#story: scars

[batmancurated]

bruce wayne by joëlle jones

[aurorangen]

Still, will this pain ever go away?

Transcript:

[Following the investigation update, I wanted to vent to Nancy. But I stopped when I saw her mum] Janessa: Sweetie [face full of uncertainty] Where are you going? Nancy: Oh! I'm just going to see Vincent for a bit. I'll be back by the evening.

George: [storms out of the house] No you can't. Stay away from him. Nancy: Daddy…why would I do that? George: Vincent will bring danger into your life.

Janessa: We've not heard good things about his father. There are online rumours and all the neighbours gossip about who he is. We looked up the case and Nancy, you're putting yourself in danger being with him. Nancy: What does his dad have to do with us being togethe-… [sees her dad's face and stops]

George: [gets riled up] You can't be with him ok? Your safety is the most important thing to us [softens a bit] Sometimes you have to sacrifice your safety, there are many other people out there- Nancy: B-But what about my happiness? He makes me happy and doesn't that mean-

George: Nancy. Go back inside. I don't want to hear anymore. Nancy: Let me explain [starts crying up the staircase due to frustration] you don't know anything about him! [I sat there with my shoulders slumped feeling like the world was becoming my enemy]

[It was a curse for me to have him as my father: he was just too powerful. Even with him out of my life, his presence still loomed over me as if he was dictating my fate. I turned on my phone to message Nancy]

Nancy: [calls Vincent] Later. At midnight. I'm not changing my mind. Vincent: Nancy don't. I'm going back home, it's for the best. Nancy: [begs him] No please don't go. Stay right there, I'm coming for you now.

[I don't know what changed my mind, but I just wanted to escape for a little while] Nancy: They'll just ground me or take my phone away. They can't stop me from being with you. Vincent: [grabs hand] Let's go then.

[mirasmirages]

Scars (part 1)

masterlist next

Has: bar setting, panic attack

James and his family belongs to @starliight-whump

~

"I'm sorry, I really need to go to the bathroom. Will you be okay, or …"

"I'll be fine." James hoped his smile looked reassuring rather than strained. "Go."

"I'll be right back."

James held onto his glass with both hands as he watched his sister walk across the room, her dark curls bouncing past her shoulders.

When they arrived, it had still been early in the evening. The bar had been sparsely crowded, easy enough to keep track of. But now, the bar was filling up, and James hadn't realized how much until Julia was gone. He stared down at his water and counted his breaths as he waited for her to return.

"Is this seat taken?"

James startled when a man slid in next to him. He was wearing a sheer black top under a leather jacket, black smudged eyeliner, and several piercings in his ears and left eyebrow.

"Um," James said, his mouth dry. Once upon a time that might have been because he wanted the interaction to go well, to lead somewhere. Now, it was nothing but fear.

"Can I buy you a drink?" the man asked, gesturing to James's glass. "After you finish that one?"

No. James was not going to take a drink from a stranger and he was not going to finish this one. He was going to wait for Julia to come back, and then they were going to leave.

The man frowned. "Are you okay?"

James saw the hand move out of the corner of his eye, and pushed to his feet. He had to leave.

He took two steps before he was stopped by a wall of bodies. He couldn't push through. He couldn't get out. He stood there, paralyzed, and then he felt an arm behind his back.

"Come on," the man said, and started leading James through the crowd.

Where were they going? James couldn't think straight, couldn't stop or protest. Julia wouldn't know where he was. His phone was in his jacket - which he had left at the table. How could he be so stupid? And now he had no way to let anyone know what was happening. And he was just letting it happen, going where this man guided him without even trying to get away. He deserved it, whatever happened tonight. It was his own fault, for not fighting back. For going out in the first place.

A door opened and cool air hit his face. A line had formed outside the bar, and James should ask the bouncer for help.

"Come on," the man said, taking James a few steps away from the line. "Are you okay? What's your name?"

James tried to speak, but he couldn't make a sound around the lump of fear in his throat.

"Here," the man said, and shoved James's jacket into his hands. James hadn't even noticed him taking it. "Do you have a phone? Someone to call?"

James managed a nod. He had to call Julia. But his hands were shaking, and the man was standing so close, he couldn't make himself move.

"Is everything okay?" a new voice said. A woman. James jerked his face to the side to see a short woman with pink hair and a black dress coming toward them.

The man nodded. "Just a lot of people in there," he said, and turned back to James. "Look, this is Hanae, she's my least scary friend. Do you want her to stay with you while you call someone? I can go back inside, but I don't think you should be alone right now."

Hanae did look less scary than the man. James managed a nod, and she came to stand with him while the man went back inside. James's hands still shook, but he managed to open his phone and call Julia on speed dial, begging her to take him home.

next

[originalartblog]

Unforeseen learning opportunity!

(wikitionary to explain the scar)

(bonus)

[demaparbat-hp]

Izumi of Jang Hui died young. She was sixteen and unwed. A kind child, protective and lonely—thus unfit for this world.

Izumi of Jang Hui was murdered. The Painted Lady was born out of hatred and grief. Her skin is painted red with the patterns of her scars. Her home is the river where the Dark Water Spirit dwells—he who found her, drowned and beautiful.

Build shrines by the river and pray for her good will. Harm her land or people and pray for mercy.

[goddessofbees]

Each of the siblings having to incubate their sibs/now children, I wanted to draw a what if with each of the Dannies. Kinda like bad Fenton parents and the end result is that the other two end up in their cores and need to be incubated and are now being raised by the parent/incubator, in this scenario Jazz also doesn't make it out alive.

Dan (24) with Babies Danny and Dani (7m)

Dani (19) with toddlers Dan and Danny (2)

Danny (21) with toddler Dan (2) and baby Dani (4m)

Edit: here's a post explaining the jewelry

[tawnysoup]

Transitional phase

[yandere-sins]

SIR! SIR, PLEASE!

Looking up at us from below, two different eyes, absolutely psychotic, handcuffed and submitting, and then telling us that he wants us, needs us?

Guess I'm changing to the bad side 🤷

(It's so sad that the synchro fucked it up because this moment was so yandere-coded 🥲)

[appropriatelystupid]

[wilcze-kudly]

Something I've always loved about atla is how it handled scars, particularly Zuko's facial scar and Aang's lightning scar.

I've probably spoken before about how, as a burn victim with a ton of skin grafts on my legs, torso and hand, Zuko really was the first character "like me" that I saw on TV. It was, as you can guess, quite a momentous moment for kid me. Which is probably why I'm so disheartened on the live action show shrinking and toning down Zuko's scar significantly.

Too often scars, especially burn scars are seen as gore or body horror and too graphic to be seen on TV that isn't horror or related genres. And often scars, especially facial scars are reserved purely for villains and are used as a signifier for 'evil'. A trope that you'll find is still alive and kicking even today even in big franchises.

And while Zuko does reinforce this trope to some extent, I think it was subverted enough for it to have irs own merit. Atla also steers away from the scars=evil narrative, by having a lot of "good" characters have scars too like Bato and Song. This helps destigmatise scars as a whole, making Zuko's 'scarred villany' seem like a more individual case.

In Atla, scars are more the trademark of victims rather than villains and this rings true for Zuko too.

Zuko is a victim of the Fire Nation in the sense that the Fire Nation's values of war, strength and honour facilitated Ozai's abuse of him, particularly the scarring.

Zuko's scarring does follow a very established trope of a son being scarred by a father, which is surprisingly prevalent, especially with burn victims. Seriously I collect these men like pokemon. This tropiness isn't a bad thing, since I think it leads to us very quickly sympathising with him. I certainly did, since his experience mirrors my own.

The scene of Zuko's scarring is also particularly special, due to it being rather unique, because it isn't quick or an action scene, nor is it shown as an overly gory horror scene, despite it being, well, horrific.

It's... tasteful. Or at least, as tasteful as the scene of a child getting scarred by their father can be, I suppose. It doesn't linger on the violence, but also doesn't sugarcoat it. The scene of Zuko's scarring, and the events leading up to it also give us a good exposition to his better qualities, like his compassion, and a good explanation for why these qualities stay buried.

I can understand why some people in the fandom believe that Zuko's scar symbolises his 'worse side', but I actually believe its the opposite. Very often, when a character has a 'split down the middle' type of scar, their scarred side represents their worse half, like with Two Face from DC.

Because Zuko's scar doesn't symbolise his allegiance to the Fire Nation, it symbolises the fact that he failed to live up to the Fire Nation's standards. It's a physical reminder of the time Zuko actively defied the Fire Nation's standards and mindset.

We get a lot of nods to Zuko's scar aymbolising disgrace and failure to uphold ehat the Fire Nation expected of him. It's literally a physical blemish upon his 'honour'.

This is especially noticeable when Zuko's appearance is contrasted with Ozai, who exists as sort of the human stand in for the Fire Nation's imperialism. For most of the show, we are not shown any of Ozai's features, his face being obscured by shadow or out of frame.

We finally see Ozai's face, it's when Zuko is seeing hik for the first time in years. And Ozai looks so similar to Zuko. An unblemished, perfect, complete Zuko, so to speak. In Zuko's fever dream, where we see an unscarred Fire Lord version of Zuko, he looks exactly how I imagine a younger Ozai would look. I also love that Zuko's adult design seems to lean into this similarity.

Furthermore, Zuko's scar is used time and time again as a way he connects with victims of the Fire Nation. People who don't know him, like Song and Jet, assume him to be another victim of the Fire Nation, citing his scar as the reason why. Which is half true, Zuko is a victim of the Fire Nation, just not in the way they think.

Jet: I think Lee would make a good Freedom Fighter. He's just trying to find his way in the world, like us. Smellerbee: You don't know anything about him, Jet. Jet: I know he didn't get that scar from a waterbender.

One person who doesn't connect to Zuko over his burn scar is Katara. I love the scene of Katara and Zuko in the crystal catacombs. It's a profound scene and one that always makes me a bit emotional, especially in the wider context of atla, a subject I've touched on in this post.

However, the handling of Zuko's scar in this scene is especially dear to my heart. I strongly remember that, when Katara offered to heal Zuko's scar, I actually got scared and upset. I was terrified of Zuko's scar being erased, of the connection I felt to him snuffed out and one of the best parts of his characterisation being erased.

But that's not what happened, and the scene is amazing on that front and all others.

We learn that Katara asscociates Zuko's face with the Fire Nation, which makes sense, since he's been kinda clingy for the entire 1st season. Katara denies it having to do with anything with Zuko's scar.

Katara: It's just that for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face. Zuko: My face? I see. [He touches his scar.] Katara: No, no, that's-that's not what I mean.

The Katara lover in me believes her. As a a member of the Sothern Water Tribe, she probably has seen many burn victims. And her pursuing healing would also probably lead her down the route of normalising and understanding burn scars.

However, I would not be surprised or disconcerted if the scar did have something with Katara perceiving him as a villain. After all, to a lot of people, scars and "ugliness" denote moral ugliness. The very obvious fire asscociation probably doesn't help someone traumatised by the Fire Nation too. It is a sad fact of life that even those who know better subconsciously react to people with scars and other "deformities" with disgust and distrust.

We also see Zuko explicitly give us the rundown of his previously unspoken struggle with feeling like his scar is defining him as a person.

Zuko: It's okay. I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark.

This is something I can relate to as someone with prominent scarring and I'm sure we all sometimes feel defined by things outside of our control. Sometimes It's hard to seperate your identity from your appearance. And it's even harder to seperate yourself from events that influenced you so harshly.

As I previously highlighted, Zuko's scar relates strongly to his failure to adhere to the Fire Nation's ideals and conventions, his failure to be the perfect prince of the nation. And while to us, that is a good thing, to Zuko, at least at first, that is a very, very bad thing.

To Zuko, the scar is a symbol of his flaws, and a just, if not harsh punishment for his percieved transgression. He sees it as a brand, denoting his mistake and shame. He sees it as the physical manifestation of what his banishment and scorn from Ozai means.

It's only when he begins growing as a person away from the Fire Nation's influnece, that he starts to realise that the scar is just a scar. It holds no power over him. And while he relapses for a moment, "demystifying" his scar allows him to do the same to the event of his scarring. It allows him to look back at that moment and not see righteous discipline, but rather see it for what it was and go "hey wait a minute that was actually fucked up.". Which allows him to look at The Fire Nation's conquest of the world and go "hey this is also fucked up.", when the lessons he's learnt in the Earth kingdom finally click.

I believe this is why we see Zuko almost purely from the side of his scar in the scene where he confronts Ozai, especially when it's contrasted with Ozai's unscarred eyes.

Zuko's scar, like many scars in fiction, symbolises imperfection. But rather than an "objective" imperfection, as most fictional scars do, Zuko's scar symbolises his imperfection through the skewed and biased eyes of the Fire Nation. It's a nice subversion of the trope that usually encourages us to equate beauty with goodness and ugliness with evil.

Side note, I know I've been using the terms "ugly" and "ugliness" to talk about scars. I just wanted to note that I don't think scars automatically mean someone isn't attractive/scarred people are ugly. But in a lot of media, scars are seen as gross and ugly, which is why I've been using these terms.

I like that Zuko defies this trope by being drawn as very attractive with his scar, and even being seen as desireable in canon.

Even though it does loop back to the 'attractive=good' symbolism, I don't think it totally invalidates the story Zuko's scar is telling. Plus it WAS an ego boost to child year old me who thought no one whould ever love me bcs I looked like a burnt chicken nugget. So I'll let it slide.

I love Zuko's scar, and I love how it seamlessly fit into the story, while also subverting tropes and invalidating stigmas towards scarred people. It's probably one of my favourite, if not very personal aspects of the character.

I do however, also want to analyse and go over Aang's scar from Azula's lightning and I plan to go over it at a later date, since this post is getting a bit long and overwhelming.

Toodles!

[smittenskitten]

Blossom 九重紫 (2024)

[aurorangen]

They say everything happens for a reason

Transcript & Bonus:

Could she be?

...

[In those two years at sixth form, Nancy didn't completely disappear from my life. We kept in touch since her number was the same. That was until she stopped messaging altogether. Maybe she was busy with culinary school. Maybe her phone broke. It left me desperate to see her again, concerned that something happened]

[She never told me her address though, so maybe she lived with her parents. Location-wise, all I knew was what school she was attending. I found myself frequenting the place in hopes of an unforeseen encounter with her. Like that day, I sat there studying my notes, occasionally looking up when I saw any passerby]

[I ended up scrolling through our messages, hoping to ignite the memories ready for when we meet. If we do meet. I messaged her, put my phone away then it vibrated. I looked in dismay at the notification]

[I was frustrated at myself for losing track of time. I didn't want to leave a bad impression by being late, my studies were a top priority. So I rushed there. But sometimes fate intervenes in ways you never thought it would. Like meeting Renee. When I first saw her, she looked so familiar as if I had known her all my life]

[As I tried to guess where I'd seen her before, it dawned on me that she looked like Charlie. We must have been staring at each other for a while, but I couldn't take my eyes off her. She averted her gaze, kept failing to hide her staring and I thought that was kinda…cute. I couldn't hide my smile any longer]

...

Vincent: Uhh...

[mirasmirages]

Scars (part 8)

first previous masterlist

Has: platonic co-sleeping, texting, pizza, nightmares, scar reveal, torture mention, trial mention, fluff

James and his family belongs to @starliight-whump

~

James awoke after a night with no nightmares to find Henry climbing over him to get out of his bed.

"Hey," Henry said when their eyes met. "You're awake. I'm sorry I'm leaving, I have to get to work. Do you want me to come back later?"

James nodded, not yet fully awake. He stayed in bed for a while after Henry left, staring at the ceiling, taking in just how calm he felt. When was the last time he had slept like that?

He sat up and found his phone that he had turned off however many days ago. When he tried to turn it on it was out of power, so he plugged it in and waited for it to power up. When it did, the screen filled with missed calls from Julia, and messages from Henry.

Good morning :-)

Someone brought a service dog to the library today! A very good boy!

We got another penguin book today :-)

A picture of the penguin book.

Is everything okay?

Let me know if I'm bothering you.

I'm getting a bit worried. Did something happen?

Did I do something?

Met this little guy on my way to work.

A picture of a grey tabby cat.

Seriously, James, are you okay?

I'll give you some space if that's what you need.

Please text me so I know you're alive.

Henry had really worried about him. It made him feel guilty that he hadn't even taken the time to look at his phone.

Sorry, he texted.

It only took a minute for Henry to reply.

No worries! Thanks for talking to me.

James typed out several replies and deleted them before settling on a simple, Thank you.

-

Taking advantage of this unusual calm, James took a shower and washed his hair, shaved, and brushed his teeth for the first time in too long. It made him cringe to think how bad his breath must have been when Henry was there.

He went downstairs to find his mom in the kitchen, cleaning up after breakfast.

"James! You're up!"

She opened her arms in offer, and he let her give him a hug.

"You need to eat, sweetie. What do you want?"

James didn't really feel like eating, but he asked for cereal to make his mom happy. She sat at the table with him, looking hopeful and worried in equal amounts. He stirred his cereal with the spoon.

"Um, Mom?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Can we call the lawyer? I have to ask something."

Mom texted the lawyer, who called them not long after for a fifteen minute chat. At the end of it, James was exhausted, but less worried about the trial. The lawyer had promised Harrison wouldn't be there, and said James could record most of his testimony beforehand, so he would barely have to talk in front of people. It was still a lot, that he would have to talk through everything on video, but nowhere near as bad as if he'd had to do it in front of people, especially in front of Harrison.

He went back to bed after the call ended and stared at the wall for a few hours.

-

There was a knock on the door, and before James could answer, Henry let himself in. He was holding a pizza box in his hands.

"Hey," he said, and did a double take at James's cleaner appearance. "Wow, you look nice. I thought you might be hungry, so I brought food."

James sat up, and Henry placed the box between them on the bed and opened it.

"Does this count as more or less adult than frozen pizza?" James asked, taking a slice after Henry did.

"More," Henry said. "You need adult money to pay for takeout."

"I'm pretty sure you can buy a pizza with kid money too."

Henry shrugged. "Depends on the kid, I guess."

They ate together--Henry ate half a pizza and James managed two slices--and as it got late, James started worrying that Henry would leave. Would it be too much to ask him to stay over again? It would. But … he did say he wanted to help.

"Could you … could you stay? Tonight?"

"Of course I'll stay." Henry didn't even hesitate. "Just tonight? Or should I think about bringing a toothbrush and some extra clothes next time?"

James blushed. "Um. It's just … I didn't have any nightmares. Last night. It helped. You don't have to, if--"

"I'm not making fun of you," Henry said. "I'm happy to stay. I just like to be able to brush my teeth in the morning."

"I think we have extra toothbrushes."

-

When Henry came back the next day, he brought a bag with clothes and toiletries, and for the next few weeks, he was always there when James went to bed. Sometimes they spent the day together, and sometimes Henry was gone until the evening, but he always made sure to be there when James went to sleep and when he woke up.

James started going to therapy again, and gradually he spent more time out of bed. His nightmares weren't completely gone, but diminished enough that he usually woke up feeling like he had gotten some rest. The exception was the week he recorded his testimony, when he woke up every night kicking and screaming, trying to climb out of a too deep grave while Harrison filled it with dirt, trying to break out of the coffin, trying to get away while Harrison broke his bones and cut his skin and burned him.

"James."

"No, no, please! No more, stop, please!" James twisted, trying to break loose from the ropes holding him.

"James! Wake up, you're home!"

James flinched when the room filled with light, and squinted in confusion as the room turned out to be his bedroom, and not Harrison's basement. The person talking to him wasn't Harrison, it was Henry.

He didn't let Henry touch him at first, just sat on the edge of the bed staring at his shaking hands while he tried to remember how to breathe.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Henry asked.

James shook his head. He closed his hand around the point on his right arm where, under his clothes, Harrison's initials were burned into his skin. He didn't know if he could talk about it. There was too much to tell. Henry hadn't even seen his scars, always hidden under long sleeves and high necklines.

After a while, the shaking calmed, and Henry was able to sit next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. James leaned against him, letting himself feel safe and protected.

"Can I show you?" The thought was out of his mouth before he could decide if it was a good idea or not.

"If you want."

Without giving himself time to change his mind, James pulled off his sweater. He could feel Henry go tense beside him, could hear the quiet gasp.

"James--"

"He liked knives." James ran his fingers over the scars covering his chest. "They were his favorite. He kept comparing it to me being a surgeon operating on people." He turned his arm so Henry could see the brand. "This is where he burned his initials, so everyone who saw it would--would know who I belonged to. And these," he pointed to the dark scars ringing his wrists, "are from when he decided to destroy my hands. He would tie them up too tight for hours, and then he made me play the piano, to see how much less I was able to do with each time. He broke my fingers too, but that didn't scar." He had scars on his back, too, but didn't point them out. Henry could see them well enough on his own. "A lot of it didn't leave scars." He didn't look at Henry. Wasn't sure he could handle seeing the pity on Henry's face.

"Shit, James." Henry moved as if he was going to touch James, but then thought better of it. He pulled up his own sleeve instead. "It's not the same, but … I started getting my tattoos to cover these." He showed James a series of small, puckered marks on his underarm. "My dad used to put out cigarettes on me when he was drunk. I kept doing it myself too, just so I could pretend it was no big deal."

James glanced up to meet Henry's eyes, then reached out to run his fingers over the colorful skin. The scars were old and faded, and with the limited sensation in his fingers, James could barely feel them at all. It made him angry to think of someone doing that to Henry. "How old were you?"

"Ten," Henry said. "At least I think that's when it started, after my mom died. He kept doing it until I came out at eighteen, and he threw me out."

Eight years. James had only had to get through one month. And when it was over, he had his entire family to take care of him. "That's horrible," he said.

Henry shrugged. "It was a long time ago. I didn't mean to make this about me, just that, you know. You choose what happens from here." He looked at the brand on James's arm. "It's your body, not his. You don't have to keep them like that if you don't want to."

James hadn't really thought about covering his scars in other ways than clothes. It wasn't as if a tattoo could hide the massive amount of scars he had. Laser treatments were an option, but again, he was covered in them. It was too much to ever get rid of completely. Still, doing something about the brand with Harrison's initials wouldn't be a bad idea. He didn't belong to him, so he shouldn't have a mark saying he did.

"Did it hurt?"

"Getting the tattoos? Yeah," Henry said, pulling his sleeve back down. "But it was worth it."

-

Henry came with him on the day of the trial, along with Julia and James's parents. They waited outside the courtroom until the videos were done playing, and then they went in, so James could tell the jury about his lasting injuries, and how he was unlikely to ever recover enough to go back to his job.

It went better than he had expected, and while he was a bit shaky at the end, he didn't feel the need to spend the rest of the day in bed. They wouldn't know the result of the trial for a few days yet, but the lawyer was confident Harrison would be found guilty.

That night before they went to bed, James took Henry's hand.

"Thank you for being here," he said. "I don't know how I would have managed without you these past few weeks."

Henry smiled. "I think you would've found a way even if I wasn't," he said. "You're stronger than you think. But I'm glad you chose to let it be me."

"Can I ask why? I mean … you have to have better things to spend your time on, right?"

"Because you're cute."

James's eyes flew to Henry's, surprised by such an open admission.

"I mean, that's not why I stayed. We're friends, and I like to help my friends. But at first? You were cute, and I had fun texting you, and I haven't figured out how to meet people without alcohol being involved."

"Oh," James said, not sure how to respond. Henry thought he was cute. And he thought Henry was … cute wasn't quite the right word for it. Hot, more like it. Fascinating, funny and attractive, and he made James feel safe in a way no one else did. "I … huh."

"Don't worry, I'm not trying to pressure you into anything. I'm happy staying as friends with platonic benefits, if that's what you want."

What did he want? James's eyes flitted around Henry's face, down to his lips, back up to his eyes. It felt like forever ago that he decided he wanted to do something about his crush, before the letter came and the trial took over his life. Now that the trial was over, he might actually be able to think about other things going forward. And Henry was very nice to think about.

"I think … that's not what I want," he said, testing out the truth of it as he spoke. "I like you. Like that. But … maybe we can take it slow?"

"Yeah?" The look on Henry's face was a mix of hopeful and happy that James had never seen before. "How slow are we talking?"

"Um … is it okay if we keep doing what we've been doing? For a while longer?"

"Yeah," Henry said. "Of course." He threw an arm around James's shoulders and pulled him close.

James closed his eyes and soaked in Henry's warmth, that solid body and unquestioning acceptance. Henry nuzzled his face against James's hair.

"Not that I mind waiting," Henry said after a minute, his voice almost too-casual. "But how long, do you think, before I get to kiss you?"

"Oh." James looked up. He didn't mind the thought of that at all. "I think … kissing is okay."

Henry's face broke into a grin. He cupped James's cheek in his hand "Yeah?"

James couldn't help but smile too. "Yeah."

[rennyrose]

Felt an itch to draw LR “insta-healing but at a cost” again-

(Sorta kinda wishing this was cannon because of the different implied symbolisms- in some cases the opposite of what Vash’s represent)

[orangeocelotmartyn]

Grian: I think I—I think I saw someone—y'know, with one of those aeroplanes? With the smoke behind it? Write "Is Scar okay?" in the sky— Impulse: yeah— Scar: can we bring that up, by the way? I'm gonna spoil something. During the mayoral campaign… Grian: no no, we might—we might do it. Scar: nevermind. Grian: d-d-don't. Skizz: nevermind. Scar: (Snickers) Grian: nah, I guess we could tell people. I don't think it'll happen. Scar: you wanted to make one of those signs, for the mayoral campaign, and you wanted to fly over— Grian: yeah, at the height— Scar: —Mumbo's house, saying "Mumbo for Mayor" Grian: no, not over Mumbo's house, like, just on the South Coast? So this was like, when, when the whole "Mumbo for Mayor" thing was just going everywhere, um, me and Mumbo talked about genuinely getting one of those, message planes? You know, with the big banners behind them? And putting "Vote for Mumbo—“ Impulse: Lets be clear: I-R-L. Like, in real life— Grian: "Mumbo for Mayor," yeah, in real life Impulse: —not in Minecraft Grian: real life, real life, yeah yeah. Real life aeroplane, ummm, yeah. Real life aeroplane, "Mumbo for Mayor," and uh, we decided against it, cause it was actually the Height of Covid, and no one was outside. Scar, echoing: no one was outside. (laughter) Impulse: poor plane, no one's gonna see it.

[krashlite]

OK part 1 of how I think the curses work in the Life Series

This is something I'm gonna come back and update over time :]

Part 1 (you are Here!) , Part 2