#there’s no sad childhood backstory that makes him a villain

[iwriteasfotini]

Where do we draw the villain line?

Something which is so intriguing to me about the Harry Potter fandom is how flexible *most/some/a few* (honestly IDK how many) people are in giving the villains of the story their own story. Personally I LOVE THIS. Because the best villains are the ones who aren't simply macho bad guys (or gals) who are bad because the author said so. The best villains are the ones you are almost rooting for. The ones you begin to think... wait maybe that person isn't so bad. Or the ones who earn some empathy. And then go and be total arse holes anyways. Because a good story needs a villain, it's simply a fact.

If there was ever a time to remember humans are each living our own story, it is now. It doesn't excuse ANYTHING. It is infuriating and sad. But it is reality. Someone's villain is someone else's hero. And vice versa. But let's not get off on a tangent.

Now the curious thing is while certain HP characters are given some grace where their evil deeds are concerned, others are not. Like at all. Have any of you read Crimson Rivers? Of course you have! If you want to shift your mindset on how you view most of the Death Eaters, read that fic. But in it, I do not remember Mulciber or Avery being mentioned in any sort of good light. Walburga... her terrible parenting is quite undisputed. Umbridge! Barty Crouch Senior! I think Vernon Dursley falls into this category. There are still characters who are seen as simply evil for the sake of evil.

So how did Tom, Bella, Barty, Draco (but I mean, Draco is really a terrible villain to begin with) and a few others end up with backstory, humanity, and quite a few people invested in them. I don't have the answer, but it is an interesting phenomena. Because I am quite new to the fandom and it took all of three tumblr posts to get me fully on board with Rosekiller. Bella, I don't like her, but she is a fascinating character to write for. And she has redeemable qualities. Tom is a cold hearted killer who might have turned out completely different if he didn't have the childhood trauma he did. I imagine Tom's orphanage life was about as void of love and affection as it is possible to be. Sure his basic survival needs were taken care of, but he wasn't loved. And that was his life from birth.

Perhaps it is the fact there is just enough humanity given to these characters in canon that in fandom we take that nugget of humanity and turn it into a full fledged backstory. Barty is a great example. He is screaming at his father during his trial and his father flat up ignores him, all while his mother is weeping in the background. His mother sacrifices herself for him, then DIES two days later (clearly she wasn't in good health to begin with... hmmmmm...). Does Barty even have a Dark Mark? WE DON'T KNOW. Does Barty feel like he has a personal connection with Voldemort, yes, their fathers were both pieces of shite. How did Barty learn this about Tom? It means Tom went out of his way to connect with Barty on a PERSONAL level at some point. Why would he bother, he so rarely give away personal information? Also I feel Barty has a relationship with Winky which is reminiscent of Regulus and Kreacher. Basically there is mutual love and respect on some level (while some wizards see house-elves as servants only).

The fact we can ask all these questions about someone who essentially guided Harry to his should have been death and then was kissed by a dementor (which Dumbledore was LIVID about BTW) makes him such great fodder for the fandom to sculpt a intriguing if not rich back story. It's why I was able to get on board with the Barty isn't a pure villain idea so fast. And I think it really enhances the fandom.

On a side note, Peter's an interesting one as I feel like he is often either forgotten about or lumped into the evil for evil's sake category. Peter made appalling choices, but I think he has a backstory, just like everyone, which can at least account for some of why he did what he did. And it does not have to do with him being bullied, pushed around, or constantly berated by his supposed friends. The Marauders loved each other, and Peter was included in that love.

That being said, there are plenty of people who disagree. Who like to see the Death Eaters as evil. Who cannot fathom how anyone in their right mind can ship Jegulus or be invested in a villain. But to those people I say, Regulus committed suicide as part of taking down Voldemort, Remus put peoples lives at risk every time he left the shack while he was at Hogwarts, Sirius has made some very questionable choices, Harry uses Sectumsempra on Draco, Severus was a Death Eater who changed allegiance, Ron deserts his friends/Harry when they need him, even Fred and George test products on first years and give Hermione a black eye. The lines between good and bad (which are at least somewhat defined in canon) become far less clear in fandom. As Sirius says, the world isn't split between good people and Death Eaters.

If you have read this far into my rant, kuddos to you. If you enjoy thinking and talking about backstory of HP villains, maybe we can connect in some capacity and exchange HC's and thoughts. I also hope you will check out my very epic series which has started posting on Ao3 because I am striving to tell a lot of people's stories in a fast paced, entertaining way.

Thank you for your time and attention. This concludes my rant.

[evansbby]

what is steves family dynamic like? or his childhood growing up? i cant help but imagine it was terrible :( maybe thats what makes omega perfect for him in some twisted way...

Well I can’t tell you bc that would be a spoiler! However, if you’ve read the prequel, I did say that Steve’s mother “never got angry at him.” So take that as you will 😌😌

[entamewitchlulu]

ok so i was pretty let down by the way the anime adaptation ended and I haven't caught up to the manga (and also it's still going?? so i don't know exactly what the plan is there so like take whatever i'm about to say with a huge grain of salt)

anyway. suicide mention tw

but anyway I was thinking about moriarty the patriot again and about how when you really think about it, William's "brilliant" plan to change British society is actually really.....childish. The idea that if he puts the corruption of the world on blast, and then becomes the image of that corruption to force everyone to unite against him and thus make the world change....it's so tragically childish. It's the dream of a child, and in fact it's the plan he's had since he was a child. A belief that he can change the world through becoming the villain is genuinely not actionable. Whatever he might accomplish through it wouldn't be lasting.

In the end the simple fact is that William is....pretty deeply suicidal. He genuinely doesn't believe there's a place for him in the world and the only way he can fix it so that the people he loves can have a better world is if he dies.

He's a brilliant man, no one's arguing that. He truly can pull off the perfect crimes that often do make things better for everyone through very violent means.

But i think that just solidifies the idea in his head that the only way to make lasting change is through violence, and because of his various childhood traumas piled on top of the way the world keeps confirming his biases, he genuinely does not realize that his plan is honestly, very very stupid, and predicated on a deep, unexamined belief in his own inherent worthlessness.

He believes that there is evil in the world and the only way to get rid of it is through violence, and he believes that because of his actions he has become that same evil and must, therefore, be removed just like he has removed everyone else.

But it's shortsighted. It's always been shortsighted. He can't save the world by killing himself.

And it's just so fucking tragic.

[kamiversee]

➶-͙˚ ༘✶ 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙁*𝘾𝙆 𝙇𝙄𝙎𝙏

✧.* CHAPTER 50 || The Sad Backstory

[ { SYPNOSIS } ] ➤ A tale in which Gojo Satoru blackmails you into seducing a list of people to clear his debt. Sounds easy enough, right?

[ { CHAPTER CONTENT } ] ➤ language, heavy angst, childhood trauma, heavy mentions of violence/abuse, & death mentioning.

[ { A/N } ] ➤ The family dynamic isn’t canon to the anime/manga at all, in case that wasn’t obvious before now. So, the relations depicted here are simply made up for fanfic purposes. (Just wanted to put this disclaimer out there just in case)

[ { WORD COUNT } ] ➤ 4.2k

[ { PAIRINGS } ] ➤ jjk men x f!reader. gojo x f!reader. geto x f!reader. toji x f!reader. choso x f!reader. sukuna x f!reader. nanami x f!reader.

[ [ chapters mlist } ]

——IT WAS SILENT for the first few minutes. Aside from the heat blowing onto the two of you, there was this sense of distance and coldness in the air.

Was that due to the rain? Was it the weather that’d brought such a despairing feel to the two of you? Or, was it truly that distance and coldness were approaching?

You didn’t know what to say just yet and neither did Choso. The thoughts in his brain had slowed and he was organizing how he should go about this while wondering if you’d just come out and explain yourself.

Who should start this tough conversation, he or you? Does it matter? If you don’t start, does that silently say something about you and what's been done? If he doesn’t start, does that make him seem upset with you? The two of you collectively felt the same thing and you both didn’t know what to do.

You weren’t used to getting to this point in a conversation. What you’d grown accustomed to was nothing but confusion on top of vague explanations that further clouded your blurred assumptions of the truth. Gojo had done that to you far too many times for you to know what to do now.

How… What’s the right way to tell Choso everything? Are you going to tell him everything? Is it best that you do? What if he hates you like how you hated Gojo? It wouldn’t be weird after all, you hated Gojo and loved him at the same time— whether or not you’d like to admit it.

What about Gojo-, wait what? What about Gojo? Why are you considering him right now? Are you worried that if you explain the story of the list, it’ll put this negative stigma on Gojo? Who cares?

You do.

You hate that you do but it’s true.

You’ve seen too many sides of Gojo for you not to care about painting him as some big villain when, at the end of the day, even villains have tragic stories that molded them into the person they are now. That doesn’t excuse the man but since you know nothing of the truth about Gojo, you can’t see yourself making him seem like a bad guy anymore.

He has his issues, sure. But, you don’t know why. That’s what makes this all so damn difficult.

How can you tell Choso that the other person you fell in love with is the reason you slept with Sukuna? What would Choso think of that? Would he pity you or would he blame you for not coming to him sooner?

How the hell are you going to-

“Baby,” Choso calls out, ripping you from your thoughts completely. You’d zoned out and didn’t even realize you had tears in your eyes until you blinked them away and turned your head to Choso.

His hand reaches over to you and he places it atop your thigh. You look down and notice your leg has been bobbing up and down excessively. Were you that anxious?

This won’t go badly, right? Why are you panicking? Are you-

“Relax,” Choso whispers, and his thumb swirls over your thigh, trying to soothe you. “Whatever you’re thinking, ignore it.”

You swallow and stare at the man with widened eyes, “But-“

“It’s just you and me right now,” He says, forcing a soft smile on his face, “Get outta’ your head.”

You take a deep breath and sniffle, batting your eyelashes as you try to rid your eyes of the tears. Choso lifts his hand from your thigh and in a way that seems to be second nature to him, he wipes away the tears from your face.

“It’s just me ‘nd you, baby,” He murmurs, “Stop being so nervous, okay?”

“Choso,” You hum, watching the way his gaze softens.

“Yes princess?” He replies. His voice is so gentle now that it’s making you feel guilty for some reason.

You exhale carefully, “What if… W-What if I tell you everything a-and you…” Your eyes water all over again, “What if you hate me-“

He cuts you off with the sound of your first name leaving his lips. His tone is still light but there’s this sternness to it, almost as if he didn’t like what you just said, “There’s no truth you can give me that’d make me hate you.” Choso reassures you, leaning closer just a bit, “I love you. Everything that’s you, I love.”

Your nerves are still unsettled, “E-Even if-“

“The worst thing you could say to be is that you’re in love with Sukuna,” He tells you, scoffing a little.

You shake your head no and your face twists up, “I’m not.”

“Alright then.” Choso shrugs, “I told you, I’ll love you no matter what. In a dark room, you’re my light, no matter how dim that light may be.”

You frown, “Cho, you really did lie, you’re just fine with words.”

“Only at times like this,” He murmurs, “When uh, when it’s you I guess…”

You lift a hand up to your face, pulling his hand away and turning to it. Choso watches you as you shyly kiss his palm and he swallows down the tsunami of loving feelings that threatened to drown him. Such a simple action and yet it made his mind blank for a second.

Then you move away from his hand, “Okay,” You utter, “Where uhm…” Your eyes trail back over to him, “Where should I start?”

You release his hand and he retracts it from you simply. Thinking for a minute, Choso does that thing where he studies your eyes, losing himself in them. Then, he lets out a sigh when he comes up with something.

“What if we uh,” He moves to adjust himself in his seat, “What if I ask you questions and you just answer?” Choso suggests.

You blink, “You… You don’t want me to just tell you everything?”

“No,” He sighs, “There are certain things I don’t think I’d want to know.”

By that, it’s meant that you may give him details that he just doesn’t want in his brain. Choso wants the truth, yes, but only parts of the truth that won’t make him feel sick. Knowing that you had sex with Sukuna is already enough, he doesn’t need more details surrounding that. Hence the offering of asking questions. 

“Okay,” You murmur.

“But,” Choso’s brows knit together and he faces forward in deep thought, “Well, I don’t know if maybe I should just tell you everything first.”

You turn to face forward as well, your eyes dropping down to your lap as you toy with your fingers, “Well, that’s up to you I guess. Is it better for you to tell me everything so that I have it in mind or is it better to know all I’ve done as you tell me everything?”

He swallows, “The first, I think.”

“Did that even make sense?” You breathe out to yourself, worrying that you may have confused him-

“Yeah,” Choso says, “Yeah it did. T-That’s uh, that’s actually better than what I suggested.”

“Is it?” You ask, glancing at him.

He nods, “Mhm, I think if I tell you everything, you may understand the reactions I’ll have to certain answers you give me.”

A sigh slips past you, “Okay, tell me everything then.”

There’s a hint of a smile there on his face but it lingers for only less than a second before that, and every ounce of emotion is drained from his face. Choso’s face goes completely expressionless.

“Where do I even start…” He mutters.

Your voice is soft with him, “Wherever feels most comfortable.”

“Everything about what I’ve experienced with Sukuna is uncomfortable.” He huffs out, “And… I’ve never told anyone about it.”

“Not even…” You bite your lower lip for a second but then you ask anyway, “Not even Yuki?”

“She learned more about Sukuna in that cafe than she has during her relationship with me so, no.” Choso explains, “I don’t like talking about him.”

“I understand.” You say, nodding, “And that’s alright, I’m not going anywhere so, take your time.”

“Alright,” Choso sighs heavily, “Well…”

He starts slow, careful even. It was clear by the way he shifted in his seat and put his words together in a well throughout manner.

Choso began by explaining when he met Sukuna. Because they’re step-siblings, they only share one parent and in this case, it was their father. Choso explained how his dad was a complicated man who found himself having two different women in which he went back and forth between.

Choso met Sukuna when he was five years old, Sukuna being eight at the time. From first impressions, Choso tells you that he thought it was cool to have an older sibling and that he looked up to Sukuna. At five, only Eso was born and not yet Kechizu.

Given that, Choso knew what it was like to play the role of an older brother and he loved it so he thought it’d be amazing to have that experience for himself. Only, Sukuna was the worst thing to ever happen to him. Choso describes in vivid detail how eight-year-old Sukuna looked. For one, the resemblance to the later-born Yuji is uncanny, one would mistake them for twins if they were the same age.

Even so, Sukuna’s appearance was odd. He was only eight and yet he had a bruised lip and a look of pure hate in his eyes. At the time, Choso thought it was cool that Sukuna was hurt but seemed unfazed by the pain and even wanted to be like him.

But, the second five-year-old Choso found himself alone with the older boy and made the mistake of commenting on his bruised lip, praising it in an attempt to connect with him, Sukuna punched him.

One hit was all Choso needed to realize, even at the age of five, growing up with Sukuna wasn’t going to be as pleasant as he thought. And it sure as hell wasn’t, there was nothing pleasant about growing up with Sukuna, especially when Choso’s mother later passed away during the birth of Kechizo.

She was a soft-spoken woman who hardly spoke up for herself in regard to her husband who had an entirely different family so, when she passed, Choso remembers being sad but the emotion didn’t remain long. Anger clouded Choso more than anything at the time and to make matters worse, he and his two younger siblings moved in with his step-family.

It was torture. The process of raising his two younger brothers while being beaten up and ridiculed by an older brother simply made Choso’s life hell. Violence seemed to follow him everywhere. From Sukuna hitting him whenever he felt like it to watching Sukuna’s mother beat up on his father, Choso became very well acquainted with abuse and violence.

Because he knew no better, he never really stood up for himself either. In the slim chance he did, Sukuna would proceed to simply bully him— locking him in a dark room for hours knowing it scared Choso, beating him with items, some sharp, some dull, he doesn’t remember, it all hurt the same.

This hate that burns in Choso’s heart for Sukuna just built up over the years more and more until Yuji was born.

Choso tells you he never knew why but when the kid was born, Sukuna softened up on him for a while. Choso was nine when Yuji was born so for four years before that, he’d been bullied, outcast, and abused by his family, safe from his younger siblings of course.

Maybe it was the way Sukuna softened up after his youngest brother was born that Choso found himself catering to Yuji more than anything. Perhaps it was an act of thanks as Yuji felt like his savior when all he did was be born.

Even so, as much as Choso denies it, Yuji was his favorite. Not at first though, when he initially saw the bright pink-haired baby, he was repulsed, thinking this would be Sukuna in smaller form. Said repulsion remained until the first time Yuji smiled at him.

It was different. Sukuna never smiled so, Choso knew then that Yuji would be nothing like his older identical sibling.

Even so, years passed and Choso continued to endure abuse for his now three younger brothers. Sukuna never laid a hand on any of them since he had Choso to beat up on and for a while, Choso was okay with that.

But of course, that only lasted until their parents passed. A car accident was all it took to strip all five children of their parents. But, by that time, Sukuna was eighteen and immediately put in charge of his four other siblings. It was unjust, of course, as no eighteen-year-old should have to raise four siblings by himself.

Choso tells you how he doesn’t remember how it all worked exactly but, Sukuna managed to convince those of the law to have him become their parental guardian. The man got a well-paying job, god knows what it was too because he had so much money, he made sure that all four boys were able to continue to attend school, etc.

Basically, of all this care and parenting, what Choso couldn’t understand is why Sukuna did that. He didn’t know why Sukuna didn’t simply allow the four to go to some orphanage and part ways, it’s not like he ever showed love to them anyway.

But, Choso eventually learned the answer as Sukuna treated all four of his younger siblings as his servants— forcing them to do whatever he needed, regardless of the wrong behind it or the difficulty. Choso lived with Sukuna as his parental figure in that big house he now throws parties at for years.

And for some time, he really believed Sukuna couldn't get any worse. That was, until at age seventeen Choso witnessed with his own eyes Sukuna knocking a woman out.

“He what?” You scoff.

You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. It was already a lot to take in but the most unbelievable part of it was Sukuna’s treatment of women, especially after you think back to how he treated you.

“You heard me,” Choso hums, shrugging, “He knocked her out cold. Hell, I thought she was dead.”

Your lashes are batting in disbelief, “He just… He just punched this random chick?”

“W-Well, no, of course not,” Choso goes to explain further, “From what I remember, that was his girlfriend…”

You scoff, “You’re joking.”

“I’m not, she used to come over all the time before that,” He tells you.

Then, Choso explains the entire day to you.

How that day Sukuna came home late in the afternoon covered in bruises, cuts, and blood. Choso tells you he tried to ask Sukuna what happened but, naturally, all he got was a simple fuck off from his older brother. Of course, Choso didn’t need to be told twice and he did that.

Barely twenty minutes had gone by and the doorbell rang. Choso was in another room but he heard Sukuna go to answer it, followed by the sound of his girlfriend’s voice. Choso tells you it sounded like they were arguing and it was so loud and heated up until the sound of a slap echoed throughout the house.

Choso had gotten up from where he was and went to go see what happened and just as he neared the corner, he heard the sound of a punch, followed by a slight crack, and then a thump. When he rounded the corner, he saw Sukuna standing over his girlfriend who was out cold on the ground with what seemed to be a broken jaw.

You’re told that this was the only time he’d ever seen Sukuna act so oddly because although he couldn’t see his face, Sukuna’s fingers were trembling and he was breathing heavily. Then, Choso thinks he imagined it but he swears he saw something wet fall from Sukuna’s face.

“I think it was blood though,” Choso says, “I can’t imagine that man crying but, he did stand there for a while.”

“So, he knocked his girlfriend out and just stood there?”

“Yeah, for at least five minutes just staring down at her, almost like he was waiting for her to get back up,” Choso proceeds, “And when he did move, it was to look back at me. I was scared he’d take his anger out on me like always but, he didn’t.”

“What did he do?”

“He told me that if there’s anything he wants me to learn from him,” Choso slowly looks at you, “It’s that I should ‘never let a woman destroy what makes me a man’.”

“I see.”

“Either way, Sukuna changed again after that.” He goes on with his story, having grown more comfortable with opening up to you, “He went back to hitting me, threatening to hurt Eso and Kechizu, never Yuji though…”

You listened again, nodding and taking in everything given to you.

Choso explains that this continued until he turned eighteen and Sukuna was twenty-one. Choso didn’t hesitate to move out and in doing so, he was soon able to gain custody of his brothers, just not Yuji.

He hated that he couldn’t take Yuji with him as he moved out but, he thought maybe it’d be okay since Sukuna never touched Yuji. Choso hates thinking back on it now because he wishes he fought harder.

Even so, Sukuna just had his way over those in law, or maybe connections, Choso wasn’t sure but he somehow managed to keep Yuji under his guidance. That’s when Choso requested one thing from Sukuna, that request being that Yuji is actually taken care of and never touched.

Less than a month after Sukuna agreed to this promise, Choso came over to check on his youngest sibling, and lo and behold, the kid had a black eye. Choso had never felt such a murderous intent rile up in him the way it had that day.

He and Sukuna fought later that day, Choso not only lost said fight but also knew that because of it, he’d never be able to win custody over Yuji since Sukuna pulled the self-defense card.

Either way, to wrap things up, Choso tells you that since then he’s been back and forth between school and court trying to win custody over Yuji. He’s still struggling with it but he’s trying his hardest. Choso tells you he’s lucky enough to have his other two brothers, who reside in a distant relative’s place now.

Even with the tiring processes of legal proceedings and court battles, Choso explains he’ll keep trying until he physically can’t anymore because he refuses to allow Sukuna to harm Yuji forever. Plus, that bright smile of Yuji’s is what keeps Choso motivated.

It was like Yuji knew his big dark-haired brother would help him out eventually. And even if he didn’t, Choso points out to you how Yuji talks like he didn’t mind fighting with Sukuna and that he’s managed to sneak a few hits on the guy before.

In the midst of all that, there was that day Choso ran into you.

“Like I said, violence follows me everywhere so it’s kinda funny how we literally ran into each other,” Choso exclaims, his face brightening back up for the first time since this convo started. “I was… I dunno, enamored by you? I mean, I’ve had crushes and girlfriends before but just that small first convo with you was everything to me.”

“I’m glad I was feeling talkative that day,” You joke, “Normally I would’ve picked my stuff up and ran off, especially since you’re hot.”

Choso can’t help the grin that spreads across his face, “Mhm, same here. Those shoes you were wearing really caught my eye though.”

“Yeah and your face tatt’ caught mine,” You explain, smiling to yourself as you both recall it, “It’s kinda sad to find out you only got it to cover a scar. I’m sorry you had to go through all that.”

Choso shrugs, “It’s fine now. I uh, I actually feel better now that I’ve said it all out loud.”

“Really?” You ask, tilting your head a bit.

“Mhm.” He hums, “I mean, it wasn’t easy to explain, sorry for stuttering so much by the way, but I’m still glad it’s all out now.”

A wider smile spread across your face and despite the tragic story just heard you’re thankful, “Thank you for opening up to me.”

“Thank you for letting me,” Choso replies.

The two of you look at one another. It’s a long gaze, a connecting gaze, a telling one. Sounds of rain hitting the car are heard but it’s all a blur as you both simply take in one another.

That was until you utter his name, “Choso.”

“Yes?” He whispers, his voice slipping out so small as if the next thing you say could make or break him.

Your hand reaches over and his eyes drop to it for a moment as it goes to his face and you shift in your seat so that both of your hands can cup his cheeks in your palms. Choso blinks, wondering what exactly you are doing until you pull him close and lean in.

When close enough, you stare right into his eyes and carefully speak, “In case you haven’t been told enough,” You start, “And, in case you don’t know, you didn’t deserve any of that.”

He nods, “I know-“

“You deserve love, Choso.” You claim.

He swallows hard, worried about where this is going.

A sigh slips past your lips, “And I’m not a perfect person but…”

Choso’s brows raise, “But…?”

“Uh, I don’t know if I can give that to you.” You warn.

He couldn’t believe what you just said, “What?”

“In the way you deserve.” You quickly clarify, “I can love you Choso b-but I’m no better than-“

“You’re the best thing to ever happen to me.” Choso cuts off, “Whatever love you want to give me I’ll take it happily.”

Now you’re nervous and almost insecure given what you know and have done, “What if it’s not enough?”

“We’ll make it enough.” He argues.

You frown, “Choso…”

“I’m serious. I’ve explained myself to you already, I hope it’s understandable that any love you give me I’ll take and cherish for as long as you’ll let me.”

“But you could find so much better-, so much more.”

“I don’t wanna search anymore,” He hums, “And what better is there for me to find? What’s more than you?” 

Your brows pinch together, “Someone who can love you better than me-“

“That person doesn’t exist.”

“Yes they do-“

“Well, I don’t want them.” Choso cuts off. Nothing you say will change his mind.

You roll your eyes, “You need to raise your standards.”

“Why?” He almost smiles, “My standard is you.”

You scoff, “My point exactly-“

Just as quickly as he nearly smiled, he got serious again, “You make me happy and feel like I’m wanted. What more could I ask for?”

“Certainty.” You tell him.

“We’re certain now, aren’t we?”

“I-I don’t know.”

Choso tilts his head at you, “You said earlier that you thought about changing what we are…”

“I know but then everything came out and-“

“And nothing changed.” He interprets, “My feelings for you didn’t change.”

The way he won’t hear your warnings makes you nervous all over again, “Well let me get the rest of the truth out and see if it does.”

“It won’t.”

Sighing, “You don’t know that.” You say.

“I’m telling you, it won’t.” Choso refutes.

“Choso-“

“Baby you could kill someone and I’d still love you.” He claims dramatically.

You blink repetitively, “I-“

His eyes close for a moment as he takes in what he just said, “I know that sounds crazy but, I’m serious.”

It’s hard to wrap your head around but you try, “Why?”

“Because I can’t get rid of it,” Choso explains vaguely.

“Rid of what?”

“These feelings I hold for you.” The way he clarifies everything after a simple question is so refreshing for you, “They don’t go away. No matter how angry or unsure I am, it’s always there. Even when I left you, I wanted to come back because I still loved you.”

“Choso, this is-“

“I told you I’m good at waiting. If the truth from you is poison then let me intoxicate myself. Let me feel the pain that is loving you if that’s what it is.”

“Y-You really need someone better-“

“Why?” Choso isn’t getting it in the slightest and he does not plan to, “Are you not perfect for me?”

“No, I’m not.” You explain.

“I think you are.” He shrugs.

“You’re delusional.”

“Very.”

Yeah, there’s no getting through to this man. He’s in love with you and hopelessly blinded by it too. Thank god you’re not some manipulative bitch because it’d be disastrous for this man if you were.

Choso then moves to comfort himself in his seat again and you do too. “Anyway,” Choso says, “Now that I’ve explained myself…”

You swallow this thick lump of nerves in your throat.

“Can I ask you the first question I have?” He requests.

“Of course.”

“How many?” Choso questions vaguely.

“How many, what…?”

“Guys,” He glances at you, “How many guys have you slept with since knowing me?”

Yep.

You’re fucked.

It was only the first question and you already didn’t want to answer.

But, he deserves to know right? 

Choso deserves to know…

GOJO SATORU ✔︎ 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘺: 𝙀𝙖𝙨𝙮

GETO SUGURU ✔︎ 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘺: 𝙀𝙖𝙨𝙮

TOJI FUSHIGURO ✔︎ 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘺: 𝙈𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙪𝙢

KAMO CHOSO ✔︎ 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘺: 𝙎𝙚𝙢𝙞-𝙈𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙪𝙢 / 𝙀𝙖𝙨𝙮

ZEN'IN NAOYA ✔︎ 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘺: 𝙀𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙀𝙖𝙨𝙮

ITADORI SUKUNA ✔︎ 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘺: 𝙎𝙚𝙢𝙞-𝙀𝙖𝙨𝙮???

NANAMI KENTO ✔︎ 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘺: 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙙

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tags;

@blognicole @suguruologist @luqueam @ivoryviness @sinaxalui @rxnnie18 @carlacujo @gods-landing @bitchysouljellyfish @miles4hour @sinaxalui @annananamin @heart-snow @kiyomizzx @hanuh @acehyacinth @mccookiemonster @tojis-ball-sack @cartwheel6869 @mariluvsusstuff @addie1010 @slammynics @actualz0mbie @hisbitchhh @kay-xle @cunttee3 @voids-universe @raininglovelyfire @itsbokutosjuicyass @peaceoutbritta @barbielani @gennaray @r3inae @kfmcykdy @camiihutt @tokina @curtin81937 @hopefullydecent @nameless-shade @ureuphoriasworld @forgetfulmachine @legbouk @lilliaannn @clementineee0-0 @divinelseraph @didibxx

[bluecrocss]

Somethings I'm looking forward to in PJO Season 2 that I don't see people talk about as much

Villain!Luke: Most of TLT/Season 1 is Luke playing as an ally/friend/older brother to our protagonists. We see him in a mostly positive light as the show tries to hide his true intentions until the reveal.

SOM is the first time we get to see Luke in pure villain mode, and I'm so excited. Despite my issues with the movies (Especially the second one), I can always appreciate how much fun Jake Abel was obviously having hamming it up in the second movie. Literally, all he needed was a mustache to twirl lol

Anyway, Charlie did such a good job of making Luke sympathetic and likeable, I'm so excited for when we first see him on the Princess Andromeda in all his Villain glory. I can't wait to see how he plays it.

Clarisse redemption: Look, I will always defend the right of viewers to dislike a bully, no matter how sad their backstory is. However, in my opinion, SOM and TLO is probably where we get the most character development for Clarisse (the show can even add more depth to that if they play it right).

Hints at her abusive relationship with Ares, the first inklings of her friendship with Percy, there's so much more we're going to get out of that character, and I really hope they SHOW (not tell) it right.

Tyson/Annabeth beef: I am going to be on the front-lines as a Leahbeth defender this season. Like with the growing fandom dislike towards Annabeth of late, and the general way audiences treat black female characters whenever they show any negative traits, Annabeth's interactions with Tyson in SOM (and her later interactions with Rachel Dare in BOTL) are not going to be some of her best moments; but also are great character moments for her because those two books more than any are about showing Annabeth's flaws. She's a 13 year old girl with PTSD people!

Tyson's a sweetheart, obvs, but watching 5"2 Leah Jeffries consistently intimidate 6"5 Daniel Diemer is gonna be kind of hilarious. And Tyson's constant attempts to win her over are so endearing (Especially when he does succeed towards the end).

I do hope they make some changes to the backstory of why Annabeth doesn't like Cyclopes though. Because even in the books, I thought that seemed a bit forced in.

Annabeth's Circe island makeover: Yes, Walker as a guinea pig, hilarious. Yes, the siren scene, heartbreaking. The childhood Percabeth shipper in me, can't wait to see what makeover Annabeth gets in the show!

Say what you will, but one of the best parts of Annabeth now being portrayed by a black actress is (in my personal opinion), I think there is no group of women on earth with more variation in hair styling than black women.

As such, there's an infinite number of styles and looks that I could see them giving Leah for this. Braids with gold accessories, Afro puffs, a Grecian take on Bantu knots, etc. etc. I mean, the fan artists have been eating with that already.

What have I missed? What other less talked about moments is everyone excited to see brought to life?

[nyc3]

@bibibbon I was reading your post and thinking when you mentioned Mummy, and certainly is sad and disappointing that out of Nine's crew he was the one to get the short stick in terms of screentime and interactions with his own leader.

Such a cool looking villain with an awesome power shouldn't be treated like fooder.

But eh... I guess they really need give Bakugo an easy victory to show how badass he can be compared to the other loosers from the class.

Anyway, before getting absorbed by my hater side I can share my ideas about rewrite Mummy, because like his friends is fun write about him and fill the empty space left by the author.

Starting for his backstory:

This idea isn't entirely mine, but I love the concept of Mummy and Edgeshot being related.

Interesting to think because they share same birthdays, both their quirks have the aesthetic of red tape, they have grey hair and the names "Kamihara" and "Makihara" sound strangely similar.

I've seen people write them as twins, but I like more the idea of them having a big age gap in case of being brothers which fits more with Shinya being in his 30s in canon.

And so both Hoyo and Shinya being brothers born in a very traditional japanese family would make room for some family drama, as is more than probably that Shinya being the first born and with a quirk like foldabody would probably be seen as the pride of the family.

While Hoyo is seen as lesser and never able to live up to the level of his older brother, especially after Shinya got accepted at UA and started pay less attention to Hoyo.

While during his early childhood Hoyo only support was Shinya when he left the family state to focus on his studies Hoyo was alone with a family that never supported him and constantly remembered him how inferior he was.

Hoyo will reach a break point when his parents tried to get rid of him when he was entering on his teenage years, and he discovered they sold him to a mysterious organization that was looking for young low tier soldiers (which for some reason still happens in MHA world and nobody seem to care about it).

Note: This organizagion will be no other than the MLA but isn't really important for the story for now.

And so, without anything to lose since Shinya was long gone at that point, Hoyo escaped the family state and never came back. He also invented the false surname Makihara, as he didn't want anything to do with his family.

That would be the beginning of some rough years living in the streets for Hoyo.

Without proper studies (since he only got the basics at home instead of going to an actual school) and technically being a fugitive of his own family, Hoyo only could resort of stealing and other minor crimes for try to survive being homeless.

I imagine he also tried to gain some money doing dirty jobs for other criminals, which might be why we see him beating thugs in the street during the flashbacks.

That being said, this empty life style wasn't something Hoyo was happy about.

He still feel the necessity of prove himself and try to became something better, he was angry at the world and his family, and he also missed Shinya despite he didn't want to admit and prove his brother his worth.

Despite Hoyo's quirk still seemed to be quite useless as he couldn't do much with his puppets and give up at some point.

That was until he meet Nine...

My idea of how they meet is that Hoyo was hired to expulse Nine from the territory of a criminal gang that didn't like a homeless man like him was wandering in there.

Expecting just another quick job for a bit of cash Hoyo used his quirk with and old scarf to create a puppet out a vending machine, with he would use to intimidate the white haired man described by the gang.

Worse case scenario would be him having to beat the man in case he resists but isn't like he cared.

What Hoyo didn't expect is that when he meet the white haired man this one would have an aura of calm around him and rather than look intimidated by him or his puppet, he only got a glaze of interest coming from him.

"That... looks like a very powerful ability you got there" Nine commented very calmly looking at Hoyo like if he already knew everything from him.

Hoyo was a bit confused by the statement (and internally a bit intimidated by the way the white haired man seem look through him) but he only wanted to finish the job quickly as he was hungry and needed the money the gang offered.

So he tried to attack the white haired man with his puppet, but in the blink on an eye a small lightning bolt hit the puppet and make it explode.

Hoyo was pushed back by the explosion and the white haired man was still there with an unfazed expression.

"Not that powerful yet but..." Nine said looking at Hoyo "I can make it stronger" He said like it was a promise.

Nine then walk away and Hoyo tried to follow him without understand anything of what was happen, until they were almost in front of the gang hideout.

Hoyo observed how the white haired man rising one of his hands at the sky, and he didn't realize how suddlenly the dark clouds covered what until some moments was a very clear night.

A lightning bolt came from the sky and impacted the buildings Hoyo knew the gang used to hide, making the ground vibrate as they explode illuminating the night with the fire and the white haired man was stading there with the same bored expression as he that act of destruction was nothing for him.

Hoyo was totally speechless by that demonstration of power.

"I assume they won't represent a problem for you from now, I understand they wanted you to get me out of here so you don't have to worry for not get the job done" the white haired man said with the same calm Hoyo was used at that point.

For some reason it reminded him to someone else...

"Huh... and what do you want from me?" Hoyo replied rising his eyebrown tried to show more confidence that he actually felt "This kind of "favors" can't be for free"

"From you? Nothing..." Nine said plain and simple "Maybe offer you something, but first we should get out of here, he police and heroes can be annoying and they probably were alerted by my little spectacle" He said before walking out of the scene.

Hoyo didn't know why but he started walking behind the white haired man. There wasn't much to lose anyway...

"Are you hungry? Personally I am, so maybe we can get some food" Nine said after notice the young boy was following him.

Hoyo agreed on that, he really could get something to eat.

...

After all that happened Nine started to explain to Hoyo what his ideals and dream to change the world, a dream he really wanted to share with Hoyo for some reason.

Even if he didn't believe he meet the standards of power the white haired man claim to have, but Nine keep insisting on the potential of his quirk and how Hoyo was stronger than he realize and how wrong society was for overlook his true potential.

Not much time later Hoyo meet a friend of Nine, a really intimidating mutant who called himself Chimera and that name was fitting considering he was a mix of countless animals.

Hoyo found the guy to be quite charismatic and funny regardless of his loon however, and he was also very compromised to follow Nine's vision for the ideal world he evisioned.

And one day Nine also surprised Hoyo with a gift: a lot of red bandages that he notice were more resistant and powerful than anything he previously used to activate his quirk.

"Your power is greater than you think Hoyo, don't believe what the weakelings tried to make you think all your life. You can be better than them, you can fight for the world we deserve" Nine said in the most genuine way Hoyo ever heaf from someone.

And Hoyo really felt weak but also strong for equal reasons that moment, as never during his whole life he felt supported the way Nine made him to feel. Not his own blood family, not even Shinya, but this man who only wanted to give him and Chimera a better world to live.

Hoyo knew that moment that his life and heart belong to Nine and his cause forever, he give him a real family and home without even expect anything from Hoyo other than fight together like a team.

It motivated Hoyo to push himself and his quirk over the boundaries, training endlessly with the help of Nine and Chimera, so what once was the ability of control a single puppet quickly became the power of create armies of puppet soldiers thanks to the gift Nine give to him.

He even discovered an inhate talent with the sword, a gift courtesy of Chimera by the way.

Hoyo was poweful indeed, just like his friends believed.

But he also wanted a new identity as well, as his born name no longer felt something that represented who he was.

Then Hoyo became Mummy, and he used the bandages gifted by his leader to cover his body.

He felt safe and powerful like that.

Mummy finally meet himself that moment and knew who he really was.

...

P.S:

-Despite I make Shinya look like a careless and selfish brother in the backstory, I actually think later when he found what his parents did to Hoyo he resents them and felt totally guilty for not being there for his little brother. Edgeshot look for Hoyo during years hoping to find him someday and be a family again, he also keep his parents out of his life after what they did to Hoyo.

-I don't mention Slice here because I think she was the last one to join the team some time later than Mummy.

-While their age difference isn't actually that big, I like the idea of Mummy considering Nine a big brother figure and somehow filling the empty space left by Shinya.

[codenamesazanka]

I'm thinking. I'm thinking. it would be cool if all of my dislike and criticism of Deku's actions in this final war arc (and maybe before) was actually supposed to be the intended feeling. That he was supposed to be read as an arrogant little shit with no plan and failed at saving Shigaraki all along. Saving Shigaraki was his ego talking - him wanting to save that Crying Child, because it makes him feel good to be a Hero... in the easiest way possible. He pried open Shigaraki's lid with no regard for how questionable such an act is. He never understood Shigaraki at all.

Deku has the potential to be a great hero. When Yoichi and Kudou talked about his great qualities, it was because they can sense the seed of it at his heart. But it hadn't been cultivated. He does have a drive to save, but it was too early to call it that. He does believe everyone has the same heart, but he hasn't actually come to that conclusion himself. That's why they needed to speak about his own feelings for him. He's 16 years old and thrown into a war. How can anyone have proper development and meta-cognition in such a scenario?

I'm thinking. It was Stain who spared Shigaraki and told him he sensed the seed of a warped conviction inside of him, when all readers saw at the time was an erratic manchild. But Stain was right. Shigaraki's conviction grew and developed and became such a noble desire, but 'twisted' - A Hero, but for the Villains.

Deku just had the high of his life. What if he's about to enter the lowest? He failed to save someone. Society is getting rebuilt and where it goes from now on is absolutely crucial. He's "quirkless" again - that personality is gone so who is he now?

I'm thinking. There's a reason why his agreement with Overhaul hasn't been resolved yet. I'm thinking Compress and his vigilante ancestor's dream of reform can't be just ditched like that. I'm thinking how Deku can fail so incredibly at not realizing why Shigaraki stayed the leader of the League all through the end, and how Shigaraki tells him 'ganbare'.

I'm thinking about Shigaraki, and how he's a fair guy. But he's a Villain. He sensed Deku's intention, understood just how sincere it was, and can respect that. And the guy did just helped heal his childhood trauma. And thus, he's holding Deku responsible for making sure his destruction is permanent, and leaves with a semi-sardonic 'do your best'. I think that's actually just like him.

I'm thinking about Uraraka and Shouto getting two sad looking panels in this semi-celebratory chapter where All Might calls Bakugou and Deku the greatest Heroes. They were the two who actually considered the suffering their Villain went through. They acknowledged the whole of their Villain, their agency and desires, and they supposedly saved them. But there's no celebration for them. Maybe it's because they've seen the truth and can't be unaffected.

I'm thinking about Spinner, who saved Deku from a teammate at the camp raid because he believed in Stain who believed in Deku to be a true Hero. And then Spinner became Shigaraki's most devoted friend and Shigaraki left a message to him, via Deku.

I'm thinking maybe Horikoshi got out all the battle shonen stuff they wanted out of him and now he can do his own thing. He sucks at fight scenes and great at character writing and darker material.

The issue to this thinking is that this hope is sooooo dangerous. I had a similar thought that Endeavor, after the Touya reveal, was going to get some brutal atonement. I thought post-Jaku would be a really cool chance to examine the issues of Hero Society, and that Tartarus being recognized as a human-rights violations would end up somewhere. I loved what I felt was the subtly realistic built-up of the Heteromorph arc, and I still love it, but then it ended up the way it did. I thought AFO's tragic backstory getting revealed could be awesome. I've clowned myself again and again. I guess this is the latest clowning.

And none of this actually saves Shigaraki or brings him back. Rather, his death and last words is pretty much required for this brutal realization and haunting on Deku and the story.

Worse, this all has the potential to make me think Deku is interesting. What am I doing to myself. 🤡

[08melancholie]

NO HATE i love ur acc, but how come you have a big obsession with micah?

Great question! I have a very simple reason why, being;

His Character.

Micah is a very, very complex character. This is often swept under the rug because of his status in the game, being that he's a antagonist. Unfortunately for Micah, this puts him and R* in a very sad situation; his character and story are overshadowed by his role as a villain in RDR2, which often means that's all people see him as in the game; a snake, a traitor, a rat. I'm not saying that these claims are false, but it isn't the only thing about Micah that people should know about and focus on.

I've been interested in him since the Prologue, with the sickest introduction of a character I've seen all game. And thankfully, I got to play the game without any spoilers beforehand—meaning I didn't have a biased opinion before I got to playing the game. This was the first part that led to the obsession... I used to rush story missions just to see if there were any Micah ones to play. Yeahh... I really liked him at the start, he was undeniably my favourite since the start, except for Dutch.

Micah is a very tragic and unfortunate character. He's had his fate sealed since the day he was born, with no premature choice on what he would be in life—because his father already decided he was going to be a killer; an addition to the array of other ruthless Micah Bell's in the family. And that to me is just very upsetting, and as much as I try not to—I feel bad for Micah because of it.

He was put head first into the degeneracy that his ancestors built the family on, likewise to Amos Bell, who luckily got himself out. But not Micah, sadly; he couldn't do it like Amos did, because he was probably more influenced into the life than Amos (personal hc, just saying) and therefore stayed what he is today; a killer.

His story touches my heart in a very odd way, because I can relate to and feel for him. I find an abnormal comfort in the character, his backstory, childhood—because I myself have been there. I've got my own array of problems and odd behaviours that were caused by either generational or childhood traumas, so in a very different way, I see myself in him and I want to see him get better, since I haven't gotten myself to that stage quite yet.

All in all, to cut it short; Micah has an interesting and relatable background I find intriguing and worth looking into, if you have the time and ability to understand.

Thank you for the question anon! <3

quick edit: These things can be used to explain his behaviours, not defend them. I want to make that clear.

[hxhhasmysoul]

HOT TAKE : I dont understand why Chrollo is so damn popular. He is so boring to me. So yes, they have a fucked up childhood, yes he cares about his members, and yes he has identity crisis or something but still, he is so freaking boring. Maybe I just dont understand how he is one of the most complex villains to ever exist and how he is so deep etc etc.

Same with kurapika. I dont understand why its an unpopular opinion that he is a bad friend when it is evidently shown in the manga . Also his situation is very black and white. Its boring. Nothing much changed from him tbh.

Sorry it took me so long to answer your ask but you came to the right blog with these questions, you’ll find my understanding and support.

I also don’t get Chrollo’s popularity at all. Especially prior to the recent chapters.

I agree with you that he’s boring. His whole persona feels very fake, very rehearsed, like he practised edginess in front of the mirror. His words to Kurapika that other Spiders won’t try to save him felt to me so fake, especially how everything in that conversation was him trying to yank Kurapika’s chain (sorry for a bad pun XD). 

Even his mourning of Uvo feels like a performance. Like sure, I’m not denying he’s sad at that moment but he’s still very much in control of himself and performs the requiem. Even gets himself a captive audience to take a little edge off how shallow and silly his behaviour is. We see him truly affected after Hisoka kills Shalnark and Korotopi. After Chrollo fails to kill Hisoka despite pulling every dirty trick he could and his friends lose their lives as a direct result because he left them powerless. Before that we don’t even see him grieve Pakunoda. 

It all makes sense of course. Chrollo is a theatre kid as we learned recently. He really just took that theatre shit and made it his personality.

And that's boring because he’s a bad actor. He can trick a sheltered teenager, he can provoke an already unstable victim of his crimes. His little cult worships him. But people who look at him from the outside and have life experience like Zeno instantly see through him. 

Even Killua comments on how Chrollo just produces words with his mouth and they mean nothing. It’s such an amazing fourth wall break because it’s Togashi literally pointing at Chrollo and telling the audience this man is full of nothing but hot air. The way Chrollo speaks often feels like he read some deep sounding line in a book and he’s repeating it to wow the audience.

It is all very cult leader charm, you need to be primed for it to affect you properly. For me it’s boring and grating at times. Especially when we see him contrasted with almost all the other characters in the York New arc. We see the vivid connections the spiders have among them, how their levels of connection differ, how they have different attitudes to one another. It’s full of life and personality. And Chrollo there above them, always remaining above the fray, always performing his persona… he’s just such a nothing burger compared to that. 

Because there’s no pizzazz in his performance, no sprezzatura. It’s just fakedeep edgy boi acting like a throwaway cult leader while performatively denying he’s one… 

Chrollo’s kinda cutesy backstory doesn’t really make me care more about him. It just kind of highlights how fake he feels as an adult.

Why do fans like him? My uncharitable and biased guess is that they consider him hot and they like the edgy bad boi performance and just pour their desires of what they want Chrollo to be into that that vacuous husk.

As to Kurapika. Yeah, Kurapika is a bad friend and I have written it down here, I don’t have much to add to it.

Apart from that Togashi muddying the waters on the Kurta genocide makes things worse. It makes his whole narrative treatment of the genocide topic even worse than it’s been so far.

It may turn out that the Kurta did something horrible. And then the Phantom Troupe fans will use that as an excuse to whitewash the Spiders, even if one horrible act by a member or members of a group will never justify a genocide because nothing ever will. 

Even if it turns out that the Kurta did nothing to horrible, the seed of doubt is already there and the door to speculation whether their genocide was justified has been opened. 

And it also allows Phantom Troupe fans to skirt all the other murder that their favs have committed.

[spotlightlowlife]

Helluva Boss has responsibility issues - Stolas, Stella and Octavia edition

Yep, Stolas is likeable, in his own right and the fact that he's part of a ship, which is a formula to certain success. However we know Stolas, we don't know Stella nor Octavia.

Let's be honest, this drama started off pretty reasonable.

We had no reason to believe Stella had done anything wrong, when we met her in a flashback, what was there to indicate Stella and Stolas didn't like one another?

We even see them sharing a bed in that big whole castle.

Fast forward to the future and Stolas has cheated which lead to their bitter divorce, which is an unfortunate common case, Stolas is in the wrong, doesn't mean he's a monster who deserves the worst to happen to him. Stella on the other hand has put a hit on him, a horrible thing to do yes, but a random act of malice, no.

Yet the worst happened in making light of Stolas's very common mistake and pushing it onto Stella

Why do this? Why take away from his story, his tough decision making and the fallout from his actions, the loneliness he feels in his big dark home and the fear of retaliation? He was a complex character in the making and pretty likeable regardless of his questionable conduct.

He has been absolved of responsibility in an attempt to make him more liked than he already was.

He could have been sympathetic simply down to the unsuitable arrangement and being born to fulfil a purpose, something that seems a theme in his lineage.

Now he's another victim. A victim of years of abuse at the hands of this horrible volatile woman who humiliated him every chance she got who he had no choice but to put up with because arranged of the evil institution of arranged marriage. He initiated the divorce, easily, which would have to be on grounds of his adultery

so Stella moved out, but he had to put with years of this marriage, which had the clause of a child being essential, their child is 17.

Stella and Stolas get given the exact same sob story

yet where Stolas was a cute, innocent and inquisitive child who just met his first friend and crush in little Blitzø, Stella was an aggressive scary fiend from day one, so as Stolas grows up to keep some of his childhood attributes, where does this leave Sella? A mean girl at her core?

This is a absolutely what we get, a simply irredeemable villain, a dramatic woman scorned who put a hit on her ex, then when we learn more, she's elevated to a wicked woman who just loves the drama.

With Stolas being a victim now who deserves the transactional relationship with his first crush and Stella being a evil and proud yet probably set to be shadowed by her probably more padded out brother, we also have their neglected daughter.

We don't have any evidence of Stella being a bad or inattentive parent, just because she was a bad wife that one episode, but we also don't know anything about their dynamic, this rare example of a character having parents, having a mother and being of an age of dependency, but nothing.

One interesting thing about Stolas's backstory was that he appeared to have his own palace, no mother only staff, his dad visited and wasn't sure which of his children Stolas was but what he did know was that this particular one had that purpose and this business arrangement had been made for him. Loneliness and the realisation of dysfunction could have served as Stolas's personal conflict in choosing to upkeep the unsuitable relationship, rather than 'Stella is a meangirl'.

We are used to sad backstories, yet we have Octavia, a child being left behind in real time and as grown as she may seem, she's still a kid, yet she manages to be one of the most sensible characters in this.

On top of maybe knowing about the bounty on her dad (pity we never see how his hospitalization impacted on her as his technical only loved one)

and having to be reminded of his cringy hookups with Blitzø (that dirty talk over the phone in her presence, also the reminder that though Blitzø is our likeable leading character, he's someone deeply obnoxious by design) and the time he manages for him,

along with growning up amungst hostility, she is now a child of divorce, which shouldn't be a bad thing considering her parents open dislike of one another and their marriage being something forced, however there are other factors, the back and forth continues dispite her being old enough for neither of them to speak again, along with her birth alone being the contracts completion.

Yet she doesn't ask for much, a dad who's interested on the occasions we see her, hears her and sticks to their plans. She expressed no idealistic wishes for her parents to be back together nor did she feeling the need to know what their issues were nor pick a side and fight for it.

Her interests are in the stars and sky, Stolas's line of work.

When it comes to interest and investment in a subject that could go on to be her trade, Octavia may be up there with the sin leaders we have met so far. She has been show to want to learn and be resourceful, going as far as to sneak into IMP to steal back the travel grimoire in order go about alone a day out she looked forward to.

It wasn't as heartwarming as I'm sure it was intended to be when Octavia's very valid upset undermined by Loona, who truly doesn't know any better, who advised Octavia to cut her dad some slack, Loona who is in her mid 20s and proved that episode that a toddler has more reason and self control than her. But this was Loona's time to shine in her grow up moment before returning to her usual aggressive self, so that's that.

[whileyoureinschoolidothisallday]

◇𓂂☽𓂂🐚Arisa Cliche's Wips for Gaza! 🐚𓂂☾𓂂◇

Hi, hi friends! @ficsforgaza has started a charity event and I'd really like to participate, so I've decided to start a sponsorship page! Right now, I'm only writing for MHA and Obey Me!, but I have enough fics brewing or in progress that you'll have plenty a selection!

How this works ~ The rate is $1 for 100 words. Basically, you would make a donation and send me an ask with the following details:

🍉 The name of the wip you're donating towards

🍉 A screenshot of your donation with your private info censored (I will not be publishing these asks)

🍉 A link to the fundraiser you chose! I will be accepting donations to anything on this list, Crips for eSims for Gaza, and my personal fave!

I will keep the WIP section of this post updated with all donations as soon as possible!

Now...let's get to the WIPS!!!!!

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MHA✼ ҉　✼

{In Progress}

⚝ Bury my Ashes at Sea (Touya "Dabi" Todoroki x Reader) (Longfic)

You and Dabi have been broken up for some time now, but you're still the only person he wants to see before he takes his final bow. With your grieving face still fresh in his mind, he can't help but wonder how things would be different if you two met when you were kids. In his daydreams, he gifts you a Quirk, and you both go to U.A together. He becomes a hero, and you his adored engineer. When everything inevitably goes to hell...you become a villain with him. A villain he names Hex. Content: Hero!AU, female reader, childhood friends to lovers, mutual pining, established relationship, post break-up, angst, reader is physically disabled and chronically ill and has an established backstory, non-explicit sexual content in later chapters, very very lovesick and typically obsessive Touya, Sad Ending Snippet:

est wc: 55k current wc: 22707 sponsored wc: 0/32293

{New Concepts}

♪bottom of the river. (Touya Todoroki x Siren!Reader) (Oneshot)

The eldest Todoroki boy is found adrift at sea. Covered in burns from head to toe, but somehow still breathing. He was missing for days. The accident should've killed him. No one knows how he survived. The town praises it as a miracle. But when Rei notices that he suddenly keeps sneaking to the ocean in the middle of the night, and hums a disjointed melody when no one else is around, she begins to suspect that it was no miracle that saved her son. Content: Fantasy!AU, horror concept, Touya is being claimed by a Siren but Rei is not willing to give up her son, VERY inspired by some of the things I wrote in Bury My Ashes at Sea so there might be similar imagery, reader's gender is simply not planned to be mentioned, sfw, Rei's POV est wc: 10-13k current wc: 0 sponsored wc: 500/13000

🧛🏽Unnamed (Touya Todoroki x Vampire!Reader)

Touya doesn't know a kind of love where he doesn't hurt. He prides himself in it, really. He's perfect for you. You bite him and he doesn't feel it. He's already covered in bandages from his Quirk, so no one notices a difference. And if he's a little extra dizzy or laid up in bed, who cares? He's always been a little sickly. No one notices. Don't worry about him. You tell him how good he tastes and he doesn't think he's ever felt so alive in his life. He lets you take as much as you want. See, you don't need other, stronger humans. He can take it. This is what love is. He'll never tell you to stop. Not even when he can't feel his fingers anymore. Just don't pick someone else. Content: Fantasy!AU, GN!reader where I would try to keep specific body mentions very limited, Bratty Needy Touya, Quirks still exist but so do monsters because why not, Civilian Touya who never had his accident, this has potential for nsfw I could be persuaded! est wc: 7-10k current wc: 0 sponsored wc: 0/10000

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Obey Me! ʚ♡ɞ

{In Progress}

💖Love Is A Liar's Game (All of the Brothers + Diavolo and Solomon x Three OCs) (Longfic. Like...very long. Covers at least the first two seasons)

When Diavolo announces the plan for a human exchange program, the Charas, MC, Y/N, and OC (real names redacted), see it as the perfect opportunity to pull off the ultimate scam: seducing the rulers of hell and taking the throne. However...falling in love with their marks might complicate things. Content: Religious cults, drug use, the Charas are Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss incarnate, toxic relationships, polyamory (each of the Charas date three boys), humor, disabled mc (OC), plus-size mc (Y/N), and non-binary mc (MC), some angst here and there, mostly canon compliant but I fix some things, explicit content eventually...the first chapter is already posted on ao3 so please read my author's note to get an idea of what to expect! Snippet:

est wc: over 100k easy current wc: 6816 (the 2nd chapter is almost done!) sponsored wc: 0/120000

🍬Touch-starved (Beelzebub x OC) (oneshot)

This is a companion piece to Love is a Liar's Game. Beel's Gluttony is not restricted to only food. He's avoided even kissing OC to prevent himself from becoming a bottomless pit for her love, which has ruined plenty of his relationships prior. But when her and Belphie finally become intimate, and his brother can't stop talking about her (or keep his hands off her), a strange, sour taste won't leave his mouth. It's jealousy. (If this is donated to completion I will also post the Belphie oneshot I already finished, Breathless!)

Content: Post-Chapter 16, pining, explicit sexual content, oral reference (m), recreational alcohol, submissive beel, use of pact during sex, tiny bit of angst for flavor, typical humor for this fic universe, lots of pet names between these two lol

Snippet:

est wc: 15k current wc: 9909 (it's almost done!!!!!!!!!!!) sponsored wc: 0/15000

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If y'all have any further questions, please let me know!!!! Thanks in advance for any and all donations!!!!

From the river to the sea!! 🍉🍉🍉

[aingeal98]

I have like. Two versions of Damian Wayne in my head. I think it's a consequence of getting to know and love him via Morrison's run on him and then wanting to know more, doing research into his mother's side, and being horrified by how racist the retcons made were. It didn't really change how much I enjoy Damian in any significant way, because I liked him for his dynamic with the batfamily and how entertaining he is as Robin. It's just that when it comes to anything deeper than that, about what motivates him, what he internalized growing up, the impact his childhood abuse had on him, anything to do with Ras or Talia really... A lot of writers fail so badly at making it compelling and instead just make me cringe and want them never to touch the al Ghuls again. And so we end up with two Damians:

Damian Wayne aka the Damian I love: Most easily described as an in-character, well written Damian with a solid backstory. Robin Son of Batman and his Robin run both pull this off pretty well. They don't downplay the horror of his childhood but they don't cross over into cartoonish territory either, and they allow Damian to have complicated thoughts and feelings about what he did and what was done to him. You can see how his abuse shaped him without it being shoved hamfistedly down your throat, and I don't come away thinking "I have to ignore all of this no matter how important it is to his character because logically Ras and/or Talia would not fucking do that". Also he's hilarious and makes me root for him whether he's insulting his enemies or electrocuting Jason or dying for the fifth/sixth time. Like that's my son and I can write a million words on his mentality and how it's changed and his opinions on his parental figures and his character development and how he'd interact with x or y character and-

And the second Damian, aka the Woobie Damian. The one you get where hack writers want to give him a sad backstory to justify how Edgy and Badass and Damaged he is and write the most cartoonishly over the top evil Ras and Talia possible. Most recent example I can think of is Tom King saying Ras locked Damian in a box with no water for a week because he didn't tie his shoelaces right. Or Morrison's Talia murdering her own son. Or how SuperSons wrote Talia. And look, it's not that I won't accept horribly, ridiculously evil villains. My favourite character's dad abused her in more extreme ways than even the worst al Ghul writer could come up with. It's that these are characters with already established personalities and traits. Unless they are being mind controlled they would not act like that and do these things. Just like how Bruce Wayne wouldn't lock Dick in a cave and feed him rats. There are ways you can show the impact of growing up in a cult and raised by an evil grandfather and being told repeatedly that you are destined to lead them all into a better world and trained in the art of killing a man. And these writers fail miserably at pulling any of that off. It's as shallow and boring as "You know why I'm mean to you all the time? Because my family taught me love is a weakness. I said mean things to you and stabbed you but my grandfather used to beat me for showing kindness to animals. Don't you feel sorry for me now?"

It sucks. I hate it. Anything with that Damian in it, I automatically filter out of my personal canon. The only way I can think of making it good is if it's like the "Slice the Baby Saturday" meme, where Damian is just bullshitting to see how much he can get away with and deliberately testing his family with stereotypes. But unfortunately those writers are dead serious about Ras making Damian climb up a whole mountain with no safety gear even if he falls and breaks his arm or dies. Because that is definitely something you would do with your one and only heir. They're literally two minutes away from saying Ras gave Damian a puppy and then told Talia to kill it in front of him.

So basically when I say that I love Damian and he's my favourite male Robin, know that woobie Damian is not a part of this conversation. Real Damian I would kill for. A writer puts woobie Damian in front of me and says his mom stabbed him I say let him bleed out so I won't have to endure comics about him anymore.

[seraphirism]

Hello there again! (●’◡’●)ﾉ I’m the anon that asked about Falin and wanted to thank you for your detailed explanation on her!! I knew she was a bit of creep from what Google translate told me (someday I’ll evolve to actually understanding jp) but not that much of one. Like geez, I knew Akuneko showed the ugliness of humanity but I didn’t think they’d go that far. >~< As much as I’d hate to say it, I’m a little sad she wasn’t utilized more as a sub-villain. Then again, I guess we’ll probably be seeing her in some flashbacks maybe (holding out hope) of elf man.

Speaking of elf man, I’m actually terrified of whatever Studio Wasabi is going to release late August (╥_╥). I really really hope they let Belen become a butler though but that brings up the question of who the other two butlers are gonna be. We haven’t had any hints about them but then again they did the same with Teddy and Hanamaru so who knows. Maybe they’ll all be some kind of fantasy related race? Or something akin to that assuming elf man is gonna be one of the four…ahhhh!! So many questions!! But please Studip Wasabi, let our butlers be happy I say!

Side note but if Belen really does become one of Aruji’s butlers then I hope he still has his cat ears

hii, I hope you’re doing well 💖! and thank you for the feedback \(//∇//)\!!

and yes! i second that sentiment wholeheartedly! see, none of the villains in aknk are written in a half-baked manner; if they are villains, they do more than enough to deserve their titles.

[unlike media, especially these days, that have villains that kill a man on screen to show how terrible they are, have little to no backstory, just a pretty face (so fans can spend money on them and romanticise them), aknk antagonists are not like that.

you end up hating them (because their crimes are truly inexcusable in every way possible), yet you can’t help being intrigued by them. ]

why was Falin so entranced with beauty that she kidnapped people that fit her criteria and sold them? what prompted this? it wasn’t love for money or material. not to mention, she grew up in an ordinary village. why did she become the way she is?

why was Fubuki so lost in his greed for power and wanting to get ahead of the Grobaner family? with him we can make guesses (unlike Falin) but it’s still not explained—we don’t know his childhood, whether he had authoritarian parents that forced him to be this way or an event that changed everything in his life. why did he want to create enhanced humans so badly that he was willing to experiment and kill children and in the end to find an alternative for the devil butlers with Grobaner family so he could get ahead of them?

anyway, you get the gist! all antagonists in this game are really interesting.

that’s I wanted both Fubuki and Falin’s past shown in detail so we could get to understand why they were the way they are! unfortunately, we won’t end up getting too much information about Falin; but Fubuki is alive and i don’t believe his story is over just yet.

[also, it’s so funny that both of them had met canonically and Falin had proposed to him but he rejected her 😭]

I’m also holding hope that when elf guy’s backstory gets explained, we will get information about Falin! since there are earlier survivors (her captives) who managed to escape; we might get their perspective.

there is no doubt in my mind that elf guy is getting playable; like i can already imagine his initial ssrs, his interaction with Aruji/us, how he’s going to be in Halloween event (if he gets playable by then?)

but with Belen, my heart is unsure 😭 I really want him to become playable. though if does become playable, studio wasabi will make sure to break our hearts with each update before making him playable.

I used to think that the writers of aknk add some soft content in the main story after each really sad/upsetting main story episodes. but um considering we got the stuff with Lato and then Boschi’s whole chapter right after, hehe I’m not so sure 😃

i think you have a good guess going with the next coming butlers (excluding elf guy) being from some fantasy race. we’re kinda slowly getting focus on the Western region, the one governed by the green-haired elf looking guy, Elboa.

considering the last two chapters were focused on and in East (Falin and Fubuki both being from East), it shouldn’t be unlikely that with subtle focus on the West in chapter 4, that we will be delving in it in the coming chapters.

so to spice things up, the writers might add non-humans to our long list of butlers ✨! I hope they do, it will make things interesting since we’ll get a focus on the respective regions the fantasy-races are from, how different they are from humans and so on!

[bestie, with all love, i don’t think those cat ears are staying 😭💗 i want them to stay too! because it gives Belen this distinctive appearance from the rest and with how much we’ve seen him with them, the cat ears should be a part of him. but he didn’t have them before his demon took over him.]

and i kinda did some research on Belen’s demon, Beleth, and he has a cat-like appearance.

so i think Belen might have Miyaji’s case going with him. where he’ll get those cat ears and tail wherever MC/Aruji summons his demon for him or wherever he is under the control of his demon (that’s happening now.). otherwise, he’ll have his normal appearance since he is human. that’s totally my guess though.

but it’s entirely possible that his cat ears might stay when he wakes up later because he had them for so long and all (?)

the other butlers don’t have their features change under the influence of their demons (besides having a red hue surrounding their one eye and the black hue surrounding them) or when Aruji summons their demon for them besides Miyaji. with Miyaji, later during his arc, when he loses control to his demon, he’ll also have his animal ears too (i think at least!)

but i can’t wait for Belen! he’s going to be so adorable (๑>◡<๑)!

with elf guy (god, if i have to call him elf guy one more time, I’ll —) I do have a gist of how he’ll be like. but with Belen, while we do have flashbacks that show his personality, I’m not sure that’s exactly how he’ll be like when he wakes up.

he’s been sleeping for 2000+ years in this state where his demon has full control over him (and we do know demons try to weaken the butlers by showing them nightmares or showing them good dreams so they can lose their grip on reality and yield to their demon). so when Belen wakes up, he’s going to have gone through hell 😭 so I think he won’t exactly be the cute, reliable person he was before his demon took control of him.

i think he might even have problem with communicating, even basic tasks like eating and walking to a certain extent at least. he hasn’t performed them in 2000+ years. yes, he was frozen in time but they should show some signs of having trouble with his daily tasks etc (please studio wasabi, I’m begging you 🥺)

that would make for some very interesting content too! from being the reliable older-brother-figure to now having trouble with everything and relying on people around you. I hope after his case is wrapped up (he’s woken up and all) we get some focus on his life in the devil’s palace and his interaction with everyone (like a 5.5 chapter?).

[i forgot to add; i also don’t understand Japanese, in case if I’m giving the impression that i do! i understand it like at an N5 level but i studied it at home. that’s why i hope i don’t give the impression that my explanations have no chance of being wrong somewhere; i rely on deepl and other tools like that too 😭 i hope we both end up learning it completely someday somewhere in the future…]

anyway, it was lovely talking to you, anon (*≧∀≦*)💞!! i can’t wait for the next update (and I’ll talk everyone’s ears off on tumblr) so let me know your thoughts when you get around to reading it ✨! i might post an explanation of the updates for people who don’t have the time to read the main story update.

i am manifesting those cat-ears on Belen 😀 and for him to become a butler; if they don’t, we’re going to raid studio wasabi’s headquarters by dawn ✨/j and i need more content about Falin! in elf guy’s content, we better get information about her.

have a wonderful day, anon (*^▽^*)💖! looking forward to your thoughts on the main story (whenever it drops!)

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

"The Penguin" Review

Major Spoilers- includes finale spoilers

Guys, Colin Farrell might just be the best portrayal of Oswald Cobblepot (Cobb in the show) that I've ever seen. Robin Lord Taylor's Penguin will always have a special place in my heart, but Colin's Penguin is my favorite. Oh my gosh. Let me tell you, this show was freaking phenomenal. The writing, the cinematography, the acting... everything was so on point and this is absolutely a major win for DC.

One of things I loved about the show was complexity of the characters and how they transform over the series and I think our title character best exemplifies this. You start off the show knowing that Oz is not a good guy. However, there's some sympathetic light shed on him due to his childhood being in poverty and his clear devotion to his mother. He even takes in a homeless teenager after said teen tries to steal his rims. But as you go through the show, that spotlight of sympathy slowly gets shut off. And from the shadows, a true monster emerges. Relationships that initially come off as sympathetic become twisted and you see the truth for what it really is.

The relationship with the mother Frances really stood out to me. By the way, she was a phenomenal character and portrayed wonderfully by Deirdre O'Connell. There was so much tragedy surrounding the character. By the end of the show, everything she had was gone and what was left was a broken shell of a woman. Oz's affection and devotion is so twisted and obsessive. He can only have his mother on his terms and his terms only. He can never truly love her as a son should. Even when she's being tortured, Oz can't tell her what he did to his brothers. The relationship is so disturbing, it honestly gave me Oedipus complex vibes. Frances is the only person that Oz "cares" for, but it's such a mock imitation of the real thing that it leaves you uncomfortable and sad by the end.

Then there's Vic. I loved this kid and I really wanted the best for him. The tragedy of him losing everything to Riddler's terror attack only to find Oz as a new father figure just hurts because you know that it won't end well. Oz is not the man who should take this kid in. But what I love about Vic is that he doesn't let Oz change his core personality. He does bad things because of Oz, but he still has a good heart underneath. And unfortunately... that good heart leads only to one place with a man like Oz.

Of all the characters, my favorite has to be Sofia Falcone. (Her Gotham version is purged from my memory). Cristin Milioti is perfection in this role. She balances the character's more sympathetic traits with her ruthlessness. At the beginning, it looks like she will be the main antagonist given her motivations and notoriety as a convicted killer. However, you learn the big twist that she was innocent of those crimes and it completely changes your view of her. Of course, she's still a villain, but everything about her changes after. I loved discovering her story and following along on her quest for revenge.

Arkham Asylum's portrayal shook me to my core. The way the inmates were villainized hurt. The doctors were cruel and had inhumane treatments. I am very passionated about mental health and just seeing the state of things gave me genuine chills. I was very uncomfortable during the Sofia backstory episode because of how she was treated. The doctors did everything they could to make her confess to a lie her father made up.

Not to ramble on much longer, but there was also some great commentary about power dynamics. This show's main plot was the power grab between Sofia, the Falcone family, Oz, and the Maronis now that Carmine was dead. As a woman, Sofia struggled to get respect in the family. She had to fight and struggle to earn it. Her father literally locked her up and made sure she stayed there just because he had the power to. Later, we see Oz rise through the ranks by lying and cheating his way to the top. It was so intriguing to see characters go back and forth with each other, either with negotiations or through straight up fights.

I think going into this show, you knew Oz was somehow going to come out on top. But the journey there was very, very interesting and that final shot in the show was the perfect cherry on top. I can't wait for what's in store for all the characters within in this universe of Batman. Whatever it will be, it's going to be amazing.

[bonefall]

do you have a quick link to information about Brokenstar, Runningnose, and Skypelt? I'm curious about the story behind Runny's acorn necklace and I want to read about Brokenstar becoming SkyClan's guardian, and how he was able to follow Firestar/help him restore SkyClan. i've been having a hard time finding it

I need to finish (or at least *reasonably complete*) the SE where Fire and Broken go to resurrect SkyClan. That is called Firestar's Quietus. Brokenstar's origin, which completely replaces Yellowfang's Secret, is called Brokenstar's Cataclysm and that's another one I need to complete.

The exact story has undergone a lot of revision SO I'm gonna take a quick break to try and compile some Best Hits of BB!Runningnose's and BB!Brokenstar's dynamic to get you up to speed, and make a definitive list of what's currently canon to Better Bones

And, because this is DEFINITELY the change that raises the most eyebrows and it's a good opportunity to make an intro,

"Elder Bones, what's all this I hear about your Not-Totally-Evil Brokenstar?"

He's still evil lmao, but he's not BORN evil in BB. NO ONE is.

BB is a story about culture. It's about a lot of things, family, anti-authoritarianism, xenophobia... but at its core, Better Bones is about how people impact culture, and how it acts on people.

Something I realized early in this process is that Canon Brokenstar, who is a born-evil punishment for SkyClan's exile (this is CANON, go re-read Yellowfang's Secret if you don't remember!), only made worse by abuse and enabling, does not effectively tell a story about culture.

Depending on your reading, Canon!Brokenstar is either a cosmic horror story or one about abuse. Could Yellowfang have saved him (and ShadowClan) with love? The book implies no, it was his destiny, just the medcat den was hers.

But looking at Canon!Lizardfang who let him get bullied*, and Canon!Raggedpelt who enabled him every step of the way as Sagewhisker held Yellowfang back, you could also read it as someone who was treated so horribly that he did horrible things to others. That he wanted respect and this is how he got it

So, okay, you could read that it's the fault of this bad woman, bullying, and this overly permissive dad that he became a baby killer. Problem solved?

HOWEVER... the Erins also refuse to actually write about people who unironically love his philosophy, because they don't want Brokenstar to be systemic. Blackfoot, the posterboy for a Broken-supporter, gets to reckon with how sad his childhood was and how he was only ever a mislead kitty who Truly Loved His Clan, as opposed to Brokenstar, who was Born Evil And Did Not Truly Love His Clan.

Blackstar's greatest flaw wasn't xenophobia, or hatred. He wasn't groomed by a society that glorifies violence and pushes a might-makes-right mentality. He just followed The Bad Person. With the death of The Bad People, society is fine :)

This is a recurring dichotomy. Leopardstar was good all along, Tigerstar was bad all along, Needletail was good all along, Darktail was bad all along. The Erins are not telling a story about how Clan Culture produces villains, or how it makes good people do terrible things, they tell stories about treacherous Evil People who always had a seed of badness inside of them.

-Onestar's Confession, Page 704

This is their guiding philosophy, and it's what Better Bones sets out to reject.

So, Brokenstar.

I realized while drawing him this one time that I was making him look too much like Tigerstar. Charismatic and puffed up, ready to twist the code to fit his own ends. Then it hit me-- why am I telling the same story twice?

BB!Tigerstar is the inheritor of Thistle Law, apprentice of Thistleclaw, with a backstory where he was a lonely, abused child and seeks respect to fill that hole. He's getting all sorts of reduxes to explore him, and the way that violent ideologies recruit (and prey on) angry and lonely people. Why should I just... have two Tigerstars, but one of them is explored less?

AND, I would waste the fascinating idea that Brokenstar is a manifested curse. Why remove something so cool, when instead, I could lean into that...? Then I started to realize...

Why didn't they ever connect Brokenstar to the resurrection of SkyClan, if he is this manifested curse?

So, enough preamble. Come below the cut and I'll tell you about the story in Better Bones so far...

BB!Brokenstar is not born evil. He is born angry.

He was ALWAYS going to happen. His birth, his ambition, and his fury were inevitable.

This is a curse that was laid generations ago, at the end of Ripplestar's Rot.

The last-ditch attempt to save SkyClan was literally crushed by StarClan itself, blasting the base of the blighted 5th Tree of Fivetrees and sending it toppling down to smite Ripplestar.

That tree was the symbol of SkyClan and their place in the forest. All the love, comfort, and memories that they had ever put into that oak had a power of their own-- and they took form on that night.

Brokenstar is not the only "entity" of this type. Star Flower, eons ago, was another. BB contains many new types of entities beyond, and even adjacent to StarClan. Gods, curses, guardians, other religions of equal standing...

But he needed to be born to someone. In return for Dawnstar's kindness, taking in Cloudstar's young children (Re: Ripplestar's Rot), ShadowClan would be the eye of the storm.

And it would be a Cleric who bore him, just like Larkstripe, who had been cruelly separated from her only kitten.

Yellowfang, Shroompelt at the time, this was before her Dishonor Title, saw when he was born that he was furious. She'd never seen a newborn look so angry.

In Brokenstar's Cataclysm, she only gets the opening chapter. It's enough to establish how Sagewhisker pressured her into the role, the lengths she went to in order to keep this secret, the reason for his name despite it not matching his tail.

NOTE: Brokentail's name, Kanochswash, means Broken-in-half-tail. He has two breaks in his tail, making three segments. It matches the way the oak was broken, once at the base, again against the rock, but it is actually obvious in Clanmew that his name does not refer to his tail.

Or, it's obvious to Lizardstripe at least... who is VERY different in BB. Old followers will know, she is a very loyal friend of Bluestar herself, and a member of her inter-Clan friendgroup, the Forget-Me-Nots.

She really doesn't want to be in this situation, doesn't LIKE being a mother, and Mudfoot is unhelpful... but she's the most perceptive of the Forget-Me-Nots. She hears that name, sees Shroompelt's distant eyes, and it clicks. She sometimes looks for things to complain about so Shroompelt has an excuse to stay in the den for a while.

But Lizardstripe is not raising Brokenkit. Raggedstar is. Raggedstar is Brokenkit's Mi, and Raggedstar alone. He's pointedly adamant about that, and as soon as Brokenkit doesn't need round-the-clock suckling, he started sleeping in the Leader's Den with dad.

Unfortunately, being the golden child of the leader did not pair nicely with Brokenkit's short fuse.

And he made a little friend.

What first drew Runningkit to Brokenkit was that he was very large. Runningkit LOVED pissing off one of his siblings, and then hiding behind his bestie who was younger than them but already as big as a stump.

When Lizardstripe tried to do anything about this, Raggedstar would get pissed off at her, insisting that his son needed to be with his friends.

Together, the two of them learned they could do whatever they wanted, as long as they stuck together. With Runny's brain and Broken's brawn, they weren't even a year old and already unstoppable.

And their idea of "unstoppable" was... mostly getting seconds when they'd already eaten and pushing against the horrors of bedtime. Sneaking out and collecting acorns. Being allowed to practice with the warriors.

Even better, since being the leader's kitten meant everyone tended to be extra nice to Broken to butter up to Ragged.

If they got what they wanted, they were sweet to adults. But from watching her son, and from being friends with Lizardstripe, Shroompelt knew that they could be vicious when they wanted to be.

And from a young age, Brokenkit knew that he needed to become Brokenstar... and Runningkit promised he'd get him there.

You might be noticing something.

Brokenstar was always loved, very, very much.

Spoiled? Absolutely. A little bully? You bet.

Not yet more than the sort of things angry, spoiled kids get up to.

The point I'm meticulously building here is that BB!Brokenstar WAS LOVED, and he loved in turn.

It won't stop what is about to happen.

Brokenkit was only a few months old when his father became leader, after Cedarstar was killed in the war with WindClan. Heatherstar wanted the Mothermouth Moorland; a floodplain just beyond the Carrionplace, which grows flax and many other medicinal flowers.

It was something the two clans had fought over before, that IS the code's Right of Challenge, but Heatherstar wanted all of it. She'd even killed the practice of tunneling to dedicate all of her forces to take it.

If you are not strong enough to keep something, you do not deserve to have it. This is what the Code says.

And strength is what Brokenkit quickly learned.

Taking extra bowls of food means nothing in the fall when the prey grows fat, but ShadowClan's marsh freezes fast.

You can't whine up a second bowl when not everyone even got a first.

Do you defend your territory? Or focus on survival? When the challenges are frequent, you have to go without eating to defend them.

And yes, you're hungry, but it's for a reason.

Brokenkit wasn't out of kithood when he saw his first death, because people were already dying before he was born.

In skirmishes, in hunting accidents, to infection because they didn't have enough herbs. Starvation in winter.

From a very young age, he was taught this is the way of Clans, and this is because of WindClan.

And his ambition to become deputy only became stronger. Runningpaw hatched a plan to get into the Cleric den, against Shroompelt's will.

Brokenpaw got into fights at Gatherings over ShadowClan's honor, enthusiastically bowled into battle against WindClan raids, became Raggedstar's best little rat hunter.

And he saw clanmates he loved dying.

Over many years, through his warriorhood, into his deputyship.

Cloudpelt, Foxheart, Toadskip, Nutwhisker. Lizardstripe was killed during an event called Heatherstar's Last Stand, her neck snapped by the WindClan warrior Flytail.

Heatherstar died, and her much more reasonable and peaceful deputy, Tallstar... continued to keep the Moorland she won.

ShadowClan went through that last winter, again trying to win their land back, but beaten so hard they couldn't mount a resistance. More cats collapsed in the snow, Mudfoot was one of them.

WindClan won. The land was theirs now. Out of his magnanimity, Tallstar reached out to Raggedstar and made him an unprecedented offer. He would give him a tax of rabbits, for peace. ShadowClan would stop attacking, and formally acknowledge that WindClan was the victor of the war.

A peace deal, a surrender.

Tallstar didn't have to do that. If his Clan won, it was his land in the eyes of StarClan. He had no obligation to reach out in this way, and Raggedstar acknowledged that.

But it made Brokentail SICK.

He couldn't believe that Raggedstar was going to buy this, let WindClan keep THEIR LAND and just send them back some of their own rabbits. What happens next?? What if WindClan decides to come further south, what then? What will Tallstar ask for next? What price will his warriors pay for the blood they spilled?

And this is the moment that Brokentail kills his father. On his last life, frail and weak after an entire life of fighting, he decided that the last kindness he could give him was a quick death, preventing him from taking that deal.

Runningnose sprang into action as soon as he'd been told about it; helping him to cover up the murder.

And together, they turned to TOTAL war.

Once, as an apprentice, Brokenstar recalled the words of a warrior at a Gathering. A parable of thistles-- how they don't care what attacks them. They don't hold back. How they will choke out the whole field who they can thrive.

Is that not the conclusion of Might Makes Right? If you can, you must, before they do it to you.

An apprentice becomes a warrior-- stop that from happening.

Don't let your enemies escape to fight again-- kill them when you have the chance.

Their herb stores are just as limited as yours-- dwindle them with infection and poison.

WindClan Must Pay, every single one of them. All the Clans are tomorrow's rivals, they have to go too.

Everything is for ShadowClan, and he was LOVED for it.

well.... by many.

This is about Brokenstar and Runningnose, but I must mention that there's also a lot of people who oppose him. Who realize this as evil. Nightpelt, Cinderfur, Deerfoot, Dawncloud and Stumptail are some of them.

And, importantly, Shroompelt was one of them. Whenever she learned of some code-breaking thing they'd done, she would make waves about it.

The word of a Cleric has an immense amount of weight, and it prevented Brokenstar from ending this war once and for all.

So Runningnose, as always, constructed a plan. Brokenstar decided it was a sacrifice that must be made.

Marigoldkit and Mintkit (kits of Rowanberry and Clawface) were in the Cleric's den for an infection.

Marigoldkit was a blind girl, and very fussy about taking her medicine.

Shroompelt would serve it to her in a berry capsule, either knout or rasp, a naturally red berry one.

Runningnose simply swapped her medicine with yew, and made sure that Mintkit was able to witness his sister being fed red berries over many days.

When Marigoldkit died, Mintkit was a distraught child who could only communicate that Shroompelt fed her "Red Berries," like the ones he'd been taught to stay away from.

Shroompelt IMMEDIATELY turned on Runningnose, accusing him of killing a blind kitten.

And he turned it on her. She'd fallen right into his trap. "You did this! You've been wanting us to stop fighting WindClan, and now you've stooped so low that you're trying to get rid of StarClan's only other messenger! You've killed your own nespring!"

Many cats of ShadowClan had completely lost patience with her before this, and were now shocked to see that she'd do such a thing. While some suspected the truth, in the end, Brokenstar's word is law.

And his law was that he would show mercy on an ex-Clanmate. But from here on, her name was Yellowfang, so that the world may be forewarned that StarClan rotted her teeth from so many lies as she walked in exile.

Brokenstar's Cataclysm ends on the WindClan Massacre. A bloody event where well over a dozen cats are slaughtered, and Brokenstar resurrects an ancient practice at the bellowing request of his warriors-- Kitten Stealing.

(The only time BB!Brokenstar uses a child soldier is during this battle, apprenticing Badgerpaw early so that he can participate in the all-out assault.)

With WindClan gone, he turned his sight on the other two. The Clans were cursed to die as they lived-- overpowered by a stronger, more bloodthirsty tyrant, violently driven out just as SkyClan had once been.

From there, the rest is very close to canon. Brokenstar is deposed by a coup, one that NEVER would have succeeded if it wasn't for Bluestar and her apprentice, Firepaw. The Curse is thwarted by change. Cats of different Clans working together in the name of righteousness.

Bluestar could have gone, grabbed the kits, and come back, but she knew that WindClan would never be able to return if Brokenstar was still in power.

This time around, ShadowClan's plague was intentional. Runningnose infected Nightstar on purpose.

He wanted to eliminate a weak leader... and a treacherous rogue who had defied his own.

Collateral damage was acceptable, if it eliminated as many of Nightstar's supporters as possible.

And yet, his brother Deerfoot survived. Sentimentality? Just luck? Who knows.

If Runningnose has any regrets for anything he's done, it's only this. That he cleared out ShadowClan for Tigerstar's rule.

He approved of him at first, interpreted signs to benefit him, even killed for this old ally of Brokenstar...

but Tigerstar's goal was to abolish ShadowClan, and make a TigerClan of his own. Brokenstar never wanted this, and neither did Runningnose.

What Runny really wants, more than anything, is what Brokenstar wants. Destroying WindClan is a bonus, eliminating all of their enemies is anger that they were able to obstruct him. Runningnose thinks he loves power, but what he REALLY loves is his ability to get Brokenstar what he wants.

Everything he's ever done has been in pursuit of that goal. He doesn't care that he'll be going to the Dark Forest in the end, that's where Brokenstar is going to be. Hell is wherever he isn't.

In life, neither one of them knew anything about the curse, or destiny. Brokenstar reconnects with memories in his death.

And he started having dreams of SkyClan, which he communicated to Runningnose through channeling.

I'm working on the full outline of Firestar's Quietus right now so I'm going to be a bit more brief;

Runningnose got Firestar involved on this quest because he's a little goody two shoes. Of COURSE he would agree to help... that's who Firestar is.

He brings him to the moonstone, where a scene similar to canon plays out where StarClan tries to encourage him to go back to his Clan and ignore what he now knows.

And, of course, he tells them to shove it.

Firestar's Quietus is a book about righting wrongs. Brokenstar as a curse means that what he needs, in the end, is peace.

The peace he needs is the knowledge that SkyClan will be saved, and that it will survive.

Runningnose is willing to let him go, in order to get what he needs. He passes off an acorn necklace to Firestar, so that he can channel him with ease on his journey

In this gesture, it becomes real that he will go to an afterlife without him. After all he'd ever done and been through.

So, he hesitates before handing it off, but makes Firestar promise to take good care of it.

On this journey, Brokenstar and Firestar do a lot of bickering about how SkyClan should come back. The sort of values they should have, who should lead it...

But in the end, Brokenstar realizes, they will be something new. They'll choose their own path in life, because that's what it means to be alive.

And his final action is to face The Rats, now supernatural creatures of their own, finally dispelling the threat that faced SkyClan.

Having done his job as a Guardian, he can finally rest. His necklace is buried overlooking the Gorge, returning SkyClan's guardian to them.

Eventually he falls during AVoS, in Darktail's attack, killing several of the kin and their rebels and allowing Leafstar and co a chance to escape.

For more on Skypelt, see this little guide I made on the afterlife locations. Hopefully one day I can clean this up into its own entry.

More stuff to check out (that I found while searching for other posts but are cool and I'm re-sharing);

Jaggedtooth isn't a villain anymore

"What's your favorite ShadowClan-adjacent change?"

First post I made on Tigerstar's Paws

Brokenstar's two honor-kits, Littlecloud and Rowanclaw

On curses and anger

"What does Runningnose think of the other TPB Clerics?" Hates em!

A rundown on all ShadowClan leaders post-Ripplestar

Cedarstar sketch

First post on StarClan Technicality Brokenstar lmao

IN-DEPTH QUESTIONS ABOUT SKYPELT

Some specifics on the religion/entity/magic mechanics in BB

[pessimisticpigeonsworld]

TG always saying that they likes team green because they are more interesting and I'm always... (??) I give my coins to Aemond and even Alicent at a certain point, who are the only ones I can find the slightest interest in, now you tell me that you think Aegon is an interesting and complex character? He's practically an abuser, what's so complex about that? "he just always wanted his father's attention" ok.. and? and did he think that by abusing the maids he would attract his father's attention? WTF!!

"all asoiaf characters are evil" yes! But I don't see anyone justifying ramsay being a disgusting person because his father didn't like him or that Joffrey is trash because cersei spoiled him a lot etc.

TG loves to talk about GRRM's gray characters until is comes to TB lmao. They'll write metas about how Aegon and Aemond are just soooo misunderstood then turn around and say Daemon is an irredeemable monster.

Personally I really dislike what was done to Aemond in the show, mostly because they took Jace's book traits and gave them to him. But yeah, even with the show turning Aegon into a crybaby with daddy issues, there's still no depth to his character.

Aegon stans are like those people who make excuses for serial killers because they had a hard childhood. Nothing they do is their fault because they're just a bunch of precious little sad bois. Any critical thinking goes out the window if he just looks into the camera all weepy (just like his mother's stans actually).

Basically all of TG are still bland antagonists even with the show's additives. Aemond is still a stereotypical tragic backstory villain. Aegon is still the petulant man-child who rapes and abused others. Alicent is the only character who's written with even less complexity: she's a perpetual victim who's constantly passive in her own life.

GRRM's books are full of morally gray characters, but he also has many characters who are just bad. Ramsay Bolton, Joffrey Baratheon, Euron Greyjoy, Kraznys mo Nakloz, and Gregor Clegane are all examples of this. Aegon, Aemond, and even Daeron are not characters we're supposed to look at and turn into poor misunderstood babies. They're awful people who did awful things, and had no remorse until they died.