#something something twins who make it out alive but they're the only ones who made it.....

[milfcutlawquane]

Princes Astra and Leo,

last of their kind

[gaywineauntsstuff]

Dick Grayson is my favorite lil guy

And my favorite way of consuming content of my favorite lil guy is the core 5 titans

There is also about 5 billion pieces of media where these 5 interact and some of it sucks so here I am scrapbooking canon together with glue and scissors so I can talk about how I view Dicks relationship with the other OG titans and how different these relationships are from one another while all still being boiled down to found family love

Dick & Donna: Listen. To. Me. These two aren't besties, or fav teammates or siblings. These two are the sun and earth revolving around each other except they each think the other one is the Sun. Dick Grayson and Donna Troy are the blueprint for platonic soulmates. Dick and Donna make everyone around them believe in ancient story by plato "humans once had 4 arms and legs and 2 faces and the God Zeus split them in half for their hubris and now they are destined to roam the earth forever looking for their other half". If y'all think Dick wasn't doing well after Jason died?? Donna Troys death fundamentally changed who Dick Grayson was and how he was written in teams for years. Donna Troy and Dick Grayson absolutely have debated getting platonically married (not canon but it is in my heart) and the only reason they haven't is BC if they do, Donna will kidnap Dick and never let him within 1000 feet of Bruce Wayne and Gotham.

Dick & Roy: remember how I said Dick was fucked up post Troias death in the comics? yeah? Roy Harper is the only reason he made it out of that period of his life alive. These two are like fire and Gasoline, they're quick and angry and always inexplicably near each other. They are VICIOUS with one another in a way they almost never are with anyone else. They try so hard to ruin their relationship bc implicitly they know (unless its the new 52 which I ignore for my own mental wellbeing-hey I did say this was a scrap book of canons) they'll always be there for each other. Roy Harper never misses, Dick Grayson cannot fall and yet Dick is there to hold Roy when his hand trembles and Roy is there to catch Dick when he loses his Grip.

Dick Grayson is the first person Roy calls to get Lian

Roy Harper is the designated keep Dick Grayson alive even if he has to tie the bastard up-

Dick (and wally depending on the run) help Roy with his addiction)

these two are each others roman empires

Dick & Wally: to cut back on the pretentious seriousness of this post. Every time these two are drawn together be it 80s road trips or being the most likeable part of tom Taylors run. Wally west always reads like he's about to invite Dick to swing with him and his wife. If you see them as platonic, romantic (right person wrong time is my favourite Fanon flavour but canonically I like em besties) or somewhere in between Wally West is always Dick Graysons best friend. There is something so wholesome about the fact that Wally canonically stalks checks up on Dick Grayson as much as he does his wife and twins and Dick who is a bat, notorious for expressing their love via breaking into your house and doing your casework for you. Is getting stalked checked up on by someone who loves him without it triggering his "see obviously you're not good enough they're literally babysitting you" paranoia. its like meeting your partners love language needs but its for deeply messed up individuals. They canonically call themselves best friends, and while Dick will always love Roy he always Likes being around Wally (as well as love him but that's a given)

(sidetone are you even besties if people don't think you're dating when they meet you?)

Dick & Garth: The amount of trust, love and respect that tempest holds for Nightwing melts my damn heart (but then again everything garth does melts my damn heart, baby Garth you will always be famous) they are such an underrated pairing and I love the fact that no matter the media, whether they're rivals like in the cartoons or Garth deferring to Dick as leader to the point where he disobeys aquaman (rebirth) Bc yeah THATS how much my purple eyed perfect boy trusts wing. There is always this really sweet understanding that Garth can go to Dick for advice (he asks for Donna advice in titans and advice on his relationship with Dolphin in the comics). And him and Dicks reunion post RIC? I love them sm. Its just... There was also a period of time where Garth was the only titan with sense and tbh sometimes its refreshing to see that when the rest of them (except donna she was dead at the time we never say a bad word about donna in this household) are being fucking insane

[tiny-space-platypus]

Never really fit back in

Part 1 Mirrors.

Ever since Danny died he knew something was still well wrong with him. Like something was still missing from him and he didn't fully understand what till he became king of the Infinite Realms. Only then did he remember. Remember that wasn't just Danny Fenton but also Danyal Ra Gul. How could he have forgotten? How could he have forgotten his brother? He had to remember more..

He went to the only one that could allow him to remember, he went to Clockwork. Remembering was painfully, remembering felt like his core was tearing apart and coming together over and over but he needed to know.

He remembered his mother, her soft lullabies, her training, her love, her affection. He remembered loving her just as his brother did. He remembered his brother, he remembered caring so deeply for him. He remembered how deep he was in the LOA, he remembered trying to get his brother out, he remembered dying for it. He remembered his body being placed in the pit of toxic and decorated ectoplasm, he remembered becoming one with it. He remembered his grandfather deeming him a failure, he remembers watching his family turn their backs to him. Then he was Fenton. Was he ever really a Fenton? Was he really the same boy they lost so long ago? Was he Danyal, the failed child of the league, the failure that followed his brother? Was he neither? Was he just the poor reflection of both children lost forever?

Danny decided he needed to see his brother, he needed to at least know if he was alive and living well. He sent Wulf to find him. Apparently his brother was in Gotham, maybe that's where his new haunt could be. He couldn't really stay in Amity after all even if a piece of him wanted to. Too many GIW agents now and the house had only gotten more aggressive as he got stronger. Maybe it's time to move on from being Danny.

First Danny had to talk to Jazz, she was a therapist or well in college for it now maybe she could talk him through it. Make him see what he wanted.

----------------------------------------------------------

Damian sat in his room today, not coming out once worrying the others. Though once they looked at the date it made sense. Every year a day after his birthday Damian becomes unresponsive to everyone. Once it's over they're greeted with the same response every year to their questions.

"Tsk, That is none of your concern."

Damian spent the day mourning. Morning the brother he had killed, mourning the brother who was consumed by the pit, mourning the brother who was seen as a failure. His twin brother, his twin blade, the brother that he sees whenever he looks into the mirror longer than he has to. The look of betrayal then acceptance that his brother gave as Damian coldly watched him bleed out.

Today he thought of his brother and his last moments. Today he thought of how his brother smiled at him as he died looking up at Damian. Today he thought of the last question his brother told him. "You'll be ok, ok?" The last question he answered with awful indifference and anger and shame. Damian's last words to his brother, last words to a dying brother who only wanted to spare him from the league, deeming him a failure.

Danyal wasn't a failure. Danyal was smart, picking up every lesson quickly and efficiently. Quicker to realize the league was wrong. Danyal was a killer, Danyal was lethal but kind in his way of killing making it quick and nearly painless. Danyal in times of quiet was kind and soft and comforting, things that couldn't be in the league. Danyal that could tell you everything you could have ever wanted about the stars and space and how to care for a blade. If it hadn't been for Damian perhaps his brother would have been heir, perhaps he deserved it more than Damian ever did.

Damian went to the mirror and stared into it like he did every year. Stared into the face of his brother. Stared into the face that he watched drain of life and apologized. Apologized like he did every year till he couldn't get the words out anymore. Damian didn't sleep well that night, he never did the day after his birthday, the day of his death.

----------------------------------------------------------

Idea bullet points!

Damian and Danny are both 16-ish

They were about 7 when Danny's first death took place (yay trauma)

Damian didn't realize the gravity of his actions till like a solid 2 days after he killed his brother. When he did he begged to have him brought back through the pit only to watch him dissolve into it and never be seen again.

Danyal became one with the pit meaning his body dissolved into it imprinting the possibility of becoming a new king onto Danny (like Royal jelly or something)

When Danny reformed as a child and not a strong Ghost Clockwork had him placed somewhere where the Fenton's could adopt him/ where he'd grow to be a good king

Danny didn't become a half when he was electrocuted he just awakened part of his power then. He was always a halfa.

Maybe clockwork locked away his memories or maybe that's just what the ectoplasm did.

Next

[ew-selfish-art]

DPx DC Au: Might as well be brothers. Young Justice hears about a regional hero disappearing, and while they've never met the guy, Red Robin's contacts say that Ra's is hunting him for afterlife/immortality related reasons.

Tim drake hates the annoying white uniform he's wearing but breaking into this place is crucial to his 24 hour plan to rescue Phantom. He'd never even heard of the guy until a week ago when Pru came to him with info that Ra's was looking into Midwest Real Estate, and then Tim stumbled down the rabbit hole of Ghost conspiracy theories until he saw an article demanding that local officials speak on the hero's absence of 10 days. 10 days was short enough that Tim might find a sign of life and well, another federal agency being hacked by Red Robin is nothing new.

So now, he's walking down the halls with these stupid fucking glasses and this stupid fucking suit while Kon listens from the comfort of the surveillance van. He takes a turn and sees the track suits that the illegally detained inmates are wearing, and pivoting the plan, makes his way to a locker room to get one and get changed. It does take him an extra second and he considers that this might bite him- but Tim knows the place inside and out. He's scoured all their data, and sue him for being cocky, but he has a literal alien ready to tear the place apart waiting for his heart rate to jump above 80 bpm. which is a pretty low heart rate all things considered.

Tim gets exactly where he's meant to go, and waits only a few minutes before he see's the science team extract Phantom from the high security room.

Phantom doesn't make it clear if he notices Tim, but he's basically being dragged by the couple, so Tim decides to beat them to their destination. The experimental wing had shown up in their reported data not long after they made it extremely obvious that they had Phantom in their data output.

Tim's already in the room when he starts to notice that it's not exactly a room... more like a mechanical space. The way the corners curl in the room make it almost tube like... Portal like.

Phantom is thrown in and Tim grabs him the second the scientists leave, but the kill switch key Tim made to get them out isn't working for this door like it did all the others.

"Not... Not a door."

"We're in some sort of device aren't we? Something of their own design that the government isn't aware they're funding?"

"Portal. You've gotta get out, even if you get caught, you gotta get out now."

Tim's comm comes alive in his ear, its Kon responding to Tim's heart rate rising- and Tim is hesitant to call him in but ultimately tells him to start flying over for extraction.

Then the portal goes off, and while he feels pain, he doesn't feel different. Bright light subsiding, Kon's arms around him with a confused voice, and lots of lasers being fired his way... Tim wakes up to see a much younger Phantom looking at him from the other side of the young justice couch.

Kon, Bart and Cassie are all fighting at a white board that's been wheeled in but Tim can only yawn and blink his way into consciousness enough to give a shit.

Black haired and blue eyed, button nosed with large ears, a wry thin lipped smile... Tim realizes that Phantom looks incredibly similar to his younger self. And then Tim looks at his much smaller hands and realizes that he probably looks a lot more similar to his younger self than normal.

Taking in the scenery once more, the white board is divided on the traits Tim has to the children sitting left and right on the couch. Kon didn't know who was who. That meant that maybe... the government didn't either.

Phantom turns out to be a pretty chill dude despite all the trauma, and he's incredibly prepared to both fuck with Ra's and the government in their newly found childhood twin-ship.

One of the twins is scarier than the other, and despite Danny literally haunting them, its always Tim.

(Okay now its some one else's turn :D )

[aethon-recs]

Tomarrymort Dead Dove Recs, Part 2 🕊️

Thank you all for the wonderful reception to Part 1 of Tomarrymort Dead Dove recs! I was honestly blown away by the interest in this first list featuring Non-Con/Dub-Con recs. It was so incredibly heartening to see that the open-mindedness towards the taboo, the degenerate, the ‘problematic’ is not only alive and well, but thriving, in this ship, when it seems like it’s been reviled and sanitized out of other ships and communities and spaces within this fandom and elsewhere. But Tomarrymort readers seem to be a special breed 🤝 and I’m just so glad we can all be horny sickos together 🤍

For Part 2 of the Dead Dove rec list, the first half is comprised of incest fics, and the second half is chan (underage) fics. These aren’t all necessarily dark fic in terms of tone or plot (some fics are actually quite cozy); the dead dove label just serves as an indicator to take the tags seriously.

Please note there is potentially triggering and disturbing content in the rec list below (including in some of the summaries), so I will be placing all 25 of these recs below the cut. Keep in mind don’t like; don’t read, so feel free to scroll on by if either incest and/or chan is not a theme you would like to explore.

This list was made in collaboration with @danpuff-ao3’s Dead Dove Diaries Series. Check it out for other HP dead dove recs!

*

Tomarrymort Incest Recs

Fruit of the Forbidden Tree (part 1) / Forbidden Indulgence (part 2) / Forbidden Darkness (part 3) by @neurowriter14 (E, 19k, complete)

The true parentage of Harry Potter was unknown to everyone except for three people. None remain, but another figures it out.

Hold Me Down (Fuck Me Up) by @itsevanffs (E, 15k, WIP)

Tom Riddle, chief of police, first met his nephew Harry Potter handcuffed to his desk, lip cut and knuckles bleeding, a proud smile on his lips and challenge in his eyes.

I Could Send You to Hell, I Know You by @dividawrites (E, 7k, complete)

Nothing about Harry Potter intrigues Tom—he's average in everything, doesn't act out in class, doesn't do very much at all, in fact. When he finds out they're related, though, this changes at once. After all, there's something to be said for family traditions.

In The Dark by @itsevanffs (E, 64k, WIP)

Harry's mother remarries shortly after his father's death to James' half-brother, Thomas, much to Harry's confusion and disgust. First a duke, now a king, it seems that nothing will stand in his uncle's way when it comes to getting what he wants. Not Lily, not propriety, and most certainly not Harry himself.

Infinite by @duplicitywrites (E, 8k, complete)

Harry and his twin brother Tom have the same mark. The same soulmate. Whoever their soulmate is, wherever they may be, they will go to Tom. Tom, however, has other plans.

Little Bits by @lordmarvoloriddle (E, 10k, complete) 

Inspired by Cinderella. Only there's no prince, and surely no one is singing about their feelings, and Harry's life could be a lot worse than having three step-brothers and a father who didn't like him. He's going to be proven right.

Plains of oblivion by @milkandmoon-ao3 (E, 3k, complete) 

Trapped in the past with no way home, a disillusioned Harry executes a plan to make an ally of the rising Dark Lord and reshape history.

Say It Right (part 1) /  Say You'll Haunt Me (part 2) by @rightonthelimitt (E, 32k, complete)

After James Potter dies, his wife and son have it rough. Their lives change for good when they meet Tom Riddle four years later, but is it for the better?

Seventeen Years by RenderedReversed (T, 10k, complete)

Voldemort is a day old when he realizes he’s been reborn to muggle parents and that he has a twin brother. He is a year old when it sinks in who his twin could possibly be. Because his twin might, possibly, probably be Harry Potter.

Summer Break by anon (E, 5k, WIP) 

A story of a brother's love and duty and terrible obsession.

the dark passenger by @cindle-writes (E, 5k, complete)

Harry had lived 17 years as a horcrux, and Ginny was possessed by another one, so is it all that surprising that their middle child reminds them a little bit too much of another boy they once knew?

*

Tomarrymort Chan (Underage) Recs

Below Stairs by pauraque (E, 1k, complete)

Harry receives a visitor.

conversationalist by worn (E, 3k, complete)

As a boy who's known silence and solitude well, Harry finds himself quickly growing attached to Tom Riddle's diary and the way it has so much to talk with him about.

Creatures of the Dark we are by @hikarimeroperiddle (M, 20k, WIP)

Banished to his cupboard at age 4, Harry learns to listen only to the Voice in his head. Its teachings wrap all around Harry until no more than dark magic and devotion remains, along with visions of a wraith with red eyes.

Everything Green Is Gold by @cindle-writes (E, 27k, complete)

Prior to Hogwarts, Harry had stayed mostly invisible to the teachers and adults around him his whole life. But Tom Riddle, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, looked at Harry like he was something to be wanted.

File A by @kushimanii (E, 7k, complete)

In a different universe, one where the prophecy was never heard and Voldemort won, Voldemort finds eight-year-old Harry Potter in the basement of Fenrir Greyback and takes him in.

he whistles and he runs by @wolfantlersinspace (E, 5k, complete)

"Tom," Harry murmured, ducking under a branch and nearly touching the top of Tom's diary with his lips, "I really don’t like this."

Hearthstone Abbey by @ramabear (E, 92k, WIP)

Harry follows Thomas Gaunt into his world much like he stepped onto Diagon Alley that first time, wide-eyed and full of wonder. He has no idea what exactly this world has in store for him, but he knows that with Thomas at his side, he is safe and happy for the first time in his whole life. 

Make a Wish by @crowcrowcrowthing (E, 3k, complete)

Tom Riddle is wasting away in his hospital bed, far too young to succumb to such a terrible and mysterious illness. The only thing that gives him solace is the hope that football star Harry Potter might visit him in his final days.

Quam singulari by anon (E, 6k, complete)

Spermarche: the beginning of a boy's development of sperm; normally signifies a boy's beginning in sexual maturity and puberty.

shelter from the storm by @cindle-writes & @duplicitywrites (E, 7k, complete)

After being left behind by the Dursleys, Harry stumbles upon an empty shack in the middle of nowhere, where he finds a mysterious ring underneath the loose floorboards.

study session by @ilya-zzz (E, 3k, complete)

"Tom–" Harry tries, coughing a couple times before lifting his hands to his head, softly rubbing his temples a couple times. "...I think you should go back to your common room."

The Abyss by AislingSiobhan (E, 36k, complete)

Nietzsche was right: when fighting monsters, Harry should have been more careful not to become one himself. That didn’t matter anymore. It was too late to save himself, yet he could still save the world from Voldemort. But who would save Voldemort from him?

the eternal flame by @duplicitywrites (E, 25k, WIP)

There’s a well-dressed older man who enters the orphanage asking after Tom Riddle. The man’s green eyes fix on Tom’s face, searching and searching. “My name is Harry Gaunt,” the man says, the tenor of his voice soft and faltering, a reflection of Tom's deepest, most secret anxieties, “and I’m here to adopt you.”

This Is Why You Don't Summon Demons, Harry by @kushimanii (E, 59k, complete)

Harry Potter is seven when he's left at the nearby church by Petunia to get an exorcism. Instead, he ends up summoning a demon that he makes a deal with. The demon, Voldemort, will protect him, and in return, the demon will devour his soul when it is ripe.

Without A Chance by Harryfan80 (E, 20k, complete)

When Voldemort (as Quirrell) meets Harry in her first year at Hogwarts, he exploits her naivete and uses her to acquire the Sorcerer's Stone.

*

[nanabansama]

Tsukasa's Winter Uniform

Many people forget, but Tsukasa has appeared in TBHK since the very first chapter. He even shows up before Kou, less you count the pilot adaptation.

The odd thing is, despite Tsukasa later confirming he only wore the winter uniform to match his older brother, Tsukasa shows up in the winter uniform much earlier than their fated rooftop encounter. About a month earlier, at least.

If that weren't enough, he even shows up wearing it in the reflection of Hanako's knife, implying he wore it when he died.

Previously I guessed this was done because AidaIro hadn't finalized the designs of Amane (specifically, alive!Hanako) and Tsukasa yet, but upon further reflection I like to think it was to wordlessly show the deep connection between Hanako and Tsukasa. To leave hints for the reader, and keep them second-guessing.

I mean, who's to say the character handling the radio in Chapter 1 wasn't Hanako? It's unlikely with what we know now, but it's something a lot of people probably thought when they first read it. And I think that's kind of brilliant, given that the twins are mirror images of each other in everything except clothes. When we can't see Tsukasa's identical face, it only makes sense to give them the same clothes.

It's interesting when Tsukasa first shows up on the rooftop, too. Tsukasa has a few differences between himself and his twin, but in this encounter he shares much of the same traits. He lacks his pointy teeth and you can't even see his eyes till the end, which don't even look particularly Tsukasa-like.

The only true major difference is his kokujoudai and the black seal, which really lack any individuality at all... they are just black-colored versions of Hanako's own seal and tsueshiro. It's a very interesting choice; the least I can say is Tsukasa really went all out in matching his brother.

In some ways, it's a bit underwhelming for his face reveal. In others, it's not: I mean, Hanako's murder victim literally shares his face! What a compelling surprise! I can only imagine AidaIro was trying to emphasize this.

Later, Tsukasa returns to the broadcasting club room and catches up with Natsuhiko and Sakura. This is where his individuality begins to shine.

He changes into his hakama outfit, his pupils get tiny or his eyes go completely black, and while not every panel has them he's drawn with his signature pointy canines in a few.

His personality changes, too. You get to see Tsukasa's more childlike, innocent side. He's so much more serious when he's with Hanako, you feel a lot of tension and maybe even resentment there. But here, he becomes so carefree. While the rooftop has him feeling more like a spectre of Hanako's guilt rather than his own person, here it really sinks in that this is not just some recolored Hanako we're dealing with.

On that note, I find it interesting the twins seem more carefree when they're away from each other... hmm...

Anyway, one thing I like about this era of Tsukasa is the art AidaIro made of him. I'm a big fan of early TBHK art, and the matching baggy winter uniforms really look nice together.

I like how this art emphasizes a sort of perverted sentimentality between the two of them. They can't help reaching out to each other. I like how Hanako distinctly doesn't look happy either, something Tsukasa inquires when they meet again. He looks distressed, helplessly so. And he is: he can't break away from his guilt of killing Tsukasa, nor Tsukasa himself, who is content to keep eating away at him while he still can, knowing Amane will be his doom. It's mutual self-destruction--They can't live with each other, can't live without each other...

My love for chapter frontispieces aside, thanks for reading this far! I used to not have much appreciation for Tsukasa's winter uniform but I've come to love its symbolism a lot more as time has gone on. Perhaps I'm reading too deep into things, but what do you think?

Also before anyone tries to tell me the Chapter 17 frontispiece isn't Tsukasa allow me to introduce you to the top right corner:

[coffeeandbatboys]

Where Your Road Leads

Pairing: Fives x Fem!Reader, platonic Torrent (Kix, Jesse & Rex) x reader, platonic Echo x reader

Warnings: Heavy angst, temporary spousal death, pregnancy, fluff, language, throwing up...I think that's all

A/N this is possibly my longest one shot ever...

A knock sounds on your door.

Kix.

You'd been expecting him for the last two hours and he’s just now made it to your home. You open the door with every nerve buzzing.

“Kix, what took—”

You pause in fear when his face reveals only sadness and guilt.

“What's going on?” You demand, ushering the medic inside.

“I'm so sorry, vod'ika.” Is all he can manage with tears gathering in his eyes. Fives. Something bad happened to Fives. You’ve heard the report that he'd tried to kill the Chancellor, and that he was wanted by the Corries. But you thought he'd be safe with Rex. After all, the captain had been worried about him when he stopped by earlier.

“Kix.” You repeat. “Where's Fives?”

The medic takes a deep breath.

“He’s been,” he chokes on a shaky breath and his already unstable voice lowers to a whisper. “killed.”

Your knees buckle beneath you and you want to throw up. You stumble to the ‘fresher, Kix following behind to hold your hair as you empty the contents of your stomach.

“Oh, maker! No….fuck no.” You cry, dry heaving now. “There's no way.”

Kix runs a hand over his face to hide the haunted look in his eyes.

It takes a few minutes for your breathing to calm down. “And the test?” You quietly ask the question you've been dreading since he came in. It’s the reason you were expecting him, after all.

He turns to face you.

“Conclusive. You're two months pregnant.”

For the next six months, Torrent is always a comm away. Kix stopping in to make sure you're eating well enough to support both you and the baby, and Jesse helping you set up a nursery. Rex goes with you to most of your appointments if he can. You're grateful to have a family, even if they're not blood, and even if you and Fives weren't officially ‘married’. He’s still your husband, and they're your family.

It still hurts to wake up with a cold back where there would normally be the warmth of his chest, pressed against it, and anything that reminds you of Fives in your apartment remains untouched

When Echo is brought back, he finds out all about what happened and decides that the Bad Batch can wait. For now, he needs to uphold a promise that he'd made to Fives when the two of you first got together. If anything were to happen to a domino twin and his significant other was left behind, the remaining brother would take care of them. Even with the looming realization that his best friend is dead, Echo couldn't be more excited to be an uncle.

A year and a half later, you're sitting at the table, reading about the Chancellor’s ‘accidental' death and a subsequently revealed plot to kill the Jedi via the GAR, when you hear the front door open. Echo must be back with little Fiv'ika from the store earlier than expected.

But the footfalls that find their way into the kitchen aren’t mechanical like Echo's, and there's no excited babbling from your son.

You turn to see just who had let themselves into your house and—

Well…damn. This is new.

Fives is standing in the doorway. His curls are a little longer and his shoulders hang a bit, but he still has that light in his eyes, and his goatee is kept the way he always used to do it, and the tattoo is on the same spot that it always was.

You don't trust your eyes with the image. He can't be alive. He would have been here this whole time if he was alive.

It’s only when he speaks that you accept that he's here.

“Ner runi…” he murmurs, and you cross the distance to throw your arms around him. He's warm and soft and above all, he's real.

“Fives!” You cry, bitter tears rolling down your cheeks. “Where the hell have you been? You were dead!”

Instead of letting him answer, you grab his face and crash your lips against his. He returns the kiss with a relieved hum and tugs you closer. When you pull away, he wipes a few tears off your cheek with a calloused thumb, and his own eyes become glossy.

“I went in deep cover to investigate the chancellor. Commanders Cody and Fox are the only ones who know that I'm alive at all.”

The front door opens again, and this time it’s the sounds of your laughing child and Echo announcing “We’re home!”

Fives, however, stills with panic and pulls away from you.

“Osik,” he curses himself. “I should have realized that you could have moved on.”

I didn't.” You cut him off. “I didn't move on. You're in for the surprise of your life, Babe.”

His eyebrows scrunch as Echo and Fiv'ika enter the room. Echo stops in his tracks when he registers Fives’ face and you silently take the child from his arms.

“Firstly I want you to meet your son, Fives Jr., or as we call him, Fiv'ika.”

Fives’ eyes go wide and his knees suddenly feel shaky. He's not sure that he trusts his voice, but he tries anyways.

“You had our first kid and I wasn't there? Oh, maker. Fuck.” he brings a hand to cover his mouth, and tears spill over his cheeks. He falls to his knees and looks up at you.

“Ni ceta, Mesh'la. I don't know what to say…”

You shake your head and tug on his sleeve, silently asking him to get up. You wrap one arm around the love of your life and press your temple to his, while the other arm holds your son.

“It’s okay. You whimper. “We’re here. Were together.”

Fiv’ika reaches tiny hands up to grab his father’s goatee. Fives lets out a wounded noise and kisses your cheek.

You pull away for a second.

“Secondly, you’ll want to see who’s been helping me.”

Confusion crosses his face and you look over to Echo, who’s been standing outside the doorway of the kitchen.

“Who is….” Fives trails off, eyes locking on his twin. “Echo?”

The paler clone’s eyes fill with tears and he nods.

“Su cuy’gar, Fives.”

Your husband gives your shoulder a squeeze and rushes towards his brother with open arms. The two quickly fall into a sobbing embrace and you watch, practically beaming.

“I would ask how you’re alive but if I survived being blown up I’m pretty sure that it’s not that hard.” Echo laughs.

Fives only looks horrified. “I am so sorry to both of you. I should have been there-”

“Hey,” you stop him, moving next to both of them, Fiv’ika in between. “We’re safe.”

Fives pulls you all together in a hug, mumbling “I love you all so much.” He’s holding his entire world—his wife, his son, and his twin brother—in his arms, and he’ll be damned if he’s letting any of you go soon.

Mando'a translations:

Vod'ika: Younger sibling

Ner runi: My soul

Osik: Shit

Ni ceta: I'm sorry; I kneel

Su cuy'gar: Hello; You're alive

[quitealotofsodapop]

Monkey King Reborn - Reincarnation

referencing this post about an idea for Reborn's version of Sun Luzhen.

After the events of Reborn; the Pilgrims leave Five Village Abbey, now content with Yuandi's death + the restoration of the Ginseng Tree, but saddened by the loss of Fruitie/Qi Energy.

Until they pass by a Temple to Nüwa and find the snake-creaation goddess holding a large lump of wet clay and a pile of bone ash. After the initial shock of seeing the goddess (Zhu Bajie gets smacked for staring), they realise that she's just as delighted to see them. The Pilgrims all come closer thinking that they're witnessing how the goddess creates new life.

Nüwa: "Ah! Sun Wukong! Just the person I needed to see!" Smokey: "Huh? Why?" Nüwa: (*hands Smokey the lump of clay and some ash*) Smokey: "???" Lump of Clay: (*glows with soul energy*) Sha Wujing: "There's something moving inside! Is it a soul?" Nüwa, explaining: "Sometimes little ones skip Diyu all together and find me so I can make them a new vessel. This little one didn't have a strong enough body to reincarnate into." Smokey: (*absent-mindly rolling/shaping the clay into a rough egg-shape*) "Why is that?" Nüwa: "Because it's soul used to belong to the first Demon King Yuandi." The Pilgrims: (*all in various stages of shock*) "what." Nüwa: "No earthly vessel could hope to contain the primordial energy that laid within. So it came to me seeking help to be born. However I don't create life from my own power anymore. My new creations need a parent to mold from in order for the body to be made. And since Stone Monkeys can absorb their parents Dao through their egg, I knew exactly *who* to wait for." Smokey: (*pauses and finally stops rolling the clay/ash lump*) Egg-shaped Clay: (*hardens in Smokey's hands. Now resembling an actual Stone Egg*) Smokey, realising: "WAIT?! DID YOU JUST-!" Nüwa, cheeky smile: "I hope you come to love your little heir. They'll hatch soon enough." (*The Goddess disappears into the stone floor of the temple*) The Pilgrims: "!?!?" Smokey, shell-shocked: "I think I'm a father now."

The Pilgrims ofc are panicking at the fact that the very demon they just perma-banished/killed has literally reincarnated into Smokey's arms. They argue over whether or not to smash the egg (the monkey hisses and clutches the Egg tighter) or to go back to Five Village Abbey and hand it over to Zenyhuan for the immortals to deal with. But then there's the chance that the gods may just destroy or seal away the egg anyway.

Smokey is super conflicted since he has repressed grief over losing Fruitie, and doesn't want the only other Stone Monkey (he knows) to be raised by humans or risk becoming an experiment for Lao Tzu. Also his Stone Monkey instincts have been activated and he hisses at anyone who comes close to the egg.

So they decide for now to keep the egg, and the resulting little monkey, until they can figure out whether or not the soul contained even remembers being Yuandi.

A different argument quickly crops up along the way.

Sha Wujing: "So... what should we name them?" Zhu Bajie: "Why not just call them Yuandi? It's who they are." Xuanzang: "We are not naming the baby after who they used to be. Yuandi is dead. This little one is alive." Smokey, holding the egg: "Also, what if it's a girl?" Zhu Bajie and Xuanzang: (*protective-uncle mode activated*) "GIRL!?!"

And since this little reincarnated baby is Reborn's version of Sun Luzhen, I wanted their name to include one of the major characters. It was difficult cus "Lǚzhēn" (履真/"to tread/shoe" + "reality") is a compound name. One naming idea I have is; "Zhēnzhì/真志" - is a compound of "to tread" + "ambition". That or Smokey nicknames the baby "Xiao Lǚ/Little Shoes" cus of little shoe-like markings on her back feet. Also matches her "twin" Xiao Qi. :3

Once the truth comes out about Liang's little stowaway being a Stone Egg they stole found at the base of the Ginseng Tree, the Pilgrims of course ask about their choice of name.

Sha Wujing: "So did you name your cub that when you found out it was once Qi Energy?" Liang: "Huh? No, I just called them Xiao Qi [小气] cus they're a tiny bundle of energy. It was either that or Peachy, since they're pink and fuzzy like a peach." (*kisses the giggling Xiao Qi's face*) The Pilgrims: (*all give Smokey a sly smile*) Smokey: (*hides face/blush at the fact his rival/crush has similar naming themes for babies*) Zhēnzhì/Xiao Lǚ: (*paps Smokey's face with tiny hands*) :P

The pair of cubs are like Yin and Yang. One dark and demure, the other light and wild. And they of course act as a perfect reason for Sun Wukong and his estranged ex-friend to reunite and have to work together to ensure their stable upbringing. >:3

[thelampisaflashlight]

Some Bea thoughts, because I think of her often. Let's go.

-She's originally from New Jersey, which part I have decided specifically, but I think she's less rural and closer to one of the cities there, at least when she was a baby/toddler.

Since her mother moved them around a lot when she was growing up, the places she's most familiar with are the ones where they stayed for at least a couple months.

-Both of Bea's parents are deceased; Her father died when she was still fairly young, so she doesn't remember him well, but her mother only passed about a year into her time living at the abbey.

Prior to being informed of her mother's death, Bea didn't even know she was still alive.

Bea has no other known living relatives.

-Bea is very conscious of how others look at her, but usually only when they're reacting negatively, she has no gauge for when people are being genuine or looking at her affectionately, and tends to be shocked when others express legitimate interest in her.

-Bea didn't really have a lot of toys growing up, so she's always been a little envious of the people who grew up with Legos and Barbies and Hot Wheels cars.

Bea's favorite toys growing up were a broken claw clip and a rubber alien toy she got out of a gumball machine at a gas station.

She also had a dollar store "Barbie", the type that are made of thin plastic and have messed up faces, but it got lost at some point, and, honestly, she was kind of glad when it disappeared,

And lastly, Bea's unofficial rating of the ghouls;

-Mountain 8/10 (secretly a 10/10) if they're speaking to each other, 0/10 if he broke the fucking tractor again.

-Rain 8/10 when he isn't trying to drag her into the water, -10,000/10 if he tries a bitch one more time.

-Dewdrop 9/10 as close to a perfect rating as the ghouls get, with the guys at least, 4/10 if he's trying to talk her into talking to Mountain after he broke the tractor again.

-Swiss 5/10 she doesn't know him well enough to have a truly negative opinion of him, but there's always time.

-Aether 7.5/10 because he keeps telling her to stop pushing herself as if he's a doctor or something... And, yes, she can confirm her appointment for Monday morning, geez.

-Aeon/Phantom 5/10 for the same reason as Swiss, but also because he keeps nervously reminding her that she needs to take her iron supplements like Aether told her to.

-Cumulus 10/10 no notes.

-Cirrus 7.5/10 because she scares Bea on a fundamental level, but that also makes her respect her more than most of the ghouls.

-Aurora 6.5/10 like Cirrus, she scares her, but in more of a twins from the shining way when she pops up with Aeon to remind her to take her iron.

-Bonus Copia 3/10 because he's her boss and he's always trying to tell her what to do... because he's her boss. Eying him from afar on the UTV/10.

[wordy-little-witch]

The Ghost!Roger AU is honestly the best thing I ever read on this site ! It's absolutely perfect 😭

Give me more if it pleeeeease 🥺

I'm really glad people enjoy it!!!!!

I already have a HELLA fixation on the paranormal, and so when I can apply it self indulgently to OTHER fixations, I Am Thriving.

Truly this is my magnus opus.

On that note however, I'm gonna drop some Lore Ideas.

I've said before that Buggy's already aware that Roger is still hanging around. He's not there 24/7, but he does hang out pretty often. Ghosts are Drawn to the things they left Unfinished in this aspect, either by choice or necessity - they hang around on this plane instead of crossing over. Roger made his choices and hated it. He chose the lesser evil, in his mind, because NONE of the options were good.

Then, on that scaffold, about to die, he feels and sees his oldest kids and is frankly more than a little livid.

For one, they're unaccompanied. This is an execution, Loguetown is crawling with Marines - high ranking ones at that - and here stand two barely-teens.

Speaking of them, though, the second thing is how his boys' energies and haki feel. Now Roger has been in a cell for a hot minute - not horribly long, and it's been two agonizing years since he saw his boys, but he knows damn well one should not feel like a ship splintering against the waves while the other has the same warning flags as a landmine in some underbrush. It could be stress, and Roger hates himself for knowing he is a primary contributor to a situation which makes his kids hurt, but there's more to it.

Especially given lucky number three - they're thin. Like. Painfully thin. Buggy had always been rather scrawny, and Shanks had only just begun filling out before Roger disbanded the crew. Right now, his boys looked partially starved, and he was almost certain that if he could get to them, he'd be able to close his fingers around their wrists or ankles with far too much overlap.

Where the fuck was his crew and why the fuck were his sons alone???

The stage was set, though, and he had his role to play. So he just winds his haki tighter, presses as much love-care-guiot-pride-love-love-love into his energy as he can before wrapping it around his kids as subtly as he can.

Then he's spoken, there's cheering, there's movement and pain and-

Nothing.

Roger comes to a few months later.

It takes time to collect himself and his pieces enough to be aware.

Step one - find his kids!!

Shanks and Buggy are not little twin-flame-beacons - Roger assumes they must be back with the crew. He'll have words for them later. For now, Rouge should be due any day! Off to her he goes~

And to carnage he arrives.

It's all he can do to help cause a ruckus where he can when prying eyes get so close to his wife. She is pushing hard with her Haki and he's raging and crying and grieving all at once. Every day that the crusade continues is the day he hopes Garp arrives, that he does something, that he can do anything, that he won't lose her.

He stays longer than expected. A year and a half, and Baterilla is a ghost town. Rouge is barely alive, but their child's energy is bright and bold and u apologetic. Some nights, while she sleeps, he lays his head against her tummy and whispers to Ace or Anne about the world - about the good things, because those are the things the baby should know, those are the things this baby deserves.

Ace is born just as Garp arrives. Rouge dies and Roger grieves.

She comes back far quicker than he did and proceeds to smack him with her shoe, curse him up one side and down another, then wrap him into her arms and cry.

They follow Garp, follow Ace, and they watch over their baby. Dadan is not one who they would choose as a foster mother at a glance, but they warm up to get quickly. Rouge spends her time with Roger watching over their baby boy before she shoos her husband off to check on their other kids. She's never had the chance to meet her stepsons but she loves them all the same.

It takes him longer than expected to find them.

For one, they separated - and how in all the Seas did that happen- and for another, they're making crews. Mostly. Shanks has a crew budding, and Buggy now has a new look in his eyes and a fixation on wearing gloves, but whatever.

So he just. Bounces between the three, occasionally hunting down former crew members to make his displeasure Very Clear.

Only Buggy has ever seen him.

Sometimes Shanks will respond, will seem to Feel something off, but Buggy has always been the one to see the things nobody else could.

So Roger pokes at his littlest apprentice as much as he feasibly can.

It's only by pure happenstance that his kid grows up - and puts on weight, Roger and Rouge both are so proud - and manages to bag a goth Real Housewife Of The Grandline Drama Addict who accidentally-on-purpose adopted a girl with a penchant for divination and spirit boards.

Buggy isn't in the habit of mentioning the things all around people after the first few times landed with broken bones and bogo free trauma.

Now that Roger has ATTENTION however, and a way of talking to more people, AND a chance to gush about his kids to a listening party, well-

He is thriving. Rouge is giggling at him. Buggy is trying desperately to ignore his dead dad and equally dead step mother debating which embarrassing story to tell Pero-chan next.

He's just hoping and praying that they don't tell her about the Secret Spy Incident. He's not sure his blood pressure could take it.

[quinnxey]

acolyte review (before season finale)

i was really interested in this show esp because its based in the high republic. this is the first time we've gotten a media recreation other than glimpses in jedi: survivor and I'm also pretty sure the kids show disney made was also based in the hr time period. but anyway - other than the books as well, this is the first live-action retelling of a hr story.

i feel like a lot of people didn't like it because of that, but it really hooked me in. I've always been pretty into the hr book series and have loved this idea of "before the chosen one" trope. in the acolyte, we're 100 years or so b4 anyone like obi-wan or anakin or luke have been born. its another really great setting up - plus, as an avid hr reader, it helped me visualize what was going on during that whole shebang

but so - during the start of the acolyte I was a little bit wary and a tad bored. i feel like they started with a fairly slow (if murder is slow) introduction to the story, but I really do understand why they did it like that. once shit hit the fan and we were getting jedi action (plus the dents of twins? alive?/whats going on? sort of thing) I was really starting to get interested. the characters in acolyte are SO well done - like honestly its kind of craz how good they're written. even the "good guys" have good writing, which can be hard to do for heroes when the villains usually have all the sweet ass storytelling.

i thought the force here was sooo well done. like this idea of osha not being able to use the force after some time - ESPECIALLY her using the excuse of "if you were a jedi" (or something along these lines) "you would know that the force gets weaker if you don't practice with it" like girl ok! and with qimir and him being like dude, no.

QIMIR! ok so i understand the whole reason people like him is because of his looks and the fact that he was naked (which I will get to) but I'm SOOO interested in his character arc. his manipulation tactics are honestly so believable that IM having a hard time trying to discern whether or not the jedi are good or bad. i think I've always been fairly pro-jedi esp with how the orig tri plays jedi out to be and how the hr books have all these really anti-jedi antigonists. I've always believed the jedi to be a good force of nature, and haven't really paid much mind to this idea of "what if". in the acolyte, it feels like. they're REAL people.

idk i feel like sometimes it gets hard to see the real people in jedi and not thin k they're just some servants of the light or whatever. for me, I feel like that also comes from the "no relationships" motto, which sort of defeats the whole "human/person" idea for me. i hate thinking jedi arent people and don't have faults, but with how a lot o the media portrays them, that's how I've felt for a really long time. in here, I felt like I was seeing real people in real situations. idk

with how sol was acting with osha ("do not confuse [her] emotions with your own") I was sooo in love with that. him not knowing whether or not its his emotions or the force pulling them together (because we all know the force puts padawan/master together when it knows they're a good fit) but still continuing. him choosing to SAVE OSHA INSTEAD OF MAE. and going on to say he "did his best" and "tried to save both of them" to osha and flicking the blame on mae by saying the fire was all her fault (which it was, but he deliberately didn't tell osha what "really" happened ((in the words of mae I suppose))) but this isn't me saying that sol is a bad person and should totally get stripped of his title or whatever - someone (not sure who) on here talked about how he was the only one out of all the jedi on the trip to actually go and do something about his guilt. he went and he trained osha to the best of his abilities, he trained younglings (telling them NOT to trust what they initially see, to keep searching for answers), and he went on trying to make good with mae even after he knew she was going to kill him.

but so on the dark side (plus I guess qimir being naked) I was really interested in this idea of jedi not being able to harm the unarmed. we see this happen with sol and aniseya, where she DOES technically look like shes about to go off and kill someone with her whole dust act, but she is STILL technically unarmed. sol goes and stabs her because he has no idea what is happening. cue 1st action. 2nd action is when we have the scene between sol and qimir where he almost attacks him while he's "unarmed" (pls I don't trust this man) but osha stops him. with OSHA, we see this happen when she sort of attacks qimir while he's unarmed - and not just unarmed, also litterllay butt naked. that's like the full ass definition of unarmed. it goes fully against jedi code - if she had killed him, she would have killed him unarmed and with no dignity, which no jedi would ever want to do. because she had the option to do it, he basically tested her - it was his way of seeing whether or not she was a "good" option for an apprentice. he prob would have taken her anyway, but with how it went with mae, he was defo being wary.

but him being a sith for me was pretty easy to see right off the bat, since he disappeared and then sith master just "appeared" I thought, oh yeah, that's qimir. but as the fighting went on and I went between the costume differences between him and feeble qimir, I thought, well...no?? it doesn't make sense. he doesn't look the same - and then it WAS HIM. but also I think this idea of osha becoming sith apprentence and mae becoming jedi apprentice would be so interesting. ying and yang but they switch lmao

but I'm supppeper excited for the season finale!!! my prediction is that osha accepts being qimirs apprentice, mae accepts being sol's apprentice (if that happens), and maybe/maybe not they find osha and qimir and qimir convinces osha to fight against her past master. idk. would love to see some kyber bleeding in s2. love!!

[anincurabledisease]

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HI-HO !

Here it is! I'm finally free from exams, so I can write! The awaited info-dump about my delicious in dungeon OC. This includes general information, and perchance— hints of her lore, then character dynamics and what she thinks of the said characters, so it'll be very..very long.

Helena's open to interactions with other ocs or [official characters & ocs] roleplay accounts, and I plan to make a blog where I'll roleplay as her and you can ask anything or just talk to her.

P.S : I'll be treating her as if she's a canonical character in the show, and took the prompt in the wiki for the gen info and status.

Please don't mind to any grammatical errors I've made, English isn't my first language. ^^;

Info-dump is in the cut, I hope you'll check it out!

➤ [ GENERAL INFORMATION ]

NAME : HELENA

KATAKANA NAME : ヘレナ [feel free to correct me if i'm wrong!]

SPECIES : DEER/BEAST-KIN [she uniquely only has her hinds, though..like a faun, but with deer-looks.]

TALL MAN [BEAST-MAN] [TEMPORARY]

[She swapped races with Izutsumi!]

GENDER : FEMALE

AGE : 25 [I cannot for the life of me figure her estimate age in human years, but do know that she's an adult.] [I might make her older]

BORN : NOVEMBER 5TH 489

BIRTHPLACE : SOUTHEAST ARCHIPELAGO

· ·───── ·𖥸· ─────· ·

HEIGHT : 5'2

There's some implications she may like all genders, as she said she doesn't mind who or what her soulmate is, as long as they're both happy and well.

➤ [ STATUS ]

STATUS : ALIVE

AFFILIATION : KABRU'S PARTY [TEMPORARY]

LAIOS' PARTY

OCCUPATIONS : ADVENTURER

ARTIFICER

RELATIVES : UNNAMED TWIN BROTHER

UNNAMED FATHER [WHO'S OFTEN REFERRED TO AS A FRENZIED MAN]

UNNAMED MOTHER [WHO'S OFTEN REFERRED TO AS THE ONCE BEAUTIFUL WOMAN][DECEASED]

At the very start of things, not much is said about her nor her past from her own mouth or other people's. All the others knew is that she's just a young cervitaur who's an undeniably skillful craftswoman. It was a mystery why she straight up disappeared at the beginning, implying she got separated from the others very far or purposely avoided them- to assumably get some fresh air and clear her mind from the sight of her close friend getting eaten by the dragon. It's clear that she doesn't like opening up about her past, even acting like she has memory loss and dumb.

From time to time, the party hears heavy boot footsteps echo throughout the dungeon halls, and they don't know what it is..but Helena has a nagging feeling it's something..no, someone bad. Someone she doesn't want to see, someone she's been trying to escape for too long.

[I won't be saying much, as how heavy, dark and violent it all really is It'll be posted in a separate post, if i have time]

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" Weird, it makes him oddly handsome. "

Once Laios had given Helena the invitation into the team, in which she eagerly accepts..almost like she's running away from something; she had took notice of him frequently glancing at her, but didn't think too much of it and shrugging it off. However, after reuniting with the rest and seeing his weird obsession with monsters with her own two eye-balls, a slow realization dawned onto her that the reason why Laios had stared is because she's a demi-human. A human mixed with a deer. The amount of times he's tried to reach out to her, and her thinking it was him trying to swat a fly or something, was to try and touch her deer-ears. She didn't know how to feel, hell- what to feel, even. Fondness? Gods, she hoped not. Disgust? That's harsh. For the rest of the night, she just stared at Laios like he's a three-headed monster..but he'd probably like that.

Although the more they spent time together, Helena started to like hearing about his rambles [yapping] about monsters and propely listened. It always seemed like she's the one who's 'interested' enough to 'listen' before anyway.

" I like her alot! Sometimes, it's like we're the only sane ones in this party..Chilchuck too, of course. "

Upon their 'first' meeting, they silently stole glances to one another. Finally, breaking the silence, Helena had greeted her and it felt like things and pieces just clicked at the right places. It was near to damn beautiful, I say!

They exchanged a few more words after, and before they knew it, they end up closer than before. Marcille had expressed her admiration for Helena being a craftswoman, and she'd done the same for the elf being a mage.

..but sometimes, Marcille can't help but wish Helena would recognize her and see the bright look in her face like the way things were before.

" Sweet-faced, but with a sharp tongue. That's Chil for you! He's very cute though, I like him! "

Upon their first meeting, Helena's very own first thoughts about him was..'He's short- I hope he can't read my mind.'

There were a few times, maybe once or twice [more than that, according to the half-foot], where he caught her staring and her shoulders tensing as they made eye contact, breaking it as quick as she could and looked away. Slowly, despite their contrasting differences in personalities, they got closer and had gained respect for one another. Chilchuck even helped her out of a trap, and Helena helped fix his tools.

" So talented! I'm glad he lets me help out when he's cooking. "

Upon their very first meeting, Helena seemed to be pleased that they had a new member in the party. But her enthused output and pleasantry turned to horror-struck as she saw he's cooking monsters! Helena's aware that desperate times times call for desperate measures, but she didn't think they'd stoop this low!

However, her features couldn't help but soften and turn to curious, seeing as Senshi wasn't being passionately creepy about monsters, unlike a certain tall-man, but was more passionate about cooking and providing food on the table. As more time went on, Helena couldn't help but grow nearly vulnerable seeing this dwarf feed them and eventually offered to help him cook. Senshi was hesitant, but she smiled reassuringly, saying that she doesn't mind..and is a little bored waiting around with the rest.

[ I'M SO SORRY I HAD NO MORE MOTIVATION TO DRAW THEM ]

➤ FALIN

Helena thought she was pretty. Tall enough to look at her features properly, she envies Toshiro juuust a little bit for being romantically intwined with her.

Regardless, Helena can't help but admire Falin, truly. She finds it nice that the tall-man's so talented in magic, and Falin admires her too. For not only making such craftmenship with her very own hands, but for Helena's..cuteness.

➤ TOSHIRO / SHURO

Helena doesn't know what to think of him. She wishes he knew she understood him more than she shows of, and respects his decision the very same. She wishes him well, and for him to start taking better care of himself, reminding him that he shouldn't neglect himself so recklessly.

➤ IZUTSUMI

HELENA TREATS HER LIKE A LITTLE SISTER SHE NEVER HAD!

It annoys Izutsumi to bits, and Helena had received her own fair share of cat scratches from her, but she's resilient.

Near to begrudging, however, Izutsumi respects and somewhat admires Helena's strength, or what she's shown, anyway. Unfortunately for her, the cervitaur won't stop seeing her as a little sister soon.

Thank you so much for reading <3 ! I'll be uploading more information soon, and especially her dynamic with Kabru, etc.

[tonguetiedraven]

You approve of Yukio even after he threatened to kill people and tried to kill Rin and Ryuji?

I have answered this question at least three times now, and I know you're just trying to bait me, but woooowwwwww I must have missed something in the manga. When did Yukio try to kill Ryuuji? If you're referring to the moment when Yukio points his gun at Ryuuji, that wasn't trying to kill Ryuuji. A dead Ryuuji would not have been a Ryuuji who could talk, and that was what Yukio wanted. Answers. Ryuuji wasn't threatened with death in that moment, and Ryuuji -- the only injured party in that scene -- has forgiven Yukio and worked with an armed and loaded Yukio since then, so I think they've both moved on. Ryuuji had also kind of helped lead to one of Yukio's sort of adoptive uncles dying a few days earlier, so I think Ryuuji mostly thinks that was earned. (It was a very messed up little while in that section of the manga.)

I feel like every couple of months everyone in aoex needs to remember that none of these characters are real and none of these situations are real and that they are story devices and plot devices and that they are young teenagers in the canon story and teenagers make stupid choices. Especially when they're tired, stressed, and being made feel like they're older/more mature than they are. (IE, when they're given jobs and responsibilities for others life's well beings.)

I could talk about Yukio being a mentally ill character who has been living in some form of fear since he was born. I could talk about him knowing he was Satan's bastard son for his entire life and knowing that his twin was a ticking time bomb of awakening into a possibly massively deadly demon, but likely no one will care and they'll already know that.

I could talk about Yukio being brilliant in pretty much every way but reading emotions, but people will still assume that any time a gun appears on screen that it is loaded with the most lethal of bullets and wielded entirely with the intent to murder. (And yet not make the same assumption about the flames of Satan that have killed vastly more people than we've seen shot on screen.) And they will assume that Yukio intended to kill instead of intended to interrogate or frighten or slow someone down.

Again, no one would really care about that and they would realize it if they read the manga because it talks over and over about the kind of bullets Yukio uses not being particularly harmful to Rin who seems to take Yukio's bullets like they're the kind in a nerf gun.

I could point out that no matter what Yukio does -- even when he unloads every Armumhael bullet in Rin that they have and he makes Rin entirely human for a few minutes -- that Rin is still the more powerful party. That Rin is the dangerous one in the situation. That one thing we should all be getting in this current arc is that Rin is a god next to these exwires. He got disintegration and disembowled and ripped apart and destroyed in a horrifyingly large number of ways and just kept on going like it was a big old nothing. He can go toe to toe with Satan so I feel like mortal Yukio and his little pistols probably can't do a damn thing against Rin even if Yukio wanted to.

I could talk about the fact that literally the most avid Yukio haters will never loathe Yukio as much as himself or the fact that Rin thinking he wasn't the most incredible person on the planet never even occurred to Yukio as a possibility despite the fact that Yukio thinks of himself as not worth being alive and can't see the way he's admired by a lot of people.

I could talk about the fact that the only person we've really seen Lewin comfort is Yukio, which means that even "I have no empathy for others" Lewin Light could tell that the boy was drowning under the weight of his own self-loathing and endless guilt, or that Shura has been watching him crack, or that Toudou, Lucifer, and Satan all picked him to be the one they tried to manipulate and crack and even pulled Renzou in on their drive to do that, and that Mephisto has also been manipulating and toying with him to try and push him to his own ends. Yukio just might be the most manipulated character in the entire damn manga.

But at the end of the day, the manga is there and people are capable of reading and looking at it themselves and I'd rather just read it and write my stories and draw my pictures and just. Be okay with a well written character who has acted pretty damn human in pretty much every scene he's been in. Who has fought with his super human brother and loved his super human brother and hated himself and is trying to make amends and still hates a lot about himself but is loved by his friends and is trying to save his world from his horrible extended family.

And once again, who is a fictional person that has committed fictional crimes and fictional acts of kindness. Drink something warm and soothing and touch some grass since Yukio and co are stuck in the frozen arctic and can't. (And fictional.)

[itsjaywalkers]

hi hi, would u be able to give us any oby facts and headcanons that maybe won’t be mentioned in the story?

OF COURSE NONNIE in fact i'd love to bc i've barely been able to write these past two days bc of work and . i miss them </3

they fuck at the very least once a day (usually more tho)

james goes to pick reg up from work whenever his job allows him to

this means that when he gets impatient waiting for reg to change he goes inside the staff room (since reg's coworkers already know who he is) and corners him . bc he can't wait long without putting his hands (or mouth) on reg

they've gone for quickies inside there SO MANY TIMES

reg is an absolute disaster in the kitchen, he keeps himself alive through instant ramen + the meal deals at tesco + what they feed him at work, so james cooks for him whenever he gets the chance

reg has a priv twt acc where only barty + the twins + sirius follow him and he makes very feral threads about james there (without mentioning james during the time sirius doesn't know)

reg's coworkers gossiped about reg and his mysterious partner for WEEKS bc he started being glued to his phone during shifts and he kept smiling and they barely know shit about him

mistletoes are Forbidden ever since that first christmas they all spent together after oby jeggy had finally made it official and they . ended up under one and what started as a very cute very soft kiss ended up as a heavy make out session with reg up against the wall, legs around james' waist and them grinding against each other in front of . everyone

james doesn't do casual. when he says to reg that he hasn't had sex in a while . he actually means that he hasn't had sex in over year . since his last relationship in fact

the first person james told about reg is lily (who is his literal ex and to whom he was engaged to mind) since she's the only safe option

sirius finds out about the daddy thing . and once it's out peter weaponises the shit out of it whenever he needs something from james

"reg james is being stubborn about dinner and i feel like having pizza tonight could u maybe drop a 'daddy' and change his mind"

reg scowls and rolls his eyes and refuses to play along just to turn around and drop a 'daddy' whener it suits HIM

barty asks reg at some point about who other ppl he's fucking apart from james since they're technically only hooking up and reg has a fucking breakdown when he realises 1. he's only been fucking james for months and 2. they're not exclusive which means james Must be fucking other ppl

i've already mentioned their need to be constantly touching skin on skin which . brings me to my next point

in winter or . just when it's cold and reg is all bundled up in a scarf and gloves and touching turns a lot more difficult bc of all the layers . james grips him by the back of his neck

he just slips his hand under the scarf and they walk around + stand around like that (me and mil are so feral over this)

reg does top a lot more often than ppl might think (and i cannot wait to write it)

despite how much reg loves sucking cock, james doesn't let him do it that much bc he'd much rather spend the time eating him out

oby james has a bit of an oral fixation (all of my james do tbh) so he's never happy with eating reg out once or until he comes one time . he goes all out

reg and peter make bets about how long it'll take james and sirius to go back to normal once the secret is out (reg cheats and wins)

and i'm gonna shut up now bc this has already gotten . too long

[lordelmelloi2]

On Hephaestion in Fate

Iskandar’s closest friend…though he didn’t think so himself. While his sister spread such information around, Hephaestion was aware that was simply counter-intelligence. Hephaestion was inserted at Iskandar’s side so as, even if only a little, to reduce the chance of him being attacked. [...]  If alive today, he would no doubt be accused of having a siscon streak in him. In a way, one could say that fear became accurate after his death.

From Hephaestion (person)'s entry in the materials of Lord El-Melloi II Case Files. Very frustrating to read.

I hate what Fate series is trying to do with Hephaestion and Iskandar's relationship, I Know explicitly they're trying to make room for fujo shipbrainrot here by saying essentially that they don't have to worry about it; but there's problems.

Urobuchi and Nasu and etc. have all stated Iskandar is bisexual, there is no way they could've made that judgment unless they explicitly acknowledged the nature of Iskandar and Hephaestion's relationship. The fact is also that the parallels between Iskandar and Gilgamesh and their respective "closest friends" are very blatantly apparent through F/Z and other incarnations that like to put them together and Case Files as a novel itself also hasn't really made any attempt to discredit Hephaestion's importance to Iskandar, either.

It's weird also that they even use the word 'siscon' here because it almost implies that Hephaestion didn't feel anything for Iskandar as much -- which is so fucking bizarre, because Iskandar's love of Achilles and the Iliad has been present during the entirety of F/Z and through FGO and other incarnations, who do you think was Patroclus? Like there is no actual fucking way they could strip that Hephaestion was the Patroclus out. Of course though they have basically all-but erased Patroclus from Achilles' story as well.

The thing though is that this does also imply a lot more Olympias machinations. Because we know Faker was also something that was Olympias' doing, taking Hephaestion's twin sister and molding her into a nameless body-double for curses to be redirected towards in order to protect Iskandar. If that setting is true then yes of course Hephaestion is going to be fiercely protective of her because he's acutely aware that his sister is being used for something so dehumanizing on purpose and she doesn't even care about it; she's also thoroughly stripped of her own mental self-agency in that she's truly devoted to Iskandar and her brother and that's it.

So it can almost be inferred that in the Fateverse that Olympias essentially set up Hephaestion and Iskandar to be best friends rather than it being their choice in Aristotle's classroom -- or perhaps that Hephaestion fit the bill for what Olympias was looking for and so she began manipulating the situation accordingly. Hephaestion has always historically been remarked upon as being the smarter one so I don't doubt he would see Olympias' nonsense with his sister and be upset about it right away. Though, I mean, it's hard NOT to be upset with what Olympias was doing through Alexander's childhood; she poisoned all his siblings, including one that he did care for, she pushed him constantly into the spotlight for the sake of power, she even at one point bought a prostitute for him and begged him to have sex with her because his disinterest in women and sex at that age was something she felt personally concerned with (again, powergrabs, but also, definitely covert incest shit in noble families). The last anecdote I've listed is one that's not stated in Fate series but is something that happened historically.

The question then is whether or not Fate wants to legitimize Hephaestion's feelings towards Iskandar as mutual. It's possible that the phrasing here would imply that Hephaestion merely believed he could not be as close to Iskandar's heart as he truly was; something that, given the amount of personal relationships Iskandar had, isn't a hard thought of self-doubt to keep. Iskandar had many relationships and all were very important to him for many reasons (Ionioi Hetairoi existing makes this obvious). It's just that truly, his relationship with Hephaestion was the Most important, and for Hephaestion to even be relevant in this manner or even discussable in this manner also adds to that.

If Hephaestion was (presumably) opposed to Olympias and protective of his sister, why would he follow Iskandar in the Fate verse, then? The benefit of course being power, which isn't something one would scoff at in this setting, but I truly doubt that Hephaestion would simply go for powergrabs if the whole point is that the people who followed Iskandar did so because they admired him and loved him. But that brings up another point.

Hephaestion has been absent from Ionioi Hetairoi and from character designs or materials despite his significance until the Case Files manga. There has been no depiction of Hephaestion himself in any material featuring Ionioi Hetairoi, the 10,000 strong army of Iskandar, of which features his most important relationships. Faker was also absent. What does this imply?

Faker's absence was due to protest. We know this from information from Case Files. Faker also has the ability as we know from Lady Reines' Case Files to be able to summon Ionioi Hetairoi herself, featuring Iskandar within it. One would presume Hephaestion also has this ability. But why is Hephaestion not there at all?

A few options -

Hephaestion IS there, Waver just doesn't want to talk about him because he's insane in the head or whatever

Hephaestion is there, but in the back or something -- his role being not forefront is the reason why he's in the shadows; something that is remarked upon in historical analysis as to why we know so little about Hephaestion even now. Hephaestion's role traditionally was to do a lot of the "dirty work", and so his position was less favorable to put the spotlight on in comparison to the sun-shining glory of Iskandar.

Hephaestion is not there because of protest, much like his sister.

Hephaestion is not there because he is not that important of a relationship to Iskandar...

Hephaestion is not there because he doesn't truly exist.

I generally feel like I trust Makoto Sanda to not go this route, but there has been (somewhat baseless) speculation that Hephaestion was actually Iskandar's split personality. I Highly Doubt That This Was The Case in Fate series given the way it has treated Hephaestion thus far as a figure, but it would explain why Hephaestion has been a complete phantom in the series and in Iskandar's recollection.

Though I think personally it's more likely that it's 2 or 3, I don't think that it's out of the question for it to be the simply negligent option 1 or the outright ahistorical option 4.

The other question is: why is Fate series so negligent of Hephaestion?

That's easy to answer from certain standpoints -- one is because it gives them more room to make money off of fans that are there from the sheer yaoi market that Isuwei as a pairing as brought in. Like from a marketing standpoint it is blatantly obviously advantageous to simply ignore Hephaestion until the end of time.

The other reason adding on to that is because in terms of representing gay content, Fate series really considers itself to have no liability to do so, especially when there's such a massive fan following for a male/male pairing. The fans make the majority of the content, so TM's work is done, and they can hand off crumbs to people hungry for them and keep fans of the actual historical figures begging for scraps with little things while rewriting it to suit their needs. It's the reason why Achilles doesn't have Patroclus despite the significance. It's also why the genderbends are so predominant; it's what's keeping the money going. In the recent GudaGuda event Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin's historical homoerotic relationship is explored but the weight of it lessened as Uesugi is not just a genderbend but also one of Takeuchi's designs. So the risk of straight male fan complaints about yucky gay stuff is lessened because Uesugi isn't "really a guy" in Fate here.

Type Moon hasn't really been one to look up to in terms of whether or not they will give realistic male/male representation in pairings; either one side of the pairing or both have to be in a female body, thus leaving what would normally be a m/m pairing as a "safer" yuri f/f pairing (which then benefits their marketing as well as the majoritively male fanbase is easier to sell to).

The problem though is whether or not it is going to mesh with the rest of the story.

As I said from a marketing standpoint it is obvious that ignoring Hephaestion is beneficial. But from a narrative standpoint -- and this is Sanda's challenge -- ignoring Hephaestion forever just doesn't make sense.

There is no Iskandar without Hephaestion. It is impossible to write a story about Iskandar that involves ANY aspect of the historical portion of him without mentioning Hephaestion. And the fact that Hephaestion was mentioned at all was Fate series' first mistake.

Iskandar's materials have him listed as Dhul Qarnayn, aka the Great King mentioned in the Quran as one of the ideal ways a King should exist. The reason for THIS is because of the Persian Alexander Romance. The Alexander Romance is basically a legend-version of Alexander the Great's story in which Hephaestion's presence is very little or just outright absent. It is a fantastical version of Alexander the Great's kinghood in which he performs many great deeds. There are Greek, Persian, Syrian, Hebrew, Ethiopian, Nigerian, Indian, Malaysian, Byzantine and even more chrono-regional versions of this story, and each one features that mysticism that made Alexander the Great into such a worldwide figure today.

It is pretty apparent that a lot of Iskandar's characterization comes also from the version presented in the Alexander Romance. His being Dhul Qarnayn solidifies this. It would have been easy to continue to ignore Hephaestion if they simply continued to go down this route -- the Alexander Romance features little stories featuring him, and glorifies Iskandar into this God-chosen figure, and in some versions, even as a prophet of God.

But in Case Files Faker is introduced and so is Hephaestion as a figure that did exist. Hephaestion is given some material, but never appears, except as a version spoken of by his newly-conceptualized twin sister. (Hephaestion did not have a twin sister in history, but that much should be common knowledge).

Hephaestion's absence then becomes this bleeding, gaping wound in the story, where the writing fails to stick to just one version of Iskandar -- and chooses to also associate with Alexander the Great the Historical version. Hephaestion's absence leaves this hole at the core of a lot of Iskandar's lacking characterization, where we see this vibrant, energetic character full of appreciation and care and love for those around him, except the man he was told to have loved and been close to the most.

And again. Hephaestion's importance to Alexander within history itself cannot be understated. I've mentioned before the sheer amount of money that went into Hephaestion's funeral, the fact that Alexander started executing people who had beefed with Hephaestion before (Eumenes was one such person who narrowly escaped the threat of execution because of his poor relationship with Hephaestion), Alexander executed the doctor who was in charge of Hephaestion and otherwise went on a complete megalomaniacal spree in the 8 months between Hephaestion's death and his own. There was no Alexander without Hephaestion. For Fate to come in and say that Hephaestion did not think he was the closest person to Alexander is to understate the megalomaniacism of the later Alexander's historical life, which strips from the character we are also inferred of through Faker's recollections in Case Files.

Faker often warns about getting too close to Iskandar, stating to Gray "The King is like the sun. Its heat burns away anything that gets too close." For the man who was considered equal to this sun, his absence is like that of a black hole where the rest of Iskandar's character is held. I also accept scraps of Iskandar's characterization here and there from various authors and depictions; I'm not saying I'm better than anyone on that note. But the frustration as an Iskandar fan I have at the sheer lack of consistency is what compels me to write on my own.

I generally have been very trusting of Makoto Sanda as an author to wrap up fine details, and he's generally been very consistent -- the inclusion of Ergo as Alexander IV's repo'd body in Adventures is still messy but the conclusion of Case Files was overall pretty decent. But it would still behoove him to write more on Hephaestion as a character or for the developers to genuinely consider adding in Hephaestion and fleshing him out; otherwise we miss so much of Iskandar and so much of what we think is going on in the Fate version of the Hellenic Empire history because that one piece is missing.

[xstarlightxstarbrightx]

adventuring rambles #3

oughghahfjkehh, so in my attempt to write out Caelestium (the poly) and my fanon of Genshin, i'm currently trying to figure out what game mechanics i want to incorporate and which ones i'm gonna just set to the side (i dont know how i'm gonna make the Wishing System work but dw i'm looking into it rn)

in terms of game mechanics and such, i actually wanted to address Genshin's music in this post. b/c I LOVE,,, Genshin music. it's so good, i don't think i've ever played a game where i WILLINGLY go out of my way to listen to the in game music on my own, and then Genshin came along and i have PLAYLISTS of character music and location music. (dragonspine my beloved music location,,,,) so, BECAUSE of my love of Genshin's music, i felt like i had to find a way to include the music of Teyvat.

and how else than to pin it on Outlander Fuckery™???

specifically, my main h/c is that Lumine can hear the music of Teyvat, but no one else can. she's not from this world, and because of my previous h/c of her special connection w/ Leylines + purification + general energy compatibility, i feel like she perceives this world in a different way than others.

Lumine hears the music, but no one else does; this may actually seem implausible due to the fact that in the music events, we get the ability to play the character songs (and in the recent Arataki Itto event, people hummed the ambience music), however, i like to still posit a different interpretation of that:

the musicians who 'made' the music within Teyvat were, obviously, inspired by the places they're around. what if music, in Teyvat, is just pieces of Teyvat's heart slipping out in instruments by people who can connect to it ever so slightly? they don't hear it on the wind, but they feel it, and turn that feeling into the music that is known. Lumine just so happens to be able to hear the music that musicians have, at some point, felt and recreated (thus why some songs are utilized in events).

i really like to think about this b/c i love to consider Lumine's place in the world and how it affects her. can u imagine how incredibly lonely it is to see ur twin leave u behind in a world that isn't ur own? to know that u are probably older than this world has been alive? to see this world as something painful?

and then imagine that music of Mondstadt when u first walk through Starfell Valley. how beautiful it is, and how it gives Teyvat this sense of weight. i like to think Lumine fell in love with the music of Teyvat, and sees it as something so incredible. and then she learns that she's the only one who can hear it.

because she's not from here.

it is a bittersweet realization; to know that she can experience this world so differently in a way that is beautiful, yet knowing that that experience is an inherent reminder that Lumi does not belong.

Lumi often references the music as "Teyvat's Heart" and idk man it just is such a fascinating thing to look into and i'm kind of obsessed dw abt it.