letting him kiss her cheek as they melded back into the human masses.

"Aunt Thena!"

She blinked, receiving a bundle of human youth hurtling at her. She patted his shoulders, "you should not have run off from your father, Jack."

"Are you okay?!"

She melted; how could she not, in the face of those big puppy eyes? She sighed, letting him cling to her after she had disappeared from his side so suddenly. They continued back into the depths of the park, Ben mere steps behind his son. "I am."

Ben put his hands on his hips as his husband also rejoined them. "Should I expect alligators if we ever go to Six Flags?"

Phastos rubbed his husband's back as they walked towards the other end of the park. "You know we can't go there, babe."

"Why not?" Thena asked with Jack still clinging to her as Gil patted his head to reassure him.

"It's all water," Phastos sufficed to say, and she had to agree. They all sank like stones (them and their semi-inorganic bodies, and all).

"Aunt Thena, will you come to Six Flags if we go?"

This boy--her one weakness! She sighed, "of course."

[siriusly-sapphic]

It's so irritating that every other Dorcas post is tagged with Slytherin Skittles or characters not even in the post bc it means I can't mute jegulus and those skittles and the regulus tag without the entire Dorcas Meadowes tag becoming a grey block 😭

[toelessbastard]

finished mashle. finished mashle. finished mashle. the fanfic authors LIED TO MY GOOD FACe

[sanatomis]

gege akutami’s stressing me out more than my uni atp like bro chill