#the only thing they have in common is they're dead and still they didn't died the same way or even the same year

[occult-roommates]

For April Fool's day tomorrow I almost made a fake chapter where it's revealed Rudi and Dawud are siblings and their respective dead dad is actually the same person but it was so obviously a joke I cringed myself into being unable to write it 💀

[vln-vibes]

Heroes Hunted

(I need to finish my other fics before thinking of others Q^Q)

Basically we've seen quite a few Danny getting hunted down by the GIW and ending up in Gotham resulting in him warning certain Bats (mainly just Jason) that hes in danger as well--- but what if the GIW decided to target 'smaller fish' in order to train themselves against Phantom; their main target.

Unfortunately Team Phantom is too busy trying to keep the calm around Amity Park and don't realize it until they're too late.

The JL never see them coming.

The Bats are frantically looking for what should be their literal assassin trained Robin, Red Hood and Black Bat.

Supers are flying around the area looking for any trace of Supergirl and Superboy (I). Not even Tim's trackers on Conner show anything (just like the ones he had on his fellow Bats).

Arrows had sent Green Arrow and Arsenal to help with the search of the Bats, Roy leaving Lian behind with Dinah, only to drop off the face of the Earth.

The Flash, Blue Beetle and Hawkwoman are all reported as MIA.

An Emergency Meeting is announced and trying to get into contact with all the other fellow heroes. Some were known to be off planet but there were a few who'd failed to respond at all...

Batman is the first to realize a common factor to all those who've disappeared as most had concluded something or someone was targeting heroes.

They'd all died.

Diana was the one to bring forward worst news; the hunt wasn't done.

Impulse, Red Robin, Cyborg, Hawkman, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman herself were possible targets as well.

Cyborg was able to recover and corrupted and dropped emergency call from Barry "Those weirdos in white from earlier are attacking downtown, could use some backup asap. Something about Anti-Ecto Acts or whate-- Hey! Ugh"

A shiver went down their spines as they collectively told stories about spotting men in white suits walk around their cities. Some had brushed them off whilst others had kept tabs but the guys seemed to have lost interest and left.

It was a terrible oversight.

"Looks like some assholes are digging their noses into my turf, gonna stake them out tonight" Jason had told Bruce the last night they'd seen each other, "My guys they were wearing white suits, terrible choice for Crime Alley or Gotham"

Red Hood had said he didn't need backup as he would just gather intel, still that was also the night Black Bat and Robin were paired for patrol and she'd indicated she'd check in on him before the end of the night. The three never got to call in for the night.

Oracle had informed him that Red Hood's helmet had detonated, fortunately without him in it, its location the last place his children had pinged in the scanners.

The only audio they managed to recover from the device was "---Control Act, Article 1, Subse---Under Arrest---Questioning... And experimenting lots---"

Oracle had finally found the 'Anti-Ecto Acts', formally known as the Federal Anti-Ecto Control Act hidden along laws against the privatization of new green energy sources; Anything that was made off of or produced this so called 'ectoplasm' was to be handed over to the federal government's Ghost Investigation Ward for imprisonment, experimentation and finally termination.

"What the hell even is ectoplasm?"

"Its the source of all ghosts" Zatanna spoke up, repulsion clear as she read and reread the acts words, "Their body and souls are made up of the energy much like atoms make up all things in the physical world. The energy of the dead"

"According to these documents" Red Robin pulled up a research paper around two decades old from some students of the University of Wisconsin, "Ectoentities or ghosts are unfeeling, nonsentient echoes of their formerly living selves. They'd even theorized a means to access their home dimension they call the Ghost Zone"

"Ghost are made of bloody emotions" Constantine rolled his eyes "What kind of idiot would think otherwise? And don't get me started on a 'home dimension'--unless?"

"John, you don't think?"

"I sure as bloody hell hope not"

"The Infinite Realms!?"

Which only proved the situation more dire; a potential for a dimension that glued the multiverse and their afterlives, whose beings all had potential of rivaling the strength of a Super when provoked, their noted territorial nature making that a given if a portal happened upon them.

They were on a ticking time bomb to rescue their fellow heroes but they didn't even know where to start. Luckily they weren't the Justice League for nothing---

Potential locations scouted, teams made and buddy systems enacted for those potentially targeted.

Batman and his team headed to Amity Park to check on the three researchers of those papers-- Madeline Walker, Jack Fenton and Vladimir Masters. Background search revealed that Madeline and Jack had gotten married and had two children Jasmine and Daniel.

It wasn't until they crossed the town border in the dead of the night that their systems pinged the Fenton children were reported as runaways-- and not just them. The local high school had shut down as children were reported missing or also runaways from their parents. Even the faculty and some parents had begun to disappear.

Those that remained were kept under strict curfew by marshal law-- the GIW had the town under their control.

Just what exactly had they stumbled upon? Could their comrades be hidden somewhere in this small midwestern town?

Their theories were proven right the following night when tapping into their communication line about the 'aggressive subject G-02' and how 'it' had managed to break some arms when it had been relocated to the Fenton's personal lab. The 'unfortunate' Agent H who'd tried to yank it by its black and white contaminated hair had gotten his nose broken for it. It was scheduled for biopsy tonight.

Batman couldn't help but taste the bile make his way up fearing/knowing who G-02 was.

His Team was right behind him in the change of plans as they made their way across town as covertly as they could; it seemed as though after finding out about G-02 (it couldn't be him, he couldn't put a name to him lest he let his fear override everything) Batman pinged on more and more of their ghost detectors.

Disabling was taking too long, loathe he admit, as they devolved to destroying as discreetly as they could.

Finally they could see the garish neon of the FentonWorks logo, the steps and door to the house were covered in ectoplasm and another familiar substance-- handmarks, clawmarks, clear signs of resistance could be made out.

And then Fentonworks went up in a flame and red and green.

Batman couldn't keep in his desperate cry. Not again! Please not again...

[doberbutts]

Not trying to be confrontational or anything, I just wanna know as a fellow black man:

How can you stand to look at The Body? I've seen the full thing only once 10 years ago, and I still get a mild panic attack every time his name is mentioned. How do you deal with it

The first thing is that I am one of those people to whom dead bodies don't look real. It's a clay figure, a wooden puppet, it's not a person, not anymore. This apparently isn't an uncommon response- and it's not limited to people. The body is just a body. It's an inanimate object. The being inside it has gone. I looked in the coffin when my grandmother died and I have no idea whose face that was, because I didn't recognize it as someone I actually knew. It was just some dead body.

This is also apparently a common trauma response so perhaps not the healthiest way of looking at things. I don't feel particularly traumatized looking at dead relatives or even Till's body. However I felt incredibly triggered during the month that protests broke out across the country and it was dead body after dead body showcased to demonstrate police killings and violence. However I think that is more of a numbers and overexposure to racism thing than simply sensitivity to looking at corpses. But racism is also inherently traumatic so perhaps that IS the problem with me.

[I however can't watch the moment someone dies, as that will send me into an instant panic attack. Once they're dead on the ground though my brain doesn't care. It's weird. I watched this documentary about Vietnam in high school where someone is interviewing citizens in the town square and a soldier walks up to them and shoots them both in the head without a word. I couldn't sleep for several days after that.]

Finally, while it is shocking and triggering, I think it is important to witness. His mother deliberately made sure his body was displayed so that no one could argue that what was done to kill her son "wasn't that bad". There are pictures of her having a breakdown next to his coffin as she reaches for him. Obviously she did not have the same problem I have recognizing the body as the person it was in life.

Obviously if you can't take it you can't take it. But I think it is important to show his body to anyone who tries to justify his murder. When we say that young teenagers should be kidnapped and beaten to death by grown adults if someone accuses them of wrongdoing, with or without any actual evidence, we have demonstratably lost whatever capacity we once had for recognizing each other's humanity.

He was just a boy. And they turned his face into ground beef. And now people want to look away from the truth and talk out the side of their mouth that he deserved it. I don't think anyone deserves to be beaten to death by vigilantes. I especially don't think a child deserves it.

[themildestofwriters]

Alternatives to Six Hundred Strike (ported from reddit)

There's been a lot of controversy about the first half of Six Hundred Strike. I'll admit, I'm not a particular fan of how it went down, but this is no shade at the animator -- they did a really good job and I did like it as an animation. I just didn't like the narrative of Six Hundred Strike, the jet-pack, and the like. So, this post is probably one of many talking about alternative interpretations for how Six Hundred Strike could've gone.

Godly Assistance. This is the most common headcanon: Odysseus was aided by the gods in defeating Poseidon. Top pick is usually Ares, though I've heard that Hermes could've helped out, or Hades, or even most if not all of the gods during God Games.

Anyone could come up with a motivation to explain any number of gods helping Odysseus.

Ares, because he was promised bloodshed and he will have it, or... because he respected Athena's sacrifice.

Hermes, because he is always helping Odysseus out.

Zeus, because he felt bad about what he did to Athena and decided to make it up to her.

The other gods in God Games, because, golly, Athena got them invested.

Yada, yada. Honestly, depending on what other sources of aid anyone ascribes to Odysseus, he probably only needs one god on hand to help, especially if we're going with the more "human" interpretation of the gods.

Poseidon's Trident. This one I feel like is under-considered. Poseidon's trident is a symbol of power, and I'm not just talking about in Percy Jackson. It is a weapon forged by the cyclopes which he uses as a catalyst for many of his godly feats.

It wouldn't take much to have Poseidon's trident be an object of power in and of itself. And, if it is, that means if Odysseus gets that trident out of Poseidon's hand, he's taking away a source of Poseidon's power. Furthermore, you could even have Odysseus himself empowered upon wielding the trident, which, if he takes it *during* the battle itself, would better justify how he was able to defeat Poseidon.

This can be alluded to without being stated in the animation. All we need is a look of "oh shit" panic on Poseidon's face when he's disarmed. It would give us enough information to know that losing his trident is a big deal -- and it can be foreshadowed in the Circe Saga if Odysseus disarms Circe's wand / staff in Done For.

Spirit of the Dead. Someone mentioned that Odysseus has his choir back up during Six Hundred Strike, and it wouldn't be that hard to assume that Poseidon summoned the spirits of the dead to torment and drown Odysseus.

"But the dead are Hades' domain!" Yeah, but they're also the dead who died at sea -- or at the hands Poseidon's own son. Polites and the six others who died at the hands of the Polyphemus. The five hundred and fifty who died at sea. Though it was Zeus' lightning bolt, you could argue that Eurylochus and the rest of Odysseus' crew still died at sea. And I'm sure we all know that Odysseus' mother drowned herself at sea, too.

About the only person who didn't die at sea was Elpenor, but, considering Odysseus' mother is there, he was easily replaced. Honestly, just makes the tragedy of Elpenor even funnier. Bloke didn't even get to invited to the fight.

Anyway, how does this help Odysseus? Well, what if whatever spell Poseidon was using to conjure and enthrall those who died at sea was, in part, broken by Odysseus opening the wind bag? Or, following my discussion of the trident, what if Odysseus disarming Poseidon broke the spell? Or, what if Odysseus wielding the trident himself broke the spell? As much as some might hate Odysseus, everyone would hate Poseidon more. It would take no convincing for them all to turn their wrath upon Poseidon.

The Wind Bag. Who knows? Maybe there was something more to the Wind Bag than just holding the storms of Poseidon inside. Regardless, opening the Wind Bag could've served Odysseus more than just serving as a jet pack (which, by the by, could still be a thing, just... maybe he's clutching onto it, instead of wearing it upon his back?). If the opening of the Wind Bag was surprising enough, and Ruthlessness showed that it could be, it very well could've distracted or even discombobulated Poseidon enough for Odysseus to act.

In Conclusion. In my platonic ideal of Six Hundred Strike, it would be all these elements that came in clutch, one after the other, that ultimately helped Odysseus defeat Poseidon. Ares would give him his second wind, which lets Odysseus get the second wind bag, and using the second wind bag (and the strength Ares gave him) he would've disarmed Poseidon. Then, wielding the power of the trident, he and the six hundred spirits at his command would've just beaten the shit out of Poseidon. And all of this segues nicely into Odysseus stabbing the shit out of Poseidon.

[cinnamonest]

Also on note of that “bone breaking” post I believe Xiao is an absolute menace to the innkeepers because of his inability to gauge human sickness and injury. He's thoroughly convinced any slight discomfort you experience is a near-death situation.

Human life is incredibly fragile. Their bodies are nearly unbelievably susceptible to death from even very mild injuries and sicknesses, they die so easily it's frightening. Which is why he has to be very vigilant with you.

You once got a bit nauseous from eating something a bit past expiry date — you insist it's just food poisoning over and over, but he practically drags you to a pharmacist anyway “just in case,” because there are many deadly pathogens and parasites humans can die from that begin this way, and you will drop dead before you even know something is wrong.

If you have a headache, it's probably an oncoming aneurysm that will cause sudden death. You may think you have a mere common cold, but he is well aware that many very dangerous and severe illnesses begin as symptoms of common colds, some of which progress so rapidly you may not have time to notice before sudden death.

You try to explain your throat hurts because what you ate is giving you heartburn, but if it has the word heart, which is a very vital organ, that can only mean you are at great risk of, you guessed it, sudden death.

More than once now you've been sleeping a little too deeply — your breaths are so slow that it looks like you're barely breathing at all, so he has to shake you awake to ensure you are still alive. Any cough or sneeze is met with this head-jerk in your direction and yellow eyes wide open staring in panic, and you have to swear up and down you just got swallowed the wrong way or inhaled some dust.

Not even period pains are safe — it's normal, so you insist, you can't hide your discomfort so you're all but begging him not to worry about it, but this one time he remembers about seven hundred years ago he once heard a villager mention a woman who had internal bleeding mistaken for just that and died, so it must be seen professionally (yes, each month). The whole concept bothers him — you're bleeding and in pain, those things are bad, how can you be sure it's the normal amount of bleeding and pain and not too much, that you're not actually five minutes away from dropping dead? That's right, you can't know, which is why you have to let him carry you to the harbor for the third time this week.

Injury is even worse — yes, he's aware that human flesh bruises easily, but this bruise is on your ribcage, and you don't recall how it got there, there are organs underneath there and you could very well be internally bleeding out.

Both innkeepers are, at this point, used to him coming bounding into the main lobby in full-fledged panic, demanding to hand over the emergency medical kit kept by the front desk so he can save you from bleeding out (you accidentally cut your finger on a splinter on the baseboard), and they no longer bat an eye or ask where you're going when he comes barging through carrying you (protesting, at that) out the door without a word before vanishing in the direction of the nearest village with a doctor… even when you try to get their help to please tell him I'm fine, they just ignore you at this point, knowing it's futile.

There's a death at the inn once — you try to be reasonable and explain that it was a very elderly and sickly man who most certainly died of natural causes, but see, you don't know for sure that he didn't have some kind of rare rapid-onset deadly illness that can spread from the bottom floor all the way up to where your room is, so it is imperative that you be disinfected professionally.

He annoys the doctors too — they're all used to it at this point too, but many of them are aware of him, and none of the humans really want to oppose or risk upsetting one of these beings they have a degree of reverence for, so much to your dismay, all of them continue to treat his concerns as legitimate, even though it's very blatantly clear to you that they're faking taking it seriously.

On the bright side, having some pity on your suffering perhaps (or being tired of dealing with the same thing over and over), the harbor pharmacist managed to convince him that an over-the-counter mild painkiller was a miracle cure for a wide variety of ailments, so unless you feel that you need more, he says, then that should be enough… which cuts down on the frequency of your unnecessary emergency care visits, but only somewhat.

At this point, surely at least one of the concerns has been legitimate, he has definitely saved your life more than once by now. And yet, you have not thanked him for this, you continue to be so naive to your own fragility and do nothing but complain about it when you literally owe him your life. Unbelievable.

But rest assured, your ungratefulness will not deter him from continuing to take the utmost care of you, he'll continue to save you, regardless of how unappreciated these life-saving efforts are.

[faysgeekystuff]

Common misconceptions about the Hour of Joy and Catnap

One thing I've seen everywhere is that people are saying Catnap killed the children during the Hour of Joy. We actually have confirmation he was one of the ones that made sure they were safe. He was the one to lock Miss Delight away from the orphans, whether by his own actions or orders from the prototype. Evidence of this is found in the Miss Delight VHS tape. But their goal was to kill the adults who hurt and experimented on them, and to make sure the children weren't being experimented on anymore.

We actually still have no idea what happened to the children in Playcare. If they're still alive or escaped or died, we have no idea.

The other misconception isn't so much a misconception but lack of confirmation and a popular theory becoming what people believe. That Catnap killed all of the Smiling Critters. We actually have no idea how they died (or if they are all dead) besides Catnap and Dogday, and we have no idea if any of them decided to participate in the Hour of Joy or not. We know that Catnap will kill or torture heretics (*cough* Dogday) but if any of the other Smiling Critters went along with the carnage then Catnap wouldn't have been the one to kill them.

We know that even mascots against the prototype participated in the Hour of Joy via Kissy Missy, and the only one we know of that didn't is Poppy because she was locked in her case. I'm not saying that every toy was killing adults but the likelihood of at least a couple Smiling Critters doing something violent during the Hour of Joy is quite high. And if we base everything off of the cardboard cutouts then I'd put my money on Picky Piggy and Craftycorn as they both insinuate doing violent acts. Especially Picky Piggy which sound like she ate 3 of the other Critters, Kickin Chicken, Bubba Bubbaphant, and Craftycorn.

The other Critters fates are harder to figure out besides Kickin Chicken. It sounds like he was killed for trying to escape. Bobby Bearhug is perhaps the hardest only saying that she is so lost and alone. Hoppy Hopscotch sound like she was trying to jump somewhere and maybe try to escape. She could also be interpreted in another way and she might have forced people to jump to death, like the scientists probably forced her in experiments. Bubba is interesting because it sounds like he is actually talking to the player, saying that he remembers us. And what he remembers about us is just screaming. In other words nothing about how he died but interesting theories about who we are playing as.

I don't think it was just Catnap against all the Critters, as they were all being experimented on and locked in cages. They went through the same trauma and I'm sure multiple of them wanted to be free from Playtime Co.

All the fates of the smiling critters are unknown, even if they are really dead (which I think that most are dead with maybe one still around). We have no idea how long DogDay was trapped and if he actually knows what happened to the other critters. Did Catnap tell him everyone was dead? Did he see everyone die? Did he see some die and then assume the rest when he only saw Catnap after a while? We can only theorize, so to say Catnap killed them all or that none of the Smiling Critters participated in the Hour of Joy are just theories. Not fact.

Last thing isn't a misconception just a theory I want to put out there. That Catnap wasn't originally as skinny and bony as he is the Capter 3. I genuinely think we see so many bones because he's starving. Food is dwindling and I would be surprised if he kills toys for his shrine rather than to eat him sometimes.

[lockpickingliar]

Ouma Kokichi (Gemini) on DICE

Everybody and their dog knows that if there's one thing a Kokichi cares about more than anything, it's DICE. It's almost universally accepted that it's like a family to him. It's where he belongs.

My DICE is no different, but I'll have you know I've never seen those hooligans pictured in my motive video in my life. Not in the game, at least. My motive video was very different. For starters, we had sixteen member, not ten. I'm sure it doesn't take much to realize what that implies for me.

We were all DICE. I can finally say that now.

I was the only one who remembered, as some cruel way to twist the knife. They changed things about all of us to make us unpalatable to one another. Made my tendency to lie a compulsion that made sure no one would believe me if I managed to tell them.

And I tried to tell them.

I told Kay that I knew her point blank once, before she died. But then the conversation meandered on and I tripped over my own compulsion and backpedaled. Yeah of course I knew her, we met just the other day when we all woke up here.

A lie.

I tried a different approach. I tried to re-recruit her. That didn't go much better. She didn't trust me, for obvious reasons, and easily turned down my offer because I couldn't stomach any more truth than that it was a secret organization. How suspicious.

It's not her fault, though. She didn't remember, and they changed us. They made it so no one would accept me as a leader. Isn't that ironic? Their former supreme leader, now shunned and demonized despite his best efforts to keep everything from falling apart.

Kay and Ran were super close, like siblings, y'know.

Rumi and Ryo were practically married.

Kiyo and Ten loved to discuss gender philosophy together. An painted them during a chat, once.

Go and Miu liked to bond over a joint.

Kai and I...

Well, every good leader needs a second in command.

We were all one big group. A family. Maybe a polycule if you wanna call it that, although everyone had one or two people they were particularly close with.

As you can imagine, we didn't sign up for Danganronpa. I'm not sure such a franchise even exists. It was probably just a cover to confuse us, or hell, maybe that's not how it ended at all. I wouldn't know. I'm dead now.

I do have a pretty good idea of who might've orchestrated it, though, just based on the mocking facsimile they made as our so-called "backstory plot".

A group aiming for the stars to make the world a better place...? Well, we did have Project Stargazer in the works. I wonder who might've had a vested interest in ensuring its failure?

We were a group with direction. We had a goal, and projects to reach that goal that we were working tirelessly toward. A post-tragedy world is a pretty scary place. In the midst of so much chaos that the Tragedy caused, only one organization had the power and resources to take on the task of reconstruction, which is all well and good.

Not so much years after the fact, when everything is still controlled by them.

If you want something rebuilt, you better hope they're in agreement, or you'll never get the assistance. They have their own agenda, and they take full advantage of their reputation as the sole saviors of the world.

Even better that they have the Ultimate Hope on their side to sway the public's opinion of them.

Have you figured out who I'm talking about yet?

I've gathered that in fandom, the common consensus is that the Future Foundation is a force of good. I'm sure that's the common consensus among the public back home, too.

I'm in the minority, and that's why I founded DICE in the first place. This might just be me, but I think it's kind of shady for a single organization to have a global monopoly on the reconstruction of the world. The people should have a choice between multiple, so that everyone's bases are covered and we don't fall into the trap of reforming the world into a single ideal that overlooks those in need.

DICE was gunning to be that alternative.

We were small, but that made it easier to fly under the radar. Ran, Kiyo, and Go would go on expeditions to other countries, searching for survivors, helping to rebuild in underdeveloped places that Future Foundation overlooked, and cataloging the regrowth of ecosystems--bug life in particular.

Kay, Himi, and An were our public outreach team, using the arts to sway the public in a subtle way. Maki would often accompany them for protection.

Rumi, Ryo, Ten, and Tsu were our intel team, with Rumi working as a maid for so many important people, Ryo and Ten in the sports sphere making connections at sporting events, and Tsu who could infiltrate directly with her cosplaying skills all snooping around to gather intel about whatever Future Foundation may be up to. They would report back to Shu, who was good at keeping tabs on things like that with his detective skills.

Miu and Kiibo--who was built by Miu herself, not whoever the fuck Ibadashi is--were the biggest contributors to keeping our HQ functional, redeveloping surrounding areas in no-man's land, as well as developing the tech for Project Stargazer, which I spearheaded, but Kai as the Ultimate Astronaut had the most directive power.

See, we were gonna start another space race. A post-tragedy rendition of who could get back to space first. To raise global morale and put us on the map as a direct competitor to Future Foundation that people could lean on for reconstruction. That was our goal, to break Future Foundation's monopoly on was stays and what goes, what's hope and what's despair.

And they didn't like that. They didn't like it one bit.

I don't know how they found out about us. I can imagine it had something to do with another project of ours--Project Defect--but one way or another they did, and that was when they came for us.

I imagine it pretty closely parallels what they called the "Ultimate Hunt" in their fun little fantasy story.

We were captured, changed, and plunked into a killing game where no one remembered how close they were.

Shu's confidence was erased, making him a meek shell of himself.

Himi was turned into an infuriating layabout who actually believed and insisted that her magic was real--once a mere running joke we all shared.

Maki reduced to a recluse and a killing machine, all her work to overcome her trauma from having her care for others trained out of her eradicated.

Kay's optimism was turned toxic and her memories twisted. "Piano Freak", a fun little jab we gave her (we ALL had a mean but fun-spirited nickname like this), turned into a foundational point of bullying and torment.

All the work Ran did to learn to manage his personal symptoms of chronic boredom, risk-taking, struggling to connect with others, and anger were stripped from him, leaving him desperate for intrigue and unable to look to anyone to support.

Rumi's devotion to the great good was poisoned, and she didn't even realize that it was the love of her life that she sacrificed for a faulty memory of being prime minister.

Ryo died thinking he had no one, even though he was surrounded by people he used to know and care for, and who all cared for him.

An was made into a caricature of her own culture, something she used to hold so dear to her as the last surviving member of her people.

Ten's trauma was used against her to make her into an intolerable bigot and strip her of the nuance she used to believe was so important.

Kiyo's sister's memory was outright bastardized to turn him into a serial killer, all his devotion to maintaining her shrine in his room reduced to a mere fetish.

Go's upbringing mocked and spat in the face of his intelligence, robbing him of the communication skills and eloquence he learned from Kiyo on their travels together.

Miu's care and dedication to her work was usurped to inflate her self-importance to unhealthy levels without anyone feeling like she'd earned it.

Kiibo reduced to a dense bucket of bolts with his learning capabilities drastically reduced--not to mention that he likely had to undergo constant brainwashing from the signals he received from the dumb antenna they added to his head.

Tsu... who they ironically turned against us from the start as a spy of their own, completely tricked into assisting with their entire scheme to tear us apart.

And Kai... My dear, sweet, intelligent Kai, second in command and love of my life, Ultimate Astronaut and project director for our most ambitious plan... turned into a brazen, narrow-minded bully and made to hate me and everything I stood for until it was too late.....

I don't blame them. I don't blame any of them, because they changed them. They couldn't help it if that was the reality they remembered. Nothing I said would have made a difference, either coming out as a lie or taken as a lie because they changed me, too. Made me into a liar who couldn't stop lying even when it mattered.

And so it was the end for us. We tore ourselves apart. Hook, line, and sinker, and even if there was nothing I could do to stop them, that doesn't make it feel any less like a failure to me. A failure to bring DICE--my family--back together before I had to watch them kill each other.

There was a point where I gave up. Figured a mass death would be best, to put us all out of our misery. I'll never forgive myself for using Go and Miu the way I did to accomplish that, just to fail yet again.

And then I died failing.

I don't know if there are any survivors, like in the game. I don't know if I want to know. If there are, I'm not sure I want to see them. I don't want them to know, don't want them to realize the horrors of what they just went through. That most of their family is gone.

But at the same time...

I miss them. I miss everyone, and I desperately want my family back.

DICE is finished, but I don't want it to be.

[irana5711]

Can you do a sebastian(pressure), not a reader but a expendable, and Sebastian though at first his same snarky self but now is fatherly to the character, saying things like way to go kid and im proud of you.

This was really fun to do! But I don't know what you meant by "not a reader, but an expendable," so I just decided to make it gender neutral. You're my first ever request, so thank you!! :3

wc: 464

At first, he didn't really think much of it. After all, the blacksite was full of prisoners, and even if twenty of them died in the same hour, they'd be replaced instantly by a new batch of imbeciles who thought they could conquer whatever abominations resided within the facility. Sebastian wasn't one to pity them. I mean, who would? It's a prison, for fuck's sake! Even if Urbanshade had unfair trials, it still housed the world's most wanted criminals - murderers, tattooed from head to toe, cartel members, mafia enthusiasts and other scums that came into his shop, threatened him to try and bag a blacklight for a lower price, and then... well, then they got shot.

But it had been weeks since this whole operation started, and no one managed to snag the crystal. Prisoners that were once cruel and infamous turned into a younger batch who was arrested for graffiti and stealing gum packets from the local supermarket. Some were even students, and Sebastian couldn't help but see himself in them - afraid, alone and hopeless. He'd never admit it, but seeing them drop dead one by one tugged at his heart strings. But the thing that worried him most was a particular expendable who returned to his shop every now and then, seeking shelter. Sebastian and that person had a lot in common, and although he was colder at first, now he'd found himself warming up to this new friend. If a code breacher was 200 data for another prisoner, this expendable would have it for 150. And don't even worry about batteries! They're on the house, of course. There's too many laying around either way (but between us, there weren't - Sebastian could only be glad that his friend wasn't exploiting him, otherwise he'd go bankrupt).

Frankly, he treated them as family. Instead of snarky comments, he'd gently pat their head and tell them he's proud. And he was, really! His eyes would light up when they brought more data or trinkets to gift him. Soon, he had them help to build a shelf for all of the "treasures" he received. It wasn't rare to see Sebastian and the prisoner spend hours on end conversing about common hobbies and interests. If only he still had his electric guitar... but, no matter. It was still fun. For the first time in so many years, he felt like he had a family. Like he was a father, and this poor soul was his child. Taking care of them and occasionally their friends, showing them around the blacksite and teaching them how to avoid monsters were his favorite activities. Even more than that, he liked how the days ended: with his kid wrapped up in his tail as he stroked their head and told them stories.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

What's BANDits? I've heard the term before but idk what it is

BANDit stands for "Birds Are Not Dinosaurs" - its. IE, its the term for the group of "scientists" that have continued to insist birds did not evolve from dinosauria despite literally boatloads of evidence to the contrary.

You see, we haven't always known birds are dinosaurs. When we were first thinking about evolution (in the Western World, remember: lots of colonized people had ideas about evolution *and* paleontology that White People essentially wiped out when we colonized them), a lot of people pointed out the similarities between many of the dinosaurs being found and living birds. MANY. It was common knowledge in the 1800s among scientists.

But then along came this guy Dollo. Dollo didn't like the idea birds evolved from dinosaurs. See, he found wishbones in birds. He found wishbones in some of the triassic weirdos of the past, things that dinosaurs would evolve from. But he didn't find wishbones in dinosaurs. And Dollo was convinced that a structure couldn't re-evolve if it had been lost during evolution. So, to him, there was no way birds could be dinosaurs.

There were problems with this:

he didn't know about how traits are gained and lost genetically. In fact, he didn't really know about *genetics*. There are lots of ways to re-gain a trait you lost (if you only lost it by turning off its regulatory genes, or you re-evolve it convergently, that kind of thing).

at the time, we had dinosaur wishbones. we just didn't know thats what they were.

since then, we have found waaaaay more dinosaur wishbones. And also, tons of other evidence. so much evidence. at this point, there is literally nothing else birds could be.

it took time to build up that evidence. For the entire first half of the 1900s, and a good chunk of the second, no one believed birds evolved from dinosaurs.

But then we started to find the evidence.

And we found more.

And more.

And more.

By the 80s, it was becoming pretty clear that birds probably evolved from dinosaurs. At this point, documentaries and fictional material are even referencing it. But, there was still a group of skeptics, the first true BANDits (because at this point it was not the majority opinion). And that's okay - skepticism is important in science.

Its the fact that they KEPT being skeptical even as more and more evidence poured in. By the mid-90s, it was incontrovertible, because we had found fossils of feathered but very clearly nonavian dinosaurs. By the 00s, we were finding them CONSTANTLY.

And yet, the BANDits kept BANDiting.

Most of them have died, because they were old and stubborn. Very few new scientists are BANDits. It's really just

A) in russia, because russia has had a... weird history with paleontology. I don't want to get into it

B) those remaining few old people who refuse to change their minds in light of new evidence (this would be Feduccia)

in the 10s, they were really annoying, because enough of them were still around that people thought they were good scientists (they're not), and so if you said "birds are dinosaurs" at least one person would bring up banditry to prove you wrong, and then you had to go on a whole spiel, and it was exhausting

In the late 10s and now 20s, that's pretty much dead. It's just impossible to argue with anymore. I don't know how Feduccia keeps publishing his crappy books, but I really wish that someone would say "I can't publish this" bc people read them and think they're right.

Like, birds are *such* dinosaurs that we don't even know at what point dinosaurs are firmly birds. It's kind of murkey, because nature doesn't do categories.

So, yeah. That's what a BANDit is. They're almost extinct. May they become as such by the 30s.

[itsnothingofinterest]

You know, I saw a post the other day talking about if Deku should get OFA back. OP thought he should, but interestingly, said they'd think different if Shigaraki was alive and saved. OFA was sacrificed for him, it'd be okay to say gone if that carried through; but since it didn't, Deku should get it back. (The actual post probably explained the reasoning better, but I can't find it now.)

I found it interesting, because it got me thinking how I'm kind of in the exact opposite boat. If Shigaraki had lived and gotten saved, I'd be okay with Deku getting back the power he sacrificed. (It's even what happened in my write up of how I wish the final fight had gone.) But since he failed and Shigaraki is dead and gone, I feel OFA should share that fate instead of returning to Deku.

I mean if Shigaraki were saved, not only would that have allowed for better, less contrived ways for Deku to get OFA back if the guy who's got it still exists (maybe Tomura giving the quirk back to somehow heal in Deku or something); but it'd make perfect narrative sense to reward the kid for getting the perfect impossible save he was seemingly aiming for by letting his dream continue. From every angle, that combination of events just makes more sense to me

Plus, if we ever got that continuation that suddenly I am the only one not talking about; it'd have been sick as hell for Deku & Shigaraki to team up in the future, Goku & Piccolo style. All for One & One for All finally united for a common cause as the naming convention implied they were always meant to. Honestly that was the ending I was hoping for until 423 shattered those dreams like it did Shigaraki.

But that's not what happened. OFA was destroyed twice over. Shigaraki died. And as much as people like to hype up the impact of Deku's 2-panel speech on holding hands, he basically failed to save Tomura in any real meaningful way. Couldn't save him from hero society, couldn't save him from AFO, couldn't even save his life. In fact he basically threw Tomura to each of those fates. This previously hopeful and optimistic story suddenly decided it was a tragedy. And in tragedies, miracles don't happen to suddenly make things go the hero's way; when they fail, they're punished, not rewarded.

It's pretty hard to see a story like that decide to somehow give OFA back to Deku when whatever was left of it died alongside Shigaraki.

[petrifiedperi-au]

Holy ok ok ok so I just read your dev having trouble with being around Cosmo and Wanda but I bring you a different approach. What if he is mad at them! Trying to shift some of this huge amount of guilt because at least he went to Peri! His own parents left him alone to die. (I can’t remember if you said if they actually knew where he was or not)

Oh lordy oh ok gewze imagine Dev having this moment of realising he has something in common with Peri because he sees his parents as neglecting him. How sad would that make Dev? To realise how much guff he gave Peri cause he thought Peri couldnt relate at all. So he pushed him away but then thinking how wrong he was and how Peri did understand. (Even though we know cosmo and wanda are nothing like Dale and really did love Peri just saw a different priority) but the potent agnst of Dev having a miss understanding of it. Everytime Peri tries to deny it Dev relates. Everytime Cosmo and Wanda gush over Peri makes Dev fume because he sees it as all a show. He thinks he knows how it is behind closed doors. Even if hes actually wrong. It could really help them bond. Until Dev finally sees hes wrong and it’s gonna make a huge rift between them as he blames Peri for pretending to have a bad relationship with his parents. Probably saying it was to “mock” Dev or something.

On another note. Do you think Peri would actually be upset that his parents decided to save fairyworld instead? Maybe rationally he tells himself it was the better choice. That it was what ended up bringing him back. It was what saved all the other fairies who take priority. Hes just one guy. But thats still gonna hurt. Knowing your own parents can and have picked the masses over you. Knowing you arent worth the world to them. Of course he wouldnt actually expect them to choose him but maybe deep down he wanted them to? Idk im loosing it cause I just got off ruff 12hr shift at work lol.

Hope this isnt too off the money for your au I just really enjoy angst

~hollys fairy hell

[AU info here!]

OOOOHHH... THIS IS INTERESTING. WHILE C&W DIDN'T KNOW THAT PERI DIED, DEV BEING ANGRY BECAUSE OF THAT IS... OUGH. I think it DOES check out, actually. Feeling angry that they didn't even KNOW their son died, the blame being shifted to help ease the guilt... IT MAKES SENSE, AND IT'S IN CHARACTER.

He's seen their relationship before, and he knows that they're all such a genuinely happy family, and that makes him feel not ONLY GUILTIER, but MORE FRUSTRATED, MORE ANGRY. Their own son DIED, in front of HIM, and they DON'T EVEN KNOW.

HEAR ME OUT... DEV NOT KNOWING THAT C&W DON'T KNOW UNTIL PERI MENTIONS IT. Him assuming that they ALREADY told their parents, and that's why he was absent for a few days. THE GUILT SHIFTING INTO A MISDIRECTED ANGER ONCE PERI MENTIONS THAT THEY DON'T KNOW AND THAT THEY WANT TO KEEP IT FROM THEM... of COURSE, the guilt is still there, but it blends in with the other feelings and it's a Very Complicated Feeling Soup.

THE MISUNDERSTANDING IDEA IS NEAT... AND IN-CHARACTER. I don't know for SURE how I'd implement it [because my brain is very picky about the things I add, and I am too...], make it go, and ALL those good, delicious, juicy things, BUT BUT it will go on the backburner of thoughts. Specifics would probably just come to me randomly at 2 am like they have been lately gHDLSHSLHD 😭

WITH THE LAST PART... PERI DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED SPECIFICALLY. He was DEAD, after all, and SURE, he'd probably find out via things being talked about, BUT, GENERALLY, I DON'T THINK THEY ADDRESS OR THINK ABOUT THOSE THINGS.

Hazel's Wish fixed EVERYTHING that happened in the episode, and I talk about how the whole Millio Wishes Thing worked here, actually! I have a vague idea of how things go with Peri after they come back, but I don't have any set in stone ideas yet/there's no established timeline. I think... THEY don't even know at first, they're just confused at the fuzzy gaps in their memory and then, once they get a closer look at themself and the GHOST thing happens [when they're alone] and all that... THEN they put details together and realize they They Fucking Died.

WHICH... PERI DOESN'T UNPACK THAT. NOT MUCH, ANYWAY. The finale ends as usual, with the motorcycles and all that— that's BEFORE he realizes there might be something off. DO YOU GET ME... LIKE...

THE ENDING ESTABLISHES THAT THINGS ARE OK AND NORMAL BUT THEN AFTER THE EPISODE, THEY GO BACK TO THEIR HOUSE/ROOM/C&W'S HOUSE [ALONE] AND THEN THAT IS WHEN HE KIND OF REALIZES HE FEELS OFF AND WEIRD. AND... OUGH. YEAH.

SORRY I'M... GETTING OFF TRACK. I don't think he'd be upset, not in that way, at least, given the circumstances. I DON'T KNOW IF THIS MAKES SENSE OR IF IT'S JUST WORD SOUP I'M SO SORRY I JUST WOKE UP LIKE AN HOUR AGO. I am throwing words at the wall and hoping they make sense HDJDDGKDDUI 😭

[bonny-kookoo]

Yoongi

𝕸𝖔𝖔𝖓𝖑𝖎𝖙 [Like A Secret] Short

Where have you gone? Why did you go? And most importantly- why didn't you take him with you, when you promised to always stay together?

Tags/Warnings: Werewolf AU, Alpha!Yoongi, Omega!Reader, Spin-Off, Angst, hurt no comfort sorry

!!! This is set prior to the main story !!!

Length: 1.5k words

There is no taglist for this fic!

A/N: Kids wake up it's time to cry. Basically I've gotten a lot of asks what Yoongi's problem is in Moonlit- maybe this clears it up a bit.

-> Masterlist

🌘.━━━━━━━━━━.🌕.━━━━━━━━━━━.🌒

"It's cold." Yoongi says, watching your wolf curled up, sleeping, waiting, just like him. Sometimes, in these dreams, it snows. Other times, it raind- just like this time, water drenching the soft coat of the animal laying in the grass. You don't answer, and he doesn't even expect you to anymore. You never do. Or at least- you haven't done that in a long time.

That's how his fated dreams always go, after all. That's what they look like, when your chosen mate isn't there any longer.

He sighs as he walks closer, even though he knows you won't move. It's still better than nothing, your sleeping wolf is much more comfort than what others might get. And yet, it's also a curse- confusing him to no ends, because if your wolf is still there, you can't be dead. So where are you?

Where have you gone?

And why didn't you take him with you?

You promised him, after all. You promised to always stay together. And maybe, in a way, you're keeping that by at least letting him keep those dreams, even if they're empty.

He'll wait for you.

And even if he waits for the rest of his life-

he'll wait.

🌘.━━━━━━━━━━.🌕.━━━━━━━━━━━.🌒

The pale blue moonlight looked beautiful on your skin.

You're from the mountains, where snow is typical and sun is rare. Maybe because you'd outshine it- maybe the sun simply won't show itself because it knows it would not stand a chance against your smile.

He knows he will forever be haunted by it.

"Now you're stuck with me." you'd grinned at him. He'd smiled down at you.

"what a cruel fate." he'd joked, forced a laugh out of you at his typical attitude even despite the clear happiness shown. He'd never admit to anyone how hard he'd fallen for you- your simple presence enough to brighten his day, and offer him comfort like nothing else ever would.

He remembers the traditional festival held during full moon.

He was young, not even leader back then. He didn't know that only two years later, his father would leave the pack entirely alone to work in the cities, no alpha in the pack ready to take on the leading role- leaving it to him, with the support of you, to somehow work it out.

And work out it did- until you left.

Vanished.

He should've been more attentive. He should've listened to you more- but god, there was so much going on around him, so many things changing and happening and weighing him down, that he just couldn't concentrate on your worries as much as he really should have.

He feels horrible for it. He remembers you waking up so many nights, terrified, basically panicking, unable to quite describe the dreams you were forced to live through night after night.

Maybe he never asked either. Why did he never ask?

Omegas aren't that common. Betas make up the majority of werewolves.

There's so many legends and rumors about omegas that it's hard to keep track of what's true and what's not. Some things are clearly fictional- but with others, it's not quite as clear. He remembers how some say omegas can dream in a way that might predict certain future events- and at this point, he grabs after any straw he can.

Maybe you dreamed of something. Of your own demise, maybe?

The night before you left is still heavy in his mind. It weighs him down, has turned into his own nightmare these days, replaying again and again and again and he wishes he could change just a single thing about the event. But he can't.

You had woken up, yet again. But this time, he didn't stir. Didn't move. He knew you were crying-

but he left you alone.

And when he woke up, you weren't there anymore.

Leaving him alone instead.

🌘.━━━━━━━━━━.🌕.━━━━━━━━━━━.🌒

"You're so cool, you know that?" you'd said, giggling at him as he'd pulled a shirt over his head to cover himself, having just returned from a playful hunt with other members of the pack present at the new moon festivities.

It's the second one he's spending with you. This year he'll take you with him.

"And you're a creep, not even waiting for me to change." he'd growled back, however with no bite in his tone whatsoever. He knows you can take his tone. You're a lot tougher than you look.

"heh, nothing I haven't seen already." you'd shrugged, jumped down from your little rock before you'd kissed his cheek. "Will you give me something pretty tonight?" you'd asked him, and he'd rolled his eyes.

"I don't have to court you." he'd complained, grumpy as always. "we already fucked."

"Yoongi!" you'd gasped scandalized, had hit him playfully- though he'd laughed at your embarrassment.

You were so cute. Bubbly and almost innocent. He hates how that had faded with time.

Was it his fault?

He should've protected your smile.

"...I'll think of something." he'd admitted, and you had grinned brightly, hugged him to kiss his cheek-

But he'd been quicker, had kissed you deeply, uncaring of anyone seeing you both together.

Back then, he was wild. Untamed. Without worries- nothing but a young werewolf, playing around, enjoying his youth.

Not even five years later, he would be sanded down to nothing but an overly serious young adult, leading a pack he never wanted, living a life forced upon him, without any guidance and without anyone at his side. Barely past his mid-twenties, and yet without any youth to enjoy any longer.

What did he do to deserve this?

He can't think of anything, neither can he find anyone to hate for it.

And maybe that's the worst part of it all.

"Yoongi.. you'll never be able to untie that knot." you'd laughed later that night of the festival under the full moon, the music and people moving on in the background while he'd led you out the woods for privacy.

"good." he'd said, had traced his fingers over the bracelet around your wrist, a single sanded bead of wood and simple leather string. "I don't plan on it." he'd told you- his own wrist wearing the same bracelet.

A symbol of your partnership. Bound to one another, for now and forever.

He wears it to this day, seven years later.

it was meant to last forever, after all.

🌘.━━━━━━━━━━.🌕.━━━━━━━━━━━.🌒

His first decision as an alpha had been, to grant an unfamiliar runaway omega from the woods a home in his pack, despite what everyone else told him.

He saw you in her. He still does, sometimes.

Now she's leaving.

Just like you did.

History repeats itself over and over it seems like, everyone he somehow cares about leaving him alone for one reason or another. It doesn't sting as much this time- mainly because jungkook is a capable young alpha, able to do what he himself couldn't for his own mate back then. This one will listen, this one will stay, protect, and fight.

He didn't.

He would, now.

But he knows himself that there's nothing to forgive when in the end, he would probably do it again anyways.

You're like a phantom limb at this point- gone, but still hurting, mind not comprehending that it can't even hurt without your presence there, three years not enough to heal him. But it does, the remnants of you around him constantly pushing salt into his wounds, never to scar over and at least let him rest.

No.

Because he's dreaming of your wolf again- and again, she's simply sleeping. Waiting.

Just like he does.

This time he's silent as he sits close to her, let's the rain hit his own body as well. he doesn't mind it. You liked the smell of it- before it would rain, and after it did. He himself didn't understand it. Not until you'd explained that it reminded you of him.

'Something that seems like a bad thing- but actually isn't.' you'd said.

if only you knew.

And in this dream too, no one moves. No one returns. No one talks to him.

And maybe that's fine, too. Or is it?

Suddenly, the rain starts to fall stronger than before. The wind stills, but the night darkens- just as the head of your wolf rises, the omega watching something in the distance he can't see. He wants to ask, but he's scared to-

he's terrified.

Especially when your wolf stands up, stretches, forces him to get up too as he walks with her- but she doesn't wait for him.

"no-" he breathes out, realizing what she's doing. She's leaving him.

She's leaving him.

And as he watches the wolf walk through the trees, slowly getting swallowed by the forest surrounding the meadow he dreams of every night, he's left alone. This time, truly so.

You're gone.

And all he can do is fall to his knees, forced to accept that.

[13eyond13]

Hii! I don't know if you were asked this before, but I'm curious whether you prefer the manga or anime ending of death note and why? Also, your berserk meta posts are always such a delight to read!

Hi hi! It's admittedly been a long while since I've either read or watched the series at this point, so I took some time going back over my asks to see if I could find one where I'd talked about this before. Didn't come across one, but I've definitely contemplated this before, so I'll just do my best to remember what I thought.

So I like both of them in different ways, basically. But if I had to choose one over the other I'd choose the manga ending as the one that I prefer.

Here is a quick rundown of what I think are the biggest strengths and weaknesses of the anime ending:

The best things about the anime ending to me:

-Portrays the horrific awkwardness and tension in the warehouse between everybody leading up to and including Light's confession extremely well. I get so on the edge of my seat and anxious during the buildup to his big breakdown every time!

-Excellent voice acting and iconic laughter during Light's big dramatic Kira confession scene. Who DOESN'T remember that moment, it's definitely one of the anime's best

-Takes a slightly more gentle and merciful and quiet and melancholy approach to Light's death scene with the sorrowful music and the pretty sunset behind him, and takes the time to do things like flashback to his pre notebook innocent self, which is actually the only scene in the series that always makes me cry. Lets Light have a certain dignity and sadness to his death by allowing him to escape off by himself from the others and look as though he's drifting off slowly to sleep. For audience members who still empathize with Light on some level or see the sad side of how he was corrupted by the notebook this can be a choice that they prefer

-Gets so ridiculous and campy at certain points with things like Mikami stabbing himself to death with a pen and then exploding like a bag of blood that I can't help but laugh through the pain a bit

-Makes some nice aesthetic choices like having Light die symbolically on a staircase (which seems like a nod to the fact that he's going to Mu / an in-between or "nowhere" sort of place after he dies, or that he was stopped halfway up in his journey before he could truly attain the "godhood" he desired, and also seems like a bit of a parallel to the rain scene of him sitting on the staircase with L – also gives a little visual flashback nod to L during Light's final moments).

The worst things about the anime ending to me:

-Cuts a lot of important moments and stuff out of the conversations between Light and Near that really enhanced the overall meaning of the story and added to making Near a much more interesting and sympathetic character to me in the manga (particularly stuff like Near talking about what they have in common, and about letting other people have agency and freedom of choice, something that Light was uh not super great at)

-Did Mikami pretty dirty and cut most of his awkward interactions with Light in the warehouse (I feel like he doesn't even get to yell "you're not God!!" at Light in the anime, does he? I'm kinda forgetting now)

-Makes the SPK and the Task Force look a bit dumb and useless in how they're just saying stuff like "there's nothing we can do, he will be dead in a few minutes" while Mikami's bleeding out on the floor and just letting Light escape and run away from them all... also kinda makes it look like Light was SO wounded by the gunshots that he would've died soon anyway. Which takes away some of the dramatic impact that comes from Ryuk writing his name in the notebook!

-In the anime Ryuk seems almost to be writing Light's name in the notebook as a mercy killing, or like he's trying to put him out of his wounded misery, which I find detracts a bit from the whole idea in the manga that Light is forced to experience the same cold and cruel fate of somebody deliberately taking his remaining years of life from him with a death note against his will... something that he remorselessly inflicted upon so many others previously himself. The two of them also don't have any discussions before Light's death in the anime like they do in the manga, which were some pretty interesting and chilling parts of the ending to me (especially Ryuk saying stuff like "you're no longer entertaining me, so you should die right now" to him)

-There is no flashback in the anime to Light and Ryuk talking about EVERYBODY going to Mu after they die no matter how they behaved on earth, which was kinda hugely important as part of the point of the story to me (because I think it forces the audience to draw their own conclusions about who they think was truly good/bad or right/wrong in this story without pigeonholing any of them into one category or another, or by sending anybody to rewarding or punishing afterlifes... I also like that it doesn't treat the notebook users as any special category of person)

-As brutal as the manga ending is in how humiliated and frightened and alone Light is while he dies, I also think there's a certain poetic justice to the horror and embarrassment he experiences during that time. He was constantly taking other people's lives and treating them like pawns in his games, backstabbing and deceiving and discarding them once they were no longer useful to him, and even cruelly gloating over watching them die. I don't particularly enjoy watching him suffer except for how it is a bit narratively satisfying, in a tables-turning "you live by the sword you die by the sword" sort of way

-In general the anime kind of gave me the vibe that it thought Light losing in the warehouse was more about L's team finally winning against Light and getting revenge on him for L's death than about the deeper and more interesting philisophical/ethical questions and themes at play, and about all the entire cast of characters' journeys as a whole

--

Overall I'd say if you want a more narratively satisfying and logical ending with more food for thought and cruel irony and deeper character interactions and existential dread and poetic justice going on then the manga is superior in basically all of these ways

HOWEVER I do still also love the final episode of the anime, I think it's one of the best and most memorable episodes of the entire show, and if you decide to turn off your nitpicking brain a bit and simply enjoy the emotions that it conjures there are some very good dramatic/aesthetic/symbolic choices that it makes

[zedif-y]

I lovee the shapeshifter au so far :P

I'm curious what would Grian and Pearl's reactions be to finding Jimmy's note that he's gone hunting, then him not returning. Would they go looking for him? Would they have any luck?

The thing you have to know about Jimmy's perspective of all this, him deciding to leave just to prove himself... Is the fact that he was wrong about what his remaining family thought of him. I say this because Jimmy, for the longest time, truly believed that they thought of him as some kind of... Weakling. Other.

When their parents died, Jimmy was the one who kept the house itself. His workshop was there, and Grian and Pearl have their separate places. They're close enough to come visit as much as they like, and the house is more of a common area for the three of them most days. Jimmy kept all the hunting memorabilia, the grainy photos of his parents and his ancestors and all of their achievements. He takes care of them.

The point is that this feeling has been bubbling for a very long time. The point is that Jimmy's never felt more like a failure than when he found out about his father's dreams for him through old letters in the attic, and flipped through pictures in the family album where his mother is grinning, her trusty crossbow in hand. The crossbow she left for him.

The one he'd never properly used.

All this to say, Grian and Pearl did what they could. They knew Jimmy was feeling this way to an extent, but... He never told them how bad it had gotten. Mostly because the last thing he wanted was to give them another reason to worry, another reason to think he couldn't handle himself.

When they knocked on the door and Jimmy didn't answer... The worry came fast. They grabbed their spare keys, called for Jimmy as they entered the house, and--

They find his note.

Neighbors will tell you that they've never seen the two so afraid, before.

They packed as much as they could and basically ran, following Jimmy the only place he could have gone-- their usual hunting trail, though given his headstart he could be deep in the woods--

"We'll find him," Pearl tells Grian, who's grit his teeth so hard his jaw hurt. "We'll find him."

Jimmy's trail is easy enough to follow at first. Clumsy and obvious. But the forest grows dense, and at some point, Jimmy got lost, straying off the main path the two of them know by heart. Off into uncharted territory.

This is when fear turns into choking dread.

They don't find him on that first trip. Nor the second, nor the third. They don't find him, and the thought makes them ache, makes them tremble into each other's embrace as they sit in their childhood home, the damn thing so cold and empty without its owner.

"Some hunters we are," Grian says one day, choked up and shaking. Pearl gathers him up in his arms, "What are we gonna do?"

Eventually, they stumble upon dried blood in the forest. Ripped up dirt, a dried, bloody handprint on a nearby rock. About Jimmy's size.

But no body.

To say that they're in denial is a bit of an understatement. They refuse to think that Jimmy's dead. Not until they have proof. Not until they can see it.

(They both have nightmares where they do.)

And sometimes-- sometimes they think they see him, fleeting ghosts here in town. A hooded man with blonde hair sticking out and catching the sun, gone before they can approach. Someone who looks like they could be Jimmy, same build or height or whatever-- and they turn around and it's not him at all.

Nearly a year passes. They've kept the house clean for him. They still, though less frequently, comb through the forest for him.

Their baby brother isn't dead.

He can't be, there's no proof. They just have to find him.

(And they're right, though it stops feeling like it. They're right, they do see him, on all those times when he goes back to town to buy supplies and brings them back to Joel.)

(They're right. He's alive.)

(He just doesn't know how to face them again.)

[thswrtchdthng]

your first mistake was giving me the green light on rambling about ultrakill

THE LORE OF ULTRAKILL HEAVILY SUMMARIZED:

mankind is dead. blood is fuel. hell is full.

THE LORE OF ULTRAKILL ONLY SLIGHTLY LESS SUMMARIZED (still very summarized and i might get some things wrong):

during ww1, various countries involved began developing machines that ran on blood. each new machine created was meant to be stronger than the last one. in the end, this led to the creation of the earthmover by japan, which was an absolutely giant machine. so large that people started living on top of them. before the war ended, only one machine was created, though it never got a chance to fulfill its purpose of defeating the earthmover: this machine was called v1, and its unique ability was to heal upon contact with blood from any source. when the war was over, a different version of v1, named v2, was created for the purpose of keeping peace. these are v1 and v2.

now, eventually, humanity discovered an entrence to hell. don't question it. also hell is a living organism.

then, somehow, humanity died. all of it. everyone was dead. and all that remained were the machines they'd created.

in ultrakill, a first-person shooter video game, you play as v1, and your goal is simple: blood. you just want more blood. and you are in hell. so you start ultrakilling everybody. it's also based on dante's inferno, so that's fun.

in the post i made, i said alice is like v2 to me. this is mostly because v2 is an important character, but not a very powerful boss fight, and alice is a very lore-relevant character, but not very high up on the corporate ladder. but also because v2's purpose was to maintain peace and order, but she didn't get to fulfill that purpose. everyone died. v2 is, even though she never admits or acknowledges it, very possibly the only machine with the capacity to truly miss humanity. idk why, but that reminds me a lot of alice dyer. make of that what you will.

now. the other character i mentioned is THE FERRYMAN. THIS GIRL->

basically ferrymen are sinners from the layer of wrath deemed worthy of redemption by heaven. they're tasked with carrying passengers through the afterlife. another fun bit of ferryman lore is that they all tear their skin off from shame, but heaven grants them a holy cloth to cover their faces. pretty simple, yeah? but this one looks a bit bored. probably because she was promised she could go to heaven if she carried enough passengers, but...no more passengers are coming through. because humanity is dead.

the ferryman is considered a slightly more difficult boss fight, or maybe just one slightly later in the game than both v2 fights (you fight v2 twice), but you can actually literally just. pay her to leave. toss some coins at her and you can literally just skip the fight.

i can't articulate why she reminds me of lena but. she does.

so anyways all of this and i haven't even gotten to gabriel. there is so much lore. there's an excellent video explaining all of it that i can send a link to if i've caught ur interest with this.

oh also a lot of people ship v2 and the ferryman.

oh also neither of them canonically go by she/her pronouns but it's a very very common headcanon, and i'm pretty sure hakita (the developer) gave a shout out to the she/her v2 headcanon specifically at some point.

I LOVE ULTRAKILL I THINK ULTRAKILL IS REALLY COOL!!!!!

okokok. several thoughts.

this seems so fucking cool????????? to the point that I might play it when I can get it

thoughts on shipping v1 and v2? cause from what you've said they sound quite shippable to me

if hell is a living organism, is it like,,,,consenting?? to be entered????? does it have a personality?????? that might just be my conceptum tendencies but,,,,,is hell like a character in itself (sort of)?? (the question here is can I romance hell or not, and does hell enjoy being entered)

if it's based on Dante's Inferno I already know I'm going to like it

v2 sounds extremely huggable. can I hug her?

and you're right that 'being the only one with the ability to miss humanity' gives Alice vibes for some reason

ferrymen sound so sad to me. can I hug them? and give them a little skincare?

the ferryman concretely is hot. is that alright to say? she sounds very interesting to talk to (do ferrymen talk? does anyone here talk?)

well everyone you've mentioned so far is hot to me tbh

who's gabriel? please please please send me that link I wanna know about them now. I've always had a complicated relationship with every archangel gabriel based thing/character (I have very passionate feelings towards biblical gabriel for some reason) so I'll probably love them

but yeah ultrakill sounds pretty cool! I'll probably look more into it in the future

[messenger-of-stupidity]

Since I'm so nervous about tagging people, I'm not going to *Actually* tag the person

But you know that fic series thing that @/gingerbreadmonsters made where Freelancer died and Gavin basically broke tthe world to revive them?

Yeah. That got my brain spiraling (i love their writing so much I can't describe it)

The grieving process is hella complex and varies so much for each person. But one of the most common things is the brain recreating the deceased as a coping mechanism.

All I can think of is after the inversion none of the Damn group could really handle Freelancer being gone. Especially since they kind of brought everyone together.

They convinced Huxley and Lasko to get in touch again.

They enlightened Damien that he scared Lasko and he therefore adjusted how he interacted with Lasko to strengthen their friendship.

They organized that bowling episode and introduced everyone together.

So what if the group just mutually decided to continue on like Freelancer wasn't dead and survived?

Like, all the Aftershock were their brain conjuring FL so they could have someone to talk to. All the parties were them just pretending that Freelancer was still there, flirting with Gavin.

Caelum doesn't really know how to deal with the only human that could see him dying, that he just wants to pretend it didn't happen and is just a nightmare.

Dear keeps hearing so much about this Freelancer that they're so excited to meet them. But when they finally meet the squad, Freelancer isn't there.

"are they coming later?" Dear asks, turning to Lasko. He shakes his head and gestures to the empty spot next to Gavin.

"They're right there, Dear. Are you okay?"

Dear just doesn't know how to interact with that so they just don't say anything and go along with it.