#people have been alive before and will be alive again so logic says that i should be fine despite going through things

[loverboybrightsideghost]

hey does anybody know how to be a person? asking for me

[deadsetobsessions]

Cassandra Cain wandered. It has always been so, it will always be so. The moment she clutched the bloody remains of her own freedom in her hands, Cassandra flew and flitted between the cracks of the places she finds.

The only thing that ever made her stay was her dad and their family. The only place she ever settled in for more than a scant number of months was Gotham.

But they’re in a place- a universe- Cassandra could never return to, could not follow, because they had forbidden her to do so. Tim’s grip on her arm, two textures of bloodied skin and torn gloves, told her everything he wanted to say. Her little brother all but shoved her through the crack between planes and universes, and begged her to live with fearful eyes and the grim set of his shoulders.

She has never been good at denying Tim.

The first few weeks were… difficult. She ran- liberated a boat, from men with sabres and cruel hands- and learned to feel the desperate pull of freedom on her hands amongst the waves. She was lost, adrift, silent in her grief. She could be free. She has never been freer. But Cass had never wanted to be free from those she claimed as her own.

Cassandra was built and trained to survive. To walk into a fight and come out the victor, no matter the cost. So she adapts and overcomes and tries not to wallow in her grief.

This new world was different. Brighter, in many ways, than her home dimension. Not that it was hard, considering her home was a wasteland by now, with the moving corpses of what once was her family. The former vigilante knew better than to take it at face value. The brightest places tend to have the darkest shadows. And so, she travels, looking for a purpose. Looking for Hong Kong, because she’s well aware she’ll never find a Gotham again. She braves the sea, travels in between groups of pirates and struggles to understand the slips of sounds that did not make sense to her. It was like before Bruce found her all over again and Cassandra tried a little to learn like how he would have wanted her to. But it is hard, and spoken language was never important to her, never necessary. It was relevant only because her loved ones deemed it important.

Then, she finds a boy on an island, whose words were simple and who was always warm-welcoming-happy-free.

Predictably, Cassandra learns the word “meat” right after learning his name. He was like… the sun. Bright, bold, and unfettered in his will. More stubborn than her brothers and sisters, a feat Cass had not thought possible outside of Gotham, and more than Bruce, only because he could not be swayed by logic. He was Monkey D. Luffy and he wanted to be freer than anyone else.

“Join my crew!”

Cass could not kill. She could not be a pirate.

“Shishishi!” He throws his head back when he laughs, and Cass can tell that he means it. That he thinks her silly for-

“Then my first mate won’t need to kill! We’ll be strong enough to leave people alive! That’s your dream, right?”

Cassandra is breathless. She is still. And- maybe Luffy doesn’t have the training she does, but he understood. She could read it in the lines of his shoulders, the way his rubber limbs don’t snap. She couldn’t believe that she would find anyone that would understand her will to never kill, not after dad, who had wrapped her in shadows that whispered safety and understanding-

“You wanna be free and you want to help without killing! I’m gonna be the Pirate King, and the Pirate King’s crew’s gotta be the free-est! And we can help people if they pay us in meat!”

- but Luffy was a supernova and Cassandra believes.

“Okay.”

“YES!” Luffy roars with happiness, grin wide as the glow in her heart. “I GOT A FIRST MATE!”

——

Cass contorts herself into the barrel- not a difficult feat, since she was already small to begin with- and sighs. She pokes Luffy’s forehead before lightly tugging on his cheek, stretching the skin a bit, in a small scolding.

“Awe, nap time!”

Cass sighs, too familiar with the antics of a chaotic younger brother.

[zenlesszonezero]

You feelin' fired up now? Make way for the undefeated Champion! —Welcome to New Eridu!— PS5™/iOS/Android/PC | Version 1.3 "Virtual Revenge" of Zenless Zone Zero, HoYoverse's urban fantasy ARPG, is out now

[rhys-writes-some-shit]

Not About the Sleep

Alastor x Reader (Queer-Platonic) ft. Bestie Lucifer

A/N: I've been Going Thru It this last week, but I've been wanting to post something for ya'll for months. So I wrote this for myself to share :)

Your phone was on the other end of the room. It buzzed occasionally, but you never bothered to get up and check it. Curling in on yourself, you closed your eyes, waiting to drift back off to sleep. 

A few knocks on your door caused you to inhale sharply. 

“Helllooooo? You in there? You alive?” It was Lucifer. You ignored the concerned edge in his voice. 

“I’m alive,” you responded back, not bothering to move or open your eyes. “I’m just tired.”

There was a long pause. “Wellllll… Can I come in? Is that okay?” Lucifer then started muttering, “Will Alastor kill me if I go in? No, there’s no way. Well, maybe? Gah! I don’t know.”

When there wasn’t a response, you heard the door creak open lightly. Opening your eyes, you managed to sit up a little. Lucifer stood in the doorway, dressed casually. He was fidgeting with his apple cane, looking around at your messy room. 

“Oh, man,” he whispered, before clearing his throat. “Do you… want to come downstairs? For lunch? Charlie cooked this time, she’s excited to show you.”

Sighing a little, you shook your head. “I’m alright. Thanks for the offer, though.” You’d expected that to be it, already grabbing the covers to pull back over your shoulders. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Lucifer sounded serious this time, more serious than he’d ever spoken to you before. 

“I’m just tired, Luci.” You gave him a small smile to reassure him, but he didn’t look reassured. “Just need some sleep, that’s all.”

Lucifer swallowed. He stopped fidgeting now, his apple cane firmly on the ground. “You’ve been sleeping for over fifteen hours. You and I both know it’s not about sleep at this point.”

You were quiet. Logically, you knew he was right. Of course he was right. He’d know the best of everyone here. But you just wanted to sleep. There was nothing a little sleep couldn’t fix, right? You’d be right as rain by dinner, you were sure of it. 

“I’m fine, Lucifer.” Your tone was colder than you’d meant it to be, silently apologizing to your first. “Tell Charlie I’ll have some of her leftovers or something later.” 

Pulling the covers over your head, you firmly shut your eyes and waited for sleep to take you again. That was all you needed. Just a little more sleep. 

As Lucifer pulled the door closed, you could’ve sworn you’d heard him say something, but you missed it. 

Bringing your knees to your chest, you considered Lucifer’s words. “We both know it’s not about sleep at this point.” He was wrong, surely. You hadn’t gotten like that in ages, not since Alastor had come back. You’d been fine for so long, and you were always able to catch it. Always able to say something, to let someone know you needed help. You would know if something was wrong. And nothing was wrong. You were just tired. That was it. 

But what if he was right? What if it was getting bad again? You couldn’t bear to think about it, especially now that Alastor was here to talk reason into you. The things you’d considered while Alastor was gone scared you even now, and you had sworn you’d never let things get that bad ever again. 

You were just overreacting, that was all. It was the weather, surely, or something like that. Everything would be fine. Everything was always fine. It was fine. You were fine. 

Your senses came to you slowly. You must’ve finally fallen back to sleep, but who in their right mind would wake you back up? What part of, “I just need some sleep,” did people not understand? 

The crackling of jazz music is what you heard first, followed by the familiar sound of Alastor’s humming. It was dark outside now (not that it made a difference with the curtains closed) and a few lights had been turned on in your room. The entire place was filled with dim, orange light. 

Oh, no. Not Alastor. Of all people, you really didn’t want to see Alastor. 

There was no pretending to be asleep around Alastor. He could usually hear as soon as you woke up and your breathing picked up again. With a groan, you sat up, your eyes slowly adjusting to the light.

“Ah! Good evening, my dear!” Alastor said cheerily. He was folding your clothes at your desk. The same clothes, you realized, that had been laying in a basket untouched for a week. “I took the liberty of cleaning your room for you, I do hope you don’t mind.”

“Alastor, why… I…  thought I locked the door after Lucifer left.” A glass of water sat at your bedside, still cold. You obviously hadn’t put it there.

“You did!” Alastor smiled. “I don’t care for locks, you know. Do drink some water, dearest.”

You couldn’t help but scowl at him, but Alastor was quick to match your gaze. Rather than start an argument you knew you’d lose, you drank some of the water as asked. Actually, you ended up drinking the whole glass. You hadn’t even realized how thirsty you were. 

“Imagine my surprise when Lucifer, of all people, came to tell me he was worried about you. I laughed at him, of course. Worried about you? Preposterous! You’d tell me if you were ill, I assured him, but…” Alastor paused, folding your final piece of laundry. “Dear Husker informed me how my absence affected you, so I thought a little drop-in wouldn’t hurt.”

“Fuck those guys,” you muttered to yourself, massaging the bridge of your nose. “I just need some sleep, Al, I’ll be fine.”

“That’s what I said!” Alastor declared, clearly happy someone agreed with him. “But then Miss Charlie went on and on about some sort of ‘mental health’ nonsense. It was all quite annoying.”

Alastor started skillfully putting your clothes away. It was clear he knew exactly where everything went. How, you had no idea, but this was Alastor we were talking about. 

He continued, “but I saw the sorry state of your room! How appalling! But I wasn’t about to wake you, so I did a little spring cleaning. Rosie is always telling me how a little cleaning can do a lot to improve a person’s mood. Speaking of Rosie, she was telling me about the most dastardly customer she had to deal with the other day! I brought back a little bit of them for you.”

So you sat there in your bed, listening to Alastor talk about his week while he cleaned your room. It did manage to bring a small smile to your face, especially once Alastor started slipping jokes into his stories. 

You were going to have to get Lucifer and Husk back for ratting you out, but that was a problem for later. For now, all you had to worry about was Alastor not rearranging your whole room so he could do who-know-what to it. And you’d have to tell Rosie she was right about the whole cleaning thing, but part of you knew it wasn’t just about the cleaning.

[kuoukyeee]

Kanoh Agito sfw alphabet

Gender neutral reader (I hope🙏)

This has spoilers👻

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Before and during the tournament he would be more reserved with pda as he didn't know how to express himself and thought affection was a taboo thing. He deffo wasnt used to affection untill you came, the only touch he would've felt would have been during fights and also because not everyone would have the balls to hug this big, muscular, scary guy yk?

But after the tournament when he becomes a cool biker dude and he explores the world and finds himself and shit and has built up trust in you he would deffo be more welcoming towards affection and would initiate it more often. He would stand closer to you, touching shoulders/arms in public with you, if he's in a good mood he even places his hand on your lower back, especially if you are in a crowded/unknown place to make sure you won't get lost. If you go over board with the kisses and hugs I don't feel like he'd mind but he would deffo be taken aback and tell you to calm down if you're in a formal setting.

I feel like in private he'd deffo appreciate long hugs where you are both chest to chest and you can feel eachothers heartbeats, and soft kisses that make both of you melt into eachother and relax.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

He would be one of those trustworthy friends, where you could meet up once a year but still be at the same point where you left off.

He would also be dense, you would have to explain lots of things to him eg slang (and how monsters dont exist). I also feel like you could rant to him about stuff. He wouldn't necessarily gossip with you, but would deffo give straight forward advice and an outsiders point of view.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

I feel like when hes not busy he would indulge you , but otherwise he would pry you off (easily cus he stronk💪) even if ur complaining.

He likes when he puts his chin on top of your head and just koala hugs you, as he can feel your warmth and soft breaths, signaling to him that you are alive and safe, unconsciously calming him too.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Once he finds someone who he trusts and can tell his deepest secrets to, he would not hesitate to put a ring on it. Literally, the proposal is probably straight forward and he spills out all of his feelings towards you sincerely while you tear up.

Since he can literally make up a martial art on the spot to counter his opponent, I like to think he's a fast learner and would deffo not mind to lend a hand in daily chores, actually I think he would enjoy it as it makes him feel like a normal person after so many years of people stepping on eggshells around him because of his status as the fang.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

He would feel very conflicted and heartbroken. Especially if you guys dated for a long time and were very dedicated to eachother.

He would decide breaking up is the best for both of you and confront you, trying to explain to you logically that it is the best thing to do.

It would be so sad too😖, like one of those cowboy movies where the main lead says some romantic shit like "we were not destined to be together in this life" and kisses the romantic interest kunckles and then rides away on a horse ( in his case a motocycle) into the sunset and the romantic interest is just standing there tearing up, watching the figure dissappear, never to be seen again. Both always hoping to encounter eachother again, thinking about 'what ifs', even in old age.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

I feel like he wouldn't run away from it, but he wouldn't actively pursue it either. Once he realises he loves you and cant live without you he would propose soon. ( cus he standing on business)

He would maybe marry after at least knowing someone for a good 4 or 5 years, since yk he cant trust any random aquaintance, as he was/is the fang of metsudo, he needs to be alert.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Emotionally- At the beginning, I think he's less considerate of other peoples opinions, so he would be straight forward with you, which can cause some arguments or you feeling belittled. However, he improves at communicating and sensing if somethings wrong. I also think he would come to realise that you would do things in his interest, like sacrificing something so it benefits him and he would realise that relationships are give and take, which helps with his attitude towards all of his relationships.

Physically- you are definitely weaker or slightly weaker than him. So he is very aware that he has to be careful with you, though some times you need to remind him, as before most physical touch he had was in fights where he could use all of his strength, so he can forget at times.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

He doesnt LOVE hugs but he deffo appreciates and feels loved when you hug him. He might forget to hug you sometimes, but once he remembers 'oh shit I have an s/o and in relationships you need to do this kind of stuff' he would search for you and give you a hug.

His hugs would envelop you with warmth and genuine love. He cant really let his guard down and be very comfortable with others, so he learns to appreciate these little moments you guys have.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

Once again, he's very dense. So he would forget to say lovey-dovey stuff, until he sees something on tv like a romantic movie, or someone teases him about your guys' relationship. He realises his mistake and tries to remember for the future, so he can drop the L bomb in a romantic setting.

He probably says I love you like half a year or more into dating.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

He doesnt get jealous easy from lowkey comments made towards you, as he doesnt realise the intent behind them most of the time, so he brushes them off.

However if someone cat calls you or tries pulling any moves he does get relatively jealous only if it is a regular occurrence/ adds up over time.He grabs you close, makes sure the threat is away and then make sure you're okay. He might sulk for a bit, but if you reassure him he does calm down. He could never be sulky for too long as its not your fault.

HOWEVER if you do something to make him jealous, he would get cold towards you and he would no longer consider you to be trustworthy and would consider breaking up. Second guessing your relationship.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

His kisses are heavy and rough if he guides them and he has slightly chapped lips. If you guide them he will go with your flow and let you take the lead.

He probably likes to kiss you on your shoulders or on your cheeks cus it feels intimate, idk.

He probably likes it when you kiss his jaw, i feel like it would make him melt.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

He's straight forward with them and a little distant with ones that aren't his own, not because he doesn't like them, but because i feel like he could only have a strong bond with his own. He wouldn't feel a duty to get involved with them if they weren't his.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Most of the time he's awake before you, just staring at you sleeping, once you wake up he hugs you closer , encouraging you to get out of bed after lazing about for a bit. He probably has no problem getting out of bed in the morning, so if you do he helps you do your morning routine. He might help you pick an outfit for the day, help you cook, brush his teeth with you, or even join you in the shower.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

I feel like he sleeps like a log. You either sleep on his fat boobie or bicep and he just throws his arm over you. Or he traps you in bed with a bear hug. He probably has nightmares sometimes or has trouble sleeping.

O = Open  (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say  everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

He has to trust you a lot in order to reveal things about his past. It probably takes him a few years to fully tell you everything as he doesn't want to scare you and push you away.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

He seems quite collected, so it doesn't seem like he would argue about pointless things. He would only loose his cool if it was something serious like your safety etc.

Q = Quizzes  (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

He would remember quite a lot as he listens more than he talks. However if he had something on his mind or was worried about something he can forget.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

The scenic motorcycle rides with you and how much you enjoyed them.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

He would be very protective over you and would show no mercy to anyone who harms you, or has intentions to. He would use his raw strength and let out his formless stance to eliminate the threat. I don't think he would need to be protected tbh, he can hold out on his own.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

He's very inexperienced in love, so he would need to put in quite a bit of effort in to special events. But for everyday tasks it flows easily for him.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

He might put his work as the fang as a higher importance than you.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

He doesn't really care, but i think he deffo knows he has a fit body. There's no way no fan of his in the kengan matches hasn't told him.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Yes. You are one of the only things which makes him feel normal and loved.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

He melts when he feels your arms around his waist while he drives you around on his motorcycle.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

He probably wouldn't like someone if they are not loyal.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

He twitches in his sleep, which sometimes makes you wake up.

AHHHH this was so long to write 🧟‍♀️🧟‍♀️

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 410: Kacchan Fights a Baby

Previously on BnHA: Kacchan was born and then he grew up and murdered the Demon Lord.

Today on BnHA: Kacchan fights a baby. Tomura and Deku finally remember that they were supposed to have been fighting too this entire time, and get on with that once again. Tomura is all, “[literally just reaches out and grabs Deku’s face because Deku’s main character powers suddenly abandoned him in a fit of confusion].” Deku is all, “[chops off Tomura’s fingers which is somehow not even in the top twenty of violent things that have happened in this series in just the last five chapters].” Tomura is all “joke’s on you I still got your quirk :D” and fuck me he actually stole Danger Sense, what the fuck.

logically I knew AFO still had to be alive somehow because he’s too big of a villain to go out that easily without a proper sendoff. but deep in my heart, I’m still secretly disappointed

it just isn’t fair, lol. this guy has died more times than Rasputin and he’s still out here scheming his schemey schemes. when oh when will it end

sir you did not just say you had yet ANOTHER unused trump card up your sleeve??

(ETA: the translation isn’t fully clear here, but I think the trump card he’s referring to is the whole “I’ll just go back inside him and join the part of me that was already in there and we’ll take over Tomura’s body again together” plan that he was trying to pull off. I think. if not though, that’s certainly something worth speculating about.)

well as always the psychology in this series is unironically fascinating! he just wants acknowledgement at the end of the day, huh. just wants some love and attention. too bad he was born in a rat-infested hellscape and learned all the wrong lessons and turned into a crazed omnipotent murderlad

also he really did turn back into a baby sdfsdlkjfl oh no. I need to see Katsuki’s reaction to this immediately

oh my lord

(●__●)

lmao this is so incredibly fucked up

ngl though, this is karma at its finest. he tortured and killed so many people trying to earn everyone’s fear and awe and reverence, only to literally blip out of existence at the end with absolutely nothing to show for it

everyone please enjoy this series of panels of a deeply vexed Bakugou Katsuki picking a fight with this slowly melting evil baby

“you think I care that you’re a baby now. you think I won’t fight a fuckin’ baby. let’s do this you little punk”

also I’m sorry but it’s absolutely ridiculous that the gigantic chest wound Tomura inflicted on him got sewed up so neatly lol. AFO’s not the only one who stubbornly refuses to die no matter what

...

just once, it would be nice if Horikoshi didn’t immediately shred my plot nitpicks to pieces mere seconds after I write them

LMAO

BABY AFO DON’T CARE. BABY AFO WILL THROW HANDS WITH ANYONE ＼(｀0´)／

KACCHAN MY BELOVED FAVE OF ALL TIME, ARE YOU REALLY ABOUT TO LOSE TO A LITERAL FUCKING INFANT

WHAT HAPPENED TO “PERFECT VICTORY” LMAO. MOVING THE GOALPOSTS EVEN AS HIS CONSCIOUSNESS FADES. “EH, CLOSE ENOUGH”

-- OH FOR THE LOVE OF --

me: wow it sure is uncharacteristic of Katsuki to just pass out before he properly wraps up this battle

Horikoshi: oh yeah good point, sure would be a shame if someone... IMMEDIATELY ADDRESSED THAT CONCERN ON THE VERY NEXT PAGE

me: ఠ_ఠ

ldskjflaksdjfkds

fdsfsdkf. “SORRY ABOUT THAT, FOR A MOMENT THERE I ALMOST FORGOT TO BEND THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE TO MY WILL”

holy fucking shit. his body was all “um, just a quick reminder that you’re HORRIBLY WOUNDED and have lost like ten gallons of blood and all of your cells are about to call an emergency meeting to shut this thing down before you get us all killed.” and he was all “WHAT WAS THAT?!” and his body was all “oh my GOD, FUCK, OKAY just forget we said anything”

and meanwhile Baby AFO is just lying there all “(◉⌓◉)”

this six-month-old child is truly and sincerely still trying to kill Kacchan while screeching death threats in high-pitched baby talk

this actually would have killed him too, if he’d succeeded in passing out. all that just to be punk’d by a damn baby

you are actually shitting me right now

at this point I’m genuinely not sure which of them has the more powerful angry toddler energy

oh no ffuffkdsfk

meeeeelting. meeeeeeltiiiiiing!!! oh what a world what a world

jesus Horikoshi I am genuinely speechless

... welp

WAIT NO WAY, REALLY?!?!

?!?!?! WAS IT ACTUALLY THAT SIMPLE THIS WHOLE TIME

-- lkjf

three times. three times in the same fucking chapter. I give up. apparently I’ll literally believe anything this man says. does it feel good, Horikoshi. preying on your readers’ hopeful naivete

yeefuckinghaw lmao

GOOD JOB KACCHAN YOU DEFEATED THE EVIL BABY

awwwww

I actually had a theory about this! well more of a wishlist item, really. I can’t remember if I’ve actually posted about it yet or not. but it’s like. you know how Deku and Kacchan are always being really dramatic about holding hands? wanting to hold hands; not wanting to hold hands; being afraid to hold hands; holding hands via proxy, etc. etc.?

and you know how both Endeavor and All Might have each done their own version of the victory pose that Kacchan is referring to here? with each one using a different hand?

so you see, I was thinking that it might be nice. might be a little poetic and all that. if at the end of the fight, Deku and Kacchan did, in fact, hold hands. and then did the victory pose together. and it became like their iconic hero moment. them standing there together. having accomplished their goal and defeated TomurAFO through teamwork. realizing their shared childhood dream. and sharing that moment of triumph with each other and with the world, ushering in a new era of heroes

anyway yeah. I was thinking that might be a pretty good ending. but it looks like Kacchan maybe really is about to pass out here now, lol, so maybe not? anyways time to finally scroll down

-- okay I literally said awww again out loud

what a fucking nerd. I have never felt more fondness for a character in my life

every damn person watching this on the news better have leaped to their feet and started applauding, goddammit. those motherfuckers better be CHANTING HIS FUCKING NAME. all those nagging reporters better be bombarding his phone with calls. those fuckers who deleted his footage from the Shouto interview better be shamelessly leaving him dozens of voicemails acting like none of that ever happened and presumptuously asking when he can free some time in his schedule to visit their studio again. all the heroes who haven’t hugged him yet better be lining the fuck up. that one guy from the post-kidnapping press conference in chapter 86 better be writing a fifty page letter of apology!!

oh hey it’s a random pre-battle flashback mysteriously taking place in Troy “a few days before the battle” even though I thought they only moved into that place the night before the fight

I love how Katsuki immediately narrows his eyes (I assume. we can’t see for sure but that’s the vibe I get) at Jeanist and has to resist the urge to call the police on him for that pun

so Hadou’s wondering what Jeanist is talking about because they already evacuated the civilians, so what else are they trying to protect. and Edgeshot is all, “well obviously we’ve gotta protect everyone’s future,” which is a nice... rearshadowing?? for him saving Katsuki’s life later on lol

and now Mirko is all “get to the fucking point already.” which, same

so Jeanist says that Tomura is an even bigger problem than AFO, because at least AFO doesn’t want to murder everyone on the entire planet. and he concludes with “he’ll probably try to touch the ground and use his quirk.” which is a conclusion that I have to say wasn’t really worth two pages of flashback buildup for, considering that we all figured that out years ago

I’m guessing this is all just some sort of awkward transition back to Deku’s fight now lol

and now we’re getting two pages of exposition on how long it would theoretically take Tomura’s Decay to spread throughout the city, and then the entire country, yikes

damn. talk about stakes

and now finally back to Deku!!

shoutout to everyone who correctly predicted that Deku was once again talking out of his ass when it came to being out of Gearshifts. we all knew. unlimited supply

wow Tomura way to throw AFO under the bus

the way I recall it, AFO wasn’t the one who failed to kill him back then lol. but go ahead and talk your shit king

DEKU WHAT ARE YOU DOING

holy shit?!?!

like my first thought was “well last time he did this he just tried to steal OFA rather than Decay him, so he’ll probably try that again and it’ll be fine.” only to remember that the AFO inside Tomura is currently permanently(?) out to lunch, and Tomura himself doesn’t give two figs about stealing OFA. so, uhhhh >_>

(ETA: nevermind.)

but then this happened

Deku what the actual fuck

OH MY GOD??!?!

HOLY SHIT

okay. okay, fuck. lemme gather up my thoughts, and then we’ll wrap this up

they’ll never admit it, but you know the other OFA Vestiges secretly resented Shino a tiny bit for being the only one of them to not be gruesomely murdered. bet they all feel guilty for thinking that now

Shino and Banjou also seemed to have this cute little pseudo-rivalry thing going on, so I really feel bad for Banjou now. :/ he looks so horrified in that bottom right panel

gotta admit, I did not see this coming in the slightest. OFA has been this immutable “I do what I want!” quirk for so long that I never thought Tomura or AFO would actually succeed in stealing it, even partially. that shook me to my core

BUT, it’s also really exciting to me because it’s going to make this battle much more interesting if Deku can’t use his get out of jail free card. shit just got way more real and I’m here for it

lastly, so! let me tell you guys my prediction. I still can’t see Tomura being the final villain lol. I just can’t. it feels too anticlimactic. if I’m wrong, I’m wrong, and I’ve certainly botched MANY predictions in the past, but I have not yet learned my lesson from any of it and I will not apologize lol

so here’s what I think. Deku and Tomura battle it out for the next chapter or two, and Tomura snatches up more of Deku’s quirks one by one. we see all of the Vestiges disappearing and the mood gets more and more desperate. eventually we’re down to just Kudou and Yoichi. Deku is panicking, but for some reason Kudou seems even MORE panicked

Kudou/Gearshift eventually gets stolen too, and it looks like this might finally be it for Deku (I have no idea how he’d stop Tomura from Decaying the ground once Blackwhip gets stolen, btw, but maybe Katsuki or someone else interferes in desperation towards the end). but just when it looks like Tomura is finally going to take the last piece of OFA, Deku’s vibes suddenly do a 180, stopping Tomura in his tracks

cut to the OFA Moon Gorgeous Meditation Realm, where Deku and Yoichi are staring at the door -- yes, that door -- in shock. because it’s finally been opened (now that the other Vestiges are no longer there to keep it at bay). and just like that, enter AFO, for the THIRD FUCKING TIME :D :D

tl;dr, HERE’S HOW HORCRUX!DEKU CAN STILL HAPPEN!!! wait where are you all going. wait come back

anyway so wow that was a really bizarre chapter that I truly thoroughly enjoyed, which should probably be a bit concerning. on to the next two week break! (for anyone who’s not aware, Shounen Jump will be on break next week, so yeah.) I’m on chapter 391 now. so close but still so far. the end of the year has gone by too damn fast tbh

[mixelation]

oh wait do you remember locket??? the AU where minato yoinks karin from kusa??? i randomly started rotating it again

karin is one year ahead of naruto at the academy

i feel like kusa would be upset about losing their magic healing doll so someone attempts to kidnap her like three months in. this gets shut down IMMEDIATELY and really boosts karin's individual trust in her adoptive family

i also wrote part of a scene of minato freaking out days after the Incident (not like bad freaking out, like he randomly checks in on her and is like "hey you're okay, right?") and he tells karin it's normal to be upset about bad things days and days about after they happen. so karin mulls this over and is like "what about YEARS after they happen?"

minato knew kusa was bad but karin tells him how bad, and he's like what the fuck??? and apologizes her to for not getting her out earlier. bc it is logical to not want to restart a war; however that was BEFORE he had a cute adopted daughter. now those people can just die :)

i'm not sure how this goes but i think kushina would want to recover the uzushio objects/seals that kusa took away form kasumi/karin, and then also what if she got to murder some people. idk how this part would go

i decided karin's genin team is unnamed jounin, sai, and kabuto.

my usual take for minato lives AUs is that Danzo ends up fucking around for years under his Kageship while minato has to figure out 1) he needs to be shut down, and then 2) how to do it without pissing off danzo's supporters. so in locket, minato has only recently shut down ROOT. sai is still sort of messed up as a result but he gets a few years of socializing in the academy before being put on a genin team. i don't think he and karin get along automatically, but she has a lot of secret sympathy for him as a fellow outsider

kabuto is a few years older and has been a genin for a while, but minato went for a nonstandard pick because he can see a situation where karin has to pick between healing someone and reigniting her own trauma, or letting her teammate suffer. and like.... she WILL have to learn to navigate that, and he's not going to baby her forever because he wants her to grow up to be an independent strong kunoichi, but also she is his special little girl and he can make it easier by putting a skilled medic on her team.

however minato's presence doesn't mitigate orochimaru. karin's "c-rank gone wrong" mission is kabuto being like "hey kid with uzumaki longevity and stamina and magic blood, wanna be orochimaru's new body???"

good news: karin unlocks her chains and resists her own kidnapping! bad news: jounin-sensei is dead, sai is injured, and kabuto runs off

i think brining her friend back from the brink of death would be like... the first time karin ever feels empowered by her magic blood. so like there's NEW trauma but also she's steadily learning to deal with her old trauma

i guess i never decided if team minato is also alive in this AU. if yes, i think her replacement jounin would be like..... obito or rin

[werecreature-addicted]

Would the sparkling vampires have been reacted to differently if written by a better author? Possibly

I feel like the main reason (imo) for why the sparkling is hated on so much though is that the reveal of it just feels so ridiculous. Like edward claiming he’s a monster or whatever and then proceeds to reveal his shimmery 6 pack is….unconvincing at best

og tags on this post for anyone who hasn't seen it

Excellent question anon. If you think about it there are a lot of silly things we associate with vampires.

Exhibit A: the classic widow's peak black hair and dramatic cape

look at it with fresh eyes and imagine seeing this for the first time, goofy. silly even. but this style of vampire was iconized by Bella Ligosi's performance as Dracula in Dracula 1931 which is of course very good and a staple in vampire cannon as well as just culture in general. It's good and it's old which lends it an air of authority. whereas Twilight is new(ish) and bad so it's artistic changes and creative choices are fighting an uphill battle already, add in the fact that Vampires Sparkling is a little ridiculous and you can see why so many people dismiss Twilight's vampires outright.

This post is so long continued under the cut

Now I am a Twilight fan and I think Twilight is very bad in a lot of ways, the two ideas are not mutually exclusive. Twilight however is a fascinating case study in cultural knowledge and mythos. Stephanie Meyer informally did very little research about Vampire Cannon, if you can call it that, before writing Twilight (link to an interview where she mentions it) so instead of being carefully constructed world-building based on hard rules and strict internal logic, the vampires are kind of loosely defined shadows based on the broadest understanding of what a vampire is. They're dead, they drink blood, they don't go out in sunlight. Some other popular vampire staples go addressed but dismissed as myth (garlic and having no reflection) but then things like The vampires in Twilight don't have fangs and have weird additional supper powers sometimes go just completely taken for granted and not really expanded upon in a satisfying way.

This style of world-building and magic system has a tendency to chafe against readers who have a more in-depth context for vampires and Meyre's more simplistic writing style makes the text come off as juvenile and perhaps a little dumb.

All this to say the sparkling vampires are not handled super well. It is a very large jump from what most readers would expect to see from a vampire story and it is handled inconsistently at best in the text itself. Meyer describes the vampires in the sun both as A beautiful glittering like that of a diamond, and a reflection of light so intense that it looks like the vampire is being burned alive in the sun.

these two conflicting descriptions coupled with the again simplistic and juvenile writing style makes it seem more like a mistake you should roll your eyes at rather than an intentional complexity to read into. I'd argue that Bella sees this inhumanity as beautiful and alluring while Edward sees it as a curse and a reminder of his monstrous nature and therefore disgusting. That being said I don't fault anyone for not wanting to read that deeply into the vampire glittering and instead see it as the author trying to have her cake and eat it too, something Meyers does frequently throughout even just the first Twilight novel.

Not even to mention the movies.

Exhibit B: this is the skin of a killer Bella.

This is prima facie hilarious and stupid. the juxtaposition of the soft glittering effect and the chiming sound in this scene coupled with the seemingly unwarranted disgust is so fucking funny. which is not the tone this scene is going for. it's supposed to be tense, it comes off as corny instead.

Then there is the hate mob that dominated Twilight discourse when it first came out. I will not get into how much of that hate was warranted, what I'm interested in is how much of a cultural impact it had. There was, at least in the beginning, a large group of people who hated Twilight and would hate anything that came from it simply because it came from Twilight. These people grabbed onto the sparkly vampire thing and made it what it is today, these people were never going to be won over by any artistic liberty no matter what.

So to answer your question, I think that if a writer with a more in-depth understanding of vampires and a clearer vision of the magic system wrote Twilight with a more mature tone and more time given to expanding on just the vampire's powers and limitations, and the movies followed these hypothetical books more closely AND if there was never an anti-Twilight coultral movement. then yeah maybe Vampires sparkling wouldn't be seen as the dumbest shit ever.

thank you for coming to my Twilight Ted talk.

[alexihollis]

That Would Be Enough (Ajax's POV)

Link to Swan's POV

There had been many times where Ajax was worried that her girlfriend's thoughts were veering closer to the "murder my girlfriend in her sleep" territory than "I love her even when she annoys the crap out of me." Most of those times involved Ajax either picking a stupid fight, going against orders from Cleon, or risking getting sent to jail.

Considering that Ajax just chose option D: all of the above, yes, Ajax was very concerned about the objectively terrifying look on Rembrandt's face right now. And that was only with one eye available, the other being hidden behind a bag of frozen peas. Which was the only first aid Cleon offered while Swan got the whole damn aid kit and Mercy fussing over her in the damn bathroom! All Ajax got was the wobbly kitchen table chair.

While Rembrandt stood menacingly a little ways off, Cleon took a seat at the table, arm propped up and rubbing at her face. "Ajax. What the fuck just happened."

"A fight." Because Ajax was nothing if not stubborn.

"No, it fucking wasn't!" Ajax absolutely did not jump when Cleon slammed her hand on the table, turning a fierce, furious glare on her. "Whatever happened down there? That was not a fight!"

"Then what would you call it?" Ajax snarked.

Cleon's glare somehow sharpened. "I'd call that you deciding to beat up on my number two. And I don't take very kindly to people beating up on mine."

Ajax's stomach sank. That sounded...that sounded not good.

That sounded like being jumped out.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

"Cleon-" Rembrandt's voice was shaky, but she cut herself off when Cleon raised her hand.

"What. Happened?" Cleon repeated herself.

Ajax ground her teeth.

"Now."

"Swan promised she'd get us home alive," Ajax finally bit out. Cleon's brow furrowed, confused. "She didn't."

"What do you-?" Cleon stopped as realization dawned. Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath, "Fox."

Ajax didn't say anything.

Cleon's eyes opened again, clearer now. "So. What is this exactly? Some sort of vengeance? Punish Swan because the cops killed Fox?"

Well.

When she put it that way...

"You gonna turn on me next?" Cleon continued. "I made us go uptown with no weapons, knowing the other gangs didn't give one lick about us."

"You didn't-"

"Hell, if we're really trying to determine who has the most blame, what about you?" Cleon asked.

"Stop."

"I mean, if you hadn't picked that fight in the park, you would have easily beat the cops to Union Square, right?" Cleon asked. "And, if you didn't, who honestly would have stayed behind to fight?"

"Cleon," Rembrandt sounded queasy.

"So, if we're going by your logic, aren't you the one to blame for Fox dying?"

Hot tears were rolling down Ajax's face, the fucking traitors. The faster she wiped them away, though, the faster they came, in higher quantities, until she could barely make out Cleon sitting in front of her. The older woman sighed and Ajax heard the scrape of metal on linoleum as she scooted her chair closer, before pulling Ajax in for a hug. Ajax buried her face in Cleon's shoulder, feeling the rough leather and patches of her vest.

"Fox's death isn't your fault," Cleon said, her voice steady and calming. "She wanted to protect the others and that cop- It happens. It fucking sucks, but you went through something very similar that night and I am so, so grateful that cop didn't take you away from us, too."

After a few minutes, when Ajax's breathing calmed and her brain felt less fuzzy, Cleon pulled away slightly, holding Ajax's shoulders tight. Her eyes were watery.

"I know how you feel," Cleon said. "It kills me that Fox died and there is a part of me that will always know it is because I made the choice to go uptown that night. And I hate that while I was protected with Masai, you all were fighting for your damn lives. But so much of that was out of my control and yours. None of that was your fault." Cleon took a deep breath, "It also wasn't Swan's."

Aw, fuck.

"She already feels like shit about it," Cleon continued. "Did she even fight back?"

"I don't know," Ajax answered as honest as she could. The fight- whatever it was...it was a blur.

"Motherfucker," Cleon muttered, looking to the ceiling as her arms dropped. "I knew she wasn't- Goddamnit." Cleon shook her head, looking back at Ajax. "You are doing her jobs for a month and I don't want to hear a single complaint out of you."

"So you aren't gonna...jump me out?" Ajax asked.

"Oh, for fuck's- No!" Cleon exclaimed, looking back at Rembrandt who looked nearly boneless with relief. "Rem- No! No, I was not going to- Okay. I'm starting to feel like the bad guy, but it is reasonable for me to be angry when members of my gang randomly start beating each other."

"It wasn't random-"

"Ajax!" Rembrandt exclaimed.

Ajax shut up.

"Swan's jobs for a month," Cleon repeated. "You two are gonna avoid each other for a bit, a bit of space should help. And maybe don't got to Jenkins for like...a month."

Ajax blinked. "What, I'm not allowed to drink now?"

"No. Mercy works there now. I would also advise you avoid her," Cleon said. "She hasn't had enough exposure to you to get attached. We might actually find you in the ocean if you don't."

"I could take her." Because Ajax would always be Ajax.

"Yeah, uh, sure. Let's just say I have no clue how she earned her name," Cleon said.

With that, Cleon sent her and Rembrandt on their way back to the apartment they shared with Cochise and Cowgirl. It was a tense walk, Rembrandt saying nothing until they closed their apartment door behind them, Cochise and Cowgirl off on some errand or another.

"Rem-"

"Cleon would have been well within her rights to jump you out, you realize that, right?" Rembrandt wasn't looking at Ajax, her voice hollow as she stared off into the apartment, leaning against their door.

Ajax swallowed before nodding, shoving her hands into her pockets. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

"What would we have done, then?" Rembrandt asked, now looking at her with wide, hopeless eyes. "What would we do without the Warriors? We can't afford rent, we have no family, we have nothing without them, we almost died without them."

Ajax preferred to not remember their pre-Warrior days.

"You keep telling me things are gonna be different," Rembrandt continued. "But every time something happens, every time you feel something you don't want to feel, you start another fight. Now, it's landed you in jail, threatened your position in the gang- Ajax, I will follow you to the edge of the fucking Earth, you know that, but don't make me if we don't have to."

Fuck.

"I'm sorry," Ajax's voice was rough, hoarse. She held her hand out to Rembrandt, who took it, and pulled her in tight, burying her face in Rembrandt's curls. "I'm sorry. I won't. I promise. I won't do that to you."

And maybe Rembrandt didn't believe her in that moment, but Ajax would show her. Maybe Rembrandt couldn't believe another promise to her, but Ajax would make a promise to herself to stop scaring her girlfriend and that would have to be enough.

It would be enough.

[boytoyhalo]

Can we have more of the selkie au please?

are there fantasy books in the lighthouse? Did they see seal!Pac after the coat incident? Is Fit hunting an imaginary poachers on the island?

you absolutely can!!

They don't see Pac - human or seal - for a few days after the incident. During those few days, Fit very much notices the absence of his usual evening journaling buddy, and he's very much not happy about it. He scours the island in his free time looking for traces of whatever poacher is squatting there, but he can't find anything. He also notices Pac's absence, and by the 3rd day he's starting to come to an uncomfortable conclusion: the only logical explanation he can think of for his strange behavior, and the lack or evidence for any other people on the island, is that Pac must be the poacher he's looking for. He doesn't want to believe it, because Pac is so nice and he's always seemed to really like the seals (maybe even more so than him or Ramon) when they've been around them together, but he just doesn't know what else it could possibly be. Then right as he's resigned himself to confronting him about it, and begun to prepare for the ordeal of filing a report against his friend, he finds his furry friend waiting for him on it's usual rocks like nothing happened.

Fit spends a good few minutes just gaping at it, completely frozen - the fucking thing has the gall to look confused, tilting it's head at him like his son wasn't sobbing over it's severed skin just a few days ago. Even after the initial shock passes and he manages to drag himself out of his stupor and onto his own rock, he can't find any words to speak or to write; he just keeps staring at it in complete puzzlement. It stares back at him, it's gaze flicking curiously to the blank page in front of him every so often almost. After what feels like an eternity it huffs and flops over on it's side, seemingly having decided that it would rather nap than continue their stare-off. Fit begins his journal entry in uneasy silence, trying his best to let the scratching of the pencil on the page distract him from the anomaly next to him. Unfortunately, said anomaly doesn't tolerate the cold shoulder for long before snorting offendedly at him.

"What?" Fit raises an eyebrow at it. There's a beat before it snorts again, slapping it's front flippers loudly against the wet rocks. "You- oh, what, you want me to talk to you? Is that it?" It grunts softly. Fit blinks, his mouth opening and closing around words that don't come. "I mean I- I don't really uh. I mean, I'm just kinda speechless right now." And ok, that's an understatement - he feels completely disoriented, his entire world having been flipped on its head. This seal was dead, it had to have been, that was the only possible explanation for the way everything had lined up. Except apparently it wasn't, because the seal was alive and it was looking straight into his eyes with that disturbingly human intelligence shining through its own. As the gears in his head start turning, trying valiantly to come up with something to say, some pieces start to fall into place.

The pelt, Pac's freak-out and subsequent disappearance, the seal acting like someone's lost pet and not a wild predator, Pac having no traceable presence on the island but appearing every day, both of them missing a limb - little dots swimming around in his head, moving too quickly for him to connect, forming a fragment of something that Fit doesn't think he could handle knowing in full. He nearly slips and breaks his neck in his mad scramble off of his perch, startling the seal - or whatever this thing was. He ignores it's concerned cry and backs away slowly, a dizzying dread creeping slowly over him as his attempts to think of any logical explanation for the ever-growing pile of mysteries come up completely empty.

Various half-formed theories run through his mind as he speeds through the short walk back to the cabin: Was the seal Pac's pet? Was it some robotic creation of his? Did he kill it and do some fucked up death magic on it? Was he the seal? Was he a shape shifter, or- or some kind of hypnotist? Had the whole thing just been an illusion? A dream? Was Fit finally going insane?

Yeah, that's gotta be it he thought as he made his way through the door, being sure to close it quietly so as to not wake Ramon. I've finally fucking lost it. There was no way Pac was - whatever it was that Fit's psyche was convinced he was. That seal was a normal, if weirdly friendly seal, and there was a completely rational explanation for everything that Fit was just too dumb to catch onto. Pac was probably just freaked out by the implication of the seal's death, and maybe the pelt had just been an incredibly convincing fake. Yeah, that was it, definitely. Fit pointedly ignored the voices in his head that screamed all of the ways that that didn't make any sense as he stumbled his way through his nightly routine and into bed - it made enough sense that he was fine letting it be not his problem anymore. He was much more interested in getting a good night's sleep than in spiraling into a frenzy over something that probably didn't matter in the slightest

.....Or not. Apparently, whatever part of his brain he didn't have control over greatly overpowered the part that was sane and rational, combined with all of the exhaustion in his body. He sighed as he begrudgingly opened his eyes, staring blankly at the shadows that flickered across his wooden ceiling. He could already tell this was gonna give him hell. He had never been someone who could take it easy, not even before the sounds of gunfire and explosions and the heavy stench of blood-soaked dirt had made themselves a permanent part of his world. This certainly wasn't the first time since that he had questioned his perception of reality; in fact, he was quite familiar with being disconnected from it, the way that it could bend around the most damaged parts of him and twist his mind back into a shape that no longer fit in the present. He sometimes heard gunshots when there was no one to fire them, screaming in his ear while he slept at night - It wasn't far-fetched at all to write this off as the conspiratorial delusions of a soldier taken off the battlefield too late. But, something about it just kept nagging at him, urging him to look deeper even if he couldn't handle it. Finally, after what had to be hours of tossing and turning in his sheets, he fell into an uneasy sleep.

The spiral only pulled at him harder the next morning, as he made his early morning rounds and reports, harder still as he made his way back to the house and made breakfast. By the time he woke up Ramon he was wishing he still had hair on his head just so he could pull it out. His boy, of course, noticed his mood immediately.

"...What? What is it?" Fit asked as the kid stared at him flatly over his scrambled eggs and toast.

"Something is bothering you." Ramon pointed his fork at him. "Tell me." Fit sighed; that was his son, blunt as ever. He briefly contemplated spinning a lie to ease his mind, but wrote it off as soon as he remembered that his baby boy was a genius that, unfortunately, knew him far too well.

"It's nothing, Ramon, don't worry about it. Eat your eggs." Ramon dropped his fork loudly onto the table, not breaking eye contact. He looked unimpressed.

"Fit." There was silence as they stared at each other from across the table, both plates forgotten as they engaged in some sort of psychological battle that Fit felt he had a distinct disadvantage in somehow. After a long few minutes he turned his gaze away with a resigned grunt, knowing from an abundance of experience that there was no use in resisting Ramon's questioning - The kid was determined, and he had a way of getting things out of Fit that he sometimes didn't even want to admit to himself. He swallows a mouthful of his suddenly very bland tasting eggs, trying to think of how to start.

"You wouldn't happen to have any books that talk about seals, would you?" Is what he eventually settles on. Ramon blink at him in confusion, seemingly thrown off by the turn of the conversation. "It's- well, it might be nothing. It's probably nothing, But." He takes a deep breath, admitting to weakness is a difficult task that Fit has always had to push himself greatly to accomplish; he's been trying to work through it for his young boy's sake. "There's just been some stuff happening around here that I can't figure out and that's kinda the only place I can think to start looking, you know what I mean? It's nothing you need to worry about though, I promise." Ramon fiddles with the frayed bauble of his favorite red hat as he hums, thinking.

"I think a couple of the animal encyclopedias that you got me mention them, but nothing too detailed. What's been happening with the seals?" Fit takes another nauseating bite to buy himself time to consider his answer.

"I've just... been thinking about the fur we found," he says carefully, praying that It won't be a sensitive topic. Thankfully, Ramon doesn't seem fazed, only raising his eyebrows a bit as he waits for his father to continue. "I was sure it was from one of those ones that like to hang around here, and we were only seeing five of them for the past few days so I thought - someone must have hunted it, you know? But there's been no one here but us and Richas' parents, and then last night the seal that was missing showed back up and." He cuts off his ramble as he notices the strange look Ramon is giving him. "What? Do you think I'm going crazy or something?"

"Pac said he gave the seal it's skin back, remember?" He says plainly, like it makes complete sense. Fit balks at him, mouth open in disbelief. Ramon had.... Ramon believed that? But he was so smart for a kid his age, he had even called Fit out for pretending it wasn't dead! Had he just.... decided to believe Pac? Was this his way of coping?

"You, uh. What?" He responds eloquently. Ramon looks at him like he's grown a second head, and ok, now Fit is definitely going crazy. Since when does his little boy genius believe that one can simply give a dead animal it's skin back and bring it back to life?

"He gave it back." He draws out every word, as if he's the adult explaining a simple concept to a child. "The seal is fine. Richarlyson said it took Pac on adventures with it to thank him." He sniffs petulantly. "Kinda think he should have invited me, but whatever. It's all ok, see! Just like you said." Fit has no idea what to say, completely lost. This conversation had done nothing but add another layer of headache to the already impressive thorn in his side. He nods slowly, deciding to just let it go for the sake of the little sanity he has left.

"Right, ok. That makes sense, I guess." As far as he's concerned, if Ramon is happy there's no issue. That's what he tells himself at least, and to his credit it is mostly true. Ramon knows better though, and he levels Fit with a look that tells him as much. After a moment he returns his attention to his plate, looking bored with the topic of conversation.

"Richas said Pac is gonna be back to see you today. I'm gonna ask him all about it, you can listen if you want to." Fit startles a bit. Pac was coming back? "And if that doesn't answer your questions, maybe you should try checking all those old journals we found to see if they say anything useful?" Right, the archived journals from previous lighthouse attendants - Fit had completely forgotten about them, locked away as mementos in a storage room at the bottom of the lighthouse itself. He hadn't spared them a thought since he and Ramon had been shown them on their first day on the island. That was as good a place to look as any, he supposed. He makes a mental note to do so later tonight, when he's done with his work for the day.

"Yeah that's a good idea actually, thank you Ramon. You're damn smart, you know that?" Ramon nods easily, and Fit cracks a smile for the first time since his worldview had been upturned the night before. "Anyway, you say Pac is coming back today?" He tries not to sound too eager, though he doesn't think he does very well - he's missed his friend, what could he say? The manual labor was much more grueling without company, he had realized. It had been hard doing it alone again after having gotten used to Pac (and on semi-frequent occasion, Mike's) company over the past few months. Even when he had suspected the other man of being the dreaded poacher, a concept he had now completely written off as too out of character to be reliable, he had been more sad about the possibility of having to turn him in than about the actual poaching - although he definitely had been sad about that too. Ramon looks like he's stifling a laugh.

"That's what Richarlyson said. He said his other parents were making him do it today." Fit doesn't have time to question why Pac apparently needed someone to make him come back after his "adventure" before Ramon is getting up from the table with an exclamation of "done!" and running out to the beach, leaving his dirty dishes to Fit and ignoring as he calls after him, of course.

He finishes cleaning up and gets outside to join him just in time to see Richarlyson running eagerly up to the other boy, Pac following behind him at a much more casual pace. He can't help frombreaking into another smile as he draws closer, black waves dripping wet (as always) and a familiar grin lighting up his face.

"Oi!" He calls out across the remaining distance. Pac wastes no time in calling back to him, speeding up his walk a bit as Richarlyson reaches his target and tackles him into a hug. Fit decides to leave them to their own devices for the moment, setting his own pace towards his approaching friend and meeting him in the middle. "Where have you been?" Pac's smile turns sheepish, and Fit's eyes flick to the way his teeth nervously pull at his lip for a moment before he speaks.

"I was feeling really sick, I think I must have caught something from touching that pelt! I was throwing up and having a- a fever, you know how it is," He looks to Fit almost bashfully, like he's fully aware Fit isn't buying it. Fit, for all he's been agonizing over the possibility of Pac being.... something, suddenly finds that he doesn't really care. The seal is alive, Richarlyson is safe - whatever Pac was doing is his business. He's just happy to have some adult company again. Before he can say as much, not that he would have, Ramon comes running up from behind him, stopping short in front of Pac with elation tangible in his demeanor.

"PAC! Richas says you went on an adventure with the seal who's skin we found, what was it like? TELL ME!" Pac laughs, startled, and crouches down to meet the boy's eyes, one hand coming up to ruffle his hair through his hat.

"Yeah, it was amazing! I gave the seal his fur back and he was like 'oh wow thank you so much! come swim with me!' And he took me to his home in the kelp forest and introduced me to all his fish friends! We even saw some- ah, I forget how you say it in English - The big guys with the claws... LOBSTERS! yeah, we saw some lobsters! And they were fighting each other with SWORDS! Oh it was so cool Ramon, I wish you could have seen it. Hey, maybe I can ask him to take you next time!" Ramon's giggles stop abruptly as he gasps in excitement, eyes lighting up as he begins pleading with Pac to do so. Fit shakes his head fondly.

There's a soft look in Pac's eyes as he speaks animatedly to Ramon, recounting his epic underwater adventures with the dramatic flair of a man who's very used to entertaining children. And yeah, Fit decides as brown eyes stray momentarily to share an amused look with him, none of it matters. He'll look at those journals later to see if there's any mention of seal pelts or strange men appearing out of nowhere, but in the meantime he couldn't care less - he has his work buddy back, his son is happy, the weather is nice and no seals have been harmed.

Maybe he can take it easy, just this once. For now.

[the-ace-with-spades]

Bradley is eleven, will turn twelve in five months, his mom has been dead for over a year, and his dad for over nine.

His homeroom teacher gives him a permission slip for a school trip to some dumb museum Bradley’s probably already been to and says, “Your dad needs to sign it before next Monday.”

It’s Mav picking him up from school today — it’s Ice, usually, but he is supervising night-time flight maneuvers tonight — so Bradley gets in the car and they go over the normal, how was school today, any new grades, any homework to do, do you need to bring anything for class tomorrow.

They’ve stopped at a light and Bradley takes out the permission slip and says, “Mrs. Sanchez said my dad needs to sign it before Monday or I won’t go.”

Mav—Mav freezes. His hand grips the shift gear and he clenches his jaw, not looking at Bradley. The car behind them has to honk for him to snap out of it.

“I’m—I’m not your dad, Bradley,” he finally says.

“It’s just what Mrs. Sanchez said,” he points out. He doesn’t think it’s such a big deal — Mav’s been doing everything a dad would for years now, for Bradley, and Ice has been helping him the last couple of years. It’s a conclusion that many come to and it seems logical. Bradley is sure half of his teachers thought that even back when his mom was alive, Mav had certainly been to enough PTA meetings with her that it’d be an easy mistake.

“You can correct her, buddy, no one is going to be mad if you correct her, okay?”

They arrive at the house and Mav still hasn’t added anything. Bradley shrugs it off — Mav has these moments, sometimes, when he gets all quiet and unresponsive. Ice usually tells him to leave him alone or wait a couple of hours and try to cuddle with him. Bradley is kind of too big for that now, but it seems to help sometimes.

So Bradley asks if Mav needs help with dinner and after hearing no, goes back to his room.

Out of all that mess, he forgets about the permission slip.

He sits down and fills out all the empty lines so Mav just has to sign it — in capital letters, his handwriting isn’t that readable yet — and leaves just that last line with the date and signature empty.

He thinks, once again, about what Mrs. Sanchez said.

He doesn’t feel the need to correct her, still. He barely remembers his dad — he knows he loved them and he’ll never forget all the stories he heard from everyone but they’re, well, just stories. Mav is the one who taught him how to ride a bike and helped him make stupid macaroni projects for art classes, taught him how to count to a hundred, and how to tie his shoelaces and who would notice when Bradley was outgrowing his clothes or needed a new shoe size. Mav is there, every memory he has. Mav loves him like his mom and dad did.

Mav is his dad.

If Bradley’d really think about it, Ice is getting really close to being his dad, too. He’s making Bradley’s school lunches and helping him with his English homework from time to time, and he comes to Bradley’s matches and, even if Mav will never admit it, he’s the one who choses Bradley’s Christmas and birthday presents. He makes him hot chocolate when he has nightmares and stays with him for hours in the living room, reading plane manuals out loud, in the same tone his mom used to use to read his bedtime stories.

Bradley calling Mav his dad is as logical as people assuming he is his dad. And maybe it can be the same with Ice, in the near future, or maybe even now, if he agrees.

Bradley wants to call Mav dad.

So he grabs the permission slip and goes to the kitchen to tell him that.

“I don’t know, Ice, I just don’t know.”

He doesn’t notice Bradley there, standing with the piece of paper in his hand in the doorway. The phone’s cord is stretched across the kitchen, almost completely straight, as he talks with the handle between his ear and shoulder, slicing an onion at the same time.

“I’ve always wanted to have kids, as unrealistic as it seemed, but not like this,” he continues. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this, I’m not his dad, he’s not my son, it’s just wrong to think that, I’m not—He can’t think that.”

Bradley blinks. Once, twice, a third time. Takes a quiet step back behind the doorframe, flattens his back on the cold wall. Holds his breath.

“I mean, you’ve always said you don’t want kids,” Mav says, the knife clanking on the cutting board as he changes the hand holding the phone. “We made do with the situation, obviously, but we’re not his parents—”

Bradley doesn’t want to hear more.

*

Bradley was right — he’s already been to the Castle Air Museum. More than once, with his mom, with Mav and Ice, and with Uncle Slider and Aunt Sarah.

His dad didn’t sign the permission slip but Mav did.

It’s sunny so they’re left to wander around the outside display. The tour was boring — their tour guide couldn’t even answer the questions about engines and wingspans and takeoff capacity and it was so disappointing to know more than the adult that was supposed to teach them, again.

The rest of his class went with the tour guide, to see the open cockpit of the Mentor but Bradley just turned around to the F-4 that was on the edge of the display, old and partially reconstructed with cheap metal and plastic. He sits down on the grass in front of it and lets the sun shine at the modern paint that should not belong on the fuselage of a Phantom.

Mrs. Sanchez comes over, standing above him, looking at the Phantom with an appreciation that is clearly less understanding and more awe at the sight. She hums before asking Bradley, “You don’t want to see the cockpit with everyone? Maybe they’ll let you sit in the pilot seat, today. Our group is small.”

The open cockpit belongs to T-34, a piston-driven one they stopped using in the fifties. “I flew one of those, but it was a T-34C, powered by a turboprop.”

Mrs. Sanchez looks at him, tilting her head a bit, not really understanding what Bradley said, like most people don’t when he talks about planes. ”I suppose it’s not that impressive of a place when your dad is a naval aviator, is it?”

Mav told him to correct her so he does, “He’s not my dad.”

He brings his knees closer, wishing she’d go away. Instead, she sits down next to him, her white pants smudged green by the grass in seconds.

“Is something wrong at home, Bradley? Is your—Is everything okay with Pete?”

“Yeah,” he says because he doesn't want to be whiney. He’s already been enough trouble. “His dad flew one of those.”

Mrs. Sanchez looks at the plague in front of them to remind herself of the plane’s name. “A Phantom?”

“Yeah, during Vietnam War.”

“He must be really proud of Pete then.”

Bradley supposes he’d be. “He didn’t come back.”

Mav lost his dad, too, and then his mom. He met Bradley’s mom in the foster system and she became like a sister to him. Bradley probably wouldn’t even know Mav if Duke Mitchell was alive.

Bradley was in the foster system for three weeks when his mom died, before Mav and his case worker had filed all the appropriate paperwork. He was placed in a foster family in the neighboring town — the wife, Sandie, didn’t work and would take him to school every morning, and the husband, Robert, was a corporate lawyer, bent from six to five. They would take Bradley to church every Sunday with the rest of the kids even though Sundays were the only days Mav had enough time to drive out of Fresno and visit him while the paperwork was still in progress,

They were nice, he supposes, and some of the kids called them mom and dad, so they couldn’t be too bad.

“Is there a way I could go back to the foster system?” 

Mrs. Sanchez looks away from the plane, clears her throat, and asks gently, “Why would you go back there?”

“I dunno, just—Is there a way to put me back there?”

“I don’t think so, no, Bradley, not unless—” she breaks off, taking a deep breath, and says softly, “I’m sure Pete wouldn’t like that.”

Maybe he wouldn’t like that but it’d make everything easier for everyone.

*

It’s a few weeks later. Mrs. Sanchez hasn’t mentioned anything to Bradley even if she keeps on looking out for him during recess so he doesn’t think she’ll drill the topic.

Mav and Ice have both gone to the PTA meeting which Bradley finds odd. They’ve always been very careful about their relationship — his mom had given him a talk about how he couldn’t call Ice Mav’s boyfriend when he was six, well, Bradley had called him his husband because he didn’t really know the difference back then, and he had been instructed to keep it a secret.

He’s never mentioned it to anyone, since then, especially not to Mrs. Sanchez. He used to think it was stupid because they were both his parents and they should both be allowed to come to his plays and career days and charity fairs, but now he supposes it was convenient since Ice didn’t want a kid and probably didn’t want to be included in all those parental stuff anyway.

They pick him up from Uncle Slider and Aunt Sarah’s place but they don’t say anything. Usually, they at least mention that Bradley has good grades.

Maybe he’s doing something wrong, again. He got into one fight a couple of weeks ago but Mav said it was alright as long as it didn’t happen again.

“Can you come up to the living room once you unpack?”

Bradley takes his time. He unpacks his English homework, the only one he couldn’t do but also one Uncle Slider couldn’t really help him with — Aunt Sarah probably could but she’s been sleeping the whole time because apparently being six months pregnant is making her super sleepy. Contemplates asking Ice for help with it but decides it’s probably better he doesn’t.

He needs to start doing these things alone. He can’t bother them forever.

In six years, he’s going to be in college, and he holds onto that thought.

“So, your grades are perfect and we’re really proud of how well you’re doing in school, but—But Mrs. Sanchez mentioned a couple of things about your behavior,” Mav says.

Bradley doesn’t sit down with them on the couch even though they left space for him in the middle. He also doesn’t reply anything.

They both look at Bradley for a long moment and he fidgets under their gazes.

“Mrs. Sanchez said you asked her whether we—whether we can give you back for adoption,” Mav begins. “We’re just worried about where that question came from, Bradley, we aren’t going to—”

He said we like Ice actually wants anything to do with Bradley’s guardianship.

“We love you, Bradley, we promised your mom we’d take care of you and—”

He isn’t their son. He’s a promise they’re keeping and nothing else.

“Can I go back to my room?”

“Buddy—” Mav begins again.

Bradley doesn’t want to hear whatever he has to say. He already knows everything he needs to know.

“I know you love me, I know you won’t give me back. It was just a stupid question, is all,” he says because that was the truth — they promised his mom they would love him and here they were, trying very hard to do that.

They don’t need to pretend it’s anything else.

“Okay,” Ice says, carefully. “I’ll make you some hot chocolate and we can talk some more—”

“I just want to go to sleep.”

There’s a moment of silence and they give each other a meaningful look before turning back to Bradley.

Ice notes, “It’s not even seven.”

“We painted the whole nursery with Uncle Slider, I’m just tired. Can I go?”

“You’re not in trouble,” Mav says.

“I know,” Bradley tells him even if he isn’t so sure about it. “Can I go? I still have some homework to do.”

part two/Slider POV now here

[birdbrainedboy]

I’m obsessed with this show and fear a hyperfixation anyways here are my thoughts on every character in the show

Edwin Paine: forever my favorite, even back before the show when I read the comics! I think it’s funny that basically every man in the show wants him? I’m intrigued by his character arc throughout the story regarding his sexuality as despite dying in 1916, he seems to have had time to slowly become more accepting of gay people (I’m guessing in part due to Charles, who is pansexual), to the point where there’s only mild internalized homophobia if at all, which just exhibits itself in him denying any possible feelings for Monty. I love how face-value and logical he is while still being a sweetheart

Charles Rowland: he has a pan flag pin on his jacket which confuses me bc can ghosts only wear clothes they would’ve worn when they were alive, or how do ghost clothes work? Because he died in 1989 and I’m near positive he didn’t wear that pin back there. Anyways I do love him but I wonder about some design choices, like the one earring (not sure why it just kinda annoys me). That was more a rant abt his design than his character, which I have nothing notable to say abt since I LOVE HIM he’s so real

Crystal Palace: sometimes she was a bit annoying the way she was trying way too hard to pry into everyone’s lives, but honestly that was just momentary annoyance since nothing could make me hate her. I love how her past was slowly revealed (as someone who already knew it from the comics) and how she came to terms with the person she used to be vs the person she is now. She’s so cool!

David the demon: honestly kind of caught me off guard at first bc the person I’m dating is named David but I actually enjoyed his character. LOVED when Crystal dealt with him in the end. He was very interesting

Niko Sasaki: I love Niko, but I have some problems with her character. First of all, I feel like ditsy anime-loving cutesy Asian girl with dyed hair is a weirdly common trope? But whatever my main issue is that it feels like characters who normalize the fetishization of gay men are so common. Like if Niko had been a guy obsessed with lesbian manga evb would be weirded out, so why is it different? If we ignore all of this tho I absolutely adore her and I’m actually praying she’s in the next season bc she was one of my favorites (esp her relationship w Edwin)

Jenny: She is so hot and cool and funny I’m in love with her

Esther: oh my god words cannot come close to describing how much I love her character. She felt powerless and weak in the past and now she’s become obsessed with making sure nobody has that power over her ever again. She was so fun and I loved her attitude! I’m sure she won’t show up next season, as she was the main antagonist of s1, and while I love her, I kind of hope she doesn’t since I think her arc was finished.

Monty: His personality was like 2020 “soft boy” who acts nice and dumb but is lowkey a manipulator. So obviously this kind of made me like ☠️ bc why is he acting like that… but I still love him to bits because he’s just a crow guys he didn’t ask to be human,, Anyways yeah his personality annoys me but also I love him so much so? It’s confusing. ITS COMPLICATED. I will cry if he’s not in s2

Kingham and Litty: I honestly thought they were annoying but I can’t lie they were so fucking funny. Every time they were on screen I laughed.

Cat King: oh my god. He is so camp. I love him. There’s honestly not much to say he is simply iconic. Love how he’s afraid to be alone so chases after other people, he’s so real AGHH I love him

Night Nurse: Ruth Connell the woman you are… 😍 she reminds me of Muriel from Good Omens, in a way, and I love her! I really hope we get to see more of her in relation to the guy in the fish, and see her get to better understand human emotions and why they choose to cling onto the human world rather than pass on!

[zenlesszonezero]

You feelin' fired up now? Make way for the undefeated Champion! —Welcome to New Eridu!— PS5™/iOS/Android/PC | Version 1.3 "Virtual Revenge" of Zenless Zone Zero, HoYoverse's urban fantasy ARPG, is out now

[antianakin]

Hello. I've talking with you in DM. I'll like to read your opinion about Qui-Gon's appearance in Mortis Vs at the end of the Kenobi series. Seems people tend to portrait the Mortis scene as a proof that Qui-Gon is the perfect Jedi who discards Obi-Wan without any hesitation and praising Anakin. While they forget when Qui-Gon reappear in the Kenobi series, he was always there for Obi-Wan, even waited for him. But fully ignored because this isn't the vision of the "Perfect Jedi" they know in CW.

It's like both Qui-Gon are different people.

So here's the thing for me with Mortis: it's fucking weird and everything that happens there is implied to be like a shared dream or Force vision of some sort and what happens in there is only QUESTIONABLY real. Time literally doesn't move in the "real world" when they come back (they're speaking to Rex before they crash on Mortis and then speak to him again at the end and he says only about a minute has passed even though they spent DAYS on Mortis). While the Father/Son/Daughter have been brought back a few times since then and have become something a little more well-known and widespread at this point, the original TCW episode sort-of implies that they may not have been entirely real themselves, but that they were just... representations of something the Force wanted these three people to understand for some reason.

So it is MASSIVELY questionable as to whether the Qui-Gon who shows up on Mortis is, in fact, REALLY Qui-Gon himself or if he's just some another image that the Force used to speak to Obi-Wan and Anakin, same as the Father/Son/Daughter. In the same exact scene as the Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon conversation, Ahsoka ALSO has a vision, but she has it of her future adult self. So if we assume Qui-Gon was really there, we must then also assume that adult Ahsoka was also really there, and that brings up a LOT of weird implications about her. Because Qui-Gon is a Force Ghost and we know that Qui-Gon is already dead at this point in the timeline. If we assume adult Ahsoka is using the same trick to show up, it implies that Ahsoka died in early adulthood and that she trained to become a Force Ghost and succeeded and that somehow her Force Ghost is actually traveling BACKWARDS in time in order to appear here. Personally, I think that's pushing things a little and it's a LOT easier to assume that adult Ahsoka is a random vision that present day Ahsoka is having and she isn't ACTUALLY speaking to her adult self time traveling backwards as a ghost. And if we assume this is true, you can make the exact same claim about Qui-Gon.

The final piece of evidence I will use for my headcanon here is that Qui-Gon actually shows up VISIBLY in this scene even though later on, when he speaks to Yoda, he can't appear to Yoda at all and all he can do is speak to him as a disembodied voice. You might argue that Mortis is SPECIAL and that's why Qui-Gon could do this when he can't do it later, but Dagobah is ALSO supposed to be a weird Force planet of sorts, so it seems odd that he can't do it there. He also never shows up visibly when Yoda is visiting the Force Priestesses (aside from in Yoda's vision of a happy Jedi Temple where Qui-Gon is still alive and Dooku never became a Sith). Qui-Gon, at the time of Mortis, IS NOT CAPABLE of showing up visibly. He never got trained in it at all and can't do it later even in other places similarly weird in the Force.

The Kenobi show chose to let Qui-Gon show up visibly anyway obviously, and I'm willing to let that go because the scene means a lot to me and so I can headcanon that Qui-Gon did some post mortem training in how to DO that and simply hadn't mastered it by the time of the Yoda Force Ghost arc in TCW season 6. I will fully admit that Qui-Gon probably SHOULDN'T have visibly shown up in the Kenobi show according to what was established in TCW, though. It makes no real logical sense, but the Force Ghosts have pretty much NEVER made sense and often just get used in whatever way the plot requires of them and however the current creator thinks will be cool/emotional.

So basically, my thoughts on Qui-Gon in the Mortis arc are that this isn't Qui-Gon at all and it's just the Force speaking to Obi-Wan through Qui-Gon's image, giving him a warning or just forcing Obi-Wan to face his fears, etc the way the Force just DOES sometimes. If it doesn't feel accurate to the way Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's relationship is represented in the films to you, then maybe it's because it's not MEANT to be accurate for a reason.

[tessarionbestgirl]

Do you think there is any chance of Jaehaera ending up alive in the show? I hate how she dies on the book 😭

I think even before the show started a lot of fans, complained about her death because, first her death is repetitive and bad, secondly it way more interesting and make a lot of more sense if she just lived. Specially for events that came after.

Now about your questionh, well this is hard to say.

For one hand there are a lot of elements which indicates that, yes, she may survive.

The show and the book are different things, the book doesn't have a end, the story just goes on and on, so where the show will stop or end in a satisfactory manner ? To me, thematically the best way would be ending with Aegon and Jaehaera wedding and coronation. Would not surprise me that they actually inverted helaegon dinamic with Aegon + Jaehaera, and we get Aegon crowning Jaehaera like Aegon did to Heleana in the book. And Jaehaera being a more sweet child.I think the fact they rejuvenated her and they didn't let clear if she saw her brother getting his head chop off. This traumatic event may not hit her as hard. But again also she plays as Maelor in this situation, this could bring repercussions that we do not know. They could do a lot things with her character. Much like Aegon that probably didn't remember his mom a lot. Jaehaera will probably not her remember her family too. In a poetic way, the most familiar thing they would have is each other.

Ryan says he approaches the book as green propaganda and it said, last episode of the season that Alicent would be painted as a villain because she betrayed tg, and if you go to that logic if Jaehaera fell in love with Aegon III, she would be see as such. And even the entire narrative works better as her being the mother of his children considering how they end up being and the war that follows. Also, again needs to adapt not only a fake story book, but how the events are seeing though the asoiaf book. Like people complain about alicole not being a thing in fire and blood, but in asoiaf, is something they hint at in some points. House Valaryon is a joke in the fourth and fifth books. And so have been away from the peak we see in hotd, so would not surprise me if he cut that marriage, because it flows better with the idea of how this house deteriorated with time.

They already hinted a lot that they way to end the war would be marrying a green and black member, and they do love in playing with the dinamic between characters of both teams. First with Aegon + Rhaenyra than Jace + Heleana ( Arguably). So is on pair for the show. Also there is no mention of Daenera father on this show, what again they could bring in S4.

As production, would not surprise me if they merge both characters ( Daenera + Jaehaera) because is easier to normies to follow, is cheaper and it gives a more satisfying ending.

Whatever, there are points to the other side as well. One is that the show is very, very TB-leaning, they leave no room for ambiguity, and they like to use the Valaryons as a platform for Targaryans stand in. So who knows?

[crooked-wasteland]

I just saw your essay on the codependency of FizzOzzie and it cleared up a lot of things I've been thinking about this ship and to be honest, I myself thought it was the most healthiest ship in the whole show even better than the trash that Stoliz is but well... (btw, I was trying to scroll through tumblr to find it but can you just link it for me so I coud read it again)?

It also brings me to an idea of the possibility brung up in two fics each with different ideas:

#1 if Hazbin's events every leak in Helluva's since they're the same universe, there's a possibility that Lucifer would want to have precautionary heirs for the defense of Hell and outright force Ozzie and any other relationships with lowerclass apart since it's "not compatible with angelic DNA" or some thing, so Ozzie could in fact leave Fizz because of his status

#2 Ozzie getting tired of Fizz... Ozzie is the sin of Lust after all and Lust can be ever-changing and capricious in its nature as a sin. Ozzie’s character, embodying Lust, might lead to a fluctuating commitment level, influencing his interactions and relationships. In biblical lore, he did end up causing a lot of sinful things like fucking a human named Sarah or so I remember?

Again this is the same guy who humiliated Blitzø in Ozzie, S2 just rewrote him completely (btw, in my rewrite I'mma change him to be more evil and instead give the whole "lovey-dovey Sin" idea to Satan who is female and thinks Asmodeu's "fake-love" is like a slap in the fact to her idea of realistic and true romance)

I'd just feel like Fizz would be better off with Blitzø tbh or Striker or all in a threesome... the possibilities are endless, and why is the show making love seem too fairytale and unrealistic?! Like Blitzø shouldn't have to fuck Stolas just because he was his arranged playmate for just one day??? The show did the childhood friends trope dirty and would be better if Stoliz was a thing until mid-teens broke up for [insert reason] and reconnect but honestly, Stolas should've had his own seperate season/arc dedicared to himself if HB was an anthology show

Also the fact that Asmodeus couldn't just burn the contract, one-shot the lawyer and go on a rampage to save Fizz is just beyond me... the Sins are supposed to be these scary demon lords so why aren't they, hm?

Sorry for rambling and what do you think or want to add?

Absolutely here you go.

The consistent failure of Vivziepop is to commit to a mature story. She describes her own protagonists as "Deeply flawed but understandably traumatized people who just need love to fix them" while the villains of her shows are "irredeemable" (and women, but that's a tangent).

I mentioned before that trying to use the excuse of the setting being Hell and playing that out to the logical conclusion would end up exactly like Good Omens. The whole moral of said show being that imperfect humanity is worth saving, that life is worthy and beautiful for its own sake of existence. That is why the story of Good Omens uses the Bible, angels, and demons to tell it's story, to make that point.

Why is Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel set in Hell? What is being said by the plot, themes and story? So far we have that demons are better people than the Angels in Hazbin. That sacrifice is the only virtue worthy of redemption and thus reinforces backwards Christian ideals of penance.

Personally, I would have made Hell less absurd. Less a place of debauchery and chaos and more a mere continuation of life. We see in the Hazbin Pilot a character falls from the sky and says "I'm alive?" Before being hot by Travis' car. The point being that people just transition from one life to the next and in that they keep living life the way they always have.

My personal criticisms of the series' use of Hell is that it established this idea that people only behave if they have a god to fear. Once in Hell, there is no salvation, so why bother. It's like a Christian asking an atheist why they wouldn't commit murder if they don't believe in God. The answer is that people like order and security. People dying would seek to maintain their status quo from life. A lack of salvation wouldn't change that for them.

And frankly, I wouldn't have redemption be a thing. This story and its messages are actively devalued by the act of redeeming sinners when the Angels are just the same as them. By having Hell just be a warped continuation of life on Earth, it makes the message more universal: Life is Hell. Life is suffering in a way Hell can never hope to be. Physical anguish and torment for all eternity can never amount to the pain of the fleeting and the terror of change and uncertainty.

I would have made it impossible to be redeemed because the fact is, regardless what you believe happens after death, what we know we have is life. We fear death so much we have created salvation throughout history, the wish to keep living forever in some way. But, especially for young people, life is harder now than ever before. It's more terrifying and uncertain and cruel and uncaring.

So if life is Hell, how do you be happy?

That would have been my thesis for the show. The message underneath is all about finding happiness in the absence of salvation. Even the idea that maybe salvation is something we should reject to really feel what it means to be alive. Giving up on our deaths and seeking our own fulfillment, and in that finding community, love, and hope. To see true humanity as something selfish and kind at the same time.

That's how I would have taken the concept.

[obey-me-disaster]

hey im the gal who requested ya write the whole, mc dies and doesnt come back thing. i just read the first part and i gotta say it was really well written lol. and if you dont mind, could i ask for the side characters' reaction?

thanks :yellow_heart:

I am glad you liked the first part ^-^

Spoilers for lesson 16!!

Warnings: death and description of it, grieving.

Side characters x gn!MC(Luke is of course platonic)

MC stays dead for good

Diavolo

He was aware he was most likely sending MC to their death but he still held onto the hope that they will make it out alive. They have been doing so well until that point, managed to get pacts with over half of the brothers, but unfortunately, fate had other plans for them.

He will beat himself over this whole affair for a long time. Not only did the exchange program failed, but he also let down a friend and led them to their own death.

He got so carried away when MC said they want to prove that Belphegor was innocent that he forgot they were only human. They didn't have a grasp on how to use their magic and pacts.

This failure as both a ruler and a friend will always live in the back of his head. That day he failed multiple people and he was the one that had to tell them there is no saving MC in the end. The only thing worse than the memory of MC's corpse being craddled gently by Mammon were the defeated looks of all the brothers.

Belphegor should count himself lucky he is not killed on the spot. All of Diavolo's hard work went down the drain in one night. It would probably take another 2000 years before he could even attempt peace between the three world again. The only reason Belphegor is only locked up and not killed is because of the brothers. He will have to deal with political fallout that MC's death would bring, he can't deal with the chaos the brothers would rise if he were to kill Belphegor.

Barbatos

He knew this would happen yet he still hoped that MC would make it out alive, there are timelines where they do that after all.

In the end, he didn't get his hopes up and he was grateful for that. The sight of their corpse, the looks on the brother's faces, even the disappointed and sadness on Diavolo's face, he was able to keep his calm demeanor through all of that.

He was the one that dealt with all the details that about proceedings after MC's death. Their families would have to be informed but still hide all of the details about the exchange, Belphegor's imprisonment and standing by Diavolo's side as the consequences begind to follow.

He didn't get the opportunity to get close to MC and for that he was glad. It was easier to deal with their death and the fact that they were never coming back.

The only thing that bothered him is when he would see them happy and healthy in other timelines. That's when all the 'what if?' question would pop up in his mind. But in the end those were not his timelines. He knew better than to indulge in worlds that he did not belong to after living with his powers for so long.

Simeon

He only found out days after MC's actual death but he felt something was deeply wrong even before that. Neither the brothers, nor Diavolo and Barbatos would show up to school and he couldn't reach MC.

When he heard that MC died he thought it was at the hands of a lower demon. He didn't know the whole attic ordeal so that was the only logical explanation at the moment.

When he learned the whole truth, he wasn't sure if he would have preferred to live in ignorance or not. It really shaken his perception of the brothers for a bit, after all he knew Belphie since he was an angel. To find out that the angel that loved humans so much turned into a demon that hated humanity was quite the shock to him.

He insisted to remain for MC's funeral. He wasn't there for their last moments, so he wants to be there when their soul is sent off to the Celestial Realm.

He tries hide how much MC's death hurt him from Luke. He is young and just lost someone, so Simeon tries to be there for him before the tries to work through his feelings.

He really saw MC as someone to cherish and even look up, often times referring to how they would make a better angel than him. To him they seemed so untouchable that he forgot how humans with no control of their magic could be.

Luke

All the progress he made about seeing demons in a better light is gone. He even sees them as bigger monsters than before.

Poor kid really looked up to MC as an older sibling figure so to hear that they have died broke him. Since he wasn't alive through the wars, MC's death was probably the first violent death he had ever have to deal with. Maybe MC the first person in his life to even die.

He is aware that Simeon is pushing his feelings aside for him and he hates but doesn't know how to deal with these knew feelings so he just accepts his help.

Will probably bake MC's favorite deserts in their memory...poor kid isn't really sure on how to deal when loved ones die, especially when they are murdered.

Solomon

If MC died at the begging of the exchange program he wouldn't have been surprised, it's Devildom after all. But not only did they not die, they made 5 pacts with the lords of Hell and managed to sneak their way into his life.

He wasn't expecting that he would get so attached to his fellow human exchange but they did. So when things started to change about the brothers he started to expect the worst.

He knew there would come a day when MC would leave him for good and die, all the people in his life did that but he didn't expect for that time to come so soon. Especially in such a cruel manner.

MC was the one that made him see demons as friends, and while not all the progress is gone he will still need to take some time for himself.

He has done it 1000 times over the course of his life span, he dealt with the death of his loved ones more than he would like yet, it's still never easy to get used to their presence being gone. Especially when it's so out of nowhere.

For quite a while he doesn't even dare to try and make a pact with Lucifer. Is it due to MC's memory, knowing that he won't get a pact in those circumstances? He isn't really sure, he just knows he wants to throw himself into his research to distract himself from the wound MC's death left in his heart.

[aurae-rori]

AVENTURINE TRAILER ANALYSIS - THE GOLDEN TOUCH

SPOILERS FOR 2.1 CONTENT & AVENTURINE’S TRAILER! 

TW FOR VERY VAGUE SUICIDE MENTIONS. 

Hey girlies, hold still. On another note, hello again! I will be going through visual analysis, symbolism, and talking about how this trailer ties multiple aspects of Aventurine’s character together. Some of the things covered here I will be covering in my full analysis of Aventurine himself, so feel free to give that a shot. 

My disclaimer! Although I have been researching psychology personally for about six years, I am NOT a professional. (Yet. When I do, Tumblr Will Know.) Any conclusions I come to are because of my own deductions, personal interpretations, analysis, and logic. You are free to disagree with what I say! 

I also do NOT know card numbers and symbols – what they mean and symbolize and all that jazz. Sorry guys. :( 

Now, let’s get into it. 

First of all, let’s fucking go, let this man ENJOY himself (well. A little. This trailer is not as happy silly as it seems, just like the character himself.) He gets to have a silly boogie woogie! Look at you go!! (He is not boogie woogie-ing.)

Second of all, time for game theories.  

The first scene is really pretty. It’s a coin falling down, toppling against a few stray objects before we flash to the next panel, the ground, as it rolls to the feet of a young boy. Gently, he reaches down, before picking it up, and then, in true Aventurine fashion, proceeds to flip the coin in his hand. However, this gesture actually holds more meaning than I originally thought it did. The coin that Aventurine has seems to transcend his definition of ‘time’ – his inherent ‘value’, or his ‘roots’, never changing. It also shows his connection to his younger self – how he’s still holding onto that child, still connecting to that child, and showing that this child is still a part of him, even if it’s only his past self. 

I believe that the coin that he always has flipping around actually represents Aventurine himself – it represents his ‘value’ as a gambling chip. In Aventurine’s eyes, interpersonal relationships are just like that – they are gambles, where people take advantage of one another and backstab each other. However, it also represents how little he seems to care for his own life – he tosses the coin around, does tricks with it, and is overly flamboyant – just like how he presents himself to the outside world. This single gambling chip is actually the presentation of how Aventurine sees himself and presents himself to everyone else, as well as encompasses his worldview – bet himself, going ‘all in’ with his own worth, or doing nothing. That worth has been with him his entire life – the worth of being a child blessed by a God from his home, being blessed with good fortune. 

Also, sick ass transition. Love that shit. 

Pay attention to the next scene – there’s a brief moment where it shows him walking through a hallway… through the lens of a camera. This could definitely be alluding to the idea of always being watched – I mean, he’s the last of his own race, of course there’s going to be eyes on him. People are going to be asking questions - how is he still alive? Why is he with the IPC? Can he be trusted, considering his race was known for scheming and plotting? 

And then, he tosses open the door in a grand display – a grand display of his fake persona. He opens the room to a whole bunch of robots, who are all gambling, and they stare at him in surprise. That’s Aventurine – flamboyant, showy, confident. He holds a captive audience and all of the others move to the side as he strides towards the slots machine – and as predicted, due to his good luck, he gets three in a row. However, what I think is important to note is that he slides his coin into the machine – and remember what I said about the coin representing his worth? This is what I mean by he bets himself. He is just another gambling chip that he will use to achieve victory no matter what. He is another pawn on the table who has made his way this far, and it’s all or nothing – his whole worth, or not worth the gamble at all. 

Also, at 0:42, we see a briefcase open up to reveal a gem – definitely a callback to the 2.1 trailblaze quest with his moment with Ratio. Damn, gay people. 

Then, after that, he slides many chips towards the table – and interestingly enough, they’re all copies of his one singular chip. This, your honour, is what we call a ‘bluff’. Pretending to be more than you are in order to appear more confident so that your enemies will fear you. Pretty good strategy, honestly. 

Also, cool editing with the machines falling into the Void of Cards. Maybe symbolism for how people fall into his persona easily and fall for his schemes? 

Epic ahh pose, 0:54. Love that for you, my silly homosexual lad. 

Also, him in the elevator going to the top at around 1:02? That means more than you think it does. Probably most likely a representation of how he had to crawl his way from the bottom to the top, and yet, now, it’s showing that he is at the top now. He takes an elevator instead of having to climb – he’s gotten higher, he’s gotten more status. His ‘all or nothing’ mentality pays off. 

And then, he’s set into an arena. Representation of life, honestly. His whole life is a stage, a play, something to be watched. He’s here to put on a good show. He’s being watched, which is a callback to my note about the camera at the start. 

Then, the horrors are set loose. He does his gambling stuff with the cup in his hand while he dodges the monsters. That’s him, alright – taking gambles in dangerous situations, relying on his luck, smiling through what should be terrifying. 

“The wager will be life and death,” but oh, that’s your usual wager, Aventurine. We all know how you have self-destructive tendencies. 

1:42. Hand behind his back. Oh lord, we all died. We all know what the hand behind his back means. We all know how much emotional damage that caused. 

1:46. The dice cracks. Just like his cornerstone, eh? Just like his façade, right…? :) 

And then, everything is drowned in gold coins. Yay! 

And then, he’s standing on a ledge. Possibly a callback to how he said that he had “tested death” in the dreamscape. What better way to test it than jumping? 

And then his enemies are drowning in coins. Probably a metaphor for his win against them. 

And then, here is where things get interesting at the two minute mark. He tosses his coin down, again, like at the beginning of the trailer. Kakvasha flipped the coin up, trying to get higher, and then, Aventurine tosses the coin down, keeping his connection with his younger self. It falls down to the ground, and Kakavasha picks it up with awe in his eyes. He’s still keeping in mind his younger self, still keeping him with him, even to this day. Holding onto his past like a lifeline. 

Aventurine’s trailer… while it does seem on the surface that you’re having fun, you’re really not, when everything is a show and a gamble, right? 

Alright, thanks for reading, everyone! :)