#so i'm curious to know how i'll feel about it in comparison

[klingon-for-dear-life]

I officially finished watching all of TNG and here's a gif to sum up how I'm doing rn:

Jk I'm fine (no I'm not)

Seriously though one of the main things I've loved about Star Trek so far is that each show and each crew really leaves it's mark on you in it's own unique way. There's so much I could say about TNG but right now all I want to express is how grateful I am that such a special show exists in the world. It's been such a privilege to experience all the show has to offer and I'm going to miss having new episodes of it to look forward to.

Now it's time to boldly trek onward tooo

✨️DS9✨️

[idkwhatimdoinghere1655]

do you take requests? if so can you do anything with charles in the mafia

(1) Comes and Goes - Charles Leclerc

<word count - 5616>

Blaring music, neon strobe lights and the sweaty haze of bodies that amassed on the dancefloor. The staples of being in the club on a Saturday night in the middle of summer. You were stood in the corner, holding a drink in your hand as you watched the scene in front of you.

Your friends had disappeared somewhere in the crowd, and you were taking some time off of dancing while you caught your breath. The atmosphere was a little too close and hazy for you, but it wasn't the worst thing in the world.

"Hey pretty girl, can I buy you a drink?" a voice from beside you said. Looking in his direction, you saw a guy. He was handsome, you had to admit, but the look in your eye told you he was up to no good.

He looked pretentious, like he was one of those guys that took whatever he wanted, from whoever he wanted, whenever he wanted. "No, but thank you." you sweetly smiled, turning to walk away from him.

"Please?" he pressed, grabbing onto your arm and tightly holding you back. You were sure he was probably perfectly nice and respectable, but you had to trust your gut feeling. There was something not right about him.

"I appreciate the offer, really, but I'll have to pass. Enjoy your evening," you said, tugging your arm away and leaving him there. You felt relieved as he hadn't appeared to have followed you, and you went back to enjoying your evening.

You danced and drank a little more, before someone tapped you on the shoulder as you went to the bathroom. "Sorry, miss, excuse me?" the man said, and you instantly preferred him over the guy from earlier. He was a lot more polite.

And, as you stopped to look at him, he already had a much better feel about him. "Yeah?" you said, eyeing up his features. He had dimples as he smiled, and his blazer sat perfectly on his body.

"Forgive me if this is taken as intrusive, but do you know that man from earlier? The one that was talking to you?" he asked, and you were curious as to how he had even seen. It was dark, and he had to have been close by to notice the encounter.

"No, no I don't. Why?" you queried, trying not to get lost in the deep green of his eyes. He had an accent that you couldn't quite place, but you were pretty sure it was French but had been speaking English long enough to lose some of the accent. He seemed like he was from around here. 

"Just... stay away from him, yeah?" he said, and you noticed some form of what you could only put down as concern in his eyes. Yet he seemed confident, and there was just something about him that you really liked.

"That was the plan," you chuckled, watching a small grin form on his face at your comment.

"Good, good. Stay safe," he nodded as he stepped aside to let you carry on walking to the bathroom. "Miss, wait, I never caught your name?" he called out after you, taking a few steps towards you, so he was standing in front of you again.

"I'm Y/N, you?"

"Charles, Charles Leclerc. It's a pleasure," he smiled, taking your hand and planting a soft kiss on the back of it. He was a real gentleman in comparison to the other guy.

"Likewise," you smiled, and he once again let you go to the bathroom. You were kind of hoping he would call you back. But, he just let you keep walking off until you had reached the bathroom.

You were curious as to why Charles had issued that as a warning, but something inside of you compelled you to trust him. For the rest of the night, you didn't see Charles or the man from earlier, but as you were waiting for your friends near the entrance, you started to feel faint.

Your head was spinning slightly, and you took a step outside for some fresh air. You leant against the wall to steady yourself, and the people around you just looked at you like you had had too much to drink, but you knew you hadn't.

Not enough to cause this reaction, anyway. "Hey, pretty girl," a voice said from in front of you, and you could tell who it was, even with your vision blurring over. "How about we get you somewhere more quiet, yeah?" he said, snaking an arm around your waist in an attempt to steady you.

"N-no. Get off me," you slurred, whatever it was that you had been given was taking a huge toll on you, and you could barely stand up. "I said get off me," you said, slightly louder. Charles had told you to stay away from this man, and you had completely agreed with his warning.

Dread hit you like a tonne of bricks as you tried to scramble away. "Come on, beautiful. Let's get you home," he said, and you immediately knew what he was doing as he tried to guide you away. You didn't know him, and you hated how he pretended you did.

You were too weak to push away from his movement, and your legs buckled underneath you as you walked. "Up we go," he sighed, hoisting you into his arms without any warning. Now, there was no escaping.

"Put me down! Get away," you weakly mumbled as you struggled to stay conscious. All you heard was a chuckle from the man as he carried on walking.

Just as your vision was blurring over, you felt your body jolted with an, "Get the fuck off her!" sounding around. Before your brain could put a name or face to the voice, you were out cold, unable to react to what was going on.

You couldn't tell how long you were out for, or where you even were, but you knew you were indoors somewhere. You slowly opened your eyes, your pounding headache making you wince as you sat up.

Looking around, you didn't know where you were. There were balcony doors to your left, letting in a bright stream of light. The room was gorgeous as you admired the features of it. It was modern, but with an antique touch of cremes and darker accents in it.

You weren't in the same clothes that you had been in the night before, you knew that for certain. You spotted the black cocktail dress on a chair in the corner of the room, having been replaced by a tank top and shorts on your frame, and your shoes were left neatly to the side. 

Your head spun slightly as you stood up and out of bed, but you soldiered through and went to the vanity. You noticed your makeup had been taken off, and your hair had been pulled back into a neat plait. Whoever's house you were in had taken great care of you.

You were wondering why you weren't panicking right now, since waking up in a stranger's house was far from anything normal that you could experience. Yet, something inside you told you that you were safe, even if you didn't fully trust it.

But, you still didn't have a clue where you were. You figured there was no harm in going for a walk around, and you thought it might clear your still foggy mind. As you left the room, the ceilings were high and the corridors seemed to go on for miles. 

This place was beyond anything you had ever seen in real life, the house looking straight out of a movie. The renaissance-era paintings on the wall looked as real as anything as you observed the textured brush strokes beneath the glass.

After you had wandered around, your light footsteps echoing slightly around as your feet padded on the cold, marble floors, you found yourself at the top of a grand staircase. It led all the way down to what you assumed to be the front door, and you could see through the archways at either side of the stairs that lead to the rest of the house.

But what stood out most were the two, suited men standing at the door. They spotted you at the top of stairs, both of them whispering something to each other. "Excuse me, where am I?" you asked, approaching them as you stepped down the stairs.

One of the men walked straight past you and up the stairs, going the same way you had come, while the other stopped in front of you, a gentle smile on his face. "My colleague has gone to tell Mr Leclerc you're awake. Now, if you'd follow me, I am under instruction to keep you in bed," he explained, walking off.

You followed him, thinking as you walked. Leclerc? You knew that name from some- shit. Charles. The nice guy from last night. He was the one who had told you to stay away from the dodgy guy who was carrying you away, so why the hell were you in his house?

Maybe this was a different Leclerc? Surely not, though. That was not a common name, not by any means.

As you were lost in your thoughts you had already arrived back at your room. He opened the door, ushering you inside. "Back in bed please, Y/N. You shouldn't be on your feet just yet," a voice said, and, despite your memories of the night being misty, you knew who it was. Just as suspected.

Walking further back into the room, you sat down on the bed, spotting Charles sitting on the chair that didn't have your dress on it. "Charles?" you said, knowing full well it was him, but needing to confirm it for some reason. Your brain was still foggy. 

"Yes, I know, this is a lot for you, but if you give me a minute, I'll explain. This isn’t what it looks like," he softly smiled, and you just looked at him. He took your silence as a cue to continue, his brain working out a way to say this so that it didn't sound too movie-like.

"First, I'll ask you what you remember of last night?" he asked, knowing it would help him tell you the situation if he knew.

"I remember that weird guy, I remember meeting you. I was waiting for my friends, and I started to feel dizzy, so I stepped outside to get some fresh air. Then my legs felt all weird, and I couldn't really walk very well. He showed up, tried to get me to go home with him, and he picked me up and started walking away. Then I heard someone else, who I assume to have been you, and now I'm here," you explained. You were surprised about how much you could recall, despite the alcohol combined with whatever else you had been given.

"OK, so pretty much most of it," he nodded, finding your recollection to be helpful. "Do you remember me telling you to stay away from that guy?"

"Yeah, I do," you confirmed, remembering how sweet he had been to you.

"There's not really an easy way to say this, I guess..." he said, his normal, confident demeanour failing him at the minute. He was used to being hard-headed and... business driven, not unsure of his words.

"I'll put it like this. That guy from last night is a rival of mine, per se, and I wasn't letting him take advantage of you after he had slipped whatever it was in your drink. I did it to prove a point to him, and I certainly wasn't letting you get hurt," he explained, and he gave you a minute to think it over.

"Rival? Rival in what?" you asked, tilting your head as you pulled the covers over you a little more.

"We're... business rivals," he said, and you knew there was more to the story. And you also knew you probably didn't want to find out. Your brain jumped to some conclusions as to what Charles could dabble in for work, but you thought you were being crazy. But you were still curious.

"Where is he now?" you quietly asked, and Charles' eyes widened slightly. He didn't expect you to ask that, and he didn't have an answer for you. 

"Don't worry about him, I took care of it," he said, with a sinister and cold undertone. It implied something ominous, and you also didn't want to know what he meant. It seemed like the sweet, caring Charles had something darker brewing under the surface, and you didn't feel like finding out what it was.

The whole scenario was very odd, and something that hadn't quite sunk into your mind yet. You were sitting in a bed in the house of a man you had briefly met before you were likely drugged and nearly kidnapped. Just your normal Saturday night, I suppose.

"Did you... did you undress me, or...?" you asked, wanting to change the subject. Charles didn't look like he wanted to talk about his affairs either. But the new subject was no less awkward.

"No, no, " he shook his head, "I asked one of my maids to, since I didn't think you'd want to sleep in your dress, but I didn't want to invade your privacy. I hope that's OK," he timidly said, somewhat nervous about your reaction.

His confidence from the previous night was seemingly dissolved, his charms faltering slightly. But it only made him that bit more interesting. He seemed like a complex character, one that was well put together. However, you knew that he, like everyone, had a different side behind closed doors.

Despite only knowing him for a few hours, barely even that, you had gathered that home Charles and public Charles were likely to be different versions of himself. The cool, calm and collected versus the slightly shy, apparently caring.

"Well thank you, I appreciate it. And tell her thank you as well," you smiled, your words clearly sincere. Charles found your thanks adorable, to be quite frank, and the slight blush that coated your cheeks was one of the most genial things he had ever seen.

"You can tell her yourself," he said, just as a small knock came from the door. "Vous pouvez entrer, Annette," Charles called out, and the door slowly swung open. It opened to reveal a relatively old lady, with a kind face.

She looked like the sweet grandma on the street who bakes pies and cookies for the kids and parents alike. She had a tray in her frail hands, and you could smell the freshly done toast, with what appeared to be jam and butter with a glass of orange juice.

"This is Annette, she's worked for my family since before I was born, and she is very excited to have a lady around here instead of just me and the security," he gently chuckled as Annette made her way over to your side, placing the tray on your bedside table. 

"You're very pretty, miss," she smiled, her accent way thicker than Charles'. She had this wonderful sparkle in her eye, and you could tell she was very loving, and could understand why Charles had kept her around for so long.

"Vous êtes trop," you grinned back, glad that your French was sufficient enough to answer her lovely compliment with such a simple phrase. Charles' heart warmed at the interaction, glad that Annette liked you, and how sweet you were being with her.

"May I sit?" she asked, gesturing to the edge of the bed. Her eyes flicked over to Charles, and he nodded, as if giving her permission.

"Of course, sure," you confirmed, moving your legs out of the way so that she had more room to sit down as she perched on the edge of the bed. She looked at you, and you could see the joy in her face.

"That dress of yours is very pretty, you looked absolutely stunning," she gushed, causing you to blush even more. "Back in my day, I used to be able to pull that off too," she chuckled, you and Charles laughing along.

"I'm sure you still could," you giggled along.

"It is lovely to see a young lady like yourself around here, Charles never brings anyone home for me to talk to," she said with a wink, glancing over at Charles as he blushed with a small smile.

"Oh does he not?"

"Surprisingly not. I mean, you'd think with a face as handsome as his, he'd have ladies around all the time," she continued to tease Charles as if he weren't listening, even if he were blushing and giggling along to Annette's jokes.

"You sure would," you agreed, enjoying getting in on the fun.

"Well, I'll leave you to rest and eat breakfast, you've had a very long night. If you need anything, and I mean anything at all, you can come to me. Charles doesn't know where anything is in his own house, so he's practically useless," she chuckled, standing and leaving both you and Charles there, by yourselves again.

"She's my mum away from my mum," he told you, his cheeks still tinted red. "And I think she's taken quite a liking to you," he added.

"And I've taken quite a liking to her, she's very sweet," you nodded.

"Well, she's actually nice to you. As you can tell, she would much rather talk to you than have to put up with me for another twenty-seven years." he smirked, leaning back in the chair. As you looked at him, your eyes were pulled away and back out of the balcony doors you had spotted.

From your angle, all you could see was the cloudless blue sky and the bright sun that sat in it. Slinging your legs over the edge of the bed, you took a few steps towards the door so that you could see the ocean, with a few, tiny, white boats bobbing on the surface.

"Hey, no, sit, please," Charles rushed, striding up to you and holding his arms out to you if you needed to grab onto him. He looked worried, nearly panicked that you were on your feet. He didn't know if you were still fragile, and he didn't want to take any risks.

"Huh? I'm fine?" you said, confused as to his sudden reaction.

"Look, I don't know what you were given last night, and I'd really rather you rest and let a doctor check up on you before you go back to walking around," he explained, turning you back around so you were facing the bed and placing a firm hand on the small of your back, gently pushing you back towards it. 

"Charles, I'm fine. I already took a wander around, and I feel alright," you told him with a sigh. The attentiveness was commendable, but you really were fine. The slight headache you had felt earlier had dissipated, and you really did feel OK.

"Please? My family doctor is on the way, and it'd give me a lot more peace of mind if you just sat down and took it easy until we know you're OK," he pleaded, giving you what could only be described as the puppy dog eyes.

"Family doctor? Charles, you really don't have to, I'm OK," you tried to assure him, but you could tell he was a stubborn man.

"I'm not taking no for an answer, now please, back in bed. It's the least I can do for practically kidnapping you," he joked, but he instantly knew that it was in poor taste. "Sorry, that wasn't my most well-thought out of comments..." he mumbled.

"Hey, no, it's fine," you reassured him, knowing you'd much rather be here with him than wherever that other guy was trying to take you. "Right, I'm sat, happy?" you teased, watching another smile bloom on his face.

"Very, the doctor should be here any minute, she's great. I've already told her everything, so you have nothing to worry about," he said, glad to see you sat down. It eased his worries, and he could relax for a minute.

"I've got to get back to work, Annette will be on your every beck and call, so if you want anything, just ask her. But, if you need me, I'll leave my office door unlocked so you can just come get me. Second one on your left," he smiled, walking out of the door and back to his office.

He had made sure you were in the bedroom that was simultaneously closest to his office and to his room, just so that he could be there in a flash if you needed him at any point. He felt bad for you, overall. 

You had had a really rough night, and you had taken it like an absolute trooper. He was glad that you seemed to feel safe enough with him, and he was glad to have been there when he was. He knew what that man was like, and he sure as hell wasn't letting you have a fate like you would have if he hadn't been there.

At that moment, however, he wanted to ignore that, because he knew you were safe, in his house, with the family doctor currently looking over you. Unfortunately, a lot of girls like you ended up in much worse positions, and that was his least favourite thing about the world he lived and worked in.

The world that was concealed by shadows and talked about in hushed whispers. Yet, it was all he knew. From when he was young, this was all he had been a part of: slinking about behind the backs of society, dealing in darkness and backhanders.

He didn't want you to know about any of that. He didn't want you exposed to that if you didn't have to be. Sometimes, it was too much for him, and he had grown up with it. So, he had no doubts that it would be too much for a normal person living a normal life.

He also didn't want you to think any differently of him. He liked that you knew him as Charles. Just Charles. Not the infamous Charles Leclerc whose name could barely be uttered without fear and scepticism attached to it.

You appeared to like him just by him being himself, not by being what everyone thought he was. You were able to create your own, unbiased opinions of him, and it offered the opportunity to get to know him without any preconceived notions about what he was and who he was supposed to be.

After a while of barely getting any work done, there was a knock at Charles' office door. "Yeah?" he called, eyes not leaving his computer screen as he spotted Annette appear in the doorway out of the corner of his eye.

"The doctor has been and gone, and she's fine. She might feel a little groggy for a few days, but she's OK. I left her in bed to carry on resting," she explained. Annette could see the pure relief that washed over Charles, and he could now relax knowing that you were OK.

"Thanks, Annette. I'll go see her in a minute," he confirmed, finishing up the last few bits of work before he let himself see you. He rushed to finish a few things, before practically jumping out of his chair and marching the few metres down the corridor to get to your room.

He gently knocked on the door to alert you to his presence, before opening it a crack and poking his head around it. "Hey, you can come in," you said. Charles wasted no time in waltzing straight in. He took the spot that Annette had been sitting in before, and noticed that you looked a little tired.

"How are you feeling?" he softly asked, looking at you intently.

"I'm fine, just a bit tired, but nothing too bad. Don't worry, the doctor said everything is looking fine, and I'll be right as rain in a few days," you told him, aware that he probably already knew what the doctor had said.

"Good, good. Now, I would like to make a request," he asked, and the tone of his voice sounded dubious. You narrowed your eyes at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. "Stay here, have a nap, let me keep an eye on you. Tomorrow, you can decide if you want to go home or stay until you're fully better."

"You're very kind, Charles. But, I don't want to overstay my welcome, you've done more than enough for me," you dismissed, and Charles tried to hide the disappointment on his face at your answer. He didn't want you to feel like you had to stay, or that you were trapped there, but he wanted you to stay.

A part of him was still worried for you, and wanted to keep you where he knew you were protected and could be there if you needed him. You'd be able to rest, and you wouldn't have to do anything yourself for a couple days.

Charles was, however, confused as to why he was thinking like this. He had met you last night and had essentially kidnapped you, but now he had a strong inclination to take care of you and keep you out of harm's way. But, he couldn't force you.

"You're not overstaying your welcome, if that's the only reason you want to leave. Obviously, if you want to go home, I completely understand and I can take you whenever you want. But just know, I would really appreciate it if you allowed me to have the ability to make sure you're 100%, A-OK," he said, trying not to come off like he was pressuring you to stay if you didn't want to.

"Are you sure? I don't want to be in the way,"

"You won't be in the way, you're a welcome guest. Annette adores you... and I'd quite like you to stay if you do want to. You need to be taken care of, and I like seeing that that's happening with my own eyes. Like I said, I completely get it if you'd rather go home, but don't go because you feel like we don't want you here," he explained.

"I think I might take you up on your offer of having a nap, then," you said, eliciting a small smile from Charles, relieved that you were going to stay.

"OK, I'll leave you be. Second door on the left, don't forget. If you need anything, just shout, I'd rather you weren't on your feet too much," he told you, going to close the curtains over the balcony door so that you could have a more peaceful rest.

"Thanks, Charles," you smiled, shuffling down so you were lying in the bed, pulling the covers up over you. He waited until you had stopped shifting so that he knew you were comfortable, before approaching the door.

"Anytime," he replied, closing the door behind him with a soft click. Yet again, he left you to sleep, returning to his office to actually get some of his work done.

The next time he checked the time, he saw that a couple hours had been and gone, and you had probably woken back up after your nap. It was nearly 6pm, so he shut down his computer for the day and locked his office door behind him.

Approaching your door, he lightly knocked on it. If you were asleep, you probably wouldn't hear unless you were the lightest sleeper in the world, but if you were awake, you could've heard it. He was met with silence, so he quietly opened the door.

Looking towards the bed, he saw that you weren't there. For a moment, he panicked, but he knew you would be there somewhere. There was no way you could have left the house without someone notifying him of your attempt to leave, even if they had would have put you straight back in bed. before Plus, your stuff was still on the chair.

As he wandered around, he couldn't find you, or Annette, so he assumed the two of you were together somewhere. He heard voices coming from the kitchen as he passed by, and he knew he had found you.

Walking into the kitchen, he saw you, leant against the kitchen island with a mug in your hands while Annette finished making her own drink. "I thought I'd told you to stay off your feet?" he said, walking in and leaning on the counter beside you.

"Charles, stop fussing, she's fine," Annette told him, tutting as she wiped the marble countertops down. As he opened his mouth to reply, she cut him off. "I know, you'd rather her rest until she's 100%, but she's fine. I am keeping an eye on her,"

Charles scowled at her as you just giggled, and he didn't like how she had known exactly what he was going to say. "Please go sit down, I-" he whispered to you, but Annette clearly had great hearing for however old she was.  

"Charles Marc Herve Perceval Leclerc, stop pestering the poor girl," she scolded, whipping him on the arm with the tea towel she had in her hands. All you could do was cackle, unable to stop the fits of giggles you were letting out.

Charles just sighed as he had to accept that you were going to carry on functioning like a normal person instead of being bedridden and treated like a princess like he wanted you to be. "How was your day, Charles?" you asked, trying to skirt the topic away from him wanting you in bed.

"The usual, working, trying and failing to keep you in bed," he said, as Annette whipped him with the tea towel again. "But all in all, not a bad one," he rounded off. Had he gotten that much work done? No. But he wasn't really that bothered.

As he spoke, you focused your attention on your fingers tracing the rim of your mug. Charles noticed the lack of a response as you seemed fixated on the mug. "Hey, you alright?" he asked, stepping slightly closer so that he could get a better look at you.

"Yeah, yeah. I was just wondering if it'd be alright if I went home tomorrow?" you said, not wanting to seem ungrateful by wanting to just up and leave. You had enjoyed the time spent with Charles and Annette, but you really needed the comforts that only home could provide.

"I know I said I'd stay, but I just think I'd benefit from some of my creature comforts," you said, as if you had to explain why you wanted to leave. He was sad that you were leaving, since he had found that he was greatly enjoying having someone to take care of other than himself.

He had also become rapidly used to having you around, and he found comfort in knowing you were just in the other room. He felt partially to blame that you were even there to begin with, so the last thing he wanted was for you to feel like you had to leave.

"That's OK, I can drop you off," he shortly said, hoping his disappointment hadn't come across. He wasn't going to try and force you to stay, since he knew you definitely wanted to go.

"I really do appreciate you even having me here, and I kind of owe my life to you, Charles," you quietly said with a small smile.

"You don't owe me anything, don't worry. I was just doing the right thing," he said, reflecting your smile with a pained one of his own. He didn’t want to let you go, he wanted to keep you where you were safe. 

You were like a breath of fresh air breezing through the stagnancy of the mansion. Plus, Annette had taken quite a liking to you, so he didn’t see any reason to want you gone. “I can’t take you today, but I can take you tomorrow?” he asked, and Annette could sniff the lie from a mile off. 

Charles could have taken you right now if he had wanted, he worked for himself and did everything on his own terms. But no. He lied to keep you here longer. Even though Annette had brought Charles up on a very strict policy of transparency, she’d let this one slide. 

Charles wanted to keep you with him as long as he possibly could, and if that meant letting a little white lie be told, then so be it. He’d done much worse in his life, to say the least. “Yeah, tomorrow sounds good,” you nodded, still tracing your finger around the rim of the mug in your hands. 

“Tomorrow it is,” he agreed, masking his sombre feelings as best he could. He was letting go to something he had barely grasped onto, his fingers barely skimming over something that had become the centre of his life so quickly. 

Just as quickly as a whirlwind had whisked you into his life, it was yanking you away. Maybe this was for the best, he thought. If you weren’t around him, you couldn’t get tangled in the iniquities of his life. Maybe this was the best way he could keep you safe after all. By keeping you away from him.  

A/N - I have been writing this for over a year and I have only gotten 11 chapters in, but they are pretty substantial for the most part. I really hope you enjoy this, as it has taken a lot of my time and has been taking up a lot of my mind for quite a while now! A reblog would be greatly appreciated. Love y'all 💖

|masterlist|the full series|

[genoskissors]

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy - Initial Character Thoughts

This is going to have a lot of Danganronpa comparisons, name analysis, and just my overall thoughts on each character before the game is out. Feel free to comment your own thoughts!

Darumi Amemiya (飴宮 怠美)

"A young woman known for her mood swings and obsession with all things dark and depressing. She's a big fan of killing game stories and has no fear of death. If she has to die, all she wants is a death that's as dramatic and flamboyant as humanly possible."

Crazy thing I'm about to say, she reminds me of Genocide Jack. She sticks her tongue out a lot and seems to be completely desensitized to anything regarding death. It makes me think she's just desperate for a thrill in her life.

I don't really like her design but I think if the vibrant colors were turned down, it would be much better. I do enjoy it in a way, being able to dress however you want reveals a lot about someone's confidence. I love how she looks in her other outfit and I honestly think if her shirt was less white, I'd love her hair.

Ame means candy, miya means palace, daru means lazy, and mi means beauty. Daru is not common in names, so it definitely has a meaning. This name doesn't have any straightforward meaning to me, but I suppose Darumi is a more unique character. Her name might make sense later. I do theorize, for the lazy part, she was bored before getting into dark stuff, kinda like Junko.

Eito Aotsuki (蒼月 衛人)

"Takumi's most trusted ally. Eito cares very deeply for his friends and isn't shy about expressing those feelings, corny as they may sound. He's been weak and sickly since he was little, but his impressive intellect might be just what the team needs to guide them through the war safely."

We are all thinking about the exact same image. Anyway, I think I'll love him because it seems he has a bit of a crazy side as well (I love crazy people). He's also very forward and compassionate, so I'll enjoy seeing both sides of him.

He looks like one of Nagito's beta designs which I think tells me everything I need to know. I find him cute but his jacket being the same color as his skin kinda throws me off. I'm also curious as to why he wears gloves, he's dressed like it's winter.

Ao means blue and tsuki means moon. His first name is interesting, as the kanji for Ei is the same kanji used in the game's title, meaning defense. To means human and is also a common ending for a boy name. I find the term blue moon fitting for his appearance, and I assume his role in battle will mostly be defense.

Gaku Maruko (丸子 楽)

"A guy who's true to his personal desires (to put it delicately). He's a coward and always looking out for himself. However, there's something so refreshingly honest about his pettiness that it's hard to hate him. Gaku's also good at taking care of other people once he opens his heart to them."

I will not lie, I don't think I'm going to like him. I'm okay with a character being a coward and I'm okay with a character being selfish, but both does not seem like a mood maker to me. I think I'll find him annoying but I'll be happy to be surprised.

He's got some patchwork in his clothes, so I think he might come from a troubled past. His shirt is really stupid looking though, but it's stupid enough to circle back to being slightly cute.

Maru means round and ko means child, but together, Maruko is a type of meatball. Not exactly the same as Western ones, but very similar. Gaku means comfort. I think his first name goes well with the fact he takes good care of those close to him. In Japanese, Gaku is also a homophone for the word school. As for Maruko, I don't know.

Hiruko Shizuhara (雫原 比留子)

"Leader of the Special Defense Unit. A cold, almost heartless beauty, she always says what's on her mind, even if it means offending others. She's just as merciless on the battlefield, where she gets a twisted sense of pleasure from tearing invaders apart."

She enjoys murder, I think I'll like her. I'm very curious as to why she's considered the leader of the group. The way she's described as merciless on the battlefield makes me think she has murdered before. Maki but a little more crazy (I love crazy people).

She has a lot going on that I really enjoy, the piercings, the makeup, the hair clip. She's also 5'11, which I think will be funny next to our 5'6 protagonist.

Shizu means droplet and hara means original, but is also just a common ending for Japanese surnames, like Saihara and Gokuhara. Hi means compare, ru means remain, and ko means child. Hiruko, spelled 蛭子, is also one of the names of Ebisu, a God of fishing, wealth, and fortune. Ebisu also uses the kanji 比, which is in Hiruko's name. Her last name is also water related.

Ima Tsukumo (九十九 今馬)

"One of a set of twins - Ima is the elder by a few minutes. He acts like a carefree joker, but underneath that humor is a hint of something darker. A hardcore siscon, he thinks of nothing but protecting his sister. If anything or anyone dares to threaten Kako's safety, Ima will show them no mercy."

This might ruin people's perception of me, but I don't care that he's a siscon. Like at all. It might be an uncomfortable attribute but after four Danganronpa games, I could not be less phased. I think I'll like him since he seems silly but also a little crazy (I love crazy people).

One of the cutest characters here. I thought he was a girl at first but he just has luscious eyelashes. I love the color of his hair and the streaks in it, I think they go well with his eyes. His sprite here looks very chummy.

Tsukumo means ninety-nine, which is one less than a hundred and how many days they have left after day one. Ima by itself means now but his name only uses the “I” part of it and then uses horse for the ma part. Basically 今 = Ima and 今馬 = Ima. It would be the same with or without the last kanji, but I assume it's there to make it seem more like a name. However, I can't help but connect him to Oma.

Kako Tsukumo (九十九 過子)

"One of a set of twins - Kako is the younger by a few minutes. She's prone to spacing out, but also has a keen mind and a healthy sense of curiosity. Kako is a big fan of mystery stories and wants to be a private investigator when she grows up."

She seems like a regular teenager to be honest, but the spacing out and solving mysteries reminds me of Chiaki. I think I'll like her, but I can't really pin her personality based on this description.

I adore her hairstyle and her bow. The color of her hair looks really nice with her eye color. Funny enough, I didn't realize her and Ima were siblings until I saw the eyes. Like the uniform did not give it away for some reason.

Like her brother, Kako's last name means ninety-nine. The kanji for ka means past, contrasting the meaning of her brother's name. I like to theorize there will be a character named something including future, but that's a reach. Ko means child, it's a very common ending for female names. It might just be to make Kako seem more like a name, but perhaps it also represents childishness.

Kurara Oosuzuki (大鈴木 くらら)

"The scion of one of the most wealthy families humanity has ever known. She's proud, overbearing, and acts like she's better than anyone else. She always wears a strange tomato mask, never showing her true face."

I like the proud type of character, someone like Miu or Byakuya. She seems to be more focused on degrading others than uplifting herself though, but that's just based on her quote. I also really want to see her face but oddly if it's never shown I won't be disappointed.

I don't really care for masks that completely cover a character's face, I like to see at least some parts, but the fact the mask expresses emotions makes me content with it. I also thought it was a Jack-o-Lantern at first, but I guess it's just a scary tomato? The rest of her outfit is nice, fits the rich girl thing.

Oo means great, suzu means bell, and ki means tree. Suzuki is a very common Japanese last name, so adding great in front of it makes sense for her prideful personality. Kurara is a type of plant that is very bitter. I assume this will also relate to her personality.

Kyoshika Magadori (凶鳥 狂死香)

"A young samurai who's utterly clueless about the modern world. Has never even heard of multiplication tables, let alone learned them. She has a disturbingly close relationship with her katana, the Holy Jumonji Sword."

Kyoshika is who I think my favorite character will be. She's very Tenko like, a character I love very much. Her birthday is 11/11 which I hope is a joke about how she cut 1111 perfectly in half. While she isn't very modern, I can still see she has a reliable personality. Her name also hints she might be a little crazy (I love crazy people). Lastly, Ninja's are cool.

I love her outfit, especially the katana on her hip and the huge cape. She also has a normal ponytail, not often seen in Danganronpa. I like how her ponytail looks like a shuriken. Her face reminds me of Maki a bit, another character I love. I also love the colors. I just really love her so far.

We have a very straightforward name here. Maga means bad or unlucky and dori means bird. Unlucky bird? Crows are often associated with death, but that might not be the message it's going for. Kyoshi literally means crazy to death. Ka means scent, but is also just a common ending for a girl name.

Moko Mojiro (喪白 もこ)

"A young woman who is blowing up on the high school pro wrestling scene. Her courage and boundless energy is a source of inspiration for the entire Special Defense Unit. Whenever she has a problem, she faces it head on. She didn't choose the wrasslin' life - it chose her."

Her personality reminds me a lot of Aoi. Probably with more courage though. She seems like she'll get along better with girls than boys. The boundless energy makes me think she'll be fun to play, but we'll see.

We finally got ourselves another buff woman, Sakura fans rejoice. I like how her hair, face, and outfit are cutesy, it shows she can be physically strong while still being girly, something Sakura wanted.

Sigh... I don't get her name at all, Mo means mourning and jiro means white. Her first name is in Hiragana so I don't know the exact meaning, nor do I really have an idea on her last name. I thought about Peko and how pekopeko is an onomatopoeia. Mokomoko is an onomatopoeia for something thick and soft. Not sure if that relates to her personality. I'd say her last name is a death flag but everyone dies in this game so that doesn't mean much.

Nozomi Kirifuji (霧藤 希)

"A high schooler who combines a kindhearted nature with dogged determination in battle. She's very passionate about the Special Defense Unit's mission, but also seems to be hiding something. For some reason, Nozomi is identical in appearance to Takumi's childhood friend Karua."

I'm a sucker for characters hiding a big secret, so I'm excited for hers, I assume it's related to Karua but how so? Much to think about. She's kind and passionate, so I think she'll be very easy to like as a character.

Cute, cute, cute, cute, cute!!! She is adorable from her hair to her shoes. I really like her hair especially. Her name is cute too. I think she's my favorite design overall, it's pleasing to look at.

Kiri means fog, which, like Kirigiri, I believe represents the mysterious aspect of her. Fuji means wisteria, which are purple just like her. Nozomi means hope, which is a name I was surprised Kodaka never used. I always thought Nozomi would be a great name for Chiaki, but I'm getting off track. Overall her name is peaceful but mysterious, fitting her description.

Shouma Ginzaki (銀崎 晶馬)

"A young man who, by his own admission, has absolutely nothing going for him. On a scale of one to ten, his self-esteem's at negative five. He's constantly putting himself down."

It seems like a lack of self-worth is gonna be his whole thing. I'm not really looking forward to it. Nagito did it too, but was also a very positive person, but it seems Shouma is just depressed. I just don't want everything he says to be about how he's worthless.

His design is okay. I think I'd like it better without the hat but it's not too bad, just makes him look a little immature. I do think his face and haircut are cute. He's also very small.

Gin means silver and zaki means small peninsula, but is mostly associated with being an ending for a surname, so I doubt it changes the meaning. Shou means crystal, and like in Ima, ma means horse. The silver and crystal parts are definitely connected, maybe he's wealthy? Or maybe it symbolizes his personality instead. Not very sure.

Takemaru Yakushiji (厄師寺 猛丸)

"An old-school delinquent who lives to ride and rides to live. Despite his rough-and-ready demeanor, Takemaru's really a nice guy on the inside. Impulsive, straightforward, and honorable to a fault, he's sworn to never use his strength to bully the weak."

He seems like a generally good character but I can sense there will be a lot of him yelling. Honestly, he just seems a lot like Mondo to me, so I don't have much to say. I like Mondo but I'm not sure we need another one. Also he says he doesn't hit girls, kids, or the eldery, so first thing I know is he sees girls as weak.

Give him the corn hair and he's literally Mondo. I do like Takemaru's hair though, it's kinda cute. He's got a lot of scars on his face, so I feel like he might be a little reckless. All the characters have dull skin but I feel some vibrance would do him good.

Yaku means disaster or evil, shi means master, and ji means temple. The temple part adds up with the old school aspect, like in Saionji and Shinguji. The first part likely just represents him being a delinquent. In his first name, Take means fierce and maru means round. I think this is mostly just a pun, “Takemaru Hair” is a hair style associated with delinquents.

Takumi Sumino (澄野 拓海)

"The main character of this story. A completely average high schooler from a completely average family. He can be a little indecisive and pessimistic at times, but when he has something to protect, he'll fight with everything he's got."

Classic average high schooler as our protagonist, expected for these kinds of stories. I'm in no way a hater of the archetype, I love Makoto, Hajime, and Komaru lots, so I think I'll like him too. His introduction is pretty negative, but I find pessimism to be an endearing trait, so I feel like I'll love him.

I'm not really a fan of the bright red hair, but it's not bad. I would like if the red and black in his hair switched. Also, classic ahoge. I find his eyes beautiful, they're very sharp, great for a pessimist. Not much to say about his outfit.

I don't know why but I really like his name and the kanji used in it. It just sounds and is written nice. Sumi means clear and no means field, but it's also just a common ending for surnames. Taku means opening land and mi means ocean. I think the opening land part fits the fact he's in a new place and the sea is more metaphorical for how vast it is.

Tsubasa Kawana (川奈 つばさ)

"A young woman who knows a lot about machines and what makes them tick. She had a bright, lively personality, but isn't good with stressful situations. When she gets nervous, she gets nauseous, and then..."

She is so cute I already know she'll be one of my favorite characters. She's energetic and social but gets sick when nervous, I can very much empathize with her... If this game has things like free time events, I'd like to spend some with her.

I absolutely adore her design. Her hair is beautiful, her entire outfit is cool, I like the way she carries herself. She also has the classic Danganronpa mouth mole, a need for all of Kodaka's games. Her necklace thing is odd but I'll look past it.

Kawa means river and na means doubts, however, the kanji for na isn't really known for its meaning and is mostly associated with being a part of a name. The last sentence implies she throws up when nervous, so, for lack of better phrasing, maybe the river represents that? And doubt is what fuels that nervousness? I think I'm reaching here. Tsubasa means wings, which I think is bright and lively like her personality.

Yugamu Omokage (面影 歪)

"A striking young man who's been in the business since long before the war started. Unlike the rest of his family (who are also assassins, by the way), Yugamu believes that killing should be done with love. He enjoys torture and other immoral forms of pleasure."

He's crazy like for real crazy (I love crazy people). His description makes me raise an eyebrow about what exactly "immoral forms of pleasure" are but I won't make assumptions until the game is out. He kills for love which reminds me of a character I love with all my heart. He'll never compare to her but it's okay.

The outfit is very nice but the random organs are a bit odd. That's probably the point, but it's just really random. I find him ugly and I love it. His hair is also bad and I love it. I love this ugly boy.

Omokage means face shadow, referring to imagining someone's face with your mind. Kind of like imagining someone, usually dead, is there with you. Yugamu means distorted. Another on the nose name. Remembering a face but it's distorted, could refer to his own scarred face, or perhaps forgetting what someone who has passed away looks like. He has a strong connection with love, so perhaps someone he once knew. It likely just refers to his own face.

Sirei and Nigou (ＳＩＲＥＩ) & (ＮＩＧＯＵ)

"The principal and commanding officer of Last Defense Academy. To put it another way, a weird little robot that orders the members of the Special Defense Unit around. Under his command, Takumi and the others will be working to wipe out the mysterious School Invaders." "Sirei's assistant and second in command. An odd little robot that has a gentle, caring personality, but is also prone to making careless mistakes. He's completely loyal and subservient to Sirei."

I'll keep it short and simple, if these two aren't funny I won't care for them at all.

I kinda like their designs. It's unique how you can see their brain and heart, but I think that's because those two are the most vital organs. Also, what's with Nigou's lips? I don't even know their gender so I'll just use they/them for the time being. The English description says "He" but the Japanese text doesn't explicitly use he and there no other instance to use.

Their names are romanized in Japanese as well, so they don't have an obvious meaning, but I have a theory! I believe Sirei is 司令 “Shirei” meaning in command and Nigou is 二号 “Nigou” meaning number two, as in second to Sirei. Sirei and Shirei are pronounced the same in Japanese.

Final Thoughts

I'm hyped for this game. I haven't talked about the gameplay aspects but my absolute favorite thing in games is multiple endings. A hundred endings is a paradise for me. A lot of the sneak peaks leave me curious, so I'm excited to play it. April 24th! I think I'll enjoy the cast. I also like the majority of Kodaka's characters because they're so complex, so I have no doubts about loving this new cast.

Sorry for any spelling errors, this was a lot to proofread.

[moriitis]

What would Toby do with a person with Lyra's exact appearance? Let's say they also have a similar personality. (Of course there would be no comparison)

I don't know how Toby would take it or what he would do and I'm really curious, seriously, I'm crazy.

WHY DO YOU GIVE ME ALL THESE SAD ASS ASKS OH MY GOD MY SHAYYYLAAA

Alright, I seriously fucking love this ask though, like so, so, so much. Thank you Anon for breaking my heart. I, too, am crazy about Toby and Lyra's relationship.

Content/Warnings; car accidents, mentions of abuse, alcohol, death, detailed descriptions of corpses, blood, brain matter, globe luxation (eyes popping out of sockets), vomit, bruises, stuttering, murder.

I guess to start this shit off, we better go back in time a little to talk about their relationship as siblings during the time Lyra was alive.

Their parents were deadbeat. I'll say it over and over again. Now don't get me wrong, Connie hated seeing her children living in poverty and being abused by their father, but you gotta remember Connie was a victim too. Abusive relationships SUCK and it's even worse when there are children involved because it makes it so much harder leaving. Did Connie allow the abuse to happen? On some times, yes, she did - because a part of her really believed that she loved this man, she wanted things to work and kids were.. well, they deserve a little slap here and again, right? I see a bitterness between Lyra and Connie because Lyra gets so angry at the fact that Connie sits and allows this to happen. Now when big fights did break out, like punching, screaming, things smashing and the cops being called, Connie did step in and try to calm her husband. Unfortunately, her husband was a heavy drinker and his father abused him, so drinking is his coping method to deal with his own abuse and trauma.

Due to having such an absent and useless mother, Lyra stood up and took the role to care for Toby at the young age. In fact, when Connie announced she were pregnant with Toby, Lyra cried so much because she knew how shit their family life was and it was unfair to bring a baby up in a situation they get no say in.

Lyra would dress Toby for school, make breakfast and ensured they both got the school bus on time. (During the time he still attended public schooling.)

She would 100% defend him in situations at school the best she could. Lyra wasn't particularly popular either, so really she took most the verbal abuse directed toward her brother.

After Toby got pulled for home schooling, she'd always feel so disgustingly anxious being on that school bus alone - without him.

She'd call the home phone almost every hour making sure he was okay.

Thankfully their father worked at a factory during the day, so she knew Toby was okay with their Mom who was a stay at home.

Despite everything, she was a bubbly and happy character, mostly because as she got older she got more freedom to stay away from home.

Lyra was a bit of a party animal, very social and had a nice group of friends.

She would not come back home for times on end, preferring to sleep on the couch at a friends just to avoid home.

But then she felt too guilty leaving Toby alone and would come back.

On the weekends, Lyra would take Toby with her to hang out with her friends! Her friends loved Toby, despite his tics.

They'd hang out at the mall a lot, which actually secured Lyra her first little job working in a clothing store her friend also worked at.

Which meant she earnt money to spoil Toby.

Like taking him to the arcades, bowling.

They went to the cinema once, which was a bad mistake because they came home too late and their father was still awake.

"Lyra.. are yo-oo..u awake?" Called a soft voice, a voice that lingered by the frame of her door. The light from the hallway illuminated the figure, casting shadows over her body that was outstretched on her bed. It was a familiar voice, a voice that made her turn almost instantly to glance over at the little brunette who was lingering by the door, his fingers hooked around the wood. Her door was only open a fraction but softly it pushed open a little, allowing more light to enter her dark room. She sat up, her fingers caressing the bare mattress below her as she forced a welcoming smile. It wasn't that she was unhappy or annoyed by Toby's presence, of course not - it was just the ache in her head that almost pulsated around her skull as she sat up.

"Hey you, no, I'm actually asleep," she teased softly, stifling her chuckle as she pulled her knees up close to her chest. It was always so cold in this house.

"Oh, should I go?" Toby replied much softer than before, already pulling away from the doorframe and descending back into the hallway.

Lyra rolled her eyes and scrunched up her brows. "Go?" she repeated, tilting her head to the side a little. The pain vibrated around her head, squeezing her skull and holding her brain captive. The pain was only temporary. "What's wrong?" she asked after a beat, wanting to capture his attention before he disappeared quietly down the creaky hall. Silence loomed over the two of them as Toby glanced back at Lyra, his brows twisted in concern as his fingers fiddled with the hem of his shirt anxiously.

"Did he-he-h... he hh-hurt you bad?" Toby finally spoke, those words so harsh despite the innocence in his voice. His words weighed heavy, so heavy even that her shoulders dropped a little at the question. Toby shouldn't have seen that, admittedly it was her fault for bringing them home so late.

So, with a little scoff, she shook her head softly although instinctively, her hand raised against the little bump on her head. It had stopped bleeding, thankfully, but the cut and bruise still felt fresh and raw. "No," she sounded convincing. "See? I'm fine." Lyra lied through her teeth, no, she wasn't fine.

Toby wasn't convinced and before he spoke, a grunt coming from their parents room frightened him closer toward Lyra's bed. She outstretched her arms out toward him a little, accepting him and acting as a barrier for any of his worries and fears. "He's asleep," Lyra reassured him and herself, her voice nothing but a whisper and Toby quietly climbed onto her bed. When did Toby get so big? A lump in her throat formed just looking at him.

His brown eyes darted toward her outstretched arms and he hesitated before slowly leaning his body against her own. It wasn't a proper hug, oh dear, no, Toby was too big for those now apparently but Lyra was satisfied to have him close to her regardless. Only if it were nothing but a shoulder.

-

Now, obviously we are aware that Lyra died in a car crash and I just HC that she reason she swerved and crashed into that tree was because she saw Slender on the road and it startled her so much. Toby always thought that it were a deer or something she tried to avoid - he knew how much she loved her animals.

-

"So, anyway, I told Abby that Jason was obviously just going after her because its Jason, he goes after everyone in school! But Abby didn't believe me and now she's all upset and mad at everyone but not Jason for breaking her heart?" Lyra groaned, hands gripped securely around the steering wheel as she vented away to her younger brother who sat behind her in the passenger seat. He was always a good listener and Lyra secretly knew he loved hearing all this gossip. For a brief moment, she glanced at the rear view mirror to Toby. He was exceptionally quiet today, arms crossed over his chest as he gazed aimlessly out the window. Her lips pursed at the sight, curiosity at what could possibly be plaguing her brother's mind? "Hey, you listening?" she asked, shooting occasional glances between the road and the brunette in the back.

Toby's brows furrowed for a moment, almost in irritation before his gaze softened upon connecting with Lyra. It wasn't often her looked at her in such a way and she raised a brow slightly, watching as closely as she could while also focusing on the road ahead.

The road ahead was quiet, no traffic, just them and the forest that surrounded them. The faint mumble of the radio, Lyra's music of course - Paramore more notably playing.

"Yeah," Toby choked out slowly, clearing his throat and shuffling in his seat as he tried to rearrange his thoughts and remember what Lyra was even blabbering about prior. She knew he were lying though and narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, although she were just teasing.

"Liar," she pointed an index finger up at him before chuckling a short chuckle. Toby's lip curled a little at the corner but other than that, he remained quiet. Lyra knew Toby wasn't himself, not anymore, sure he was getting older and moodier - but his mental health played a lot into that too.

"I'm ssorry, j-just thinking about th-"

"What the fuck?!"

The smell of gas burned within his nostrils as he awoke to nothing but a fuzzy haze. Whatever the fuck happened, he wasn't sure, but now the car was flipped upside down. He blinked once, twice, trying to make sense of things as he glanced up. His blood coated the interior roof of the car, shit he must've cut his head up pretty bad - thankfully he couldn't feel shit though. The radio was still playing, filling the silence as the indicators ticked and the car groaned with each move Toby made.

"You are the only exception, you are the only exception~" the radio continued to play Paramore and sat atop the roof was Lyra's IPod that was still connected.

"Lyra-" Toby grumbled groggily as he went to reach out to the tuffs of blonde that poked out from beside the airbag. His seatbelt, still secured, restricted him and he fought against it for a moment as his main focus was on his sister. "Lyra, speak to me-" he grumbled through gritted teeth as his hands helplessly began to find the buckle of his belt, clicking it out and dropping him down onto the roof of the car with a loud thud. He could feel the air thickening around him as he tried to navigate around the carnage, upside down to help his sister. His heart was beating a million beats per second as he army crawled as close as he could to Lyra, the whole bonnet of the car practically enveloping a tree in a cold, metallic hug.

"Lyra," he repeated through gritted teeth, holding his breath at the thought of being alone out here in a wrecked car, his anxiety clawing at his very skin as he slowly craned his head around to the drivers seat. "Please talk to me, please-" he begged softly, hand reaching out slowly to brush a tuff of her blonde hair away from her face.

Lyra remained motionless, unresponsive and Toby hoped and begged and prayed to any God that perhaps she was just unconscious. "Wake up, Lyra, come on- you have to wake up now-" he began, his shaky hand making its way to her shoulder to shake her softly. The sister was limp and only moved softly from his violent shaking.

Her head was pressed against the airbag, her blood crimson red compared to the white of the bag. He could hear the insane amount of blood gushing from her and onto the pedals below her which made him almost heave. With one final push on her shoulder, her head fell toward his direction and her blonde hair fell down from her face, exposing the horror before him.

Her face, her beautiful face, untouched one side and her skull caved in on the other. The brain matter that ran down her face, her eye that was almost bulging out from her socket. The inside of her skull was empty, the rest of her brain had slipped out and fallen down her shoulder and torso. Her mouth hung agape, her other intact eye half lidded but her iris still enlarged in the shock she endured before the crash. Her torso was also caved in but her ribs poked out through her skin, exposing her vital organs through her blood soaked, cotton tank top.

Toby could only scream as he scrambled back into the passenger seat, desperately trying to get away from his sister. His hands grabbed helplessly at anything that could push him further away from Lyra, his fingers grazing the glass beneath him and slicing his skin open. His screaming was interrupted by the sudden urge to vomit as he clamped a hand over his mouth in a desperate attempt to stop the flow of acid, although it were already spewing past his blood fingertips. Choking and spluttering on the warmth of his vomit, he hacked up and spat out the rest of the taste that remained in his mouth before clutching a handful of his clothing within the fist of his hand.

"No, no, no, please, Lyra, no-" he sobbed helplessly against hitched breaths, trying to make sense of this nightmare. That perhaps this wasn't real, it couldn't be because how could he live without her? So, slowly, plucking up any courage he could find, he crept back toward Lyra and gently caressed her cheek. She was still warm. "Stop messing, Lyra, you can- you can- can- can get up now! Wake up! Wake the fuck up!" he was yelling at the corpse, shaking her violently before collapsing onto her lap. He didn't care about the blood nor brain, he wanted her to hug him again.

Toby cried into her lap, taking her arm and forcing it around him as he cuddled her corpse. Laying there for hours until a passer-by came across them.

-

Alright, you guys have the feels?! Now, back to the ask. After this traumatic event, how would Toby feeling seeing someone that looked like Lyra? And, oof, punch in the gut, this person also having the exact same personality? Yikes.

At first, he wouldn't believe it. He would either think its an hallucination or that he's dreaming because he knows that she is dead, shit, he saw it himself. Honestly, at first I think he'd be a little angry because it's like all that grief and trauma came and just slapped him right there and then.

He'd accuse this person and lash out, saying things like. "You think this is funny?!" "What are you doing?!" Just really bitter and mean, mostly a mechanism to try and cope really. He'll think this is a whole ploy to try and trick him or something.

There'd also be a part of him that really craves being embraced by this person too, like he wants to caress their cheek and touch their hair. Like he genuinely cannot believe that this is real.

Then once that anger has simmered down, he'd bite back the tears. Stepping away and going nonverbal, disappearing for a couple months to try and 'forget.' He'd cry like a little bitch too, calling himself stupid for leaving in the first place.

Then he'd come back, either really dissociated or really attached to this person. He'd crave their attention, despite it being so bittersweet and he'll be angry if this person says something that Lyra wouldn't say, you know?

NOW

If we are talking about a VICTIM HE WAS SUPPOSED TO KILL LOOKING LIKE LYRA- shit, that's a different story.

At first he'd hesitated, the hatchet motionless above his head, mid-swing as she stares down at the girl before him. Crying, sobbing and he would literally stop working. He wouldn't know what to do, he would freeze and just stand there staring at her in disbelief. Then he'd drop the hatchet with a loud clutter and fall to his knees before the girl, his shoulders and body shaking as muffled sobs begin to emerge from him.

This girl, who nearly just fucking died, could do two things. Knock him the fuck out or comfort him thinking that maybe it would spare her life. I think depending on what she does, if she were to comfort him, Toby would probably either push her away or embrace her touch and cry into her lap. If she were to attempt to knock him out, I think it would stir him a little back to life and he'd quickly just jump into action in an attempt to control himself and the situation.

Now obviously, he will NOT murder her. No, he couldn't - so he grabs his things and leave. Which is so, so, so bad and could get him into so much shit with Slender but I think in that moment, he doesn't care.

[kinkmom]

Have you ever ranked the strilondes by how weird you think they would be? Like based on canon, how likely they are to go for incest. I feel like it would be Dirk >> Dave > Rose >> Roxy. Alpha/beta components also fall mostly into this line, but rose's mom would be right after Bro.

I have put a lot of thought into my ranking. If you're curious about justification I can absolutely explain my thoughts.

Okay top-tier ask. I'll have to admit that the last time I've actually read read Homestuck is close to 10 years ago, The Council and I are reading it right now but haven't even gotten to Dirk yet, so my actual grasp of canon text is loose at best. I'm disregarding the Epilogues and stuff onwards, even though they give especially Dirk a lot more incest flavoured inclinations. I'm also interpreting "going for" as in willingness to actually engage in incest. That said...

My order is Dirk >> Rose >> Dave >> Roxy, so the middle gets flipped around in comparison to yours. I'd be very interested in hearing your reasonings and why we think Rose and Dave should switch places!

Dirk hasn't grown up in a society nor around other people, so I don't think he has any personal moral qualms over incest. He'd mostly keep up appearances. I think he's the type to run the logical route of "Dave and I didn't grow up together, are the same age, have no power imbalance, are immortal gods(!) nor can have kids, so it's definitely OK!"

Rose is personality-wise very close to Dirk, she's intrigued by the grotesque and likes to break rules for the hell of it. I'd pen her as a gothic romance horror enjoyer and we know what that genre is full of. If Dave wasn't such a chicken they would have definitely fucked on the meteor. I'm convinced that all she needed was Dave's honest consent.

Dave is Dave, our freudian king. Look, he desires incest, but is too weak to act on that desire. He backpedals immediately when Rose tries to flirt with him when he knows they're related. Roxy is his hot mom. He complains about a sistertrap.

Roxy is relatively normal compared to the rest of the family and even though her situation is the same as Dirk's, I think she's the one actually joking when she comes across as flirty. Though she is also very attached to the idea of her mom... Getting her drunk would ease her up.

For the guardians I think it's Bro >> Mom >> A!Rose >> A!Dave,

Bro is... (gestures at all...that) self-explanatory, I think. Eccentric and bad at boundaries.

Mom is an overly affectionate wine mom, also bad at boundaries and doesn't seem to know what's appropriate.

Alpha Rose, well, we don't know much about her but I'd think she still has the same, rebellious personality and a problem with alcohol, so she could be impulsive.

Alpha Dave, same thing, we don't really know him. What comes to interpretation, I know I write and draw him very unapologetic and predatory, but I actually think he's just as much a repressed weenie as regular Dave is, if not even more.

[tvlandofficiall]

thank you for your service since 2023 you are braver and deserve a veterans’ discount more than any us marine 🫡

also yes obviously tenna has an inferiority complex towards the cyber denizens and SPECIALLY towards queen, who as a laptop she is THE major piece of hardware built to replace tenna in the eyes of the lightners. but at the same time I can’t stop thinking about both of them realizing, even through the most niche and mundane ways, that new tech ISNT always better than old tech (I am specifically thinking about that comparison between n64 games as they originally look in a crt vs how they look in computer emulators and how they actually look better in the former bc they were made with crt displays in mind). Really curious about YOUR thoughts on that :)

OH i do like that dynamic for them in castle town quite a lot! or, rather — both of them coming to value one another's differences is very sweet, especially with tenna coming to let go of some of his trapped-in-the-past troubles and queen coming to look at things from perspectives other than her own. it's the sort of thing i could easily see driving them to reconnect in castle town, after they've both had their character arcs. as well, i like them both coming to realize they're both worth more than what they can give to the lightners, and have merits simply as two people who know and come to care for one another. like ralsei begins to do in ch4, i'd love to see all of the darkners find interests of their own that they like engaging with outside of what they're made to do. maybe queen gets really into working on cars for the castle townies, or something. maybe tenna can get really into collecting model trains? i'm not sure!

that said — i am just the sort of person who loves pre-canon (ie; pre-character arc) drama and exploring the ways the themes and structure of deltarune's world make relationships complicated and troubled, so that is what i talk and think about most of the time. (of course, those structures still exist during canon too, but the characters are working on breaking them down very slowly.) and thank you for the veteran's discount, ha! maybe one day papymayor will take off and i'll have an even older ship of mine to finally feel vindicated over. (though i somewhat doubt that one, since papyrus isn't really relevant to deltarune at all and mayor holiday is contentious — though of course that won't stop me from loving her. i've loved men from this game who do way worse.)

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Prynhawn da Elanor,

I'm a student in the US currently applying to universities for next year, and I have a couple of questions about Welsh universities if you have the time. I'm looking at both schools in the US and one in Wales (I managed to visit over the summer and it seemed great, loved the town and the university, and the degree that I'm interested in is very solid there), and the teaching style/expectations of students are an unknown factor. I've been taking college classes while still in highschool so I'm familiar with college-level instruction in the states, and it's not ideal for what I'm interested in studying. For example, at one of the schools I visited that is supposed to be a decent research university, the faculty were surprised that I had questions about research as an undergrad, and according to current students, the hardest part of their studies were quizzes on botanical taxonomy. So, I'm curious, what are the general academic expectations for students (especially in ecology or wildlife biology-related courses)? It seems like assessments are more practical or long-form and less quiz/multiple choice.

This got long-winded, so my apologies, and thank you for your time!

Shwmae! Happy to answer.

SO, I shall caveat this with saying that I don't really understand how higher education works in the US; it's a very different system to the UK in many ways. I'm therefore not entirely sure how to explain the exact differences. So, I'll just tell you about how it works over here rather than trying to do a comparison, if that makes sense? It means some of this will definitely feel like Water Is Wet stuff, but hopefully there'll be an exact answer in there that you can extract. Also, if you're comfortable doing so (and want to), I'm happy to talk over DM if you want slightly more specific advice involving you revealing details that otherwise might doxx you.

(Also second point, because I have danced this dance before and I know what Some Of You Lot are like when my posts start gaining traction beyond my circle of followers: in places where I do explain something that's different between the two systems, I am not saying one is better or worse than the other. Don't be a cunt about this. Work on your defensiveness and ego in your own time. I'm too busy and important for your feelings.)

Third point: I'm snipping this for length. On with the answer!

So, degrees over here are fairly fixed in terms of content and duration. Some offer a specific, set array of modules that make up the degree; others have essential core modules, and then you can choose from a small number of options until you get the required credits. But part of choosing the course for you over here is looking at the modules that make up the degree to make sure you're getting the exact focus you want; the one I teach on, for example, has a focus on practically applying environmental science, with the result that it has a very high post-graduation employment rate across a variety of environmental disciplines. Others might focus more on human geography, or environmental engineering, or climate science, or whatever else.

The reason for this is the quality assurance system in the UK. Courses have to be validated as being the right quality in terms of content, level of study, assessment practices, etc. Let's say you get a BSc from UWTSD in Environment, Sustainability and Climate Change; that comes with a quality assurance for a future employer that you have learned a specific set of skills, a specific knowledge bank, and are capable of using both in a specific way. There shouldn't be a risk, for example, that they hired someone from the same course the year before who had the same qualification as you, but turned out to not understand the dynamic processes behind sand dunes and couldn't write an official report to save their life, meaning you get passed over for the job the following year because they can't trust that your education actually means anything; if both of you have the same qualification, then the course should be meeting sufficient quality standards to ensure that you both therefore have the same knowledge and skillset.

So that's point one!

Where this works in your favour is point two: assessment. Assessment is also rigidly quality-checked, but it means you can ask a course director and immediately get an outline of what the assessment procedures are (not the precise assessment tasks, obviously; but, report vs exam vs lab practical etc will be known).

But also, yes, assessment in the UK is extremely rarely what I understand to be 'quizzes' in the US, and extremely rarely multiple choice. Rightly or wrongly, there is a definite perception in academic circles over here - even at high school level, much less university - that a multiple choice quiz is too easy to pass by guessing, and they're very looked down on as a method to assess learning.

What you'll have instead varies between modules and courses, but I can give you an idea with a couple of mine:

Level 4: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

No exams: two reports based on practical field/lab work, both worth 50% of the final mark

First: dissect owl pellets in the lab from two sites. Evaluate what the findings mean for the biodiversity on each site, and suggest some future site management prescriptions. 2000 words.

Second: fieldtrip to nearby woods to take allometric tree measurements and calculate carbon sequestration. Evaluate the ecosystem service provided by the woodland, and comment on site management and conservation. 2000 words.

Level 5: Coastal, Marine and Wildlife Conservation

One assignment, one exam, each worth 50% of the final mark

Assignment: Ramsey Island has far less biodiversity than neighbours like Skomer, Grassholm, etc. Research why, what was done to fix it, how well it's recovered, and suggest what should be done in the future to aid further recovery. 2500 words.

Exam: First half is a selection of short form questions to test baseline knowledge. Second half is a 50 mark essay question; choice of two topics to answer.

Level 6: Habitat Management and Building Resilience

No exams: two assignments, one before Christmas worth 30% of the mark, one in May worth 70%

First: choose a species reintroduction project of your choice, and find the habitat feasibility study carried out for it. Critique that habitat feasibility study. Put your findings into an academic poster and present it. 15 mins.

Second: using teachings from across the year, produce a habitat management plan for a site of your choosing. You need to actually visit and assess your site. 3500 words.

(L4, 5 and 6: first, second and final year of undergrad)

The idea in each case is not just to test knowledge; it's to test applied knowledge, and to teach real-world skills needed in the industry after you graduate. If you go into land management, for example, the ability to guess the right answers based on the multiple choice pattern is useless; the ability to assess a site and write up a management plan for it, on the other hand, is literally the job you're hired to do.

So, as far as research is concerned... if you mean carrying out your own research on a topic of your own choosing, the main place that happens is your dissertation in third year. But, you can start that earlier if you want. In our department, we also encourage and support any independent research a student may choose to do, even if they don't end up using it for their degree directly.

If you mean general research skills, though, those are vital to every assignment. If you only repeat back whatever papers or knowledge the lecturers have given you, and don't research independently, you will barely scrape a pass. We actively push you to learn those skills.

And then lastly, expectations for students! In higer ed, you are now an adult, and you are choosing to be here: this means that the expectation is that you're meeting the lecturers halfway, as it were. It's a mistake a lot of new students make, if they've come straight from high school - uni is just The Next Thing to do, but to them it's basically like school, so the teachers have to keep trying to teach them even if the student barely shows up or makes any effort.

But that is not so! They are no longer pupils, and I am not a teacher.

If I say to a class "Look up these papers and be familiar with the arguments before next session because we're going to have a seminar", and then someone doesn't bother because "Whoops I went out drinking and forgot to do my homework teehee", then they can get out. They are adults paying for a particular service. I have offered that service. If they think of it as homework and choose not to do it because they wanted to go out clubbing instead, then... okay. That's the choice they can make. But the consequence is, I'm not chasing after them, because I'm not a teacher, and that's not my job. Now they aren't having that session. This will have a knock-on effect for their understanding of the topic; but that's the choice they made.

(Again, before the Pissing On The Poor crowd arises: I am, very obviously, not talking about students who have other struggles that impact their academic performance. I am, very literally and clearly, talking about the 18-year-old school leavers who are still in the school mindset, and think of missing lectures as 'skiving', and on a lizard brain level think there won't be consequences to that because so far in their life, education systems have not been allowed to fail them for that behaviour.)

So, basically... you're expected to want to learn and improve, and to put the work in to do that. Not to just be there to get the degree, but to be there to learn. Adult education is collaborative between lecturer and student. We guide you, but it's your journey to take.

Anyway! I hope that is at all useful. Let me know if you want clarification on anything, or have any other questions!

[yukidragon]

Sunshine in Hell Height Headcanons

It's June 15, which as many of you know from this official profile, that it's Sunny Day Jack's birthday today!

You might also know that it's [Redacted]'s birthday thanks to this ominous picture Sauce shared last year on this day. Funny how these two totally distinct characters share a birthday isn't it? 🤔

Anyway, I was hoping to have written something for this year to celebrate, but like last year my spoons are way too few and far between. I was also hoping to do something self-indulgent for my own birthday, but same lack of spoons halted me there too.

So, until I can stock up on more metaphorical utensils to help me do the stuff I feel like doing, I'm going to celebrate by rambling a little bit about some headcanon details.

Sunshine in Hell differs from the game demos in a number of ways, and one of them is Jack's height. As you might've seen from the profile link, Jack is canonically 6'2", but in my personal headcanon continuity, I decided to make the gentle giant quite a bit taller than that. Because it amuses me, and I struggle with imagining Jack as shorter than Cove Holden.

When deciding how tall to make Jack in my stories, I also decided to do a height chart for him and a few other characters as well. It helps to better imagine characters interacting when you can see how tall they are compared to others.

Yes, I threw in a few extra love interests to the mix, as well as a couple other MCs. I was curious to see how tall Alice would be compared to her sisters, and I had to throw in their love interests as well.

As an aside, it tickles me that even after I made Jack significantly taller, he's shorter than Bo's horny "Feed Me" form.

For those of you that need the conversion from centimeters to feet and inches, or have trouble reading the image, I'll write them down for easy reference.

Alice: 162 cm / 5'4"

Jack: 198 cm / 6'6"

Shaun: 178 cm / 5'10"

Nick: 173 cm / 5'8"

Ian: 170 cm / 5'7"

Bo: 180 cm / 5'11"

Barbie: 184 cm / 6'0"

Bo "Feed Me" form: 216 cm / 7'1"

Elias: 185 cm / 6'1"

Coraline: 172 cm / 5'8"

As you can see, Shaun, Nick, and Ian stuck with the canon heights in their profiles. It's just Jack who got a height increase because it's what I imagined his height to be from the start, and Sunshine in Hell is basically my headcanons that diverge from the game's canon, so I do what I want. It's also fun to imagine scary yandere Jack towering over every single one of the love interests. It adds to the intimidation factor too despite his gentle giant persona.

Bo and Elias don't have canon heights like the SDJ love interests, so I mostly just did whatever felt right to me for them. Bo's regular height was influenced by the mafia AU picture Sauce drew. It served as a very good height comparison chart all on its own. As you can see, Bo is just tall enough to reach Jack's smile if you don't count the ears and poofy hair.

All credit to the awesome Sauce for their lovely art of course and for feeding my headcanons. As always, I want to link to the SnaccPop Patreon as gratitude for being cool with me using their art in my posts. If you're a a free or paying member, consider checking out an important survey that went up to help guide the team in their future endeavors.

Bo looks so short compared to Jack, doesn't he? In my headcanon land, it's just a matter of perspective, and next to other people Bo is pretty darn tall. Though he's just one teeny tiny inch shorter than his puppy.

You bet your sweet bippy Barbie takes smug satisfaction in that one inch height superiority. Bo talks so big as a big bad alpha dog, but the puppy he's trying to dominate is just a bit bigger and badder than he ever expected.

Of course, Bo gets to turn it right back around on Barbie with his monster sized "Feed Me" form. Like werewolves that become huge compared to their human selves, when Bo's inner beast comes out to play, he adds on quite a lot of height and muscle. He towers over even Jack! Still, even when super sized, he's no match for Barbie.

As you can see, despite being the eldest child, Alice is shorter than her two younger sisters, especially Barbie! They got more of their dad's height genes, while Alice took more after their mom in that department. Barbie and Coraline are quite a bit taller than average, a fact that Barbie revels in, and Coraline can find a little awkward sometimes, especially during moments of weakness. It can be hard to help someone stand back up and walk when they're much taller than you are after all. It leads to some embarrassing moments for poor Coraline.

On that same note of surprisingly tall people with chronic illnesses, I thought it would be interesting if Elias would have been a very tall man if not for his illness. There's no canon height for him and he's floating with Jack and Bo in the Christmas picture, so it's hard to go with a comparative height. So, I went with what felt narratively interesting to me. With his legs being twisted, and him being hunched over with a cane, he probably appeared shorter than he actually was. It's hard to see his exact height with his lower half ghostly and indistinct as well. It's only when he actually bothers to give himself legs and stand with both feet planted firmly on the ground that he can show off just how tall he really is.

While I'm on the topic of height, I wonder if one of Ian's insecurities was his height. Some men have issues if they're shorter than their peers, and Ian is the shortest of the love interests. I can imagine it certainly didn't help if he was bullied for being short along with his general "nerdy" appearance back in school.

Still, Ian has nothing to complain about at the height he's at as a fully grown adult. Even if the other love interests are taller than he is, Ian is still above average for men in the US. He's just got the misfortune of being the shortest guy in a group of very tall people. At least he doesn't have to worry about taking the bottom spot in the height chart like Alice.

Yes, Alice is a bit self-conscious about being so short compared to her peers, even if technically she's also above average height for a woman in the US. She feels especially tiny when standing next to Jack.

Though, admittedly, Alice does find it very nice to feel tiny and delicate when Jack sweeps her up into his arms. It makes her feel less self-conscious about how chubby she is when her big strong giant of a boyfriend can carry her around so easily. Once she gets over the initial fear that he might drop her, she'll soon look forward to being whisked away by her silly clown.

Oh, and if you're wondering about Mary's height... I'm still debating if I want her to be around Alice's height or a little taller. She had the same eye color in both lives due to the eyes being windows to the soul, but there were other physical differences due to different parents introducing different genetics. I need to ruminate on that fine of detail more and see what feels more interesting to me narratively.

Though even if Mary was as tall as Barbie, she'll still be short enough for Joseph to sweep into her arms since he's just as much of a giant now as he was then. Not that it would stop him from trying even if his sunshine was bigger than him. Nothing will stop Joseph/Jack from showing his love for his sunshine!

I think I'll wrap things up on that fluffy note. I hope y'all enjoyed me going off on a headcanon ramble after such a long time. With any luck, I'll be able to get to answering some asks soon. Thanks for reading!

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur @kurokrisps

[bruisedandbloodysunflowers]

"You know, it's remarkable that you humans think you have any say over the fate of your planet."

The way that he speaks is as smug and matter-a-fact as always, his feet making the familiar ker-chunk sound as he slowly walks around you. Everything is always so purposeful with him, you'd found. Everything a performance of how utterly tiny humans were.

"The half-breeds, those Saiyans.. oh, sure! They show a little bit of promise, but really.. it's all the same."

As he continues to circle, sweat is building upon your neck, prickling at your skin. You breathe more rapidly as sharp-nailed fingers press against the back of your head, making it throb like a painful headace.

"Do you know how easy it would be to keep pressing into your skull like this? Just a little more.."

The pain across your forehead is getting worse; colors of black and red are pulsating across your vision. All the while, that damned velvety voice continues murmuring against your ear.

"Can you truly comprehend how weak you are in comparison to my perfect design? A simple push, and your molecules would be dust on the winds. And still, you think-- you think that your kind truly stands any kind of chance against your own extinction?!"

The loud, mocking laughter boils your blood, your own fingers curling into your palms. But the part that angers you the most is that you can't even argue his point. Even now, if you'd made the decision to - trying to hit him would only shatter most of the bones in your hand.

"Knowing this, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm even bothering to tell you this - let alone keeping you alive at all. If I were to kill you, it would be an act of mercy! It's not like you have any family any more.. and in a matter of days, the Cell Games will reach it's spectacular finish, and the rest of your kind will know the taste of their own deaths!"

"You, though." He chuckled, reaching out to cup your cheek. It twisted your stomach, how fake the affectionate gesture was. "So much indignation! And so little self preservation, to march right up to a superior being and attempt to reason?! That alone would have been cause enough to add yours to the pile of bodies inside of me. And yet.."

His hand slides underneath your jaw, pushing your head back further and further, until you begin to feel your throat pressing in against itself. "How you amuse me so. Look at you! Such a fragile little thing, letting me push and prod and test the extremes of your body's limitations - because really, what else could you do?! You're powerless to fight back!"

Something about the way your eyes reflected the fear, the disgust, the rage - perhaps, that was the reason this creature kept you around like a cat batting a curious new toy. If power and physical strength were practically non-existent, the emotions you displayed were so unabashedly brazen. So loud and impossible to be ignored.

It was something the android couldn't quite place his finger on. By all science and reason - human beings, yourself included - they didn't make any sense.

"The fate of your planet is already mine to decide." He murmured thoughtfully, his thumb now stroking the length of your neck, bumping along every vertebrae. "As for the life that you so eagerly throw at my feet.. I'll let my little game determine that for you."

His head lowered until inches from your own. Staring into those magenta eyes, you had to blink back tears are just how blatant it was. How much he didn't care about you, about your planet, about any of it in comparison to himself.

"You'd best hope that your champion is as powerful as you've claimed him to be. Because if not.."

Smirking, pale fingers curled tightly around your neck until you could feel your heart beating against them.

"I will let you watch as everything you have ever known, everything you have ever cherished - I will squash each and every one. All of it will fall to my perfection, and when you and I are the only living creatures left.. then, my dear.."

"You will know the insignificance of your fate."

[witchygagirlwrites]

It wasn’t a comparison by any means, just an objective observation. But apparently you agreeing with Gabby that Jay was very handsome made Antonio feel a certain way. Or Gabby knows very well how to trick his older brother into admitting his feelings.

If Gabby knew one thing it was how to call out her older brother on his bullshit. Even if it was being sneaky to do so. She'd seen the way he looked at you, the way he acted around you. He had feelings for you but he wasn't going to admit them, not after his divorce. Not without a push anyways.

Antonio didn't know why he agreed to come out tonight. He normally steered clear of Mollys on busier nights but when you had innocently asked if he was coming and had that damn look in your eyes he couldn't exactly say no.

Now, he wanted to knock his dear little sister off her bar stool. "I mean, yeah, he was undercover and all, but can you blame me for being attracted to him?" Gabby was currently talking to you about Jay, of all people. He wasn't purposely trying to eavesdrop, but he was a bit curious as to what you'd say.

"I guess not," you admitted, ducking your head with a smirk. Gabby raised an eyebrow. "Oh come on! Honest opinion, if you weren't in the unit with him and knew him like you do?" you shrugged "Ok, yeah Jay is a pretty gorgeous guy" Antonio felt his spine stiffen at your words.

He had never meant to develop feelings for you, they'd honestly crept up on him but dammit Halstead? He cleared his throat, causing you and Gabby both to look up "I'm going to head home, ladies"

You looked a little hurt but nodded, "Ok Toni, I'll see you later." he smiled, "See you later Cariño"

_______________

You watched Antonio leave then looked at Gabby "What was that about? I only came out tonight for him!" she smirked slightly "My brother is a little dense but I think I might have just figured him out"

You shook your head, peeling the label off your beer "Or he doesn't have those sorts of feelings for me and you misread him" she laughed lightly "Just wait, you'll see"

A few days had passed since that night at Mollys and while Antonio acted mainly the same you did notice a few differences. He seemed to tense up if you got close to him which was a pain in the ass considering you were currently partnered up.

You watched him walk through the bullpen and sighed, then a coffee cup was set on the edge of your desk. You followed it up to see that Jay was the culprit. "What's this?" you asked and he shrugged "I bumped into Gabby at the coffee shop. She asked me to deliver"

"Thanks Halstead, you're a sweetie" you told him and he winked at you "Just remember that the next time I ask for help with backlog paperwork"

______________

Antonio walked back out of the breakroom in enough time to see you and Jay talking. From the looks of it he'd brought you coffee. He was not going to sit and watch you get with Halstead without at least admitting how he felt. He liked Jay well enough but no.

He called your name and when you looked up he nodded towards the stairs "I gotta talk to a C.I." "Let's roll" you grabbed your jacket and that damn cup of coffee and fell in step with him.

He waited until the two of you were down in the parking lot to turn and face you "Can I ask something Cariño?" you nodded "Of course?" he looked pointedly at the coffee in your hand "Are you with Jay?"

You raised an eyebrow, looked at the coffee then laughed "He ran into Gabby. She sent this via him as delivery boy" he felt his shoulders relax even if he was cursing his sister under his breath. You sat the coffee down on the roof of his car and took a step towards him, leaving just about half a foot between the two of you "Is something wrong between us?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I had to listen to the woman I have feelings for gush about how hot one of our co-workers are." you froze "You have feelings for me?" he shrugged "Yeah, it's fine if you don't feel the same I just..." he was cut off by you throwing yourself into his arms, your lips crashing against his.

The kiss took him off guard for a moment before his hands moved to your hips, gripping them tightly as he took control of the kiss, rolling his tongue against yours. The taste of your coffee hit his mouth, and you whimpered lightly against him. When you were forced to pull away from each other for air you smiled up at him "I feel the same if that wasn't clear enough" he laughed "It was" you nodded "By the way, you do realize your sister masterminded you fessing up right?"

He nodded "I'll buy her dinner to thank her" and pressed another kiss to your lips.

[changelingsandothernonsense]

I'm curious, what are Josh's preferred alcoholic drinks? Would he like to rank them?

Helloo! Josh most certainly has a ranking system and very strong opinions on what can be found in both Morrowind and Skyrim (and may have committed crimes as a result of disliking a particular type of mead). So without further ado.

Best of the Worst- Smashing Edition!

You want my opinion on liquor? Mate, no one asks me my opinion on liquor... I mean I have opinions on drinks... a lot of opinions on drinks it's just I got told I was being a dick about it so I...

No you know what, fuck it! Here's my top an bottom fives.

5. Best- Shein

I'll be honest, I find Shein to be mid as far as drinks go. Then again, I'm pretty sure I prefer something with a flavour profile that can be described as "Dwemeri Oil" because I can't taste shit so take my opinion with a grain of salt. Shein skews a little bitter an sour if I remember rightly an it's not overly strong. It's 'ight in a pinch, yeah? But I wouldn't order it if there was other stuff on the menu.

5. Worst- Ancient Dagoth Brandy

Look, this shit's been sitting in a blight infested hole for the last five thousand years. You can believe Neloth an that fucking Ash Vampire all you want about how "developed" the vintage is but I'm always gonna come back to how it makes me feel like fucking shit! I don't drink to feel like shit, I drink to not feel like shit. So it's shit!

4. Best- Flin

I'm partial to the odd import from the heartland an Flin's one of them. It's a whisky that appeals more to Dunmeri pallets than that of Imperials but because of the old tariffs it's expensive as all fuck! If you can get your hands on it, it's worth the buzz. I can't really speak for anything produced now but when I was younger an could still taste shit it had a smooth, smokey flavour. Doesn't wack out your head so much either. 4. Worst- Greef

An your Morrowind equivalent... if you can really make a comparison. I was never a fan of anything that was comberry forward and greef is like you got a bush of the shit an threw it in a wet barrel for six years an... actually I think that's just how you make it. Point is that I started drinking it when I was like 15 coz it's cheap as all fuck. I don't know how that equates to how men age but it's like early adolescenceish. Anyway, point is I drank so much of the stuff that I was spewing for the whole next fucking day. Shit gives me a headache almost immediately these days. I'll drink it only if I'm desperate.

3. Best- Wine, just wine!

It's hard for me to find shit I like in Skyrim and Cyrodiil. Mostly because they keep insisting on mixing everything that isn't mead with milk an that's a fucking disaster waiting to happen! My go to in the lands of men is wine. It gets me sloshed an goes down well enough. I've noticed Nords like jazbay grapes but I've always found they turn shit a little... weird? I don't know how to explain it. Usually i'll order an imported wine to avoid the addition of that ingredient. Get's me nice an drunk relatively quick so that's a good enough reason for it to be here. 3. Worst- Emberbrand Wine

This isn't because it's bad, necessarily, quite the contrary if I'm honest. Like sure there's that jazbay weird going on but um... This is on my shit list because it's a bit too potent, if you know what I mean? Like I shouldn't get two cups in an start feeling an urge to commit arson, yeah?

Give it a skip if you like sleeping in your own bed.

2. Best- Sujamma

There's a reason sujamma is a popular drink back home an that's because it does a few key things- One it fucks you up well an good an two it makes you feel like you're on top of the world. Sure it fucks with your magicka but who the fuck cares when everyone sounds less fucking annoying an you feel like you could mount a wild Alit. Um... don't try that.

Geldis makes a pretty fantastic version of it. Pretty much every clan has their own recipe, so sujamma from Blacklight tastes different from what you'll find in Narsis. Regardless, it's always a treat.

2. Worst- Honeybrew Mead

Look, I just don't fucking like mead, okay? It's weak as all shit an I need like half a keg to get the same buzz I'd get after a few glasses of sujamma. That means I'm spending too much money to get my hit, an if you know me you'll know I hate having to spend fucking money! I hear that mer generally don't like honey wine an I'm no exception. Maybe I'd feel different if I could still taste sweet things but considering I pretty much choose what I drink based on mouthfeel an how quickly any beverage can get me sloshed mead just comes up short every time. At least honeybrew doesn't remind me of warm piss which is like the worst crime you can commit in my opinion. I'd still choose this over my worst option...

Best- Matze

What isn't there to like about matze? It's a smooth drink that goes down easily an can be infused with whatever the fuck you want. It's a type of saltrice wine that some westerners compare to beer but like it's not any sort of beer I've tried. Beer tastes like piss, this doesn't. My favourite is a brew infused with jasmine flower an strained until the liquid's clear. You pair that with like some choice grapes and a steaming bath an a good book an you got yourself an evening. Matze, like sujamma is cheap as all fuck an each region back home has their own version of it. It's potent enough that you don't need much to make you feel like you're on top of the world an it's cheap enough that you can supply a whole group of idiots to join you on that alit mounting adventure I mentioned earlier. Still don't recommend trying to mount an alit though. What Erra's good at is not the kind of shit I'm good at, and probably not what you're good at either.

You want to know the quickest way into my bed, buy me a round of this. 1. Worst- Black Briar Mead

I don't want this, I don't know anyone who fucking wants this! If you want this I seriously have to fucking question your taste in literally everything! Not even Sydari likes it an she's the whole reason this shit's flooded every inn in fucking Skyrim! Look, Miluth likes gold more than liquor an I like liquor more than I like breathing so... you know. I remember when she dragged me to the brewery there whilst doing an inspection for the Guild and left me on a "Tasting Tour". That was mistake number one. I've always been really um...vocal to her about my dislike of Nordic swill but I didn't think anything could be as fucking bad as what's in this shitty blue bottle right here! I tasted enough varieties to tell you that I was still sober after an hour an I was fucking livid about it. Then I was given this reserve an I was beside myself! I seriously thought I was being fed piss. So I thought I would do a bit of an experiment, yeah? I pissed in an empty bottle coz even if you're not getting sloshed this shit still goes right through you an I just placed it back into the shelf. I never intended for the guide to pull it straight from the shelf an feed it to the fucking brew master who was possibly the most miserable looking s'wit I've ever met! I'd never laughed so hard in my life! Anyway I'm not allowed back in there an if you ever feed me this shit I'll do the same to you!

[sizzy-is-my-otp]

I got three likes which means ANALYSIS TIME For those who are unaware, Disney released a Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 4 Dawn of the Vampires Teaser Trailer today which you can view here in reference for the rest of this post:

Analysis/Ramblings under the cut :)

First, we know that this is set after their first year in college so I'm curious to know where they decided to vacation to? I'm not sure about Zed's finacial situation (I'm assuming the exceptional student application was some sort of scholarship) but hopefully now that zombies have integrated more with society, Zevon is making a much more reasonable wage.

Next up we HAVE to talk about Addison's hair. It's beautiful, I'm obsessed with how she has it styled, and it looks very similar to her Re-animated design. The blue is a slightly darker shade than in the cartoon but I think it's gorgeous. I don't have the mental capacity to figure out a reasoning as for why her hair can be a blend between the colors so I'm just gonna go with the "she's half human and now that her alien powers have been awaken she can change her white hair" because we love retcon and it's a DCOM Camp Rayburn is an INSANE name btw. Like if you have both daywalkers and vampires, the fact that "ray" as in sunlight ray and "burn" as in oh my god these guys are gonna literally catch on fire in the sun clearly shows who's favorited at the camp. However, if this was created how I think it was (aka Meg said 'what about Camp Rock' and the director said 'YES') then it's possible it will be two separate camps. Just leaves the question if Rayburn is for the vamps or the daywalkers. Probably the name for both but always a possibility.

THE FACT THAT THEY'RE CAMP COUNSELORS IS SO INSANE TO ME IDK. I never watched later seasons of Bunk'd so I'm unaware how much focus on camp counselors there actually was (in comparison to campers) but I'll be so interesting to see this dynamic. As someone who went to sleepaway camp, has been a camp counselor, and had parents who met each other while being camp counselors, this dynamic holds a really special place in my heart. That being said, Eliza and Willa do NOT strike me as the counelor types. I can see Willa more than Eliza as she's the leader of her pack so she has to have some sort of nurturing aspect to her. Eliza however does not give counselor vibes to me, but maybe since they're clearly working with older and not younger kids, it will be okay. I could probably type up a whole thing about how I think Eliza's character would be an interesting fit for this though so I'm cutting myself off here. Speaking of Willa, who is looking after the pack in her absence? Is that the explained away detail for why Pierce (Wyatt) isn't in the movie? Going back to my Camp Rock theory, the "prepare for battle" that's seen in the trailer really makes me hope its a dance battle and that it will be to some epic song. I cannot wait for this soundtrack. We do get a little snippet of one of the new songs which is fun, and I'm so glad this is going to be released in July before my tickets to the Worlds Collide tour! That way I'll be able to listen to the soundtrack a bunch and learn the songs before I see them performed. Don't hate me for this, but Freya's character in this shot is giving Jojo Siwa

Like it's for sure the hair but I can't see anything else.

MY BABY IS SCARED ITS OKAY HE'LL BE OKAY <3333 Next:

Is this a vampire version of the moonstone? It looks different enough from the wolves' stone that I can assume it isn't, but I was hoping the vampires would have a different origin story. This kind of makes it seem like they're just recycling old ideas to fit a new narrative and I don't love that. I'll have to rewatch Vanna's arc in Moonstone Mystery to see if they retconned anything from that but idk, this to me just feels kinda cheap.

The neon signs are giving nightlife to me which is super fun and a great choice on the designer's part. I'm so intersted in seeing everything plays out if the vampires can't be in the sun, especially due to the fact that in the trailer we see them in the sun multiple times. So what sets them apart from the daylighters? Can they walk in the sun if they have their version of the moonstone? (I just realized it's probably called the sunstone. I take back what I said earlier, if there's a moonstone, there's probably also a sunstone. This makes sense.)

Firstly, the set looks very similar to the one in Bunk'd or maybe even S3 of HSMTMTS (which Meg was also a couneslor for). I'd be curious to know if any of them were filmed on the same set. I do really enjoy that the vampires and daywalkers have the same central color (red) with black and white being what separates them. Although it looks like the daywalkers also have yellow in their design which is very cool (we love when the sun is reflected into characters who can walk in the sun). I need to go in and analyze Victor and Nova's designs further to see if they have any other elements to them. Speaking of which, I think Nova is one of the first live-action characters who's name doesnt fit into the conventional Zombies naming scheme. If you didn't know Zombies all have Z's in their name, Alien's A, Werewolves W, etc. Vampires, like Victor and Vanna, have a V. Nova is a celestial word which could make sense as she can walk in the sun, but I do miss the simplistic fact of the names and I kinda wish her name started with a D for Daywalker.

Wondering too if this is their first meeting or if they're longtime enemies. Freya and Malachai seem to be the unoffical replacements for Zeddison (sad :( ) but if this is their first meeting it's very similar to Zeddison's in the Zombie saferoom with the punches. Maybe their gag will be pulling out daggers instead lmao.

Overall, I'm very excited for this movie and I thought the teaser trailer was just enough to get me back into that Zombies mood without spoiling too much. Leaves me with so many questions but also a bunch of excitement.

[divineerdrick]

Homestuck: Beyond Canon Upd8 for August 11, 2024

So I've heard we have an upd8 today! And we've got a news post too! Right off the bat, we'll have another chapter "a little later in the month." Guess I'll have to keep my ear to the ground. Not sure there's an extension out there that can determine when the team upd8s a Ren'py game attached to their website.

I haven't been able to support the Patreon for a bit, so I'm unaware of the music previews James mentions. His little spiel makes me worried he might go Grimdark at some point . . .

We've still got another collab in the works, but we don't have the details yet. And yeah, I've been experiencing heat where I live that definitely slowed me down a peg.

On to the upd8!

Holy crap! Year 4!

Even with the realizations she made before, apparently this is still really slow going.

Nanna!

Oh wow! She's literally growing up! Wherever she is, she's physically aging in what is probably real time. Here's a shot from the last blog for comparison.

Her hair and horns are both longer, she's taller in frame, her neck is longer, and her eyes and mouth sit smaller on her face. Somehow though, she's still fitting into her outfit. Wonder if they're letting her alchemize new clothes?

Oh man! We've apparently missed some reconciliation with Eridan, John, and Kanaya! I feel especially robbed about missing out on the Kanaya portion. But we all know who the "HER" is. Though it would be a hilarious fake out if it was Nepeta or Feferi!

Hah! We apparently have both Nannasprites here!

Vriska does not say no to cookies!

We get another callback to Vriska's previous adventures as she remembers talking to John about their relationships with their ancestors. But she apparently doesn't understand how humans can have family ties. At least she seems more curious about it now.

Of course Nanna would have to describe having a child as having "novelty". It's nice to see a little bit more background on this version of Jane.

Vriska just cannot get past the idea why anyone would put up with a baby given the unavoidable accidents.

Nannasprite has apparently seen everything Jane has accomplished and is, at the very least, curious how things might have turned out if she hadn't settled down.

Wow. That had to really suck. Nana never felt loved or even wanted before she settled down. That might have been why finding someone who did love her and want to start a family with her caused her to change all her plans.

This is another attitude that Vriska previously would never have considered. She was always certain she had to be best, had to surpass every expectation, and very much felt she had a destiny to fulfill. The idea that someone would just "give up" on all that and do their own thing is more alien to her than humanity itself.

Wow! Vriska was actually mindful she might have lost her cool and genuinely apologized! She is learning!

And some genuine affection here too.

Wait! That's broken Paradox Space! Is Vriska facing Game Over Terezi?

And these are Vriska's typing quirks! Wait! Does she have to come to terms with Game Over Vriska? AKA (Vriska)? Does she have to reconcile with herself?

Wait! Mindfang? Does she have to come to terms with her relationship with Mindfang? If that's the case, no wonder she's not getting anywhere. Everything else has probably been about figuring out what the other person wants. But Vriska's problem was she was always trying to live up to Mindfang, an extremely poor example and role model. In this case, she almost certainly need to stop caring about what Mindfang might want.

Oh! It's not Mindfang! It's Vriska's idea of her, all wrapped up in her relationship with her lusus. It's basically both of Vriska's parental figures rolled into one.

She definitely needs to not give a shit about what this entity wants! While there is value in understanding who her lusus was and who Mindfang was, there is no value in engaging with them. This is all about Vriska learning how trying to live up to their needs and expectations, instead of living up to her own desires, caused her so much pain and heartache.

Heh! "Momfang."

Wow! They really are wrapped into one!

Also I can't decide if this reminds me more of the Venom symbiote or Conceptual Hair.

It is important that Vriska recognizes that these two entities were formative to her. But I really feel like that's all there is here. Understanding who they were and the impact they had on her life. The next revelation is that this doesn't need to define her.

Momfang's words echo a lot of Vriska's own thoughts and words on death and murder. Whether she, or indeed we, like it or not, Vriska does need to forgiver herself for her past. But not by accepting the violent environment as justification. She needs to understand that while she has extenuating circumstances for what she did, Vriska still did those things. She has to come to terms with that and forgive herself for it.

Vriska has learned from Vrissy! Suffering is not what makes you strong. Just as the muscles of a body builder tend to be weaker, more limited, and even useless compared to those of an athlete, suffering often comes with just as much that weakens you. Strength always has to come from within. Someone's strength who gets there through finding something or someone to be strong for is just as valid as someone who gets there through pursuit of an ambition is just as valid as someone who gets there through hardship is just as valid as, well, any path that gets you there. It's a bitter pill if you're the one who's suffered. But it is the truth.

Even on Alternia, none of this was ever fine. Even by their standards, her childhood was full of abuse and violence.

Man! The team is determined to make Momfang's twisting form as creepy as they can for mostly still images!

I don't know if Beforan Lusus could be like this, or if this quirk was part of Scratch's work. But we clearly see that some Lusus just weren't good guardians, despite coevolution. "But so are some parents!" I hear you cry! That's still different. While it's possible in the vast variety of humanity to be raised by a true monster, most abusive parents are still human. There are paths victims of abuse can take to find comfort or even peace and understanding because of this.

Vriska's "mom" is literally a spider, an animalistic predator. "HUNGRY. KILL. FUCK. EAT. FEED." On earth, even when spiders demonstrate sentience and intelligence, it is from an entirely different evolutionary path. We could not relate to the mind of a spider. And neither can Vriska.

There are many reasons why a parent may become abusive.

Vriska's was abusive because that helped it find prey.

Yep. This is not about what Momfang wants. It's about what Vriska wants. "And wasn't considering it now, to 8e clear." Again. Spider!

Huh! But that doesn't stop Vriska's image of Mindfang from being curious.

Vriska knows part of what's wrong. But as most of us know all too well, knowing what a problem is only the first step in fixing it. All you can do is try to catch yourself when "you're doing it again," while also trying to not make that become something you're constantly on guard about.

"Oh my god. Tavros was right!!!!!!!!!"

As was Nannasprite! You're supposed to learn form each of these "sessions" and use that to help with the next.

Now I'm sure that "h8r" is talking about Terezi.

We've often believed that what we read of Mindfang's journal was tame. Homesmut Mindfang is apparently canon.

No Momfang! No! You do not get to use Mayor callbacks!

"What will you do?"

Vriska knows what she wants. How does she prove it? Killing or being eaten seems like it's just more of the same. This could just be as simple as walking away.

Only way to win is not to play. It was always a false binary. There was always another option, it was just a case of seeing it.

Happy Vriska is best Vriska!

Yep! Just walk away!

Yeah, no! No hug for you!

Can't decide if I like "Gestalt of Rivia" or "Hierarchy of Arachneeds" more!

Let's not stop there though! I feel like we know enough now about how this works to start making some predictions.

So the Cueball suggests Scratch. He also played a great role in Vriska's life and actions. How Vriska needs to grow past him is trickier. Scratch was only ever using her, and I'm pretty sure Vriska knows this. Now she's dealt with Momfang, though, I don't think she'd get hung up on him. He is considerably cannier than Momfang, but this still feels like a misdirect. It could potentially lead to Rose. She's the other Hero of Light after all, and she and Vriska have both Scratch and the Cueball in common. I'm willing to bet Vriska didn't take enough advantage of Rose's presence on the meteor. This might create a scenario where she just has to learn from her fellow Hero.

Then we have a feather. This is probably the hardest to draw any conclusions from. The only character in Homestuck connected to feathers is Dave. Another potential hero to learn from. It's just hard to imagine not having to reconcile with Terezi, and I'm pretty sure she's not the 8ball. But I also can't think of how the feather connects her to . . .

Scales! It's a bit of a reach, but scales and feathers do have a connection. Also, why would Vriska have a feather? Maybe it's a quill that she used in her FLARPing days? Either way, I'm gonna say the feather is Terezi. Mostly because it's what I want.

The 8ball will be (Vriska). Vriska needs to come to terms with her Game Over self. She needs to realize that it not only was she wrong to look down on her, but that (Vriska) was always right to just look for happiness. (Vriska) was always valid and deserves to lose those parenthesis. Even if they are really convenient.

[youweremygoal]

Alright, @ashmacg, lemme respond to this reply in its own post so I can add a couple images as I have a bit to say. Reply from this post for context if someones curious.

Firstly, what do you mean by sparks? As in sparks of a storyline for Sakura and Ino's dynamic, or sparks as in hints of lesbianism for their characters? Because if it's the latter I direct you again to the post I made. I don't think there were ever 'sparks' of this relationship, what we see is exactly what we got, a rivalry between two former friends.

As far as misrepresenting their conflict I feel like you're seeing something that isn't there. What I said was specifically that their rivalry, and therefore their existing relationship in the series, is entirely about a man (Sasuke). If you actually mean their previous relationship that Sakura broke off because of the rivalry then we have to recognise that it only existed as backstory for the rivalry and for Sakura's insecurity, but that's not what you said so let's go on.

As for the flashbacks, part of this is just speculation. I assume we're talking about the flower flashback (C071):

She felt insecure about herself, comparing herself to Ino, in the flower metaphor casting herself as the accent flower to Ino's 'main attraction'. So yes on that count you're right, but where are you getting coddling from? I'm not actually trying to nitpick here: feeling coddled and feeling insecure are not the same thing. Ino is blunt in her compassion (C056):

and Sakura doesn't give an seem to see Ino's support in that way either (C071):

Obviously this implies she didn't believe what Ino said, but she doesn't resent or reject her support, she embraces those words, explicitly stating she 'hung on to that ever since', that it became a goal for her. The thing is the metric for surpassing Ino to Sakura is about showing off and getting Sasuke. Ino encourages her to stand up for herself, to not hide and cry about her insecurities, her words are about who Sakura can grow into, but she chooses to attach that to Sasuke.

There's a superficial parallel here of Sakura saying her goal was to be just like Ino, to Naruto saying his goal was Sasuke (hello my url. C485). The difference is we know the way in which Naruto wants to be like Sasuke, he wants to be stronger, he wants to fight him and be acknowledged by him as an equal, he wanted to be seen by other people and praised for his skills ('you were good at everything'), he wanted a connection to someone just like him (alone). What do we get for Sakura with Ino in comparison? In what was is Sakura trying to catch up with Ino? Ino is confident and considerate, friendly, but she's not exactly strong. Sakura certainly lacked confidence but it was Ino who helped her gain that, she had nothing to gain from breaking off the friendship but the ego boost of 'winning Sasuke'.

You are correct Sakura hides her feelings, she does that later too when she fake confesses. Which is actually important to what you're getting at here I'll get to that in a second.

First though, I think you've got the order of events wrong, Sakura was emotionally chafing as you say because of her jealousy regarding Sasuke. Her feelings of inferiority regarding Ino are what make Ino specifically her rival in love for Sasuke, not the other way around. Sakura brought up her crush before knowing Ino liked him, but she does know others do, and is even confiding in Ino about her crush, which would be strange to do if she felt resentful of Ino's support (C054).

So next, Sakura doesn't hide her insecurity from Ino, she's open with her about how she feels inferior, as seen in the flower scene. You say Sakura was hiding her true feelings of insecurity with competition and jealousy, but 1) Why would she need to hide what's already known?, and 2) if we go back to the confession scene we see pretty clearly: Sakura is bad at hiding her feelings. She's not good at it, she's often called on it, like Sai noticing her fake smile and Naruto recognising the confession is fake. What she is honest about, beyond her insecurity, is her feelings for Sasuke and part of that is her jealousy. I think you are simply downplaying what a jealous character Sakura can be. Even once they're (supposedly) married in Gaiden, she's putting her own face over another woman's. Claiming that her jealousy over Sasuke wasn't foundational to her avoidance of Ino is a straight up misread of the scenario and Sakura's character both within it and going forward in the series. She doesn't need a 'goal' to hide something she doesn't hide, and she already has a goal we see her pursue in earnest throughout the series, that being Sasuke.

Sakura's entire character revolves around Sasuke, that includes her relationship to Naruto which does not exist independent of Sasuke. He is her defining relationship and that makes it inseparable from her relationship to Ino too. You cannot separate anything about Sakura's character from her crush on Sasuke, as such he cannot simply be 'an excuse' as you stated. The original point of my post you responded to is that textually there is no lesbianism within this relationship and nothing you have said actually supports that there is any depth to their relationship beyond a rivalry over a boy.

I think arguing about Pierrot playing up or playing down any character or relationship is ultimately going to hit a moot point because fillers just aren't consistent material, with canon or with each other.

Also I have to add. I haven't watched the anime in a very long time but I did try to find and watch a couple scenes and I have to say if this is what passes for yuri baiting you should check out more yuri. As much as I don't care for Pierrot I do think this statement is a bit... uncomfortable? I am well aware of how lesbianism gets fetishised and the ways many men treat lesbians and lesbian content, I don't see how that's whats happening with these fillers? I'm not trying to downplay fetishisation I just think this is a statement with a lot of baggage that honestly just makes me uncomfortable; why is the idea of women being pushed together immediately about sexualisation? As I said, this content is just not even good yuri baiting, I'd argue the Boruto character designs alone are a better example than the filler I've seen — if I've missed something specific and egregious though do let me know.

[judesmoonbeauty]

merry christmas! 🎄🎁✨ can you brainrot a little (or a lot…?) about jude, nica, or both in the answer to this ask? :3c

Merry belated christmas anon! Thank you for such a sweet ask. There's spoilers involved, sooo....

˗ˏˋ 🍒 ˎˊ˗ As for Nica: Twice now he has said lines such as, "I've been raised right or I've had a good upbringing," and I've kinda like just given him the side-eye each time he's said that. Like "Uh-huh, okay, sure let's roll with that," but we all know that's not true or at least wasn't true for a time.

And with lore hints in the recent event of the twins being potentially abducted and used as test subjects for cursed experiments (most likely the victims of abuse too), I'm wondering if he says things like this to throw others off the trail about his past, is trying to convince himself that he had a good upbringing to cope with trauma; or IF Darius was the one that rescued the twins from that horrible place (assuming this is the case), could he be referring to the "upbringing" he would've received after being rescued?

....Or sadly, he is referring to potential domestic abuse as his "good upbringing"?

I'm very excited to learn more about the twins past, and to peer into that colder, more harsh side of Nica. (My weakness.) Still, I love watching his interactions with Kate overall, and love seeing him genuinely drop his guard with her and laugh as well. I think his route is going to be very good, from what I've seen of him so far.

˗ˏˋ⌛ˎˊ˗ As for Jude: A lot. I think about him 24/7, I'm obsessed. My mind jumps around with him so much that I can't even keep up lmao. Things like getting into bar fights with him, getting scolded by Victor along with him for doing something we shouldn't have, all the way to domestic life like dates, how would he interact with my tiny tiny nieces irl, curling up in bed together, having breakfast together, etc. But, um, I'll keep it brief....

His current election event story, there's this part where Jude mentions that he now that he's with Kate he doesn't feel as refreshed when he tramples down rotten nobles and such, and that it's only when he tortures and teases Kate, that he truly feels satisfied. This is HUGE. This is similar to what he says in his Halloween story.....all the feelings of satisfaction he gets from torturing others is nothing in comparison to satisfaction he gets from doing so with Kate. Of course, Jude absolutely curses (loves) and adores Kate!!

But now, I'm curious to know how his character will continue to develop going forward. Of course, that doesn't mean that Jude will stop getting revenge on others, or that others will stop seeking revenge on him. He is destined to die hating the world under this endless cycle of revenge, but how do I put this......does that mean in future events (depending on the setting), after Jude's taken care of his enemies, he will seek out Kate for some smexy "torture" sessions??? YES PLS.

It's not all about that though, I look forward to seeing more of their banter and his teasing her and spoiling her. Ugh....he's such a good boyfriend to her.

Overall, Jude has finally found happiness, and I can't wait to see how he continues to realize all the ways that Kate's presence is affecting him for the better. I think, regardless of who our faves are, it's so heart-warming to see them gain a measure of relief and happiness. Don't you? ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

[666writingcafe]

A Reward: Satan/Belphie

Part Two of Special Bonus Content

Content Warning: tailplay

Belphie hops back on the bed, but Satan stops at the foot of it, looking rather unsure of himself.

"You good?" Belphie asks him.

"I...I don't know," Satan replies, running his fingers through his hair. "I might have to sit this one out."

"How come?" I ask, trying to sound gentle. Satan sighs.

"You said to not make this a competition," he answers, looking directly at Belphie. "I thought I'd be okay, but now..." He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before continuing,

"I feel like whatever I end up doing is going to pale in comparison to what Lucifer just did. I know it's silly, but it's how I feel. And I don't want to do something that will ruin this experience for you, MC."

"You don't have to be a carbon copy of him to make me happy," I tell him. "You never have. Besides, if I didn't want you here, I would have made you disappear." The last part is meant to be a joke. Thankfully, Satan gets it, and a small smile appears on his face as he gets on top of the bed.

"You take the lead," Belphie instructs Satan. "After all, you didn't participate in the test." Satan looks me up and down contemplatively for a moment. Then, his eyes suddenly light up.

"I've always wondered how MC would react to being tied up. They tend to have a curious look on their face whenever they see Mammon in that position, and at this point I don't think it's due to them not knowing what he did to deserve it."

"Are you okay with that?" Belphie asks me. Before I can answer, Satan adds,

"It won't be anything too crazy. Just something to test the waters, so to speak."

"I was going to say yes," I respond. For a brief moment, Satan appears to be scolding himself, but then he quickly pulls it together.

"Okay, then. I'll use something that you're familiar with to restrain you." He summons his black feather boa and hands it to Belphie, who uses it to tie my wrists together.

"Not too tight?" he asks me. I shake my head. "Would you be able to break free if you needed to?"

"I think so," I answer. Belphie calls Lucifer over to inspect his work. After he makes a few minor changes, he calls the restraint sufficient before stepping away from the three of us.

"If at any point you feel like it's too much, just tell us," Satan states, making eye contact with me as he straddles me. His shirt disappears, and he starts to gently rock his hips against mine. The sensation makes both of us groan softly. Belphie, meanwhile, lies down next to us and lazily begins playing with himself.

"You look good, MC," he compliments. Whatever response I originally had is thrown out the window when Satan stops moving and remarks,

"I want to see how long you can go without making any noise."

"What's the catch?" My question becomes answered when I feel Satan's tail slowly travel down my body.

I've heard stories about him winning entire fights with just his tail. Its spiky nature makes it a formidable weapon. Yet, the feeling of it on my skin isn't entirely unpleasant. It certainly doesn't appear to leave a thousand little cuts in its wake.

Moments later, I feel something tickling my neck: Belphie's cow-like tail. It follows the path that Satan's took. Soon, both tails stop between my legs. The two of them grin at each other before they make their tails go inside me. I have to bite my tongue in order to prevent myself from yelping. It's not that it's painful, per-say, but the way their tails are rubbing up against me is unlike anything I experienced before. I don't know whether I want to push them away or have them come closer.

I suppose that's part of the reason my hands are tied up.

I hear the faint sound of someone starting a stopwatch. I should be upset at the fact that I'm being timed, but I can't find it in me to care about much of anything outside the feeling of the tails.

"It's cute that you're actually trying," Belphie whispers. "But I doubt you'll be able to keep quiet for much longer."

"In fact, we'll make sure of it," Satan murmurs. "We won't stop until we can make you scream." The two of them chuckle sinisterly as their tails begin moving faster.

The increasing amount of pleasure eventually becomes too much for me, and I end up cursing rather loudly. Someone clicks the stopwatch off.

"Twelve minutes, fourteen seconds." That sneaky son of a bitch...

"Not bad for a human," Belphie remarks. The two of them pull their tails out, and Satan undoes the boa around my wrists, making sure that I'm able to move my arms before having Belphie get off the bed with him.

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