#they can both bond over having weird hands since I headcanon (it's implied canon but not enough to be canon for sure)

[kittehbiscuits]

Doodled Ford and Wilson for my partner and I guess this technically counts as fanart for @sunstained 's gravity falls/don't starve au (it's been a really long time since I read it so I'm definitely not up to date but I really enjoyed it and my partner loves it!)

I don't know if this scratches anyone else's itch but if you wanted them interacting hey here ya go

The fic:

[multiples-fandomswontkillme]

~Metal Family headcanons~

These are like my... general hcs)? which means I didn't include my main hc that Glam, Ches and Vicky are polyamorous, married and started dating after Glam met Vicky, and absolutely everything that implies for the kids and the relationships between each member of the fam. Maybe I'll make a separate post for that or maybe not! Who knows lkfwnlfqnf

Glam

Bisexual

Glam has constant nightmares and ocasional night terrors ever since he ran away home and is an active sleep walker. Ches helped him through the worse ones when they were younger, and learned how to deal with them, always preferring not to wake him up but being with him until the episode passed. Vicky has learned how to deal with them, though she normally asks Ches for advice with it cuz she comes out short sometimes.

He has PTSD. I bet it's diagnosed too, he takes medication and goes to therapy, it doesn't mean he still doesn't have his bad days anyway. He's trying to get better.

Glam has talked to Vicky about his past, his father and his family. This is a direct contradiction of Alina's confirmation that Glam doesn't talk about it with anyone but man FUCK THAT. We love good communication in this house, Vicky tries her best to help him, but there's only so much she can do to help.

Glam enjoys gardening, cooking and making models, he also likes doing his make up, painting his nails and dressing up in fancy, extravagant clothes even if he has nowhere important to go.

He likes taking care of everyone's hair, and constantly helps Vicky brush her hair cuz there's so much of it, Dee when he gets stressed over how tangled it can get, buys Ches hair products so he actually takes care of it, and chases Heavy so the kid actually washes, untangles and brushes his hair.

This one is kind of weird, but I refuse to think any adult in the family is unarmed at any time. Glam owns a taser and pepper spray. They're bright pink and sparkly.

This man cried his eyes out while watching Coco. He's hell to watch movies with cuz he talks and predicts what's gonna happen during the movie, judges them with scores at the end and all.

Vicky

Also bisexual!

Vicky's the one who does everyone's laundry most of the time. She prefers it that way since she's the only one that knows how to wash their black clothes so the colors stay vibrant. (This is based on my gf shaming everyone but Vicky cuz their black clothes always look so muted and almost gray, but Vicky's whole outfit is always the same vibrant black colors, so we decided that neither Glam or the kids know how to wash dark clothes)

She has anger issues, if it isn't obvious. I think she also has PTSD, mainly survivor's guilt due to her surviving the accident her brother died in. She blames herself and cannot bear to talk about it, in some sort of deep denial. If she can't remember, it can't hurt as much, right?

She has scars on the right side of her back and her hip, from the road rash she got on her brother's accident, she never treated it due to grief and it scarred badly. Apart from that, the scar of the caesarean section from Heavy's birth. She doesn't really mind both of them, they happened, nothing to do about them.

She likes watching boxing competitions, brawling matches and motorcycle repairing on TV. Loves doing BBQ's and going to the pool. Also an enjoyer of teasing her kids, kissing and loving her husband at random times, spending time drinking and bonding with Ches and bragging about her family and punching anyone who thinks they're not that cool.

Not particularly a fan of make up, skirts and dresses or any traditionally femenine-perceived stuff. But has been making exceptions due to Glam and Ches being unashamed of being seen as femenine, and actually rocking the looks. The internalized misogyny is kind of slowly dissapearing.

Apart from the guns she carries in each arm (I mean her biceps, have you looked at the size of those?? She strong) she has brass knuckles on her at all times. Glam gifts her new ones sometimes, she loves having multiple choices to punch people teeth in.

Loves horror, thrillers and action movies. Falls asleep during rom-coms and dramas. Ironically, loves gossip and talking shit about people. Enjoys hearing Ches talks about the gossip going on in the nursery home even if she doesn't know who the hell he's talking about.

Rest of the family under the cut!

Heavy

Heavy is a trans boy! He doesn't know his sexuality yet though, he's still figuring himself out. When he's older, i think he definitely dated some men but had better luck with girls.

Heavy has had innocent crushes on some girls on his class before, but they never turn into anything more cuz he's not the best at expressing himself. He follows the bother-the-girl-to-death-until-she-hates-you gimmick, and unsurprisingly, it doesn't work.

I'm sorry to break this to u but Heavy totally had an among us phase, and uses so much reddit and twitch slang... You know he does.

Likes bullying and teasing his brother to death. You know that when Dee had his first romance, Heavy was ALL up in his business being a tease and a bad attempt at a wingman. He means well tho.

He's not squeamish at all. Also has great pain resistance. This kid has picked cockroaches with his bare hands and loves cats, of course the cats have scratched him. He's tough!

Grows up to be the charming himbo he was always destined to be.

Dee

I hc him as demisexual. Kind of inherited his dad's tastes for the takes no crap, intimidating but pretty kind of people.

Can't cook. He tries but he can only do basics like rice, cereal, chicken nuggets or eggs. Complicated meals always burn or don't taste like anything at all. It drives him crazy.

Dee was a quiet and very well behaved toddler before Heavy was born. He never threw tantrums or got whims. After Heavy was born though, and despite the fact he understood his brother was small and needed special care, he started craving attention often and cried and got mad at little things. Typical jealousy of the oldest sibling.

The first time Dee fell in love with someone, he didn't recognize it was love at first. He just thought his interest on the person was born out of curiosity and aesthetic attraction, but as soon as he realized he seeked validation and companionship, that he liked seeing them smile, that he wanted to protect them, that he yearned for more time alone with them and that he wanted more than what just a simple friendship implied, it was an instant 'oh hell no'. He wanted those feelings to get the hell away, but unfortunately, they were there to stay.

Canonically likes MLP, psychological and horror anime like Death note and Hellsing, so I'm deciding he also watched Death Parade, had a FNAF phase, is very into The Walten Files. This guy enjoys any kind of specially dark ARG's and knows a ton of lore of real crime, unsolved cases, ghost appearances and other stuff. Doesn't believe in the supernatural, but sure is entertained by it.

He's a mess at romance. Flirting? His attempts at compliments are hardly flattering. Giving gifts? The best he can manage is jewelry and you can kind of tell he asked his dad for help. Dates? He's so nervous he's silent for most of it, but begins getting comfortable and having fun if his partner really knows how to get him down from his negativity cloud.

Ches

Pansexual.

He's very good with kids. He has the patience of a saint and he's laid-back, chill and fun but still is an authority figure who knows how to put limits. Sure, he's gonna let the kids light up a house on fire BUT hey, now they know everything about fire precautions, burns and how to treat them AND how to get away with arson. What an educational evening, am I right?

Due to certain info from the "Goodbye" official comic, I headcanon Ches as depressed. I don't want to elaborate a lot 'cuz of spoilers, but... God, everything related to his mom fucking hurts, man. How did he deal with all that?

Ches has been Dee and Heavy's babysitter so many times he cannot count them with all his fingers. He learned how to put those kids to sleep almost immediately (Sing Bon Jovi's "This ain't a love song" and any cheesy love song in a slow lullaby style and they're out), which movie were their favorite as kids (Heavy loved 'Monsters Inc.' and Dee never looked away during 'Meet the Robinsons'), how to console them after nightmares (Heavy needed reassurance, sweet words, and to be with someone until he fell asleep again. Dee just had to be tucked in, get his nightlight turned on and kissed in the forehead). He practically raised those kids along with Vicky and Glam.

More than once, Dee and Heavy have slipped and called Ches "Dad". Ches immediately gets his shit eating grin on and answers "Yes, son?" and does a couple of dad jokes just to mess and embarrass them. He's actually very flattered and surprised at how proud of himself he is for being a father figure to both kids.

Has a scar on the left side of his forehead due to a bottle his mom threw at him when he was younger, around the time he met Glam. He hates the scar with passion, it's a permanent reminder of the fact she never cared, that's why he always keeps it covered with his headband. Gets sad about it sometimes.

Ches likes to spend his time with a group of grannies of the nearby nursing home. He genuinely considers them his friends and gossips and hangs out with all of them on weekends. Bingo, billiards, walks in the park, soap opera marathons, you name it. I even designed them, gave them names and backstories... God, i just love the concept too much. I'll make some art about Ches and his granny gang FOR SURE, you're NOT ready for them.

Carries a pocket knife on him at all times. This man grew up on a bad neighborhood and absolutely knows how to defend himself, he can be intimidating when he wants to be and will pose a threat if needed. He's fucking terrifying when genuinely mad. Just cause he looks harmless doesn't mean he is, darling.

That would be all!

[faerielleart]

GIRL GGFJFJVGDJD OK UMMM let me see... what do you like about levihan? or do you have any unpopular opinions? or headcanons!

oh boi i hope i won’t rant too much, i don’t want this answer to be a thousand miles long i don’t want to seem boring-

OKAY let’s start

What i like about levihan: i have to start with a lil background a say that levihan is my longest ship i’ve ever had, it’s the only one who survived time and the only ship i have never stopped shipping/lost interest into, which is kinda rare for me since i switch interests a lot and go through hyper-fixations, so i tend to lose interest quickly in something once i’ve found something else to pay attention to

this, however has never happened with levihan: started shipping them when i was 12, still trash 7 years later skdjdjfjf i didnt start shipping them for special reasons tho, at the time aot was my first ever still on air anime and i was completel new to the community, plus i didnt really speak english well and the first episodes i watched confused me A LOT. However, amidst all that confusion and trying to remember names and plot points, episode 9 came, i got introduced to this character who apparently is named levi, the first information the scene gives the watcher is “this guy is a grump” based on his reaction to the crowd, the second information the scene gives to the watcher is “this person next to him, despite him being a grump, isn’t afraid to tease the shit out of him and we still don’t even know their name” which i found ??? Cool??? I immediately paid attention to this lil dynamic, then the next scene was the hairgrab scene and,,,,,, yeah my 12 year old braincells went into overdrive and i was completely sold

i just needed them to interact once and BOOM

but OBJECTIVELY i still find extremely telling, years later, how these were the first informations of these characters. In a narrative, character’s introduction is absolutely crucial to the story, you can understand millions of things just by the way a character is presented and says their first lines and honestly choosing to introduce levi and hanji together was imho very, very telling of what role they’d play in the story/what role they play in each other’s lives.

isn’t it strange that the very first infirmation we get of these two is that the grumpy one is okay with this person teasing him? that means there’s gotta be a level of familiarity among them, right? and the hairgrab? requested by isayama himself? in the official book of season one it also says that the scene was added to “show their relationship”??? i mean 2+2 is 4 where i’m from 👁👄👁✨

so yeah my dumb 12 year old brain had FORESIGHT apparently-

as i picked up the manga and read through the uprising (and got older and my english got better) i noticed more and more things about them and i just really freaking fell in love with their relationship okay it wasn’t “oh cool grumpy and sunshine who teases him”, more like “holy fuck grumpy has a sad backstory, seems unapproachable but is the kindest person ever, just wants to be a hero and save everyone, has the most tender heart, sunshine is a multi dimensional character who has fears and doubts and they work so well together despite being polar opposites but at the same time their oppositeness results in somehow them being completely in sync with each other and almost thinking with the same brain as if they were one person split in half”.

since they’re grown adults and they’re so close, their relationship has something that i always seek and almost never find in other ships, which is emotional maturity. You never see them purposely tearing each other down just to hurt the other, they work out their problems and C O M M U N I C A T E ✨ they don’t act childishly around each other, they tease and bicker but it’s completely different than full blown arguments where both parts disrespect the other just to prove their point. They are willing to listen to what the other has to say and their judgment is precious and welcomed, since the basis of their relationship is complete trust. levi is rough with words, but he means something else entirely despite what he conveys, as seen during the aftermath of eren’s first hardening experiments, and hanji totally understands what he wants to say, which is why they never reprimand him or take offense to what he says.

what i’m trying to say, i believe in a way that nothing is half-assed about how they were written in the story as a pair, despite how i disagree with certain narrative choices *ahem*; as much as i would have wanted them to have more screentime and more interactions, i believe it wouldn’t have been “in character”, lemme explain because i realize it sounds weird and my wording probably doesn’t help: their relationship is subtle and as such it should remain subtle and in the subtext, simply because it is none of our business as readers. Show, not tell, but show in a way that it is evident only if you pay attention. levi is blunt when he speaks, but at the same time his words have another meaning than what he conveys and his actions are subtle.

isn’t it obvious with how often it was remarked that the only person who is able to understand levi completely is hanji? and this is where chapter 132 comes into play with this amazing analysis post that i’m sure we all read a thousand times and screamed over it

all this “ambiguity”, all this subtlety, all this subtext, all this wordplay, words that have more than one meaning, i believe are all indicators of one thing: us readers are not able to understand comple what levi wants to say and his words result ambiguous to us and not 100% clear, simply because the readers are not hanji. but fortunately, i believe that hanji understood that levi too wants to “stay in the forest”. this is not the reaction of someone who is confused by a sentence, this is the face of someone who finally had a realization:

what kind of realization? it’s not up to us to know (tho we know *wink wink*), because we’re not hanji and we can’t understand what levi says.

plus, 心臓を捧げよ, “dedicate your heart”, can hold a million different meanings. 心臓 is heart, を is a particle that denotes the object, 捧げよ is the verb “to offer, dedicate, devote, sacrifice”, there are no adjectives that indicate possession as you can see; levi using his own left (not right) fist and placing it on hanji’s chest instead of just taking hanji’s hand and placing it on their chest is ambiguous too. i interpet it in different ways but the conclusion is one, and i can’t honestly see it in any other way. one of the interpretations i like the most is that levi is implying that they both share the same heart, which is why he used his own left hand, meaning that both of them are dedicating their hearts in that moment to humanity, because they are actively choosing to put their desires aside to live a peaceful life away from everything (as jean too has wished in chapter 127, as hanji has expressed in 126 but in 127 too and jean seems taken aback by their confession) since they’re soldiers and duty comes first.

so yeah if i have to choose something i love the most about levihan, it’s gotta be the subtlety and the ambiguity that at the end of the day, is absolutely not ambiguous at all. everything is expressed for a reason, if an author actively chooses ambiguity, in this specific case of a relationship, he intends the result not to be ambiguous. it sounds like a brain fart but i blame it on my inability to articulate my thoughts well, i hope what i want to say can be understood 😭 and in a way, this can be considered as an unpopular opinion i think?

meaning that i get that commonly someone might want an explicit declaration that leaves no room to doubt and I honestly wish for it too, but I don’t think it would be in character, and the ambiguity (if we can call it that, i’m calling it that just to avoid backlash and controversy jshfsjdjmd) in this case speaks enough volumes to me considering both of the characters we’re dealing with, the story as a whole, the interactions with other characters.

ALSO going back to their bond, i want to copypaste something i posted on twitter regarding chapter 126 and the blush: it doesn't make sense, character-wise, for Hanji to feel in any way embarassed around Levi. They have no filters whatsoever around each other. They are close, closer than anyone in the series, the author hasn't shown any embarassment between them. Back in Uprising, when Hanji was hesitant and wanted out, Levi was the one who encouraged them. So, this thing has in a way already happened, since back then they admitted to wanting to abandon responsibilities to Levi's face and didn't blush. So, in 126's context, it doesn't really make sense for Hanji to blush "only because they were embarassed at being caught wanting to run away". It happened once already and there was no blush. So yeah, the blush means something else. And that something else is definitely much, much, MUCH deeper than "embarassment". 🙌

since smartpass stories can absolutely be taken as part of the canon universe as they’re supervised and approved by isayama and published with the manga, i am adding the rain story as further proof of what kind of relationship they have. also levi being a 30 year old tsundere is adorable but movING ON

SO YEAH MY FINAL TWO CENTS ARE : i love everything about levihan and there isn’t a single thing i would change, because wanting aot to be a huge slice of life of them doing the most random things just to watch them interact doesnt count sjdjfjdjdjfjsmdm, my unpopular opinion is that i find the subtlety and the ambiguity KEY to doing justice to what they have because it’s none of us readers’ business because only they are able to understand each other and i fucking LOVE that, my headcanon is that they totally kissed once during the timeskip, maybe on the first anniversary of the battle of shiganshina, i see them not being able to sleep alone and finding comfort in each other and in a moment of weakness and vulnerability they kiss, but pretend it never happened because things are messy and they can’t afford to get involved because again, duty first, but the YEARNING™️ and the PINING™️ only intensifies after that, but they manage not to make things awkward and they are close as ever.

my GOD i rewrote the odyssey, sorry 😭

[aelaer]

☕ WHY DO YOU THINK TONY DOESN'T LIKE BEING HANDED THINGS (OR IF YOU KNOW THE CANON REASON THAT WOULD BE AWESOME) 👀👀👀

From what I could find, there is no canon reason. And I didn’t have any headcanon for this. So I outsourced and went to the internet to see what they thought. They had interesting answers. Here are all of them. I put my favorite answer at the end. (Copy/pasted rather than screenshotted so I don’t have to worry about screen-readers):

Via Rob Taylor on Quora:

Agent Carter fleshed this out in the final episode. Basically both Howard and Tony have OCD tendencies, most geniuses do. But Tony has a LOT of psychological issues at play.In Howard’s case it was displayed with humor, that his gadgets were not stored right. Tony’s is more to do with avoiding any personal involvement where he can. Being handed things is just one part of it, he beds women and has Pepper eject them, he can’t stand the pendulum and is ALWAYS flippant and inappropriate around authority, in particular Fury. Tony always avoided bonding with people, literally has Rhodey as a friend and Stane as his father figure at the start of the film and Pepper and Happy as his staff, albiet close staff. Since Yinsen’s death he tries to avoid drawing others into his world as they get killed, which is exacerbated by the dangers faced by Pepper, Coulson’s death and Hogan’s near killing in IM3. He is even off with kids in IM3 where he isn’t previously, so he is also quite paranoid.

Via Andrew Hart on Quora:

If you think back to (or go back and watch) Iron Man (the first one), you’ll notice Tony is handed things in the movie and it’s implied he’s handed many other things.

There are two situations that are most notable.

At the party when Christine Everhart comes up to Tony after he got back from Afghanistan, she hands him pictures of terrorists using Stark technology to attack Gulmira (however you spell it), which if you recall, is the place Yinsen says he is from. This hits Tony hard, because it’s HIS weapons being used to terrorise the place of origin of the man who died to save him.

In this same conversation, Christine accuses Tony of signing off to allow for Stark weapons to be given to those terrorists, which Tony is immediately upset by. It’s one of the few times when Tony doesn’t have a ‘smart comeback’, but is shown to be upset and disturbed by this information. This makes Tony wonder “What has he been signing? Could he have signed off for these weapons to be used without even knowing it?”

As CEO, he signs a lot of stuff, and he is responsible for everything Stark Industries does. Tony assumes the worst, that he signed off for the weapons to be used and didn’t notice it. He assumes it was just one of the random things people kept handing to him to sign.

So in this one conversation, we have Tony being handed images that deeply trouble him, and then being accused of signing paperwork that was handed to him to allow for these images to exist.

Basically this one conversation leads to Tony having a peeve about being handed things. Understandably.

Via KCreep on Reddit:

It hasn’t been outright explained. However my interpretation is this.

Ultra, rich, weathy, men have a tendency to have weird eccentric quirks. Think of Howard Hughes and him collecting his own urine in jars.  You don’t get super weathly without being a bit gifted and more importantly being right more often than not. So over time, they’d settle into the concept that everything they do is right.

My line of thinking is that Tony Stark is so cocky and sure of himself, that the entire concept of being handed anything means that he’s not in control of the current situation.

As in if someone hands him a file to look at. He might think that he’s the genius in this room, no one needs to tell him when he needs to get to work. And the act of handing a file to him would be offensive.  So while he may be too polite to just call it out for the way he thinks about it. He defaults to not liking being handed things.

Of course it’s just my insight, I could be overthinking it.

**edit then I just ran your question by my girlfriend and her immediate response was… He’s a germaphobe.  She brought up Jarvis handling things in his workshop, how his cars were all kept prestine, and how Pepper would be the one to hand things to him, someone he’d trust to be clean.  So you got two theories there.

Via Sarah Stodola on Quora:

I don’t think we have an official, worded answer from Marvel; they haven’t spelled it out. The following is my own observation and theorizing, after multiple viewings of most of the MCU films.

I think the core reason has to do with trauma and trust.

It’s not something he’s had or done all along. The trait didn’t actually seem to exist at the beginning of IM1 - he interacted with women and a pressing crowd at the casino, without issue. We also got the picture that he was a partier (crowds, booze, noise, sex) on a regular basis. We first see the hints of it later in IM1 (he’s uncomfortable with Obadiah, an old friend but also a very dominating personality, putting an arm around him - well before he knew of the betrayal), and then we have it pointed out very obviously in IM2. What changed?

Tony was held captive and tortured. Both people in his world and a lot of fans seem to forget that. Not just slapped around, but beaten, half-drowned, and electrocuted by people who seemed to take some pleasure in their “art” - all while having just undergone major wounding and open-chest surgery. He’s lucky he’s alive. He’s certainly not unaffected.

It doesn’t just show in not liking to be handed things; the issue is broader than that. That’s the piece he vocalizes, and he seems to play off it purposefully, obnoxiously even, as being difficult or quirky - better to be seen as annoying than vulnerable. But from IM2 on we also see that he doesn’t like crowds anymore - he will push through them if need be, but he goes visibly physically tense and does it quickly. He also startles quite noticeably when touched without warning on several occasions through the subsequent films - he downright jumps and half-turns if it’s from behind. It’s not just that he doesn’t like it. It actually spooks him; his eyes widen. His more dramatic anxiety/PTSD after “Avengers” seems to make most people he interacts with not look any deeper, but the older issues are still there.

He’s continually on some level of physical awareness; he holds himself very precisely. Even when dealing with the other Avengers he tends to circle - subtly - just out of reach, usually chattering steadily or joking to make it less obvious, and making conscious decisions to occasionally move in to do something like give or allow a brief shoulder grip. But it is obvious once you know to look for it. His body language downright shouts. The only times he seems to forget about it are when he’s angry (then he’ll get aggressive and up in people’s faces) or in an emergency (adrenaline, total focus on what needs to be done).

The only times he completely goes loose-muscled and unguarded are when locked in his basement hideaway (safe place), or under Pepper’s touch. The only times he moves comfortably in strangers’ close proximity are in the armor.

I suspect “don’t hand me things” is simply an excuse he can get away with to not to get within arm’s reach of most people - one fewer reason to end up in close quarters with another human being. The only regular exceptions to the rule are also the only people he’s shown to be actually comfortable being in physical contact with - Pepper of course, Rhodey, Happy, and oddly enough, apparently Bruce Banner. (And yes, Peter later on, I was reminded. Tony shows some stiffness for awhile with him too, but seems to relax gradually.)

Really, when you look at all the little things unspoken but added up to a clear picture, it’s hard not to realize just what an amazing actor RDJ really can be. To express so much about a character’s state of mind without using words at all - except the occasional snarky “I don’t like to be handed things.”

**

The above of course is all about Tony Stark in the MCU. I saw from another answer that this trait has also been carried into the comics. I can only surmise that either 1.) it would come from a similar history and mental state in the comic character, or that 2.) the writers carried over the trait from the films without looking into why it existed there, in which case it could end up a lot shallower of a reasoning.

I think Sarah hit the nail on the head and that’s the reason I like the most. Feel free to choose as you like. That’s the beauty of headcanons.

[courtingstars]

Notes for The Vanishing Prince, Chapter 4

It’s Chapter Four, hurray! This one turned out a little differently than I expected… Mostly because the scene at Rakuzan ended up being so long. But I decided to keep it as is, because I just love Rakuzan’s team SO MUCH. <3

So as promised, this was Rakuzan’s turn to have a cameo (and by cameo I mean a super long scene, with loads of love for the Uncrowned Kings and especially Reo).

Also, I ended up including screenshots from the anime in this post! So if you’re interested in a basic breakdown of my theory about why scenes like this one prove that psychic phenomena were included in the show from the beginning:

Well read on, friend. BECAUSE OH DO I HAVE THEORIES ABOUT THAT.

(Cut for stuff about Rakuzan, a little about why I love the Uncrowned Kings so much, even more love for Reo, a brief explanation of some of the supernatural/psychic references, and a seriously epic yudofu restaurant because tofu is Akashi’s first love, obviously)

On Rakuzan’s Campus

It was fun to try to figure out what Rakuzan as a school would be like… I’ve had a headcanon for a while that each member of the Generation of Miracles chose a high school (and a team) that generally reflected their personality and priorities. So my version of Rakuzan has a lot of Akashi-esque qualities to it. XD

Canonically, Rakuzan is supposed to be a prestigious school that excels in multiple areas. That’s one reason why I included OCs in this chapter, to show that Akashi is far from being the only overachiever at his school. Which, as Furihata realizes, makes his status at the school that much more impressive! (Plus I like to fill out different areas of characters’ lives that we don’t get to see in canon, sometimes by coming up with new characters… I try not to overdo it too much, though, because I know it might only be interesting to me? //laughs)

As a side note, the Rakuzan students are shown preparing for their school’s cultural festival, which is a common event in Japanese schools, and pops up in anime a lot. It frequently involves each class and/or club designing a different booth or event for the festival (like selling food, putting on a play, etc). I’ve read a few series where the festival occurs in late summer to early fall. I don’t know if that’s the typical time of year or not, but that’s why I included the student council working over their vacation to prepare! From what I understand, it’s not uncommon for Japanese students who are really involved in extracurricular activities to continue participating in them over summer vacation (like sports practices, for example).

I Just Really Love The Uncrowned Kings, Okay?

Hopefully I wasn’t the only one looking forward to seeing how Furihata would get along with Rakuzan’s three Uncrowned Kings! I find their canon relationship with Akashi really fascinating, so I wanted to explore some of the implications of it in this chapter. (And then it went on WAYYY longer than I expected. But I was just having too much fun and too many feelings to stop? XD;)

For me, one of the most interesting questions about Rakuzan in KnB is why the other players elected Akashi as captain in his first year… I have a lot of headcanons about it (and a one-shot fic that I started ages ago, that I still really want to finish!). It’s especially interesting because the Uncrowned Kings had a history of competing against the Generation of Miracles in junior high.

So in this chapter, I ended up hinting at some of my theories about why the Kings in particular would decide to make Akashi (and specifically Bokushi!) their leader. I also implied that Akashi wasn’t the only member of Rakuzan who was forced to reevaluate his priorities because of the events of the Winter Cup. (To me this is portrayed really well in the last few episodes, through Reo’s reactions especially.)

Basically, one of the reasons I love Rakuzan so much is because I think of all of them as hyper-competitive people who originally decided to go after victory and focus on dominating the competition, at the cost of everything else… And then were forced to face the consequences of that decision, and realize it was ultimately unfulfilling, at least in part because they came to genuinely value the bonds they’d formed as a team. <3 So I tried to show this in how they explained the situation to Furihata.

… I’m also kind of surprised that I managed to fit in references to all five of the Kings in this chapter? I did not expect that. (And I definitely did not expect how Kiyoshi and Hanamiya would come up in the conversation. //laughs)

Also, I do headcanon Reo as wearing makeup sometimes! I just feel like he would be amazing at it, honestly. (Or maybe I’ve just spent too much time watching beauty gurus on YouTube or something, lol.) In any case, I’m SO HERE for Reo in general… Especially Reo the Love and Sexuality Guru, finally telling it like it really is? //laughs (Oh my god I worked SO MANY self-indulgent headcanons into that silly conversation… Though interestingly enough, Reo flirting with Takao is from some of the anime outtake/bonus scenes. XD So I didn’t make that part up, at least!)

I should probably also mention that some of Furihata’s assumptions/uncertainty about Reo’s identity are related to Japanese culture… In KnB, Reo is depicted as the type of person who would probably be thought of as an “okama,” which usually refers to a gay man who’s also very feminine in their gender expression. (It can also refer to a drag queen, for example.) I think the term was used in the KnB manga, but I wasn’t able to verify that? (And I should also mention that the term itself can be offensive or positive/reclaimed, depending on who uses it.) So gender and sexuality are distinct aspects of a person, but Reo’s choice of self-expression and honorifics, at least to someone who is Japanese, would tend to imply certain things about both. I tried to make that as apparent in the scene as I could, without going into the cultural concept behind it?

(Also a special shout-out to anyone who figured out why Reo asked Furi his date of birth, and why Furi’s answer intrigued him… Because OH HOW I COULD RAMBLE ON AND ON ABOUT THAT.)

On Empaths, Mediums, Clair Senses, and Auras

So for those of you who wanted to see more supernatural stuff in this fic, I really hope you enjoyed Reo’s little conversation with Furi! (I’ve been looking forward to these two finally interacting for SO LONG. I’ve had a million headcanons about them, ever since I wrote that one chapter of Giving Chocolate ages ago… I even hinted at it in several of my other fics, mostly the Christmas ones. XD)

I won’t go into a super-detailed explanation of supernatural abilities here, since the terms I used aren’t culturally specific to Japan, and are pretty easy to research. But since I see Reo as someone who likes to use knowledge from lots of different modalities of the supernatural (like tarot divination, for example), I figured that I would give a quick overview of some of the stuff he mentioned.

An empath is basically someone who is supposed to be able to sense supernatural “energy” in their environment. The idea is that things like a person’s mental health and emotions manifest as energy—in their aura, for example—and empaths can sense this energy and even absorb some of it. (Sometimes to the point that it’s difficult for them to tell the difference between their own feelings and someone else’s.) Empaths can get very overwhelmed and anxious around crowds of people—or a specific person who is emotionally intense or even toxic—for the same reason. Basically, an empath is naturally affected by outside energy, and tends to let that energy in, more than most people. Even though they themselves may not realize it.

A medium, on the other hand, is someone who can connect with spirits, like those of people who have passed on. (I didn’t mention the term in the chapter, but seeing ghosts could potentially fall under this category.) The ability to do this is believed to manifest in a lot of different ways. Some of the possible ways are sometimes called “clair senses.”

“Clair senses” refer to different types of psychic/supernatural perception. The most common term is clairvoyance, which is being able to “see” supernatural phenomena. (From what I understand, it can be literal seeing, or more of a “in your mind’s eye” type of thing.) There are other types of clair senses too, like clairaudience (hearing supernatural things, like a spirit’s voice), and claircognizance (knowing something supernatural, kind of like having a “hunch”).

And finally, an aura is a form of supernatural energy (or light!) that surrounds a person. Some people think it reveals everything from your overall health to your current emotions. (I’ve always been kind of fascinated with the concept, and I even had my aura read for fun once. //laughs) In Chapter Four, we find out that while Akashi’s aura is more or less a single color (red), Furihata’s aura has multiple colors. Believers in auras often claim that the appearance and colors of a person’s aura can tell you a lot about them, and what they’re going through.

So it might seem like a stretch, to be including this stuff in a fic about a basketball anime… But weirdly enough, the canon of Kuroko no Basuke has a lot of intriguing moments that could be interpreted as referring to stuff like auras and clair senses? I could probably ramble on about my theories on this for FOREVER, so instead I’ll just leave a couple of screenshots here:

(Subtitles/translation courtesy of Crunchyroll)

… Yeah. I definitely did not come up with the idea to include this stuff on my own. XD (You can interpret these moments as symbolic too… But I feel like the story actually makes more sense if it’s literal, at least on some level? //laughs)

(Especially since that’s not even counting all the aura-like visuals in the show. And the weird eye stuff. And characters who can apparently predict the future in various ways. AND THE TRIPPY DOOR VISIONS AT THE END. SERIOUSLY DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THE DOOR VISIONS. Anyway.)

On Platform Dining in Kyoto

I might talk about this in more detail for an upcoming chapter, but yes, the part about dining on platforms in Kyoto in the summer is a real thing! You can find a general overview about it here.

Basically, since it gets so hot and humid in the valley where Kyoto is, some of the restaurants have a tradition of putting up special wooden platforms over the river and serving their customers on them. It’s called “kawayuka” dining when it’s done over the Kamogawa river, inside the city. (An area outside Kyoto called Kibune also participates in the tradition, where this style of dining is called “kawadoko.”)

On the Yudofu Restaurant

Finally, in the longstanding tradition of me doing way too much research about the places in my fics, I did indeed pick out a real place for Akashi’s favorite restaurant!

First off, I should probably mention that yudofu isn’t just Akashi’s favorite food. It’s also one of the most famous regional dishes in Kyoto. (Maybe THE most famous!) Kyoto has a ton of restaurants that specialize in making high-quality tofu, so a boiled tofu dish like yudofu is extremely popular, both with locals and tourists. Yudofu itself was also created in Kyoto, because the monks working in the temples needed vegetarian dishes for their Buddhist diet.

Yudofu is thought to have originated in the area around Nanzenji temple. That being the case, I wanted to choose one of the most traditional, famous restaurants there to be Akashi’s favorite. I had a couple of choices, like this restaurant, which is one of the oldest restaurants in Japan. But in the end, I chose a place called Nanzenji Junsei because the atmosphere of the garden, the ability to reserve a private dining room, and the elaborate set meals all struck me as something Akashi and his family would appreciate. (Plus it seems to be highly rated as well as famous.) You can learn about the history of the restaurant, and see tons of pictures of the buildings, garden, and the food on the absolutely gorgeous official website here.

(Yeah. I want to go there. SO BAD. You can also see more pictures of the restaurant in the TripAdvisor reviews, including more shots of the private dining rooms.)

And while I haven’t been lucky enough to try it in Kyoto, I have made yudofu before! It’s an ultra simple dish that relies on the highest possible quality ingredients. So it’s definitely an appropriate choice for Akashi. (That being said, it does amuse me that his favorite food is basically just, well, tofu cooked in water… Like what teenage guy would say that was his top favorite food EVER? Oh, Akashi. You are such a Kyoto boy. XD)

On a side note, if you want an idea of how old some of the restaurants in Kyoto really are, I thought this article of the top ten oldest restaurants in Japan was interesting! Kyoto still has restaurants in operation that date all the way back to the middle ages.

The city’s culinary fame also inspired a longtime headcanon of mine that the Rakuzan players initially bonded over restaurant hopping… So that’s why that keeps popping up in my fics? //laughs Well, that, and this screenshot from one of the third season endings that literally shows them eating together in a place that looks like a Kibune kawadoko restaurant, and wearing yukata no less:

(Oh Mayu, I miss you, why did you have to graduate before this fic takes place? XD)

(And seriously don’t get me started on the shots of each team from that ending, they’re all adorable with great little geographical/cultural references AND I CAN’T)

Well, that’s it for my notes! I have a draft of the next chapter completed, and while my goal is to work ahead in the story first, I hope to be posting it very soon. (I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say… IT’S A TRIP.) I’ll also be sharing my Pinterest board for the fic then, so if you enjoyed the ones for Storming the Castle, that’s coming up!

[skyaches-aaa]

Here are Krishna’s thoughts on all of her companions , much of which is based on personal headcanon and my canon divergence about Origins’ timeline so I don’t expect everyone to adhere to this development ! This includes companions from the main game and DLCs and I’m using general terms from the companion relationship chart to describe them before going into detail.

EREYEN ( BEST FRIENDS ) : He is a companion created by my best friend who will be bringing him to tumblr in the near future. He is a Warden as well , in Alistair’s recruit group , but also did not want to lead the party. Still , he became a very good friend of Krishna’s over the Blight to the point where her daughter calls him Uncle.

ALISTAIR ( FRIENDS / DISLIKE ) : Oh boy. Krishna’s relationship with Alistair got very complicated. In my game I took the fact I kept sniper romancing him as canon of him developing a crush that ultimately went nowhere when she turned him down which made things uncomfortable for a brief period but she does care for him as a friend. I also have it where the Landsmeet happens in the middle of Origins instead of at the end , and Krishna spares Loghain. She doesn’t want Alistair to leave but she is firm in her decision and is very sad to see him go. She often thinks of him and feels guilty if she ever hears what became of him after the Blight. If she could , she would love to repair their friendship even if it’s not quite what it once was.

ITZAL ( BEST FRIENDS ) : Who’s a good boy ? Itzal’s a good boy !

LELIANA ( FRIENDS ) : There was a bit of a tense start given Krishna’s feelings on the Chantry and Leliana’s naïve view on elves. But she is willing to learn and she develops as a person and they become close.

MORRIGAN ( FRIENDS / DISTRUST / FRIENDS ) : Another complicated relationship. Krishna befriends Morrigan and they do trust one another. They’re very close and Krishna appreciates her blunt honesty. But then the Ritual comes and Krishna has been through a lot. She doesn’t love the idea of it but she also doesn’t want to risk Loghain or Ereyen dying because she loves them deeply. Plus , Morrigan and Ereyen are together so it wasn’t like sex was an issue. And then Morrigan disappears with the baby and Krishna worries about her and , honestly , what she is doing with the child. When they meet again in Witch Hunt , Morrigan is cryptic and refuses to show the baby and she is going to disappear with him again. So Krishna stabs her with every intent on going through the mirror and getting Ereyen his son and the portal closes. It leaves Krishna riddled with guilt until Morrigan shows up again in Inquisition. There is a long conversation where they slowly begin working through what happened and rebuild their relationship. Morrigan admits that she had plans but they changed so Krishna’s paranoia was understandable but they both agree stabbing was probably a bit too far.

OGHREN ( DISLIKE / FRIENDS ) : I take a lot of personal headcanon when it comes to Oghren. He is deep in the ways of the warrior caste , the subsequent removal from it , and the abuse from Branka. Krishna sympathizes , especially after learning the importance of caste in dwarven society. Still , she tells Oghren he can’t talk like that to women in particular , and that drinking this much is an issue. I won’t say she’s unkind about it , but she isn’t exactly gentle either. She doesn’t ever give him alcohol as a present because she does not want to encourage his alcoholism. Krishna is the firm hand he needs to learn to be better. He relapses while they’re apart between Origins and Awakening and she doubles down on him with his new responsibility as a father and husband and that’s when he turns his life around for real.

SHALE ( BEST FRIENDS ) : Shale is her favorite sassy golem. Krishna is very happy to not have control of her. The very blunt nature hides a very soft heart and Krishna knows it. Shale likes to pretend she doesn’t care but she can carried an injured Krishna all the way back to camp and didn’t let anyone else touch her until they got to Wynne. They are very good friends and Krishna misses her when she leaves and is happy for any visits.

STEN ( BEST FRIENDS / RESPECT ) : Sten learns a lot from Krishna and she from him. They build up a combatant’s respect first before they get to a point where things become more personal. She does have to kind of put him in his place in regards to some of his attitudes but all in all Sten is someone she comes to care for and respect very deeply and vice versa.

WYNNE ( RESPECT ) : Oh , Wynne. Krishna is older than the game attempts to imply the Warden is. She’s 30 and Wynne treats her like a child while still expecting her to be fully shouldering the Warden responsibilities. As someone who also lost her mother , she is very against many mothering types save for Adaia’s friend from her former Dalish clan but those are special circumstances. She respects Wynne to a degree , but at the same time Krishna has experienced a lot more than her given Wynne has lived the majority of her life in the Circle. Age doesn’t automatically earn you that respect or right to council. It only comes from her magic / healing experience and the fact that sometimes she does give good advice. But I still wouldn’t call them particularly close.

ZEVRAN ( BEST FRIENDS ) : The assassin sent after her is now a part of her found family , thanks. If it isn’t clear , Krishna does have a preference for her non human companions but it’s not intentional lol. But yeah , Zevran is easily one of her best friends ever and she emotionally supports him in leaving the Crows. They send letters often after the Blight and he regularly offers to kill any annoying nobles for her for free. She doesn’t really directly say no lmao.

LOGHAIN ( LOVE ) : That’s her husband. Again , as the Landsmeet takes place in the middle of the Blight instead , Krishna gets Loghain as a companion early. Krishna has zero intention of falling for him , but she finds an unexpected ease with him. She treats him like a normal person and does understand Rendon was absolutely playing on his paranoia while also acknowledging the things he was at fault for. He is someone she comes to rely on with her leader responsibilities and Krishna finds herself caring more and more. They get married a few years after the Blight and have an adopted elven child named Nina together.

ANDERS ( BEST FRIENDS ) : After everything with the Blight and then having Warden Commander duties , the levity Anders brings is refreshing and she really sympathizes with someone wanting to escape the Circle , given what she saw there and knows even the stories she heard are far worse. She gives him his cat and it cements their permanent friendship. When she hears what happened at Kirkwall , she does briefly hide him in Gwaren. There is discussion about potentially putting Krishna and Nina ( as he doesn’t really have a personal relationship with Loghain and Nina is still young ) in danger for harboring him but they insist it’s okay but he still moves on eventually.

JUSTICE ( FRIENDS ) : Admittedly , it’s a little weird to have a spirit possessed corpse running around but Krishna comes to care about him. He’s interesting and she appreciates his unique perspective on the world. It’s very interesting for her when she realizes Justice and Anders are bonded but she cares about them both.

NATHANIEL ( FRIENDS ) : He is a young and angry kid and Krishna gets that. She really does. So she tries her best to help him but also remains firm in handling the way he is dealing with his mix of guilt and confusion and anger and love surrounding his father. Eventually he comes to look up to her and still calls her Commander even when she eventually passes the title to Valaros.

SIGRUN ( FRIENDS ) : The death jokes are funny but Krishna does encourage Sigrun to find purpose for herself. They are good friends and enjoy having a laugh together , getting drinks after long days. The way Krishna gives her gifts over little things she mentioned is very sweet.

VELANNA ( FRIENDS / RESPECT ) : Krishna and Velanna have an understanding of being abused by humans but Krishna has interactions with humans beyond the antagonistic ones Velanna had. She does knows her anger , and her hating of humans is valid. But they do disagree on how to handle situations. It’s more Krishna’s willingness to cut through her barbed exterior that allows them to be friends but they don’t necessarily become best of friends still.

VALAROS ( FRIENDS ) : This is actually her half brother. Adaia had a child a year before she met Cyrion and she was shunned by her clan for being pregnant out of wedlock. She left Valaros with the clan so he can still have his culture and she thinks this is a better chance for him and her. Val does grow up embittered by this , especially when he purposely finds out where his mother is and sees she has another child. He becomes determined to make his own way in the world and winds up with the Wardens in Orlais. When he discovers Krishna got into the Wardens and became a Hero within a year it did make him rather angry and he requested to be sent to Amaranthine so see what happened with the Ferelden Wardens post Blight. He didn’t tell Krishna why he had a problem with her for a very long time but it eventually came out but because Krishna refused to be the point of blame for all of her brother’s problems , they did work through Valaros’ anger and became close. They do consider one another siblings and the position of Warden Commander is granted to Val since he actually wanted to be a Warden and she did not. He is the one out looking for a cure for the Taint.

ARIANE ( FRIENDS ) : More angry elves for Krishna to befriend. She likes her upfront and confident nature and likes the banter she has with Finn. They write one another on occasion.

FINN ( FRIENDS ) : Finn is not the first mage she’s met that liked the protection of the Circle but she isn’t a big fan of his unintentionally badmouthing Anders. Still , they get along well enough and he is usually there to greet her when she comes to visit the Circle for information.

BROGAN ( FRIENDS ) : Admittedly , I never played the Golems DLC but Krishna did complete it and I believe she would have liked Brogan’s company.

JERRIK ( FRIENDS ) : Same as above , though she does prefer Brogan I think.

[very-merry-sioux]

In some post you mentioned you could point out several comparisons that make Kisara’s sacrifice and continued loyalty toward Seto more questionable than Mahad’s toward Atem. can i hear more of them? it's super intriguing!

Hmm, this will lean more on the anime though, since that’s the one I’m familiar with. I will add manga lore if I remember it.

I guess it’s a little unfair to accuse their bonds of anything considering nearly all the characters in the Millennium World lack in backstory. I know KT was planning more (he mentioned it several times) but had to nip things to meet deadlines. So it is justified to have doubts with both the Kisara-Seth and Mahad-Atem relationships. 

What I don’t like is people overthinking Mahad’s decision to sacrifice himself, because honestly whenever I read people wondering about it, it usually comes off as “I can’t see much ~love~ in his actions so I can’t fathom why he would give his life like that”. And then there are people who don’t question Mahad’s decisions, but it usually needs to have that headcanon of some kind of romantic love in it to make sense.

To those people: Have you... Seriously, YGO DM. The one about friends. You’re wondering why a friend would do that. Have you watched most of the show. Look, how did you not get the main theme of YGO like literally even the 4kids dub repeats it over and over again like a broken record. Friendship. Friends. Bonds. Yuugi’s wish was friends. Gods sake the canon power of the Puzzle is unity.

Anyways, I suppose this is why Blueshipping in general stands out. It’s probably one of the most blatant romantic pairings in the series. Blatant in that it’s a girl, and it’s a boy, and look they’re interacting longer than Jounouchi and Mai’s weird romance thing... and there are sads.

Blueshipping is not one of my OTPs, but it’s not a ship I hate either. If it’s done right then I like it. For instance, I absolutely love this cute what-if dating sim game that features Blueshipping. It’s cute and adorable, and Kaiba is being such a dick in denial that Atem had to do a reverse DSOD to tell him to just try and be happy. Have I mentioned it’s cute.

For this rant, I’ll compare Kisara and Mahad and go from there. Also, I use Atem for Ancient Egypt time and Yami for modern time, k? K.

1. Time

Be it from the manga or anime, you can agree that Mahad knew Atem longer than Kisara knew Seth. If you don’t see them as childhood friends (as it’s shown in the anime), then you have to see them as at least knowing each other for several years. Mahad was a priest under Atem’s father first, and then Atem himself, so they must have seen each other several times for who knows how long. At least five years or so.

On the other hand, Kisara met Seth only a few times. The anime was generous with adding more interactions years before Seth was a priest, but that was very scarce. And during the time they finally met, there were other things to worry about. Their bonding usually consisted of life-threatening things, and dying. Mostly dying. Literally their most crucial point of their relationship was her dying and becoming his dragon.

2. Connections (or lack thereof)

Is Kisara loyal to Seth because he’s a good person? Yes. Is Kisara loyal to Seth because he’s probably one of the only few good people in her life? Most likely.

It’s not a bad thing, but putting it side by side with Mahad? It looks like Kisara chose to be a protector because Seth was a decent human being to her and everyone else... wasn’t. You first see Kisara being stoned by people, and with the way she just takes the pain by stride, this seems to be something she’s used to. The anime proves that point by showing a younger Kisara being taken away by bandits to (probably) be a slave. 

As much as I admire Kisara’s determination to protect Seth (and later on Seto), I have to wonder what could have happened if she met other people who were at the level of Seth’s moral compass. Like Atem, or Shada, or Isis, or Mahad, or even Mana. Because honestly, Seth was a douche compared to the other high priests.

Mahad on the other hand, has a lot of bonds. Blatant ones are Atem and Mana, and it’s shown he’s close with Isis too. Default ones are obviously the rest of the high priests, even Seth, regardless of when he’s a bitch. And while I’m sure Mahad’s willing to sacrifice his life for his friends, I don’t think he’d sacrifice so much as to never go to the afterlife for any of them. Except maybe Mana.

He also served another king, and even reported to him his findings about the Millennium Items. Yet neither the anime nor manga show that he did much about it, not until it affected Atem directly. He had sealed most of his power to deal with the Ring’s evil influence, and it’s only when with dealing with Bakura, an enemy of Atem who threw his own father’s corpse in front of him, that he decides to unseal it. 

So among all these good people he knows, between the two kings he served, he must see something in Atem that makes him worth doing so much. I can’t say the same thing with Kisara, because the little that’s shown of her life implies that Seth is the only good person in her life.

3. Friendship

Okay, so it’s not just me who notices how Seth likes to be a complete bitch around Mahad? Like, the few chapters I’ve read and the episodes I’ve watched I’m often like “Seth, dude, give the poor man some slack.” 

He’s always finding ways to criticize the magician, which I’ve mentioned before sounds a lot like jealousy in some way. As Seto Kaiba is often like that around duelists he doesn’t think is worth Yami’s time. At worse he’ll tear them a new one, at best he’ll ignore them. So Seth is most likely both annoyed at Mahad’s and Atem’s closeness and deems Mahad unworthy of that bond.

Kisara and Seth’s bond was cut so short you can’t really gauge how close they became.

4. Emotions

This is more of the fandom part, but I think what makes Mahad’s choice more questionable than Kisara’s is because it’s not as bitter or angsty. Yes, it’s sad. But you already see that he and Atem have a stable relationship, there’s no lasting regret between them. They practically bounce back up when Mahad returns as Dark Magician.

On the other hand, Kisara’s ascent to becoming BEWD is tragic and painful for both parties. They could have been together, but it was cut so unfairly short. It fills you with feels and you don’t really question it.

5. Choice

Mahad could have decided not to do the thing. I feel like if it were Akhnamkanon, he wouldn’t have gone as far as merging his ka and ba. 

He let himself be killed, and used that opportunity to fuse his own soul. Mahad chooses to confront Bakura, despite warnings from Shimon (manga) and Isis (anime) that he could die. He had more control on his sacrifice than Kisara, who reacted on whatever that was happening around her. 

6. Finding each other again

It’s not shown, but Kaiba has to put a lot of effort in collecting the BEWD cards. Yami got his from Yuugi, who got his from Sugoroku. 

Quick and easy in Yami’s end, probably not the same for DM. Kaiba has to work for BEWD, Yami does not. Does it say something on the thought and effort of Kisara and Mahad that Kaiba has to work to gain BEWDs’ respect, while Yami already had DM even during his insanity phase? Maybe.

7. Atem’s and Seth’s POV - fast forward

We can also compare their duelists’ feelings about them: Kaiba seems obsessed with collecting BEWD while Yami is happy if just one DM chooses him.

It literally takes a mind crush for Kaiba to chill.

While Kaiba’s obsession with BEWD could be attributed mostly on his stepfather’s abuse, it’s also partly because of Seth’s feelings towards Kisara. Which seem more of a mixture of guilt and grief and a heaping dose of “what if”. Seth’s and Kisara’s relationship revolves around potential.

On the other hand, Yami, despite his initial insanity and amnesia, is not as obsessed with DM. He doesn’t need 3 more DM, nor does he want 3 more DM. For someone who chases his memories fervently, he doesn’t become obsessed with DM even though he’s carved in the tablet. 

As stated, Atem and Mahad were already close, and the only regret there seems to be is that they died. But if they’re both going to live beyond death, then there’s little to regret at this point, right? And I think that’s why DM and Yami have such a relaxed dynamic half the time. Their relationship revolves around experience. They’ve already experienced love, and neither have to be obsessed on a dangling “what if”.

There’s no sadness when Yami thinks of DM, just pride that this monster follows him (unlike Kaiba who either thinks of his childhood or that flashback of Seth carrying a dead Kisara). Even after all his memories come back, there is no bitterness, only acknowledgement that they’re both here. 

As appealing Blueshipping is, Sealshipping tops it when it comes to sureness that something strong is between Mahad and Atem.

[andyastral]

Thoughts on chapters

It’s best to be up to date in Straw before reading this. This is the first 9 chapters worth of authors notes.

1

This was a short chapter, and i had 18,000 words already written, but as time went on, the story evolved and changed from the direction it was going from. I had intended to just cut the entire Salem part out at this point, but wanted to bring in Tyrian, and couldn’t without bringing the rest of the plot into it.

Anyway, this was the last time in my mind that Qrow would be close to his right mind, and I kept it vague because I was toying around with different ideas on where I wanted the story to go, and it kept the mystery of what happened and who done it a big old question.

As well as yeah. It was a very violent attack that he needed surgery after a stomach pump. This kind of thing is shocking for everyone involved, family, friends, and of course the person that’s been hurt. Since Qrow doesn’t walk up for a good while, the focus had been on everyone else, his nieces and kids under his wing (ha), Ironwood, and Clover.

And I knew from the beginning I had to work hard to make sure I wasn’t implying that Clover was going to fix Qrow like how i’ve seen a lot of post noncon fics are like, that the victim needs an SO to make them feel complete and help them through it and later bang, when it’s just. Gross. For so many reasons. So it’s navigating Clovers feelings and actions as well.

2

I toyed for a while that Jaune was going to be the one to find out about Qrow’s attack, his semblance tipping him off when he was healing Qrow and I decided against that because I really didn’t want any extra drama with the kids.

As I wrote, James started to be a bigger character then he was supposed to be and I started to develop his and Qrow’s friendship. He’s incredibly shaken at not just the thought of Qrow dying, his violent injuries, coma- but the very implications he might have tried to kill himself because Qrow was very much a reason James didn’t kill himself after the accident and was a pillar of stability for him. Ironwood then places the case on Clover’s shoulders for several reasons. He can’t deal with it himself even if he wanted to, and that Clover would be every invested in making sure who ever did it was caught and he could trust Qrow in his care.

The Winter and Clover exchange was a late added part, and it was the start of writing the two of them as right hand man and woman- we don’t exactly know what Winters actual role is besides being a specialist and if her closeness is because she’s the winter maiden candidate or that’s how the ranking works. I also tried not to make her James glorified secretary- but I also didn’t want to add more characters then I should.

This was also the beginning of hinting that this attack could have been political,

Not informing the kids right away is something that i felt seemed right, because Clover is a fucking mess, and he didn’t want the girls to see their uncle dying and the last thing they saw was him struggling on life support. It’s a desision he shouldn’t have made for them, but once he’s stable Clover realizes how selfish his actions were. This is when Yang begins her own investigation off screen while Clover takes Ruby to the tundra to blow off steam and to take her away from the distress that is seeing her uncle comatose.

So they have a bonding moment, Robyn steps on toes by accident and Ruby shoots at her in warning. I very much enjoy Ruby as a character, she’s played up as innocent and a simple soul, but she is intelligent, a protégée and fucking brutal, she tore Tyrian’s tail off with no hesitation and I like characters like that. She’s also a young girl suddenly without her uncle that she relied on, and while Qrow doesn’t lead them, he supports them, and finding that she’s without his support at all terrifies her.

And her guilt over not trusting Ironwood with what they know about Salem eats at her, because in her mind, Ironwood has gone above and beyond earning her trust, but she’s traumatized from being betrayed by so many people- So her leap of faith in him I didn’t want to frame as ‘doing it because Qrow isn’t there to support her and her decisions’ but more she’s putting her trust in ironwood  ater her talk with Clover about being a leader, and while she’s keeping secrets, it’s normal as a leader, but in this case, Ironwood deserved the truth.

So her telling him once she gets back was something that I didn’t plan to happen, but it did. It was the spiral that lead to me going through chapter 3 as I did- because Qrow was going to wake up in chapter 3, only his memory was gone for the afternoon he was attacked due to being drugged. I changed that.

The Clover and Elm scene is short, and I sort of want to develop the ace ops more, but put that on the back burning because I’m already judging so many characters. It’s to show that Clover is a mess, pushing himself and his teammate is stepping up to support him and get him to eat and rest.

 3

Because Ironwood isn’t told about Salem being immortal and there being no way to just defeat her when they’re about to get attacked and he’s not high from adrenaline and painkillers from skinning his arm, he has time to process and adapt, then immediately informs Winter and Clover when he’s got something substantial.

Ruby also lied about one thing, and I’m not sure if anyone noticed it.

This also leads to Clover having very little sleep, and goes to see Qrow. In the original draft Qrow was going to wake up as Jaune was healing him, and he had no memory of the attack and Clover told him what happened. he’s obviously shocked and confused. This was when I didn’t know where i was going with the story, and there were drafts where neo was going to come assassinate him, leading to Cinder and her being found out, to Tyrian coming to take advantage of Qrow being hospitalized to kill him.

But I settled on some dialogue that made me have to throw 13,000 words out the damn window. I thankfully recycled some of it, but it goes to show I’m a gardener kind of writer at heart. Clover asking Jaune if Qrow had enemies, and Jaune immediately saying Tyrian Callows- one search later, Clover has a brain storm and it snowballs from there.

I stuggled with this chapter a great deal because I had to make it believable that he would suspect that it was Callows and that he was in the City, and that someone had to be helping him. It all turned out to be a coincidence, but it worked out for me as Tyrian and Watts are taken in, and Salem’s army is no longer on it’s way so I can have the timeline to myself, bar of course the election.

Ironwood puts the alcohol away before he calls in Winter in particular, knowing her aversion to it.

Because Ruby had just proven her trust to ironwood, he’s more willing to listen to her, and when she mentions bringing Robyn in to help with the search and to get the people to help he considers the idea- and because it all did work out, he asks her to be his protégé, and wants to train her more in leadership, as well as knowing he can learn something from her in turn. They both care about Qrow a lot, and him being moved somewhere safer and thinking that they caught the attacker eases them considerably.

 4

 This is an accumulation of Clover not sleeping, barely eating and being exshausted, it factors into him beating Tyrians face in. Tyrian had been hoping it would be the General he was tilting with his words, but got Clover kicking his ass instead. The goal was to not just distablize mantle, but tilt the general to scare him into doing something stupid, something that in canon Salem does flawlessly. Without the Seer grim being there, getting destroyed offscreen. Out of Meta, they have no idea that Salem is coming, but she’s also called off the attack because she’s lost contact. So they’re not exactly sure, but since Watts and Callows are imprisoned they’re at ease, having no idea Cinder and Neo are in play.

But yeah, Clover looses his cool, and Marrow tries to stop him from beating a prisoner, and he accidently hurts him- breaking his trust in Clover and making him realize how completely frazzled he was.

Because i forgot what happened in season 3, Qrow implies that Ironwood was a recent addition to the inner circle- I’ve headcanoned that Ironwood was also an academy recruit and just built from there. By the time i rewatched it I had already wrote the scene, so just rolled with it. It’ weird that I had Clover ask about how he feels about the whole ozpin thing, out of everything else, I wasn’t good at conveying that Clover had been worried about the General’s well being, especially after he says if he was present he would have killed Callows for his words.

The thing is that with all these changes, the general has been able to keep a cool head and make RATION DESISIONS TM.

5

Clover getting to know the kids a little better and being true to his word in looking out for the kids is something I enjoy writing about, and something i want to keep in mind as things move forward. While he feels like he can’t replace Qrow, i never went into how they feel about clover.

I wanted to slowly hint at Nora and Ren seeing him as a paternal figure, even if they don’t do a lot of interacting in the show, and that Yang and Ruby aren’t the only people effected by his sudden attack- and fleshed out how Oscar felt about Qrow when the last real interaction they had was QROW PUNCHING THE POOR KID.

And the beginning of Yang approaching Clover was something i wanted from the beginning, but Clover was going to struggle but eventually be able to keep her from the truth. Only it didn’t work out.

 6

So. One of the first chapters I did. And BOY.

I don’t have much to comment on for this one. I wondered for a while if it would be weird to have it as a light chapter, when Lazu was a suspect, but it worked out as much as it could, Clover and Qrow had their first kiss and Clover is a blushing school boy because i had the idea that he’s great being a flirt, but the moment Qrow flirts back or makes his own advances he’s a blushing school boy cause my favourite trope is a flirt getting the tables turned on them and not knowing what to do.

The bee’s were going to pretend to have a catfight over the bodyguard, but i decided for it to happen off screen. Lazu also locked the door on Qrow so he wouldn’t leave, and is a definite sleezey move and he needed Yang to bust him out.

I never got to convey that Lazu was a big sword buff before he recognizes harbinger before he recognizes Qrow- his declaration to find Qrow when he gets out is kinda typical for a criminal to yell at an arresting officer.

And Qrow and Clover go have dinner together, and it’s called their not date and it’s truly the beginning of them going from flirting to starting to consider something between them and growing closer outside of work.

 7

Bad cop wrote itself- half of it from the old draft, and the latter part was Yang and Clover being cop buddies. Breaking in, then Lazu having his security find them immediately. He was an interesting character, Clover’s POV already paints him badly, and won’t consider that he’s being sympathetic to what happened to Qrow and suspects he was involved. He implies that he cares if Yang knows what happened to her uncle, and that he’s disgusted over what happened, and clover interoperates that he’s disgusted that Qrow was a rape victim unable to protect himself. Lazu genuinely wants to help- as well as clear his name and hinting of his empathy.

Due to Clover loosing time after going to talk to robyn and just needing support, Yang gets to the place early, and Junior gives her the files she asked for so she’ll leave her alone. What was going to happen was Yang and Clover were going to turn up and Juniors mother, Mama Bear, ambushes them because she’s sick of Yang pushing her baby boy around. It was cut in favour for Yang going to go beat Lazu’s shit in.

There isn’t a question that Yang was going to go kill him, and it’s not even brought up as a moral choice. She’s going to kill him, and Clover getting in the way and vouching for him stalls her, he get’s over whelmed and starts crying, and Clover comforts her. It looking like Qrow tried to kill himself is something that keeps coming up, because no one knows for certain if he did or not. Yang didn’t believe it, but after finding out Qrow was raped it’s now a possibility and she can’t take it anymore.

Lazu Mason was a hint to him. Lazu being lapis lazuli, a stone known for honour, wisdom and clairvoyance- his intelligence work and his security and his stress on his own honour, and Mason, aka a stone mason that’s been helping fix the wall.

 8

Qrow finally wakes up, and Yangs internal thoughts was something that actually made me cry writing because holy shit the poor girl has had to grow up fast, and as a result has a bit of a mother hen complex. She’s good at giving emotional Support, and mature for her age, but she’s still 18 years old and like Ruby, she’s now without her uncle who has ALWAYS been there, even when he was intoxicated he was still there. She recognizes that he’s done for her and Ruby and Tai, and she’ll never not be grateful.

Qrow is confused and just thinks that Yang has woken from a nightmare and came to see hi, unable to comprehend that she’s 10 years older then she should be in his memories. So the conversation they have is offscreen where he’s confused about what year it is and treating her like a child. It’s offscreen because I was already spent from the first part, and I didn’t know how to go from there. So her coming out of the room shaken, and I left it up to Ironwood to help him remember a little more.

Also because i just didn’t want yang to have to do that. You all watch Steven universe? That’s what happens when a kid takes on adult problems like that- and Ironwood recognizes that Yang is too young to be dealing with that and already emotionally drained.

Moving on to Ironwood and Qrow, this is academy days Qrow, a teenager/ young adult that’s still heavily traumatized from a childhood and being adopted into the branwen tribe was a step UP from the house he was in. James is heartbroken at his friend’s state, and Qrow unintentionally opens up old wounds that hurt him, as well as highlight to James that his friend’s memory is in tatters.

The entire conversation convinces him that Qrow is too fragile in the state he’s in, and that he’s failed in protecting Qrow because he was hurt under his care, and the theory that he was attacked over the embargo is still on the table. Rereading and keeping the tin tyrant in mind.

And to tie Yang and Ironwood together in this, Ironwood had the sobriety coins printed for his friend but gave it to yang for her to give them to him because he didn’t know where they stood as friends. I called it sobering because Qrow being awake, and definitely not right in the head is a cold slap in the face for any celebrations.

9

Infested Tundra really is filler except for the part where Marrow and Clover make up, and we get a little more into Clovers mind. Blake being worried for Marrow is hinted at, and he just confronts Clover without fear when Yang doesn’t turn up, so he gives her the truth. I hinted that Blake was being standoffish to Clover, and her reasoning was she knew Marrow was upset with him but he didn’t tell her why.

Giant worm for fun, Blake and Ren being ninja friends and Ren being a little shit in dobbing on Blake and jus team building. Ruby taking some leadership is to show her lessons with ironwood are quickly rubbing off on her.

Also Ruby using her eyes over the sheer joy of learning her uncle was awake is just. Good shit. And I wish I wrote it better. Maybe one day i’ll do a rewrite, but that’s not on the table until Straw is DONE.