#specifically also left out what he does with his clown

[cybertron-after-dark]

what the FUCK happens in cyberverse

Here's a list just off the top of my head, in no particular order. MASSIVE spoilers ahead.

-Wheeljack keeps making party drugs. This is not only accepted but wholly encouraged by the Autobots. He's made the bot equivalent to cocaine so strong it made grimlock physically unable to stop himself from running around the ship at mach 5. This was the basis for an entire episode. He's also made patches that give you a direct link to the Allspark that he passed out at a party specifically to get everyone as fucked up as physically possible. I cannot overemphasize that Optimus make no effort to stop this until things turn destructive on both occasions.

-Soundwave and Shockwave completely fucking hate each other and have a whole rivalry trying to be a better and more useful follower for Megatron than each other.

-Soundwave is a fucking memelord who will play clown music or dramatic riffs to dunk on people from the soundboard he has built into his hardware.

-theres a sort of liminal dimension referred to as Unspace that you can get stuck in and if you are there for too long you will straight up disintegrate. We see this happen to the entire crew aboard the arc from different timelines several times while the main timeline crew we follow tries to escape this fate, thus dooming dozens of other timelines.

-Cheetor is basically Allspark Jesus, and he's tired of all the fighting, so he tries to have Optimus and Megatron settle their differences once and for all. The chosen method for this was making them both play the Newlywed Game. They were both terrible at it, the MegOp Divorce agenda is alive and well.

-the Quintessons invade Cybertron and stick the entire population into a simulation a la The Matrix, which slowly drains their life force until they die. This kills countless unnamed Cybertronians, both Autobot and Decepticon, as well as Hound, who does not get to appear on screen.

-the Quintessons also catch Starscream, rip his face off, and modify him into an Eldritch tentacle beast with his brain attached to two other aliens, and then appoint that amalgamation as the judge that decides the fate of the universe in regards to whether they exterminate all life within it.

-Shockwave commits suicide for Megatron's approval. He launches his spark straight into the Allspark to taint it specifically as a last desperate fuck you to the autobots.

-Soundwave acquired laserbeak by just kind of grabbing a random bird out of the sky.

-Soundblaster is an ex-decepticon that left out of shame. That shame being Soundwave beating his ass in a beatboxing competition so fuckin hard he couldn't show his face around his faction anymore.

-The autobots keep starscream captive and try to get him to take a therapy session with the Arc's AI, and he starts out willing to actually give it a shot but said AI is kind of Stupid and screamer ends up tricking him into letting him escape through an air vent to go wreak havoc instead.

-Starscream also starts a suicide cult with the other Seekers, gains control of Vector Sigma and the Allspark, has the seekers forfeit their sparks to him, thus resulting in a cosmically powered Starscream. He uses that power to "remake" his followers into scraplets that he refers to as, with nothing but love in his tone, his "children."

-Shockwave and Wheeljack are shown to be ex lab partners. Shockwave has an army of drones that look exactly like his altmode that Wheeljack helped program. They are programmed to be able to break out into a coordinated dance number at any given time. Originally this was just to make Wheeljack laugh. Shockwave kept that function in throughout the entire war and initiates it the second there's a truce and Wheeljack asks to see it again.

-Shockwave kidnaps Wheeljack at one point for Science Under Duress purposes and Wheeljack is too invested in all the sweet fuckin tech Shockwave's been making while they were apart to really care that he's being held against his will, and then proceeds to escape without too much issue because he knows Shockwave well enough to know exactly how to disable everything.

-Bumblebee distracts the Decepticons by running in front of their surveillance cameras and shaking his ass in the most underwhelming way imaginable.

-Grimlock is only stupid when he's in his altmode because it takes a lot of power to sustain and he has to sacrifice some of his higher brain functions to keep it manageable. In robot mode he talks like he went to an Ivy League college and knows what champagne tastes like. He throws upscale parties every chance he gets.

-Grimlock also helped start an anticapitalist revolution with Bumblebee when he found an underground society of insect transformers that had a rigid caste system. This was within moments of finding out that the ultra wealthy were hoarding the limited energon reserves for themselves. Grimlock is a comrade and he does not fuck around.

-Skybyte is here and he sounds like Skeletor.

-Windblade and Slipstream are nemeses and somehow it's even more toxic yuri coded than Arcee and airachnid in tfp.

-speaking of Arcee, she's besties with Grimlock. They at one point have a physical fight over who gets to die to protect the other.

-hot rod and soundwave are forced to share leadership over the team of bots and cons that escaped the quintessons' simulation and it's packed with so much homoerotic tension its unreal.

-Maccadam is some kind of lovecraftian war machine that can unfold himself into a whole armory whenever he feels like it. We have no idea what his whole altmode looks like, all we see are the ominous shadows of the weapons on the walls. He uses this specifically as a threat to keep anyone from fighting in his bar bc he's insistent it remain neutral ground. He also can kinda just. See into the future. And casually drops prophecies that get written off as spoonerisms until they turn out to be relevant.

-Optimus Prime has horrific social anxiety that he can kind of power through when he's in a crisis, but the second things are chill and he has to give a speech at a party or something he simply does not know how to function.

-the entire planet of Velocitron gets taken over by cosmic rust and everyone inhabiting it that couldn't escape in time was killed horrifically.

-cosmos is a girl and she hangs out with a dude named Meteorfire who is, for all intents and purposes, just robot Steve Irwin.

-Astrotrain keeps closing doors in people's faces for the funny

-Megatron is killed by a version of himself from an alternate universe that went nuts and starting creating a master race of perfect Decepticons to inhabit Cybertron. Said perfect Decepticons were carbon copies of idw Tarn in all but personality.

-Acidstorm is canonically genderfluid and keeps switching between male and female seeker frames whenever they feel like it

-Kup, who had not been in the show at all until this point, decides to show up and narrate an entire episode like hes giving a political speech.

And, the infamous one we all know and love

-Megatron is a twitch streamer and he livestreams Starscream's fucking funeral. The chat has custom Decepticon emotes.

[prlssprfctn]

I'd love to see an AU where Jason is tossed into the pit and while his wounds heal, he is forever stuck in the body of his 15 year old self.

For Bruce, I think it would be more devastating being confronted by the 15 year old boy he lost. There isn't the physical disconnect of Red Hood Jason and Robin Jason. He was so small when he died, so full of life but now he's come back with so much anger and hatred. And how could he say no to his pleas. That was the body he had to carry, the one he had to bury, and the one immortalized in the Batcave. It's the same face he sees in his nightmares. That was his baby that he failed and he miraculously has been given a second chance.

For Jason, I think this only reinforces his belief that nothing has changed. His life and his death had no impact on anyone or anything. The work he put in as Robin to serve justice is meaningless when Gotham is still a hellhole. Batman and Robin fight the same rogues who are in and out of Arkham. The clown still walking. A death is meant to be the finale, an ending so permanent which is why they can't kill. But here he is again. No wonder he disregards the lives of scum, his had no weight.

And if Jason realizes that isn't the case he will only spiral move. Because everyone has moved on. He got replaced in months. Bruce is no longer smiling at him like the dad he remembered. Dick is actually here for his brother. They got to grieve, mourn, and move on but he is still stuck as his deathbed. He can't have a normal public life anymore and his vigilante life was taken away from him. What exactly does he have left?

Also an odd question you don't have to answer, but are you caught up on asks? I worry that I might have deleted an ask of a relationship/character analysis without sending it and would want to actually send it. But I also don't want to flood your inbox.

oh. my. god.

this is, like, one of the angstiest concepts of Jason about his return. i vote for adding *a little* body-horror, where not only his body didn't change, but some of his wounds are still phatomly there. not visible because the Pit does a good job of that, but not *only* felt by Jason. like sometimes his bones just slightly snap. or his shoulder is dislocated. random blood starts streaming out of his nose, ears, or mouth. he coughs with it. it doesn't *change* anything you see — he still functionates normally; he can and will simply snap his shoulder back, and return to work.

but the fact that even this doesn't change anything for him.

not his death, not his life, not his wounds, not any of his sacrifices — there is nothing that would change what he went through. isn't it just maddening?

answer to not-so-strange question: i didn't have any specific analysis/long posts in asks except for this :(

[oh-no-its-bird]

Fic where, in practicing to get edo tensei right, Orochimaru uses Izuna as a test subject and tries to substitute DNA to make it work, using Suigetsu's bc like it's extra flexible or whatever bc shape change

Edo tensei mermaid Izuna locked in a tube somewhere in Oro's lab,,

He's SO mad about it and has literally no information ab what's going on at all bc hes locked in a fucking tube !!

Bonus points if Orochimaru doesn't even specifically know who he is

They unearthed him w the rest of the founders on a whim but bc no one really requested him specifically, the body just kinda sat there and eventually got mixed in w the rest of the Uchiha corpses, till Orochimaru requests an Uchiha corpse and they shrug and send him over

He still has Madara's eyes too (left alone either by oversight / or bc they decided not to pull them before he got mixed in w the other bodies, who had by then already gotten scooped of their eyes so they assumed he'd already been harvested)

Ok but like. No one even tells him what happened/where he is/that madara made the village. Why would anyone?? The only one Izuna sees regularly is Orochimaru, and he doesn't know those facts would matter??

Izuna doesn't even know what Konoha IS, he isn't gonna recognize the name

From Izuna's perspective, he died in his bed and then BOOM. Tank time.

Orochimaru might tell him it's been some years since his death (thinking he died in the massacre) and even if Izuna doesn't believe him bc like, enemy, enemy territory, he sure as fuck probably won't be thinking "Ah yes it's been decades since my death and my brother went against my dying wishes to make that village"

Tho he might get nervous and start picking up those cues when he sees the tech

Oro mentions offhand that the Uchiha were all killed and Izuna immediatley assumes the Senju won the war and loses it

He'd figure it out eventually obviously (probably after being set free, most likley by Sasuke w Suigetsu) But he'd also probably keep that to himself, bc like, enemy territory n stuff

Mermaid shapeshifter Izuna terrorizes the shinobi world,, Sasuke doesn't know what he just unleashed.

Ok actually but like. Suigetsu's shape-shifting but bc Izuna has a fire chalra nature, make it liquid fire shape-shifting. Fuckin, fire mermaid Izuna. He has an awful time retaining his form and actually for the first chunk of time, him being in that tube is genuinley just for the best. He keeps turning into liquid fire with no real solid body and can't put himself back together for hours.

Izuna hears his brother is still alive and running Akatsuki and is so down to clown till he realizes THATS NOT HIS FUCKING BROTHER HOW DARE YOU USE HIS NAME

Anyways oh my god Izuna on team Taka,,

He and Sasuke would be SUCH a dynamic actually, they look alike so much?? Sasuke doesn't recognize him but he's clearly a close relation, so there's some mystery there. Sasuke is like super shaken by finding a member of his clan and Izuna, by that point aware that apparently the rest of his clan is dead, is sticking to him like GLUE. Sasuke is bitchy little brother coded and Izuna understands this is probably karma bc he is also bitchy little brother coded

They probably clash a lot, especially bc both are expecting to be in charge here, but ultimately I think they'd get along better than Sasuke does most people, and there's also that bonus vulnerability of like. Izuna is an older Uchiha boy who's trying to brother him (with a noticeably different brother-ing style to Itachi too) and Sasuke has been alone for so, so long.

Sasuke accidentally calls him nii-san then promptly has several break downs about it

Suigetsu and Izuna either get along ALARMINGLY well or they hate eachother. I think I wanna go with the first bc it sounds more fun. They couldn't talk to eachother in the tanks but they could still see eachother, so maybe they kind of developed some sort of code to communicate?

They are "cause problems on purpose" friends. They're also "wdym I can't kill him???" *looks of genuine confusion* buddies. They're giving Sasuke the biggest headache actually, someone stop them. If you leave them to "take care" of a problem, there will be carnage.

Also, like, Izuna literally has Suigetsu's DNA in him. That's a thing.

Mmm maybe some complex thoughts ab how Izuna has effectively become a bloodline thief against his will (the ULTIMATE taboo for shinobi from his era) and he's like, actually fucked up about it.

Running joke where they refer to each other as cousins, could be funny. They argue over who's the bastard child (it's Izuna obviously but he won't just take that title lying down)

Izuna is like, in his 20s, and Karin is around 16 or 17 at this time I think?? She definatley has a bit of a crush on him (which helps take the edge off Sasuke) but like, he's not acknowledging that beyond patting her on the head. She'll get over it eventually. (Sasuke hides behind Izuna when Karin is trying to flirt w him and Izuna absoloutley laughs at them both)

Izuna is actually really impressed w Karin's sensing abilities specifically. I think he'd be a bit on edge around her at first, bc Uzumaki -> Senju ally. But he'd quickly assume she's a deserter (he has no idea the Uzumaki are pretty much wiped out rip) and becomes cautiously chill after a minute or two (also when he first escapes, he REALLY doesn't have the luxury to pick and choose his allies. He's instantly attached to Sasuke and cautiously fond of Suigetsu, and Karin seems to have Sasuke's trust at least, so he'll keep an eye on it but otherwise trust Sasuke's judgment)

Izuna and Karin besties arc where they paint eachothers nails is a must. I love the take that Izuna is really into fashion n stuff and he and Karin should like, trade hair tips or smthn. Karin knows modern soap brands where as Izuna bought his soaps from clan vendors who no longer fucking exist, so like, it's definatley helpful.

Karin is the only one of them to have any real hint of where tf Izuna came from (tho even she doesn't have the full details) it'd be cool if she was the one to figure out more details ab his general mystery— maybe something about her chakra sensing gives her a hint as to how old he really is?? Or she finds the paper trail that hints towards the bodies being mixed up???? Idk but she deserves to have an "aha!" moment

Also Izuna's medical knowledge/standards are NOT up to modern and Karin is so mad about it, she's giving him hella lessons on first aid n shit and he's very, very interested in all this free medical knowledge

I know the least about Jugo so bear with me on this one pls— I think Izuna would find Jugo to be pretty fascinating as a person actually. He enjoys tentatively poking him with sticks, and comes to genuinley like him as a person (when he's calm) pretty quickly

Also cats love Izuna so he gets bonus points from Jugo bc of that, they can bond while petting Izuna's contracted cats or smthn idk

Yeah I really don't know much ab Jugo so that's all I have to offer sorry

Ok let's backtrack a bit, back to Orochimaru ->

Fun scene towards the very start of the fic, where Izuna still has no fucking clue what's going on, but recognizes Orochimaru as a member of the Orochi clan. He says as much, and Orochimaru has to pause.

No one's mentioned his clan to him in years. They haven't been relevant in Konoha since Orochimaru was born— even before that, they were barley relevant. Izuna should not know who they are.

(The only reason he does know is bc they had a neutral to positive relationship w the Uchiha back in the warring era, and Izuna had visited them once before)

Immediatley, Orochimaru is squinting at this guy. He's giving Danzo a ring asking who exactly he got sent over, but Danzo doesn't actually have anything to offer him??? The paperwork is a mess and there were a LOT of Uchiha. He's not registered as a shinobi tho.

Hmmmm.... ok.

Orochimaru is suddenly aware there's some kind of mystery here now, which is dangerous for Izuna. Izuna is, again, in enemy territory, and he's able to pick up on the fact that Orochimaru doesn't actually know who he is. This ofc means that HE sure as hell won't be telling him.

Maybe he bares his teeth and sarcastically says he's the second coming of Uchiha Madara (not even that big of a lie when u think ab it)

Pivoting time ->

Izuna is listed in the data books as like, being equally as talented as Madara and I think we should talk ab that more actually

I love Tobirama but he really did get him by surprise

Izuna just got cocky and taken by surprise!!

HE DIDNT EVEN GET COCKY HE JUST LOGICALLY DIDNT EXPECT TOBIRAMA TO FUCKING INVENT TELEPORTATION

Then he went down in the history books both in canon and out of it as the weakest of the 4, that's so tragic

Izuna gets mermaid edo tenseid and (once people know who he is) everyone is like "Ok well at least he's uhh. The weakest of the 4 right?? I mean tobirama killed him when they were like only 19/20 so we'll probably be fine???"

Then he just fucking bodies them all bc hes a nightmare actually AND on whatever special test trial edo tensei steroids they gave him

Izuna is fueled on rage and spite and he's full up on both

Imagine he gets the full story of everything that happened while he was dead too, like.

Ok so Madara goes against his EXPRESS dying wishes and makes his village. (what the fuck!!) Then backs out (yay!!) but in an awful way that effectively fucks over the entire clan for years to come (nii-san what the FUCK)

Then gets literally backstabbed by Hashirama (HE FUCKING TOLD YOU!!! WHAT DID HE FUCKING SAY!!!!!)

Then the Uchiha seem to thrive and like. Ok. He's still mad about it, but at least something... kind of nice came out of it.

THEN BOTH THE VILLAGE AND MADARA'S(?????) SCHEMES KILL THEIR ENTIRE CLAN

Izuna is SO mad at literally everyone, holy shit. The only one safe from his rage is Hikaku, god rest his poor, poor soul

Actually, I think it'd be funny if Izuna was like, indescribably extra awful mad at everyone— but then is like. Normal mad amounts at Tobirama, who was a bitch but at least didn't seem to carry on a personal fucking vendetta against the Uchiha like EVERYONE ELSE INCLUDING FUCKING MADARA FOR SOME GODDAMN REASON

Izuna is going like, "FUCK you, FUCK you, OH, EXTRA FUCK YOU—" then squints at Tobirama and goes "...fuck you." Then goes back to screaming

To be clear, Tobirama absolutely contributed to the end of the Uchiha, but like. A) it'd be funny, and B) at least his seemed slightly less on purpose than literally everyone else

There's also I think a difference of like. Izuna never expected Tobirama to suddenly turn around and be pro Uchiha

Where as everyone else (again, including his brother!!) Was like. A genuine betrayal

Tobirama fucking over the clan was never a surprise

He never pretended to be on their side (like Hashirama lowkey did)

Tobirama vs Izuna but it's them getting to relive their rivalry where as Izuna vs literally anyone else is emotionally charged as hell and filled with demented screaming

Leaving it there for now, I might actually try to write this one but who tf knows

[nexahexagon]

Thoughts r swimming with Warden!Sneeg, or specifically Sneeg having been a warden/skulk infected since the beginning. And his tendency to be constantly alone.

Rambles and semi headcannons on tr!Sneeg under cut (fairly long, apologies, and written from before the first ball)

(All of this is headcannons on the characters and how I view each as a sole Sneeg watcher. Also, I’m taking potshots into lore that hasn’t been completed, and we have no idea whats gonna come of it so. Might be firmly into au territory here.)

Like how a Warden protects its city, Sneeg wanting to protect his friends, be around them. He holed up with Philza in the beginning, they were gonna have an upper floor for him if I remember correctly. And Fit was apart of it as well, even going so far as joining yellow with Sneeg.

But they left.

Sneeg even (albeit jokingly) said he had tally’d the walls for every day his friends had gone, and that he’d missed them, and they’d left him.

And even after that, Phil left to his mushroom island. And Sneeg followed. Sneeg calls it “their island” while Phil calls it “his island”. And Phil isn’t doing this maliciously, I don’t think, it’s just that it was his, and Sneeg followed. Because despite it all, he wasn’t going to leave his friends behind.

But they left.

Phil comes back every now and then. Fit hasn’t woken up in a long, long time, and when he does it’s brief. The King disappears for long periods. And now, Sneeg made another friend. ClownPierce. And he, too, wakes for very brief periods, each time he’s normally away grinding levels, much like Sneeg.

Sneeg has been alone for a long time. Not quite purposeful at the beginning. He stayed in the castle when smithing and fishing in the early days. It wasn’t too busy then, and he did go caving a lot, but he had some people around him.

But his close friends weren’t there.

He began isolating himself, perhaps unknowingly, because he was used to not having people there. It was subconscious, they didn’t exactly need him, and if they did, they’d say so. He wasn’t needed. That’s why they left. He built a house for Phil, made weapons and armor for him, and he still left to make/get his own. Fit was in a different mindset, a completely different leveling system than Sneeg was following, he wasn’t needed. Clown was higher leveled than him, made good armor, and better enchants. He wasn’t Needed.

But he was useful sometimes. Clown enjoyed his Twohickey, even if it took a while for him to understand the process. Foolish requested his services in armor and enchanting. Pili asked his assistance if Pangi were to attack him. Fit was grateful for the high leveled knuckles Sneeg was able to make him.

And above all, the one person who was always there, even if not around him, he was able to help. Above all, he had a City to protect. A Castle. Ros. And when Ros left, left the faction, her castle, his city, Him, he needed to do something. He wasn finally given a problem that he could solve, something he could fix. Someone he could save, finally.

And he did. He saved his City, and his some of his friends were there to bear witness. He was on Phil’s island, Clown responded to his summons, Foolish returned. He did something worthwhile. He didn’t need his numbers to feel achieved, finally.

And then he’d built his shrieker system. For Ros. In case she were in trouble again. So she’d never be truly alone. He spent hours figuring out how to work the system, and it worked for her and benefited him as well. But.

It wasn’t needed. He wasn’t needed.

There was no more trouble. The main cause of trouble was gone. Someone else fixed that. He was too late for it. Always. Too late. And Ros didn’t need him anymore. The one person who might need him.

He wasn’t needed.

He went back to his machines. His numbers.

He starts hearing things.

He knew from the Observers that it should be everyone, universal. It’s not something important.

There’s a roar he hears,, oh well. That’s not his problem.

It’s not,,

Aimsey approached him. Someone else infested. Someone he never saw as his. Not his city, not his to protect.

But they’re in this together. The sounds, the screams, the heartbeat.

It’s not his. It’s not his.

It’s theirs.

[arimiaromage]

thoughts about dgm chapter 251

gonna throw my thoughts about these new revelations here.

bookman jr or past!allen?

she got us good! I was in shock when I first read it (all my headcanons about pasta, out the window! thrown! chunked!) but now I'm more fine with it.

I believe what happened was that hoshino drew the bookman jr in those flashbacks with nea on purpose - she wanted us to think that was allen and bookman jr. the flashbacks aren't past!allen with longer hair, this is definitely the bookman jr, as we can tell now.

it also makes more sense now why "allen" was talking about high concepts like the spiral being the force for life - it really was a bookman!

I fully think she did this switcharoo on purpose. if we look at her most recent livestream (translated by ponkotsubluuues), someone comments that they were shocked past!allen and bookman jr weren't the same person. her response is basically "yes, I know". she's not surprised people would think that, this was probably deliberately on purpose.

bookman jr & past!allen

okay, now on to some thoughts on who they actually are. I won't stick long here as we'll probably find out in just a few months and we don't have much to go on right now.

personally, I don't really care to ever meet allen's blood relatives. it's never interested me who he's "actually" related to and I always felt it would add even more complicated feelings for him and even more complexity to an already messy as hell family & relationship tree.

that being said, I wouldn't be surprised if bookman jr and allen are some kind of family unit, be it blood related or not. when they begin talking about the two of them as separate people, lucia refers to them as "two young men". so they're probably not father and son, but I could see them as brothers or some sort of brotherhood if they're not blood related.

maybe past!allen is a traveling clown who toured the world with bookman jr LOL.....?

either way, bookman jr was so compelled to protect allen & nea that he gave his life for them. I'm so, so eager to see their bond.

cross marian

who the hell is cross marian in all of this?

we know the cross has been around since almost adam's time, having been with mana and nea since they were children-

so we know that regardless of who is he, he's known about and visited the campbell manor for decades.

in this chapter, they even bring him up by name.

not only does allen ask about him, but lucia talks a bit about him as well.

and note that they're not saying something like "my master left a message for me" and lucia just goes along with it- allen says "my master cross" and lucia continues by saying his full name. she knows exactly who he's talking about.

(allen specifically says "cross shishou" = "master cross" but lucia called him "cross marian")

to me, this is one of the main reasons I don't believe cross is bookman jr. I believe he's somehow tied to the bookman, but I don't think he's the missing jr. if he was, why does lucia refer to him as cross here but not later? she clearly knows who allen is referring to, so wouldn't the bookman have searched for cross and found him with relative ease, given he was at the order for quite a while with bookman & lavi up until apocryphos attacked him?

lucia and the master only refer to bookman jr as "junior", not cross marian. if you're desperately looking for cross marian and are fully aware allen knows who that is, then why not call him that? what do you have to lose at this point?

and furthermore, if cross was this bookman jr, how did he forget who HE made the host? how did he lose allen? redarm!allen looks a lot more like this new past!allen and they both have redish brown hair - if you were traveling with this guy, you should be able to recognize him even if he's de-aged like 8 years, ESPECIALLY once mana takes him in and his hair becomes styled the exact same way.

I know we always have the deus ex machina of apocryphos' memory changing but I really don't want that to be the case for every character, the more you do it the more it becomes a contrivance.

cross definitely has SOME connection to the bookman, I don't feel like his mask and knowledge of bookman things is entirely a red herring. lucia makes it sound like cross reached out to them regarding the campbell manor, but I'll get to that in a bit.

the other leading theory is that cross is cyrus campbell, katerina's brother and head of the family. I feel like this holds a bit more water than him being a bookman, as it'd explain why he was the campbell manor when mana and nea were so young (and presumably before nea became a noah) and why he has worked so tirelessly for both of them.

remember, his innocence maria greatly resembles katerina. it's possible this is katerina's corpse, being infested by innocence. maybe this is from innocence cross was carrying finding its way to her corpse or maybe it was a failed attempt to save her, we don't really know yet.

(I'm not fully convinced about the cyrus theory either though, as why does nea refer to cross as cross instead of cyrus or uncle? how would the order not know about his family and how obviously tied to the noah he is? how could he not recognize allen, his nephew's most trusted friend?)

there have been some theories that maybe the campbells are a bookman family, which may be the case and would help explain why cross has a connection to both, but the way lucia words this part makes me think otherwise.

she makes it sound like the campbell manor wasn't always under their jurisdiction, that it came to be that way but wasn't always. but that might be pulling at straws. I just don't think she'd word it this way if cross = bookman jr.

I'm not fully convinced about either theory about cross as I see holes in both of them. just have to wait and see~

personally I'd still like it if cross was just a childhood friend who got way too attached but we'll see 😂 or maybe he was just pining for katerina from afar....

crown clown

I feel pretty confident now that this is past!allen being hugged by bookman jr, possibly for the last time / as bookman jr's way to protect him.

but I also can't help but feel.... it reminds me of crowned clown, you know? the way it wraps around allen, covering him in an attempt to protect him. even the cut off tips. it really reminds me of that.

the bookman are no stranger to innocence. we also don't know when allen acquired his innocence- did past!allen have it? or...... did bookman jr give it to him as he was dying? did he think it would protect him and nea (and why would he give a noah innocence)?

I would not be surprised if there was some connection between bookman jr and allen's innocence.

allen

I absolutely loved this part.

the pure conviction in his face. no regrets. he finally has a chance to clear up his mind, to cast away the fear he's dealt with for so long about who he actually is. so, so good.

but........ WHO IS ALLEN WALKER????? the burning question. who knows at this point.

I'm very excited to see the next parts, even if it apparently isn't the 35 year flashback (her own words, from the aforementioned livestream) - I assume it'll be a flashback to past!allen meeting nea possibly, or them finding out nea isn't a typical noah, or some major event that happened before shit went down.

yeah that's about it, see yall next time ✌️

[docholligay]

Let's talk about everything that has to do with this moment.

So, of course, I love that she has not even one second of hesitation. She is not going to let him get any closer to Scar, Scar needs proximity to blow Roy's brains out of his skull, and if anyone is going to get the pleasure of that it is going to be Hawkeye. She fantasizes how good that would feel for like, six seconds, before she began to miss his stupid ass.

She also does not worry about upending a superior officer into a puddle. Roy is, on a structural level, her superior officer, sure, but when it comes down to it, she could backhand him and Roy's not going to write her up for it, because if she does it to him, well, he probably has it coming.

LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW FAST ALL THIS HAS TO HAPPEN.

We have Roy's gun in her left hand and hers in her right. Given that she seems to unholster it from her right hip, and given statistics, Hawkeye is probably right hand dominant. So her gun looks like a Colt 1911, which I am basing on the very sketchy dynamics of anime gun illustration, and what i THINK the time period is of this anime. Also it was a very common gun, still very easy to pick up on the secondary market. (PLEASE DON'T TELL ME WHAT IT IS IF THEY TOLD US I'VE FORGOTTEN ALLOW ME TO BE ORGANICALLY DUMB) So let's even assume Roy's gun has the safety off--he's the kind of guy that would throw a gun to hawkeye without the safety on, because he's....Roy.

Let's go through this. She would have to cock his gun--I can't get a good look at the gun to even make a guess as to what it is, but I'm gonna act like it's one of the many semi-autos used by the military--probably using the slide for time's sake. So as she's going down to swipe Roy's feet, she pulls the slide. Then she has to grab the gun from her hip, which i assume is well-holstered, so she has to unsnap a strap, grab it, flip off the safety, slide, shoot. Contemporary pistols have a much smoother slide than these oldsters. AND SHE DOES ALL THIS WHILE MOVING AND WITHOUT THINKING. THE DEVIL WORKS HARD, BUT HAWKEYE WORKS HARDER. I DO NOT KNOW IF ANY OF YOU HAVE EVER TRIED TO DO QUICK DRAW SHIT IT IS VERY VERY VERY HARD.

This is the kind of thing that if it were not sold to me as being from a character known for being exceptionally militarily competent and very well trained, I would call hot bullshit. I mean, even believing in hawkeye as I do, I think it's an achievement.

So...Roy threw his gun to her. Why did he do that? Why didn't he holster it? Roy is a bit of a showboat and kind of careless from time to time--it wouldn't surprise me if he likes to fucking clown on Ed so much because Ed reminds him a bit of his younger self--so it could just be a show of , "teehee! I am not at all concerned." But it could be that he knew Hawkeye would to well, quote myself, have his six. She was never going to just let him get killed. He has to know that. He also knows how very very good she is. Did he, maybe even subconsciously, throw it to her because he knew she would be coming after him? And that the best assistance you can give to Hawkeye is More Bullet?

PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT ANYTHING THAT COULD EVEN REMOTELY LEAD TO ME REALIZING SOMETHING OR KNOWING SOMETHING NEW. Do not confirm, deny, draw attention to something I missed EVEN IF I SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT, contextualize in a cultural or historical way, anything. I hate that I have to be so specific but I am trying to experience this show totally clean. IF YOU SPOIL ME I WILL BLOCK YOU.

QUICK LINK TO THE SPOILER-FILLED FUNTIMES DISCORD HERE. THEY WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THE THINGS YOU KNOW AND YELL ABOUT ME

[venus-is-thinking]

DRDT Chapter 2 Episode 14: Initial Thoughts

What an episode! I can't believe that we're probably starting to near the end of the Trial. But, considering we're almost there, we DEFINITELY have a lot to talk about. It's a longer episode, and there's a LOT to go over, so buckle in!

SPOILER WARNING FOR DRDT CH 2 PART 2!

T/W: Murder, hanging (with depictions)

The Reactions

Hu is literally so pretty.

I wasn't expecting her to get a whole mechanic defending Nico, but it makes sense. Letting other students cut in during the Class Trial is a great way to draw specific attention to a character point, and it's very clear that Hu's over-defense of Nico is going to be important moving forwards.

RIP to my "using the weight rack as the carousel" theory. The fan probably makes more sense. I just still have no idea how the 300-ish pound or whatever weight rack managed to get knocked over in the struggle.

I'm glad they directly pointed this out. Trying to kill everyone in the Class Trial was the EXACT thing Hu was so pressed about David doing. It's a weird double standard to be so forgiving of Nico when they tried to do the same thing.

Insane thing to say if Eden is the culprit and killed Arei because she didn't believe her. Then again, if my explanation for a lot of Eden Trial dialogue is "she's speaking out of regret for killing Arei now that she knows Arei was being legit," maybe she's just calling herself cruel as well.

This is honestly very valid.

Do you think "here" implies Nico trusts someone in the outside world? Based on their secret, it seems like they probably didn't have many friends. Could also be referring to animals? Or Mai Akasaki?

Big psychic damage to Hu though, considering we know she thrives on other people relying on her. She wants Nico to be someone who relies on her sooo bad, but they just... don't.

Like, girl. They literally JUST said that they don't trust anyone. That includes you.

She's clearly projecting in some way, though, which is definitely an oof. I wonder if Hu wishes she had someone who was undeniably on her side in the past...?

(To be clear: I think Hu is a very well written and interesting character. She fits the fucked up vibes of Despair Time, but coming from a more surprising angle of "that really nice and caring person can also be fucked up." She's just clearly in the wrong here, so I get to clown on her as I clown on everyone else.)

Ace is honestly so valid for this. Like, yeah he's kind of a bully and he sucks sometimes, but. Like. He did almost get murdered and people are, like, mad at him for it? Huh???

If Ace does end up being the Chapter 2 killer because he snapped, I honestly think he's so valid for that.

It is my personal agenda to record every instance of J being notably anti-murder. I don't know where it's going but if it does go somewhere I want my credit because it is Apparent.

(The entire fanbase nods in agreement.)

I know some people definitely still think/thought that Hu and/or Nico was responsible for the crime, so we've all DEFINITELY been squinting at that alibi. I fully believe it's true, but that doesn't change the fact that I wouldn't put it past Hu to make a fake alibi to protect Nico. Idk if Nico would go along with it, though.

I got so jumpscared by the Closing Argument-style CG.

I'm so glad we did get a definitive answer on how this thing worked. I was so afraid that we were just gonna solve the Arei murder method and the exact solution of Ace's would be a "left to audience interpretation" kind of thing.

I'm not exactly sure where the blood on Ace's fingertips comes from? Maybe he cut his hand on the wire when he was trying to struggle after he woke up or something.

This makes so much more sense than anything I saw theorized though, lol. The fan falling from drop hanging totally checks out as a way that the murder mechanism could fail.

I have NO fucking clue why Nico opted for this as the murder mechanism, though. I get wanting to use Hu's wire to frame her, but why didn't you just cut Ace's throat with the wire in the first place???

where did their cape go :(

Potentially suspicious line from Ace? I don't know what he's referring to as "go through all this." Like, maybe just reliving the murder attempt, I guess...? Could also be going through the Class Trial, though, if Ace killed as a result of Nico trying to kill him.

*Levi's secret quote looms*

Things that make me think Nico is either a victim or a survivor. Like, are you really gonna say this and then go try to kill someone else? ...Or Ace again, I guess??

Fun fact: this was actually what guided me to my initial killer picks, before I discussed with anyone else or read any theories! I thought the killer was trying to frame Nico, so it had to be Eden or Ace. The tape and everything else was just what locked it in for me. It's fun to see Teruko follow more or less the same path that I did when I was trying to solve the mystery :)

TAPE TIME :D

The use of the Bound Wrists truth bullet actually really confused me at first bc I didn't realize we were just talking about the tape. I was like, were Arei's wrists bound because Ace's were and it was intended to be another similarity???

Maybe Eden's just being nice, but I find it really suspicious that her instinct after all this time is "didn't MonoTV take it" and not "oh I guess Ace is probably the murderer."

Teruko has now outlined two different ways that it makes sense if the killer was in the gym that night. If I were Eden, and I were innocent, I would be realizing that there's a very small suspect pool left, and I know that I'm not the killer, giving me additional information. Instead, she's questioning the validity of the tape argument, which isn't useful for narrowing down the killer-- it's useful for keeping the suspect pool wider and not leaving herself as one of three (but basically two) options.

I kinda get why people are upset with Rose here, but it's also kind of an oof because they're only mad because Rose is really smart. Like, no one's out here like "oh my god Ace you didn't recognize the tape??" Y'know, because they think he's stupid. Rose has a really good memory, which raises the standards really high, which sets Rose up for failure.

In Rose's defense, she also never saw the tape in Nico's gym murder OR on the carousel for Arei's murder. She only saw the pieces in the trash can, which seemed to be inside out. Against Rose's defense, it would probably have been for the best if she'd gone in to look at the crime scene.

Am I tripping, or is "fish misunderstanding" a weird way for David to phrase this? The misunderstanding with Teruko was assuming that the murder happened last night, which was in fact because of the fish-- but the thing Teruko should have noticed, which makes it Teruko's mistake specifically, was the body swinging.

I'm probably reading into things too hard, but it's so hard with David. What do you know!!!

Damn, Teruko is SPEEDRUNNING this character arc. Considering we basically know she's locked in for all 6 chapters, I'm really surprised to see her making this much progress this fast.

I'm guessing that this means that Teruko is probably due for a major setback sometime sooner or later. But, interestingly, this makes me feel like Teruko realizing that working alone doesn't work isn't her character arc's end destination; it's the willingness to open herself up to caring about others even in the face of the consequences of losing someone you love. Teruko is closing herself off from everyone because she knows she's going to lose them. Maybe her end destination is allowing herself to love people, even if she might lose them someday.

This was fruity as hell btw. I'm starting to think Rose may be our replacement support if Charles does die in Chapter 3.

It's so funny that this is basically Teruko claiming in-universe protag privilege. Go off, queen.

I also said something along the lines of "Hu are we really doing this again." Totally forgot that the BDA is still relevant, lol.

I personally find the way Veronika phrased this to be very telling from an author's POV. Veronika doesn't say "she must not have committed the murder," she says "she must not have witnessed the murder." It would be totally reasonable for any of the students to forget that the rule is written in a way where a killer could fail to see the moment of murder, but DRDTdev wanted to draw attention to the rule's exact phrasing again, which is a deviation from the phrasing in the canon games.

To be clear here, I stand by this even if Eden isn't the killer and the BDA group really is Eden/Whit/Teruko. I still think it could be a reminder for a future chapter when it comes up. But, I don't think it makes sense to change the phrasing of a base rule unless there's a specific reason you want it to be different. Whether now or later, this feels like a reminder that it IS possible for the blackened to trigger the BDA.

I don't necessarily "believe David," per se, but I do think it's interesting that we're drawing attention to this. I don't really think it matters, especially because I doubt the characters remember, but I'd place my bets on Eden being the last one because of that, "Teruko, wait!" thing.

It doesn't matter because, if David or anyone else saw the body, no one can confirm which two of Teruko, Whit and Eden set off the BDA, but it's an interesting note.

It's so funny how no one, fanbase or in-universe, can tell if David is lying though. Like, he COULD have seen it, but he also easily could just be making shit up to try to throw the Trial again.

will I EVER understand what the fuck this man is cooking

Why. I thought you wanted to end the killing game to finish what Xander started. I don't know what's happening :( /pos

My guess for now is just that he's still trying to kill Teruko, in keeping with Xander's plans?? Idk how making her more distrustful makes her more likely to die, though.

I do find it very interesting that Eden's approach/reaction has been to be very quiet and freaked out whereas Ace's approach/reaction is to freak out VERY loudly. Ace's is fitting because what does he do other than freak out loudly, but I might have expected Eden to do... idk, something else? It makes enough sense though, considering either the group is right to suspect her, or she's still coping with losing Arei a little bit ago.

...*squints REALLY fucking hard*

The music and voice acting in this section is REALLY fucking good. It's sad/charming/soft enough that it feels like it could be genuine, but there's still a little something that makes you have to question whether or not it's real. You WANT to believe Eden, but it's so hard to do so fully.

Y'all think Eden's crying is reminding Teruko of whatever Arei's crying reminded her of?

i'm out of images :(

I really like Teruko assuming that Eden is innocent first. She's too distrusting and also reasonable (it is life or death after all) to just hard clear Eden based on nothing, but she's offering a bit of a reprieve to Eden. Eden's friendship means that she isn't going to get immediately targeted in her most down moment, and that's it. It's a small way to show Eden she does care.

On another note, the fact that Eden got to hug Teruko and that Teruko said the "let go of me" NOW is honestly one of the main reasons I trust Eden more. I felt like that was obviously going to happen, but I was expecting the post-Trial. Putting it here is wild.

Theory Update/Analysis

Oh boy, it's accusing time! It makes sense that we're going to start with Ace. At this point, I can honestly see it going either way. Major props to DRDTdev either way, but ESPECIALLY if Eden really is the culprit. I was so confident in it, but they're really making me question my assumptions.

I think that both Ace and Eden have good reasons to be the blackened or not to be, and good reasons to die here or to not. I'm going to do my best to make a list of reasons for both characters and give a bit of my thoughts on them. They're roughly ranked in most to least important order imo, but I didn't think too hard about it.

EDEN

Reasons Eden Would Be The Blackened:

THE TAPE: It would be easier for her to take the tape than Ace, as attention was on Ace in the gym. The tape's disappearance from the background also happens to coincide with Ace knocking her over and her standing back up.

THE NOTE: Eden already knows all the info she would need to know to write that note. She could have put the note back together to give herself a defense, to try to disprove herself as the culprit with her handwriting, because Rose was going to do it anyways, and/or to frame Arturo if she didn't know he had an alibi. I think any of these reasons, or a combination of these reasons, are enough to make it possible, and while Ace could've overheard, it's definitely less easy for him.

NOT BELIEVING AREI: Both Arei and Charles have, in this trial, been shown to question whether or not Eden believed Arei wanted to be Eden's friend. If Eden simply did, this plot point goes nowhere.

A GOOD PERSON: Eden has been called a good person, but other than that freaky CG, nothing has really come of it. Is the plot relevance of Eden being a good person really going to resolve by saying "Eden is a good person, she'd never kill her friend!"? If a good person isn't gold, Eden still feels like a missing piece of that puzzle.

INCENTIVE TO FRAME NICO: This one's a bit more of a reach, but I don't really understand the point of framing Nico if you're Ace. Of course Ace is going to insist Nico is the murderer no matter what. If you're Eden, you have a direct audience to setting it up similarly: Ace. If you can get Ace to go all in on Nico, that's one less person who was in the Gym who suspects you. Eden and Teruko feel less likely to say "oh well it looks like Nico's murder so it MUST be Nico."

HEAVY FOCUS IN CH 2: DRDTdev seems to give the chapter death's important content shortly before their deaths. Eden has been one of the most prominent characters this chapter, which could be a bad sign.

Reasons Eden Wouldn't Be the Blackened

HER EMOTIONAL REACTIONS: I think I stand with everyone else when I say that the thing giving me pause with Eden!Culprit is how devastated she truly seems to be. I do still think it could be a combo of guilt and panic over the prospect of dying, but it's hard to justify everything.

HER FRIENDSHIP WITH AREI: Sort of a spinoff of the last one, but Arei was at least offering to Eden to be friends and to protect her. If Eden did believe that, to any extent at all, it's hard to imagine her killing Arei in cold blood.

THE FISH: The biggest question when it comes to evidence as to how Eden could be the killer. If Nico fed the fish and they were all still there last night, and Eden had an alibi until after the Relax Room closed, how would she have gotten the fish to add to the crime scene?

THE BDA: Easy to ignore imo considering we've already called it into question within the series proper, but still worth talking about. For Eden to be the culprit, either someone else saw the body first and isn't claiming to have (or it's David), or we're burning the "Eden didn't witness the crime and thus could still trigger the BDA" card here.

GENDER BALANCE: Possibly an irrelevant point, but it is true that we've had 2 women and 1 man die so far. If a man was the killer, it'd keep it even. Unlikely to be relevant as any disparity could be easily balanced out in Chapter 3 with (presumably) 3 death slots.

Points About Eden That Could Go Either Way

THE FORK CG: I firmly believe that this could be setting up for Eden being a more important character throughout the series or to die after a moment of intrigue, possibly letting us explore/imply more in her post-death bonus episode.

RELATIONSHIP WITH HU: Hu has lost David as a sane ally. Nico is telling her that they don't want her speaking for them and that they don't trust her. Would DRDTdev prefer to fully isolate Hu moving into Chapter 3 by getting rid of Eden, or to leave Hu with one friend who still believes in her.

CHARLES HAVING EDEN'S SECRET: By telling us Eden's secret ahead of time by Charles revealing it to Teruko, extra focus was given to Eden's secret. Was this just the easiest way to get everyone's secrets revealed based on character dynamics, or was it meant to imply that Eden's secret is extra important? Is that because she's the killer? Is it a #ArEden sweep???

ACE

(why are they both orange)

Reasons Ace Would Be The Blackened:

NO EVIDENCE-BASED ISSUES: This is the biggest and strongest point across the whole board imo. There is no tangible, evidence-based reason why Ace COULDN'T have done the crime. Out of all 13 currently surviving students, he's the only one who that's true for. That obviously makes him a viable suspect.

WOULD ABSOLUTELY FUCKING DO IT: Ace has been Freaking The Fuck Out this chapter. I could VERY easily see him deciding to kill here. I don't think anyone is trying to argue that Ace is too emotionally attached to the cast to try to kill all of them, because he clearly isn't.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?: I'm not really sure where Ace's character is going to go from here. I'd be interested in seeing more from him, but, like, where is his character arching to if not a killer? Ace is so disliked and intense that it's hard to imagine him really, fully pivoting and caring about others, but if he can't do that, is he destined to be a killer eventually?

HEAVY FOCUS IN CH 2: DRDTdev seems to give the chapter's death important content shortly before their deaths. Ace has been one of the most prominent characters this chapter, which could be a bad sign.

Reasons Ace Wouldn't Be the Blackened

OBVIOUSNESS & POINT OF CHARACTER: Of course Ace would be willing to kill Arei or whoever and the rest of the students. This is kind of the inverse of my "would absolutely fucking do it" point-- I don't know exactly how much surprise it would carry if Ace were to be the culprit. And, more than that, I feel like the point of Ace is that he is a victim here, but he's so unlikable that no one wants to acknowledge that or believe in him. I think it'd be an interesting comparison, if everyone really wants Ace to be the killer, but he just isn't. To everyone's dismay, Ace is still here. Now what?

SECRET LARGELY UNRESOLVED: Ace's secret hasn't really had any plot relevance yet. It seems like most people's do. I'm like lowkey expecting them to bring back the starvation motive from SDR2 in Chapter 4 and have SOMETHING happen with Ace there. Either way, while it could be reserved for his bonus episode (a la Min and Xander), I'd expect that his secret would have more main-story impact before he dies.

EXISTENCE OF SCRUM DEBATE: We're suspecting Ace first, but we still haven't done the scrum debate for this trial. Unless the scrum debate is "do we just vote for Ace without ever really pursuing Eden" and the answer is "yes," I don't see how we get out of this suspecting Ace period with a scrum debate without at least entertaining the idea of Ace's innocence.

STRONG CONNECTIONS TO OTHER CAST MEMBERS: Ace is very relevant to the Levi, Nico and Hu plotlines right now. Are they really going to just... get rid of him, when that's what both Nico and Hu would want?

ABILITY TO FIGURE OUT THE CONTRAPTION: Ace would not only have to recognize the way in which Nico was trying to kill him (which, to be fair is easier if he did wake up partway through), he would also have to conceptualize and figure out how to make the playground contraption successfully. I think Eden's clockmaking skills and... generally higher intelligence imo would be better suited to that.

COWARDICE: Ace is so fucking scared of everything. Would he want to put himself into harm's way by becoming the killer and having a do or die moment in the Trial? But, is he more scared of dying as a victim in the killing game, after seeing how close Nico came to killing him?

Points About Ace That Could Go Either Way

TAYLOR LORE DROP: Ace's friend, named Taylor per a Q&A with the dev, got vagued about in this Trial. Is that something to be pursued in a later Ace free time (following the one with Levi), or is that something that's going to be explained further in Ace's bonus episode (which could VERY easily be about friendship, considering it's Mai fucking Akasaki as the other person in the convo).

ACE'S BREAKDOWN @ LEVI: When Ace said he didn't fall for Levi caring about him at all, was that him affirming himself that it was the correct decision to try to kill, even if it'd put Levi's life at stake, who he previously kinda liked? Or was he lying to himself, and, at least previously, he wouldn't have wanted to kill Levi, no matter how harsh he seemed on the surface?

Well, that's all I got! Please let me know if you can come up with any more points for any of the 6 categories, because I'm very very curious to hear them! I'm thinking I might try to do an expansion on this in a separate post before next episode if I have time, exploring the ins and outs of each point with more textual evidence to back it up. I'd love to discuss any reader-suggested points too, if y'all have some in mind!

For now, I'm still personally leaning towards Eden as the culprit over Ace, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it be either of them. Well, other than the fact that my reaction to the killer being revealed is going to be :O no matter what.

[phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess]

Less fucked up idea for balance.

Alastor went missing for 7 years because he figured out how to escape Pride and went to explore the other rings.

Then one of the Sins recognises him when Lucifer posts a photo of the Hazbin Hotel in the Sins group chat.

Real question, did Alastor behave or leave a trail of chaos behind him in Wrath? Or dominate at eating contests in Gluttony? Or screw over people in Greed with deals?

LUST

He was well-behaved in Lust and Asmodeus thought the man got along well with his Fizzy frog, so he just let it be. In Lust, despite his hesitations, people there actually are very into consent and don't touch him if he doesn't want it. He wonders why he didn't visit here earlier... but does make the accquaintance of a number of hellborne there that would dazzle even Angel, if he deigned to get a phone.

He doesn't have one but gives people special runic instructions on how to contact him via any audio device (preferred radios) if they need his attention. It can come through his staff, or a radio, but in a pinch he can mentally tap into the airways to query them. His antlers double as radio antennae after all.

I like to think he tried on local attire, in a nonsexual way, and has a few items floating about his rooms just because they feel good to wear. He picked up Niffty a very concerning ballgag she wanted (had drawn her request specifically) that was signed by her favourite singer, Verosika - lovely young woman, needs to get ovver that ex of hers.

GLUTTONY

I always loved this fanfic where Queen Beez is the patron of cannibal town and has a real pal relationship with Rosie and Al. They'd get along as long as she doesn't spring a hellhound party on him. They'd be chaotic, she can whip up any food, she's full of energy, she likes to dance, he can play music and dance and grow just as big as her, they cause unintended destruction trying to outdo one another in a friendly way.

GREED

He finds Mammon obnoxious as hell and too like Vox, so he causes irreprable damage to Greed. Mammon still has posters strung up looking for that Red Deer Fucker, wanted dead or alive for an actual amount of money (but its mammon bucks soooooo).

Mammon is still finding tech that got fucked over by the deer, he's furious. Not to mention the clown comp stage burned down and these weird fuckin' doll things keep appearing and biting him. He can't rove its the sinner, but he's pretty sure.

Also he ate a shitload of those mafiosos down there, destabilised a few families and the power struggle left a vacuum. Mammon's pretty sure the dickhead managed to get the new heads of household into deals. But they won't squeal on the deer.

ENVY

Envy was a delight, though. He'd never had the chance to go to the seaside as a young person... too far. The bayou was all he knew. Leviathan, both of them, enjoy his faint envy and awe at the whole mess. He's a little ticked when they throw him into the ocean as an introduction, but overall he's a polite enough guest... Besides, when they get annoying, he's good at twisting them into an argument with one another.

WRATH

Had a BLAST in this realm. Fighting is encouraged, and he got the chance to throw hands, as the youth say, with opponents who were as spirited as they were deadly. Delightful!

He can't say he cares for the Western aesthetic, but families eeking out an existence in the middle of nowhere, raising crops against adversity does feel resonately familiar to some extent.

Alastor does find Satan to be a bit of a pompous blowhard, who dislikes being challenged, but let's be real... of course he challenged him. Verbally and physically. Satan did drop his abilities slightly to meet him head on for a fair fight, but it was definitely a one of a kind throw down.

As long as you can laugh at the end of a bout of fisticuffs, and most of your teeth are still in your body, then it ws a good match. He also now knows what a Sin tastes like (not that Asmodeus didn't subtly offer a different kind of taste, but he was gracious about the decline).

Satan did get annoyed when Alastor decided to start challenging him while he held court over minor matters, but didn't try to smite him. He did allow Alastor to eat one of the convicted goetia, though, so he assumes their camaraderie is in good standing.

SLOTH

He had to dodge constant psychoanalysis and offers of support from the Baphomets and their sleepy sovereign Belphagor. Lovely creature, seems to always be teetering between consciousness and wakefulness.

She did offer more than a few options around his consistent issues - like the headaches his radiowaves caused, being a perpetual receiver can cause some challenges- and upgraded his monocle from accessory to active colour-correcting aid.

She really tried to talk him into therapy but... no dice.

He dodged her, and she took notes. They had cordial conversations and he enjoyed the stay, it had an air of tranquility one couldn't find in any other ring. Especially not pride.

-----

He mostly enjoyed (especially with the upgraded monocle) seeing any colour other than saturating red. Oh he loved the colour, don't get him wrong but... seeing yellows and purples and blues and oranges again was delightful. Green wasn't too bad, but it was the wrong sort... he preferred the greens of his bayou, not caused by toxic fumes and dissolving bodies in acid.

------

PRIDE

Lucifer wants to fulfil Charlie's wish for a team photo, and all but chains the red fucker into the photo. He pins the guy in place with some sneaky magic and waves off the distortion, there, that'll fix the mysterious bad boy nonsense he's going on with.

Alastor's smile is less genuine in the first photo attempt, you can tell he's plotting murder towards the king, it's the eyes... so Charlie asks for another attempt and begs Al to at least look like he wants to be here... for her? please?

Lucifer knows the efficacy of those luminous eyes.

The deer capitulates.

The photo is framed and on the wall by the time Lucifer remembers that his phone is doing a breakdance on his desk right now, notifications pinging from the group chat given they survived an extermination. He grimaces and swipes it open.

There's a lot of questions to answer... but he does eventually dwindle them down to Manageable.

To stall having to explain about each member of the hotel, until he can remember if he has the right names to sinners ratio, he posts the photo and talks about Charlie's team.

"R U FKN KIDDING M3?! THAT's WHERE THE CUNT IS?!" Mammon texts furiously.

"Oh hey, tell Al hello! I haven't seen him in a few years, but he's always welcome to come par-tay! I want him to meet my new boyfriend, Tex, he's super into older music and I think Al can help him with that." Beez replied, adding confusion to the whole situation.

"Oh, tell him to drop by my palace, Fizzy and I miss his jokes. For an ace in the hole, he can tell a joke that would make nuns combust!" Ozzie adds, with about 18 emojis including a nunlike thing and fire.

"He's not that great." Levy "Oh shush, you disliked that he liked me more." Levi "Did not." Levy "DID TOO!" Levi

"Stop it you two, or I drop you from the chat." Satan "Yeah, I reckon I recall him... we fought once, it was a real good time getting to let loose and take on a skilled opponent. If he wants to mosey down to Wrath, he might like to meet my... friend."

"Oooh, the cute little therapist?" Beez teased.

"Ain't like that." Saan denied.

"A redemption hotel, you say? Funny, he refused my every effort to get him to try therapy..." Bel addded, muddying the waters.

Lucifer felt as if his brain had been gently switched out for a dial up modem. there was blank screeching behind his eyes.

"What the fuck are any of you on about? He's the daughter-stealing asshole bellhop hotelier something or other at Char Char's hotel, and he's a SINNER. They can't leave Pride, you must have mistaken him for a hellborn or something." He typed, furiously.

"Nah, that's him. Sounds like an old timey radio host? Hilarious? Willing to throw down for the heck of it?" Beez replies.

Lucifer is trying to work out how someone slipped through his wards to another Ring. Not just that, but to MULTIPLE other rings? Oooh this was bad. What if he's just the one Lucifer found out about? He needed to check the Ring seals.

"That's not possible. and if it was, then we have a big problem. Because if Heaven finds out Sinners are dribbling through to other Rings, they'll demand to exterminate in them... and I can't trust your hellborns will be safe. They're barely kept safe here, and now the accords are broken..." He was hyperventilating.

"Good news then, mate, give me the fucker and I'll just torture the information out of him, ey?! He fucked over my ring and left it in shreds!" Mammon seethed in the comments.

Asmodeus responded with a number of laughing and suggestive emojis. "Did you want me to send you something designed for rough play, Mam? Sounds like you two got freaky."

"FUCK YOU Oz, you keep ya smut outta my face and my business. This is about cold hard cash and the revenge I deserve because that cheeky fucker ruined a lotta my holdings." Mammon

Lucifer wondered if he could just banish the demon to Greed, and pretend to have not seen him if Charlie asked. But she'd find out, and she'd be so Disappointed...

actually, did sinners reform if they were outside Pride? Hell of a risk fighting others without knowing. The bellhop was insane, though.

"No one's getting the deer. If anyone gets to smite him, it's me. He dropped a PIANO on me and called me a bad father the first time we met. I have revenge dibs. Now... tell me everything about how he got into your realms and when. Need to trace his path and find out how this happened." Lucifer.

"Okay, so I think it was 6, 7 years back..." Bel started to type.

Over the course of several exchanges, Lucifer's brow furrows deeply. This wasn't... possible. This was ridiculous, even. How did a Sinner get so far into other Rings without triggering an alarm or failsafe?

How had he done it?

His phone vibrates with an incoming dropped message.

The group chat goes silent a moment, as whatever it is tries to open on Lucifer's phone, and he's forced to watch snippets of the battle they just fought plastered on screen.

The chat goes wild as Adam's girls try to hurt Charlie and her sinners.

It stops, except for some very pointed emojis of true delight from Mammon, as Adam and Alastor's battle is broadcast... and then it shows Adam targeting Charlie directly. Her attempts to force the First Man back, and the moment Lucifer intercedes.

Lucifer notes the voxtech logo at the base of the screen. Stupid voyeuristic bastard didn't think to help, only slander. And here came the 'incoming news report' about Hell's useless king finally stepping up, the princess being a hypocrite because she used violence, the fact they brought it on all of hell by starting something with heaven, and then a long monologue about the deer being a has-been and up for anyone to kill.

"Luci, do you know if Alastor is alright? I can make space in one of my side wards for him, if needed." Belphagor starts.

"Nah, let the bastard die, natural selection." Mammon counters.

"Oh stick a turkey leg in your mouth and shut the fuck up, Mam. Some people can care about others without financial incentive, you know." Ozzie retorts. There's no love lost after the Fizzarolli situation. "Luci baby, is Al okay? Do you want to send him here? I don't really understand your Ring's rules, but I don't think sinners are going to let someone that powerful be injured and not try to take advantage."

"He can drop in here, I'll even turn the music down so he can chillax!" Beez offers.

"No, he should come to Envy, it's safest. And we will have our teams start on an anti... Voxtech? campaign immediately. How dare that television say such things about you and Charlie, they're just hjealous!" Levi adds.

"Indeed. We can taste it. His desperation to be adored and noticed by your deer, to throw you into the mud and raise himself high. It's delicious, and revolting." Levy replies.

"I'd appreciate that. I don't... know how to fix this little media stunt without smiting, but I fell like he'd get what he wants if we tried that." Lucifer admits.

"Level headed is the only response we can give. The King has to be seen as above such nonsense... and the guy knows he can rile up Charlie, if he wants, based on that whole interview last year. He owns a company? Get the goetia lawyers in there, tangle him up in legislation so he's brought before me. I think I could be clear headed enough to sentence him." Satan typed out.

"Okay, but if the deer dies, I want his corpse. Gonna make a point to the little money makers in my ring that we don't fuck with my profit margin and live." Mammon tapped out.

"Oh shut it, Mam, no one cares about you or your greedy bullshit. We're dealing with a real problem right now." Beez snaps back. "Lu Lu, one - send me the deer. Two, we gotta get a good Pr spin going, and I can help with that. Gotta dress up Charlie's little hotel and make it pop, you know what im saying?"

"I can send real doctors and therapists to support her dream, but I would need a guarantee of their safety against sinners. Normally I would bind them under you or Charlie... possibly even Alastor, as he has always taken care of his thralls, but right now I think that may make them targets." Bel said.

"I'll put my sigil on them, anyone who tries something will be eviscerated at the first thought." Lucifer responds quickly. It's simple magic. Sinners reform. Maybe they'd think better of stupid decisions after that little number.

"I will make arrangements. Now, send the deer to one of us." Bel shot back.

"Listen, I'm the king of hell but I don't have enough power to out maneouvre his level of sheer stubbornness. He'll tell Charlie I'm sending him away or something, and that'll upset her. And I also have no idea if the reformation magicks of Pride follow sinners to other rings. If he dies, assuming I can get him to you consensually, it might be permanent." Lucifer replied, already wondering how he'd break that to Charlie. She really was quite attached.

"Okay, what if we come Get Him?" Ozzie offered. "Chance to see Charlie, and oh look, hey al! Haven't see u in ages! Either he says yes to coming with one of us, or Bel can zap him."

"I dislike using that ability, you know that." Bel.

"I know, I know, but thee rights of the patient are to like, not die. Again. Right? And he's stubborn, but a lot of fun. Plus isn't he one of the top overlords? That'd fuck up Pride in more ways than one." Beez

"Are we talking about the same uptight ancient radio guy? He's an asshole." Lucifer

"Or, you ticked him off and triggered his nasty mode... I've seen it when people are dismissive to him or those he gives a shit about. And you... haven't been a real people person for a while, Lulu babydoll, you know we love you but you've been a bit shut in, right?" Beez.

"No, he just came after me from the start!" Lucifer

"Well, whoever he chooses to leave with can simply ask later on, and we shall delve the truth after that. Now, can you provide a portal for us to enter a location suitable for our size?" Bel.

"Us first." "Us first." said Levi and Levy.

"Do you have to? I could just try to heal the idiot myself. Give me a minute to ram him through a few layers of concrete, and when he's out I'll see what needs healing. He's not even showing any sign of it, this could all be for nothing! Fucker turned up after the hotel was rebuilt and joined right in Charlie's little song about a happy day in hell!" Lucifer. Followed by ten emojis of frustrated faces.

"Luci, chill. If I know anything about the guy, and he spent a while in my Ring... I mean, my territory. Then I can tell you he's one heck of an actor when he wants to hold something from you." Ozzie.

"FINE. but if you try anything Mammon, I'm willing to smite you. It's been a long few days and my temper is very frayed right now." Lucifer adds, flicking a wrist and opening a very large portal in the entrance. Startling Husk and Angel, at the bar, who had no contexxt for why the Sin of Envy was stepping through, nor why she was followed swiftly by a number of others. Including Mammon.

Angel was gaping at Ozzie, clearly star struck. this was who Valentino wishes he was, the raw charisma rolling off the guy was... wow.

"Luci, lovely to see you! Come here!"

The King s summarily used as a squeaky toy as he is hugged into submission by everyone sans a pouting Mammon.

Charlie bounds in, having heard familiar voices, and screeches in delight. She hurtles herself at uncle Satan so hard and fast he has to take a step back even when braced for impact.

She flits between them, dragging her blushing beauty beside her. Vaggie seems to be uncertain how to deal with More Family after the abrupt affectionate way Lucifer had met her. She seemed dazed.

"And this is my hotel, we just rebuilt after the battle and... I'm sure you saw the video... but we won! And we had two overlords helping us, one is Rosie from Cannibal Town and the other is Alastor, the Radio Demon - he's staff and helped me get this project off the ground!"

"Oh, I know Rosie and Al, from the annual Hunting Feast. You should come along, little duckie, I think you'd like it..." Beez takes note of Lucifer's frantic attempts to get her to Shut the Fuck Up.

"The what?" Charlie frowns.

Beezs gives Luci a LOOK. because this was a well known event. C'mon, coddling much?

"It's a Delightful little DIY style banquet. You do have to hunt your own sinner, but there's help to butcher and prepare them if you're new to it. Some families prefer to do just one kill and share... you always put some on the table for everyone to sample, though." Alastor explains, swirling out of shadow.

"There's the Cu-[clown honk]! You ate like half the crime bosses supplying me bribe money, AND you cheeky fucker, you destroyed my competition stage!" Mammon loses all composure and looms over the deer. He's clearly furious, and Al seems more amused.

"Oh do unclench, the new ones installed are far more intelligent than the last mafioso cliches you had." Alastor waves him off.

"Smart enough to work out how to jip me of my rightful takings you mean!" Mammon snarls, "And don't fucking think I don't know half of em are under your control. I don't like when deals aren't giving me money."

"Why? You literally have the most in all of Hell and nothing to spend it on, and no item or service out of your reach at this point. There's greed and then there's a-... Asmodeus or Belphagor you might be able to answer this, , would you consider this a fetish or a psychosis?"

"Both." echoed the pair, sending Beezelbub into hysterical little snickers at the furious and betrayed expression on Mammon's face.

"There we go then. You still get some revenue, but they are able to pay their workers, which limits betrayals and overall decreases turnover, resulting in further profit generated in future. Just let things be for a while and it should even out." Alastor shrugged.

"Oh fuck you you drongo!" Mammon huffed, disappearing in a spray of confetti and appearing in what must be the kitchen based on teh disgusting goggling sounds emanating from there. Beez snaps her fingers and super sizes whatever he's eating, so he won't raid the whole pantry and leave the hotel bare.

"Right, so, matter at hand... we need a positive PR spin on whatever the hell that tv guy is spewing. And Pronto." Levi says.

"I have some of my hellborn on it, already, spreading a general feeling of apathy or distaste for your media overlord and his team. It should start things off in the right direction." Levy replied.

"How's about you come visit us down in Wrath for a stint, hmmm? About time for the Harvest Moon festival, could be fun?" Satan offers, pointedly not looking right at Alastor. "All'a y'all could come, if Luci here is okay with it. Some of you might just be return guests, ain't that right?"

"No, they're all gonna come party with me in Gluttony, I've got the primo hookup on the freshest beats, bites and beezlejuice."

"Of course not, they have all experienced trauma and need relaxation and therapy. they can come to Sloth. We shall see how we can help."

"Envy is superior."

"Now, if we're talking pleasurable places to spend time..." Ozzie waggles his eyebrows.

"Interesting. Why are all the Sins here and desperate for us to vacate the hotel, Your Shortness? Did something happen you haven't decided to share with the class?"Alastor asks, staring at the King without moving his body. the crunch still made Lucifer flinch, it was so... visceral.

"What? no, no, they saw the uh, the video and realised how fucked up the battle was... and wanted to see if everyone wanted to go somewhere new, somewhere else for a bit while I get the goetia legal team to annihilate Vox and his friends for slandering the crown." Lucifer flails for an answer but feels its coherent enough.

"Hmmm, if that's the case, I should like to remain to watch him drown..." the distortion on the last word was full of a primal delight and fury at the idea.

"Nope, everyone goes or no one. Now pick a ring and we'll go spend time there for like, a week or so, right? Which one was your favourite?" Lucifer catches the last words and cringes. Fuck. his stupid mouth couldn't help itself!

"Ah, you discovered that little tidbit, did you? Then we can dispense with the charade... let's go to Greed, I understand I left some of it still standing, and I anticipate we'll have time to destroy it properly in a week or so."

There's a choked cry of outrage and several clown honks from teh kitchen.

"No to Greed. Where else? I'm going to count to ten and then make the choice for you... er, everyone."

"That's hardly fair, all the realms have their own interesting amusements, delights and detractors. Same as Pride. Though I note the water in other areas doesn't try to take your skin off as thoroughly as here."

"Tick-tock... time's up. Sins, who wants to have guests?"

"Uh, short king, I can't. Thanks but... Val would literally fuck me ta death in punishment if I missed a week of summons to work." The implied statement was that this was something Angel knew for certain would happen.

Lucifer was taken aback. "What?"

"Val, overlord of porn, one a the vees? He don't like it when his chains go making independent decisions."

"Ah, something slipped my mind as well. I believe I might recall why Vox is throwing his tantrum..." Alastor grinned, manifesting the chain that now ran between himself and Angel Dust. "I was out for a walk this morning, to visit Rosie, and the moth decided to be quite the uisance... thought he could challenge me. He is, regrettably, meat to be wasted, but if you tune in to the next broadcast I'm certain you can pick him out of the studio audience."

"Wha-... when-...? How?" Angel looked like he was about to burst into tears.

"This morning, I believe you crawled home an hour before and 'crashed out' as they say. Vox is quite peeved about it, as I now technically own Valentino's holdings... and we are going to spend some time renegotiating everyone's contracts. I noted a few of them were not weighted... nor consensual." His expression flickered to Asmodeus. "I believe contracts of this nature are your legal team's speciality, would you mind sparing them for a while to work through the horrendously written slave contracts Valentino had his workers under?"

Asmodeus stiffened, "You and Angel Dust will have the full support of my legal team AND my counsellors, it sounds like things were pretty bad there. My therapists are Bel-trained and focused on specific kinds of trauma that others can struggle to understand, I promise we'll get all of them through it." The latter was aimed at Angel Dust.

"Angel's free?!" Charlie gasped, delighted and worried at the fact violence and not negotiation was used. She still had a naive streak in there he was going to have to claw out with both hands.

"Yes."

He really should have been prepared for her to launch herself at him. "If you try to show any greater affection for this purely overlord-motivated decision, I fear you'll own all my chains. Why didn't you try hugging Adam's bones to dust, my dear Charlotte?" he teases, smiling despite the uncomfortable pop of several stitches bursting.

"Al, can I please s-..."

"Refrain from your usual line of enquiry if at all possible."

"Can I please shake ya hand or hug ya or something, nothing 'salacious' promise."

"Maybe later. You need a good stiff..." he paused, for no other reason than the joy of Angel's eyes widening, "drink. Husker, pour one for the arachnid, but just the one. Otherwise I fear he'll pack nothing but those flimsy scraps of fabric he calls clothes for our inevitable trip."

"Hey, most people find 'em sexy, ain't my fault ya not interested in all this..." Angelgestures at his everything, and waggles his eyebrows, tongue poking out in jest. "Could make it work for you, Deer Daddy, let me know..."

Angel laughs as a poppet boounces off his head in admonishment.

"Do you see what I must endure as the hotelier?" Alastor sighs, facing the sins again. "Now, are we to play rock, scissor, flamethrower for who gets the dubious honour of hosting us for a few days, or is the Mallard Monarch going to decide for us?"

"M-... Sinner, I am going to smite you." Lucifer splutters.

"Okay, what if we moved between the rings, then, visiting each over the course of a week?" Charlie asks, diplomatically.

"Great idea, love the vibes hun!" Beez says, shoving cupcakes at anyone who stood sill long enough. She gives Alastor a red one. "Hey, I remember okay, this one was manifested with sinner blood in the batter and icing. Rosie's new favourites..."

"I like the idea, but who gets them first?" Ozzie says, thinking on how to politely request them all as his guests over and above the others.

A giant showman's wheel appeared in midair, just oldtimey enough to be from Alastor. "Well, perhaps the Princess can spin the wheel to determine our first destination, and then so on until the course is decided?"

Charlie looked torn. She didn't want to upset anyone, after all, what if they were last?

"Do go on."

"Okay, okay..." Charlie bit her lip and tugged on the wheel. The whole thing spun as tense music played, before halting on LUST.

"heck yeah!" Came a voice from inside Asmodeus's flames, and Fizzzarolli poked his head out. "I called dibs, so it must have worked! Heya Al, missed ya!"

"You look well, Fizzarolli. I detest television and the medium, you understand, but I did quite enjoy seeing you tell the clown to go fuck himself in a well choreographed routine. Did you wish to join me in burning down the remainder of greed?"

"YES! Er, I mean, maybe later... just got the feud between this big guy and Mammon settled after all." Fizzy pouted.

"Understandable. If there any reason Belphagor has decided to forego blinking?" Alastor asked, raising an eyebrow at the Sin.

"I am trying to get a sense of the trauma you are all under, it requires intense focus when I am not physically touching the patients." She replied easily.

"Oh, I'm fine Aunty Bel!" Charlie grinned, putting her hands out to the queen of sloth. "See?"

"Oh my dear, you certainly are not. But that can be helped... I have also offered my peoples for your hotel, to help sinners."

"You have?! That's ah-may-zing!" she chirps.

Vaggie tensed as the Sin touched her arm, searching, and patted it kindly.

Charlie returned to spinning the wheel.

GLUTTONY

WRATH

ENVY

SLOTH

GREED

"Okay, itinerary chosen. Let's go pack..." Charlie chirps as Bel taps Angel's hand, and her shoulders fall. She's not going to look into that. husker is shrinking away, but gets the touch as well.

Niffty's over eagerness should have warned the Sin, but Bel ends up looking perturbed by whatever she found.

Lucifer ducks out from the hold.

Predictably, Alastor grinned. "Are you so afraid to have your weaknesses known, little King?"

"No. See?" Lucifer put his hand out for Bel, and immediately regretted it as her eyes flared. She seemed to be making detailed notes of therapy to come that he was worried about already.

"And yourself, Alastor? I know you felt my realm was for others, but I would like to check on you..." Bel said, turning to him. The sinner made a convincing show of nonchalance.

"If it's entirely necessary... though I remind you that psychotherapy is not something I'm interested in." He says, airily, definitely not jerking his arm away from the potential contact. "Ah, habit, you know I do detest foreign touch."

"Take your time..." Bel said, and touched his shoulder instead. She confirmed her worries. "Thank you. Lucifer, could you...?"

With a wave, a series of packed luggage bags appeared in the hallway from every room. Even Keekee and Fat nuggets were crated calmly and-... oops.

Lucifer waves again to release Husk from his oversized crate.

"Sorry, I was thinking 'crate the kitty' and uh..."

"Don't mention it." Husk mumbles, not looking at Angel, who is clearly Loving It.

"Everyone grab your things," Lucifer meets Bel's eyes and she nods. Well, fuck, this wasn't great and he still had so many questions but... they could do this. "Yep, by the portal. Are we ready?"

In the split second between heartbeats, Lucifer lashed out a hand and grabbed Alastor by the wrist, sealing his powers momentarily as Bel wrapped a hand over the sinner's eyes, and the other pressed on his chest where the wound was. Her power flared as the other crumpled into her hold.

Lucifer let go like it burned. He didn't really like stopping another's pwers, it felt... off. Left him feeling kind of sick.

"Uh, Ozzie...?" Fizzarolli asked, not having been in the group chat. They were still on thin ice over the whole Stolas and Blitzo situation, and how Asmodeus hadn't stepped in for anyone.

"It's okay, froggy, just think of it as necessary medical intervention he wouldn't have accepted otherwise. You know how stubborn he is."

"Ooooh, the video... but I've seen him take on Satan and heal from it. Why not that strike?"

Lucifer twigged that he was speaking to a hellborn. "Sinners, and even hellborn, can die to angelic steel... and grace is a step up from that. It doesn't let the wound close and tries to kill them from the inside... so there's no escape if you're hit and can't seek help from Bel or Me or maybe Char Char when she comes into her powers."

"Oh... I mean, I knew the exterminations happened but, we never really got why or how it worked. Different Rings and all."

"Dad?"

"Charlie, did you see the video Box dropped this morning?"

"The what?"

"I did, your majesty, I've been waiting for him to collapse so I could do first aid since I saw it." Vagie adds.

"Okay, so are we going to go to another Ring to avoid people tryin' ta kill Smiles?" Angel asked, showing he was canny as hell under that pornstarlet persona. "Smart. You also coulda said something, I have a few patches of DPr355 on me I use to conk out properly on bad nights. One hug and I could've gotten him to nap for you."

"He would've tried to eat you when he woke up. At least this way he's just made at the King and a Sin. they don't have to live with him 24/7." Husk interjected.

"Can we still go? I want to bite the clown!" Niffty vibrated in place.

"Uh... is she okay?" Fizzy asked.

"That's normal for her, yeah. Niff, stop freaking out the Sins, I'm sure Al will let you bite the clown later. Can you help get our stuff to... Lust was it?"

"oooh, okay!" She's a blur.

Bel looked like she wanted to protest when Asmodeus took charge of Alastor. "I... will need to visit to manage the wound, before he wakes."

"Of course, come with us now if you want! Let's get this trouble maker away from prying eyes..."

"And when the fucker is fine, I need to ask him how he broke a millenia old seal on Ring travel for Sinners. Before Heaven finds out." Lucifer adds, trying to keep calm.

Charlie puts her hand on his shoulder. "Dad, I don't really understand what is going on yet, and I know you'll tell me, but it's okay. We're getting help and going to have new experiences, together."

His duckling always found a way to lift the weight off his heart.

"Yeah, we're going to have an amazing time in Lust. If you want to buy something at any of the stores, use the card I gave you and we promise not to make eye contact as we leave with things. Deal?"

"Deal!" Charlie laughed.

He claps his hands. "Okay, let's go! Mammon, get the hell out of my kitchen or I'll smite you!"

There's a rappid jingling as the Sin audibly ran for it.

"Okay, you go ahead, I'm goingn to get him out of Pride before he makes a deal with the Vees... or eats the hotel to the ground."

"See you in a bit, Dad." Charlie assures, taking Vaggie's hand and stepping through to the beautiful shades of Lust.

Husk let his tail curl around Angel's nearest arm as they stepped through the portal. The starlet had to wipe his eyes, feeling so many things today that it was an absolute mess inside...

Alastor stirred slightly as Fizzarolli rearranged his attire, blood starting to seep through the fabric, from his place on Asmodeus's shoulder. "No no, stay asleep, we'll get this patched up in no time... you're gonna love some of the new shit we've developed. You might even want to try some for the novelty, I even got to design a-..."

The portal closed behind him, and the hotel fell semi-silent.

In the distance, frantic jingling bells and clown honks were heard between booming blasts of hellfire being hurled at a sin.

-----------

I have no idea, enjoy.

[anetdummy]

I did my redesign once again and before anything I just want to say that this character is like my avatar so to speak

...

(don't criticize me for creating a lore for the avatar , everyone does what they want on the internet)

Anet is a normal skeleton, she comes from a universe called Mixtedtale, she is not a sans since in this universe she has her own sans, only she appeared after the monsters were released, and when the monsters were accepted, more monsters from the world stopped hiding and for a long time a great community and great mixtures were created, and that is how Anet has a family in Mexico (where there are generally many skeletons), only she left the nest at 18 and then he started to have powers from his parents, mostly from his biological father, who was a clown, he would use these powers for good.

(for whom I didn't understand, his biological father was a clown but his current parents are his mother who is a skeleton and his father (stepfather) who is a dog man).

Although if we delve into how Anet was able to start teleporting, let's say that Sans was out for a walk and by chance Anet saw him teleporting a couple of times and Anet tried, and he never was able to until a couple of years later, a year after he became independent to be specific.

Over time, traveling through different universes affected its magic in different ways.

Anet Powers:

1- Change your bones in your body without problems.

2- He takes out objects at will and pleasure through his soul (although of course, not all types of objects)

3- She can also use objects created by herself.

4- It can deliver strong blows, its force is reflected by green flames (or light).

5- She is distorted but this is because she resembles cartoons from ancient times. At the same time, reality is not a power that she can control since it is rather an aspect of her, she ends up using this power unconsciously. 6- Creation of portals, although he only uses it to travel to places and escape from certain situations than to stop an attack (he does it very rarely and has difficulty using it).

Extra: - Rarely stretches. - Sometimes he manages to make big jumps. - He is disadvantaged by his emotions and poor memory. -He cannot die easily but he is not immortal. - She was not trained.

And the end :v

[al-gay-tor]

A comprehensive guide to Raptordyne

(This is what my fucking life is I guess)

With a show as incoherently written as Dinosquad there tends to be a lot of guesswork and inconsistent information left for the fans to work with. But not anymore folks! I have scoured the entire show to bring you a comprehensive breakdown of Raptordyne, what it does, who works there, and how it’s built. Let’s get started.

What does Raptordyne do?

The show seems to push the idea that Raptordyne is pretty much exclusively built as a factory for global warming and ooze monsters but that obviously can’t be the only thing happening here.

in the first episode Rodger states that Raptordyne is a biogenetics company and phrase that, like most things in this show, is a vague mush of science-y sounding words. Then in the episode Easy Riders and Raging Dinos we see that Raptordyne owns an animal feed company.

With that in mind it seems safe to assume that Raptordyne is in the agricultural industry more specifically designing GMOs and related products.

Who works there?

Now that we know what Raptordyne does when it’s not making horrible mutants, let’s see who works there. I’m going to go in order from most relevant to least relevant.

Victor Veloci

The main guy, the clown that runs this circus, our leading man, the CEO of Raptordyne. Despite seeing this guy every episode we don’t really get to see him actually doing his human job, we do however know that he spends a lot of time on charity work, thanks to the first episode and the episode Perseverance.

Lieutenant Alpha

A surprisingly unknown character despite showing up in two episodes with speaking scenes the Lieutenant is shown to be in charge of most of the masked grunt force at Raptordyne. Though in his two episodes, Who let the dogs out and Scents and Scents Abilities he is shown to be disliked by Veloci and doesn’t seem aware of the true purpose of Veloci’s work.

Peter

Anyone who knows me also know that this guy is my personal favorite character of all time, despite only showing up in the first episode for 20 seconds. Contrary to popular belief Peter is not actually Veloci’s assistant, his real work lies in the engineering department. He developed nanobots that are supposedly used in primordial ooze and potentially built the robot seen in the episode Wannabe or the hologram dinosaur in Who let the dog out. Peter was injected with primordial ooze however the outcome of that experiment was never seen.

Gregor, Mina, and Robert

I would like to thank the Dinosquad discord server for helping me name these scientists, if you haven’t joined it yet go check it out. These three scientists appear in the background of a few episodes though are never named or given speaking roles. From left to right on the second picture we have Robert, Gregor, and Mina. It is implied in the episode Attack of the Brainasuarus that Veloci works directly with these three to develop prototype ooze.

The twins

These two only appear in the episode Pet Peeve and are the masked grunts working under Veloci for the day. I wanted to point them out not only because they are the only grunts seen without their uniforms but they are also significantly more incompetent than any other grunts seen in the show, thus designating them as their own significant characters.

Workplace Environment

With all our players in place let’s talk about Raptordyne itself. The underground lab seems to be made of one continuous room situated in a cave system underneath the main building. Let’s break it down.

The Entrance

Pictured above is the left end of the cave lab. It’s primarily just Veloci’s ominous skull chair and the entrance elevator (not pictured). This is the area we see the most in the show. What’s interesting about this area is the room over looking the lab just past Veloci’s chair, and the rail tracks cutting through the center of the room, but more on those later.

The Lab

Pretty self explanatory, just across the rail track is the lab where the ooze and mutants are made. The mutants shown in the test tubes are not used in the show but their humanoid shape does imply some sort of human experimentation.

The airlock

On the right side of the lab there is this specialized containment zone. As seen in the episode One Precent Inspiration this area is used for the temporary containment of live specimens and also has an airlock at the top of the containment unit for the release of airborne specimens.

The Greenhouse

Seen only once in the episode Growth Potential this room is what I believe to be in that raised portion of the lab seen in the entrance. This area of the lab is used exclusively for the production and study of mutant plants, a concept that is severely underutilized in the show.

Veloci’s Office

Realized i forgot this originally whoops. Being the influential man he is Veloci obviously needs an office that isn’t in a secret dinosaur lair. This is one spacious office in what looks like the top of the Raptordyne building.

The warehouse

Technically this isn’t a part of the underground lab, nor is it a single building in my opinion. Featured in Scents and Scents abilities we see what is one of possibly many warehouse outposts. Complete with their own security systems and staff.

In the episode it is featured in the place seems to be controlled exclusively by the Lieutenant and masked grunts. So why is this relevant? I propose that the railway seen in the main lab is actually a transit system between the main lab and a network of these outpost facilities.

Conclusion

Go nuts nerds

[bonkwosher]

OMGOMGOMG… i saw your dan stevens character x reader post and i’m literally the happiest person alive over how accurate they are 😭😭💖💖 if you don’t mind me requesting (holding back sending so many requests in the future): how would frank/trapper/david react to a partner with stuffed animals/plushies? (as somebody who has a bunch of sanrio ones and kinda gets clowned on by some family members for it 😭) 🥺 + maybe what stuffed animals they’d give to their partner as a gift? THIS ONES SO SPECIFIC BUT 😭💖

A/N: I'm so incredibly glad someone enjoyed my headcanons that much. Also, please send me a million requests it would make me so happy (no pressure). Also Also, I loved reading your reaction through hashtags in your reblog lol

Pairing(s): Travis "Trapper" Beasley x GN!Reader, Adam "Frank" Barnett x GN!Reader (Separate), David Collins x GN!Reader (Separate)

Contains: The boys reacting to the reader having stuffed animals, the boys giving you stuffed animals, sex mentioned with Frank but barely, Frank being a dork, Trapper being a sweetheart, David being a good listener

Frank:

I have a feeling Frank might be a little weirded out, for lack of a better word, at first, especially if there are a lot of them. If you've got a couple he'll be fine with it but if there's a bunch he'll just be a little confused as to why they're important at first. Like this man can't grasp why you have an attachment to them.

As you spend more time together he'll pretty easily get used to them. If they have names he will only refer to them by name, he won't call them stuffed animals, plushies, stuffies, etc. He becomes like the dad that didn't want a pet, then cut to the dad absolutely loving the pet but never admitting it.

Like you two go to sit on the couch together to watch a movie & you left a stuffie on the couch & he fully treats it like a human. Like he nods at the little guy & goes "Gerald," in greeting before scooting the plushie to the side of the couch.

If you store a bunch of them on your bed, he definitely refers to them as "the fellas" regardless of their genders if they have any. Like he'll climb into your bed getting ready to cuddle you & acknowledges them saying, "What's up fellas?" Mainly because it makes you laugh.

He definitely does not like them facing you two when you're having sex or making out. He will turn them to face the wall one by one if he has to.

After finding out that you like plushies so much I think Frank would be the kind of guy to buy you one before he goes on long heists. He did it once & that made you smile so he kept doing it. The first time he brought you a little one, a white cat with yellow spots.

"You know, I'll be on a business trip the next couple days & I thought this one looked like me so I thought it would be a good idea. Now you don't have to miss me or whatever."

You definitely agreed that it looked like him. The little cat had a scowl & everything.

Trapper:

Trapper probably has an old stuffed animal from his childhood that's being held together by many different stitches & still sits on his bed to this day. So when you tell him you have stuffed animals he's not even phased, actually, he shows interest in them.

He wants to know their names, & if they don't have names he wants to name them.

There was a time when you & Trapper had gotten into an argument & he gave you some time to cool down & he stayed in the bedroom. The door was left ajar & you heard some quiet talking. After getting the right angle you manage to catch the man talking to your pile of stuffed animals that lived in the corner of the bed about how sorry he was & how he didn't mean to upset you.

As you watch your hand accidentally knocks the door a little causing it to squeak on its hinges. Trapper immediately turns to you, his face flushing when he realizes you were there. "I'm sorry, your stuffed animals are just really good listeners."

If any of your stuffies get ripped or you find a hole in one you better believe he goes full vet mode. He's had to do stitches before so sewing is nothing. He will play hard into the vet thing to make you laugh, especially if your stuffed animal getting ripped is a big deal for you. He'll whip out a stethoscope, wrap the limb that got ripped in some paw print bandages, etc. He also loves any praise about him being good at his job so please give him some.

I feel like Trapper's stuffie gifts would come with a story. Like the day he took out King Kong's tooth he probably got you a King Kong stuffie & told you all about it. Now next to whatever stuffed animals you have you have all the titans of the world (at least the ones he's worked on) in plushie form.

David:

David, like Frank, will probably have a little bit of a tough time gathering what makes them so special to you but he would probably just straight up ask you. David loves listening to you talk about just about anything, especially when it's something you care about. So when you tell them why they mean so much to you, it only brings him joy.

I imagine before you were even partners & he was heading off to the army (He would not have left if he had the guts to ask you out), you gave him a small stuffed animal to remember you by. As he was getting ready to go & everyone got a little teary-eyed, he swore to you that he would keep that little stuffie until he saw you again. That little guy survived a war & when David returned, you best bet that little guy was alive & well in his backpack. He stays with him in that big ass green backpack to this day.

Whenever you're away on business or don't get home till late, you'll arrive home to see David cuddling one of your stuffies to help him sleep. He claims it has the slightest smell of your perfume/cologne/etc & it reminds him of you.

If the collection grows past space on your bed for all the stuffies, David will build you a shelf for them. You won't even ask him to. He'll just see that you have space in your room for a shelf, you'll off-handedly mention you're running out of space on your bed for the stuffies, then he'll put two & two together & build you that thing. An added bonus, he'll probably be in a tank top or some shirt that shows off his arms on the hot summer day he decides to build it. Maybe even shirtless.

I feel like David wouldn't get you any specific stuffed animals. He would just wait for you to mention the ones you want, literally run across town to get it for you, then run back & it appears in your flock of stuffed animals the next day.

[apocalypse-shuffle]

RED HOOD | BATFAMILY (assorted canon)

—

“Long Overdue” (Jason Todd & Batmom!Reader) and (background Bruce Wayne x Batmom!Reader)

| Reader was with Bruce in the past but grew distant after Jason’s death. No one tells her when he comes back from the dead until Bruce is forced to bring her in on a raid when they’re overwhelmed. -Jason and Batmom!Reader reunion.

| SFW, canon typical action/violence, cursing?, brief mention of suicidal thoughts

| This is like half fanon half UTRH/Batman:Hush. I’m really just fucking around with canon rn. Also the pictures used are just for aesthetics and have no contextual meaning to the story. (pic source - Batman: Three Jokers comic)

| 2k+ words

| parts: one, spurt, two, three, four, five, six/six point five, seven.

You brace your hands on your hips, stern twist to your features.

“I failed worse than I thought as a parent if you think a couple of dropped criminals is going to make me hate you-.”

“There’s way more than a couple,” he scoffs.

You’re swiping your hand through the air before Jason’s even finished, the furrow on your face mirroring his own perfectly.

“And I truly don’t give a fuck.”

Whatever he was about to say stops dead on the tip of his tongue and he balks, eyes widening a fraction.

“Ma…”

And it almost - it almost makes you laugh out loud. The way he says it.

The mirth that leaks into your voice can’t be helped. “Boy…” you shake your head. “Nothing about this situation is normal, your killing isn’t going to be the magic thing that throws me off. Plus, I have been looking into what you’ve been doing. I know you've killed people and honestly…I don’t care. The hero sticht was never for me, I have a code and it’s not Bruce’s, but at the end of the day none of that matters. Your choices are your own Jason.”

You swallow thickly before continuing, “You’re an…adult now, you don’t need my blessing.”

You won’t say it cause you know it’ll piss him off, but Jason didn’t operate in uncertainty the same as Bruce. So attempting to talk him out of a decision would’ve just been begging to have your time wasted. If Jason thought his way was what Gotham needed then that was the end of the discussion on his part. You only regret what facilitated the fundamental shift in his stance of what’s “necessary” to keep people safe.

In spite of what you've said Jason’s features go back to being steeped, brows meeting and jaw clenched.

“That’s- that’s true. I know that,” you hum an affirmative and his eyes flash to yours. You haven’t seen that look in years. Like he’s sizing you up. It makes the corners of your lips quirk that you get to see it at all. “Just making sure you know where I stand.”

Your brow raises.

“Uh huh,” you nod to yourself. You have an inkling about why exactly he felt the need to jump at telling you off. “Even if he gave you a hard time about what you're doing your father does still love you, you know?”

Jason shakes his head harder this time, almost snarling.

“He’s not my damn father.”

At his tone you stiffen too. The shift feels like a punch to the gut and you can’t help but react as if the hit was real. It almost feels like it was.

Jason hadn’t exactly been smiling before but if you’d thought he was being distant then, you’ve been shown for a fool now. All that grace he was giving you is completely gone.

“…,” you look over the harsh lines of his face, the way his upper lip curls, and it makes your chest ache. The conversation went worse than you thought then. Buildings blew up all the time in Gotham, and Jason didn’t seem too banged up but- “Alright. Okay, Jason, I’m just reminding you that he works in absolutes. His anger likely isn’t at you specifically, just your methods.”

He sighs out roughly and when he straightens completely out of your hold you have to swallow back a noise of protest. “I know that, but it shouldn’t excuse him.”

He crosses his arms.

“He left me,” he forces out. You squint, confused. “I was holding out for him and he left me for that damn clown. From what I gather Joker set off the explosives I tied him up with - which wasn’t my most well thought out plan but that’s not the point. The point is when it went off he didn’t save me. Bruce took the Joker and left me for dead. Not me and that green haired freak, just me. I woke up under piles of rubble by myself.”

Your face drops, you can feel it, and Jason definitely sees it by the way his scowl reappears.

“What, you don’t believe me? It’s too hard to reconcile the man you love being the type to leave me to die?”

You hold up a finger and Jason almost (almost) cusses you out, you can see it on his face, but five years away apparently didn’t stop your glare from being more effective than his. Batglare™️ be damned you were still his mother.

“Jason, Bruce has surprised me a lot today, but I’m not gonna take that out on you cause I know better. What I am gonna ask is that you not take that tone with me; if you do it again I’m walking out this room and we can try this another day.” You huff and relax back into the neutral position you were sporting before. “I understand you’re angry and- and I honestly don’t know why you aren’t more mad at me, but if this anger is not for me don’t take it out on me. Have I made myself clear?”

He doesn’t let his head duck like he might’ve years before. No, this time he stubbornly keeps eye contact but he can’t stop how a flush climbs all the way to the tips of his ears. He sighs, shoulders dropping.

“You’re right. I’m sorry Ma.” You inexplicably soften at his words and move to grab his hand, squeezing it and using your hold to pull him back in. He squeezes back the tiniest bit and you give him a closed mouthed smile. “You're being leagues more understanding than he was.”

“Well you are killing people Jay.”

“No. No, I’ve seen him treat Dent with more compassion and he kills. He murders. I watched him pick Joker over me. How am I less deserving than that monster? That doesn’t feel like absolutes or objectivity or whatever to me.”

Even in his quietness his voice crackles along the edges. You bite the inside of your lip. That was a good question. How did Bruce make that decision? Your brows move together. Your ex, even at his most logic driven, wouldn’t let that happen. Maybe with the Joker. He’d already tried the whole ‘I won’t kill you but I won’t save you either,” thing with the villain but this? Jason was nowhere close to Joker levels of bad. You can’t-

Looking at Jason now - Jason who’s genuinely letting you process what he just dropped on you - you cannot fantom what would possess Bruce to leave Jason to be overshadowed by death again. His son. Your fucking son. You sneer, teeth grinding together.

“I want to know what happened.”

Now is when Jason chooses to come back down. His anger going once more to the foreground in the face of your own rising temper.

“Ma…you don’t-”

“I do,” you stand up straighter. Jason schools his expression fast, but for a split second he was giving off the distinct impression of a teenager who just got caught in a lie and can’t figure out what gave them away. So where’s the lie? “Tell me.”

Jason blows air out of his nose and cuts you a slightly exasperated glare but he does start speaking.

“I- we fought. It wasn't exactly cute, we were both going hard, but the goal was leading him to where I had the Clown strung up, so I let him get more hits in than I probably should’ve.”

Jason pauses, looking over at you. You only nod, allowing him to move at his own pace. Jason’s only slightly expanding upon information you and everybody else privy to Gotham news already knows, but you doubt over the last couple years he suddenly turned pathological. Jason only ever lied out of omission when you lived in the manor so him keeping the fine details of what went down from you now didn’t ping nicely in the back of your mind.

“I begged him to let me kill Joker - for everyone’s sake,” he admits. Voice gaining levity as if he’s telling a particularly far-fetched joke before dropping back down. “I guess I should’ve known better, but I couldn’t believe it. That he’d just let Joker roam free after what he did to me - did to the hundreds of innocent lives he’s wiped off this planet. How could Batman let that go unpunished, you know? But I figured maybe he’d been holding out cause a what pixie boots me woulda done: saved the bastard despite everything for the sake of second chances.”

Another glance to you, but you don’t stop him so Jason keeps going. Voice quiet and more present yet no less intense.

“But he’s had enough second chances. We should’ve stopped giving them out to that sack of shit years ago but we didn’t, and that’s on us, but I was giving him a chance to rectify that and let me do it for everybody. To send him off to hell right where he belongs, and you know what he did instead?”

You hold his gaze even though it hurts seeing all that anger. All that betrayal.

“He chose Joker,” you say faintly.

“Yeah,” Jason nods. The smile he gives you is acidic. “He chose Joker. And I set him up for it, but only because B wouldn’t just get it over with. He just kept giving me every excuse in the book, cause apparently that was too hard of a decision to make for me. So screw it I made him pick between the two of us. Helped his indecision along. Let me kill Joker myself or kill me to stop me from killing him, since he wanted to save that monster so damn badly.”

“Jay,” you say, deflating.

A sharp shake of his head is all you get by way of acknowledgment for the assisted suicide he nearly instigated.

“Bruce’s solution? Sl-”

Jason stops. This time when he takes you in his eyes are far away, and he refuses to meet your gaze. A few deft beats before his mouth goes slightly agape but nothing comes out.

“Jason…?”

He chuckles, brushing you off. Nothing’s funny though and when he looks back to you there’s something new in his eyes you haven’t seen yet. An expression that distinctly brings you back to a fifteen year old calling to ask if you’d been lying to him too. If you’d known about Sheila Haywood the entire time and said nothing.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” He swallows, “It’s just…at the end I got…emotional. Reckless. Turned my gun on him and he threw a batarang into…into the muzzle and it exploded in my hand. Then in the confusion I guess Joker got free and set off the bombs…and you know the rest: I’m so good I cheated death a second time,” he smiles. Something too big and with too many teeth to seem real.

“I don’t know whether I’m happy about that ‘second time’ or not,” you hold out your other hand and when he steps to take hold of it a small grin tugs at your lips. “But that’s only cause I don’t think you know either.”

You also don’t feel like he’s telling you everything, but for now this was a battle you were willing to rage another day. As long as he was safe it could wait.

Jason’s own smile shrinks to something more genuine.

“Maybe not today, Ma.”

“Yeah, I got you,” you say. “I’m tired of crying anyway.”

There is - after all - still a draft hitting your eyes that you are hopelessly ignoring the feel of. Jason grins.

“Well I’m starting to get a little faint myself so maybe you’re onto something, Old Lady.”

For a second you stop smiling, shooting him a cross look and sucking your teeth. He backs away from you to scoop up his helmet with a lighter, more real chuckle.

“Oh am I, smartass?” You turn around and knock him on the shoulder, urging him out the door while he gives an exaggerated ‘ouch!’. “See, I’ll show you old since you think you big and bad now that you can reach the top shelf.”

Despite the lighter air you’ve managed Jason only keeps laughing for as long as it takes him to reach the door. Once he opens it he freezes before he walks all the way through and turns back to you.

“I’m sorry about…everything. By the way.” Standing on the threshold with the smallest little frown on his face, he looks like a boy again and you smile at that warry frown.

Shrugging in between rows of grappling guns and prototype pellets you shake your head, rolling the stiffness from your shoulders and letting the twinge from the wound in your arm ground you.

“Don’t worry about me, I get it. If one confrontation went to absolute shit why wouldn’t the other? Trust though, with the situation at hand Bruce is my problem not you.” You point at him. “But you better call me after this.”

Jason stays looking at you silently then gives you one nod and slips that helmet right back on. Inwardly you protest the action but outwardly you content yourself with nodding back.

When he turns away and you can’t see anything but reinforced tact gear and shiny red you find your mouth opening again.

“Love you,” you call out. Just so he knows you never stopped.

His voice is soft over the modulation of the helmet when he responds with a hesitant: “Okay,” then you can’t see him anymore.

…TBC

NOTES: Hope you enjoyed!!

Also, I’m thinking about going on hiatus after finishing Long Overdue to give myself a break and shit, so yeah. I’ll (probably) come back on some unspecified date in July though so it’s not like I’ll even be gone for that long. Or like most people give a shit, but whatever.

Also also, I don’t know if I hit the mark and if the feelings were feeling, you know? But I made an attempt, I think that’s commendable.

possibly redundant EDIT: For clarification purposes - bcs my use of both scenes could confuse some - the version of the fight that happened in this fic universe is the one from the original comic and Under the Hood storyline, but the version of the fight that Jason tells Batmom (once he starts talking about being reckless and trying to shoot Bruce) is a lie he made up to spare her feelings based on the ending of the UTRH animated movie.

btw: if you’d like to leave a comment I’d very much appreciate it. this is a sideblog tho so I won’t respond.

Tagged: @aarinisreading, @niphredil-14, @mxtokko, @calsjack, @brunnetteiwik

[moonshynecybin]

thinking about how rosquez age gap dynamic would change post reconciliation but not now but in like 5-10 years. we all know how vale is about his age so he would be “i’m old maybe marc deserves someone younger more fun and his age” but he would never say that just joke it off like he always does when talking about his age. and marc having a very nothing new by taylor swift complex “will you still want me when i’m nothing new?”, he’s probably retired and thinking “does valentino still thinks i’m cool? he met me when i was in my prime twink era what if he sees im not like that anymore”

YAYYYYY i think theyre BOTH WEIRD ABOUT IT yayyyyyy. okay so. the thing about being a professional athlete is that while you are young and shiny it feels like you will be young and shiny FOREVER ! and then the horrors. and then you turn thirty. and then everyone around you is ten years younger and their body works correctly and they pick up on the stuff YOU pioneered and the press is talking about you like youre a HORSE that they want to sent to the GLUE FACTORY. so i imagine. that those influences can give you somewhat of a complex about your age. i think vale (company is dominated by young twinks comma. clown.) and marc (arm pain boy comma. got a haircut specifically to look younger right before visiting a track he has historically dominated at.) are not in fact immune to this. especially because marc was essentially the move over old man signal to vale in many ways. like imagine your bf is a physical reminder that you no longer can do what you used to be able to do in a sport that is and was your life's work. ouegh.

SO ! POST REUNION ! if its like vale in his 50s marc in his mid to late thirties, staring down his time in the sport coming to an end. a transitionary period then yeah. they think about it. i think MARC is actually a lot more keyed up about this specifically bc vale frankly had to work that out a bit ago. and he does still lowkey think hes god lbr. marc ALSO has an ego the size of the sun but i think it honestly really distresses him a bit more when his body is malfunctioning. maybe i just think that bc hes cried on camera about it multiple times while vale simply changes the subject but i DIGRESS. my barbie dolls shh. marc get a little in his head about it ! tries to fix it by doing crazy shit like getting bad haircuts and buying a stupid amount of moisturizer. new lingerie. i would say he does more crazy and spontaneous activities but he loves adrenaline so bad i fear he's kinda already doing that.... BUT. he's also doing stuff like not letting vale in on his PT appointments.... pretending he's the same as when he was twenty and it was EASY and he didn't have to figure out who he was after motogp because he was the youngest rookie to do x y and z so he should be able to do this FOREVER. and it think he holds his ability to WIN so close to himself.... a measure of how well his life is going fr.... like the last time he couldn't win were 2015 (when vale LEFT HIM) and 2020 to present (ARMMMMM). hes buggin

and i think vale eventually notices and is like oh my god whta. dude HUH ? truly kinda flabbergasted lmao. he fucks him about it and truly THATS what calms marc down a bit (not entirely.... it lingers....). like nose in vale's armpit afterwards stroking his BALD SPOT while vale is like. my love you are three years older than i was when i met you. calm down.

[an-obligatory-blog]

late night infinite thoughts/hc/analysis

despite being clowned on for his Ls and "i'm not weak" scene, i don't think infinite particularly childish? or more specifically not in the specific brand of "pathetic sore loser" that's been memed on. like he doesn't feel like the type of character who would throw a tantrum/be visibly upset if he can help it (particularly in front of shadow since that's the guy he's pitted against).

it's not that i don't understand why he left that impression-- the way shadow dlc told his background would ofc lead ppl to feel that it was an overreaction for being kicked a couple of times, but the thing is, we saw how he reacted when he met shadow again and what he said after being told that the hedgehog didn't remember him.

(using screencaps of the jp script, but i'm p sure en is the same jist)

sure, infinite is gassing himself up in this scene because of his shiny new rock, but when i saw this scene, my immediate thought was "so you think you aren't someone worth remembering"? (which can also be extended to his squad mates who were also defeated and thus "weak", regardless if you think they are dead or not) he's not particularly angry in this scene-- if anything, he admits that shadow's words of him being a loser (and thus weak) is /fact/.

hence why i think that infinite hates himself more than he could ever hate shadow. he can hide it by saying "well that's just the old me, i've changed. look at my virtual reality of green hill" but that mask isn't just for show. past or present, he is still himself even if he pretends otherwise. he is insecure, that's true. it's also true that his ego is fragile and that it hangs on his ability to suppress others.

however, his ego isn't unshakable at the face of failure or incapable of self-reflection, even if he wishes it was. the denial phase doesn't last forever.

to put it in another way, he's not the type of sore loser who will go "the other guy must've cheated" or "it's not fair" and deny the other person of their achievement. he's the type of sore loser who becomes frustrated with himself, trains himself to exhaustion, maybe cheat himself if tempted (you'll have to convince him that it would be a meaningful victory if he does though, (re. his logic on relying on magic rock ok, but relying on friends is bad and fake, apparently)), and fall into despair if his efforts don't pay off. that's really what his "i'm not weak" breakdown really is to me-- falling into despair and eventually accepting that he is powerless.

with high ego, he may dismiss losses as a fluke, but that requires plausible deniability to be present to fall back on. my point is that his arrogance doesn't come across as stable, it's just that conquering 99% of the world would convince anyone that they are hot shit.

also, he's not bad at /hiding/ his insecurity. insecurity isn't an aspect that was just added to him in the dlc and thus "ruining" him-- he just hides it well when he started wearing the mask. he only showed a mote of desperation by the end of his final boss fight. before that, we had sonic and the avatar breaking out from null space in record time and while eggman was in shock, infinite just stared silently-- he retained a "mysterious" aura for most of the game despite multiple setbacks. his ability to hide his emotions without his mask is up to you, but at the very least, he would at least /try/ to cover up anything he deems "unsightly".

what i'm trying to say is, i think he'd be upset being called weak, but i don't think that specific "overreaction" he had in shadow dlc is just something that happens every time he's insulted, esp when his ego is in a more stable state.

why he's so fixated about strength and weakness is pure hc territory bc forces writing sure as hell didn't explain it, but i think it's safe to say that he wasn't stable before his encounter with shadow and no matter how many ppl think that his motives are "stupid", this was something that meant a great deal to infinite. why it took until shadow for the camel's back to be snapped, idk maybe something happened to him earlier or maybe not, but regardless, infinite appears to be someone who is very desperate to be proud of himself and he measures how much he is worthy of pride through "strength". those who are strong don't think of those weaker than them, to him. (re. him saying that it's fine that shadow didn't remember his past self, and following up with "you're nothing to me now" bc he believes that he is now stronger than him. also note his quirk in jp where he calls ppl "gomi" (in katakana)/trash, idk jp well i just think it's neat)

this "fraud" quality of infinite's is something i find appealing as his fan, and not in the "i think it's brilliant to have a joke character that parodies edgelords" kind of way (infinite isn't purposefully meant to be joke and i don't think he has to be in order to be "good" with his current backstory). to segway into a different conversation, i don't care of the take that "infinite should've been an artificial lifeform like shadow created by eggman" bc to be frank (and i apologize if this is too spicy of a take), i don't see the benefit to that other than to give infinite more "aura points" by erasing his backstory as a "fraud". (bc a villain that doesn't meet the "aura" threshold is bad, i guess.)

bc here's the thing, right-- there are a lot of things you can compare and contrast between shadow and infinite and create a meaningful analysis out of it, but remember that infinite is the main villain of sonic forces and that sonic forces... is not about shadow.

sonic forces, if anything, is the avatar's story. the avatar is infinite's primary foil.

shadow defeating infinite parallels infinite defeating the avatar (at the start of the game). infinite gains help from eggman and the phantom ruby while the avatar finds the Power of Friendship, Love, and Courage (tm) through sonic. infinite finding solace in "fake" power while the avatar finds "true" strength. infinite believing that he is the one who sees the reality as it is (re. his theme song lyrics), when it was the avatar who sees through his illusions.

and i really like that. idk if these are the right words, but i feel like they stand out because of how "human-like" and "relatable" compared to everyone else (esp the avatar bc they are literally an OC). with the exception of tails (who is instead offset by being a kid genius), the sonic cast is filled with characters that have stronger than average willpower, leaving the "outsiders", infinite and avatar, to play catch up in their quest to find strength. they are not unshakably confident like sonic or endlessly persistent like eggman-- they are, at their core, embody the insecurity and lack of confidence that the ordinary person is more likely to succumb to. infinite is like a bandit boss in a jrpg: has a reputation of being feared, has followers/lackeys, villain vibes, but at the end of the day, they are just the first boss the protagonist wipes at the tutorial. the avatar would be a background character in literally any story except forces. they both "extras" trying to take the spotlight that was meant for the leads.

that is why i genuinely think that his current backstory has more value narrative-wise than that hypothetical one and it's not just preference. i don't care if forces has bad writing-- infinite and the avatar starting off as "ordinary people" as a parallel is neat and i will die on that hill. (and imo this attribute makes infinite a unique villain in the sonic verse. like he's not explicitly sympathetic like merlina was or even overtly tragic like gerald, but he manages to have that pitiable, human-like quality, you know?)

but yeah this is really about him not showing up in sonadow gens. like don't get me wrong, i would've been very happy if had shown up and i did lowkey expect it when i saw sunset heights in the trailer, but i'm not mad that he didn't ngl. for the reasons listed above, i don't see infinite as a "shadow villain" like mephiles and black doom are.

[montimer]

Joker x hero!reader

Him being ur number one fan (and ur his ;])

Reader in denial and bit dummy

(Could be any ver)

-Back in the hideout-

He jumped to the television when he heard your name. He left whatever he was focusing on, now sitting excitedly infront of the tv. Eager to see you, hear your voice.

An interviewer managed to get you to talk infront of cameras. 'If this is what you all want so bad..' you thought. 'Can't be that bad right?'

While she was introducing herself, his eyes never left your form. Ignoring her, he would get bored if you wouldn't be staring at the camera. "Silly you, you look adorable as always" he says.

"..and today here we are with (heroname)! Say how does it feel like to be one of Gotham's best hero?"

One of? Why they are number one! The best of all.

"Ahah, i wouldn't say that.."

Sweet, as you are always huh?

He kept on watching the show. He focused on every word you said, deeply acknowledging them. Getting worked up whenever the interviewer said something that he didn't like, speaking out loud, correcting her. Talking to no one but the box infront of him.

But one specific question made him go quiet.

"There's this one villain that seems to be very attached to you. You know who im talking about don't you?" The question made you wordless. 'Why yes he sure has been acting weird with you, but its not like that..right?' You tried to calm your nerves. After an awkward second you answered.

"Uh, yeah? Who might that be?" 'Just act dumb, just act dumb'

"The clown prince of crime of course, haven't you noticed?"

You chuckled awkwardly. You kinda felt this coming

"Soo, what do you think of such criminal? C'mon the world wants to know!" She asked you half begging.

Your mind begin to race through options.

'If i say nice things about him, they'll think im on his side, but if i don't, he might get mad' but why do you care? Do you happen to-?

"(Heroname)?"

Oh oh right, answers

"Well uh, well- he's sure is hard to deal with,,but ya know at the end of the day justice always wins!..well expect those few times he got away.."

"Hmm interesting but i'd like to hear more of a, personal opinion"

You tried your best to stay formal, now what? They say honesty is one way of heroism

"Hmm, i'd say he's a genius, just think of the things he builds, the toxin he makes. He's also pretty funny, i mean when he's not hurting others of course! What i ment was..his jokes are great. You gotta have lots of creativity to tell a joke. He's quite a looker too, his costume is nice and all..mmm was that personal?"

The interviewer looked both surprised and amused.

"Yes, that was definitely personal!" She said excitedly.

The amount of eyes made you even more nervous than before. You tried not to face palm. Instead you excused yourself, waved at the camera and flight away.

The interview came to an end.

'Gosh i just hope he wasn't watching' oh but he was, every single second

And there in the hideout he stared at the empty screen. Unmoving, processing slowly what you said.

Hey what did you blurt out just now? Genius,funny,handsome?

He begin to smile wide. Jumping up and down laughing excitedly. Acting like some teenage girl having a crush on a celebrity.

He knew it! You loved him just as much as he loved you! And here he was worrying you were gonna say something mean. Nonsense, why of course with his genius mind-as you said- he could figure it out in a snap of a finger!

He went to pick up the little plushy of you, cuddling up to it. He had every piece of merch he could get his hands on.(and photos he took of you while you weren't looking)

He usually steals them from local shops, and sometimes feeling jealousy upon seeing people cuddle up to the tiny form of you, he burns the rest. No one can touch whats his! He's sure they understand (incase they don't they should know whats coming to them)

In his mind its special and only he can have it, after all he is your biggest fan.

[mussymuncher]

Reviewing past updates

Since the newest Welcome home update (which is just- ahhhhhh so wonderful check it out if you haven't already) and the newest events taking place, I've been combing through some of the older content to analyze it with the hindsight we now have. Mainly Frank and Eddie's relationship and the possible implications of it being hidden. Remember everything I say is just speculation and all in good fun. Feel free to make your own theories!

SPOILERS FOR NEW WELCOME HOME UPDATE AHEAD

Alright so we are all very aware of what happened in the hidden video, particularly to Eddie, who seems to have dissociated and opened his eyes about the reality of the world around him. Do we know if he's aware of specific details? No, it seems for now that he is realizing something is very wrong with the neighborhood and it scares him. This causes him to completely dissociate and become completely unresponsive to everybody except Frank (keep that in mind for later).

With the update, we also get more information about his role in the neighborhood, or should I say the lack of his role. He is very clearly being isolated from the community, and either purposeful or not it seems as though everyone is excluding him. I lean towards it being accidental exclusion, especially in regard to Frank since his ending dialogue towards Eddie in the hidden video implies that he cares very deeply about Eddie and I could not wrap my head around the idea that he would intentionally exclude Eddie unless he had ulterior motives (again keep in mind for later). There's a bunch of theorizing going on about why Eddie in particular is being excluded, the most popular one I've seen being that his relationship with Frank is too outwardly queer for the showrunners or the welcome home restoration teams liking. And while this does fall in line with the previously stated themes of welcome home (Clown had said that homophobia would be a theme) I'm not so quick to jump to the assumption that Eddie is being excluded just because he's a queer character.

Take a look at this artwork, I'm aware we shouldn't take non-canon artworks into theorizing but this is more to point out something I'm not seeing a lot of people mentioning. There are so many queer characters in the neighborhood. From left to right it seems that Eddie is queer, Julie is genderfluid, Poppy is trans and lesbian, and Frank is non-binary and queer. And this is just four of the characters! I wouldn't call it crazy to assume that more of the neighbors are queer as well. So why target Eddie specifically for being queer if there are so many other queer characters? At first, I thought it must be because he's in a canonical queer relationship, and coincidentally his partner is also being pushed into a love interest role with Julie. But what is Eddie doing that is interfering with Julie and Frank's assigned relationship? Honestly nothing.

I could make the argument that Eddie was being pushed out if he was disrupting or otherwise messing with Julie and Frank's "romance" in some way but from what I see, Eddie has done nothing that would imply he and Frank are romantically involved unless someone was specifically looking for it.

Here is where I look into past updates and audio transcripts to point out minor instances when Frank and Eddie are implied to be a couple. Keep in mind a lot of this speculation is done with the thought that Eddie and Frank are in a romantic relationship but are keeping it hidden.

First, let's look at Eddie's Big Lift and how Frank and Eddie interact with each other there. So Eddie having Eddie shenanigans is roped into a sort of challenge by Julie to see if he can lift the entire neighborhood. You can pretty much see how Eddie is pretty hesitant to pick anybody up, sort of just going along with it without any enthusiasm. He's very much pushed into it and does it just because other's ask him to (very in line with his character) Check out his reaction to picking up Julie and Sally:

(Julie)

EDDIE: Mail call! I’ve got mail here fo-- oh no

JULIE: [Overlapping him, running off in his direction] EDDIE, EDDIE, EDDIE, CATCH ME! QUICK! CATCH ME!

[Sound of packages hitting the ground and Eddie going “oof!” as he catches Julie.]

JULIE: TA-DAA!! See? See??

(Sally)

SALLY: Well, I’m not convinced. [commanding; Director Mode] Mail-maaan~! Mailman! Center stage, man!

EDDIE: Uh, yes, ma’am--

SALLY: [Snapping her fingers] Up, man! Up! Lift! Higher now-- with your knees-- all the way up-- there!!

EDDIE: [Overlapping with Sally’s directing] What, oh, uh-- yes ma’am!-- [Strained, lifting] oof-- here we go-- uhf-- alrighty-- hup!

Now look at his reaction when Julie asks him to pick up Frank:

JULIE: FRANK NEXT! FRANK NEXT!!

EDDIE: [chipper, Man On The Job] All right then!

FRANK: Don’t you dare.

EDDIE: [Tone exactly the same, backing off] Wouldn’t dream of it!

Chipper. It's honestly super cool reading the transcripts because although the voice actors do a phenomenal job bringing the characters to life we often miss small details like this when we don't look at the script. But back to theorizing. Are you seeing how enthusiastic Eddie is to carry Frank's in comparison to the other neighbors??? Like c'mon at least from my queer perspective this whole interaction gives "I want any opportunity to touch my partner because we are so deep in the closet that it's killing us". Frank's reaction, at least from what we know now, and their insistence on keeping their feelings for Eddie on the down low 100% gives off the vibe that they are stern about being touched only because it could possibly implicate their relationship. It's clear they at least admire Eddie at this point, what with the iconic reaction to Eddie lifting Barnaby:

FRANK: [overlapping others, accidentally being Genuinely Impressed a second] Oh my.

(Side note these two pine like no other it's genuinely so sweet, look how impressed Frank is)

And this is in front of people! Don't get me started on how affectionate they are when nobody is around. In the previous bug update, Frank still calls Eddie "Mr. Dear" in private (though keep in mind Wally is right there) but they are noticeably more affectionate and borderline flirty?? Maybe it's just me but Frank rarely teases other characters unless they're friends with them. And they never tease anybody the way they do with Eddie. And let's not mention Frank switching from Mr. Dear to Eddie at the end of the hidden record cause oh my god does that make me sad. Like the fact, they notice Eddie is stressed and having a panic attack but they only switch to Eddie's name when it is absolutely necessary like Jesus. Frank is trying so hard to keep their cover but ultimately their concern for Eddie takes over and omg does that ruin me.

But these are major instances of potential romantic implications on the website, and we haven't even been through some of the artwork. But the major point of my bringing this up is to say that at the end of the day, a lot of these instances are only romantically coded with the hindsight of knowing they are the only canon relationship in the show. If I'm honest you could make an argument that they are simply close friends for a lot of these events, which is why I'm hesitant to say that Eddie is being excluded for the sole purpose. It's so so subtle, and I feel like if we didn't know these two were canon we would not be looking at this the way we are. I think Clown and the rest of the Welcome Home team did a phenomenal job with the script writing and I love the subtly they put into the website for this.

Now onto why I actually think Eddie is seemingly being written out of the show. Why would Eddie out of this extremely queer cast, who is in a pretty well-hidden relationship with another puppet, be the target? Why not Frank? It's because of two reasons. Eddie is dispensable and Frank is acting out.

What does Eddie really do in this show that any other character is not already doing? Being the butt of most jokes? Well, to be honest, Frank could easily fill the archetype if needed, probably even better than Eddie since they are cast as the town grump. He delivers letters? The neighborhood is extremely small in scale (at least from what I'm seeing on the website) and honestly letter could be delivered by hand if needed. The Scaredy-Cat persona? Poppy has that covered. In conclusion, as much as we love Eddie, he is dispensable.

The previous update is one I also thought was for sure Frank's doing. I think it's pretty clear from the bug symbolism everywhere. In my opinion, I think Frank is aware that they live in a show, which is why they are so much more careful about potential outings than Eddie and why they whisper Eddie's name at the end of the hidden tape. Like they are afraid of being caught. So Frank is acting out, attempting to show the viewer more about the inner lives of the puppets. And as we see in this update, they removed all traces of their interpherence.

So what are they going to do about Frank now? They can't exactly remove him. They play too much of an important role. Nearly all children's media has one character who fills the grump archetype. So Frank has to stay, but they have to punish him in some way. How do they do that? Take away their partner.

And now that Julie is going into hibernation, and Eddie is suspected to be going away...who is Frank going to have now?

But those are my speculations! Feel free to add any thoughts or disagree, I love discourse.