#sorry if this is completely incoherent

[ianthewife]

“The only blood that’s going to save him is yours”

“You gonna be here when I wake up?” “That’s my line”

sick sick sick insane people god im unwell

[asexualbuthorny]

you know what i hate?

when bitches wobify Mu Qing and make him into a twink and i especially despise it when they do it for a ship with Feng Xin.

and okay he's not as muscular and more lean (hence being describes as looking scholarly) but do y'all fucking forget the man is a martial god in his own right? by no means is that man a damsel in distress that needs Feng Xin to constantly save him. he's smart, he's cunning and yeah he had a few vulnerable moments but by no means is he a poor wet meow meow he would kick your ass and laugh at you for being a failure. and yeah he's more lithe, especially when he's constantly next to Feng Xin who is kind of hypermasculine in fandom portrayals and impo (general "gigantic masculinity" anyone?) and those two are THE SAME FUCKING HEIGHT so why is Mu Qing always drawn to be much shorter than Feng Xin. and also maybe let's factor in the fact that Mu Qing was poor when growing and likely had to go without food so the lack of proper food while growing probably had an effect on his development(this just a hc btw but still it tracks). also this whole thing kind of smells really bad when people take Mu Qing, who is described as scholarly, and feminise him. it's really giving "EUGH!!! school is for girls!! only boys play sports!! academics=lame, feminine girly, war=cool, MASCULINE, done by REAL MEN URGH!!!"

y'all saw a man who is a war good who doesn't conform to your idea of a "war god" and went "no❤️that one is a femboi catboi twink who gets bent over by that one who DOES conform to my basic, no nuance idea of a war god"

get bent xoxo

[sunnyshinesunshine]

I love Kidnap Fam a lot, I really do, but I’ve seen a trend of brushing over the worst parts of Maglor and especially Maedhros’ history in Kidnap Fam works.

And I suppose that’s fine sometimes you don’t wanna deal with atrocities and you just want fluff.

But I think a lot of the time when writing the Kidnap Fam there’s a tendency for mostly Elrond to sort of excuse the actions of the House of Feanor.

I think maybe that’s because it is hard to conceptualise Mags and Mae being both kind to the children and villains at the same time.

And don’t mistake me, I think all the sons of Feanor were villains by their deaths. Maedhros, in my opinion, is the definition of ‘die a hero or live long enough to be a villian’.

Being critically online (guilty) I find it hard to remember that the world isn’t black or white. People are multifaceted. Their goodness doesn’t wipe away the harm they’ve done and vice versa.

All this to say that I’m really looking forward to some more Kidnap Fam fics that explore the idea of Elrond loving and honoring them as his parents, all the while being like ‘yeah they were also horrible but I still love them and don’t think they should be doomed forever’.

Because at the end of the day, neither Mags nor Mae were truly monsters (just straight evil with no goodness), but people who were capable of hunting for hours for a pair of lost boys, and refusing to burn the ships for love, as well as slaughtering an entire city full of refugees.

So yeah! Let’s see some Elrond having complicated feelings about that!! Woo!

[redr0sewrites]

I will gladly ask you to elaborate!

Somno with Sub Dickie who wakes you up by humping your leg. He’s all blushy and shy because he feels so needy, but he can’t help it when you look so pretty.

He starts apologizing but he doesn’t stop. It feels too good. Then you offer to help him, teasing him, of course. But he has to do all the work.

Ugh, edging him while he’s half awake would get you the prettiest noises because he won’t bother hiding anything, not that he normally would.

URGRHRHRHRH I LOVE THIS SM HELLOOOOOO?????? he'd be so whiny too like omg... i'll do some fancy headcanons for this another time but for now have this ♥️

Dick Grayson is soooo into somno and he tries to deny it soo much until one night you wake up to him grinding against your thigh in the middle of a wet dream, still deep in slumber.

you let him keep going until he wakes up, and tease him mercilessly until he admits that, yea, he's thought about fucking you in his sleep before, please don't think he's weird- only to realize that you are just as aroused as he is, and asking for him to explain his dreams in detail so you can recreate it... and yet, he can't! he's just too embarrassed, it's too dirty to share.

so, the next best option? fuck him while he's half asleep and edge him until he uses his words and tells you what he needs, except he's too needy and sleepy to even form a coherent sentence and ends up cumming all over himself way too quickly.. that's okay though, you still have all night ♥️

[imalwaysaslutforthevoid]

The Summer Hikaru Died and onomatopoeia

I've wanted to gush about this topic for a while and i have no organized thoughts but a lot of feelings i need to get out. First and foremost being "Holy shit this manga is so damn loud" which is a weird feeling to have since manga is generally understood to be a silent medium.

And yet the Mangaka MokuMoku Ren has filled their work to the brim with sound. Now comics using onomatopoeia (words that echo a noise ie: crunch) is nothing new the sound of a fist hitting it's target and walls being wrecked is nothing new. But usually onomatopoeia is worked into whatever action is resulting in the noise

adding both a sense of motion as well as sound. Which is what makes The Summer Hikaru Died's use of it so unique and compelling. To utilize onomatopoiea you have to give up on space that could otherwise be going to deatil work in the background or foreground. Now this is fine with smaller unobtrusive effects like Wolverine's claw extending, and there's numerous example's where a sound will take up large portions of the page to show how loud something like a bomb going off is. But i've yet to see another comic western or otherwise so consistently use this facet of the medium to instill such claustrophobia and dread. As a slower paced horror manga The Summer Hikaru Died builds it's suspense mostly through atomosphere, the supernatural happenings weighing on the surrounding evironment until they break the surface

The use of sound is heavy, it's harsh, it's a vehicle to show how wrong things have gotten from the whisper of "it's coming" heard in the ringing bell of a train crossing to the omnipresent call of birds, bugs, and frogs that pushes in on the paneling shrinking the world with their cacophony.

the way sound shrinks the world making reader and character both feel suffocated by the drone is matched by how the manga uses silence as a way to make the characters feel exposed and vulnerable. the page is now empty of distraction the world of the story on full display and it still feels wrong it's agorophobic, at least amidst the din there was some sense of anonymity being just one voice among hundrends.

even the speech bubble feels out of place as it wanders off desperate to fill the space. The manga is full of these moments of sound and silence in some dance with eachother always too much or too little, never comfortable. It adds a lot to the horror of the manga, and is just one part of many that makes The Summer Hikaru Died such an excellent manga, every chapter I can feel my skin crawl as the setting becomes more hostile to the charactres while they uncover more of the truth of their circumstances.

[saccharinescorpion]

witch hat atelier spoilers (up to chapter 66)

the thing about Galga and Atwert is like. you're introduced to them like that and you're like "oh that's nice :) gay rights :)" and then That happens to Galga and you're like "wait was Galga being gay just introduced to make it hurt more when he's (symbolically) killed off??? i expected way better from this series :/" and then Atwert comes back and it turns out he's a lot more than just the side character soft boy boyfriend. And Then he figures out how to buck the law and save Galga from being sent away, but it's only by making him his apprentice. and that's so tragic and- and i don't think this is unintentional- actually reflects the reality of same-sex adult adoption, a practice many gay couples were forced to partake in to retain their rights, and a practice still alive in Japan (see "Why I Adopted My Husband"). AND THEN Galga ends up saving Ininia, the one who took his memories in the first place, and bringing her along with the two of them, inadvertly recreating the family unit with his forgotten lover and the source of their misery, with all parties having differing levels of knowledge of what "the truth" is and being unable to disclose it. and then you're like, wait, did Kamome Shirahama just take the token Wholesome Gay Background Couple you see a lot of nowadays, and then introduce tragedy to them, but then also eschew "Bury Your Gays" (symbolically in this case) to keep them together, and then make them a cog in the main story in a way that engages with the overarching themes of the narrative AND touches on real world issues? did Kamome Shirahama just do " what if they were a wholesome found family :)" but in a way that's actually really fascinating and bitterly tragic and ironic? are comics good???????????????

[54625]

I'm thinking about that conversation that Fit and Ramón had down in that crater (the one where Ramón convinced Fit that acknowledging and pursuing his feelings for Pac were worth it) after all these months and I'm not really sure what prompted that but. Man. What a fucking brilliant scene that was in retrospect.

That conversation wasn't just Ramón kicking Fit up the ass and telling him to take the plunge with Pac; it was also a really good insight into Ramón as a character.

The angle that Ramón used was 'you need someone other than me to take care of you' which just makes a miserable amount of sense to be something for a kid like Ramón to believe. Even before all the eggs went missing, he was scared of death, painfully aware of the reality of it after the party during the elections arc. Going missing would have only made him even more aware of the fact that not only was he 100% mortal, but also that his dad would have no one if he died.

First and foremost, he cares for his dad more than anything else, and just wants him to be happy.

Secondly, he's a very smart kid, he's logical. We know this. He's not afraid to visit the idea that one day he might go missing again or even die, and he wants to prepare his dad for this eventuality because it just makes sense to be cautious.

Thirdly, we not only saw the extent of how much Ramón cares for Fit, but also how well he knows him. He not only knew exactly what Fit was deflecting and why, but knew exactly how to convince him to accept it. Fit and Ramón have always been thick as thieves, them against the world, and Ramón knew full well that he was the only person who could reason with Fit on this matter.

And it was all so in character for Fit too, still denying and deflecting until he's eventually made to concede by his boy, because who else could it possibly be. It just makes so much sense for that to be the turning point for his character and and and -- Dude I could talk about that scene all day. TV level shit

[madbard]

The journey from “heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I” to “I’d walk through hell on living feet for you” is a sweet and violent one; a transformation that cannot be undone.

At what point does passion become destructive? Can a strong enough love ever truly be separated from the desolation it begets?

What is this world, that leaves a lover frozen?

Some say that flames redeem through suffering, all we know for certain is that they reduce their kindling to ash.

Is not your lover a part of the world? Are not you?

To destroy everything for a moment of warmth - the promise of paradise turned to ash outside your reach. All the promises in the world are not worth that heat.

[smiley-mcdoggington]

"he probably just wants to pet his fucking gerbil" godd I love how this is so funny and so sad at the same time. How it seems like all this has already become a tentative routine for them. Ford doesn't even seem to realize the amount of power he holds over these two, not when he already feels so fragile himself. The fear and uncertainty both of them feel in a situation where they're entirely powerless, how Mr Pines sees Ford as something to be appeased. It's like it's hard for them to even see him as a person, rather than a force of nature that they have to keep watch for and who just sort of happens to them sometimes. I love the imagery of giant sixer looming in the darkness just out of sight... Terrifying and undeniable and totally oblivious to how skewed the power balance is between them.

I like the awkward sort of dance Ford and the stans doing around each other... Ford's had them for 30 years but he doesn't know who they are. They've become strangers that he is inexplicably extremely attached to. They don't know him or even trust him. Ford doesn't even know how to approach them. The Stans have to contend with the knowledge that they were this man's comfort items for 30 years, and what that must do to his perception of them. And of course Ford's happy they're alive and he wants to be good to them but not being able to pick them up whenever he needs is wearing at him. The way he must always stare at them, expectant, longing, clearly wanting something but not sure how to ask for it... Something that they aren't even sure they can give him in the first place. Can you stop being a person again for just a moment? I need to hold you for a little while.

I don't doubt Ford has little wish fulfillment fantasies of being able to hold both of his living chips while the Stans cuddle each other and hold their baby, all of them tucked against his heart and safe in his hands. Keep dreaming Ford it's never gonna happen

YES THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU GOT IT!!!!

It doesn't help that Mr. Pines already has quite a bit of that need to please, it got worse after he got married, now instead of having to roll over to come home and see his daughter he has to roll over for Literally Everything, he can't get food, he can't get water, he can't get somewhere comfortable to sleep, he can't get anything for Jules, he can't even try. It means he's gotta please, and yeah there's something weird in his chest going on when he thinks about how Ford cared about them for years when they were even more useless than they are now but also this is Mr. Pines way of being in control of the situation. If he knows what to do, it's almost like he's choosing to do the right thing.

And Ford. This does such an interesting thing to him because he's so adamantly against having Stanleys be his poker chips but he's still using them. If he was only doing what was morale with corpses he would have buried them 30 years ago, they're alive because Ford wanted to prove he was better just like he always is. Prove he's better than his peers, his superiors, the alternates of himself, he's better because he kept these two safe, he's better because he didn't abandon them like their Fords did, he's better because he in a worse scenario than other Fords, won these two. I love the poker chip comparison because yes they're so so valuable, cash them out and they could change Ford's life, but in the end they're still pieces in a game until Ford cashes them out, grows them to be actual people again, and Ford is taking his damn time because he's just been sitting at that table so long he doesn't know how to quit.

[cutter-kirby]

i could talk about the parallels between the dreemurr siblings and the skeleton brothers and how one is more reserved and is closely related to your choices and willing to make the hard choices that their brothers can't while the other is more energetic and refuses to kill even in the face of certain death and is closely tied to belief and hope and how both are so extremely codependent and how the dreemurrs were doomed because of it but the skeletons avoid their fate

but instead i'll just say that chara and sans are joined in "my brother is the coolest" solidarity

[shares-a-vest]

@bowtieandflannel I have two Clarkson-related wips going at the moment buuut, of course, new brainworms are brewing...

Okay, so the Vecnapocalypse happens. But in a s4 fix-it way (so no one dies/everyone lives, but Hawkins is destroyed nonetheless). The Munson's trailer is torn in two, as is the quaint suburb Scott Clarke lives in.

Scott finds out about the trailer park via radio (he has it for emergencies in this inexplicably weird and slightly spooky town he resides in).

And he panics. His first thought is Wayne.

He and Wayne have been seeing each other for a while and their relationship is kinda-sorta casual, but they really care about each other but don't know how to move forward with their relationship. There's tension, pining, angst etc.

Anyway, cut to the two of them desperately looking for each other in the madness of the 'earthquake'. Plus Wayne is looking for Eddie (I'm thinking good ol' fashioned, 'He is hiding out at Steve's).

Orrrr...

Scott's house is destroyed, he moves in with the Munsons. Serious Relationship Clarkson™ ensues.

The Munson's house gets destroyed and they move in with Scott (and Eddie is like whaaat, why is my uncle 'friends' with a middle school teacher). Serious Relationship Clarkson™ ensues.

[winter-spark]

Do you guys ever think about the amount of pressure and how draining it must be to have been Orange growing up?

No no like seriously think about it, think about it.

When everyone found out that Citron would be next in line for the throne, Orange was dragged into the spotlight with him. It had to have been from the jump that people who didn't want Citron, the son of a commoner, as King latched onto Orange.

"Orange would be a better fit." "Orange should be king." "Why the son of a commoner when the next son isn't one?"

Like Orange probably heard stuff like that all throughout his life, that's a lot. To immediately be put in a box as a better fit for ruler, and you know it was a lot of pressure because he then dedicated his life to proving that point. He had to be better than his hard-working, calculative, already training/set-to-be-the-King older brother, when from the get-go people preferred him.

Sure Citron worked to win over the public's opinion but don't you think that hurt more? So many thought you'd be a better fit and now they're saying your brother is a good fit, that they're happy and satisfied with that? What? Was your hard work not good enough? Were you somehow worse than him? Did you dissatisfy the people?

Orange grew up feeling in constant comparison to Citron. Feeling in the eye of the people. Knowing that if anything happened to lead to Citron not being King, he was next up. And even with the number of people who liked Citron, there were still people who thought Orange should be King instead, including extremists, one of which worked for Orange directly for who knows how long. He couldn't relax, he couldn't quit, he didn't have the room to.

They tell us that Citron couldn't get along with his brothers because the competition for the crown but we don't get to see it from Orange and Navel's perspective much. We know they were curious enough about Citron that they'd copy some things he did, such as reading one of his favorite books. But let's not forget they had a negative takeaway from that book, they didn't get it. Their world, though similar to Citron's, has colored their lenses darker than his, to where they couldn't see the positive over the parts that didn't make sense to them, over the negative. Also, they see Citron as lucky, that he was born under a lucky star. While Citron was the one to say they then must've been born under unlucky stars, they already were somewhat thinking that to point out how lucky Citron is. After all, they had to have been comparing his luck to something to conclude he was lucky.

Being Orange was being bitter and cold and working hard to accomplish a goal. A goal many thought you were suited for, to the point that you believed it yourself, that you had to prove it to your father-- to everyone, that you had to be ready if it ever came to pass. And that's what he did.

He worked hard, and plotted, and schemed, and grew so desperate. And it wasn't even because he hated Citron. Because he doesn't hate Citron. Orange resents Citron, he thinks it should've been him instead, he thinks he needs to prove himself better than Citron, he thinks Citron is in his way. But he doesn't hate him. If he hated him he wouldn't read his favorite book to try and get that bit of understanding. If he hated him he wouldn't care if Citron died, so long as he got the throne. But he did read that book, and he did care that Citron lived, making it clear that he thought just kidnapping him was suffice. So yea, Orange didn't do all of that out of hatred for Citron, but moreso out of (self)obligation, expectation and determination.

It was hard in his earliest years for him not to desire the crown, the comments against Citron likely initially felt somewhat as a compliment. So of course, it became something more something he just had to make tangible. People believed he could, he believed he could, he just had to get there. He'd been convinced from a young age that this was what he wanted. And maybe he really did. But it wasn't easy and all his hard work never seemed to come to fruition.

He worked hard and people grew to like Citron as next in line. He studies to be prince, was days away from his coronation, and Citron shows up for the crown. Orange kidnaps his brother, (says no on the killing of him) to try a last ditch effort of getting the crown because if Citron was coronated he wouldn't get any other chances. But the one person who was supposed to be on his side and listen to him directly, didn't and everything went up in flames, which he didn't want, and he's been stripped of the chances to become king(because he did set up basically an attempted hit on his brother). And his reputation was completely tarnished, being blamed for things he didn't do, such as breaking the translation device.

Of course, Orange's actions are his own and of course he has to make up for the harm he's caused and of course people's view of him was gonna change. But gosh it's so exhausting being Orange, working your whole life for the affection, respect and approval of the people, of your father, and for it all to turn to dust. All that hard work down the drain.

You think he ever wished he was Tangerine? Blissfully out of the race for Crown, able to have time without people looking closely at your actions in comparison to Citron's, able to breathe?

[celestialrealms]

from barbatos’s 20 intimacy phone call

i feel like this more or less confirms diavolo was quite young when he “convinced” barbatos to become his butler. (i feel a bit vindicated by the fact that diabarb has always been a squick of mine lmao) 

anyway so ignoring the context of this call (which SHOULD have been longer!! justice for barbatos!!) time to ramble about their relationship for a second hfdjfdhdf

i’m honestly kind of emotional about the fact that while, yes diavolo is a demon and does demonic things... both the narrative and characters like solomon will make a point to show that by the standards of demons, diavolo is a good person? And you can tell how much barbatos loves him even if he considers (or says) serving him is a selfish act of atonement 

idk this is incoherent, but something about the found family dynamic between the character with objectively the most “demonic” history and diavolo who is trying to change the devildom for the better and, YES, is framed as being objectively morally “good” for a demon gets me SO MUCH. this is honestly my favorite familial relationship in obey me 🥺

[kradogsrats]

oh hey out of nowhere it's 1500 words of Claudiangst, possibly some kind of spiritual sequel to that Viren one from pre-s5

—

Claudia sits on a stone beside the Sea of the Castout, and sharpens her knife.

It’s not quite dawn, and the coming morning promises to be bright and clear—she can almost imagine that it’s just another sunrise in Xadia, and the last few days were a terrible and confusing dream. Maybe even the whole month. The ruined stump below her knee, radiating the dull, persistent ache that was as far as she could reduce the pain with what she had in her satchel, destroys the shelter of that fantasy.

The repeated motion of the blade against stone helps a bit, like her calming mantra once did. There is no synonym for cinnamon, there is no synonym for cinnamon—every stroke a little sharper, a little clearer, a little more deliberate. The soft lapping of the waves against the shore might have done the same, once.

She’d almost drowned. Without the potion, her shifted form hadn’t lasted. She’d kicked desperately toward the surface with one leg while bitter seawater and blood rushed into her lungs. When she finally broke the surface, choking and exhausted, it took everything she had just to stay afloat. There was no way she could swim to shore—only drift, watching the sky slowly darken. At some point, the tears came, hot on her sea-chilled face. By the time she washed up on the rocky beach, she’d been incoherent with pain and grief.

The transformation was also the only thing that kept her from bleeding out—her pentapus limbs fusing back together as they returned to human form had mostly closed the wound. Terry had stripped her out of her soaked clothes and wrapped her in a blanket, her body shivering uncontrollably from cold and shock. He’d bound her leg where it was still oozing blood, and he and Sir Sparklepuff fretted over her late into the night as she alternated between chills and feverish delirium.

She holds the blade up to examine it in the pre-dawn gloom, tilting it to catch whatever light it can. It’s a good knife, slim and elegant and curved. It has always been, ever since she found it on the body of a Sunfire elf while picking through the abandoned battlefield. It's far from the least useful thing she's harvested from the dead.

Still, it's not sharp enough. For now.

Wracked with sorrow and fear and pain, she barely slept an hour. But she dreamed.

She'd been back at the center of the sea, standing above it as if it was no more than a puddle. The surface below her was smooth as glass, perfectly reflecting the sky overhead—so overflowing with stars that she couldn't tell if it was night or day. Blood seeped slowly from her leg and dripped into the dark water, lurid in the harsh light, ripples spreading out of sight.

Aaravos’s voice came to her, echoing from every direction. Soft as a whisper, but vibrating through her bones like thunder. We are all stardust, bound together only by love.

She spun, foolishly hoping to see him there. If she could just plead her case to him—she could do better. She would do better. She'd been foolish, thinking her old friends would understand her. Sentimental. She wouldn't make the same mistake again.

There was no one. She was alone between twin tapestries of stars, indistinguishable save for the red ripples that faintly disturbed the one below.

Someone once thought those words would comfort me. Do they comfort you?

“No,” she said. Her voice cracked. “They don’t.”

I thought not. Soft laughter, the kind of indulgent chuckle where it was impossible to tell if you were being laughed with or at—not cruel, but indisputably superior. They did not comfort me either, but I can give you something that might.

Her mouth trembled, eyes burning. She wanted so badly to be wrong, for him to have lied to her, for there to somehow be another chance. “You already said there's no way to bring him back a second time.”

All that could hold him here is cut loose. He is beyond your reach, now.

She couldn't stop her tears, but gulped in a breath and held it to keep from sobbing. It was her fault. She had failed. If she’d only—

If Ezran had just told her where the prison was—

If Callum hadn’t been so stubborn about bringing the baby Archdragon to Xadia—

If Soren had would have killed the elf back when she'd feigned sleep in that stupid, beautiful moonlit garden—if she'd made him, instead of indulging his stupid, childish sense of sportsmanship and honor—everything would be different. Everything would be fine.

She should have realized then that her brother wasn't on her side. Not really. Not like she'd been on his. Not like she'd always been on their family's side. She'd thought he loved her. She'd thought Callum had loved her, or at least liked her. Even Ezran had abandoned her, now. Everyone was gone. She only had Terry.

But I am not.

And Aaravos.

She breathed, shuddering inhales and exhales as she wiped at her face with her sleeve. "What do you want?"

I'm not the one you should be asking. Search your heart, child—there is still something you want very badly. Something that, with my help, lies within your grasp. If you are strong enough to take it.

She would already have everything she wanted, if she hadn't—if Callum and Ezran and that elf hadn't gotten in the way. If the boys she'd once thought of as her best friends hadn't left her for dead, choking and and bleeding and alone in open water. She'd done a lot of things she wasn't proud of—but she would never do that. Not to someone she cared about. They should have known she wouldn't actually hurt Ez.

She still didn't want to hurt him. Not much.

Callum, though—Callum she wouldn't mind hurting. The elf she'd cheerfully tear apart with her bare hands.

The sky continues to lighten, and she holds up the knife again. It's sharp now, like new—it will cut swift and clean. Traveling Xadia for two years, she'd learned a lot. How sharp a blade had to be, the amount of strength it took to sink it deep enough, where and how to cut. Back in Katolis, it had once sickened her to put her hands around a fawn's fragile neck to save her brother. She'd cried with frustration and shame as she struggled, trying to ignore the creature's panicked bleats and thin, flailing legs. Now, she could cut its throat before it even realized what was happening. Ruthlessly. Mercifully.

It can still be better. She returns to the stone.

Fortunately, you already have something that can give you that strength.

Aaravos had told her what to do. Then she'd been plunged into the blood-red water below her, dragged down into the darkness. She'd fought, reaching toward the receding surface, but she was so deep she couldn't even see the light from the sky. As her strength and breath ran out, everything fading away into a soft, endless black, she thought she felt the brush of fingers against her own.

Sir Sparklepuff had been crouched beside her when she started awake, pawing at her as he stared down into her face from the dark. "Blood!" he croaked, scampering away when she sat up. "Blood, blood of child, bloodied child!"

The eastern sky was beginning to pale by the time she'd dragged herself into her clothes and mixed herself something to bring the pain of her leg down to bearable levels. She'd levered herself upright with her staff, hobble-hopping to a nearby rock. The rocky sand shifted under her with each step, only the staff and her own desperation keeping her from falling. If she went down, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to get up again.

She finally collapsed on the rock, chest heaving with effort from having crossed barely ten paces of beach. Aaravos was right—between exhaustion, pain, and blood loss, she wouldn't be going anywhere without a boost.

Her eyes fell on Terry, a little line of worry creased between his brows even as he slept, snoring lightly. He cared for her so much it made her heart hurt, but so had Callum and Ezran, once. Now she saw that he would only ever hold her back. If she still had those coins, Moonshadow elf would be in the palm of her hand. Even tossing them into the lava beneath Umber Tor, though a waste, might have broken her enough to disrupt whatever sway she held over the boys.

It will be best for both of them for her to leave him behind. Maybe he'll hurt for a while, but he won't see how cruel she can be. How cruel she will be, once she catches up with her prey. Let him remember loving a girl who still hesitated.

The first glimmers of sunlight peek over the horizon, and Sparklepuff is at her side. He gazes up at her adoringly, head resting against her good leg, the pale violet stretch of his throat exposed. The blade is heavy in her hand.

Claudia's knife won't get any sharper. She cuts swift and clean.

[squidcave]

i wanna know more about autism skulduggery

oh boy do I have some headcanons for you 😎

he doesn't like Christmas bc (iirc) of how excessive it is. Christmas is so much all the time for a month straight and it's overstimulating as hell. Instead of ever just saying that though, he'll just stick with 'i don't like Christmas'

People he's not close to call him cold/scary and say, fully believing it too, that he cares about no one but himself (and Valkyrie as others meet her) but that's just not true!! he cares about his friends a lot (first non Val example that comes to mind is him not telling anyone his theory on Saracen's magic. like he figured that out and kept it to himself until Saracen said something bc it was clearly an important secret), he just happens to have relatively few of those lmao

He's also been dressing in the same style for like,, a century there abouts? and has shown no interest in changing that any time soon, which, real as fuck

Also also, he does not give two fucks about what someone thinks of him. And if he doesn't like someone, they will know about it because why pretend otherwise? He can be cordial when necessary but like Guild? not even gonna try

Also also also, stimming!! (this is p much all entirely HC)

when he was a kid, he liked snapping his fingers (makes a sound AND an impact?? hell yeah) but, as you might imagine, the more he did elemental magic, the less he snapped until he stopped completely. Instead, he taps on things: arms, tables, steering wheel, files - pretty much whatever's in his hands at any given moment. The reason Valkyrie notices his tapping in phase one is because it's an irregular beat, when she's used to him tapping out something consistent and steady. Also, his gun. Tell me he's not using that thing as a fidget.

ok final thing, promise. He is so bad at emotions. and change. and the complicated emotions that go along with change. thinking about Lord Vile being the product of undealt with grief and anger and just that little bit of manipulation (thank you Abyssinia, slay) and how when Vile went away, those feelings did not. even in the present day, do we think he ever actually dealt with that? processed anything that's happened just in the books themselves? Mr Skulduggery 'Therapy Would Make Me Worse, Actually' Pleasant?? No, I don't think he did. Honestly I think him getting cats is the closest to therapy he's gonna get lmao

anyway, didn't mean to type up a fucking essay here but if anyone wants to hear more, I'm here forever 🫶

[cowboyskeletons]

and sparrow's son loves the world so much and loves everyone around him and how can sparrow tell him that the world is cruel? how can he tell him that love will be punished and that cruelty is the only way to survive? normal's love scares him, he loves his son so much but that love scares him. he would do and has done anything for his son but he knows that it has led to his own ruin. and he loves his son but too much love has only ever harmed him and maybe he can take a model from his own dad and multitask.

maybe he can love his son but he hates him too, hates that normal can love and hates that normal can be loved and hates that normal can be so oblivious to the cruelty around him in a way that he himself lost when the world ended. he wants his son to have everything but loathes that fact that normal'll never try. that he just accepts life as it is. the way his dad did, when sparrow saluted henry and went along with the world's end and turned a blind eye to his wife's infidelity.

he sees himself in normal, maybe. maybe he hates that. because he lost himself, that day he lost his father's care and his mother's respect, and he can't bear to see himself lost again. normal needs to be cruel because otherwise he will be crushed and sparrow can't do that again. can't let himself be crushed again.