#or they are deliberately thrown away etc etc

[kimmkitsuragi]

bro i just found my old pen case covered with gaga stickers KSKKSDJFH

[slitheringghost]

A sneak peak of my “Canon abuse in the Black family” meta

Because I can’t wait until I finish the whole meta to yell about these details, that are solid evidence that Walburga was as violent and sadistic as abusers like Vernon, Umbridge, Marge, etc. and most definitely did not love Sirius.

1.0 Sirius breaking Walburga's heart

Starting with the passages most frequently quoted as evidence that Walburga loved and grieved Sirius, which, if you read and analyze carefully, proves the opposite:

“Master always liked his little joke,” said Kreacher, bowing again, and continuing in an undertone, “Master was a nasty ungrateful swine who broke his mother’s heart —” “My mother didn’t have a heart, Kreacher,” Sirius snapped. “She kept herself alive out of pure spite.” Kreacher bowed again and said, “Whatever Master says,” then muttered furiously, “Master is not fit to wipe slime from his mother’s boots, oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw Kreacher serving him, how she hated him, what a disappointment he was —” (OoTP) “Master Sirius ran away, good riddance, for he was a bad boy and broke my Mistress’s heart with his lawless ways. But Master Regulus had proper pride; he knew what was due to the name of Black and the dignity of his pure blood. ” (DH)

Firstly, fandom uses "he broke her heart" as evidence Walburga loved Sirius... and then completely ignores that right after Kreacher says she hated him. Secondly, "spite" is defined as "a desire to hurt, annoy, or offend someone; maliciousness" - indicating Walburga deliberately and maliciously hurting her children and others.

Third, very importantly, there is something else that is stated not to have a heart earlier in OoTP - a dementor.

An enormous silver stag erupted from the tip of Harry’s wand; its antlers caught the dementor in the place where the heart should have been; it was thrown backward, weightless as darkness, and as the stag charged, the dementor swooped away, batlike and defeated. (OoTP)

Indicating that Walburga is like a dementor to Sirius, and matching how 12GP is framed as another Azkaban for him. Likewise, Vernon is compared to a dementor in the same book, with his strangling Harry paralleling the dementor reaching for Harry's throat a short time later (The connection to Umbridge as a dementor is also implied, since she's the one who sent them after Harry):

[...] two large purple hands reached through the open window and closed tightly around his throat. “Put — it — away!” Uncle Vernon snarled into Harry’s ear. “Now! Before — anyone — sees!” “Get — off — me!” Harry gasped; for a few seconds they struggled, Harry pulling at his uncle’s sausage-like fingers with his left hand, his right maintaining a firm grip on his raised wand. Then, as the pain in the top of Harry’s head gave a particularly nasty throb, Uncle Vernon yelped and released Harry as though he had received an electric shock [...] (OoTP) A pair of gray, slimy, scabbed hands slid from inside the dementor’s robes, reaching for him. [...] But there was no happiness in him... The dementor’s icy fingers were closing on his throat — the high-pitched laughter was growing louder and louder, and a voice spoke inside his head — “Bow to death, Harry […] (OoTP)

Fourth, the thing about using "he broke her heart" as evidence is that… Kreacher talks like this all the damn time, and it's pretty obvious that we shouldn't take many of these statements literally, lol:

“[...] she’s no better, nasty old blood traitor with her brats messing up my Mistress’s house, oh my poor Mistress, if she knew, if she knew the scum they’ve let in her house, what would she say to old Kreacher, oh the shame of it, Mudbloods and werewolves and traitors and thieves, poor old Kreacher, what can he do...” “...and there’s the Mudblood, standing there bold as brass, oh if my Mistress knew, oh how she’d cry, and there’s a new boy [...]" “— comes back from Azkaban ordering Kreacher around, oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw the house now, scum living in it, her treasures thrown out, she swore he was no son of hers and he’s back, they say he’s a murderer too —” (OoTP)

Oh my poor mistress, she has to deal with all this filth in her house! Oh how she’d start crying if she saw a mudblood in her house! Oh my poor mistress, her filthy brood traitor son broke her heart!

Is it really “poor Walburga” for having people fighting against blood purity in her house? Would Walburga really start crying if she saw Hermione standing in Grimmauld Place? No, she just hates them and is violent to them, but Kreacher talks like all these things are ~breaking her heart~, my poor heartbroken Mistress, and poor Mistress this and poor Mistress that, constantly.

ETA: and he doesn’t even say Sirius running away is what broke her heart, it’s his rebellion before he ran away, his “lawless ways” that “broke her heart”, and so it’s a good thing he ran away.

2.0 Sirius and Harry running away

Next, we have another really significant parallel between Sirius and Harry, and Walburga and Umbridge:

“I used to be there,” said Sirius, pointing at a small, round, charred hole in the tapestry, rather like a cigarette burn. “My sweet old mother blasted me off after I ran away from home [...]" “You ran away from home?” “When I was about sixteen,” said Sirius. “I’d had enough.” (OoTP) “Tut, tut, I don’t seem to have made much of an impression yet,” she said, smiling. “Well, we’ll just have to try again tomorrow evening, won’t we? You may go.” Harry left her office without a word. The school was quite deserted; it was surely past midnight. He walked slowly up the corridor then, when he had turned the corner and was sure that she would not hear him, broke into a run. (OoTP)

Harry literally runs away in terror from Umbridge after she tortures him with the blood quill. This is a direct parallel to Sirius running away from home, and from Walburga in particular, after which Harry explicitly compares Walburga to Umbridge and to Umbridge torturing him, as I mentioned in this post ("We’ve got a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge. She’s nearly as nice as your mum.") Just like Sirius saying "I'd had enough" is a direct parallel to Harry running away from the Dursleys in PoA:

“She deserved it,” Harry said, breathing very fast. “She deserved what she got. You keep away from me.” He fumbled behind him for the latch on the door. “I’m going,” Harry said. “I’ve had enough.” (PoA)

And it's actually not even the Dursleys he runs away from, it's Aunt Marge - who Harry says is much worse than the Dursleys, who also beats him, and says that he needs more beating at school and they should use "extreme force" on him (Here's a post with more Sirius and Harry parallels, and parallels regarding their abuse and trauma.)

More thorough analysis is upcoming in the full meta.

[witchofawoman]

LATE NIGHTS ⋆｡°✩

5. Storm ✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚

featuring : jj maybank x kook!reader

summary : After last night’s tension with JJ and Rafe, you just wanted to disappear, but Rafe demanded you to come to a party, which you couldn't afford to refuse even though that's all your heart wanted as you knew how bad it would be for you...

words count : 2.5k

warnings : drug and alcohol usage, angst, violence, addiction, cheating, etc.

a/n : This is the 5th part of the serie !! Enjoy <3

That morning, you felt sick to your stomach. Sarah had gone to take a shower, but you sat on your bed, staring at Rafe’s text. The sight of it alone was enough to make you nauseous. It made you feel miserable, but you couldn’t afford to refuse his invitation. So, with a shaky hand, you texted him back a simple “ok.”

You were stressed. For once, Rafe would actually be with you at the party. He wouldn’t be off in some room with another girl. No, this time, he’d be right next to you, watching your every move. The thought of it was unbearable. And as if things couldn’t get any worse, JJ was going to be there too.

You stayed on your bed, lost in thought, until Sarah emerged from the bathroom.

“Hey, Y/N, you okay?” she asked. Her hair was damp, her usual outfit thrown together with practiced ease. Her lips curved into a faint smile, but her eyes gave her away it was like she was in a rush.

Before you could answer, a loud honking interrupted you. Frowning, you walked to the window and peeked out. John B’s van was parked outside, and his friends were piled in, waiting.

You shot Sarah a confused look, but she quickly held up a hand to cut you off. “I’ll explain later, but I have to go now. Please grab my stuff and bring it tonight, okay? Love you!”

Before you could even process what was happening, she was gone.

“Uh… okay,” you muttered to yourself. Your head spun. What was going on?

The day was suffocating, the hours crawling by with cruel deliberation. You couldn’t bring yourself to move, not even to grab a drink or smoke by the window. Your body felt heavy, weighed down by dread, your mind spinning in loops you couldn’t break. All you could do was lay in bed, staring blankly at the screen, movies flickering without meaning.

By the time 5 p.m. rolled around, the walls felt like they were closing in. You had no choice—you had to get up, had to move.

Dragging yourself to the mirror, you barely recognized your own reflection. Your skin was dull, your eyes sunken with exhaustion. You couldn’t care enough to pick a real outfit, so you grabbed the first thing your hand landed on: denim shorts and a white bikini top. You smeared on some makeup, shaky hands smudging the eyeliner, but you didn’t bother fixing it.

The phone buzzed violently on your nightstand, dragging you out of your spiral. You stared at the screen for a moment, your heart sinking when you saw his name. You didn’t want to answer—but you knew he wouldn’t stop. With a deep breath, you pressed the green button.

“Rafe,” you said, your voice flat.

“Where the fuck are you?” His voice was already sharp, cutting through you like glass.

“At home,” you replied, trying to keep your tone even.

“You were supposed to be here already.”

“You were supposed to pick me up,” you said, the exhaustion creeping into your words.

There was a pause on the line, followed by the sound of him sniffing. It made your stomach churn.

“Do you think I have time to play chauffeur, Y/N?” His voice was low now, edged with something darker. “Jesus Christ, you can’t do anything for yourself, can you?”

“Are you seriously doing this right now? You’re the one who forgot—”

“Don’t fucking start with me,” he snapped, his voice rising. “You love this, don’t you? Acting like a victim all the time. Like I’m the bad guy. Guess what, love? You are the problem. You’re pathetic.”

You blinked, your breath hitching.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” you whispered, anger and hurt mixing into something volatile.

“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you?” he snarled. “Do you think anyone else would put up with your shit? Your little tantrums, your moods? Nobody cares about you, Y/N. Not Sarah, not those Pogues, and sure as hell not me if you keep acting like this.”

“Then leave!” you shouted, your voice breaking. “If I’m so goddamn unbearable, leave!”

There was another sniff on the other end of the line, followed by a humorless laugh.

“Oh, I will, love. But not before you drag your sorry ass here. And don’t you dare try anything tonight, or we’re done. You hear me? Done.”

“I—” you started, but the line went dead.

You stared at your phone, your chest heaving, the words you couldn’t say burning in your throat. 

��It coursed through you, a fiery rush that burned away everything else. Grabbing your bottle of pills, a few joints, and your car keys, you stormed out.

By the time you got to the party, the music was thumping, and the house was packed. You didn’t care. You didn’t want to see Rafe, didn’t want to see anyone. Slipping through the chaos, you headed upstairs.

It was Lucy’s house. You knew it well, knew the quiet spots but most of all knew how to disappear. The upstairs bathroom was perfect. Locking the door behind you, you dumped the pills onto the counter, crushed them into neat lines, and inhaled. The burn hit hard, sharp and immediate, but the numbness came quicker. Your heart raced, your mind blurred.

The bathroom door burst open so hard it slammed against the wall, making you flinch.

“Hey.”

The voice was familiar, but you were too dazed to place it. Blinking, you turned—and the sight of JJ standing in the doorway hit you like a bucket of ice water.

“JJ,” you breathed, your voice shaky.

“What the fuck are you doing?” His eyes were sharp

You wiped at your nose, trying to compose yourself. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?” He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. “Yeah, sure. Nothing looks a lot like snorting shit alone in a bathroom at a party.”

You crossed your arms, meeting his glare with defiance. “What are you even doing here, JJ?”

“Looking for beer, not a breakdown,” he shot back. “But I guess you’d call this fate, huh?”

You scoffed, leaning against the sink. “Oh, spare me the lecture.”

“I’m not lecturing you,” he said, his voice dropping slightly. “I’m just wondering how someone who acts so untouchable is actually this fucking reckless.”

You stiffened, the words cutting deeper than you wanted to admit. “What do you care?”

“I don’t,” he snapped, but his eyes betrayed him. “I mean—fuck, Y/N. Do you have any idea what you’re doing to yourself? Or is this just another game to you?”

“Don’t act like you know me,” you said, stepping closer. “You don’t. You never did.”

“Oh, I know you,” he said, his voice low, almost a growl. “I know you push people away before they can hurt you. I know you can’t stand being vulnerable for even a second because you think it makes you weak. But you know what’s really weak, Y/N? This. Hiding in a bathroom, getting high like that’s gonna fix anything.”

His words hung in the air, heavy and stinging. But instead of retreating, you closed the gap between you, your faces now inches apart.

“Am I weak, JJ?” you whispered, your voice soft but laced with challenge. “Or are you just scared of me?”

His breath hitched, his eyes flicking to your lips for the briefest moment.

“Scared of you?” he said, his voice quieter now, tinged with something you couldn’t quite place. “You wish.”

Your lips curved into a faint smirk, but before either of you could say anything else, the moment shattered.

“Little bitch, you are, Y/N.”

Rafe’s voice cut through the air like a whip, and JJ stepped back, his expression hardening as Rafe stormed in.

“What, Rafe? I’m the bitch here?” you said, your voice sharp, not even turning to look at him as you wiped at your nose again.

He didn’t answer, and didn't waste time. He grabbed your arm and spun you around, slamming you back against the wall. His hand gripped your waist hard enough to bruise, his face inches from yours.

“Look at me,” he growled, his voice low and dangerous. “What the fuck were you doing with that Pogue?”

“Do you need to know every move I make?” you snapped, meeting his glare head-on.

“Yes,” he spat, his grip tightening. “Because you’re mine. Do you hear me? You’re fucking mine.”

“I’m not yours, Rafe!” you screamed, shoving at his chest. “I’m not your property, and you don’t get to control me!”

His eyes darkened, his face twisting in fury. “You’re gonna regret saying that.”

“Fuck you,” you shot back, your voice trembling with rage. “This is the end, Rafe. Never talk to me again. Go back to your little flings and hope they’re stupid enough to put up with your bullshit.”

“You don’t get to leave me,” he snarled, but you were already shoving past him, slamming the door behind you as you disappeared into the chaos of the party.

a/n : I know it's been a while since I haven't posted but I'm trying my best I promise, love you !!

[like and follow !!]

Taglist : @immyowndefender @imsiriuslyreal @yvesoull1 @yesshewrites1

[senka-mesecine]

Hey! I love your work. I was wondering if you could write about Barnes' s/o reassuring/comforting him about his face scars; that it's the thing they love most about him etc.

Here Stands a Wounded Apollo.

Robert Barnes x Reader.

---

-"Thank you."-

You whisper.

-"For showing me."-

The old, yellowing picture with jagged edges cradled in the palm of your hand makes it back to his and there's something steady, yet simultaneously playful in his stare; goading and challenging from his side of the bunk bed --- a mattress for one shared by two huddling together closely, his leg thrown over the entirety of your lower body. It was a nightly ritual. He'd leave the barracks and bunk here, doing so openly enough to where the gesture could be called cocksure audacity. The same cocksure audacity he was demonstrating now, contained in the glint of his eye. As sharp as a needle point. Sergeant Barnes was in one of his moods.

-"So, what'chu sayin'? One good lookin' sonofoabitch, ain' he?"-

He jokes at his own expense, almost like he was talking about a wholly different person and not himself. A matchmaker trying to assess if you liked what was shown to you or not. -"You still are, Bobby."- You scoot closer, endearing yourself, fingers rising to carefully brush against the left side of his face, uneven and all craters to the touch. He hums, deeply, looking away. -"Yeah."- Something disappointed in the way he says that, trailing off. An odd sort of melancholy. Perhaps more so with the rain beating against the window of the nurses' quarter outside; a huge hangar of equipment and a singular metal bed, all for you. Partially in shadow. A muted ribbon of halogen light illuminating the base seeping through the glass. -"Ain' nothin' wrong with a mug like this out here."- Barnes states, looking at you square on, moving his chin ever slightly, his scar facing you, almost as if to underline what he was meaning. All deep edges made bolder by the contrast of darkness. -"Fact is, tends to help."- There's something ominous in his stare; something slightly prideful. Like part of him tended to relish people's fear. Only for the haughtiness to fade. Replaced by a weird distance. -"Back there?"- He points his nose up, at a vague direction you understood was meant to portray home. He was talking about the prospect of rotating back to civilization like a far away, make belief idea. Bordering on abstraction. -"You walk out into the big wide world with me with all them folks starin' and lookin' and you stand by your man? No half assin' it?"- You recognize the Tammy Wynette reference in his words, but it doesn't make it any less serious; fact was, the war and the battlefield weren't like real world, you understood that. You remembered well enough. His face was now close enough for his nose to touch the tip of yours; his breath musky with a pinch of tobacco and heat. -"In the courthouse, the street, the bar, shoppin' down them aisles from the next slop to take home?"- He describes it all so vividly, his eyes reflecting your face back to you steadily.

-"Yeah, everywhere."- You blurt out, not needing to think about it.

Like some asshole on the street Stateside giving him glares or pointing at him could ever change what you felt.

-"Look, I love you, Robert."- You add, blinking up at him, his gaze right there.

An inch away.

Assessing you.

Like he was waiting to hear what you were going to say.

Giving you center stage to say it.

Daring you.

-"I find you extremely attractive, if that's what this is all about."- You confess it, squarely. Transparently. His photograph of himself from the beginning of his first tour back in the '64 still in the palm of his broad, meaty hand, pressed against his chest. Right where the pocket of his fatigues' bottom up was. -"You. Nobody else."- You assure, a deliberately tender finger coming up to trace the outline of the tremor running down his cheek, all zig-zags and dents. Like someone took a hammer to a stone and smashed it there, leaving behind a crack that ran from his jawline to the middle of his forehead, lay spread out all over his body; the damage tucked away under his uniform. Yet still undeniably handsome. Oddly Romanesque. In a different life, Barnes could've been the bust of some nameless Patrician; the marble of his visage partially smashed by the pickaxe that dug him out of centuries worth of black soil. -"A face just like that could've been chiseled out of marble. Placed in a museum somewhere."- You manage, feeling strangely poetic, caressing his cheek in the darkness. Finding he was letting you. -"With an inscription that says 'Here stands a wounded Apollo.'"- Sure, you knew it was cheesy. Corny, saccharine sweet crap. You knew that he might find your effort a load of bullshit. Instead, you find his usually perceptive, piercing eyes grow oddly mellow in the most unprecedented way that had the tendency of making him look a bit like a child contemplating whether to take the complement or not, and furthermore, how to take it and like all the years accumulated inside of him just disappeared.

-"You're fulla'shit."- Endeared, Barnes retorts with undeniable softness.

You knew this was the best way he could accept the praise.

[cosmicjoke]

So I haven’t read chapter 52 of “Saezuru” yet, but I did read the summary of it on twitter, and after having a conversation with one of my mutuals, I have a few thoughts about what it is Yashiro wants, and why he’s having so much trouble communicating it to Doumeki. 

First of all, Doumeki himself still seems very hesitant to treat Yashiro with the gentility that they both want him to give, and obviously this stems from what happened the last time he did, with Yashiro pushing him away.  You would think, okay, well, this has an easy solution.  Doumeki wants to treat Yashiro with kindness, and Yashiro genuinely wants to be treated kindly, so all he has to do is tell Doumeki that, and problem solved.

But of course it’s not that simple, and after talking about it with others, and reading about how, during their sex scene, Yashiro was thinking about the Madam at the club, and how Doumeki treats her so gently, it got me thinking more about Yashiro’s difficult relationship with the idea of being treated as a woman. 

Yashiro wants to be treated with the same care and tenderness that he perceives Doumeki to be treating the Madam with, and the belief that Doumeki is deliberately treating him differently than that, because he’s a man, and because he is who he is specifically, (someone who’s always been treated with cruelty and told, indeed, that he deserves to be treated cruelly), is clearly very painful for Yashiro. 

The thing we have to remember about Yashiro is that, during the years he was being sexually abused by his step-father, he was being told by his abuser that he was really a woman, that his being born male was a mistake, etc...  And we see how this later affects Yashiro.  Afterward, whenever he was treated like a woman, or how he perceived a woman should and would be treated, anyway, he got spooked and made an effort to get away from that treatment.  Like Hirata’s underling whom Yashiro got thrown out of the Yakuza after he started treating Yashiro like his girlfriend, or Yashiro’s dissmisiveness when Ryuuzaki asked him about whether he ever wished he’d been born as a woman, etc...  I think Yashiro associated being treated kindly and tenderly with the memories of his abuse, and therefor, that kind of treatment was very traumatic to him.  It’s why we see Yashiro, during his and Doumeki’s sex scene from chapter 26 (I think, lol), crying and seeing an image of himself being raped by his step-father.  It’s why he freaked out so badly afterward and ran away.  Yashiro realized that he LIKED being treated gently, but it reminded him of what his step-father said to him about him really being a woman.  I think, in that moment, when Yashiro realized he wanted and liked being treated kindly, it was like a confirmation for him of everything his step-father claimed about him, that he was really a woman, that him being born male was a mistake, etc...  In that way, it was like a confirmation of every negative, cruel, vicious thing his step-father ever said and did to him.  An affirmation of Yashiro’s own, negative view of himself. 

I think Yashiro’s experience in middle school with the girl he has sex with sort of reinforced Yashiro’s views about women too, and how they’re supposed to be treated, versus how he thinks men are supposed to be treated.  When he tried getting rough with that girl, she started crying, and Yashiro immediately stopped and lost interest in her.  He realized she didn’t want to be roughhoused.  Subsequently, I always point to this incident as proof that Yashiro isn’t, and never was, a sadist.  A true sadist would be turned on by another person’s pain and fear, but Yashiro had the opposite response.  He was turned off by it. 

Yashiro realizes, after his first, sexual experience with Doumeki, that he, like that girl, doesn’t actually enjoy being hurt during sex, doesn’t enjoy being roughhoused and mistreated.  That of course was a coping mechanism he clung to to deal with his trauma, convincing himself that he wanted to be mistreated and hurt to defend against the reality that he’d been horribly vicitmized.  He realized, in that moment with Doumeki, then, that he was more like a woman than a man (just like his step-father claimed), and so for Yashiro, admitting that he wants to be treated with tenderness is tantamount to his admitting that his step-father was right about him.  This is why, I think, he’s still having such a hard time admitting to Doumeki what he really wants.  I know certain people in this fandom are impatient with Yashiro and demanding that he just confess his feelings already, but they forget just how traumatized Yashiro really is, and what it is he’s dealing with. 

It’s obviously going to take a bit more, or a lot more time before either Yashiro or Doumeki can fully open up to one another, and for Yashiro specifically, it’s going to be a lifelong process, being able to accept himself and what he wants without also feeling ashamed or guilty or wrong. 

[egg-emperor]

If/when Eggy finally scraps orbot and cubot for good, do you think he'd show them the superior bots that he's replacing them with (and bragging about the superior bots superiority while calling robot and cubot Useless), just before he scraps them, just to twist the knife?😈

He was clearly already very into threatening them with the idea of replacing them to immediately knock them back into submission and obedience all along lol

And now that Sage is a thing, I can imagine it's getting worse for them already as he practically already unintentionally replaced them as when she exceeded all expectations, he quickly expressed enthusiasm to assign her to many major tasks they would've previously managed

So they're almost out of a job already aside from like the awkward things like being called to the bathroom/bedroom to assist him or give his special massages etc where they have to see him nude lol with Sage in the picture

She's appealing to many of Eggman's needs and much more enthusiastically and earnestly than they ever did, so she's much more reliable to him and praised by him of course. Plus there's the greater appeal for all the pride he can take in her for being an impressive creation that he truly feels is reflective of his genius just like he longed for in the prequel comic

He could never say the same for poor Orbot and Cubot, who he feels put a stain on his image more often than not for how often they set off his short temper, disappoint him, and need much more forcing and threatening into doing a lot of things. Their typical antics are specifically what made him wish for something to be proud of above

Sage, seeing them as family, may hope that Eggman changes his mind on how he feels about them but he knows she'll still remain loyal to her beloved father, even after any disappointment if he did it. Not that it's not a concern to him in the first place anyway because he always does what he wants and that won't change for anyone at all XD

So he may already be very close to replacing them without even needing to make more robots first, the more he finds Sage and Metal cover most areas for him! Aside from those early things he still makes them do. I can imagine even if he's already immediately constantly putting them down in comparison to Sage every time he praises his golden child

He could make their replacements quickly because both quality and quantity matters and he needs some for those more awkward intimate tasks and he'd be sure to brag about how much better they are at serving him too, but especially Metal and Sage as his very best. Really rub it in to make them feel like inferior useless disgraces in comparison

Or maybe without even making their direct replacements yet, he'd tease by telling them he'll use their parts to make better and superior robots that replace the very last of their little purpose and use to him left, will reflect his genius, and treat him the way he should be. "I'll replace you with creations I can actually be proud of, like Metal and Sage!"

And he'd also cruelly emphasize that he's definitely not going to use their data banks/minds if he repurposes them to make these new robots he boasts of creating because they're only good for their parts. He wants to make it hurt, make them feel like the trash they'll become when they're torn apart and thrown away, unable to feel anything at all

Oh this cruel bastard. Him being proud and happy with his newest shiny toy makes him either totally ignore and abandon, deliberately treat his older obsolete creations like shit to make them feel inferior in comparison, and/or even scrap them entirely. You may be happy for Sage's promotions but poor Orbot and Cubot have to suffer for it!

[lilzezthenyan]

minor infodumping about my House MD-Good Omens AU <3

House is a demon with a snake motif, Wilson is an angel with an owl motif (why he has the grey streak)

No one knows that they’re supernatural beings. they just think they’re Like That™ (waving their hands and shit happens, casually references bible lore despite neither supposedly being Christian, etc.)

House doesn’t get the infarction, but rather as a punishment from Hell, an ice cube of Holy water was pressed into his thigh, giving him a limp. The cane was just a fun addition - he the technically doesn’t need it

He’s had it for a long, long time, but it was manageable. It was just a scar. In replace of the infarction, is was the same punishment but enough to permanently disfigure him and make him feel pain. Vicodin does nothing, it’s just for the high, which does distract from the pain. He tries to miracle his pain away only for it to come back a few hours later

They met several millennia ago at a bar (or the equivalent), and then they just kept meeting that way ‘accidentally’ at several bars over the years until Wilson landed himself in jail and House graciously bailed him out (but not without relentless bullying)

In the 1600s, Wilson got thrown in jail for witchcraft (people witnessed him fling a bottle at someone's head without touching it). This is what truly kickstarts their friendship

They’re both fascinated by human medicine and it’s advances, so they both pose as humans through out the centuries to learn all they can under various names

If you really tried, you would be able to find all the doctorates and PhDs they’ve both collected over time

House created the concept of privatized healthcare

The plot is pretty similar overall, but Wilson’s patients tend to live a little longer than estimated, and House’s patients are more miserable than ever while being treated

They have an ongoing bet on who can get the most "you’re such an angel / you’re an absolute demon" by the end of each decade. Wilson is obviously winning

To explain why House has slits as pupils, he says it’s coloboma, where the iris of the eye is broken, leaving what looks like slits as pupils

Wilson physically has to restrain himself from miracle-ing away cancer (in case Upstairs gets suspicious), so he instead briefly extends his patients lives and gives them a little more luck on the side

Occasionally, House will just disappear instead of walking away. He thinks it’s funny

House has a similar relationship with his motorcycle like how Crowley does with his car. So, whenever Wilson rides with House, his motorcycle deliberately drives slowly

House and Wilson choose to present masculine most of the time, but have presented feminine in some instances. For example: Wilson really liked 1950s dresses, House liked 1980s women's fashion (because of the denim)

[harocat]

'Xiang Liu deserves Xiayao'

'I would have picked Xiang Liu'

Put aside shipping for a moment and actually look at the interaction between them that Xiayao sees. All his noble sacrifices, except when he saves her after the fire? She's not privy to.

And they're wonderful, and his story is beautiful, but how do any of them show that he would be a good match to her in a long term relationship? And certainly how could Xiaoyao have chosen XL based on them when she didn't even know about them? It's also not grand gestures that draw her; it's loyalty and companionship. Xiang Liu could not provide that. He can show her every beautiful thing in the world, but he can't and won't give her what she actually desires.

The idea that someone 'deserves' someone in fiction is kind of a strange take as is. I don't think it makes for good writing to treat a romantic partner as if they're a prize. In the immortal words of Princess Jasmine, Xiaoyao is not a prize to be won.

Saying he deserves her, or she should have picked him also misses the fundamental tragedy of Xiang Liu and frankly the meaty, fascinating parts of his character. Neither is true, because there is not a manner, in this universe, where he would have ever been a choice. He would not have allowed it. He spent good times with her as FFB, and yeah, he could not resist flirting, but genuine romance was never on the table for him because of HIS decision.

And consider their direct interaction. He is frequently rude to her, frequently cruel to her. This is deliberate on his part later on; he is trying to push her away (early on it's just him being like that though). But whether deliberate or not, why would someone who does that be her 'deserved' partner, the one she should choose?

She says he's not fit to be in any girl’s dream not because he's a demon, but because he has broken her ankle, whipped her, thrown her hundreds of feet off his bird into the water, sucked her blood in a manner that is shown to be very painful several times, etc. The early cruelty for cruelty's sake, instead of to push her away, was during her Wen Xiaoliu days as well, so the idea that he specifically deserves WXL is... hmmm...

And this isn't me arguing that XL and XY are problematic or something. It's clear that the message we are meant to take from his story isn't 'he's too evil to be her boyfriend', but 'he made the choices he did to pursue his life's mission, and because of that, he pushed her away.' Cruel to be kind.

But to say he deserved her, to say that YOU would have chosen Xiang Liu so you don't get why she didn't? It just... it really misses the point of their story. In his tragedy, he was never a choice at all.

[doberbutts]

I have to tell you I adore you and all your fabulous fur babies!

I would like to ask if you can talk about your experience being on t, specifically the mental and emotional aspects of the hrt process. I have read a lot about the physical changes that happen, but I don't see anyone talking about how your personality, mood, energy, etc. change.

Thanks!

Hey thanks!

Honestly while there is a lot of misinformation regarding what testosterone does to your emotions, I feel lucky that my endocrinologist never really said anything except that I may feel wild mood swings or have trouble controlling my anger in the first few months as my body and mind adjusted to the new swing in hormones.

This is pretty normal for any hormone you take- when you first start, you may find yourself experiencing mood swings and feeling emotions more intensely. That's why kids deep into puberty tend to be, um, a bit out of control with their emotions. It's also why this happens again as you age into your twilight years, when your body once again changes its hormone output and can set things a bit out of whack. Or if you get pregnant. Or if you start hormonal birth control. Or if you take a steroid for something not even sex hormone related. Messing with your hormones can seriously throw off your grasp on your feelings and moods.

But the good news is, it's not permenant. By the time you're 5 months in, you should start feeling more like "you" again, unless your dose changes for whatever reason. And, even better, the "you" you feel like? Usually is a much more mentally happy person.

On a personal level, I didn't have random fits of anger. Which is interesting, because I have a documented anger problem that I have taken anger management for because I have had black-out rages [usually inspired by one of my sisters deliberately hurting one of my pets] [for instance she swung one of my pet rats at the wall by the tail like she was going to kill him and the next thing I know our mother is pulling me off of her as I'm pummelling her face with my fists on the ground and I do not remember the in-between] [I'm not sorry, fuck around and find out, don't hurt my animals and I won't hurt you] [also this sister sent me to the ER in a previous fight where she'd bodily picked me up and thrown me through a window so like. Don't feel too bad for her that I finally snapped and gave her a taste of what she constantly did to me]

In fact, I've had *multiple* people who know the "before" and "after" tell me that I'm much calmer and more emotionally steady than I've ever been. And that I'm happier too. I also used to anger-cry a *lot*, pretty much any time I got angry I'd also cry, but that also stopped happening so now I don't really get angry and when I do I don't cry about it.

I would say anxiety's probably about the same but depression is much better. Compared to who I was before leaving my hometown vs now, I can confidently say that I no longer consider the odds of whether my shower curtain rod can hold me for long enough. I'm much better at recognizing when my mental health is getting bad and when I need to take a step back. I get stressed and I can go "okay, I need to break away from this before I completely lose it" well in advance. Which is great! Mental stability and joy and security for the win!

I will say I don't really cry anymore. It does occasionally feel like I'm not really able to. One of Creed's songs came on and I teared up and my throat got all fuzzy but I think only one of two tears actually came out, vs losing him pre-T we're talking ugly cry scream-sobbing in my [now-ex]'s arms. Which, yes, some of it is just distance from the grief since it was two years ago. But also I've never been so in control that I only cried a literal couple tears' worth. Usually the waterworks start and then take a long time to end.

[sopuu]

I would love to hear your thoughts on the symbolism and game design of omori

This is suchh an old ask im sorry it took me so long to get my thoughts tgt let alone write them down hh everything’s under the cut bc there’s a Lot and tysm for enabling me 🙏🏻

just a heads up I’m not gonna talk much about the characters themselves bc there’s already plenty of analysis out there for them- what I am gonna get to tho is the general game itself and a bit of the music. And bc OMORI is a game that covers heavy topics, please be aware of this before you continue reading!

So ofc I gotta start with the first place omori wakes up in — white space, just a simple rectangle on the floor with the essentials within arm’s reach, no responsibilities and no one to bother you. I LOVE minimalistic stuff like this- something so simple can can make you feel like you’re in both the most peaceful and uncanny place in the world. Also the black bulb being a symbol of repression, opposite of a lit bulb being a symbol of a new idea (thank you fandom wiki for this point) is just 👌🏻. And the fact that omori’s friends are right next door (literally called neighbour’s room) if he ever gets lonely shows how they’ve always been there for him, and in turn how much he depends on them.

I think the game does a wonderful job of depicting what escapism is like- Daydreaming of a world full of your own ocs, adventuring through it with your best friends and being the hero of the story where everything goes right for you. But of course this fantasy can’t hold forever as the real world starts to catch up, with stuff like Something appearing in places reminding omori of what happened, red space entrances throughout the story (the ones before the main red space debut as omori sits on the throne), and ofc the moment basil drops the photograph at the start. Side note, I like how Something always disappearing so quickly shows how desperate omori is to repress it, like quickly shoving problems under a rug. Or maybe im reading too much into it and it’s just to add to the creepy factor lol. Also this is one of the games that does mixed media SO well- combining digital 2d art with real life materials like sketching and scanning the animations, clay models for Somethings, real life photos drawn over and filtered etc, it really suits the theme of having to balance the fictional world and the real world if that makes sense. Also the way some scenes deliberately leave in the crumpled paper texture!! Especially for messages about not friends giving up on each other-- its almost like those were thrown away in the trash and picked back up again. Quite the parallel to how sunny locked himself away for four years due to depression and guilt for what he’s done, thinking his friends would never forgive him, then eventually finally coming out of his house and giving himself a chance with reconnecting with them.

Ok here’s where the heavier themes come in so please please stop reading if you’re not comfortable with them! [tw: suicide (or at least implications of it)]

game design time! i absolutely love it when games use the game mechanics themselves to be a part of storytelling- and this game does it with the stab function. I actually got to know this game through watching playthroughs, and at the first forced transition usually people do whatever they can think of to avoid having to press the button, before very reluctantly realising that they don’t have a choice. As the game goes on, players start getting more and more familiar with it, using it to get back to the real world or bc of forced resets and so on. Before long this basically becomes routine and players get so used to it that they don’t even hesitate to press it anymore. After all, nothing bad actually happens, right..? This mechanic gets used so much more in black space, but this time it’s very prominently presented as an escape route, something to get out of stressful situations, something that helps. you might even be relieved to see that option be available to you. And I think that’s terrifying— considering that this is a representation of how.. unpleasant thoughts can go from being unfathomable to something that feels like a natural/normal occurrence. i don’t think I’ve seen any other game that captures this kind of thought process(? there’s probably a better term for this) to the level that OMORI does and im so so glad that the devs are bringing these mental health topics to light.

I’d also love to talk about black space but I think this post does it better than I ever could haha, also black space 2 I love you sm im a sucker for out-of-bounds-but-not-really type of areas (yknow like Undertale’s fun value rooms and test rooms), it’s like hitting the jackpot for easter eggs and subtle lore aughh <3

And I can’t talk about OMORI without talking about the music!! I think we can all agree that Duet KILLS. the high notes as the happiest scenes show on screen………the way the piano is the one that starts the song off and it ends with only the violin……… my emotions man. what if I started crying!!!!! (i did)

Clean Slate is one of my top songs- there’s so much emotion in this and it’s the epitome of acceptance and letting go of guilt while also giving the feeling that you’re in a hospital (ig that’s kinda the point but for such a short song to pinpoint a feeling AND setting so accurately is so grragjgh….)

Other big favs are It Means Everything, Chaos Assembly, Tee-Hee Time, Puddles, Snow Forest and Dear Little Brother :) and actually a lot of others as well but id be listing half the soundtrack and more if I go on

In conclusion OMORI is such a well designed game, I love it and its messages sm it means a lot to me personally, and writing this made me feel like im back in English class again

[tickle-bugs]

hi so. uhm. I know requests are closed but I have bad memory problems and know I probably won't remember this if I don't send it in now so I'm just leaving this here for you to find later. again, apologies. blame my stupid brain jaja. anyway yeah uh sorry this is so long now its awkward uh I just wanted some kylo ren headcanons please? he's my favorite and there's literally 0 tickle content of him anywhere so I'd really appreciate it. <3

hey there! i accept headcanon requests pretty much always (so long as they're in one of my current fandoms), but prompt requests for fics are closed. so you're good! im also team memory problems. it's part of why i'm away from here so often. so i empathize <3

let's assume this is a zuko-esque au where they rehab Ben like a particularly troublesome shelter cat and he's able to regain the trust of everyone else. Like Finn's arc but more hardcore considering *gestures to Kylo's backstory lol*. HCs under the cut!

okay first off...he has a really nice smile. when he smiles with his teeth, his eyes crinkle at the corners. his whole face warms and he kinda ducks his head. naturally this means he would rather be executed than ever allow a living soul to see it

his laugh sneaks up on him. he's all about maintaining control and composure but unfettered joy always just blows past his defenses. He's a "HA!" and then silent, muffled laughter kinda guy <3

idk why but i feel in my spirit that if he giggles, he hiccups. its rare for him to giggle but i think he gets stuck in it and its cute.

part one of ben rehabilitation project: getting this guy some normal clothes. he starts dressing more casually. he's still like an awkward, angry duckling, but he seems much more approachable. He washes his hair (poe sources good curl care for him to get some volume back in that mop)

For the first while of defecting to the Resistance, he's sorta a dark shadow. Doesn't talk, doesn't leave his room, etc. But as he does start to follow Finn, Poe, and Rey around, he does notice their closeness. The casual touch. He envies it.

It takes a little while, but slowly Rey starts including him in on jokes. Finn and Poe are slower to forgive, often making jokes at his expense, but...Ben's treacherous flares of temper start to subside. He gets used to quietly listening and smiling but knows better than to assume he's included. Shadowing them becomes a gift.

Ben's not sure when Poe and Finn start talking to him and acknowledging he's there, but he absolutely does notice Poe jabbing him in the ribs for not 'paying attention'. He passes it off as being startled but he can feel Rey's mind hovering at the edge of his own, keen as ever, like Ben Solo I Know What You Are (ticklish)

Finn, Poe, and Rey deliberate for a week about how exactly to go about this (Ben gets cagey. why are they whispering?) and eventually Poe is just like. look. i've got credits on this. you ticklish?

i am team 'Ben goes completely red when flustered'. just top to bottom imperial red. Poe asks him this and he turns into a fucking tomato. gives the world's most unconvincing no. and it is Rey who (very gently) proves him wrong, thus opening the floodgates to bully him over time.

Ben gets used to Poe's arms thrown over his shoulders, Finn leaning on him, or Rey tucking herself into his side. He literally never gets used to the tickling fingers seeking softness he thought he'd long crushed away

he gets very good at paying attention to a briefing while slapping way/wrestling with Finn, Poe, AND Rey's hands. laser focused.

Ben is usually a teasing voice on the sidelines when the trio gets up to tickly shenanigans, but i am a HUGE fan of Poe getting comfy and talking shit and Ben just looping his arms under Poe's and holding him for Finn and Rey to go to town. To win Ben's favor is to win a tickle fight. Finn is very good at this. Ben sides with him bc its the funniest option (and Poe's dramatic, betrayed gasps are the best).

He is so good at reading people and so specific in teasing. Such a scary ler but also very funny? He's very deadpan and witty. It's always unexpected. his parents really shine thru in him when he's up to mischief

Rey and Ben engage in long distance Force warfare that literally always ends in one of them slumped against the wall giggling. Finn learns to manipulate the Force and things get wild lol

Ben's palms are ticklish. I know this to be true.

He is fucking impossible to take down. Finn, Rey, and Poe have to tactically coordinate to ambush him. He's got a sixth sense for their bullshit. But! once he goes down he just kinda deflates. One person is the designated 'hold Ben's wrists' guy bc he always tries to hide his face

big fan of Ben giving Rey piggyback rides. Rey is a spider monkey to me. 50/50 Ben starts tickling her knees or Rey starts tickling his ears and they both collapse

love the idea of these four always being physically connected. esp since Ben is the tallest (i think). hes taking a nap and the trio just panini presses him into the mattress. their dogpiles always end in laughter or the best fucking naps ever. sometimes both

[alonetogether]

hey ur answer to that ask last night (abt 27 being abt nowhere to go but death while i am my own muse shows a growth & healing, channelling that aggression spiral into music) is making me a tiny bit insane. Has anyone unpacked how i am my own muse straight into 27 kind of like. reframes 27 itself. pete + other members talked a long time ago abt how pete spent the entire year he was 27 in a haze, and how ppl legit thought he was gonna die; a whole year of his life spiraling w/ nowhere to go. and now looking at it in the context of i am my own muse (LIVE DEBUT!!!! THEY DELIBERATELY DEBUTED THIS SONG ALONGSIDE 27!!!!!) with the lyrics "got to throw this year away / we've got to throw this year away / like a bad luck charm" right into 27. i wonder what year is being thrown away. i wonder what memories they're implied to be moving past. throwing away the bad memories that have stopped hurting anyway tour of healing i'm going really crazy over this sorry if it's already been said also this is much longer than i thought it'd be sorry for the rant

GOD youre so so so right anon now youre making ME crazy in turn holyyyy shitttt... can i ALSO add that i always saw "smash all the guitars til we see all the stars" as such a like folie era/into hiatus era line too like they all got to breaking point, they were all in such a haze and destroying what they once saw as something sacred to them.. 27 to muse itself is soooo. theres a reason stardust seems like such a new era for fob cause it IS they are working through trauma especially from those pre-hiatus years and accepting that they had to destroy what they had to come back anew etc. so so much happened last night and this 8ball combo is probably one of the top things that is making me so crazy too. im right here with you anon

[haggishlyhagging]

The power of presence that is experienced by those who have begun to live in the new space radiates outward, attracting others. For those who are fixated upon patriarchal space it apparently is threatening. Indeed this sense of threat is frequently expressed. For those who are thus threatened, the presence of women to each other is experienced as an absence. Such women are no longer empty receptacles to be used as "the Other," and are no longer internalizing the projections that cut off the flow of being. Men who need such projection screens experience the power of absence of such "objects" and are thrown into the situation of perceiving nothingness. Sometimes the absence of women that elicits this anxiety is in fact physical. For example, when women deliberately stay away from meetings, social gatherings, etc., in order to be free to do what is important to ourselves, there is sometimes an inordinate response of protest. Sometimes the absence is simply non-cooperation, refusal to "play the game" of sex roles, refusal to flatter and agree, etc. This too hints at presence of another space that women have gone off to, and the would-be users are left with no one to use. Sometimes, of course, the absence of women takes the form of active resistance. Again, it throws those who would assume the role of exploiters back into their sense of nothingness.

In this way then, women's confrontation with the experience of nothingness invites men to confront it also. Many of course respond with hostility. The hostility may be open or, in some cases, partially disguised both from the men who are exercising it and from the women to whom it is directed. When disguised, it often takes seductive forms, such as invitations to "dialogue" under conditions psychologically loaded against the woman, or invitations to a quick and easy "reconciliation" without taking seriously the problems raised. Other men react with disguised hostility in the form of being "the feminist's friend," not in the sense of really hearing women but as paternalistic supervisors, analysts, or "spokesmen" for the movement. Despite the many avenues of nonauthentic response to the threat of women's power of absence, some men do accept the invitation to confront the experience of nothingness that offers itself when "the Other" ceases to be "the Other" and stands back to say "I am." In so doing men begin to liberate themselves toward wholeness, toward androgynous being. This new participation in the power of being becomes possible for men when women move into the new space.

-Mary Daly, Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation

[aishu-no-melody]

Can you please talk about Roy Mustang for me? I'd love to hear your interpretation of him? What do you think of him in 03 vs brotherhood/manga?

Ok grab a snack lol.

So to preface I have to say that I don't like Brotherhood in general and my opinions on that play a part in my opinion of Roy. He's my absolute favorite character like I have a VHS tape from like 2005 where I took my sister's VCDs and literally took up half the tape of a Roy montage lol. But these are my opinions and why I think he has the superir portrayl in 03.

Keep in mind though I have seen Brotherhood once, havent read the manga in years, but ive seen 03 and COS SO SO SO many times.

So I feel like the overall theme of Brotherhood is "military and armestris good. Ishvalain immigrants bad." And the military in 03 is painted so much differently. It's more realistic and they drive home the point that the military fucked up and show us that Roy really has not been a great person. I mean in 03 we see him try to kill himself twice over the fact that he's killed so many people and especially he's haunted by the innocent children. When he kills Winrys parents he realzies hes become so absolutely immoral and rotten that he has killed his own people and gets turnt and tries to take his own life. He's shady, there's that scene where he threatens to blackmail child Edward/expose him and Al (it's early in the season but I can't quite remember what for) yet he tries to shelter them from how harsh reality is. He thinks by becoming Furher everything will be okay now, he will be forgiven, and the country will be better. Long story short he has his own agenda that sounds great on paper but in reality, at least in the first like half of the series, is impossible.

The growth of his character in 03 is huge and they kind of stealthily plant the seeds early on. He's no longer gunning for the position of Furher because of his own selfish reasons, he's actively seeking revenge for Hughes which makes him start to unravel.

Obviously the character of Pride/Bradley deviates from the source in 03. Actually all the homonculous and their personal foes are directly related to the people they're fighting. Edward/Sloth etc. The whole relationship of Bradley and Roy and also the characterization of Bradley as Pride is very deliberate - Roy fights Bradley and is severely wounded/almost dies fighting Pride. The entire series Roy has so much pride and so much of an ego that it's destroying him. He is literally forced to face his own deadly sin and to kill his own ego.

Ultimately he kills Bradley but in doing so his life unravels and he does not get to be the hero, the savior, the one that fixes everything which his pride previously convinced him he was capable of doing. In COS we find him isolated, depressed and a shell of his former self, waiting for Edward to return, crippled and alone. Even by the end when he saves the day in the fancy little air balloon, he still cannot protect Edward and looses him forever. He looses absolutely everything and the director of COS even said in some kind of interview or something that after the movie Roy still would never hold the same power he once did and have that same respect. So at the end of the day - he has thrown everything he's ever had away for good because of his pride. He has no happy ending. He redeems himself to the viewer (unless you're me and the second you first see him go 😍 zaddy I can fix him) but by then he is too far gone - he is both an awful person and a martyr. We know his heart ultimately is in the right place by the end but his war crimes and atrocities still exist and his failure is still very evident. If you've never seen it, look up the 10 of Swords tarot card - while I'm pretty sure they did not purposely do it, the meaning of the card and ESPECIALLY the imagery of the original card is so so accurate and I think the best summary of his character. Look up Labyrnthos or something like that their summary of it is the best.

So I feel like in 03 he has far more depth and his character arc is so, so, much richer.

To discuss this I also have to get into his relationship with the Elric brothers, mainly Edward. He and Edward are parallels of each other - both of them are arrogant and oblivious and in trivial pursuit of righting their wrongs, when in reality there is nothing they can do to rectify either situation or take back the damage they've done. Roy obviously does care for the Elric brothers but does not know how to show it properly and ends up hurting them more than helping them, he basically put them into a world that destroys them - Edward loves his brother but can't outwardly emote it in the same way Al can and ends up literally destroying Al's everything when he convinces him to help attempt their mom's life.

Edward hates people who use others for their own personal gain or for selfish reasons, he hates arrogance and hatred itself. He rightly identifies all these qualities in Roy who he appears to hate, when in reality Edward tried to bring back his mom knowing there's a chance he and his brother could die, he is also extremely arrogant and has no problem using all the militaries money and resources to do what he wants yet he cannot fathom why Roy, who sticks his neck out for him many times, gets angry with him or why some Ishvallans people are offended that he is in the military.

They have some distantly codependent relationship because they both realize they need each other - Roy needed to recruit Edward initially to show off, he also realizes Edward knows valuable information he uses to complete his goal, but also sees someone who needs some form of guidance and discipline. Edward needs Roy so he can access the power and resources he provides but he also at the end of the day, after leaving the military and coming back randomly and literally going AWOL, Roy (AND his team) does not abandon him.

So knowing that Edward is loyal, Roy assumes in the last episode when he runs into Edward on the street looking fine as hell, that Edward will join him in his battle with pride. Roy has to go into battle now alone which it seems he didn't apparently take into account and because of this he barely beats Bradley and almost dies. Edward finally accepts that Roy isn't 100% gutted and sees the good in him and finally becomes aware that the military he chose to join is corrupt, therefore so is he - he doesn't think what Roy is going to do will solve anything yet he goes and fights Dante to basically accomplish the same thing. You finally see that deep down they did always care about each other. When they say goodbye it is like the completion of both character arcs, at least for the series itself.

In COS they still follow the same path in that, yes, did they accomplish their goals? For sure, but now Roy -who succesfully killed Bradley - is demoted and exciled and miserable, and Edward -who got his brothers body restored - is alone and has absolutely nobody who understands him and is stuck that way for life.

This relates to my over feelings about Roy and his character arc because it adds to the depth of it. Their relationship is integral to it and would not be the same at all without it. I didnt talk much about Brotherhood because its been so long I don't want to mess up the facts on, but the one thing that plays into my opinion is that in BH Roy does get what he wants and I dont like that. Roy does not desevre that unfortunately and it is way boring because its like.....oh....ok? What a total shocker -_- VS Wow after ALL this, he fails even though we all think hes going to succeed at first. I also like how Edward is portrayed in 03 way better and all that ties into it to but that's another topic itself.

[featherlouise]

Do you have any more funfacts about mothfriend, his relationship with Hollow, their kids or maybe the childhood friends AU? 👀 I am very normal about all of them (lies)

Okok so I kinda have a habit of centring all my characters’ lives around the main character. So!! I’ve been thinking about mothfriend’s childhood, how he came to live in the middle of nowhere, etc

So!!

The day the Radiance is consumed by the void, her dying screams echo across the lands. It’s a sound no mortal has heard in millennia, but every living being intrinsically knows the meaning of: the death of a god.

As the child of the Seer, he was expected to have a deeper connection to the dream realm than most, and as such was raised with. A lot. Of pressure put onto him. On top of that, his mother believed that if she were to offer her child to the Radiance as a vessel, her connection to Her would deepen, and she would forever be known as the one who broke the chains cast upon their goddess by the pale usurper.

When the Radiance dies, however, mothfriend ceases to be of any use. His magical abilities are lacklustre, to say the least, and with Her gone, he just becomes another mouth to feed.

I’ve not really worked the specifics, but long story short, mothfriend takes the commotion caused by Her death to make a break for it. He runs out into the middle of a blizzard and doesn’t look back. He runs until he can’t and then runs even further. Because if he knows one thing, it’s that he cannot stay in this kingdom. Not with how deep the Order has sunk their teeth into it.

Eventually, he reaches the edge of the kingdom (the capital is p near the border, so this takes maybe an hour or two) and he knows that if he doesn’t find shelter soon, he’s a dead man walking.

(I’ve not figured out how, bc I don’t want him to just find it by chance but!!) eventually, he stumbles across a cabin, and figures if there are any owners, they won’t begrudge him for taking shelter in their barn, and manages to fall into a fitful sleep.

When he wakes up, there’s a blanket thrown over him. (Again, not worked out the details (this is a very new idea lmao))

Turns out!! This cabin is owned by a blind old lady, and while she can get by pretty well on her own, manual labour jobs her wife used to do have been getting more and more difficult. Mothfriend, with nowhere else to go, takes up her offer of lodging in return for work.

I’ve been thinking about mothfriend’s character a little, and have decided that his kind, mild, generally teddy bear like demeanour?? It’s VERY deliberate. Mothfriend is VERY hot headed, and for the first few months of his stay with the lady, whenever he starts getting angry, she sends him outside to chop wood to let out his frustration.

When he’s done, he’ll bring whatever’s usable (aka whatever hasn’t been chopped to pieces) into the house, puts it into the basket next to the fireplace, and sits down at the dining table with the lady, who made a warm drink for the both of them while she waited (sometimes it’s tea, other times it’s hot chocolate, or coffee, she’s surprisingly good at figuring out just what mothfriend needs in these moments).

While they drink, they talk. And, through these chats, he learns that the lady (“Call me Gran, dear.”) had a wife and child, the former of which passed away peacefully in her sleep almost a decade ago. Her child on the other hand?? Was captured and presumably killed by “religious fanatics” when he was young. Almost half a century later she still has no idea what happened to him.

He decides not to tell her about the Order.

One day, a couple of months into his stay, she tells him to help her clean out the spare room in the cottage, since he “may as well have somewhere proper to sleep, can’t have your back giving out before mine!! That couch does you no good.”

It’s at this point mothfriend begins to worry about possibly trying to replace Gran’s lost child, and when he brings it up during one of their post wood chopping conversations, she just laughs, and tells him,

“Dear, just because I’m letting more people into my life, it doesn’t mean I’ve gotta kick anyone else out!! This ain’t a hotel, hon. My heart’s got unlimited space. Once you’re in here,” she pats herself on the chest, “Y’ain’t leavin’.”

After a few years, Gran’s health starts to deteriorate. A few years after that, she passes away, bedridden, with Mothfriend holding onto her hand.

Before she goes, she tells him, “I’m glad you escaped those evil sons a’ bitches dear. Never woulda’ met my favourite grandson otherwise.”

He never finds out how she knew, and surprisingly, it doesn’t bother him.

A year later, an injured god (though he doesn’t know that) shows up on his doorstep

[toughaqua777]

I Just Had an Idea

Well, multiple ideas and thoughts that go together. Put under Keep Reading because long post again. But just in case, TL;DR: Russo’s clone appeared earlier than we think, Russo’s been absent since the meeting on the spaceship, and Mr. B lookin’ a little sus ngl

I believe that Russo’s clone (who from here on out I will refer to as “Ruse”) was made before Russo was kidnapped. In fact, Russo went missing while still on the spaceship to the lobby. Hear me out.

In the trailer for Season 3, we cut to the three hosts while on the spaceship, and as we know, they’re debating how they were gonna do all the challenges and whatnot. After Mr. B makes contact (and eventually disconnects), Russo seems pretty delighted about the concept that Mr. B put forth about the Bits:

“Wait, guys, this is great! Yeah, the Season 3 final battle we made got destroyed with the new lobby and we weren’t sure what we were gonna do with the grand prize items, but now we have a reason to earn them!”

But at some point, when you talk to Russo(?), he says this:

“Why is everyone looking for bits of our instruments? That has to be impossible to find! You’re all wasting your time if you ask me!”

A little contrary, isn’t it?

And keep in-mind, the Bits are used to create tools for Battlers to assist with dealing with whoever/whatever caused the incident at the concert. It’s only natural if someone who didn’t want the tools to be made would want to deter others from finding them, right?

“But wait,” you might ask, “That was AFTER at least one match-up in the tournament already happened! Maybe Russo got replaced after that!” And you’d have a point!

But recall what happened on the spaceship.

After Sabrina announces that they’ve almost arrived at the old lobby, the spaceship takes massive damage out of nowhere. We never learn what exactly caused that, do we? And after everyone scrambles around doing tasks for a bit, an emergency meeting is called...also out of nowhere. No, seriously, no one knows who/what called it. And the following takes place:

DJ: “Wait, if everyone’s here, why are we having an emergency meeting?”

Russo(?): “Uhhh, must’ve been a false alarm.”

And that’s it, basically. He dismisses the meeting shortly afterwards.

Basically, my idea is that the damage to the ship was caused by something--or rather, someone--penetrating the ship and infiltrating it. This causes everyone to scramble to complete tasks, including the hosts. With everyone separated, it would be the perfect time for someone to strike.

This is where Ruse comes in.

He goes on to find Russo and attack him, nabbing the latter’s sword so he can’t fight back. In a panic, Russo rushes to activate the emergency meeting...but it’s too late for him. Ruse grabs him and either locks him away elsewhere on the ship, or straight-up throws him out. Remember, Russo (or rather Ruse) is the last person to enter the room, and he arrives somewhat late in comparison to the other two hosts, so him doing all of this beforehand is entirely possible.

Either way, Ruse’s intention? To kill Russo and take his place so everything else went without a hitch.

But obviously, whether by a miracle in getting thrown out, a miracle in the crashing of the spaceship, or in somehow escaping the locked room he was in before crashing, Russo survives. Probably not unscathed (physically or mentally), but he survives.

Because of everything that had just gone down, Russo decides that he needs to figure out where Ruse came from, who or what he was created by, his creator’s goal, etc. But not wanting to endanger anyone (and not wanting to cause panic and delay/cancel Season 3 as a whole), he lays low for a while.

That doesn’t stop him from leaving clues behind nor does it stop him from helping from the sidelines. What do I mean by this?

Well, think about it: The mystery lobby was likely made by JP and Netpunk as a whole, right? Why would they deliberately leave behind methods of powering up the tools made by the Bits if they didn’t want them to be found (if Ruse deterring others from finding them is any indication)? They wouldn’t. It wouldn’t make sense. But it wasn’t Mr. B either; he says himself that he has no idea how to power the tools. So who would at least try to develop methods of doing so without making it too obvious (making them challenging to do both as a test to which Battler would be capable of helping and to avoid suspicion from JP & Netpunk)?

Russo.

Russo was also the one who would write the message on the wall that DJ and the Battlers would find: “DON’T TRUST RUSSO, TRUST ME!” It was Russo trying to lay the hint that Ruse wasn’t him! However, when DJ confronted who he thought was Russo about it, he was dismissed.

But in reality, it made Ruse realize something: Russo was still alive.

This is why “Russo” vanished afterwards; not only to keep tabs on the development of the final battle, but to hunt down Russo!

That said, Ruse probably didn’t inform JP about this. He probably wanted JP to believe the development of the final battle was going without a hitch and/or he thought he could deal with Russo himself.

Meanwhile, Russo’s still gathering intel and as a result he, I believe, got himself a JP disguise. This is possible thanks to the Skin Changer in the lobby that allows us Battlers to look like the competitors & the hosts, or at least it utilized the same tech. He did this to get more intel on Netpunk that he wasn’t able to obtain otherwise. By infiltrating the very source of the issue, he could figure out more.

This disguise was so perfect, it even tricked his counterpart. Recall the “Everything is in place!!” short. That was Ruse we saw with JP...or rather, Russo disguised as JP. The facade fades, however, as soon as the real JP’s voice is heard over the intercom, forcing Russo to take what he could get at the time and bail out. We never hear the disguised person talk, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

After a while (whether Ruse went to chase after him after the short or not), the two confront each other. Whatever happened then, it ends with Ruse being defeated (possibly even killed), and Russo taking his sword back and moving forward to save his friends from an untimely fate. Perhaps he even sent whatever intel he had to JParty in case something went down (like falling lost through the Metaverse) so he could move-in to pull a last-minute save.

I understand that this whole thing still has holes, but I think I can fill a few of them.

1) Why did JP & Netpunk allow the Bit tools to be made at all?

Perhaps it was overconfidence; JP may have believed that even if the tools were powered, no one would be able to stop them. They also could’ve known that they wouldn’t be powered just by being made, which would make Russo developing ways they could be all the more impactful.

2) How would Ruse be made at all?

Well, how was “The Great Woman” made? She was a clone of Sabrina that didn’t come out right. The tech probably isn’t perfect. That said, Ruse might’ve been more accurate to Russo due to having a more physical basis. That basis, I believe, is the Russo Plush. No, I’m not kidding. It’s available in the shop in the lobby and it’s the spitting image of the man in-question. That’s a stretch though.

So, as an alternative...

Well, we need to talk about a certain someone: Mr. Boringsworth.

OK, listen. Mr. B was kidnapped by JP early on, being forced to make the artificial sun and build the spaceship that would be used to go to it. And remember the short I mentioned earlier: Ruse stated that Mr. B was the one who set-up the subway to not work until a certain time. Also, he was likely released after making the sun so he could make the spaceship in the concert lobby (I mean, how else was he gonna make that thing?). And since the hosts knew about it, this part’s no secret.

But one would think that, after being released, he would’ve said something to warn the hosts. Or better yet, just didn’t make the spaceship at all.

So, what if he’s still in-danger? What if he’s being forced to do more? What if he already has done more?

For all we know, he probably has a lot of intel on the hosts in-general; he could’ve provided the info needed to help make the clones, even if the tech to make said clones is flawed. I doubt he’d do so willingly, unless he was under threat of...something. He stated that he “didn’t have a choice” to make the sun and spaceship, but maybe he was being threatened with death?

Or heck, maybe even blackmail?

We don’t actually know much about the guy when you think about it. He’s clearly very intelligent; in Season 2, he gave off the impression that he was a teacher of sorts, but now? He’s a mechanical genius; a spaceship, personal tools utilizing powerful Bits, an artificial sun with an extremely strong gravitational pull...for all we know, he even made the swords of the hosts!

But that only makes me wonder...Who is he, exactly? What’s his background? Maybe he’s just smart. But maybe there’s more to it.

Just who are you, Mr. B?

ANYWAY, thanks for coming to my infodump lol