#that despite being raised in a loving and caring environment he wants to destroy everything while Allen wants to save everything

[dragon-toad]

HOT TAKE : Makarov was a bad father (and a bad grandfather)

I'm expecting a big wave of hate with this one... BUT LET ME EXPLAIN

We can dive into the generational trauma theory : we know Yuri has been profoundly hurt by his wife's death (giving birth to Makarov) and this is a thing we should consider. In most cases, people live with the burden of the death of their partner until they die, which could have been Yuri's case. And the idea that somehow his wife died for his son... Well, angst potential.

Now : death of a loved one + wife who dies giving birth to his son = difficult father-son relationship

And even if Yuri didn't do it intentionally, there could have been a distance between the father and the son, and it has repercussions on the futur.

So yes, it maybe happened completely differently, but let's consider this hypothesis to understand what comes after :

Makarov was raised in the guild, where everybody is friendly. The only thing is his daddy issues. He ends up considering the guild more important, so the thing to cherish and protect at all cost.

Everything is fine.

Then, Ivan enters the game.

I know it's very fun to have an antagonist in the family of the master, the man presented as the most loving, a father for all the lost children, etc. BUT maybe we can go a little deeper.

We sometimes have this idea that some characters are born meaner than others, it allows us to ignore psychology and sociology, but it's not fun.

We can suppose Ivan was born in the guild, like Makarov and certainly Laxus. And as it's shown every single second that Fairy Tail is a very healthy environment, a "big family", so even if Ivan was a bit twisted, he would not have been so mean with his colleagues, provoking his exclusion, and he would have not tried to destroy the guild.

Unless he have daddy issues too. Let's consider : Makarov has a son and the mother is nowhere to be found. Doesn't it remind you of something ? But Makarov know his relationship with his father wasn't awesome, so he tries differently.

So two possibilities can be explored :

1- Ivan is a spoiled child. Being the master's son allows him to do reprehensible things and not be punished after, or not too much, and Makarov wants to give him all the freedom he didn't have. Until he almost kills another member of the guild. Then Makarov is forced to expel him. He takes away the thing that gave Ivan an almost unlimited power, and he doesn't like it. So if he can't have Fairy Tail, nobody will.

2- Makarov prefers the guild to his son. He doesn't know how to raise a kid, what if he screws like his father ? (Spoiler : he does) So when Precht makes him the new master, he puts all his soul into his job. But Ivan wants a father. So he does everything to make his father notice him, to make his father proud. It leads him to dark places, and thus, being strong = being good enough. Unfortunately, it doesn't work, because he ends up expelled. So, by pure rage, he decides to destroy the thing his father loved more than him. (It's my favorite version)

In both cases, Ivan manipulates his son into believing that being strong is the only way for him to be respected, to be seen.

Which leads us to the Laxus part (finally)

It's canon that Ivan pushed his son to be the strongest (to the point he put a lacrima in his body) so yeah, Laxus has daddy issues. But he has gampa issues too.

Let's continue with the theory we built on this post : Makarov doesn't really raise his son, why would he raise his grandson ?

But we see Makarov taking care of a very young Laxus. Thus, Laxus once loved his grandfather. Except Ivan didn't. So we can suppose he decided to keep his son under his control by manipulating him into thinking he has to be the strongest.

Then Ivan was banned.

The problem with an abusive relationship is that the victim thinks the abuser is on the right, which explains why Laxus was all but happy his father was expelled. But he stayed in Fairy Tail, because despite everything, Fairy Tail is his home. But this home is controlled by the man who banned his father (his abuser)

Laxus becomes a rank-S mage, which means he's the strongest. He has all the rights to make Fairy Tail his home, not Makarov's.

Well yes, but no.

Because there's Mirajane, a prodigy so fucking strong she becomes a rank-S mage too. But Lisanna dies, and suddenly everybody loves Mirajane. She even becomes the right arm of Makarov, because she's too weak now to create problems now.

And there's Natsu and Gray, Makarov's little boys. They're noisy, annoying, but they have potential. They have the potential to become stronger than Laxus. And Makarov loves them.

But more important, because there's Erza, who is so strong, so kind, so nice... Who is his grandfather's favorite. The same grandfather who did nothing when Ivan imprisoned Laxus into a psychological jail and who banned Ivan for somebody else's weakness. And Laxus knows it : she is the future master of Fairy Tail. She will steal his home and make it even weaker.

So he has to take Fairy Tail now, even if his grandfather dies in the process. Better, it will make things easier !

But in the end, Laxus loves Fairy Tail. He loves the guild enough to not betray everybody by joining his father's guild.

Laxus broke the cycle. And I don't think it was thanks to Makarov. If Laxus broke the cycle, it's because despite everything, he has weirdos to stick with. The Raijinshuu are a safe place for Laxus, they are strong enough to be his friends colleagues, they don't call him "psychotic" when he tells them he wants the guild, and more important, they care for him.

Laxus broke the cycle thanks to people who cared for him. They even wanted to follow him when he was banned ! But he said no, because he care for them and he knows they will be better in Fairy Tail.

Now, let's consider : travelling must have felt like therapy for Laxus : he's not part of Fairy Tail anymore and he's sure he will never have the possibility to come back, but he will not join his father because he doesn't want to put his friends in danger. So he has to do something by himself, not under the influence of his father. And I believe this emancipation was beneficial for him. He could learn what it means to be himself, not Ivan's son or Makarov's grandson.

I don't think he fully forgave Makarov for his inaction and for loving other more than him, and he's not completely out of Ivan's philosophy, those things need time, but he escaped the cycle.

[queer-reader-07]

ok buckle up cuz we’re talking about ✨religious trauma✨ today (i’m allowed to sparkle emoji it this is entirely a self insert meta)

ok so aziraphale in the context of religious trauma. specifically, why i think his character is one of the most accurate and real portrayals of religious trauma in media. and i want to explore that because i’ve seen it talked about a little bit but my raised catholic turned queer trans self has some more thoughts.

a lot more under the cut

i’m sure we’ve all seen the “why would aziraphale leave crowley?” “why would he go to heaven?” “doesn’t he know heaven is bad?” posts. or some flavor of the same idea.

and they seem to be coming from the same crowd who also think that aziraphale going to heaven was “out of character”. which isn’t true if i’m being perfectly honest.

when we look at aziraphale through the lens of trauma, his actions begin to make a lot more sense. he is in an abusive and toxic relationship with heaven. and we all know (or at least we all should know) that leaving toxic/abusive environments isn’t an easy feat. and more often than not, abuse victims are very likely to end up in an abusive situation again.

aziraphale only knows heaven. while he and crowley have both seen that heaven doesn��t always do the best things (e.g. killing everyone in the flood, wanting to kill jobs kids, armageddon 1 AND 2), crowley has seen first hand that heaven is bad. crowley has fallen (or sauntered vaguely downwards), he’s been told that he isn’t worthy of heaven. that he isn’t enough. and he knows that what heaven does is so often wrong. he see that, because heaven already cast him out. why would he bother defending them?

but aziraphale only has heaven and has only ever had heaven. yeah he doesn’t agree with heaven or God on all fronts but heaven is still the right side,,, right? heaven is still his side.

aziraphale is comfortable with heaven. he’s used to it. and admitting to himself that heaven is toxic or problematic or bad would dismantle everything he’s ever told himself. it would mean admitting that he is a part of that toxic/etc institution. and possibly complacent in it.

(side bar: i would argue he isn’t complacent. we’ve seen him defy the will of God or heaven multiple times. see: giving up the flaming sword & lying about it, saving job’s kids and lying about it, stopping armageddon)

speaking from a personal perspective here: religious trauma is a beast to deal with. and a lot of people with religious trauma (myself included) go back to The Church over and over again despite being burned by it so many times.

for me it was knowing that The Church didn’t care about my reproductive rights. and knowing that they didn’t condone my queerness. and knowing that they think i’m somehow sinful for the music i listen to or the clothes i wear. and knowing that they believe my friends who are wonderful people and i love deeply are doomed to eternal damnation because they aren’t catholic.

aziraphale is the same way. for him it was being shown over and over again that heaven doesn’t care about him. doesn’t care about humanity. doesn’t care about what he thinks. doesn’t care (and in fact actively hates) the one being he loves more than anything. doesn’t care about anything but “triumphing over hell” (whatever that means).

but he kept going back. and i kept going back. i kept going to sunday mass for years after i figured out i was queer. i kept going long after i settled on my leftist politics that are far too radical for the catholic church. and aziraphale kept going back. despite having worked side by side with a demon for millennia. despite heaven wanting to kill his best friend/lover/most important person. despite wanting to destroy humanity (not just in armageddon, the flood did happen).

it takes a lot of work to even begin stepping away from toxic and abusive institutions. aziraphale gets better. season 1 is very “i am an angel you are a demon we cannot work together (but also we definitely are)” but by season 2 we have “our car” “my former people” “i thought we carved [this fragile peaceful existence] out for ourselves”. he’s beginning to realize that heaven does not have his back. he is on a side with crowley. they are in it together.

and yet. he still goes back to heaven. after all this time. all the failed attempts to get heaven to hear him out. why is he going back now? after a love confession from the demon he loves more than literally anything ever.

because he wants to enact change. he wants to finally see heaven rebuilt so that humanity is safe. so that the things he loves about the world are left unchanged. and most importantly, so crowley is safe. and he can only do that if he fixes heaven, right?

i know i’m not the only one who’s thought to myself “i’d be more religious if only i could fix The Church” or something adjacent. this idea that it’s an institution that can be fixed. when in fact, organized religion can’t be fixed. the structure it’s built upon is inherently flawed. personal faith is beautiful and i value my own, but organized religion will always bear systemic issues and oppressions.

aziraphale wants to be the change. he wants to fix it. that’s why he went back. he didn’t reject crowley. he didn’t leave crowley because he doesn’t love him back. he went back because he loves crowley. he went back because if he fixes it, crowley will finally be safe.

and i for one, want to see him succeed. i want him to be able to actually fix heaven. i want him fighting tooth and nail to make the world a safe place for the love of his life.

i want him to succeed in the change the rest of us never managed. i want him fulfilling what was mine and so many others dreams.

[morgana-ren]

(pregnancy squick anon here) How would each of the Bastard 4 respond to their little lovely falling pregnant? (And who would have done it on purpose?)

Alright, we'll start with everyone's favorite prick:

Nightmare

You haven't truly seen him happy until you fall pregnant. Rest easy without any doubts in your mind that it was very much intentional. All Nightmare wants in this life, albeit semi-secretly, is to be a father with children of his own. He goes moon-eyed at the thought of having kids of his own and it's fair to say that besides the throne, it's the thing he's lusted after most his entire life.

If Nightmare doesn't want you to get pregnant, you won't. It's simple as that. But the thing about him is that if he's sleeping with you, he has more or less 'chosen' you. Nightmare doesn't sleep around; it isn't his style. So, if he's abusing you sexually, whether he admits it or not, there's something about you he very much likes and you will, sooner or later, face the issue of him falling very deeply in love and wanting to spend the rest of his very long life with you.

Nightmare will threaten to breed and impregnate you and fill your belly with 'little princes and princesses' to terrify you, and a lot of the time, he won't do it (thank Bane for magical contraception). But one day, one very inevitable day, when everything falls into place for him and he's comfortable and secure, it will happen.

Nightmare is easily the most 'traditional' of the lot and wants to be married and have a family. He thinks it's the finest aspiration a man can have. He's very staunchly pro-family and goes as far as having a domestic kink. The thought of his little wife, barefoot and pregnant, cooking him dinner and adoring him is enough to make him bust in an embarrassing way.

He's very much into traditional gender roles and if he had his way, he would be the big macho man provider for his wife. He wants to be taken care of domestically while being viewed as the big, strong provider (despite the fact he doesn't have a job unless he's a king, he's literally a pirate and steals to provide, although provide he does.) He wants a traditional, loving family with home cooked meals and a warm hearth, sharing a bed and a life with his wife.

He will enforce this dream.

There's ways to manipulate him and maneuver your life with him to get more of what you want, but ultimately, this is what he wants, and what he wants, he gets. Bearing his children is inevitable past a certain point. I don't think he would even allow his brothers to get in the way of that. They can suck it up and deal.

Weirdly, he's also incredible to you while you're pregnant.

The most obnoxious part is he will treat you like glass. Fragile, small, and delicate, even if you insist that you're not. He won't touch you sexually while you're carrying his children, in case it harms the babies. He's the type of man that's going to read every baby book he can get his hands on and want to deliver the children himself, and if you won't allow that, plan on him taking over the entire delivery room anyway.

He wants his children raised in a loving and stable home and will go as far as to leave Hell and its politically unstable environment behind to keep his wife and children safe. He won't give up his rule, but he gets extra vicious about protection and will torture and murder if he sniffs even a hint of trouble. If he moves you to the surface world, he is coming too. You are not separating from him ever. Where you and the children go, he goes.

Have his children and you've cemented your life with him. You're his wife for life. For better or worse. Forever.

Reaver

Reaver, on the opposite end of the spectrum, is going to take every precaution he can so as to keep you from falling pregnant.

Ironically enough, he is a father already and just doesn't know it. Nightmare and Astarion know, but don't tell him because they think it would destroy him, and they're right. He means so much to them that even Nightmare's scathing jealousy over it isn't enough to break their bond.

Reaver's reluctance to have a family stems from deeply rooted trauma and insecurity. If you were to ask him, he'd make a face and just say "Eugh, disgusting." But that's not the full story. Deep down, he is terrified of progressing his life or growing in any capacity. He hides his wounds with hedonism and libertine proclivities, and he believes his 'fabulous lifestyle' would be impeded by children. He also claims not to like them and is easily the biggest obstacle for Nightmare when they're sharing a love interest.

Hilariously enough, he's not bad with children. When Nightmare has them, 'Uncle' Reaver is quite good with them and lavishes affection on them even as he claims not to.

Thing with Reaver is that any connection terrifies him. He sleeps around constantly, and while he can fall in love, he will fight it the hardest and will be the most reluctant to cement anything at all. Getting him to propose is almost impossible unless he thinks he's going to lose you to one of the others. He doesn't necessarily want a traditional life with traditional marriage— or he doesn't at first. He would tell you he doesn't want any connection at all, and he wouldn't be lying. Being immortal and watching the world and everyone you come to love inevitably die has taken a toll on him, and he will not take that step unless he knows he won't outlive you.

When he stops entertaining anyone else, that's when you've well and truly got him, but you don't necessarily have to worry about having his kids nearly as much as you might with the others. Reaver is perfectly content with you by his side 'belonging' to him. Eventually the thought of marriage does occur to him, but he fights it harder than the others. When he does finally relent, he approaches it as a savvy business proposal rather than anything heartfelt because it makes him feel vulnerable to do otherwise.

If you do fall pregnant for whatever reason, he's going to panic. He knows he makes for piss poor father material (the same reason he was never made aware of his existing children) and he doesn't know how to change.

Funny enough, I think he'd end up taking to it well enough. He's a... Strange and unconventional father figure to be sure, but he does eventually catch on. When he loves, he loves deeply and fiercely, and that extends to his children. Only the finest for them. He knows what good parenting looks like and he would try very hard to emulate that, but more often than not, you're going to end up going "Reaver, no!" while he snickers.

While it's not something he openly or actively wants, I think he'd end up a fine father. He would panic and be terrified and he certainly doesn't take to it as effortlessly as someone like Nightmare, but he's astute and he does have a great capacity for love.

Unfortunately for him, his desire to cum inside overtakes any caution he might have. If Nightmare decides to 'slip' on the birth control, there's not much preventing it from happening. He won't abandon you or try to force you into anything, but you will have to soothe his anxiety more than someone like, say, Nightmare. He's going to take a lot of encouragement and patience.

Astarion

Astarion lies in the middle. He's somewhat ambivalent to the whole thing, and frankly, he doesn't even think it's possible.

He's never put much thought into children. He knows he'll end up an uncle to Nightmare's someday, and that's about as far into it as he's gotten. He doesn't know if vampires are capable of having children, and he doesn't really have anyone to ask, so he just doesn't worry about it.

If you do fall pregnant, it's going to confuse him, to be sure. He's going to ask if you're sure, how you know, and, if applicable, if you're certain they aren't Nightmare's. He's then going to deep-dive into every esoterica book he can find about vampiric pregnancy.

It's going to terrify him, but not necessarily because he doesn't want kids. It's going to scare him because he doesn't know what to expect and he doesn't know if it'll hurt you or if you'll even survive. Half-vampire children is a scary thought, especially if their mother is mortal. He doesn't know if the kids will be vampires or if they'll be mortsl or what is going on.

It's not that he doesn't want children. He's just never thought about it. He didn't think he'd ever be in this position, and it takes him by surprise, to be sure.

Ultimately, once he got a handle on things and knew what to expect, I think he'd be excited and happy. He's a bit more fumbling with it than Nightmare but his intentions are wholly pure. You're going to have to lead him through a lot of the steps just because he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he'd be a fine father once he got the hang of it.

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's intentional unless you've been together a long time and he's had time to think and research. If he ever gets the idea of children well and truly put in his head, he's going to be curious, but it's going to take a while. He's content being an uncle for the most part, but eventually, he might start to wonder about a family of his own.

He won't impregnate you against your will like Nightmare might. That's something he's going to want to discuss and be damned sure that it's something both of you want. If you're open to it, he's content to start trying. A lot.

Obviously, his brothers are an obstacle here, especially if they share a love interest. If push comes to shove, Nightmare is going to win out and come first in terms of children. Astarion is acutely aware how badly Nightmare needs and wants this, and frankly, it might be good to do some sort of... Trial run before he has kids of his own.

However, if enough time passes, and you're up to raising more with him (with him being more or less pushy) it's something he's going to want and think about.

Ilya

Ilya is mostly in perpetual bachelor mode. The only true love interests he's ever had have been concubines, and he didn't care much for them. They were there for their bodies and that was that. When he tired of them, he swapped them out. That's how he does most things. He's deeply afraid of vulnerability and connection.

He would never impregnate a concubine. Ever. Not even for their sake, but because he doesn't want a son like himself. He doesn't want his children to loathe their father like he loathed his. He had a remarkable bond with his mother, and if he were to ever have children, that's a bond he would want to share with them. He would want the mother of his children to love him so he could be there for all of them and grow and love them.

Impregnating some poor girl against her will is a very good way to ensure your children despise you.

He's very aware that kink is different than reality, so like Nightmare, he will threaten to breed you, but unlike Nightmare, the thought of children doesn't send him into an uncontrollable feral state of delight. It's not something he would ever consider with a pet or a concubine, so for him to even start thinking about it, you have to be very special and different to him. That's actually easier done than it seems, because not only is he starved for affection, but if he's taken you, chances are he's already enamored with who you are as a person.

When he does think about it, it's earnest and genuine. It's something he will only approach when he feels like you have some level of feeling for him in turn, and that you both want to have a family together. It's a lot of vulnerability to approach so he really has to feel comfortable. He would want to be married for a while so you can be sure you want to be with him. (Keep in mind, he doesn't care if you want to leave him. You're not leaving. Period. But he won't impregnate you if that's something you're thinking about.)

It's something he would dedicate himself to, likely walking away from his responsibilities in Hell with Nightmare's blessing to dedicate himself full time to being a father and husband.

The issue with Ilya is he needs to unlearn a lot of the toxic shit he grew up with. He's going to struggle with too much or too little affection because he had both. He struggles with emotion and obviously his woman falling pregnant is a heavily emotional time. The good thing is that he wants to, so if you're patient with him, he's a quick learner.

Also, like Nightmare, Ilya will drop a lot of the sadistic bullshit once you're pregnant and have a family together— at least around them, and at least within reason. Neither of them wants their children raised in an unhealthy environment with a miserable mother, so he will put in a good deal of effort to ensure that this doesn't happen.

His heritage is very important to him, so he would want his children to know their roots and understand his culture. You would be learning the languages he speaks (if you don't already speak them) and raising your children in a trilingual home— if not more than trilingual. He would teach them skills that he learned as a kid, including self-defense, hunting, survival, and other basic skills. Though, to be frank, he spoils his children even as he doesn't mean to. He turns very soft for them and his wife.

Like Reaver, he would provide the finest for his children, but he's a bit stricter than Reaver might be. Their safety is the foremost priority, and he wants them happy and healthy and thriving. He's fiercely protective over his family, and people are liable to disappear if he feels they are threatening. There's nothing he won't do to ensure that, and he's very clever. You do not want to be on the receiving end of an angry daddy Ilya.

Ilya has the capability to be a great father if he can allow himself to be vulnerable. He would genuinely love his children and want them to be happy. He doesn't care about gender roles and he's happy being a stay-at-home father (he's already independently wealthy.) However, mommy will very much be a stay-at-home mommy. He thinks the bond between mother and child is extremely important and there's really no reason for you to work when both of your jobs should be raising your family together. You don't have to become a domestic goddess like you would with Nightmare, but the thought does charm him.

Obviously, their uncles would be a big part of their life, but again, like Nightmare, he would not abide any bullshit from them. No blood, murder, death, or debauchery around his family. His children are not to know about his secret life. He wants his children to think he's a loving, normal, if a little eccentric father.

I think deep down, Ilya yearns for a family. He won't acknowledge it unless he feels very comfortable, but he's probably second to Nightmare in terms of desiring children. What he truly wants is a genuine love and connection with his wife, and to raise a happy, healthy family. If his wife and children didn't desire immortality, he would find a way to age alongside them. He has intimate knowledge of the afterlife, and he would find a way to be with his family even after death. No matter who he has to kill.

If you fall pregnant with Ilya, rest assured it's very much intentional and something you have likely agreed to and talked about. That's important to him. He was the child of a reluctant mother, and he doesn't want his babies harboring the same resentment that he does towards his late father.

[bibatbrat]

TMA Season 4

I did take a hiatus for several months three episodes before the finale for unknown (depressed) reasons 🥲 But nonetheless, I stay silly

Oliver Banks relatable as hell for stealing a dead man’s identity to sneak aboard a scientific research vessel so that he can get some damn sleep

But also him laying out for John what’s happening and why and the choice he needs to make… and then John starting to breathe again…. God

Tim being the first one John asks about when he wakes up. Screaming and crying and throwing up.

And Basira immediately adding Daisy 🥲

He’s The Archivist now huh

I love Melanie so much, queen of having emotions that no one else will fucking acknowledge

Chelicerae and the story-spinner are so good, I’m 100% stealing them for DnD or something

John saying he wishes he could talk to his team and then acknowledging that he’s nostalgic for something that never really happened 🥺

Simon Fairchild is so funny, man just loves being spooky dooky

Civilian Casualties is very good. I don’t normally care that much for the Slaughter statements, but this one was tasty

Performing non-consensual surgery on your unconscious co-worker = hostile work environment?

Martin talking to the tape recorder is so fucking cute

Man, that coffin just fucking loves eating cops huh

John using his powers to track Martin down for a convo…. Gay as hell

Martin telling John that he won’t let him die again…. Gay as hell

The whole concept of “bias of survivorship” is so interesting… I know that John doesn’t want to access that knowledge, but I do

Personally think that the Flesh ritual should have been called “the Munchies” but that’s just me

Helen trapping Jared in a rat maze labyrinth is so funny, I love her

Self-harm in the name of seeking knowledge… yes 😌

Jared’s so funny for being an Avatar and nope-ing out of his Fear’s ritual. He simply did not feel like it.

ngl seems a little disingenuous to leave behind an explanation/apology to your friends for the stupid thing you’re about to do w the rib that you got yanked out of you for some spilled tea (a stupid thing to do)

*uses my evil magic powers to give my friend therapy*

Seriously though, Daisy and John have a… rocky relationship, but it was very nice for them to get some Comfort together in the midst of the Hurt

The Everchase is so good. They got the zoomies

T H E E X T I N C T I O N

Shoutout to the Web and the End for being the baddest bitches around

I do love the “protag works for the bad guys bc they’ve traded their service for the safety of the people they care about” trope

Martin putting a bunch of tapes on the coffin to help John find his way back 🥺

Very funny that the Dark’s ritual was like “what if we had a sun….. of DARKNESS 😈😈😈”

John being disappointed that he can’t watch the cursed Web horror movies… same, bestie

Gertrude saying that she cares for Gerard and doesn’t want to risk losing him stopping the Unknowing… makes me 🥺 but also lowkey makes everything so much worse

Elias telling Martin that his decision about joining the Lonely is “too important to interfere with” is so funny

Smirke’s statement is so interesting… it’s wild that someone who was so instrumental in the academia of the Fears would have a change of heart so close to the end. It’s also wild that he continues to trust Jonah despite it all. At least he got the quick death he prayed for.

The Desolation’s beef with Gertrude after Agnes is so tasty

And the way they create Agnes is so wonderfully fucked up and terrible

Agnes being destroyed by DOUBT. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

SHE MADE THEM HANG HERRRRRRR

John getting hurt when he tries to use his powers to Know what Peter’s plans are is very good

Can’t believe Mikaele Salesa fell for the old “one last job” trap 😔 we hate to see it

Gertrude intimidating Arthur Nolan…. What a fucking girlboss

V much like Arthur’s notion that the entities understand people as little as people understand them

And him talking about how he thinks they fucked up raising Agnes bc they treated her as their messiah and not as a child 🥺

Annabelle 💜

Basira beating the shit out of Elias is very funny

Cul-de-sac is so fucking good

Daisy saving John from Julia and Trevor… Hunter v Hunter shit is AWESOME

Eric’s statement makes me crazy… I love all of the old Institute drama and it’s so fucked up to hear him being so intensely focused on keeping Gerry safe when we know in the present-day that he’s dead

John going to Martin to suggest that they both blind themselves and run away together… Gay

Cost of Living is also fucking bonkers

Melanie ☹️

Peter thinking that it’s funny to jump out and scare Martin is so fucking funny

Adelard concrete-ing an avatar to death(-ish) is badass as hell

But also very funny to imagine him doused in gasoline and about to light the match when he’s like “oh shit!!!” and runs off to write the email real quick lol

Georgie and Melanie… love wins

I love it when John tries to compel another avatar and they get into a stand-off. I think he loses to Helen because he’s acting out of the very human emotions of fear and love. To do it properly, I bet he needs to lose more of his humanity

Peter mentioning Tim and Martin shutting him down… my heart…

Jolias…..

Gertrude challenging Elias to shut the fuck up or actually kill her and him shooting her in the heart before she even finishes the threat is so camp, I love him

Daisy letting the Hunt overtake her so that she can fight Julia and Trevor AGHHHHHHHH

Elias and Peter do have incredibly divorced energies and I love them for it

Peter taunting John in the Lonely while he desperately looks for Martin

Oh god and him coming out with the “you won’t be able to hurt anyone if you stay in here ☺️”

It kills me how readily Peter gives up his statement. Yeah he resists and yeah he’s compelled, but once John gets him started it all comes tumbling out so easily… something something ironic how an avatar of the Lonely jumps so quickly at the chance of being heard and understood, the most human connection of all

Absolutely fascinated by the Lukas family dynamics… need some more statements from those bitches

Gertrude fucking stops his ritual by cancelling him, I’m….

The parallels between John compelling Martin to see him in the Lonely to follow him out versus John compelling Tim to see the truth behind the Unknowing to stop it (by killing himself)

OH IT’S THE FUCKING MEME HERE WE GOOOOO

I love Elias so much, what a fucking bitch

What a fantastic villainous monologue 💜

Oh they are so fucking fucked

[nocapesdahling]

As the World Falls Down - Chapter 3

Helmut Zemo x Gender Neutral Reader

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

Chapter Summary:  In which you have a plan to save yourself and Alena, but have no idea if it’s going to work. Either way, you have to try.

Rating: Mature (17+)

Chapter Warnings/Tags: Slow Burn; Angst; Misunderstandings that lead to angst; Established canon character deaths; Did I mention angst?

A/N: We have reached the end of Part 1 and the Age of Ultron arc. I hope you’ve enjoyed it so far, and would love to hear your thoughts. 

Chapter 3: Beneath a Fallen Sky (Age of Ultron) - Part 1

Word Count: 2.4k

You made sure Alena was strapped in tightly on your chest and that everything was in place. With time running out and Novi Grad continuing to rise, it was as good as it was going to get. You needed to move now. You had your prototype boots and gauntlets, which should allow you to fly. You hoped they would at least. Your main consolation was that they worked during testing, even if that had been in a controlled environment.

You had always admired Tony Stark, being something of a child prodigy yourself and starting college at a similar age to him. When you had first seen the Iron Man suit, your first thoughts had been of awe like any person who got a glimpse of Iron Man. Yet most people probably didn’t think what you had thought later, while considering the technology behind the suit and how to go about making your own.

Well, if he can do it then why can’t I? How hard could it be, really?

It turned out to be a bit more difficult than you’d thought, but you had developed something after much trial and error. However, you hadn’t tested anything in the open air yet. The previous test was only a short one to see if your prototypes would work and you had hovered a few feet over solid ground at most. That was why your plan only had a 65% success rate, but you had confidence in your technology and hope. In Sokovia, you couldn’t get far without hope.

You noticed the air getting thin as the city continued to rise, so you fitted Alena with an oxygen mask. You had a tank available in your apartment for squad emergencies, and were amazed how many times it had been used in the past. Your squad got into the oddest situations. There had been Andrei’s mission with the diplomat and the ice cream swimming pool and Mila’s with the yacht and the hammerhead sharks. All classified of course.

You digressed. There were more important things to consider right now, even as you wondered how your squad would take the loss of their handler when Helmut told them. You knew that it would hit them harder than they would ever admit. They emulated Helmut’s stoicism when in the field and today was still a mission, even if it was unlike any other. The destruction of one’s home was not something any of them had encountered before. If you couldn’t be there, then you hoped your gadgets would help to protect them today and in the future. You planned to be there.

You clipped the oxygen tank to your tactical gear and hoped that it wouldn’t unbalance you too much. You would need all the balance you could muster if this plan were to succeed.

Once you were as ready as you could be, it was time. The city had to fall at some point and you wanted to be in the air when it did as the height it had reached would cause a destructive impact radius. You brushed a kiss to Alena’s head, seeing her little feet kicking and knowing that she was awake.

“Not the best timing, little one. This might be a bit scary, Alena, so I wanted you to know that I love you. Already. So much. I think I loved you as soon as I saw you. Wish us luck, my little Alena Heike. We’re going to need it.”

With that and the realization that you had reached the edge of the city, you took a deep breath, taking one last glance back at the city that had been your home for most of your life. Then, you braced yourself, stepped off the edge, and flew. Well, you took a moment to stabilize yourself as the only other time you had done this was in a local park in the middle of the night and then you had grass to land on not open sky. But then, you flew.

You flew like the birds you had admired for their freedom and grace and like Iron Man. Tony Stark had nothing on you. You let out a joyful laugh, forgetting your circumstances for a moment. You forgot the swarm of robots on the other side of the city, the fact that your home was in the process of being destroyed, that you may never see Helmut again, and that you weren’t sure if you and your baby would get out of this alive. Nothing else mattered at that moment because you were flying.

Then you were shocked back to the present as to your disbelief the city began to freefall, plummeting quickly and devastatingly towards Earth before exploding mid air. You could see from where you were that it looked like Iron Man and Thor had blown it up somehow, but you couldn’t understand why the Avengers hadn’t been able to stop it from falling in the first place.

Why hadn’t they been able to save Sokovia? They had saved New York. It didn’t make sense. The world had painted them as infallible. These were Earth’s heroes? They did not look so “Mighty” now.

The debris began to land too hard and too fast. It looked like it would impact more of the surrounding area than you had anticipated.

You gasped in horror, the tears freezing on your cheeks. If a building was hit with debris of that size, then the result would be catastrophic. You worried immediately for your squad and Helmut, turning on your earpiece with frantic movements even as you unbalanced without one of your gauntlets.

You tried Helmut. You tried Ana, Branko, Claudia, Andrei, and the other members of your squad. No one answered.

The base wasn’t that far away, not when you calculated the radius of the debris. It would be difficult, but you could make it there. You had to make it there. You needed to know.

You flew above and around where the debris was falling and jerkily made your way towards the base, still not as smooth as you wished you were or as fast as you wanted to be. You arrived to the sight you hoped not to see.

The base had been hit by a large piece of debris from the city and was collapsing in on itself. You landed as smoothly as you could a distance away and caught yourself on a tree, falling to your knees. No one could have survived that.

Helmut was gone. Helmut Zemo was dead.

Your chest hurt and your vision was blurry as your mind whirled.

You had survived, while Helmut had died. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. You would never see him again.

How did this happen?!, was your last thought before slumping backwards into a faint.

In your horror at the base’s collapse, you had forgotten the existence of its reinforced underground bunker where technology did not work and where your entire squad including their leader, Colonel Helmut Zemo, waited for the dust of Novi Grad to settle. Very much alive and in quiet mourning for their lost Q. They would exit through the tunnels a few hours later, coming out miles away from where you collapsed.

In fact, you wouldn’t recall the bunker’s existence until a little over a year later and by then it would be too late.

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

You awoke in the hospital. It took you a moment to realize what had happened and where you were. With that, came the realization in your mind that you would never see Helmut or hear his deep voice calling you his Q ever again. Despite the gaping hole in your chest and your desire to let yourself be numb, you needed to find Alena. You gasped and sat up too quickly before falling backwards out of dizziness.

You breathed in and out to calm yourself the way you often had as you assisted your squad in the completion of missions, and clicked the button to raise the bed as you looked around the room. You were in a gown and had no idea what had happened to your gauntlets and boots, but hoped they had been destroyed in the landing.

You heard Helmut’s voice in your head as you pinpointed the potential exits and any possible weapons.

“The first step, my Q, is to always survey your surroundings. Get your bearings and be prepared for anything. Be prepared to fight, but also to run if necessary. There is no shame in running. Running can save your life and I, my darling Q, would much rather see you alive .”

You smiled bitterly before letting it fade. You were not in any shape to run at the moment, and Helmut was no longer there to advise you. Your memories of him would have to suffice.

As you surveyed the room, you glimpsed your pack in the corner of the room and what looked like your highly damaged prototypes alongside it. There next to your bed was a crib and laying inside was Alena, who looked clean, like she had been changed, and who was sleeping soundly.

You let a small and real smile touch your lips. She was safe. You were safe. Both of you were alive. Helmut was not.

No, you couldn’t let yourself think of it. Not now. Maybe, not ever.

You pressed the call button for the nurse, hoping this was a real hospital and not some elaborate plot. It looked real, but one could never be sure.

“Finally awake, are you? Good, I’m glad to see it. I was beginning to worry about what might happen to your daughter.” The nurse said in rapid fire Sokovian as she bustled into the room.

“Yes, thank you. How long have we been here and where are we?” You had to clear your throat multiple times and even then your voice came out as a rasp.

The nurse poured some water into a cup, drank it, and then offered you some as well. “You probably do not remember, but you were rescued three days ago. You have been awake sporadically, and even then you were groggy. That is why you do not remember. For your second question, you are in a hospital in the Czech Republic. We are taking care of multiple Sokovian refugees.”

“But you are speaking Sokovian?”

The nurse frowned and leaned closer. She looked like she wanted to pat your hand or hold it. You were glad she did not. “Sokovia is gone. This time for good. There were not many survivors. My mother was Sokovian. I thought a familiar language might be of comfort to you. It has been to the other survivors we’re treating.”

You attempted to read her face and her eyes like Helmut had taught you. She drank the water before giving you some, which was a point in her favor.  She also did not look like a plant and you let yourself relax a bit, but kept your guard up in case you were wrong. You knew that Novi Grad had been destroyed and the devastation the debris must have caused, but it was hard to believe that your country was gone. It had been failing for years, but it was still yours. Yours, Heike’s, Carl’s, Alena’s, and Helmut’s. Now, it would only exist in the memory of its survivors.

You pushed the thought of Helmut aside for the moment, but at the thought of Heike and Carl you knew what question needed to be asked. “Have they released a list of survivors?”

“Not yet, but I do not want you to get your hopes up.”

You hated to think that the nurse was right, that Heike and Carl were also gone. They had been miles from the city however, so you had to hold on to hope for their sake. You could not consider never seeing Heike’s hair in the sunlight or Carl’s smiling face again. They were part of your family. You needed to find out what happened to them. “Please let me know as soon as they release the list.”

“I will, dear. I will.” The nurse gave you a pained smile that looked more like a grimace. “Now, we got your name and identification from your pack. I was in charge of your admission papers, and did not include any reference to your military rank to be safe. Sokovia is gone, so I did not want it to make you a target. What you were wearing alone looked like it would draw some attention.”

You nodded and thought briefly, knowing that had only happened because the nurse had ties to Sokovia. She was showing honest care and concern in the best way she could, and you appreciated it. You had been correct in her not being a plant then. You pictured Helmut’s smile when you told him that you were putting his training to good use, before remembering that he was…

You couldn’t bring yourself to think the word. You had to keep it together. You couldn’t falter now. Not when Alena was counting on you.

You realized the nurse was still waiting for some kind of answer. “Thank you. A civilian life might be just what I need.”

The nurse smiled back, “Yet, we have no information on this little one. I have a birth certificate here to fill out. You are one of her parents, yes?” Alena continued to sleep in her crib, oblivious to the world around her.

“Yes,” you swallowed and rapidly thought of how to answer the next question that you knew was coming.

“And her other parent?”

“He died in Sokovia,” you felt a tear roll down your cheek. You wondered if you were prepared to continue. Saying it out loud made it real.

“I’m sorry to hear that, dear.” The nurse did pat your hand this time in commiseration before withdrawing when you tensed up. “Would you still like to put his name on the certificate?”

You steadied your breathing and hoped that when (you couldn’t bring yourself to think if) you found Heike, wherever she may be, that she would understand. You knew that you could not regret this decision. It felt too right for that.

“Yes,” you responded haltingly. The words seemed to catch in your throat. “His name is… Helmut Zemo and our baby’s name is Alena Heike Zemo.”

End of Part 1 - To Be Continued in Part 2: Burn it to the Ground…

A/N:  I know this chapter was angsty, but I hope you enjoyed part 1 of this fic. Part 2 will not have as regular updates because Part 1 was pre-written, but I’m working on it. Thank you all for reading!

[phoenix-king-ozai]

Character Analyst of Ozai by Villains Wiki

"After all these years, I can finally see you, Ozai. You're just a small, small man trying with all your might to be big. Your heart is so small, you've no room for your son, or your daughter, or your brother... or even yourself. Goodbye, Ozai.„~ Ursa confronts Ozai about his true nature after she had enough of his tyranny.

“I finally have you, but I can't get you home because of this blizzard. (*Stands up and looks outside the cave*) There's always something. Not that you would understand. You're like my sister. Everything always came easy to her. She's a firebending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born. I don't need luck, though. I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am.„~ Zuko describes his relationship with his father, Ozai, to Aang in comparison to his father's relationship with his sister, Azula, though Aang did not hear him.

Ozai was tyrannical, cruel, manipulative, sadistic, ruthless, blasphemous, duplicitous, harsh-tempered, arrogant, vengeful, greedy, domineering and insatiably power-hungry. He exhibited these traits from an early age, and Iroh noted that they stemmed from a deep-seated pathological psychology. According to him, Ozai lacked empathy, was "not the understanding type", and did never regret, forgive, or change his mind about anything. Believing morality to be a sign of weakness, Ozai found peace and kindness laughable concepts and despised those who followed moral principles. As such, he possessed little to no empathy and rarely showed any interest in the feelings of others.

This behavior was strongly influenced by his obsession with control and in order to achieve total control over the Fire Nation, Ozai was even willing to sacrifice his own family. When ordered by Azulon to kill Zuko so that he would know the pain of losing a son, Ozai admitted to Zuko that he would have gladly carried out the murder had Ursa not interfered. Eventually, he murdered his own father in order to usurp his brother's birthright and become Fire Lord. Similarly, he did not hesitate to sacrifice his subordinates if that meant he would obtain more power. As a result, Ozai supported the idea of sacrificing new recruits to defeat a powerful Earth Kingdom battalion so he could get closer to controlling Ba Sing Se. Likewise, he decided to use the power of Sozin's Comet to destroy the Earth Kingdom without standing still with the human loss that would mean. Despite that, Ozai did believe that a Fire Lord's duty was to protect his people, though he reasoned that was because they were extensions of his divine will as Fire Lord; by attacking them, an opponent attacked him. The ultimate expression of his obsession with control was his aspiration in life to conquer the entire world.

Nevertheless, in his younger years, Ozai showed limited care and compassion for his own family. Despite their strained relationship, Ozai and Iroh were closer while they were still in school, though the latter distanced himself from his brother when he realized that he had a "heart of ice". When Ursa begged him to spare her former lover, Ozai complied to the request after being called "my love" by his future wife. When he planned to cast his infant son from the palace, Ozai gave in after Ursa and the Fire Sages pleaded with him to give Zuko a chance. Ozai believed that he attempted to be a good father in his early years, a view shared by both Zuko and Azula. However, his pride, anger, and lust for power degraded his relationship with his family. He believed skill and accomplishment determined worth, which allowed the naturally cruel, cunning and talented Azula to rise to the position of his favorite child, while he ignored or psychologically abused Zuko. He had no qualms about making Zuko's life miserable just to get back at Ursa for snapping at him that she wished that Zuko was Ikem's son, rather than his. While his relationship with Zuko had always been tense, thenceforth Ozai began to torture Zuko with his perceived inferiority, saying that Azula was "born lucky", while he was "lucky to be born". After his wife's banishment, he continued to be psychologically abusive toward both of his children and physically abusive toward his son. When Zuko was thirteen, Ozai burned his face and banished him from his country, simply because Zuko spoke out of turn during a war meeting, an action for which he never showed any remorse and merely claimed it to have been a lesson in respect. He only acknowledged Zuko when he helped his sister conquer Ba Sing Se and when he "killed" the Avatar. Eventually, Ozai attempted to kill Zuko when the latter announced his intent to join the Avatar, thereby defying his father. On the other hand, Ozai raised Azula to become his future heir, expecting nothing less than the best from her, which placed a great amount of stress on her and forced her to become a perfectionist. Ultimately, it was the environment in which Ozai raised Azula, where fear, intelligence, tyranny, destruction, power and perfection were the only reliable truths, that set the groundwork for her total mental collapse.

However, despite his behavior toward his children, Ozai appeared to be remarkably forgiving of failure for certain people, such as War Minister Qin and Zhao, who retained their positions and, in Zhao's case, was repeatedly promoted, despite repeated failures and bungles. Nonetheless, he saw his subordinates as expendable and replaceable, having no tolerance for those who failed to impress him, such as Kunyo or Vachir.

By the time Ozai crowned himself Phoenix King, he began to exhibit extreme megalomania, claiming to own the Earth and to "have all the power in the world".

"Do you think being Fire Lord is easy?! The throne comes with many pressures, and those pressures will change you! But if you can stand the heat, you'll become something more. Of all the people in the world, I have the wisdom you need, the wisdom of experience! Be honest with yourself, Zuko – Do you really believe you can handle it all on your own?"―Ozai questions Zuko about the challenges of being Fire Lord.

After being stripped of both his bending and his throne, Ozai apparently still retained his domineering personality, as he casually lectured Fire Lord Zuko when he came to visit Ozai in jail. However, he would develop a calmer, more logical attitude toward life as he thought that Aang's belief of maintaining the four separate nations would only halt progress. This is apparently true as Yu Dao, a city that combined the effort from citizens of both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, grew from a small village to a very developed area. As Zuko sought out Ozai for advice, through their discussions, it was revealed that Ozai believed that good and evil, and even strength and weakness, were meaningless concepts. He believed that the only right and wrong were what he, or more accurately, the Fire Lord, decided, due to his divine right to rule. Any choice he made was the right one, simply by virtue of it being his choice, and that indecisiveness and attempts to guide oneself by moral principles were signs of weakness, traits he despised in Zuko.

Ozai | Villains Wiki | Fandom

[snowdice]

Goblin Brain Study Session Fic 1 [Day 58]

Because I don’t want to just have walls of text for my Goblin Brain Study Session posts, I’m separating them by days. If you want to read the previous chapters, click the links below. Chapter 23 and what’s done of chapter 24 is under the cut.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 My Master Post

See this post for more details and feel free to send me asks to keep me going! It’s been a lot of fun so far! I will reblog this post with the story as I write them today. Also, if you’re interesting, don’t forget that I am constantly updating the timeline as I write. :)

Okay, I’m still not feeling 100%, but lets see how much I can do today. :)

Chapter 23

“Would anyone care to explain themselves?” Logan asked the room filled with the most frustrating human being he’d ever met. He must have infused his voice with the desired amount of ire, because everyone in the room seemed to wince simultaneously except…

“No thanks!” Remus chirped. Logan shot him a tired look and stepped forward. “Wait! Dad! No!” Logan swiftly put him in a headlock.

“We’re going downstairs,” he told the others. His son was a bit wiggly when Logan started to pull him towards the elevator in the other room, but he didn’t actually put up much of a fight.

 He let Remus go when they got to the elevator. The elevator was small enough that they ended up taking it in two groups. Logan ended up in an elevator with Lena, his sons, and his brother.

There were a couple of moments of awkward elevator music. “I am very displeased with everyone in this elevator.”

No one responded but Patton who patted him on the shoulder. Logan turned on him. “You are at the pinnacle of my ire.”

There was a few seconds of drawn out silence, and then Patton removed his hand. “Wow,” he said after a moment. “You could hear a pen-acle drop.”

 “Kids, you no longer have an uncle,” Logan said coolly.

“That’s right,” Patton said with a smile despite the glare Logan was sending him. “You only have a puncle now.”

Roman snorted out a laugh but looked quickly away when Logan glared at him.

The elevator came to a stop and they climbed out of it. “You all go to the conference room while I wait for the rest. Except you,” he pointed at Lean. “Fred can debrief me. You go get that checked out.” She shot him a thumbs up (because apparently the lack of disrespect for his authority had rubbed off on her) and wandered off towards medical.

 “Um,” Roman said tentatively.

“Yes?” Logan asked, already even more tired.

“Also, Janus may or may not have a broken rib. At least he said he might have.”

“Why on Earth is he walking around, then?” Roman just shrugged in response to Logan’s question.

“And send someone down to look at his Janus,” he called after Lena right before she turned the corner. “Anything else pressing?” he asked the three still with him. “No? Then I’ll see you all in the conference room in a few minutes.”

“Conference room 16 or 17?” Remus asked.

“Remus, everyone here is aware that room 17 is a broom closet,” Logan said.

Remus sent him finger guns. “Conference room 17 it is,” he said turning to strut off down the hall. Roman shot Logan an awkward half smile before following after his brother, and Logan’s own brother jerked forward to smack his lips against Logan’s forehead before waltzing off after them.

Why was his family like this?

 He turned to wait for the elevator to go back up to the factory and down again. He crossed his arms as it arrived. “You’re injured?” Logan asked as the doors opened.

Most of the occupants looked confused, but Janus looked slightly annoyed. “Remus,” he muttered.

“Roman actually,” Logan corrected. “I’m having someone sent down to look at you.”

“I’m f-”

“Don’t even try to argue right now; your second on my list today.”

“Remus is first?” Janus asked.

“Of course, Remus is first.”

“Where am I on the shit list?” Remy asked with interest.

“Somehow, only 5th.”

“Score!”

“But you’re inexorably moving up.”

 “But I’m not in the top three.”

“No, my children and brother fill up the spots above you.”

“You said I was second,” Janus said with a frown.

“Yes,” Logan said. “Also, you’re grounded.” Then, he turned to walk towards the conference room.

“Wait, Logan, what does that mean?!” Janus asked his back.

“It means, Logan owes me a buttload of child support,” said Remy.

“I am not your kid. You are not my dad.”

“Sure, son.”

When Logan made it to the correct room, his family was already hard at work making his life a series of aggravations. Before even stepping into the room, he turned to the opposite side of the hallway and opened the door to the supply closet.

 “Get in the correct room before I make you get into the correct room,” Logan said.

“Come on dad, you know it’s not nice to force someone out of the closet.” On most days, Logan would not have found that at all funny, but today for some reason, it elicited a snort of surprised laughter. Remus smiled up at him from his seat on the floor like he always did when he’d done (or thought he’d done) something clever.

“Don’t,” Logan warned, wagging a finger at him. “Don’t. That doesn’t mean your forgiven. I am very, very unhappy with you.”

 Remus just kept grinning.

“I’m relieved that you are safe and happy to have you back with me,” Logan said, “but I am also very angry.”

“Eh, that’s fair.”

“Now get out of the closet.”

Remus found it fit to obey him for the moment, and stood, following him to the conference room where the others had gathered. Patton had somehow found a stack of name tags and a box of markers somewhere and had managed to convince Roman to help him draw little pictures on them along with the names. Patton stuck one with a broom drawn on it onto Remus when he came in.

 Remy and Fredrick were currently forcing Janus into a chair while Roman avoided the glare the injured man was sending at him, and Emile was talking quietly to Virgil.

“Okay,” Logan said. “Let’s start with the ones who haven’t started to explain yet. Roman?”

“My phone got broken probably somewhere between Janus tackling me and hitting me in the face.”

“Oh, is that why Dad texted me about where you were a thousand times?” Remus asked

“Yes,” Logan said, “and you said you didn’t know.”

“I didn’t say that actually.”

“Remus.”

“I was in the middle of something! …And then I forgot.”

 “And then it ended up in the bottom of a lake,” Roman said.

“And then it ended up in the bottom of a lake!” Remus agreed. “Along with Roman’s car and us for a minute.”

“You drove your car into a lake?” Logan asked Roman. “Is that why you are all wet?!”

“Yes, he did!” Remus said.

“Hey! No!” Roman said. “I managed to stop the car before it went into the lake. It’s not my fault the guys behind us aren’t as good drivers as me and slammed into us!”

“Roman destroyed another car!” Remus crooned. “What’s that? Three? And you say Janus is cursed!”

 “I take so responsibility for the Taurus or for this one!”

“Two’s a coincidence; three’s a pattern!” Remus sang joyfully.

Logan shook his head at them and chose to look over at Janus instead. “And you?” he asked. “You looked at your mission details and never responded.”

“You were trying to send me on a wild goose chase when my brother was missing!” He tried to stand up and Remy pushed him back down again.

“I was trying to get you in a controlled environment before telling you of the issues for fear you would overreact and do something careless if you found out on your own.”

 “I already knew,” Janus growled, “and that is not your call to make.”

Logan considered that. “Perhaps it wasn’t,” he agreed, “but you still should have attempted to communicate with me, at the very least so I would have known you were okay. For all I knew, Nelson had caught you in a lie and your cover had been blown.”

“It is blown,” Janus muttered. “I smashed her phone, blew up her car, and disobeyed her. She sent men to kill me.”

It was honestly a relief. Janus had been in danger constantly while being a double agent and he’d grown more than fond of the man in the last few years. Not having to play nice with Barbara all the time would do him some good.

“We’ll have to reassign you,” Logan said. “As well as Remus, and you’ll both need new permanent residences.”

“We already decided we’re getting an apartment together,” Remus said.

“You decided,” Janus said weakly, clearly not actually interested in protesting, but needing to keep up appearances.

“And we’re going to get a kitty.”

“Ah,” Logan said. “Well, in that case, I would highly suggest you verify it is in fact a ‘kitty’ before you allow it on the premises. I have made that mistake before.”

“You love Raphael,” Remus claimed.

“Possum,” Roman explained at Janus’s questioning look.

“In fact,” Logan said. “It may be advisable that Remington consider moving as well. Nelson very much knows where you live and will likely be unhappy with your continued existence. At least, you should consider taking up residence somewhere else temporarily. For tonight, I’ll get everyone set up in some of the rooms in the base, but that will come later. For now, we need to get everything sorted out. I have a good overall idea about what happened at this point, is there any other important information I need to deal with immediately?”

Mostly everyone shook their heads and Logan was about to move on to getting more detailed reports when Remus raised his hand.

“Yes?” Logan asked.

“There are two of Barbara Nelson’s men tied up in the trunk of Lena’s car,” he offered.

“What?” Logan asked.

“They were the guys shooting at us that caused Roman to drive into the pond.”

“I did not drive into the pond.” Roman said.

“You were shot at?!”

  Chapter 24

Logan had kept them in the meeting room for literal hours, pausing only to feed everyone except Patton and Virgil (who had actually eaten dinner). Eventually, he decided that he was satisfied with the explanations (Well, no, perhaps not satisfied, he was still very displeased with everyone except Virgil and maybe Emile, though Emile had not helped himself when he’d realized that he’d spoken both to Patton and Remus in the grocery store near Remy’s house and he and Patton had proceeded to go off on a tangent about pasta.) and had taken them all to some of the hotel style rooms in the base.

[linkspooky]

Hi, I’m Link and it’s time to talk about my terrible / horrible / amazing taste in men. If you are a bastard who is planning to destroy the world because of your unresolved trauma, please call me. Kiss kiss.

Also I’m tagging @thyandrawrites​ and @inumaqi​ who by law have to do this with me. 

Shigaraki Tomura - MY HERO ACADEMIA

“What I really despise is everything. Everything that breathes pisses me off.”

I like how Shigaraki is severely mentally ill. He’s one of the most raw portrayals of an abuse victim.  He murders his abusive father, and the story takes his side. He develops violent tendencies, he refuses to grow up, he can’t forgive. He’s just holding all of his negative feelings inside of him as he slowly rots inside out, and that’s just great.

Shigaraki is so shaped and moulded by his abuse, but he still chooses who he wants to be. He was literally raised in a basement to be a carbon copy of AFO, and yet he’s so different from AFO it’s obvious he could never live up to his Sensei. He’s too bad of a person to ever be a hero, but he’s also too good of a person to ever be the king of evil and what you get is this really chaotic mess in between.

It’s interested to see who Shigaraki chooses to be, in spite of how much he has been indoctrinated towards a cause and how many choices are taken away from him. Despite being a character with supposedly little agency you can see he always tries to fight for his own agency. Don’t deny me. He can’t be with his family even though he loves them, because they’ll never accept him for who he is. Tenko was a kind boy who played with the bullied kids. Shigaraki fights for the people who would never be saved by hero society because he wasn’t saved. He gives them what he doesn’t have, freedom and a place to belong. It’s an interesting character to see how much of him has become the unpredictable ball of trauma that Shigaraki is, while the core of him Tenko still remains in his humanizing moments of how he interacts with the league. Shigaraki who has so many choices taken from him, chooses to reach out and sympathize with the feelings of others, especially those who have been ostracized the same way he has.

Shigaraki is introduced to us as an inhuman  monster, and we see him slowly work his way back from the edge. We see him regain his humanity by coming to care about the people under his wing. It gives you the message that there’s no such thing as a point of no return.

All of the heroes are good people in mha but that feels more like an informed character trait. We’re supposed to root for them because… they’re the heroes, they’re good. They have to look good because they’re the good guys. Shigaraki is allowed to be ugly and unlikable, he gets worse.  But then he still always chooses to fight for ugly victims like him. I like both sides of him, I like the volatile explosive bomb that just wants to blow up and destroy others, and the gentle way he interacts with the rest of the league.

Kumagawa Misogi - MEDAKA BOX

“I want to beat them. Even though I’m not cool, or strong, or just, or beautiful, or cute, or pretty, I want to beat the cool strong just beautiful cute and pretty people.”

Kumagawa is aggressively mediocre. He’s a good for nothing.  He’s like the embodiment of a bad victim,  he blames everyone else, he lashes out. He has nothing but flaws but he still strives to be better than what he is. That’s what so inspiring about his character. Even if you’re miserable it doesn’t mean you have to be having a miserable time about it. Kumagawa will push back against anything, even if the whole world is pushing down on his shoulders.

He has a vibe with his character that even if you’re the worst person in the world don’t run away from who you are. You have to accept yourself exactly as you are without lies or artifice before you can start to improve.  That’s why kumagawa tries to accept the ugliness of people.

He’s very sympathetic with other people, but that isn’t there to make him look like a good person. If anything he always sympathizes with the victim too much and encourages their worst qualities.  At the beginning of the series hes so desperate to heal the wounds of these traumatized, people he’s taken in he just encourages them to lash out because that’s something. Kumagawa is just this very nihilistic, and fatalist character who is somehow at the same time one of the most optimistic characters ever written. He’s a lazy good for nothing, but he tries hard. He’s fickle and childish, but he never gives up. He might never get better, he might always lose in the end, but he still thinks the struggle to win is always inherently worth it. He gives all of himself in everything he does, and to the people around him. And he always gets hurt because of it, but that pain is just living.

He’s completely insane but he’s also living his life the best way he can. There’s just such a manic, insane, and positive energy to his character. Kumagawa will accept you at your worst, and yet he’ll still encourage you to be better. I also like characters written to represent the ugliness in people, and striving to find beauty in that ugliness rather than characters who are just happy all the time because they’re good people.

Natsuki Subaru - RE ZERO

“You think I’m getting drunk on my own tragedy just so I can shut everyone up?”

like how Subaru is a shitty person but not in a really interesting way,  but in a really petty, self absorbed and weak way. I like it because the world doesn’t tolerate his bs, he is continually punished and kicked in the teeth for it. He doesn’t have a tragic backstory before the story begins. His tragic backstory is that he did nothing, made nothing of his life, but he still feels entitled and expects to be rewarded. There’s nothing special about him, but he wants to be treated like he’s special.

I’m usually protagonist-phobic because most stories center around the main character so a lot of the time the world bends to their whims in unnatural ways. Subaru is the main character, but hes not the protagonist, and not even particularly important which is why he’s valid.

Subaru is continually  punished for his mistakes and I love the way we see how trauma changes him and shapes him.  His narrative  reads to me as a metaphor for a mentally ill person with the absolute worst habits constantly struggling to be better despite constant backtracking. That’s why with the constant resets in his narrative, none of his actions ever seem to matter. Even when he makes progress he loses it just as quickly, and the world seems indifferent to his suffering. Because the stroy isn’t actually about the world, it’s about Subaru’s personal journey to learn to be a less shitty person.

Subaru is confronted with the fact that hes a very self important and entitled person and he chooses to grow from that rather than run away. He’s so self aware by this point he knows hes the most annoying human on earth and he owns it.

Doma - KIMETSU NO YAIBA

“From a young age I was kind and clever. I always helped people and made them happy, because that was my mission.”

Doma’s story is hard to empathize with because it doesn’t really look tragic. It’s more like a comedy. He’s smiling the whole way through.

Doma feels like an inhuman monster and he chooses to act that way. Literally everything in this story just tells you he was basically born that way. Doma tells you himself. But like, if you look into his background he was raised in a literal cult. Doma despises the cult, because he could see through it. He could see the adults were using him even as a child. But at the same time Doma’s heart has never really left the cult either. Doma, like everybody else, unintentionally reflects the environment he grew up in.

Doma’s just never been shown real tears or a real smile, so he doesn’t know it. He sees his parents kill each other in front of them, and feels nothing, because they literally never acted like parents to him once. He sees life as empty because to him, it is. And then.

By the time he encounters the real thing it’s too late for him. I just like this part of Doma that’s like, emptily trying to imitate all the other humans around him, and feel the things they feel, and always falling short because of his jacked up sense of empathy. It’s adorable.   Doma doesn’t feel human at all. He couldn’t possibly understand what a normal human being feels because he’s never lived that life. He’s a total human failure. Rather than try to be something he feels like he’s not, he decides to embrace his inhumanity.

Iichan - ZAREGOTO

“Nonsense.”

Iichan is a character who doesn’t want to choose, but wants to be chosen regardless. In other words Iichan has a paradoxical way of thinking about his life. He’s not the main character. He’s not important. So therefore, whatever happens around him he’s not at fault. However, he is the centerpiece of a tragedy. He’s still important in the sense that all of this tragic suffering is being unleashed upon him. Being the main character of the tragedy means his suffering is important and meaningful, but none of it is ever his fault, and he can’t help it.

That way he avoids ever having to take responsiblity for his actions, or do the hard work of trying to change as a person. He’s a narcicisst, but he hates himself, and he tries to balance out his total egoism by constantly playing up his own suffering and how much he loathes himself. That’s where the main character of the tragedy complex comes in.

What’s interesting about Iichan is that for all the tricks and avoidance he goes through, he’s very self aware as a character. He knows how deficient he is in comparison to others and how his problems really aren’t as important in the grand scheme of things. That’s why it’s interesting to watch all the mental gymnastics he goes through.

Knowing that the author also knows that Iichan is a tool, and clearly frames him as such, I can appreciate the more positive parts of his character. I can know that deep down, despite everything he does want to become a person that’s capable of making the other people in his life happy. He just doesn’t know how.

Hitoshiki Zerozaki - NINGEN

“What a riot.”

Iichan’s equal and opposite force. His boy on the other side of the mirror. What if your reflection in the mirror could talk, and what if it was laughing at you? That’s basically Zerozaki’s character in a nutshell.

Iichan is a character who dwells on his intense mediocrity and desires to be special because of it. Zerozaki is the opposite, he’s been special all of his life and has no idea what a normal life is even like.

Zerozaki is a murderer from a family of murderers and yet he doesn’t enjoy murder. He doesn’t feel its evil or feel a lot of remorse. He feels nothing at all about killing,  he thinks people who kill for pleasure are weird, and kills at random.

What I like about Zerozaki is that he’s way more human and down to earth than his perfect foil iichan even though he’s a murderer. Despite being a psycho killer he makes connections with other killers, his little sister, and ninoumiya. A human failure who’s way too human, and that somehow makes him even more of a failure.

Emiya Shirou / Heroic Spirit Emiya - FATE / STAY NIGHT.

“So as I pray. Unlimited Blade Works.”

Counterfeit. Hypocrite. Holy shit. A fake who knows that his desire to save people doesn’t come from the goodness of his heart, but his own selfish desire to be a hero. Shirou emiya is the only valid protagonist, because he’s an extremely traumatized deconstruction of every protagonist before him. Shirou’s not a good person. Shirou’s barely even a person. He has friends but he doesn’t really feel like he deserves to have them. He smiles, but he doesn’t mean it.

I love how Shirou is so terrible at handling his own trauma that he thinks having a strong sense of justice is a personality.  I love how Shirous need to sacrifice himself makes him an idiot and is something his narrative continually gruesomely punishes. He has one of the most brutal narratives ever, and the writing behind his character serves to highlight how Shirou’s bad decision making not only hurts himself, but literally everybody around him.

I love how Shirou has completely emptied out as a person and feels unable to feel basic emotions because its totally relatable.  He just copes so poorly, but at the same time there’s something beautiful in Shirous struggle to be a good person. Shirou has completely given up on himself as a person, but he still wants to help other people, and so he keeps trying.

Getou Suguru - JUJUTSU KAISEN

“I hate monkeys.”

Some villains just want to destroy everything for reasons deeply rooted to emotional trauma. I feel like I’m repeating myself here.

I like characters where empathy is a dangerous quality to have. Getou is driven to villainy because he cares, overwhelmingly so. He cares about people’s individual agency and freedom and rights to be happy and sees the world stomp on it. His breaking point was that he wanted a girl who had been raised as a literal human sacrifice for the system her entire life to be able to live out the rest of her life free as a person, and being completely powerless and unable to help her as she was killed. Getou was struck in that moment by the inherent unfairness in the world and it broke him.

Empathy is such a debilitating flaw for Getou that he literally has to decide certain people  are human and disqualify others from being human so his brain doesn’t completely break. Being a decent caring guy in Getous world breaks you.

Getou tries so hard not to care,  to be the maniacal laughing villain he claims to be, but his empathy is the one part of his brain he can never shut off. Even as the most hated man in the world he protects weak and exploited people and takes them in as a family. He does everything he does to make a better world for the people he cares about, and that’s why he’s so broken because the ones he doesn’t care about he’s completely fine with sacrificing en masse.

Akechi Goro - PERSONA 5

“JUSTICE?! RIGHTEOUS?! KEEP THAT SHIT TO YOURSELVES! YOU AND YOUR TEAMMATES PISS ME OFF!!”

I like Goro way more for his potential rather than what we see in canon, but there’s a lot of strong ideas his character is written with. I love the idea that Goro wants to be a good person, wants to be connected to others, but is far too dmaged and because of that

He can only pretend to be a good person and play people pleaser to others. he’s someone who desires at the core of his being to be righteous, and failing that he becomes self-righteous instead. I just love how thoroughly fake he is as a person, and how that makes him covet the real thing.

I also love the insane, twisted and obsessive part of Akechi. I love how much he hates the world for rejecting him, and how much of his actions are just petty revenge on the world, his father, every single person who rejected him. I love him when he’s at his most desperate, when he’s screaming at the people he’s trying to kill asking them why nobody wants him around even though he’s famous and popular.

Ogata Hyakunosuke - GOLDEN KAMUY

Walk your own wild path. Straight and true.

Ogata is a character that is somehow incredibly complex and nuanced character with tons of carefully written development in story, and also a character you have no fucking clue what’s going on in his head. Basically, Ogata is a masterpiece.

Ogata feels like the other half of the story. Sugimoto acts,  Ogata reacts.  Sugimoto chases, Ogata evades.  We are uncomfortably deep in Sugimotos head, but we only catch brief glimpses of Ogatas moments of Frank honesty. The entire story is about Sugimoto and Ogata chaisng after each other and everything else seems incidental sometime. Ogata’s not the main character, but he’s the other half of the heart of the narrative that’s about these really, really bad murderous men who are deeply broken trying to find a way to live in a world without war.

Its not that Ogata is unfeeling it’s that he never allows himself to feel. What other characters lost during the war, Ogata never had in the first place. He sees himself as deformed and malnourished compared to everybody else. Ogatas always been noticing the difference between - himself and others.Even if he wanted to love his brother he kept comparing himself to his father’s beloved son, and realizing how much he lacked. He just kept being reminded over and over again what a child who was loved could have turned out as.  Eventually Ogata convinced himself he was unfeeling. Because somehow that’s easier. He can process everything that happened in his life if he’s detached from it all watching from a tree somewhere.  He’s so repressed he doesn’t allow himself to feel guilt about his brothers death because he doesn’t view himself as a person capable of loving another. However, just like Sugis desire is to be saved from the hell of war deep down theres a kid in Ogata who wanted to be a good son

Ogata is basically my main point of investment in Golden Kamuy, I just want to see him unravel like a big ball of yarn.

[adrianasunderworld]

More headcanons for the boys +romance

Piers

Piers is secretly a sap for old movies. Black and white ones to be more specific. He not only finds them aesthetically pleasing, but also with their own charm. Theres a small theater in Spikemuth that exclusively airs vintage movies, and visits whenever he has time.

His and Marnies biggest bonding activity is hair night. She'll help him redye the white streaks in his hair(which is no small task). Piers will blow dry and straighten hers. They'll put on a bad movie from netflix, order take out and have a night. 

Piers can play guitar. But it's more for personal use than anything. He finds it relaxing to just sit an play while he writes songs. It's only for very specific songs that he'll play in stage. They're usually the very emotional ones that mean a great deal to him. Every piers fan knows, if he's holding a guitar, the crowds tears will follow.

Ever see that video of a dog relaxing while his owner plays the pokemon theme on an acoustic guitar? That's Piers and his pokemon.

Obstagoon is like a big bratty dog. Always wants treats, always wants attention. And will whine when it does not get them. When it was a zigzagoon, it would give big pouty eyes for treats and table scraps, and it always worked on young piers. He was a chubby little thing back then.

When skuntank was a stunky, it was biter. Nothing was safe. Furniture, clothes, fingers. Piers always had little red mark's from the teething pokemon. A quarter of all his money always went to replacing toys Stunky had destroyed.

Romance

 Piers has always been bashful around  people he genuinely likes. *coughraihancough* he'll do his damndest to play it off. But he's always been terrible at hiding a crush. Especially if he blushes around them. He's so pale any color on his face will be very evident.

Half the time he always assumes the other person has no interest in him. But he isn't dense enough to not be able to tell when he's being flirted with. He feels better talking to someone when he knows/feels like his attention is wanted. It makes him less nervous.

Isn't one for initiating pda, but is not opposed to it. He likes having his arm around his s/o shoulders though. 

Has written breakup songs before. No you can't hear them. They're private and locked away in his desk. He has just enough self respect to not air his relationship drama on stage.

Play with his hair, he'll be putty in your hands. 

Has never understood people who stay in relationships with someone who does not get along with their loved ones. Marnie is all Piers has, and if someone cannot get along with her or makes her uncomfortable, they are out. Plain and simple. Unless Marnie says it's ok to keep seeing them, Piers won't pick a relationship over his sister.

Piers is always busy with gym responsibilities or performances and practice. As fun as it can be to bring his s/o to events, his favorite date night activity is to stay home with them. He'll make them a nice meal, put on a movie and relax on the couch. 

Is actually a big cuddle bug. He loves snuggling on the couch. His head on your lap. Holding them in bed. Piers is touch starved and needs attention, please give it to him.

Start giving him good luck kisses before a performance, it'll be his favorite thing.

Raihan 

Raihan acknowledges he can be very vain at times. But the one being that out vains him at every turn is Duraludun. If it sees Raihan filming or taking a photo, it will butt in and try to take over the whole shot. It has become very good friends with the Rotom in his phone. When they get bored they'll stage a hostile takeover of his instagram andTwitter. It become a monthly thing.

Not so secretly a bookstagramer. Raihan always ends up in the vaults and libraries of Hammerlocke. He saw one of his gym trainers, Camilla, taking pictures of the books she was reading and asked about it. She showed him a lot of aesthetically pleasing pictures of books, and libraries, and artfully cluttered desk and wanted to try. It's not a secret, but he does try to keep it separate from his hyper dragon man gym persona. Sort of business vs. Personal deal.

He dresses very well. Despite that more often than not he is in his favorite hoodie and gym uniform, when Raihan wants to dress up,damn son. He spends a lot of time online and is friends with Nessa and Sonia, he knows what's up in fashion and what looks good on him.

He and Gordie are the Meme Team. Everytime they have a conversation it will descend into quoting and reenacting vines. Only the younger gym leaders know what they're saying, they just refuse to encourage it. Except Alister. Hes a little kid that hears these cooler older dudes being funny and try to join them. Hes they're third member now. Poor Bea, she couldn't save him.

Out of all his pokemon, he's had flygon the longest. Raised it from a trapinch when he was a kid. That's why he wears that orange hat/headband thing, to honor his buddy. 

Takes very good care of his skin. Partially because his face is always on camera, but also because his skin dries out easily and always need moisturizers. Nessa showed him all her favorite brands. He likes chilling out with a face mask, it's very soothing.

Romance 

Raihan is a very confident, attractive, and friendly guy, he pretty much never has trouble getting a date.

That being said, sometimes he gets a bit too confident and ends up coming on too strong for some people. 

This was definitely a problem in his teen years. He would just say the wrong thing with all the bravado he could muster and whoever he liked would scoff and walk away. He grew out of it, but it could be downright painful to watch young Raihan flirt.

Raihan is pretty laid back and generally takes rejection very well. Only when it was someone that he REALLY liked and had for awhile is when he gets truly upset. And when that happens he just hangs out at home for a bit or go out to the wild area, Spends time with his pokemon. Generally just wants be alone with his thoughts till he can bounce back. 

When Raihan is dating someone, he surprisingly doesn't want to post about it for awhile. If they're still together after a few months is when he'll post selfies and cute couple pictures. He's learned the hard way how certain types of fans will react to him dating, and once they go public they wont have as much privacy. He likes to have that grace period of just being a couple without all eyes on them.But once that initial hurtle is over. Its photo city with him.

Is a big fan of "good morning" and "good night" texts. Also loves falling asleep over the phone when you can't spend the night together.

Honestly just text him a lot in general. A lot of gym things take up a large chunk of his time. Text that you miss him, or a picture of one of your pokemon sleeping on the couch, ask if he wants pizza later. Literally anything will brighten his day. He'll definitely return the favor. 

Loves taking s/o out on the town. From league events, to friends parties, or just dinner and shopping. He wants to show them off. If you aren't comfortable with it, tell him sooner rather than later. 

Is a giant tease. Loves to whisper whatever he can in your ear or send something risque over text to make you blush and then act completely innocent.

Leon

Has a room in his house just for Hop. Hop used to love visiting him every summer in Wyndon. Otherwise he would never see his brother. The visits got less frequent over the years. But Hop always has a place to stay with Leon.

After he had been champion for a couple years was when the merch train really got rolling. Tshirts, posters, stationery. You name it, it had Leon's face on it. As a kid he lost his shit over it and but over the years got less enamored. Although he does have a soft for the Leon toys. After all, who doesn't want an action figure or doll made of them?

Leon does his best to keep himself and his pokemon in shape and on a daily routine. That all gets thrown out the window when he visits home or family comes to see him. All his pokemon get treated like spoiled house pets. FromHaHaxrus  being a test taster for his mom to Hop flying around the neighborhood with charzard. Its takes over a week to get everything back on track after.

Charzard is obviously the leader of all the pokemon next to Leon. All the newer pokemon always look up to them for guidance and charzard is always friendly and helpful. They are also very fond of kids, it loves events like visiting schools or children's hospitals. He's like a drampa in charzard skin.

Haxorus is a diva. She loves attention and shiny things. She adores Sonia because when she was just an Axew, Sonia always gave her a little trinkets, like sparkly hair pins or a pretty rock. She also loves to be complimented, Leon always calls her his pretty girl. Theres pile of shiny stuff that no one is allowed to touch at Leon's house unless she allows it. 

Whenever leon visits home, he always tries to go out with his old friends. Usually they have a few drinks at the local pub and have dinner. Oddly enough, Leon can get lost going next door, but can stumble home no problem when he's drunk. Go figure.

Ever heard of a sneaker head? Well Leon is a hat head. Whenever his favorite brands come out with a new hat design, you can bet your ass he'll be line for the release or online waiting for the listing to show up. The wall of caps at his moms house is but a humble sample of his collection.

Played softball as a kid. He throws his pokeball the way he was taught to pitch. As a kid leon liked to think if he couldn't be a trainer, he would like the be a baseball player. 

Romance 

Leon can't flirt for shit,and I mean this in the nicest way possible. His idea of breaking the ice is asking if you want a battle. 

Leon was especially hopeless as a teenager. He spent so much time with the league, an environment of mostly adults, being around anyone his age was a damn miracle. 

Sonia and Raihan would always take him to parties to socialize. But anytime someone tried to make a move on him, Leon would just think they were being friendly. 

Raihan has always been his wingman.

Raihan: My friend over there thinks you're cute. *points at the damn champion waving awkwardly from across the room.*

Even Now, they still do this. And it still has 50/50 shot of working.

Has been in a couple relationships, but both have ended badly. They were ultimately with Leon for his title and not him.

Leon wants to be with someone, he just finds it's harder for him than he realised. When he does find someone, it's going to be a bit of a slow go to know them and be sure they aren't using him. When that wall breaks he going to be the happiest man around.

Leon is affectionate and will always find a way to touch his s/o. From a kiss on the cheek, to random hugs, to lightly touching their back as he passes.

This man has never half Assed anything in his life. Leon's a go big or go home kind of guy, so when he wants to make a romantic gesture, he'll put his all into it. From picnics on the stadium field, to a special camping spot in the wild area, dinner on the top floor of the battle tower. Even just flowers will be from the best florist in in the city. Leon wants to show how much he loves you and nothing but his 110% best effort will do. 

As extra as Leon is, it's always the small quiet moments that get him. He'll wake up early and see his s/o peacefully asleep, and he'll just melt and stay there for awhile.

 You could try to make his favorite meal and burn everything and he'll still be touched. It's very much the thought that counts for Leon, because it shows you care enough to put the effort in.

King of cheesy lines. Will say the lamest pick up lines or something he heard in a movie to try and make you laugh. It usually works because he always says it with a straight face.

[an-ambivalent]

Maybe a yandere jealous jennie please? Thank you

i wanna answer what asks I can in my inbox rn lol since everything’s been collecting dust. I don’t have much to answer so I’m going to throw shitty concepts and ‘what ifs’ out there, I’m sorry if this is disappointing :’) 

 I think it would be an interesting dynamic to see a jealous! yandere! Jennie in a royal AU. 

TW: This contains mentions of misogyny because of the patriarchy setting this is set in, violence, murder, yandere themes and other triggering topics. Read at your own risk. I do not condone any of the problematic things mentioned in here, and I do not believe any of the mentioned members would behave like this irl. 

Background info: 

The truth is the further back in time you go, the more it is a “man’s world” and the less power and influence women have. Taking this perspective, if the first child of a family, especially a noble one where children inherit their parent’s wealth and business, is a female, then trying for a second child to have a boy who would be perceived to be “more fitting” to carry on the family legacy, would be common practice. This was the sort of environment Jennie is raised in. 

She’s the first child of the current King, and if it wasn’t for this patriarchy practice, she would be the crown princess who would be the next heir to the throne. From the moment she is born, things that are supposed to be hers, are given to a younger brother who isn’t even born yet. And once he is, despite how much more fit she is to be the ruler than he is, or how she exiles in everything while he’s at a mediocre level, she’s still not considered as a candidate to inherit the crown. Her parents love, her goals for the future, she has to give up everything to her brother. Having to endure things like this, is where her excessive jealousy would come from. 

It would be one those situations that although she seems to have “given up” everything, she would secretly be plotting on how she can overthrow her current family and get her revenge and reclaim the throne as hers. 

But anyway, Jennie’s background information aside, in this au I propose (Y/N) to be widow who is a single mother. At a young age, her family sold her to be a wife of a duke, who is much more older than her. The certain truth surrounding her husband’s “mysterious” death is unknown and there are many controversies. However, her situation is that she is a widow and single mother. In the eyes of the society they live in, its bad enough she has to raise her child by herself, but the fact that she won’t remarry either is the reality she chose which is shamed and ridiculed for. 

(Y/N) being a person who looks like she’s strong and honest enough with herself to live her life however she wants despite what others say about, and being an independent person which is frowned upon would be what attracts Jennie to her. She’s the physical manifestation of what Jennie wants to be, and instead of using “under handed” tactics to plan for that to open like Jennie is doing, Y/N does it openly. 

Since (Y/N) is a duchess, she’s essentially rich and involved in the “noble” circles. At their social gatherings, Jennie approaches her to talk to her out of interest. At first, its actions taken out of jealousy. She sneers and jeers insults that other people gossip about and never have the nerve to say to her face. Inwardly, she felt apologetic but Jennie can’t help herself; she wants to break down that smile (y/n) always wears. But each time she does attempt to humiliate her, her insults her brushed off with quick witted replies. So no matter what Jennie tries, it doesn’t work. And this is when she starts to see (Y/N) in a new light – realising how gracious and intelligent she is to hold her head up high, and being able to stand up for herself. Not taking anyone’s shit, and the confidence she holds is a turn on for her 

But there’s to what things are that meets the eye. So like time skipping and shit, and say that after Jennie realises how she feels towards (Y/N), she wants to be with her so much but given the time they live in, their relationship wouldn’t be acceptable. Actually that’s not the problem, the chances of (y/n) feeling the same as her would be so minute that it would pretty much be nonexistent. So throwing yandere into the mix, Jennie wants to be a stronger person who doesn’t lose everything she wants like she does with her brother. So, this is when she decides she’s going to start claiming what is rightfully hers (the throne, destroying her family for being sexist) etc starting with Y/N, who she thinks is the physical manifestation of who she wants to be. 

She has y/n and y/n’s child kidnapped (she might be a yandere but she’s not that heartless. She knows what its like to not have a parent’s love, so she be damned if she was the reason the child didn’t receive love from their mother anymore). Anyway, she kinda monologues about how much she loves y/n, and now she’s hers. You know, the usual talks yandere gives to their victims after kidnapping them and tying tying them up in the basement – ahem. But, amidst her rant, when she’s talking about how much she admires y/n for openly being who she is, and not caring what others think etc, she’s cut off by Y/N giggling.  

“It’s cute how you think so highly of me Princess Jennie,” (Y/N) starts, smirking and then tilting her head to the side cutely. “I’m not innocent or open about myself in the slightest. Surely, a duke with my dead husband’s status can’t die ‘mysteriously.’ I killed him.” 

So, turns out crazy yandere Jennie kidnapped the crazy bitch y/n who committed murder 😱🤧 

and that’s the story of Princess Jennie and duchess (Y/N) came to be a couple. They overthrew the patriarchy together and Jennie became the Queen she was meant to be. Together, they said lesbian rights. 

[rosesmith18]

Moonlight Night

This is a simple one-shot about Vanessa and the hardships she faces internally being a new mother to her son Thomas, and what doing your best as a mother can lead to. This story references some events from other story ideas of mine, and takes place at two separate periods.(You can also find it on Fanfiction.net under Phineas & Ferb if you prefer reading fanfics like that)

Phineas and Ferb Belongs to Dan Povenmire & Jeff 'Swampy' Marsh

Vanessa Doofenshmirtz Belongs to Dan Povenmire & Jeff 'Swampy' Marsh

Thomas Fletcher Belongs to Melty64 on DeviantArt

                                               Moonlight Night

Vanessa had always adored the night, for it's vast, bright sky of stars, it's calming, black emptiness, and of course it's ever changing master; the moon. The day her husband had exposed her to a true starry night under the full moon was still one of her fondest memories. So, as the cries of a newborn babe rang out calling for Vanessa to leave her soft bed, and enjoy the serene silence of the night much like the serene silence of her spouse, Vanessa found herself unable to begrudge for long.

"Oh, Thomas. What's wrong?" Vanessa questioned the whining brunet babe in his linen crib. A soft, tired, motherly smile on her face that managed to reach her eyes despite their weariness. This had been the fourth time this weekend alone she had awakened to the needy whimpers of her only child. It was never this bad when her husband was by their son's side. There was just a confidence in Ferb when he stared upon their child that Vanessa could never muster. Even now as she smiled down at him with all her motherly love; Thomas screamed with outreached hands for something Vanessa feared she could never give him. Hopelessly trumped by the ceaseless wooing, Vanessa pulled her baby from his crib and into her tired, trembling arms. Thomas clung to his mothers pajama collar as he went on whimpering into her chest. Vanessa's hoarse voice hummed the melody of 'Weißt du wieviel Sternlein stehen?' against the few tuffs of brown hair atop her son's head. Her feet carried them to the balcony that branched off from her and her husband's bedroom. She slid the glass door open and allowed Thomas' cry to fill the fresh air. The sounds of crickets chirping and leaves rustling in the gentle wind usually relaxed Vanessa, but not tonight, when they did nothing for the baby within her embrace. Vanessa looked upon the moon, a waxing crescent, holding itself high above the sky. It's light bared down on her as if trying to soothe her exhausted mind and body. Vanessa wondered to herself if that was even possible when Thomas' cries were as hoarse as her own hums. How could she find peace when there seemed to be none for her child? Her eyes pricked with tears as her thoughts became heavy, and her humming tempered out. Vanessa's expression tensed as Thomas' screams grew louder, and she winced when he tugged at a strand of her brunette locks. She instinctively yanked her head hair away in pain; Frustration and insecurity bubbling in the pit of her stomach. "Why…" She began to mutter out in a desperate plea for guidance when her sapphire irises met Thomas' own. His eyes were red and puffy from crying, his cheeks stained with tears, and lips squished inwards. His brow frowned in what she could only identify as unadulterated anguish. Vanessa's chest tightened as her mouth snapped shut. She was ashamed of herself for even thinking of asking such a thing. 'Why won't he stop?' She had been tempted to question the insightful light shining down on her, but that wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want to silence him. She just wanted to know, to know...exactly what he wanted to know. All she wanted was to know why everything seemed wrong; Why nothing she gave him brought him joy. But, this face devoid of all human deception and ruled by no human expectations begged for the answer to a similar question; 'Why can't you be happy with me?' It was such a simple question, as to be expected of a child. Why can't you be happy with me? Why can't you just smile at me? Why can't you live in the moment with me? Vanessa took a deep breath as she debated the millions of responses she could give that her son likely wouldn't understand. "I don't know." Was the reply she settled on; The simple, honest truth from which all her stress stemmed from. Her expression shifted to a tense less frown that one often gave when the situation couldn't become pleasant no matter what you did, though it became one of astonishment as she watched her own son's expression alter. His once agonized gaze searching for acceptance became one of acknowledgement as his features relaxed. It was as if he was telling her; 'That's okay. Neither do I.' then a yawn left his lips.

                                        *Thirteen Years Later*

The sobs of a lost soul echoed through the Fletcher resident with a vengeance. Determined in their aim to destroy and replace the fabric of serene silence that so often filled the almost boundless mansion, and yet, the sound begged to be silenced by that familiar, promising serenity. Sadly, the founder of the serenity they cried out for had left quite some hours ago. No, instead the lost souls' pitiful whines were heard only by another, younger lost one who prayed for a sign. 'Oh, what was it to do?' it asked the moon above which only shined down in quiet understanding as always. For moments the young one stood under the moon, thoughtful of everything around it; the vengeful sobs, dissipating serenity, and understanding moon. He felt alone in this contradicting, changing environment that was both oh so familiar and oh so foreign. But, he was not alone. Another was there screaming with an outreached hand for company that he could provide, that is, if he was brave enough. If he had the courage to take a leap of faith, and accept the hand in place of he who came before, yet did not come now. He locked eyes with the moon one last time, his irises as dark and as vast as the sky above. This time he did not ask what to do, or what to say, or where to go. He simply prayed for the courage to live-in this moment-as the moon did; with honest purpose, and knowing, and calming silence. His feet guided him to the home of distress that he would attempt to ease. His hand shook as it reached for the door. He turned the knob with as much control as he could muster, and with a deep breath, pushed the door open. On the bed, a brunette woman curled into herself, shaking yet unmoving. She sneered at the sound of the door, though did not look in it's direction. The younger felt the hair on his body stand up ready to hiss back, but he didn't let himself. He took a cautious step closer, and felt his heart tense as the woman pushed herself up quickly, and snapped her head in the younger man's direction. Her brow was frowned, her teeth bared, and cheeks stained. He didn't let himself hiss, or whimper, or attack, or run. Her sharp, intense sapphire eyes shattered before melting into a set of blue orbs more akin to the ocean tide. Her brow raised, her teeth disappeared behind her quivering lips, and her new tears danced down her cheek. He had seen that face so many times in the past few weeks; he knew his fear had shown on his face. She shot her head away in shame, falling to the bed once more.

"Oh gott…" She muttered under her breath. "...Was tue ich?" He did not know what she was saying, but he pitted the way the words left her. 'Oh, how broken she looked.' He thought, had thought more than once since meeting her. He stepped ever closer to the side of the bed, and when she did not move, he sat beside her. She glanced up at him with eyes that said what she dared not to, however he could read them as clear as a cloudless day. He didn't know how or why, but he could read her eyes. Bore into them with irises of identical nature and feel what she felt. She called him her son, her pride and joy, her only child, and he wanted so badly for her to be his mother. Maybe that was why he came to her when she cried for someone, anyone. When she cried to be held, and cared for, and told that everything was alright. He ran his fingers through her soft, chocolate locks that matched his own perfectly; in color, in texture, in tone. Her eyes widened as if he had promised her the world in place of these lonely walls, and she pulled his hand in hers. 'Stay with me.' Her grip begged of him, and despite the cold air that ran through his spine, he nodded.

[sephiwhore]

Ok but literally all the cyberpunk oc questions? LETS GO CHOOM!!! -thosetwistedtales

Bet you didn’t think I’d actually do it >:3 Okay well I technically didn’t, I did skip some of them cause I couldn’t think of anything, I’d already answered it, or the answer was just “no”.

Without further ado I present, All The Questions about Tess, answered under the cut!

— BASICS

full name: Tess Valere

birthday: She has no idea, and for most of her life she didn’t even know birthdays were a thing

gender and pronouns: Female, she/her

nicknames or aliases: V (obviously), her surrogate brother called her Tessa

sexuality: a big ol bisexual

ethnicity: a big ol white girl

affiliations [corporation/gang/themselves/etc]: she grew up on the streets of Heywood, so certain Valentinos would help her out now and again. She’s nowhere near loyal to them, but she’ll try to avoid killing them during jobs

what languages do they speak?: English, conversational Spanish, and she knows a handful of Japanese words

— PERSONALITY

alignment: Chaotic Good, but she dabbles in Chaotic Neutral

color(s) you associate with them: cyan and black and after Johnny comes into her life, red

theme song: Unbreakable by Fireflight

what heavenly virtue would you assign them? Humility

what deadly sin would you assign them? Wrath

what is their biggest strength? Sheer fucking perseverence, mostly fueled by spite

what is their biggest fear? Losing the people she loves, because throughout her life those have been few and far between and she’s lost a good number of them

what is their biggest weakness? Again, the people she loves

are they confident in their abilities? Oh you bet your ass she is, so confident that she stormed Arasaka Tower with nothing but her revolver and her cyberdeck

what is their opinion on cybernetics? They’re a necessary evil. Her brother dealt with cyberpsychosis so in a way she resents cybernetics, but she also knows that you won’t get far as a merc in Night City without a few implants

do they have a good sense of humor? Yes, very dry and sarcastic

how do they cry? When she cries it’s either from rage or panic, very little in between

how do they laugh? Quite subdued, usually the most you’ll get out of her is a hearty chuckle. Very rarely does she go into a full laughing fit

do they smoke? She started smoking after Johnny popped up in her head cause she felt bad for his situation (after she stopped hating him anyway) and figured she could give him this one thing. And now she smokes like a chimney.

do they drink? She’s been dealing with alcohol dependence and borderline alcoholism for half of her life

what kind of drunk are they? As she drinks more it progresses from pretty chill, then VERY affectionate, and then Fightey

do they take any drugs? She knows how she is with alcohol so she avoids drugs like the plague

— COMBAT

preferred weapon: For close/mid-range, a nice beefy revolver (Overture) or Johnny’s Malorian. Long range, a sniper rifle.

combat style [stealth/melee/brute force/etc] Depending on the environment, it’s either stealth with a silenced pistol and lots of quickhacks, a John Wick style headshots-galore shootout, or sniping from a distance

primary stats [ex: intellect] Intelligence and Reflexes

biggest weakness in combat: She sometimes forgets to watch her back, and tends to ignore injuries and see the fight through when retreating would probably be the best course of action

threaten or charm? Depends on the target, she’s great at both

lethal or non-lethal? For corpos, the more malicious gangs (Tygers, Animals, 6th Street), or anyone who has hurt innocents, full lethal. If she’s just infiltrating a warehouse full of workers, non-lethal

leave quietly or send a message? She sends a message WHILE leaving quietly

strategy or improvise? Improvise

— APPEARANCE

hair style and color [is it natural? do they change it a lot?] She has synthhair so she can change the style and color at will (I have no idea if that’s how it actually works but I say it is) but she usually sticks to come kind of short sideshave/undercut in some shade of blue.

eye color: Natural eye color is green, but she usually has black scleras with a red circle

height: I had her at 5’8 until yesterday when I realized ya know what, I want a tall girl. So she’s 6 feet.

describe their body type: Skinny, small tiddies, but still fairly curvy

describe their style: Dark colors, leather jackets, lots of boots (also Johnny’s tank top and aviators)

do they wear makeup? Very smudgey eyeliner. Her upper lip is tattooed black and she usually leaves the bottom one bare

tattoos? any significant ones? Lots of tattoos that I haven’t figured out yet, except fir a modified version of the Valentinos neck tattoo, the V being to honor her brother Ven (she took on the name V to honor him too)

scars? Random ones here and there from random gunshots, stabbings, and other work-related injuries

piercings? A bunch that I can’t remember off the top of my head

cybernetics? Gorilla arms, the charge jump ankle ones, eventually she gets synth lungs as a preventative measure cause of the whole smoking thing

— FAVORITES

favorite place in night city: The streets of Heywood because they’re home to her, despite all the awful memories growing up. After Johnny comes along, she starts to like high places, and she loves to hang out on the patio outside Kerry’s house

favorite tv show and/or movie: She loves horror movies, except ghost one cause she doesn’t believe in ghosts so she just finds them dumb

favorite vehicle. do they prefer cars or motorcycles? Vastly prefers motorcycles, she hasn’t really driven a car much since she was a teenager. Her favorite is Jackie’s Arch.

favorite food: She sees food solely as a source of fuel, she will eat whatever is easiest

favorite drink: Tequila

favorite song: Black Dog :3

favorite type of weather: She LOVES the rain (but the water kind, not the acid kind)

favorite radio station: Vexelstrom, and then Morro Rock cause Samurai :3

favorite pastime: Working out, shooting ranges, Jackie and Vik got her into occasional boxing

— RELATIONSHIPS

what are their parents like? what kind of relationship do they have with your character? She had no memory of her parents and assumes they’re both dead

do they have any other family members? what kind of relationship do they have? She has a “brother”, who she knew only as Vendetta (or V). He found her on the streets and took her in when she was 10, and raised her from then on until he “died” 12 years later. Their relationship was great, despite the fact that he was not a very nice person to everyone else but her. 

who is their closest friend? Of course Jackie, and then Kerry (and Johnny ofc)

who are their other friends if they have them? Nope! :D

what are their exes like? any significant ones? She’s never really had a serious relationship, mostly just flings and acquaintances-with-benefits

are they in a relationship? with who and how is it going? Johnny! And it’s uh. Well, ya know.

who are their enemies? She has a passionate hatred for whichever corpo makes cyberpsychosis medication, and for Max Tac cause she sees them as responsible for the loss of her brother. And of course Arasaka.

have they ever lost anyone important to them? Her brother, Jackie, Johnny

would they betray their own morals for their loved ones? Abso-fucking-lutely

have they ever sacrificed something for someone they care about? if so, what? In one of my two canons for her, she gives Johnny her body

— BACKGROUND

where did they grow up in night city? if not from night city, where are they from? The streets of Heywood, then in a shitty apartment in Heywood

how would you describe their childhood? Miserable

were they well-off, poor or somewhere in between when growing up? After Ven took her in, they did have an apartment but because he needed monthly baloperidol (cyberpsycho meds) injections, they were quite poor

what kind of education did they receive? The only real education she ever got was “how to shoot a gun”

what is the biggest lesson they learned growing up? Everything and everyone in the world is going to try its best to destroy you. Destroy it first.

what is their happiest memory? A few weeks after Ven took her in and and it finally hit her, this was real, she had a home, someone that cared for her, and she never had to go hungry again,

what is their most painful memory? Watching her brother, in the middle of a psychotic break, being gunned down. After that it would be saying goodbye to Johnny (in the canon where that happens)

have they kept any meaningful mementos from their past? One of the revolvers she owns was given to her by her brother, and all of her piercings and a couple of her tattoos were done by him so they’re mementos, in a way

is there anything they would change about their past? She would do anything to save her brother.

[earthnashes]

LAST OF UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

I started playing the very second it was made available to play and just finished it last night at like 4 in the morning. And of course it destroyed me. I love this series man so much man. ;w;

SO! I don’t usually do this but I’m like, fuckin’ dyin’ to talk about it a lil bit so if ya have plans to play it, SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT. <:

-Aight so lemme just say right off the bat that this game is fucking. Gorgeous. The environments, lighting, visual design, the level design, everything was spot on. And don’t get me started on the CHARACTER MODELS. AND ANIMATION. Like bro that shit was lifelike in not just appearance, the characters emoted and carried themselves with so much life they felt legitimately real. They were all so unique too; characters had unique special ticks to just them (Like Ellie pinching her fingers when nervous or upset, or Joel standing taller and squaring himself when talking about hard subjects like he’s bracing himself for it, or Jesse giving his stunted headtilt when he talks) and expressed in a way that was just. Bruh. Aight I’mma stop but fuckin hell what they pull off with the characters in specific in LoU (both part 1 and 2) is just somethin’ outta this world.

-For anyone interested in playing it, the game is roughly 22-30 hours long if you’re just focused on the story, and much longer still if you take the time to explore and find all the little secrets. Some secrets include unique cutscenes and dialogue that are well worth the look; I haven’t found all of ‘em yet but I’m considering trying a completionist playthrough.

-Joel’s death fucking destroyed me. I’m in no way surprised he died, but it hurt regardless, just how quickly things went south for him and Tommy there. And ELLIE. FINDING HIM AND WATCHING HIM GET REKT WAS PAIN INCARNATE. Set the tone hella hard and I’m fuckin’ here for it.

-I’m not gonna lie I fully expected to dislike Abby given she rekt Joel, even though I figured it was for a pretty good reason before it was revealed her pops was the doc Joel killed. But damn. I really enjoyed Abby, a lot actually. From a gameplay standpoint I dare say I enjoyed her section more than Ellie’s since you were BLASTING ENEMIES with those fuckin’ GUNS of hers. And by guns I mean her arms’, jesus she was shredded. As a character, she felt a lot like Ellie from a different perspective and mindset, and I really appreciated the reflection the two of them had. Two sides of the same coin, basically. Also I really, really liked how killin’ Joel brought absolutely no peace to Abby at all, and you caught her beginning to regret it. And it kinda sorta acted as the catalyst to her shift in how she viewed the world. I think that’s a good portion why she latched onto Yara and Lev so hard. Perspective is everything, and there is always more than just one side of a story.

-In the same vein I had a blast learning more about Abby’s friend group, dynamics, how she lived, who she worked for and her past and everything. Of them all I think I liked Nora the most, but Mel and Manny were both reaaaalll close seconds. O:

-Speaking of, DOGS. DOGS DOGS DOGS. So many dogs man and you got to play with and pet them! Fuck yeah. That should be a rule in gaming; if you have a cat or a dog in the game, you should have a button to pet it. Also good gorl Alice is best doggy don’t fight me on this. uwu

-Jesse and Dina were the beez knees I fuckin loved them man. They were exactly the sort of folks I can see Ellie being best friends with. ALSO, this one isn’t major, but I really appreciated that there was no love-triangle here? Dina and Jesse dated, smashed, didn’t work out but they still remained good friends. Ellie’s first reaction to seeing Jesse is to confess that she and Dina kissed, and Jesse readily accepted the fact that Dina moved on (and he had too). It’s just refreshing. No bullshit love triangle there, just three people who really understood each other. Also jesus christ, I really didn’t want Jesse to die. Goddamnit. But I’m so glad they didn’t kill Dina too like, I was fully prepared to see her get fucked up. Base rule of LoU: anyone you like has a high probability of dying. ;w;

-BRO THINKING OF JESSE, ELLIE, AND DINA MADE ME REALIZE THE PARALLEL OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO MEL, ABBY, AND OWEN. Ellie’s triangle was essentially non-existent; no feelings of betrayal or anger, just understanding and love, like there was a deep-seated bond here that would weather anything. If Jesse had lived, I wouldn’t doubt he, Ellie, and Dina would have lived together to raise the baby together. Meanwhile Abby’s triangle had Owen seeming to unable to let go of the past he and Abby had together, that poor bastard was still in love with her, and how that supplemented the slow deterioration of all three’s friendship. I was sad to see Mel turn on Abby the way she did but like. I mean.  Dude was ready to leave Mel in the dust for Abby despite HIM GETTING MEL PREGNANT. Abby also kinda did drag everyone into this, even if it was of their own violation. Oof. Though it did feel like she was angry at both Abby and Owen equally, not just blaming Abby for everything there... or at least the romantic relationship part. Honestly probably one of the few times I actually enjoyed a love triangle in a story, or at least of this caliber.

-Isaac, the leader of the WLF? He was cool as fuck. I love how much character they packed into him without even showing him too much. Like there was a scene where Nora mentions she tried to question Isaac about Owen and she said “he gave her that fucking look and told her to drop it”. Hell, when he was talking to Abby, he isn’t that much taller than her but he felt like he outright dwarfed her with the way he carried himself and how they reacted to him. I love shit like that man. But anyway fuck Isaac. uwu

-Not gonna lie I kinda wish I got to see the leader of the Seraphites, but it was hella cool to learn that she had been dead already and how the Seraphites operated with and without her. I don’t think I found everything regarding that specific point in game, but it sounded a lot like a peaceful religious leader who’s words and teachings were twisted to suit the goals of corrupt members of the tribe. She was essentially an equivalent to Jesus, at least to the Seraphites.

-I honestly really loved all of the characters introduced but I have to admit that Lev and Yara were standouts. Yara’s one hell of a big sister, lemme tell you, and the lengths she went through to make sure Lev was safe really shooketh me. AND LEV. MY CHILD. MY SON. To those of you who are familiar with the LGBT+ controversy around the game, he and Ellie are what people are complaining about. Ellie because she’s gay, Lev because he’s trans.

Lev in particular was heartbreaking. His tribe were outright hunting him for who he was, as well as Yara because she chose to protect him. The mindset the tribe had was pretty much isolated to them though.

And jesus. That scene with him and his mother? Fuck.

-YARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA :( BRUH that scene pissed me off, fuck you Isaac, you bastard.

-THE SCENE. WHEN YOU PLAY AS ABBY. AND YOU FIGHT ELLIE. WAS SO FUCKING COOL. AND SCARY. Ellie man, that section really showed how efficient and smart she is. She legit tricked me a few times not gonna lie, like I thought she didn’t see me but she’d pretend she wouldn’t, only to ambush me with a FUCKING MOLY. Also the fact that the game outright says “hey uhhhhh you can’t actually take her head on, she’ll fuck you up in a heartbeat bro”. Welp. A really strange mix of horror and sadness and pride there. Hm. :/

-Mom!Ellie was so fucking sweet to see. And it made me catch a glimpse of hope that Ellie actively tried to soldier through for her fam’s sake. But she clearly had demons she had to confront and I’m angry at Tommy for disrupting her and Dina’s life, but it felt necessary. Still made me sick to my stomach to watch her go after Dina fucking BEGS HER TO STAY. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

-Speaking of Tommy, it was so sad to see how much he fell after Joel’s death. It really showed just how much he was like his brother though; underneath a gentle man is someone you best not trifle with, and is very familiar with doing horrific things to reach a goal. Because fuckin hell, Tommy is legit a badass. That sniper part was SO. COOL. Aaaaand terrifying. RIP Manny. :/

-Bro, I’m very curious to see more about the Rattlers but. They were fucked up in a special kind of way. There’s no telling what they did to those people they captured and enslaved. Seeing Abby in the state she was in after seeing her throughout all the game in tip-top shape was painful. That poor girl was literally skin and bones and... just beaten down.

-ELLIE AND ABBY’S FINAL FIGHT WAS SO SAD. I HATED (but I loved) EVERY SECOND OF IT. I was so scared Ellie had fully lost herself there, when she threatens an unconscious Lev to force Abby to fight, who at that point, very clearly didn’t want to. Honestly. Ellie clearly didn’t either, far as I could tell, but it felt like it was the only way she knew how to confront everything. Fight it, until you kill it, or you die. It also felt like Abby understood that since she was in Ellie’s shoes once upon a time.

-I don’t care what anyone else says I’m so happy Ellie let Abby go. I’m so glad she chose not to go through with it. For so long Ellie has been angry and resentful about a lot of things, and she never got a choice once throughout the majority of her journey. As much as I will 100% agree with Joel sayin “fuck this supposed cure, fuck the Fireflies”, it’s not fair of him, or the Fireflies, to just outright take that choice from her, that she didn’t really have one to begin with. She was justifiably angry with Joel and the moment she chooses to try and forgive him, he dies. Another choice stolen away from her. The fact that she chose mercy despite everything, and it was prompted by a memory of Joel, the very reason she was doing this, is profound to me. Like she finally understood why he did what he did, and why he said he’d absolutely do it all over again. Hell, she probably even reached the understanding that her and Abby really aren’t that different from one another in that aspect.

-Ellie returning to an empty home, with Dina and JJ gone, was heartwrenching. I fully understand why Dina left and she honestly had every right to, but it still hurt man. :C AND ELLIE. PLAYING THE SONG JOEL MADE/SUNG FOR HER. ALWAYS KILLED ME. But this instance in particular was something else man like fuck I balled like a baby. Especially when it was followed by the fact that Ellie and Joel were on the cusp of mending their broken relationship only for it to be ripped away man. Goddamnit.

-ELLIE AND JOEL DUET NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. FUCKIN HELL I love this game.

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

So, this isn’t really a review more than it is me just sharing some of my thoughts on the game, but if ya want me to give it a rating? 10/10. If not a perfect score? At least a 9/10.

The Last Of Us as a series is one that’s moved me more than any other game I can think of honestly (outside of Telltale’s The Walking Dead), and just like the first one, LoU2 left me thinking about it for hours after. It’s thought-provoking, it’s compelling, it’s fun as fuck, aaaaand it’s made me cry like a baby a good number of times. I also really appreciate the fact that, in this game, they actually show the consequences of your actions. Like, they made you consider the fact that you aren’t just killing grunts to get to the next enemy or mowing through mindless drones. You’re killing people, who have lives, and friends, and families.

We got to see Joel for who he was: a very broken man, with a very dark past, who has done very horrible things in this shitty post apocalyptic world, but he is a father, and protective, and loving and thoughtful, who will do anything, anything, to protect Ellie. Blood or not, Ellie is through and through his child. But Abby only saw a monster, and could you blame her? He killed her father, and countless others, and she never got the full story. Just that a man came in and killed the entire hospital, put an end to even the smallest possibility of finding a cure, killed her dad in cold blood, and walked away no problem. And then it cycles right back to Ellie, where Abby becomes her monster.

It’s just some grade-A storytelling as far as I’m concerned, and I’m someone who usually prefers happy endings. LoU always leaves me feeling bittersweet but goddamn do I love this series. I’m kinda hoping for a DLC, to be honest? Like LoU part one, where you found out about Ellie and Riley. I wanna see what happens to Ellie; I get the distinct feeling she returns to Jackson and hopefully scrounges out some semblance of a decent life there, after confronting Tommy and (hopefully) making peace with Dina. But we’ll see! uwu

[fallenxspirit]

Info Dump: Team Vitality’s Purpose, Grunts, Admins, and Spectre

tw; death mention, pokemon death mention, declining mental health.

Team Vitality is an organization created by a mysterious figure calling himself “Spectre.” It is a group spread through multiple regions, but is most prominent within Galar, Kalos, and Unova. To the civilians and leagues of every region, Team Vitality is a simple group. They run hospice buildings for both people and pokemon throughout the regions, taking the hard part of caring for the dying off the shoulders of their loved ones. They take care of funeral arrangements, and even provide grief counseling! However the team’s, and Spectre’s intentions are darker than most realize.

Team Vitality’s “true” goal is the conservation of pokemon and the ecosystem around them, with the eradication of all human life. They plan to accomplish this goal with the Pokemon of Life and Death, Xerneas and Yveltal. Xerneas will grant pokemon eternal life, while Yveltal will power the Ultimate weapon, thought to be long lost in the ruins of Geosenge.

The weapon is being rebuilt, and moved closer to Galar within range of the Dynamax energy with the hope Dynamax energy might increase the Weapon’s power tenfold.

Team Vitality are often dressed very simply, depending on a members position. However each grunt’s outfit does have some kind of piece of traditional mourning wear depending upon the region. For example, veils for Kalos, mourning lockets for Galar, etc.

The grunts are all very outwardly friendly and understanding. They were all hand selected by Spectre for their previous experiences with pokemon, and the world itself. Most see Spectre as their “savior”, and that their leader pulled them from a darker part of their life and gave them a purpose again.

The pokemon typings seen mostly used by Team Vitality are Ghost and Fairy types. Though grunts do not often battle other trainers, their pokemon can be seen as little helpers around the hospices. Though to those with an observant eye, this could be a nod to the leader’s true preferred typings. However, as their plans progress and Team Vitality grows to be more sinister, the typing changes to a reflection of the typings used by Spectre. Dark and Dragon typings.

Alongside Spectre are four admins. Admin Kelpie, Admin Piper , Admin Selkie, and Admin Basilisk. Each named after either different mythical creatures, or in Piper’s case, a folk tale, in UK mythos.

Battle themes for the Admins, minus Piper, would be something similar to this

Now for some quick tidbits about the admins!

Admin Kelpie was the first one to be recruited by Spectre, and is Spectre’s second in command. He is extremely devoted to Spectre, both in the false front of Team Vitality, and in Spectre’s actual goals. Kelpie also has some romantic feelings towards Spectre that he has not addressed and does not plan to address.

Kelpie was born and raised within Kalos, specifically in Geosenge. He was out of town visiting Lumiose City at the time the Ultimate Weapon went off. His entire family, and partner pokemon were killed when the weapon went off along with the rest of his town. Kelpie stayed in Lumiose City, a shell of who he had been until he met Spectre. Spectre treated him with kindness, and gave him hopes of a better world before ultimately asking Kelpie to form Team Vitality with him.

Despite Kelpie refusing to own up to his feelings, for knowing they are not returned, and to remain professional, he still refers to Spectre as “Mon coeur” as an affectionate nickname and when he is trying to talk his leader down. Overall Kelpie is a voice of reason for Spectre.

Kelpie is the only admin who knows of Spectre’s personal vendetta against Galar.

Admin Piper was the second recruit, from Galar themselves, and is in charge of heading all of the hospices opened across every region. They are also in charge of recruitment! They are an extremely friendly person, able to easily manipulate others with their wit and charm. It was part of Spectre’s reason for recruiting them. However behind that smile lies a truly malicious soul. Piper joined Spectre for one purpose, to see a boring world burn.

Even Spectre is succumb to Piper’s manipulative nature and lies, having been fed some sob story about how a past evil team took away Piper’s pokemon, family, etc. While Kelpie is a calming force to Spectre’s storm, Piper is a trigger of sorts. They drive Spirit further and further towards his goals, always reminding him it is too late to go back.

Piper would have an entirely different battle theme compared to the rest of the admins, being something similar in tone to this

Piper is 100% disloyal to Spectre and will betray him at the drop of a hat should the man even consider going back down the path of redemption. For now they are along for the ride, and ready to burn out with the rest of the world once they’ve had their fun.

Admin’s Selkie and Basilisk are a duo. Twins from Unova. They witnessed both the events of BW and BW2, born and raised in Opelucid City. While never being members of Team Plasma, they were both persuaded by Ghetsis’ speeches of the pain pokemon go through with their trainers, and both released their starter pokemon before even beginning their journeys. The events of BW2 only solidified their beliefs that trainers were cruel, after the very man who inspired them turned out to be nothing more than a villain himself.

Spectre recruited these two when first scouting Unova as a potential location for Team Vitality. He fed them a classic speech, of how pokemon were being hurt all over the world by selfish people, how even their homes and environments were being destroyed. He begged for their help to put an end to this senselessness. It took longer to convince the two to take up pokemon training given how adamantly they were against it. But given Spectre’s final goals, a few years of using pokemon to help grant them eternal life? Didn’t sound so bad.

Selkie and Basilisk don’t play a part in the hospices run by Team Vitality. Alongside Spectre, and handful of grunts are responsible for the more criminal aspects Team Vitality keep hidden. They are the hands behind furthering their true goals.

Selkie and Basilisk are both extremely smart, not only discovering where to find Xerneas after the events in Kalos. They discovered how the awaken the legendary from the Tree of Life as well.

Now finally, for Spectre, aka Spirit (surprising no one reading this post).

Now Spirit’s goals as Spectre definitely do not make sense. After all, isn’t wiping out all of humanity a little…extreme for someone whose goal is supposed to be the conservation of life? Or even that pokemon will also surely be killed in his insane plans! The answer is yes, his goals don’t make sense!

Because even Spirit doesn’t understand what he’s doing anymore. He definitely created Team Vitality for malicious intent, that goal was always there since he left Galar. But initially it was only meant for Galar. However as Spirit traveled through different regions, he felt his hatred growing for not just Galar, but for the world around him.

His goals are, in truth, unabashedly selfish, the world has treated him cruelly therefore everyone is cruel. He wants to die, so he will take the whole world with him when he goes. This entire verse is an extremely bad timeline for Spirit. No real moral support, unable to cope with and deal with his own problems. Spirit sees the path he’s creating for himself, but is adamantly against change because he’s tried in the past. He’s tried to change before, to become a better more open person, and he felt he only grew worse.

Galar proved they didn’t want him no matter who he was anyway. One event happened, one thing no one, not even him, understood, and he was the villain. He’ll stay the villain they so desperately want to see. He doesn’t care anymore, and he “doesn’t care who has to go down with him in the end.”

Its safe to say that Spirit/Spectre is absolutely on the verge of a full mental breakdown. Its something that’s been building for years, getting closer and closer with every plan that goes right, and every plan that goes wrong. Honestly, its unknown how Spirit managed to appeal to Xerneas, enough to actually catch the legendary pokemon.

This breakdown will absolutely come to fruition when he’s finally stopped in his plans. When he realizes everything he’s done to people, to pokemon, to himself. It’s going to be ugly, its going to be bad, and its going to make him eventually see the light once more even if it will not make up for his crimes. But that is in the future.

Spirit has taken great lengths to disguise his true identity. He left behind his old pokemon team for starters, so that no one could peg him on any of his signature members.

He has completely covered every physical feature. He wears a full body outfit, including gloves, and a helmet so that no identifiable feature of him can be seen. He claims to be wearing this outfit to cover and hide severe burn scars. He also speaks solely through a text to speech device so that no one will recognize his voice, or the galarian accent. He claims his vocal cords were destroyed by smoke inhalation.

Acting as Spectre, most of Team Vitality only know the backstory he gave them. He claims to come from Kalos, as the sole survivor of Geosenge. He was badly injured in the explosion of the ultimate weapon, but survived due to “Xerneas blessing” as he puts it, and that since that time he and Kelpie have sought to protect pokemon from human selfishnes. No one but Kelpie knows more than this, Spectre’s true identity, and his appearance under the mask.

Spirit purposefully chose to train and use pokemon that he would have never considered while acting as Champion in Galar. More importantly, there are no shinies on this new team, as he believes even the act of using another shiny pokemon would make him seem suspicious.

Team Vitality is closer to this goal than others know, for they are already rebuilding the ultimate weapon, and their leader, Spectre, already has Xerneas on his side. It is only a matter of time before the world is forced to pay.

[solesurvivorkat]

FC5 Deputy GFH Dialogue

(Quickie ‘Katie IRL’ Update: So sorry for lack of writing... to be succinct, I might have a sleep disorder, possibly Sleep Apnea - been very tired/lethargic for several months now, finally have a test scheduled for late August. Will have to ‘make do’/power through fatigue until then. I will do my best to jump-start my writing {and my YT channel} until then!

Also - as for ‘I Need to Tell You’ (FC5 no-cult AU fic) - I don’t think I have a ton of readers for that one, so I’m just gonna stick to the movie-plot where I can & finish it up {the end is nearing!}. If anyone wants to read anything else from that ‘verse, lemme know & I’ll whip something up - otherwise, I’m gonna finish that up & get back to working on ‘The Book of John’ again, which is loooong overdue {poor Sarah’s been in John’s bunker forever, lol!}. THAT said... )

~~~~~~~~

Deputy Sarah Rook

(NOTE: My apologies if Sarah’s dialogue is similar to anyone else’s OC’s... I promise and swear that if it happens, it’s purely coincidental. I am adamant about not {purposely} stealing anyone else’s creativity! <3  Also, this is quite long... but it’s not everything in FC5, so if you like it & want even more, just lemme know, lol.)

With Fangs for Hire:

Boomer: “Aww, who’s my sweet, brave boy?” (kisses forehead) - “Good boy, Boomer!” - “I know what it’s like to have someone you love taken away from you... but don’t worry boy, you’re not alone. And I’ll do everything I can to make sure you never are again.” - “I won’t let Eden’s Gate use you, I promise.” - “Boomer, go!” - “Rae-Rae won’t have died in vain, I promise you.”

Peaches: “I’m... usually more of a dog person - but as long as I get to keep all my fingers and limbs, I’m satisfied.” - “Peaches, attack!” - “Us girls gotta stick together, right?” - “Hmm... one blue eye, one brown. Unique!” - “Needless to say, a cougar’s a very dangerous pet. Miss Mable never should have tried to raise you in captivity. Still... it can be handy to have a cougar for an ally.” - (gives affectionate pets) “Aww, my sweet little ‘danger kitty’...”

Cheeseburger: “You’re like a... big, dangerous teddy.” (laughs) - “Cheeseburger! How are ya, buddy?” - “Wade was sweet to look after you. I promise I’ll try to do the same.” - “I will not let Jacob take you.” - “Ohh, those big brown eyes of yours...” - “I can’t believe Wade not only found a collar to fit you, but also one that had cheeseburgers on it. Wow.” - “I’m glad you’re on my side, boy.” - “No, I can’t give you any more cheeseburgers. ...Stop looking at me like that, you know they’re not good for you. ...You’re on a diet, remember? ...  (sighs)  .....Okay, ONE burger. Don’t tell anyone.”

With other Guns for Hire:

Sharky

(serious) “Sharky... just between us... you’re the best friend I’ve ever had.” - “Sharky... never change.” (smiles)

“Sharky, I know fire is your, uh- ‘specialty’, but... you need to try not burning down half the forest with us!” 

“Anything you say, Charlemagne.” 

“You and Hurk are a dangerous duo - in more ways than one.” 

(horrified, after hearing about his mom/parents) “Anyone who'd do that to an innocent baby doesn’t deserve them. You’re better off, Shark.” 

(cheesy grin) “I hope Eden’s Gate stocked up on ‘Shark repellent’!” 

(when fighting together) “Time for a ‘Shark attack’!” - “You’ve got us between a rock and a shark place!” - “Sarah and Shark, makin’ their mark!” - “You might be better off using your gun here, Sharky.”

“Disco, Sharky? Really? (sighs) ...All right, to each his own.”

“Hey Sharky, got a bad joke for ya - what’s a shark’s favorite bible story? ...’Noah’s Shark’!”

“Ride or die, buddy!”

“No matter what, I’ve always got your back, Sharky.”

Grace

(chuckles nervously/anxiously after seeing ‘serious/deadpan Grace’) “Sorry, I... joking around is kind of my ‘defense mechanism’...”

“A medal in the Olympics... that’s amazing, Grace. ...Er- no pun intended.”

“For what it’s worth... thank you for your service to our country.”

(after Grace mentions destroying copies of ‘Only You’, Sarah chuckles sadly) “Y’know, it’s funny... I actually used to like that song...”

“I know you want to protect your dad’s grave, I do completely understand... but we also need to help protect innocent people that’re still living too, you know? They need us... need you.”

Hurk

"Hercules Drubman Junior - as I live and breathe." (smiles)

“Hurk, I... don’t think a rocket launcher is the best weapon to use right now...”

“As... ‘tempting’ as ‘Hurk’s Gate’ sounds, I... don’t think it’s quite for me.”

(at a loss for words) “...Oh Hurk...”

“Y’know Hurk... there is a lot more to life than beer, drugs, and sex...” - (Hurk {looks horrified}: “...Say whaat? What’choo talkin’ ‘bout, Dep??”)

“Hurk, just... be careful.”

(stares blankly, then slowly raises an eyebrow) “...Monkey... King/God??”

“No offense dude, but... if your dad doesn’t stop talking I may have to ‘accidentally’ shoot him.”

(sneaking around) “You’re not exactly the ‘king of stealth’. Why don’t... you hang back here for a minute? I’ll signal you or call out if I need you.”

“To each their own, but ‘partying’ is... not really my thing.”

Adelaide

(pointing in turn to Sharky, Hurk, then Addie, during ‘tongue-in-cheek’ suggestions for Sarah) “No, no, and HELL no.”

(Addie: "Punch it Chewie! ...Bet you got a kick out of that, you fuckin’ nerd.") “Hey- I love the reference, and I’m proud of who I am. ...Mostly.” (smiles)

“Addie, for the last time - no, I did not inspect John's underwear drawer when I was at Seed Ranch. I was a little occupied at the time.” (turns bright red as Addie looks thrilled) “...That- that’s not what I meant!”

(reluctantly) “Addie? I kind of need some... ‘womanly advice’.” - (Addie, eyebrows raised: “And you came to me?? Oh hunny...”)

“While I appreciate your... ‘openness’, no - I do not need ‘tips’ from you and Xander about ‘positions’.”

“Addie... ‘showing more cleavage’ is not going to help me with the Seed brothers or Eden’s Gate, despite your insistence.”

“...I am not playing ‘Fuck, Marry, Kill’...”

Nick

(after flying Carmina - and puking once landed) “Nick... if you ever make me do that again... I don’t know what I’ll do, but it’ll be bad.”

“Flying may be great for you, but I’m much happier with my feet on the ground.”

“I’ll protect you and your family as much as I can - that’s a promise.”

“Defending your business, plane, home, family, and friends like you have been... I’m sure your family would be very proud of you.”

“There he is, ‘King of the Skies’!”

“You and Kim... you’re lucky to have each other. I kind of envy that.”

“Rook and Rye - on land and in the sky!“

“I know fighting Eden’s Gate is important, but... don’t forget to be there for Kim too. We’ve [the Resistance] got this... Kim and your baby need you more.” 

(After Carmina's born) "How's Kim and the baby? You'd better be taking good care of my goddaughter!"

Jess

“I know we grew up in very different ‘environments’, but... I also know what it’s like to feel alone for a long time. No pressure, but... I’m here if you ever need someone to lend an ear.”

(re: Jess’s insane survival skills) “...You’ve got to teach me that/how to do that sometime.”

“You’re related to Dutch? Wow, that’s... kinda cool.”

“I thought I swore a lot, but... wow.”

“Yeah... I’m not one for small talk, either.”

In Combat

(to herself, stressed) “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph...”

“Aw shit...”

“Fucking Peggies!”

(to herself, quickly and quietly) “You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day...”

“Let’s kick some Peggie ass!”

(to herself) “I can do all things through him who strengthens me...”

“May God have mercy on you.”

“I don’t think my soul is the one that needs saving!”

Driving

(hears ‘Oh John’ on the radio & starts humming along. After a couple seconds, realizes what she’s doing and shakes her head, murmuring to herself) “...Damnit...”

“I’m driving? If you say so.”

“ ‘Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need... roads.’ “ (smug grin)

“I used to like driving. Found it kind of relaxing, most of the time. ...That was before I started having to get used to being pursued and chased down by Eden’s Gate trucks.”

“Time for... LUDICROUS SPEED!”

“Fasten your seatbelts... it’s going to be a bumpy ride!”

Idle

“...So...?”

“Everything okay? Do you need a break?”

“I don’t know if you’re aware, but I spent most of my life in New England - Connecticut, actually. Born and raised. I moved out to Hope County only a few years ago, when the Deputy job opened up. Thought it’d be... a ‘fresh start’. ...Definitely didn’t expect anything like all this to happen.”

“I used to roll my eyes - or want to - every time the Sheriff and the other Deps called me ‘Rookie’. They thought it was so funny, on account of my last name and all, and me being the newest addition to the department. Now that we’re all spread out and fighting against the cult... I think I kind of miss it.”

��Some of the most horrible things imaginable... have been done by people who claim they had ‘good reasons’ behind their actions.”

“There’s an old proverb that states, ‘Hell is full of good meanings, but heaven is full of good works’. ...There’s a lot of wisdom in that.”

“God has a reason for everything, even if we don’t always understand why...”

“The right thing to do is not always the easy thing to do...”

“Faith is believing in things when common sense tell you not to.“

“Imagine the things we could accomplish... if we would just try.”

“ ‘Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.’ ...Make fun of me all you want, but it’s true.”

“I do love nature. ...You know... when it’s not being interrupted by religious idiots.”

“Courage isn’t the absence of fear... it’s deciding that something is more important than fear.”

Recruiting/Greeting

“I’ll do everything I can... you can count on it.”

“Good to see you again.”

“Let’s do this.”

“Stronger together!”

Dismissal

“Until we meet again - stay safe.”

“Call me if you need me.”

“Done already? Aww, you’re killin’ me, Smalls.”

Injured/Down

“God damnit... not yet...”

“FUCK!”

“This can’t be it...”

“I’m sorry... I tried...”

“I need some help!”

Revived/Assisted

“Thanks... now let’s teach these assholes a lesson they won’t soon forget.”

“Never tell me the odds!”

“Never give up, never surrender!”

“Thanks for the help!”

“Thanks... our work’s not done yet!”

Stealth

“Shh... ‘silence is golden’, remember?“

“Keep a low profile!”

“Be cautious...”

“Don’t let ‘em see you comin’...”

“ ‘Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise...’ ”

Being aimed at

“Watch where you’re pointing that.”

“I’m a much better shot than I let on. Just remember that.”

“Two hits - me hitting you, and you hitting the ground. I suggest you aim elsewhere.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Location-Specific:

By any body of water: “When I lived in Connecticut, I loved seeing the ocean. The lakes in Montana can be beautiful, but... it’s not quite the same.”

The Henbane: “Freakin’ Bliss.” / “Please promise me... that you’ll never, ever let me end up like one of Faith’s Angels.” / “Exploiting people’s weaknesses and fears to get them to do what you want... it’s wrong on so many levels.” / “Rachel Jessop wasn’t the first, or even the second ‘Faith Seed’... I wonder if she’s ever afraid of ending up like them.” / “God wants people to follow him willingly, to choose to do good - not be forced into it with trickery and fear. Even if - in an insane world - Joseph was right, it doesn’t excuse the things that Eden’s Gate has done. If they have a message to spread, this isn’t the way to do it.”

Holland Valley: “Saying ‘Yes’ to everything doesn’t make you a better person.” /  “Many people know the seven deadly sins... but few people can name - let alone even know about - the 'seven virtues': chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. ...But you don’t see John tattooing those on people.” / John is... he’s done some horrible things. Committed heinous acts. But knowing the life he had to endure as a child when the Duncans adopted him... I hate so many of the things he’s done, but... part of me can’t help feeling sorry for him, too.” / “Underneath all those layers of ‘jackass’, way, waaaay deep down... I think there’s a lot of hurt and pain in John.”

The Whitetails: “Jacob acts like having feelings, friends, caring for things and people makes you weak. It’s just the opposite... having things to fight for - people to fight for - is a strength. More than just a ‘purpose’ - it’s a blessing.” / (angry) Jacob turning me into a weapon of destruction... he’s going to pay for that. / Forcing Bliss on animals to turn them into Judges... it’s wrong on multiple levels. / “I’m ‘weak’, Jacob? I’ll show you what a ‘weak’ person can do.”

[linkspooky]

Where do you think the story will take Geten? He was built as a huge ideological foil to Dabi and now they're on the same side.

iThe most interesting aspect to Geten is how he and Dabi had such similiar upbringings and turned out to be such opposite ideological foils. Both of them were raised not as children to be loved, but instead they were raised to have strong quirks and use those quirks for people other than themselves. Their entire lives are determined by the quirks they are born with. They were never raised with any consideration for how they would grow up and develop into healthy individuals and people, they were tools for their father figures ambitions from the start. 

In fact the flashbacks of the way Enji raised his children allow us to infer a lot of what Geten’s upbringing was like. We know that Geten was not allowed to go to school and instead has been working on his quirk since a young age far longer than most hero hopefuls. 

We have already seen what subjecting a child to quirk training at a young age looks like through Shoto’s flashbacks. It’s highly likely that child!Geten was not as willing as adult!Geten was to undergo this training, and even if he mentally thought he was willing a child’s body isn’t meant to endure such harsh training. 

Shoto in his training is not allowed to fail either. He’s not allowed to show any kind of weakness despite being five years old and having a weak body. If he is not able to do what his father asks of him, his father accuses him of pretending to be weak on purpose. He is continually told he should be able to endure this kind of training by now. He’s expected to endure it all because he has a strong quirk. 

Geten’s attitude reflects being raised in an environment where a person is not allowed to show any weakness. He literally says that for him powering up is no different than survival. It is likely that just like Shoto, every time he failed, every time quirk training was too much for his childish body, he was told the exact same things, that he had to be strong, or he would be punished, or he would be thrown out, that he should be able to do these things because he was born with a strong quirk. 

Geten and Dabi were raised for two reasons, one to have a strong quirk, and two to devote their strong quirk entirely to fulfill somebody else’s ambitions and not their own. They were raised for this purpose, but that way of raising did not work on Touya, or on Shoto. 

It did not work with Touya because despite literal quirk breeding, Touya’s body was unsuited to his quirk. In this case Geten being born with a strong quirk that he can control so well in regards to his body is almost a disadvantage because it means that they were taken advatange of and used by the adults around them. it’s likely Endeavor intended to use Touya in the same way, but then he stopped being useful so he was thornw out with the rest of the failures. 

Endeavor’s attempts to groom Shoto did not work either because Shoto had other people in his life. Because Shoto had his mother he was able to see what his father was doing to him was wrong. Because Shoto had All might he was able to have a role model for what a good hero acts like and started to desire to be something outside of what his father wanted him to be. 

The thing with children is that they internalize abuse. Shoto who had his mother’s support to help him realize what his father was doing was wrong still internalizes a lot of his abuse. He’s far less mad at his father for what he did to him, the training sessions, being forced to use his quirk until he puked, then he is about what happened to his mother and how she was victimized alongside him for standing up for him. Children internalize abuse and often think it’s their fault for what happens, because the abuser isolates and controls basically their entire intake of information.

Shoto is isolated because Endeavor was attempting to control every aspect of Shoto’s life in order to groom him into being the successor that he wanted him to be. Shoto was not allowed to be his own person, or anything else besides what Endeavor wanted for him. However, Endeavor failed and was not able to control everything about Shoto’s life to the point where he would live for his father, and only care about the strength of his quirk. 

What is so fascinating with Geten is he really is a case of what would have happened is Endeavor completely succeeded with his plan. 

Geten is completely indoctrinated with the Meta Liberation Army’s beliefs. He believes his only reason for living is to have a strong quirk, and to be the strongest, just like Endeavor. Not only that but Geten is not his own person, he believes wholeheartedly that his quirk exists only for the sake of the man who raised him Rikiya. 

Apocrypha lives to be used by the Liberation army. Not only that he wants to be used by them, he thinks it’s a good thing he was born with such a powerful and strong quirk to make him able to fight for the people who are using him. He is the perfect result of the indoctrination. He is ironically what Enji wanted when he tried to control Shoto and Touya. A child that existed entirely to serve his purposes, that was perfectly loyal to him, and therefore has no individual wants and needs of his own. Geten even apologizes for making Re-Destro worry about him because he was not the perfect soldier that he was meant to be. 

And when we see in Geten, the perfect result that Enji wanted to badly, we see exactly how terrible it is to raise children that way. Apocrypha is barely a person. He wants nothing for himself, he nevershows his face, he could care less whether he lives or dies. He’s obsessed with the supremacy of his quirk because it’s literally the only thing he’s been taught has value in his life. His life is utterly empty and devoid of connection, and because of that he lets himself be used by the person who stole everything away from him in the first place. 

Geten reflecting Enji’s desired perfect result has a lot of foiling potential with Dabi. Hopefully, in their interactions we’ll see Dabi realize what is wrong with Geten because he has been through something similiar in the past and we’ll see Dabi encourage Geten to be their own person even if it means violent rebellion. 

There’s a lot of potential there in development especially when it comes to Dabi. If Dabi’s reason for turning into a villain is because of how powerless he was to help his own family from Endeavor, it would be really meaningful to show him realize another person is being abused in a similiar way to him and reach out. 

Geten also reflects Dabi so much that their antagonism of each other makes perfect sense. Geten is Dabi, and Dabi’s way of fighting has always been self destruction. The person Dabi is always fighting against the hardest is not Endeavor, but rather hismelf, because he’s a dead boy walking and every time he uses his quirk he’s killing himself slowly. He pushes himself to those great heights because despite how different their beliefs he’s been taught the same thing as Geten, that a powerful quirk is literally the only worthwhile thing he has. He is otherwise a failure, he is weak, the only thing that matters is brute strength. 

If Dabi and Geten were to stop antagonizing one another and Dabi were to actually try to help Geten, that would be a symbolic form of allowing himself to heal rather than continually trying to destroy himself for the sake of his goals. Not only does Geten need to learn to be a person, but at the same time Dabi is still struggling and learning to be a person even with the scars his father has left on him.