#they’re all just kids being manipulated by shitty adults

[infinite-ducks]

Ough thinking about how during the fight Riz kept insisting Gorgug cut Oisin’s head off so he can’t be revived and Gorgug specifically not doing that when he killed him…. My hopes for a Rat Grinder redemption are hanging on by a thread called Zac Oyama right now

[creativity-deficient]

An essay on the Tweaks, how I view their relationship with their son, and what it means for their futures

Although I’m not the biggest fan of people who portray the Tweaks as loving parents, all things considered, I also don’t believe they are as evil and malicious as some make them out to be.

I have SUCH a love/hate relationship with those guys, and it’s because as shitty as they are, they’re also both WONDERFULLY complex characters who are just shrouded in mystery. They’ve been on the show for SO long and yet we know so little about them. To be fair, they could be interpreted in any way, as we don’t quite know their intentions, HOWEVER they do seem to love their son in a sense, so crummy as they may be, I do think that there’s a bit more to all of it.

Mr. Tweak is willing to do anything for his business, even at the expense of his morals. We see this exact plot in “Gnomes”, where he is willing to use small children as a manipulation tactic to get people to care about his business.

Tweek is going to inherit the shop one day, and Richard knows this. They BOTH know this. So he’s gotta prepare him in the exact same way HE was taught, to become ONE with Tweek Bros coffee and to ALWAYS put the business first, even if it’s not right. He loves Tweek in his own way, but ultimately he sees him as a business accessory first and a son second.

I’ve also mentioned in a previous post that I think Mr. Tweak sees a lot of his younger self in Tweek. It’s no secret that Mr. Tweak doesn’t seem to view his son very highly, referring to him as “nothing but a sp*z” so to speak, and if Tweek is going to take over the business one of these days, he needs to be sure of himself, not some “twitchy, tweaked out kid”. Richard knows this because HE was once like this. This was how HIS father raised him, and look how he turned out :)

Of course, by Tweek’s age, he was already had TWICE the work ethic, but no matter, just means he needs to push harder, right?

When Tweek turns 15, his father decides that he is finally old enough to learn the secret family recipe, as he and all the Tweak men before him did.

But it doesn’t go as expected, and Tweek has quite the opposite reaction that Richard hoped he would.

He feels appalled and betrayed, and why wouldn’t he? I mean his parents had both been drugging him his whole life, (as well as the whole town), essentially fucking him up for the foreseeable future. Even as an adult he still deals with twitches and tweaks. And they just expect him to be okay with it?? Tweek is a LOT more resilient than his predecessors, and he refuses to let this ruin his life.

But it’s not as easy as it looks. He’s been drinking his parents’ coffee for as long as he can remember, he doesn’t know how to be without it. He’s forced to spend a lot of high school in rehab, missing out on a lot of his teen years. Of course, Tweek has Craig by his side to make the process a lot easier, but it’s still a lot.

This definitely breaks the relationship he has with them, and Tweek finds that he can’t trust them any longer. Or course, his father just sees him as ungrateful. After all, he’s spent so long trying to shape him up into this hard working, young man, and THIS is the thanks he gets? Richard has always striked me as being someone who is nice until he’s no longer getting his way, and Tweek ultimately trying to break the cycle of abuse is exactly what hammers in the nail of their already strained relationship.

Mrs. Tweak is a different story. This isnt the first time she felt her husband has gone too far, we see her stand up for the kids in “gnomes”. I get the feeling that she’s always known what they were doing was wrong, yet she still went with it anyways. Why? Even she doesn’t know, in all honesty. Perhaps she had been manipulated into all of this as well, under the guise that it what was best, being brainwashed into this docile wife who just does as she’s told. Or perhaps it was always to her own accord, and she’s been in on it all along. We really don’t know enough to know for sure.

Her son refuses to talk to her, and she understands why. She’s always has wanted what was best for him, but they’ve gone too far, WAY too far, and things were never gonna be the same now.

But she hopes that, perhaps, with time, there will be some healing.

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

anyway for the Fucked Up Fire Nation Royal Family Analysis

i think it’s important to note that this is the last time in her life azula would have supportive adult guidance that wasn’t just flat out abusive, and it’s really sad to see, because she’s… a kid. a fairly normal kid. a mean one, but the reason is equally as sad to see- she idolises her father. she adores him, and kids at that age do imitate the behaviour of adults around them! azula's behaviour is an imitation of her father- she's so young it's almost certainly imitation of someone- and that behaviour is concerning.

she’s violent, callous, and you can already see a burgeoning manipulative streak within her (as much as it’s possible at her age- it’s transparently obvious bc she’s like. five or six years old she’s not really old enough to do it well). but she’s not the monster we‘ll see later on. most obviously, she seems to genuinely love her brother on some really messed up level. she drags him into her “games” (even if they’re basically just bullying) she drags him into her eavesdropping and she does genuinely warn him about the risk to his life- albeit in a cruel way. she wants to be around zuko! she doesn’t have a solid grasp on how to express that at all- since the person she admires and looks up to doesn’t even see her as a person but an extension of his own will- but she does care.

but by the time of the series, we'll see her actively just completely fine with killing her brother. even when she was eleven, she was happy to see his abuse. and the reason why, i think, is probably pretty obvious but also sad as shit and that’s the fact that the prior abuse zuko went through (and therefore, azula experienced by proxy- abusing one child in front of another is threat of harm and therefore abusive in turn) most likely started, or at least intensified, after the flashback seen in this episode.

which also means what we're seeing? the fucking sad scenes of baby zuko? yeah, they’re probably the happiest memories the poor kid had.

but yeah, anyway. while the children's mother was around, they at least had someone looking out for them- someone who would be able to do something to protect them and cares enough to do so. i absolutely think he was abusive before then- the fact azula, who idolises him enough to earnestly hope for him to become the fire lord, mimics abusive behaviour, is sign enough of that. for kids that young, bullying is in fact often an expression of a bad home life, because young children mimic what they were taught. but it had to be subtler, it had to be something that their mother couldn’t pick up on.

but once she was gone? once ozai was the fire lord, and not just a second son, a spare for if the heir were to perish? anyone who cared enough to stop it couldn’t. ozai had enough strength both martial and political it’d be essentially suicide. even iroh couldn’t do anything when zuko at thirteen was mutilated in front of him.

and from what we can gather, it seems a very clear scapegoat- golden child dynamic emerged. zuko was the primary victim of direct abuse, made to feel useless and humiliated for not living up to his sister, while azula grew up being made to watch this, internalising that she was superior to her brother and therefore had to be perfect else she’d meet the same abuse he did. and just. ughhh. poor kids. i mean this absolutely does not excuse either of them especially azula who's pretty clearly abusive towards her polycule but like. they were prisoners inside a gilded cage of a castle and treated like living extensions of a sadistic war criminals will. no wonder they became shitty people (and zuko is trying he's just mentally fucked from the abuse and believes he's the one in the wrong and therefore obsessively clings onto the excuse his father gave for abusing him and tirelessly works to change that into something his father would love because he sees approval and love from his father as a sign he’s doing good because he is sixteen. the latter part about approval applies to azula too but she’s also pretty clearly entirely uncaring about the morality side even if she does admire and love her father)

[ryuichirou]

Replies

A lot to talk about today: there are replies about some of our previous posts, Leech parents, headcanons, antis, random stuff, and in general we are all over the place today.

Starting with the most important question though.

Anonymous asked:

Do you think Todd’s tits are big?

Yes, your honor. They are indeed of considerable size. Yes sir. Those sure are substantial.

But not the biggest ones of the cast though, Lucas is bigger 💪😔

Now that we’ve figured that out, let’s talk about antis and other things…

Anonymous asked:

On the subject of antis, I find it terribly ironic in a sad sort of way how many antis are being busted for victimizing, you know, ACTUAL, REAL LIFE children not fictional characters…

This is super ironic and honestly very disgusting, both in terms of them attacking kids online for their interests and straight-up grooming the younger antis in their own groups. Teenagers are very impressionable  and easy to manipulate, so of course someone is going to take advantage of that. What makes the manipulation easier is the fact that if you pretend to be against “those filthy weirdos proshitters”, it implies that you would never hurt a kid, and it makes these people feel even more trustworthy to them... Whenever I block a bunch of antis and see a random adult in their friend group, I always get this feeling of “god I hope you are just some pathetic harmless loser”.

But even without taking this particular shitty possibility into account, participating and promoting harassment of actual real people (kids included!!) over fictional characters is always going to be one of the most disgusting manifestations of their hypocrisy.

Anonymous asked:

Hey um so this twst server I'm in apparently has antis and they found your Twitter and they started hating on your shroudcest art and I left as soon as they did

Ik it probably won't be helpful if they do decide to target you but be careful please

Well yikes lol Thank you so much for telling us and for your concern, Anon! Unfortunately, it’s not something that we never experienced before; we just figured that even if we block every person who is speaking out publically against us, there are going to be certain people who discuss our stuff on discord. After all, why would they talk about the game and its characters and make something they would actually enjoy? Now that’s just silly. When people have nothing to do or to discuss, they’re going to gossip, pearl-clutch and complain about someone out there actually creating content and being good at it.

The only thing that bothers me about this whole thing is that these people aren’t supposed to be here. This isn’t a place for minors, even if they really really really want to see some disgusting smut to giggle with their friends about. But oh well, as recent events show, even locking your account doesn’t help to keep them away.

I am glad you are out of there though; I guess your intuition was right. I hope you find people to share your stuff with.

Thank you again for your support!

Phew, with all that out of the way… let’s talk about sillier stuff!

Anonymous asked:

Hiii, I'm the Anon who asked about the Leech parents. I didn't expect to see a sketch. Even if it's just their silhouettes, i got lowkey excited, so i was wondering if you're going to finish that sketch one day or post it?

The young leech twins are so cute! they're probably chaotic, too. I also find it interesting that Papa Leech has a cane, and Mama Leech looks like she's wearing a kimono!

That being said, I think it's very interesting that Twisted Wonderland not only has a bunch of interesting characters, but so are their parents/family! Besides the Leech parents, I find Mama Rosehearts and Mrs. Ashengrotto also very interesting despite only being mentioned a few times! I genuinely like that they include a little bit of information about each characters family instead of doing the typical anime trope of "Dead parents" or "Parents are overseas", it's very refreshing.

(this is related to this post!)

Hi Anon <3 I am very happy you liked the sketch! I’m not sure if I’m going to finish this one, but I would love to draw the Leech parents properly and in colour one day. Let’s hope for the best!

Little tweels used to be little spoiled shits lol I mean they still are, but you’re right, they were very chaotic at that age too. And I’m glad you liked the kimono and the cane! The moment we started thinking about the Leeches being yakuza, I couldn’t stop picturing Mama Leech as a sly woman in a kimono, so I am actually especially excited to draw her properly one day. I am not sure if Papa Leech even needs a cane, but it makes him look more impressive I guess… similarly to Azul lol, but maybe he does need to use a cane, maybe he isn’t as good at using his human legs, maybe he used to be better at it but it’s more difficult for him now.

I also absolutely agree with you. I am so glad that we have so many different type of families and parents in Twst. I feel like every character has a story to tell about how they were raised, and it always affects their personalities, motivations, and values. Even just comparing Mama Rosehearts and Mama Ashengrotto is very interesting, I would honestly love to learn more about every single Twst parent or sibling lol

blackbutlerfandomnerddomain asked:

Based off this, what are some things you think could get Riddle flustered or excited over his partners?

Hmmm, let’s see!

Floyd – probably whenever he is being more or less serious and focused?? If he just sits there, writing something down, thinking about the test and stuff. Granted, Riddle only experienced a sight like this once, but the butterflies in his stomach he felt that day were unforgettable.

Trey – whenever he handles the dough or cooks in general, but maybe this is just Riddle being excited about the fact that he’s going to eat a cake soon lol But also whenever Trey tries to discipline someone. He likes it when he gets a bit strict with others.

Chenya – this one is easy, whenever he winks at Riddle. Whenever he does it, Riddle gets very flustered. It’s been years and he still can’t get over it and get used to it.

Ace – this one is also rare, but when he does something… handsome and confident and not annoying at the same time? When he shows him a magic trick, hides all the cards somehow and goes “ta-daa” with a smug smile. Nevermind, this one is still annoying LOL but if he took a coin out of behind of Riddle’s ear, Riddle would probably blush a little.

Anonymous asked:

Bows before you. Today I bring with me Ortho/Malleus propaganda 🥰

1. Consider that Ortho has the ability to just absolutely flabbergast Malleus. Leave him totally speechless with his technology powers. Malleus has not a single clue how this little guy works

2. Consider Rollo... if Malleus was thinking he was a top and got met with DISAPPOINTMENT. Now imagine the opposite... If he's convinced that Ortho is probably a bottom, and is in for a very pleasant surprise!!

3. Not only does Ortho have the ability to flabbergast Malleus, but ALSO Malleus shoots out lightning when he gets frustrated, and Ortho is afraid of lightning.... I just think that's a little hot. And very interesting <3

4. For two characters that are both super OP they are surprisingly on very equal footing, but I can imagine both of them getting that NRC mindset that they're still definitely better than each other, flirting with each other about it even ( flirting = fighting to the death for fun)

5. Consider Malleus in a muzzle. This is irrelevant to my case. Consider it anyway 🤤

6. Their longevity..... Malleus is going to live for, what, another thousand years or so? He's going to outlive everyone at NRC for sure, and we have no idea how long Ortho will live, but assuming he can manage his own repairs, he could live for... Basically however long he wants, give or take. They are sort of the only ones who can "grow old" with each other.... extremely interesting to me

That is all, thank you for your time :^)

Anon, this is VERY IMPRESSIVE, you really made me think about these two. It’s a very good ship on so many levels, and every point that you made is 👌👌👌 Come to think of it, the vignette in which Ortho helped Malleus to come up with the Halloween costume idea was very fun. They are so different with how bad Malleus is at technology and how bad Ortho is at… lightning and stuff lol

Malleus is absolutely going to be surprised to learn that Ortho is a top, but then he’s probably going to start noticing how Ortho is similar to Lilia in a lot of ways. And this is absolutely going to amuse him.

The longevity is also a good point. I think this is the only character combo that could stay forever for hundreds of years?? (Sebek, about whom I forgot, is crying in the corner somewhere...) Which is very fun, considering how much both of them would hate to say goodbye to their loved ones.

The 5th point was very sneaky lol but very much worth considering. I nod in agreement. Yes.

Anonymous asked:

do you think that in the Seven's time, instead of by the sevens they said oh my Toboso or by Toboso! and stuff

That would be a funny 4th wall breaking lol Is Toboso the God of this universe? I mean technically she is. The great cult of Toboso.

By the way, is “the Sevens” the thing that only the EN version has? I might be wrong, but I think it wasn’t really in the original game. Which would make sense, it’s not like the Great Seven are a deity or something…

Anonymous asked:

My moe fall is my shoe flying in one direction, my weave flying in another, and then I backflip out a window.

Anon!! This is incredibly adorable, but you should really be careful! 😱 Such acrobatics!

Anonymous asked:

Passionately, animalistically, and roundly is how I eat my cereal

The only correct way to do it….

[pdaliceliveblogs]

So that was a damn lie.

ANYWAY

Everything is in place for the final stretch now. Most of the Boiling Isles are out of commission. Lilith, Eda, and King have been quietly surviving and planning. Belos has squirmed his way into Raine’s body and making trouble. The kids plus Camila are in the Skull, right below the Collector’s palace.

And the Collector is about to throw one hell of a tantrum.

So much of this episode was very… Lord of the Flies. Kids without supervision, I mean, but then also with bad supervision. At Hexside, the sole present adult (though she was shamming as a student) manipulated her way into being the power behind the throne, using Boscha’s preexisting selfishness and violence and encouraging the worst in her, playing on her genuine fear and grief for her puppeteered teammates, helping her be her worst self. The rest of the kids, though, for the most part were just trying to survive. Fucking around selling tee shirts, making a damn statue of their principal. They’re not competent, they’re kids, but they’re trying. I liked that Matt got to step up while remaining an absolute dweeb. He can be both a decent leader and a dorkass who draws stubble on with a marker (to be more like his missing big brother).

Meanwhile, the Collector… the only adult they’ve had around for hundreds of years is Belos, who never really treated them like a child, but like a resource. On their own, now— or even with Odalia around, because she isn’t interested in being a guardian either— they’re off the rails. Like the kids at Hexside, like Boscha, he’s flailing, trying to be a kid, trying to have a good time, but because of how powerful he is he’s doing a lot more damage than Boscha just being a shitty student council president.

He’s caused real, lasting harm. He didn’t mean to. He still did. Both of these things are true. I love him. That’s very true.

I’m sad that we had that moment of “perfectly eavesdropping on just the bit that will make things sound bad”; that’s a kind of contrived coincidence that annoys me. They were really tight on time, I know, but sigh. It’s not enough to override how good the rest of the episode is, but sigh.

I’m terrified for Raine. I know several times now we’ve expected them to come out of something hideously scarred and traumatized and they’ve sidestepped, but I feel like their narrative luck is running out. I don’t think the show would kill them off (KNOCK WOOD) but I do think they’re not coming out of this unscathed.

Trivial things— I still love the idea of Lily and Eda sharing an arm, tossing it back and forth when somebody needs two hands for something. I’m sad about their hair getting cut off, but at least in Eda’s case it makes sense; I was brushing out my hair like a day after watching the ep and noticed how much I was using both hands and was like “…oh”.

Stringbean is precious and I adore her. Alador is still unaccounted for, and the concept art that showed Kiki wearing his goggles makes me very worried for him. Steve is also missing, and if he gets to actually hang out with his little bro on camera I will be so happy. I need, need the Coven Heads to wake up. Especially Darius. Yeah, I know, I’m predictable, but goop man really grew on me and I want to see him complain about the playskool-ass outfit the Collector put him in.

I am overly amused by the idea of Eda seeing Raine up and about, tackle-hugging and kissing them, and Belos just YEETING himself out of their body like EEW WITCH TONGUE

Camila is going to be vital. I do think she’s going to be the one to really get through to the Collector. Old-school Trekker and the star child.

I’d love to see the kids reunite with their parents, I’d love to see Hunter get to attend Hexside, I’d love to see Raine and Eda actually talk about things, any and all Lilith Presence we get will delight me.

I’m a little terrified that it’s going to be over so soon.

It’s gonna be great, though.

[granulesofsand]

🗝️🏷️ RAMCOA, active manipulation, trauma

Part of season change for my system is the shifting of frequent fronters. A portion of our programming was done in tropical, two-season environments where it was either hot and dry or hot and humid; those alters only come out when triggered. Usually the trigger is cued, but some of the higher up roles in those hierarchies find their way to front just because it’s similar to when they were called up.

One of those higher-ups is R, who is very good at getting around programs. I’m inclined to believe they’re like this by sheer luck. I was nearby while that stuff was ongoing, but only as a rug to hide the dirt under, and from what I saw of our abusers… they didn’t seem super on top of neurodivergency. I remember two of them, both already going grey 7 years ago, and both the type to tell people to pray their depression away. They must have known better to do the programming they did, but I wouldn’t be shocked either way.

So R and their whole nesting doll subsystems are around more, and some of them… know some things. They show up in the fronting zone and bring all their trauma baggage and flashbacks. Cover alters like me get wiped, but I can play tug-of-war with the information for a bit. The flashbacks vary, some are like reliving the thing and others are just a scared feeling or pain or something.

A lot of people in our life were involved in this? Adults, all of them, we don’t count other kids as abusers. And the alters having flashbacks remember a lot of info the cover fronters don’t. It’s pretty gristly stuff, too, like obviously bad torture-level gristly. I am too scared to even consider confronting the people who hurt us like that, but… R’s not. I don’t know if it was actually R who did it or just R who had a file copy, but the adults either don’t know or lie really well. We have scars and indirect pictures of the thing used in the memory we brought up, but it still sent some of us spiraling.

I feel sick, I threw up in the shower like half an hour ago, but I wanted to tell literally anyone that I remember. I don’t know if some of the effects are punishment programs, I know we have a lot of those, and I think my group has shatter programming. I wish I could just call CPS and be a ward of the state. We’re almost an adult, we have a housing deposit put down for college dorms, we have a job that pays in checks. I don’t want to see these people every day, I don’t want to go to school and pretend it’s fine, I don’t want to lie to mandated reporters. But I don’t know the names of everyone who hurt us. I don’t know if the cult was called anything, or who the other children are. I don’t have copies of the photos they took. I don’t have undeniable proof.

Even if we got away, they know which colleges we got into. We don’t have a bank account, I haven’t seen an insurance card or legal documents for us. All I have is a state ID and a copy of a birth certificate that doesn’t have the right information. They pay for our therapy, our school fees, we don’t own anything. The adults keep saying that as long as we stay, it’ll be fine. There’s so many things I don’t have answers for, and I’m terrified of being caught looking. It’s hard to feel like we can live in the sunshine.

We’ll be okay, we’re not actively being used for any intended purpose. They still say weird stuff that must be cues for what the phrases do, but it isn’t anywhere near the bad rating it could be. Our immediate family is out of the cult, and it doesn’t seem like there was enough warning to install cast-away programming. I don’t feel sick anymore, after an essay nobody asked for. We’ve survived everything so far, we will win this battle too. Survival is a shitty game, but we are undefeated.

- 🫐

[purefandomonium]

Connection Part 10: Secrets

RED: At the time I was bitter and angry. I convinced myself I didn’t want or need help.

RED: All I wanted was for them to understand the pain and suffering they caused me.

RED: …So I showed them.

“You… what?” Leann stared at the GameBoy like it would release all of Red’s secrets on command, ignoring the way her eyes trembled at the blank canvas surrounding his sprite. She felt an odd bit of tension then, some strong emotion hanging in the air. It wasn’t coming from her.

RED: I… I scared them away. Terrified them, really. Made them get rid of me because I wanted to be left alone.

RED: I’m sure they’re still traumatized.

“How? What could you have possibly done to traumatize people? Show them some messed up effects from that shitty camera attachment?”

RED: The what?

“Don’t change the subject.” Red was trying to weasel his way out of answering and she refused to let him. No more running from this. “You’re capable of more than this, aren’t you? Maybe you don’t remember how, but I know you know what else you can do.”

There was a long stretch of silence.

RED: I’m still trapped in this cartridge, Leann. It’s not like I could get out and hurt them.

RED: I just scared them. Glitched the game, freaked them out a little. You know.

“I still wouldn’t call that traumatic.”

RED: You realize not everyone who’s had my game is the same age as you?

RED: I have no way of knowing but I’m sure there were more than a few kids who got weirded out by my antics.

RED: How would you feel if your little kid game suddenly started yelling at you via text and wouldn’t let you play it?

RED: I’m sure they pawned me off the first chance they got.

She hummed. Something about that just didn’t sit right, yet she knew she couldn’t argue. “So… Even after being ‘traumatized,’ no one ever outed you for it? I just… find it a little hard to believe that if other people knew you were sentient, they wouldn’t do more about it?”

RED: Not everyone is as nice as you.

“No… But most people aren’t that simple either. Maybe they wouldn’t have helped you, but I’m willing to bet at least a few would’ve tried to exorcise you or something.”

RED: What would be the point? Would you take that risk?

RED: Imagine. You’re eight years old, you’re gifted a copy of the Pokemon Red because your parents happened to find it dirt cheap. You always wanted to try the original…

RED: Now name me one eight-year-old who’d call a priest because their game spooked them. Name me one adult who’d believe that nonsense.

Leann couldn't argue that. Red had shot that logic down with extreme prejudice. He’d done it a little too well, however. She could feel a sense of discomfort emanating from the device as she stared it down, shifting it in her hands and watching the light slide over the scratched surface.

“That’s awfully specific, Red. You sure you don’t know more than you’re letting on?”

RED: Well what do you think happened then? Go on. Tell me.

She thought about it, letting out a long hum. Every possibility that crossed her mind fell into impossible or supernatural. Of course, given the entire situation with Red in the first place, it wasn’t exactly that out of reach.

RED: Remember how I manipulated the game when I showed you my true self?

She gave an affirmative.

RED: There’s your answer. The glitches… They do much more than break the game.

RED: You have no idea…

“So what? You showed them what happens to you when the game breaks?” A simple ‘yes’ was the only answer she needed. She’d accept it for now and move on. It was clear he wasn’t willing to give up the info. Instead, “Now that you’re recovering or whatever, do you think the damage will go away?”

RED: Hmmm… I can only hope the pain goes away one day.

She blanched. “You’re in pain? Why didn’t you tell me?”

RED: I’m in constant pain. I’ve been through hell, Leann. It’s not like you can do anything about it anyway, so don’t worry. I’m used to it.

RED: Talking with you has made it hurt less though. You’re something I can focus on.

“…Okay… I just don’t… Are you sure there isn’t something that can be done? Maybe it’s the code? I could try to fix it, if you want. It’s up to you though, I know how you feel about that.”

RED: Please don’t mess with the code. It’s broken beyond repair. All I can do is try to preserve it as it is so it doesn’t get any worse.

RED: …But thanks for wanting to try.

“I’m sorry, Red. Do you… want to talk about it? This doesn’t even have to be about your secrets even though I know you’re keeping some. If you just want to rant about all the people who wronged you, I’ll listen. I know more about that than you might think.” She smiled despite knowing he couldn’t see it. While she meant what she said, it would still serve as a way to figure out more about him. She couldn’t speak for the original players, but she knew the next set of kids who would’ve passed the game around definitely had tougher skins. She still remembered the whole Salad Fingers craze, and she herself had grown up with some, admittedly, dark and disturbing material that was somehow still marketed for children.

A spooky sprite would have been nothing in comparison to what was circulating after Red’s creation. It would take something far worse than a glitched cartridge to frighten modern kids.

RED: I guess… I guess talking would be nice. If you don’t mind.

“I don’t.”

Red’s overworld sprite broke apart and morphed into his real self, sitting cross-legged in the empty void. He held her gaze as he spoke.

RED: I guess I should start at the beginning.

“That’s usually how stories work,” she said with an awkward chuckle. She shifted on the bed so she was lying on her stomach, lazily kicking her feet in the air, the GameBoy sitting on the mattress with the screen folded ninety degrees so she could read it. She had a feeling this was going to take a while.

Part 9: here

Part 11: here

[stainedglassthreads]

Not me vagueing about a shitty meta I saw... 

Sooo, yeah. Saw a post implying that it was Toriel’s fault for a) adopting a human, b) allowing said human to die, c) leaving Asgore d) ‘manipulating’ several humans into staying with her in her home and e) allowing those humans to stay in her home and thus letting them get killed. 

The last two points are a bit... well, we don’t have much info canonically about the six souls just in general, so I can’t say how long they stayed with her, how willingly they stayed, if they snuck out of fought her, etc. So I won’t spend too much time one that. But do you want her keeping those humans safe from the rest of the Underground or not, make up your mind... 

Anyways. I feel like, while sometimes I see Toriel criticism that’s fair, other times I see it, and I can’t help but think... Asgore was an adult too, y’know. 

If Asgore didn’t want to adopt Chara, he could’ve put his foot down and said ‘no’. But analysis shows Chara was probably his favorite child. They shared a hobby of gardening, he saw them as the ‘future of humans and monsters’, he kept their sweater and grew their favorite flowers. Having experienced the symptoms of buttercup poisoning firsthand and being the local botany expert, one could blame him for not recognizing Chara’s symptoms, or for not keeping the poisonous plants in his garden out of the kids’ reach. It’s made pretty explicit in his fight and in Neutral endings that Asgore really, really, REALLY didn’t want war: again, he could have put his foot down and said ‘No more souls. No more war. We’re trying a peaceful route again,’ he’s the fucking KING. 

Toriel is not Asgore’s caretaker. She’s not his therapist, nurse, conscience or mother. Asgore is a big boy who can make his own choices. He and Toriel just happened to make some really bad ones, while trying to do their ideas of ‘the right thing’ and while hurt by the same damn trauma. 

I... am actually not as pissed at this as I might have usually been, probably because I’ve already addressed why I think Toriel didn’t try stopping Asgore until the True Pacifist route and what Toriel meant by telling Asgore he could have crossed the Barrier with one soul. But yeah, I just wanted to get this one thing out of my system, that Asgore can make his own goddamn choices about right and wrong. Toriel didn’t force him to dirty his snowy-white toebeans with blood, if she chose to ‘abandon her people’ then he chose to ‘kill six innocents’. They were both undergoing emotionally turbulent events, they both chose to isolate themselves, they both lacked ‘voices of reason’, they were both trying to follow what they felt was ‘right’ at the expense of their mental health, they were both in very dark places for a very long time. 

They’re really more alike than different, and that’s the tragedy of it all. And the point is that it IS a tragedy, not that one was good and lovable and the other was evil and awful. 

[stuff-from-the-void-matron]

~~

The Four Lords (+Duke) reaction to the adopted daughter!Reader 

~~

--

--

💎The Duke💎

• The Duke is quite pleased with how well behaved you’re being during the visits to the four Lords. But in the few months he’s cared for you he’d noticed you were a rather well behaved child. More interested in playing with dolls or reading than getting in trouble. Which was a weight off his mind. He’d be panicked if you’d decided to run off while he was working.

• He’d dressed you in a darling little dress in your favorite color, perfect for the weather. And before he spoke with the Lords he’d given you one of the little dolls and some children’s books to keep you occupied. A bored child is a mischievous child after all. 

• The Duke kept an eye on you regardless of how well behaved you were though. He is confident in his abilities but he’s also very aware of the four Lord’s abilities and refuses to risk your safety by being overly confident in himself.

• Though he was happy to realize that none of the lords had given him any issues regarding his new charge. In fact you seem to have charmed your way into their hearts in one way or another. Though he can’t say he’s terribly surprised. You’re a wonderful little darling <3

~~

🍷 Lady Dimitrescu 🍷

• She’s quite surprised by the sudden introduction of a child from the Duke. As far as she knew the Duke had no children, or a wife to give him such a child for that matter. Though she supposed it wasn’t impossible for him to have found himself a little wife and then ended up with a little one. She supposed stranger things had been known to happen.

• And she offered the same courtesy and hospitality to you that she did to the Duke. You were both guests of Castle Dimitrescu after all. It also helped that you were very polite and looked at her in such awe. But that wasn’t surprising, Alcina was aware that she was rather impressive. So it made sense for you to be in awe of her. 

• When it was time for her and the Duke to talk business she noticed you were sat in a chair in the corner behind the Duke playing quietly with a pretty doll. Secretly Alcina thought you were adorable, in your little dress and with the flower clip in your brushed and styled hair. So when she called for a maid to bring her and the Duke a glass of wine she also offhandedly told the maid to bring ‘the little one’, aka you, a cup of something sweet.

• On your way out the Duke thanked the Lord for her kindness, looking down at you and saying, “And what do we say?”. Making you turn to Alcina and the Dimitrescu daughters before dipping into a little curtsy and thanking them for letting you both visit. Lady Dimitrescu couldn’t hide the small smile the action caused, you were very adorable and it left her in a brighter mood. She just chuckled and replied that it was a pleasure having you and the Duke, and you were both welcome back again.

🎎 Donna Beneviento 🎎

• Donna is more surprised than Lady Dimitrescu had been. Though thanks to her veil there’s no way anyone would be able to tell. But Angie is excited, practically wiggling out of her seat at the introduction of a potential new playmate. Its been far too long since Angie got to play with anyone besides Donna and their other doll friends.

• Before any business talk could be started Angie excitedly asked the portly merchant if she could play with you. He glanced down at you and saw you didn’t look scared of the doll girl, just curious. So he said it was up to you. So Angie asked you if you wanted to play. You happily agreed, not having had anyone to play with in a long time. 

• While the Duke and Donna spoke together you, Angie, and a couple other animated porcelain dolls played together. You had a little tea party and Angie even let you brush her hair. You had a wonderful time and were even happier when Donna offered to make everyone some lemonade with cookies. The Duke said that sounded wonderful while they talked business. And all in all the evening was a delight for everyone.

• But all good things must come to an end and after a few hours it was time for you and the Duke to go. Angie was visibly upset, even getting a little bratty about her new playmate having to leave. The Duke however reassured both Angie and Donna that he would be happy to have him and you return for another visit if they wanted. Before he could even finish his offer Angie was all but squealing yes. So needless to say you were going to be visiting again~

🐟 Salvatore Moreau 🐟

• Moreau is shocked by the sudden appearance of a little girl and also incredibly nervous. But he’s always nervous around new people, the fact you’re a child just makes it worse somehow. He’s aware of his... less than pleasing appearance and he doesn’t want to scare a little girl. In fact he braces himself after catching sight of you, fully expecting you to scream or run or even cry.

• But to his surprise you do none of any of those. You don’t even wrinkle your nose in disgust. Instead you just stare up at him with wide curious eyes, which isn’t exactly pleasant for him either but he understands on a level that you’re just a child and merely curious. And honestly you staring in curiosity is far better than you bawling your eyes out..

• Once the introductions are out of the way Moreau is surprised to see you sitting at the Duke’s side, just reading a little fairytale book quietly while he and your father speak of business. And your distracted state gives Moreau the perfect opportunity to observe you. He hasn’t seen a child in... so long. He actually can’t recall the last time he’d seen a child. What with him isolating himself in the Reservoir and only being given adults to experiment on with the Cadou. Being around children hadn’t exactly been something he’d sought out. 

• But he found he didn’t mind you. You were polite and kind and he thought how you called him ‘Mr. Moreau’ was adorable. The Duke kept you close to him while visiting Moreau, not because he thought the fish man would hurt you, but because of how... unsanitary the Reservoir was. He didn’t want you touching any of the slime that was around the place. But he did allow Moreau to gift you little gold trinkets he said he found at the bottom of the lake. 

⚙️ Karl Heisenberg ⚙️

• Heisenberg is... put off by the presence of a child in his domain. He’s not exactly the most ‘child friendly’ person in a 20 mile radius. In fact, if you ask anyone they’d assume with his rough demeanor that he didn’t like kids. And he’d agree with them in a heartbeat too. And he’d site every shitty thing he could think of about kids with a scoff. 

• “They’re loud, they’re annoying, they piss and shit everywhere, and they can’t even fend for themselves on top of all that. They’re like untrained dogs that don’t even have the bonus of being good guards.”

• But what he doesn’t want anyone to know is... he loves kids. Seeing kids with their parents reminds him of a time in his life, one long before now, where he was actually happy. To him kids meant family. Something he’s desperately wanted, but known he couldn’t have with Miranda around. So seeing you made him feel happy and also very sad. Both of which he avoided confronting so he instead settled on irritation, his go-to.

• And when he demanded to know what this little ‘ankle biter’ was doing in his factory the Duke had just smiled and told him you were his daughter. That’d thrown the metal manipulator for a bit of a loop. But after snapping out of it Heisenberg told the Duke that his factory was the last place a KID needed to be running around and messing with shit. The Duke assured him you would be on your best behavior. Heisenberg begrudgingly let you stay, but only on the terms that you’d stay out of his way, not touch anything, and not leave the Duke’s sight. The Duke agreed easily.

• Heisenberg had two outward moods regarding you. Either he acted like he was annoyed with you or he acted like you weren’t even there. But he never actually spoke harshly to you. Even when you kept asking him questions about the stuff in his factory. After answering half a dozen questions he fired one back at you, asking why you had so many questions. You’d been surprised by his question but just giggled and said because his factory was cool. He’d acted like he didn’t care but after that when he’d come talk to the Duke he’d always bring you little metal figurines that you adored. Heisenberg found you to be a cute little punk, but he’d rather saw an arm off before admitting it.

[forestwater87]

A Wall of Text About My OCs

Hi, guys! Uhhhh . . . long time, no see, huh? 

Yeah, I got no excuse. I mean, I’ve got tons of excuses -- new job, new partner, moving out of my parents’ basement finally -- but still. Sorry for being gone.

*blows dust off the mic* Anyone still out here?

OKAY, so why am I doing this of all things? Because I was reunited with a handful of the Camp Camp people still around and they got to sharing their gorgeous OC art and I . . . do not draw. But I do write! And it turns out, writing about your fanfiction is a whole lot easier than actually writing that fanfiction. 

So I can pretend I’m being productive and writing up a reference for future fic writing, while actually just rambling about my OCs like a total dork. Unedited, because this is a bajillion words and took me forever.

Anyway, have ya missed me?

Max’s family

Gotcha with that opener, huh? Yeah, I know how to manipulate the fandom after all these years. ;) 

Anyway, I think I’ve been fairly vocal about how little patience I have for the whole “Max’s family is abusive and neglectful and totes evil you guys, David should adopt him” thing, which means I went in a different direction. I don’t have a ton on his parents -- I know their names are Reyansh and Anika Sahni, and in terms of personality his dad is more bombastic and his mom is a bit quieter and gentler, but that’s about it -- but I’ve determined that they immigrated from India (where in India? Fuck, idk, I’m an idiot someone suggest a place) and have been working to the bone to get Max a foothold. Their English is decent but spotty because learning languages is really hard as an adult, better spoken than written, which is why they allowed Max to choose his own camp activity (which he didn’t do, because he didn’t want to go in the first place and yes this contradicts things I’ve written in the past shhh we’d only had 1 season at that point), and that combined with their 12-hour-a-day work schedules leaves him thinking they don’t care about him. They do, obviously, but it’s hard to express that when exhausted and struggling.

So Max is kind of a latchkey kid, sent to camp in the summer because it’s better than being left alone in an apartment and Camp Campbell is the best they could afford. Max resents them a lot, partly because he doesn’t really understand everything they’re sacrificing for him and partly because he doesn’t think they’re focusing on the right things; does it matter if he can go to a shitty summer camp if he never eats dinner with both his parents at the same time? Sometimes he lies and says they’re super wealthy and that’s why they’re such workaholics, but it’s mostly to get past the embarrassment of feeling neglected and not having anything special to show for it. But they love him and are doing their best, even if it’s far from perfect, and when Max gets older he’ll understand and appreciate them a bit more.

[Spoilers for my own fic, I guess?] His parents die in a car accident when he’s a teenager -- I haven’t decided when or where, but have in previous one-shots written it as on their way to get him from camp -- and he moves in with his sister. And oh boy, let me introduce you to . . . 

Kayla Sahni: A beautiful firebrand with a lot of ideas and virtually no follow-through. She’s around 10 years older than Max, and when he was little they were absolutely best friends. She has a rebellious and revolutionary streak, and would take him to various protests or to graffiti police stations or whatever -- wildly irresponsible, yes, but that’s something she never grows out of. In some ways she’s similar to David, with a streak of optimism a mile wide and a bright, peppy personality of someone that never lets anything get her down, but she’s also incredibly flaky, promising Max all sorts of things as a kid and never following through on them. Her parents often need to rescue her from her bad decisions, with the little money and time they have, leaving Max to feel even more ignored in comparison to his sister. Still, he idolizes Kayla and never blames her for anything that disappoints him, choosing David and his parents as repositories for the resentment and disappointment he gets from her. After their parents die and she has to take him in, Kayla doesn’t change her lifestyle much, still disappearing on random adventures without any warning and leaving Max to fend for himself, and it grates on him just as much as he wishes he could be like and go along with her. She loves her brother -- but really, she loves the idea of him, or the little-kid version of him that lives in her head, who never asked her for anything and hung on every word. Once she has to grapple with spending actual time with the real Max, the conflict between who they are and who they want their sibling to be makes things . . . incredibly messy.

Gwen's family 

For the Santos clan, I went with a very Long-Island-elites vibe, extremely wealthy and self-conscious about appearances, which means that Gwen is kind of a mega disappointment (and David even more so, when they meet him). New-money, with the dad definitely a first- or second-gen immigrant, and despite the fact that they made it real big they're still extremely aware of being out of place and in a precarious position. Everyone in this family is terrible at hugging and/or doesn’t understand the point of doing it. All in either law or business . . . and then there's Gwen. Oops. 

She spent her childhood being perfectly molded into a little debutante doll (I haven't mentioned it in any fics, but she's a virtuoso pianist from years of being forced to take lessons, and might be good at ballet too?), and as soon as she went to college she fell hard into the boho-hippie-artiste lifestyle as a way of rebelling -- dated a lot of starving artists covered in tattoos, picked majors her parents would never have allowed (which is why she had to pay for her own education and is the only one of the family mired in student debt), the whole shtick.

Cliché, maybe, but I think it's fun and developed all of this back when Season 1 had just finished and all we had to go on was her DESPERATELY not wanting to move back in with her parents.

So, from oldest to youngest:

Harrison: the patriarch. Written well before the episode where she had a canon dad so do not judge me too hard. My description of him makes me laugh so have it word-for-word: ``Harrison Santos was a broad-shouldered Hispanic man almost as large as Mr. Campbell, with tiny glasses perched daintily on his nose and a head as smooth and shiny as an apple. He peered down at David through his glasses, which made his dark purple (almost black) eyes seem much larger and more intimidating.`` Big guy, little glasses; it's always funny. He's a man of few words and lots of judgement. Silent but deadly, you know? I went kinda HAM with the "big scary dad" stereotype, but I needed David to feel entirely inadequate and that helped. He and Gwen don't really have a relationship, partly because he spends so much time working and mostly because they don't understand each other even a little bit and have nothing to talk about. Doesn't much like David, but not for any real reason; maybe because he's not masculine enough, maybe because he's white, definitely because he might be the reason Gwen's still working at that shithole of a camp. (At least David isn't covered in tats and piercings, though. Small mercy.)

Valerie: Extremely beautiful dark-skinned black woman with maroon hair and silver eyes. Some sort of business executive, never thought too hard about what kind. Agonizingly proper, gives off vibes of being the decision-maker in the family, and while she loves Gwen and wants what's best for her, they strongly disagree on what that actually is. Valerie would love nothing more than for her youngest daughter to get a job in a respectable law or accounting firm, marry someone from a good background, and secure the family's legacy, and she's terrified of Gwen ruining her life and/or their reputation. She thinks Gwen is overemotional and irrational and it permeates every conversation they try to have; she's pretty concerned David is a gold-digger, as well, and even if he isn't, playing in the dirt for pennies is a pretty humiliating occupation.

Samson (Sam/Sammy): Gwen's oldest brother. Ngl I have very little about him except that he's a nice guy, which is kinda rare in Gwen's family so that's kinda noteworthy. Dark-skinned like their mother, curly green-black hair that he keeps out of his face with a barette, very deep voice. I know Gwen was really close with him and his wife/kids before they moved across the country, and she's had trouble losing one of her only allies in the family.

Leon (Lee): Sam's fraternal twin. Kinda a shithead -- actually, no, definitely a shithead. Disaster bisexual; his major interactions with Gwen so far have been stealing one of her boyfriends, humiliating David at a family gathering, and flying out to Camp Campbell to try and get them back together after they broke up because he thought it was his fault and felt bad about it. A really successful accountant, but in his personal life he's a total playboy and never seems to take anything all that seriously. He loves Gwen, in his own way, but he's honestly too selfish to really be a good brother to her at all. Thinks every life decision she's ever made is absolutely hilarious, and has no problem telling her and the rest of the family that; every misfortune she has is another episode in the Gwennie's Fuckups Show, which is his favorite. Has a perpetual smirk. Dark green curly hair, lavender eyes, and more of a family resemblance to Gwen than probably any of her other siblings in terms of facial structure and mannerisms. In some AUs, where Gwen’s family lives in Sleepy Peak instead of NYC, Lee is Dirty Kevin’s high school boyfriend; their breakup wasn’t pretty.

Audree (Dree): An angel. My wife. I would die for her. Okay, no, let’s try to be serious here . . . Audree’s the only other daughter in the family, and Gwen’s big sister. She’s a successful lawyer with a killer fashion sense and generally stays out of trouble, which means she attracts a lot less negative attention than Gwen ever could and is considered something of the golden daughter. She’s a lesbian and definitely a bit of a flirt, but also the type who ends up perpetually bouncing back between “extremely serious relationship” and “single forever.” Extremely charismatic, but she’s also kind of harsh and terrible at being gentle or warm, and a bit of a snob -- not in a cruel way, but in a blind-to-her-own-privilege way that gets her in trouble sometimes with the eventual woman she falls in love with (more on her in a moment). Teal eyes, relatively dark, and I just realized I never assigned her a hair color. Since the rest of the family’s are either reddish or green (Christmas colors!), I’ll go with a fun, fiery red, kind of like Gwen’s lighter shade of hair.

Christopher: Literally a non-entity. Sometimes I forget he’s there, oops. His only contribution to the story is that he went off to California to run a surf shop and Sam eventually went along with him. Maybe I’ll give him a personality someday, but right now he mostly exists as “the other fuckup beside Gwen” in their family’s eyes.

Eric: Another virtual nonentity, but one I’ve put a weird amount of thought in. He’s basically a carbon copy of his mother -- very put-together, prim, fastidiously perfect -- despite looking more like his dad (in terms of skin tone and eye color, anyway; he’s very willowy, not buff). He’s very feminine, bordering on foppish, but definitely not gay; I haven’t decided if he’s bi (like every other character I get my hands on) or just a fairly girly straight guy, but either way he’s really self-conscious about it. Probably would resent David for reminding him of that, because let’s be real, David isn’t exactly the most masc person in the world either. His only sense of humor is a cruel one, and he’s always been and probably always will be a hell of a bully -- not the beating-people-up Nurf kind, but in a subtler, mean-girl way. If you cross him, he’ll probably get you fired, is what I’m saying. He’d have made an excellent Woodscout if his family hadn’t signed him up for something more prestigious. Staunch Republican, snooty, and while he worships and idolizes his parents, I’m not sure he actually loves anyone. Of all of Gwen’s siblings, Eric is probably the one with the fewest redeeming qualities, but sometimes it’s fun to have a villain waiting in the wings in case I need him.

And then there’s poor little Gwennie. Doing her best.

David’s family

I’ve talked about the Pine/Greenwoods in the past, but I can’t find the post so let’s do it again!

David’s family is a lot smaller than Gwen’s -- at the moment it’s just him and his mom, though his dad has intermittently been in and out of the picture. His parents got divorced when he was 14 (right after Jasper died, which was pretty rough on poor Davey), and since then he’s maybe seen his father once or twice? His mom basically raised him, and they’re absurdly close.

Harvey Greenwood: Another villain! He has aggressive Cameron Campbell vibes, but happens to be an even bigger monster. He got Cynthia pregnant when he was 30 and she was 17 -- ew, gross, very bad -- and married her as soon as she graduated high school. They managed to keep things together until David was a teenager, at which point all illusions of a stable relationship shattered and he took off. David knows he’s married and has a family, and periodically receives birthday cards (never on his birthday, never the correct age, and always addressed to Cynthia’s house because he can’t be bothered to remember where David lives), but otherwise his dad is AWOL. He’s the American to David’s half-American nationality, and while David inherited his bright red hair and green eyes, that’s about all they have in common. I just like big, masculine dads, I guess, because he’s also built like a Campbell -- I think it’s fun to mess with David’s sense of inferiority on that regard, because I’m cruel -- and has a big ol’ mustache. I did realize too late that this does sound like a jacked-up version of Harvey from Stardew Valley, and I feel terrible about it. SDV Harvey deserves better.

Cynthia Pine: A sweet Canadian cinnamon roll who’s never done anything wrong in her life, and never will. She’s a librarian in a middle school, so she’s very used to handling difficult people and is generally tough as nails, but with a sunshiny bubbliness that she passed on to David; she taught him how to smile in the face of everything going wrong, and is his biggest inspiration and hero. Like I mentioned, she was just a kid when she got married and had David, and her marriage was far from a happy one -- with all the affairs, neglect, and gaslighting Harvey did, it was probably in some ways a relief when he finally left, even if it meant she had to go from a stay-at-home mom to a breadwinner. She worked a lot after the divorce, meaning that David had to take on a lot of the household responsibilities and she didn’t get to spend as much time with him as either of them would’ve liked, but they’re still extremely close despite it, in an “us against the world” kind of way. She’s fiercely protective of her son, and while she likes Gwen and would never say a word against her, she’s definitely not comfortable trusting anyone the way David is. Which she considers a success, because she wants nothing more than for David to go through life having the joy and innocence she didn’t get to. Anyway, she’s real little, very young, with childlike features, lots of freckles, and thin blonde hair like duck fluff. She’ll kill you, don’t get me wrong, but she’d never get convicted because she’s so sweet and gentle-looking.

In addition to the actual family, we have David’s “family”:

Father Ray: Listen, I was going through an existential crisis during 2018 or so, and I needed to work out my religious angst with a non-homophobic religious figure. Therefore, we have a priest of one of those rainbow-flag churches, who took David in when he was young (his mom is very religious) and basically kept him from self-destructing without a father figure. I don’t have much to say about him, except that he was kinda there when I needed a non-shitty Christian in my own life. He probably won’t be in the story again, but I have a soft spot towards him anyway.

Julia Winters: Ohhhh boy, it’s our best girl. Julia’s technically not an OC in the classic sense -- there was a picture in Season 1 that showed David and Jasper as little campers:

And there’s a purple-haired girl that @hopefullypessimistic84​ adopted and made her own -- but it doesn’t matter because I want to talk about her, she’s perfect. (I feel like I’ve mentioned her in the past, but I seriously can’t find any of my old posts because Tumblr is the worst, so here we are.)

Julia, Jasper, and David all met during their first year of camp; I think Julia and Jasper were closer in the beginning because Jasper was Camper Extraordinaire and Julia was actually kind of excited about camp at first . . . Eventually she realized that camping sucked and befriended David, and at some point David and Jasper were thrown together and they became their own little problem trio. They’re all only children, so they considered each other siblings, and though Jasper and Davey’s relationship would obviously change (whether he dies or not), they’d always consider Julia their little sister. Her primary nicknames for David are Sunshine and Red.

She’s an ace lesbian and very uncomfortable around pretty girls. As she gets older she picks up somewhat more of a punk aesthetic, with a motorcycle and a bomber jacket, and gets a career in corporate photography that takes her all over the world. Despite this extremely cool veneer, she cannot stay even remotely chill if a woman flirts with her, and it’s quite cute. She’s somewhere between fat and buff, and could probably easily pick David up and put him over her shoulder. Eventually she’ll meet and fall in love with Gwen’s sister, Audree (probably at gwenvid’s wedding), and it’ll be . . . a little bit awkward, partly because she has no patience for the Santos family and partly because she grew up poor, and she and Dree have some friction over general culture clash. But at the end of the day they’re still an incredibly powerful couple that belong on the cover of the world’s gayest magazine and love each other very much and make me cry.

Anyway, I hope I didn’t forget any major OCs . . . though obviously if I did they can’t have been that important.

I know there are a couple exes of Gwen’s who are especially fun -- like Greg the creepy stalker and Damien, the ex who slept with Lee and then gave her a mannequin head as an apology -- and her roommate Claire gets like two sentences but is an adorable stoner with the personality of a teddy bear, but I think these are the important ones.

Sure wish I could draw literally any of them, though. Sigh.

[hello-nichya-here]

"Psychopath" Azula

"Azula is a psychopath." Everyone in the Avatar fandom has seen many people claim that - especially Azula fans, and it's often in an unnecessarily aggressive way and comes right the fuck out of nowhere. To say that it is a popular, but controversial headcanon, is an understatement. But does it actually make any sense? And if it doesn't, then why do people insist that it is canon? (Warning: this analysis is incredibly long and does not consider the comics because they should never, ever, ever be taken into consideration due to shitty writing)

The Fandom Problem

I've said it many times, and I'll keep on saying it: Many fans (and by this point even Bryke) view Azula exclusively through "crazy monster lens." To them, Azula is not a character with a personality, flaws, qualities, fears, goals, feelings - she's insane. And evil. That's it. That is her "motivation" for everything she does.

The possibility of her having ASPD (or any personality disorder and/or mental illness) is not meant to make us think "What does this mean for her character in the context of the story? How can it affect her arc? How does that recontextualize some of her actions and WHICH of her actions does that diagnosis recontextualize?" People don't slap the label "psychopath" on Azula to start a conversation - they do it to end it, especially if subject was the mere possibility of her being redeemable. At "best" that's a way of labeling her as a broken child that can never be saved and that was always doomed and that no adult could have ever helped (especially not her mother or uncle). At worse, it's seen as the equivalent of finding her finger-prints on murder weapons - which murders? ALL OF THEM! Don't you know Azula is responsible for everything bad that ever happened in the story? Including the beginning of the war itself (never mind that it started nearly a century before she was born).

You can rarely find any non-biased discussion on whether Azula has ASPD, because, since many fans want her to be a "psychopath" so they'll have an "unbeatable argument" to say she could never be redeemed, they'll just insist that this label fits her without offering any real evidence. It's not even "Guilty until proven innocent" it's "Guilty because I said so."

But does she have ASPD? Well, before we can even begin to discuss traits of the disorder, we need to put some very important things into context.

Azula's Personality And Background

Cold, Precise, Deadly - Azula can be difficult to understand at first, especially if you try to look at her through “Good or Evil” lenses. At first, she might look like a typical bad guy - she’s on the wrong side of war, is absolutely ruthless, likes to taunt her rivals/enemies, and has no problem with manipulation, kidnaping, invasions, coups, or murder. She can even be a threat to the people she cares about if they’re in her way or are refusing to help her.

However, people often forget her main traits: Pragmatism and perfectionism.

Azula goes to great lengths to have control of everything, including herself and own emotions. When she’s on a mission, her focus is solely on being successful - it doesn’t matter if said mission includes threatening one her best friends, capturing her brother and uncle, invading a city (or staging a coup), lying, double-crossing, taking prisoners/hostages, or even killing someone (again, including family). 

It’s not personal, it’s about finding the most effective way to achieve her goals, and avoiding being punished by a guy that she knows has no problem with being extremely cruel to his own family. It’s also a matter of survival - this is a war after all, and hesitating can mean not just failure, but also the death of your allies and your own. Zuko had problem fighting her to assure his own survival/success, Sokka of all people has a higher body count than she does, and even the past Avatars looked Aang straight in the face and said “Murder ain’t that bad, kid.” Azula IS scary and even deadly, but the she only ever attacks “fair” targets - people who are in her way somehow. 

Azula follows the rules. The problem is she follows the Fire Nation/Ozai rules.

1 - Never, ever, ever, ever, ever go against the Fire Lord.

2 - Do anything to assure the Fire Nation wins the war

3 - Don’t ever allow traitors to get on the way, even if said traitors are your family.

4 - Be a proper lady/princess (that includes her polite bichyness, devotion to Ozai - her father who is not a traitor AND is the Fire Lord - and, of course, getting rid of traitors)

She did horrible things. She’s also a literal child-soldier. This can NEVER be over-looked. 

Mixed Messages - I often see many people claim that Ozai was trying to turn Zuko and Azula into imperialists, while Ursa was trying to save them from that. I really wanna know what version of the show these people watched, because it simply cannot be the same as the one I saw.

Azula was taught by both of her parents that what their nation was doing to the rest of the world was 100% acceptable, and Iroh agreed with it too for most of his life. The difference is that Ozai said that, as royalty, aka superior people, they were allowed to look down on everyone, including people of the Fire Nation - regular people, rich people, soldiers, commanders, admirals, generals, nobility, and yes, even their friends and family.

Ursa and Iroh meanwhile, went for the “It’s only acceptable to be an asshole to the people who are not one of us” approach. It looks morally superior to Ozai’s approach at first, but it’s actually more of the same, with nothing but favoritism and hypocrisy added in. But it is different enough for them to be upset at Azula, which naturally confuses and irritates her because, from her point of view, Ozai’s approach makes more sense (likely because she was a child, and it was easier for her to understand something that was consistent instead of a rule that had exceptions). The fact that he was the parent giving her positive attention certainly didn’t hurt Ozai’s chances of having Azula side with him.

Ozai eventually becomes Fire Lord, while Ursa is banished, Iroh ends up in prison, and Zuko manages to become crowned prince again after Ozai taught him a harsh lesson about respect and knowing his place. Since she’s pragmatic, that confirms to her that her father was right, but then when the finale happens and she’s losing everything she’s starts questioning that mentality...

...Except she was already questioning it before the finale.

Almost Isn’t Good Enough - Azula’s humanity and vulnerability shines through for the first on The Beach - very fitting since the episode is set in Ember Island, which both a place where Azula and Zuko used to go to “back when their family was actually happy” and a supposedly magical place that reveals your true self.

Following that logic, Azula’s true self is conflicted 14-year-old that is obviously unhappy and unsure of herself, but suppresses those feelings as much as possible.

She was supposed to be having a great time since everything is going right for her nation, but quite clearly feels empty, and during that famous scene of her saying “My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right of course, but it still hurt” we find out something very telling that completely changes the way we look at her character (or at least it should): She doesn’t think she’s unhappy because her methods (Ozai’s methods) are wrong, but because she herself is problem that needs to be fixed - and nothing seems to do the trick. Azula is a perfectionist who believes herself to be fundamentally broken; damaged beyond repair. It’s pretty hard to think of a worse combo for someone’s mental health.

Trust Is For Fools - I feel these words are the perfect way to describe the tragedy of Azula’s character. No matter how many doubts she has, how much she’s suffering, how unfullfiled she feels, how bad things get, how scared she is, how lonely she is, and even how desperate for help she is, she will never ask for said help. Because she taught her whole life by the one person she still has left that needing anything from anyone makes her weak, worthless and a failure. Her downfall is so shocking and sad because it’s a character who always tried to convince everyone, including herself, that she didn’t need any kind of support falling apart, breaking down, and finally, literally, crying out for help.

The Fire Nation/Firebending Problem - This one is so important to understand her character that it's own post, but the basics are “Being a half-human, half-flame thrower your whole life is likely to fuck you up, especially if you grew up in a place that constantly told you to just wreck shit when things don’t go your way”

https://hello-nichya-here.tumblr.com/post/673864636667510784/understanding-azula

How Therapy Actually Works

One thing that people often screw up when trying to see if Azula fits the criteria for literally any mental illness/personality disorder is that they work backwards from that conclusion and try to prove it right, ignoring any evidence to the contrary and basically making up things to support it. Confirmation bias is a very real thing, and doctors are very careful to avoid it while diagnosing a patient.

As for the treatment for ASPD if Azula did have it, it would NOT require a complete personality change, but constant therapy, policing herself (which she already does), support from friends and family, and some medication. But most of all, it would require her to be removed from the deeply toxic and unhealthy home-life she had.

Okay, enough context - does she have ASPD or not?

Actual Traits Of ASPD

Disregard For Social Rules And Behavior Standards - Azula doesn't have this trait. At all. The main problem with her character is that she holds onto the values, rules, laws and standards of her society when she shouldn't.

Difficulty To Maintain Relationships, But Not To Start Them - This is a hard one because while Azula's relationships all fell apart, we can't forget that indoctrination, war, and a dysfunctional, neglectful, abusive family played a really significant part in it. And when it comes to easily stablishing relationships, that is also not so clear-cut, since she succeeds in militaristic settings (she won the Dai Li with just her intimidating, yet inspiring personality) but she doesn't really know how to act "normal" (which could be a sign of a disorder like autism, or just a consequence of trauma and indoctrination). I'll say this one is inconclusive.

Lack Of Empathy - Before I even go into this one, let me make one thing clear here: EMPATHY IS NOT THE SAME AS COMPASSION! Empathy is merely the understanding of what someone else is feeling. Low empathy doesn't mean someone is cruel, and high empathy doesn't mean someone is nice.

Does Azula have empathy? Sometimes, and the level gets higher or lower depending on the situation/who she's dealing with. She can tell when a prisoner is lying or telling the truth just by looking at them, and she often knows what people want to hear, but other times she seems oblivious to other people's feelings (this also ties into her throwing bread at the turtleducks - animal cruelty by itself isn't a trait, and this behavior is pretty low on the cruelty scale, but it could possibly show a lack of understanding of why it is wrong to harm living creatures, even if just a little). We can't say if this a result of nature, nurture, or both, but we can at least say that, while her empathy is not that high (sometimes) it also isn't all that low.

Lack Of Remorse/Guilt - Nope. The Finale makes it pretty clear that is being consumed by regret and it causes her breakdown. Considering her perfectionism, she'd probably struggle with self-loathing and guilt a lot after the day of the comet.

Violent Tendencies - As I've said on The Fire Nation/Firebending Problem, there is nothing in the show that indicates she's more violent than any other firebender (including Aang and other Avatars), and she actually shows incredible restraint. Hell, her ability to combine firebending's impressive, destructive power with a more cold and calculating approach is what makes her so scary and it even leads to her being compared to lightning itself. She's so completely in control that even when she's out of her mind she can still generate lightning despite it requiring peace of mind.

Blaming Others For Their Own Mistakes - Once again, no. She tries it in the finale by labeling Mai and Ty Lee as traitors, and "Ursa" (aka her own mind) won't let her do it. Considering how she says she is a monster when she was merely a misguided child who was failed by every adult in her life, and how she's terrified of disappointing her father and feels bad for not being what he wanted even though he shouldn't be demanding so much of her, Azula seems to have a pattern of holding herself accountable for things that were in no way her fault.

Being At Least 18 Years Old - I call this one "The requirement for an ASPD diagnosis that Azula haters refuse to acknowledge exists." People can't be diagnosed with any personality disorder until they're at least 18 because the human brain takes a long time to be properly developed and one's brain is their personality.

Irrelevant "Traits"

One frequent mistake people make when discussing if Azula has ASPD, is to list "traits" that are NOT traits of ASPD, or of literally any disorder (and again, some that she does not even have anyway), and since we've already talked about actual ASPD traits, lets take a look at what the arm-chair psychiatrists are making up inside their own little heads.

"Unchildlike" Behavior - Throughout the show, Azula does a bunch of disturbing things that indicate she’s is trying to imitate her father, suffering from trauma, and possibly has some kind of disorder. That is not what I’m talking about now. 

I’m talking about the people who claim that Azula doing things like calling her brother by embarrassing childhood nickname, lying to him because he’s guillible, being annoyed that he got a cool gift he actually liked while she didn’t, destroying a doll, and pushing her friend because she was jealous said friend was better than her at something are signs of a disorder or EVIL. They’re not. If these things were proof of sociopathy, we’d have label 90% of all children as sociopaths.

Azula mocking Zuko’s scar was her crossing a line. Azula being a petty, bratty kid was something completely ordinary could have been easily corrected just by properly explaining to her why what she did was wrong, and not letting her have dessert after dinner if she did it again. 

Azula "Always" Lies - Azula is really good at manipulating people, and she does it a lot, that is undeniable. However, we only ever see her doing that when it's either a matter of survival or to deal with someone that is in the way of her goal/mission. We get a slight a hint that maybe she used to lie to Zuko a lot as a child to trick him into embarrassing situations... but that's something many children do to their friends and especially their siblings. It's also very funny that people use Zuko's line of "Azula always lies" to say she's basically a pathological liar, when the first time and only time we hear that is when Zuko is refusing to believe an uncomfortable truth.

Insanity - Insanity is not a medical term, it's a legal term. Labeling someone as "insane" means they cannot be held accountable for their actions due to not being able to understand the gravity of what they did or not even being aware that they did anything. In the finale, Azula's mental (and emotional) stability has deteriorated considerably, she's seeing things that are not real, and she's far more reckless and paranoid, but we don't know how long this condition will last, if it will get better, if it will get worse, etc. What we do know is that insanity has nothing to do with being a "psychopath", and people only think it does because "the mentally ill are dangerous."

Being Mean/Difficult - In the wise words of some random tumblr user whose blog's name I can't remember now: not every unpleasant experience is trauma, and not every asshole you meet is an abuser.

Also, being mean, being a bad person, and having ASPD are completely separate things.

Having "Evil" Blue Fire - No, this is not a joke. Someone really said that Azula fire is blue because she's evil and cruel. Apparently the fact that blue fire is hotter and "cleaner" than red fire and that Azula, aka a PRODIGY, is the only human who has it isn't self-explanatory for these people. And apparently Aang and Zuko got firebending lessons from the Avatar equivalent of Satan since the dragons had rainbow fire. Can we PLEASE not label anything that makes someone different as evidence of evil or illness? Can we leave that bullshit behind?

Conclusion

Azula might, maybe, perhaps have ASPD, but most of the evidence points to her behavior being just a result of trauma and indoctrination. But, even if Azula has any disorder, her character should not be reduced to it, and using any diagnosis to label her as "irredeemable" or "born evil" is disgustingly ableist and this fandom should do better.

[moo-nstone]

attack on titan characters - birth chart analysis 🌙

Here is my take on the big 6 of Levi, Eren, Armin and Mikasa of attack on titan/shingeki no kyojin! I kept their sun signs since we know the day and month of their birthday and since I think they’re absolutely perfect. If you want me to do my take on the others (like Jean, Historia, Erwin, Hanji, Connie, Sasha, Reiner, etc) please let me know! (spoiler warning!)

Levi Ackerman

sun in capricorn - levi mf ackerman is fuelled by three things and three things only: LOYALTY, a strong moral code and power. he is seen by most people as a heartless, unemotional bastard but is canonically the most emotional character - he shows love through very indirect ways and he’s the peak of capricorn in the sense that he represses his emotions – he smiled literally ONE time in four seasons, and didn’t once shed a tear. he’s very hard to read. has a lot of respect for his superiors and follows the orders of only those he’s loyal to. he’s driven by his moral codes in the sense that the protection of humanity is his prime motive for fighting titans. like a true capricorn, is the master of his field of work and cares the most about being a survey corp member. please protect this tragic baby. 

virgo rising - two words: CLEAN FREAK. this man has a strong need to be presentable at all times and hates getting blood on his hands for the single fact that he needs himself and his environment to be clean. his obsession with being clean is very much due to his childhood trauma and how he lived in in poor conditions in the underground. he has many quirks that correlate with this: the way he holds his cup, the carvat he uses bc of his mother, and the way he always cuts his own hair because that’s the way his mother used to do it.  intimidating and demands respect. DRY HUMOUR. 

moon in scorpio - i think he has many similarities with mikasa, especially in the moon and venus. introverted and hates people but will go to the ends of the earth to protect the ones he loves and respects. represses emotions and internalizes his hatred until he has a mental breakdown - which happens in the form of extreme violence. VERY sensitive and emotional even if he doesn’t show it. he’s very intuitive and often acts based on gut; he’s secretive and vindictive. very wise and great at giving advice. doesn’t let himself get manipulated and uses shitty situations to his advantage (like with the reeves company). trust is the most important thing to him.

mercury in aquarius - levi is extremely logical, and hates when others involve their feelings in the making of decisions. his decisions are always backed up by strong arguments and others often see him as cold and detached. i saw someone  mention something extremely interesting about aquarius mercury’s/people with their mercuries in the 11th house: despite not being very sociable, others are drawn to them for friendships – and often they’re the introverts who get “adopted” by extroverts. this is 100% levi’s case, hanji and erwin practically adopted him. being very vulgar with his words and having a distinctive sense of humour, he’s very humanitarian and is actually really talkative but only when he’s very comfortable around someone. blunt, always tells it like it is – like when he tells eren he can’t know what the right choice really is and he needs to choose it himself. teases and insults his friends as a form of affection.

mars in scorpio - levi’s a fighter, a survivor. he knows what it’s like to come from nothing and have to build himself up. very confrontational. reclaims his power by exerting intimidation and mastering violence. others fear doing as much as make a joke at his expense. understands other’s motivations and characters very easily. he’s very intuitive. very serious due to his need for having an intense and demanding presence, for being respected and valued. he’s the one who everyone sighs of relief when things go to shit and he appears because you know he’s the strongest and most dependable person.

venus in capricorn - good luck getting this motherfucker to open up. his trust is very hard to gain but is necessary for working with him – he places his full trust in his comrades and demands the same from them. very work-oriented and takes relationships very serious; it’s really telling that he cares little for romance because capricorn venuses are the ones to date to marry, and will only devote themselves to someone once they believe they’ve met the one. they either want a more powerful and mature partner or they exude that energy (levi is the latter). slightly parental – we see this in the way that levi is pretty much the dad figure. it’s called squad levi for a reason, after all. very responsible. takes care of loved ones and often uses tough love as a form of discipline.

Eren Jaeger - im not even kidding with this one, he has extreme aries energy

sun in aries - eren feels the need to be very independent and he hates whenever he has to depend on mikasa and others, wanting to be strong enough to reverse the roles. he’s very self-confident, bold and direct. very impulsive, he’s quick to anger but is also very quick to forget - especially seen with his arguments with jean, fighting him is basically a love language at this point. aries suns are very fast thinkers and their strong energy may come off as intimidating. they have great intentions but that often becomes muddled with their impulsivity and the fact that they don’t think ideas through. eren is unabashedly himself and fights relentlessly for what he wants. his aries energy also makes him extremely motivated! he believes in the impossible and will make it happen no matter what.

aries rising – aries risings are the trailblazers. they ooze intensity. eren has very much a baby face and, due to his impulsivity and childish charm, people tend to baby him a lot – in the sense that he’s this kid surrounded by adults who needs supervision at all times or he’ll get into deep shit. aries risings are also marked by their extreme need for action, they’re the ones to do now and apologize later instead of asking for permission to do something in the first place. he is guided by his passion and is a natural leader who inspires everyone to fight alongside him. aries risings have a lot of energy which they need to express in a physical way, making them be prone to be very athletic and lead very active lives. he’s also extremely competitive and is driven by the force of becoming stronger than mikasa, and often feels angry when he realizes how stronger than him other people can be. at the same time, this pressure to be better is put solely on himself. he’s a dumbass with a good-heart and pure intentions.

moon in sagittarius – all this motherfucker talks about is freedom and seeing the world past the walls. he craves adventure and is extremely optimistic. but even if a sagittarius moon needs their freedom, they are still absolutely ride-or-dies and once they’ve commited to something, NOTHING or NO ONE can stop their determination. these are also the people to try their best to always appear cheerful and full of determination to hide their sad façade – like when he was nearly vomiting when talking about the titans to the other recruits when they began the training in the military but still forced himself to say that the titans aren’t scary at all and that they aren’t a big deal; he naturally inspires others and fills them with courage. but the way they put on this strong and brave façade leads to a strong emotional turmoil, violent urges and a sudden hostility to others. they are filled with surpressed anger that can lead them through very destructive paths – and the happy-go-lucky child might just lose her hope. we see this in eren in the most heartbreaking way.

mercury in aries – LOUD!!! eren speaks what’s on his mind with NO hesitation whatsover. he’s very quick to defend his friends and points of view, and speaks openly about his passions and dreams. he’s very assertive and tenacious. short attention span and not afraid to give a different opinion from someone else’s. very passionate about what he argues about. very expressive and when an aries mercury disagrees with you, you’ll know it immediately by their facial expression. confident and thrives on inspiring others. remember him being mad when it was discovered the possibility of all titans being humans because now he didn’t know who the enemy is and he NEEDS to hate someone and blame them in order to keep going? ARIES MERCURY ENERGY!!

mars in aries - people look to mars in aries to lead them. they’re full of energy and dynamic, and very athletic - eren exceeds at hand-to-hand combat and, in the other subjects where he’s not so good, his determination makes him push forward and become better. VERY hot-headed and confrontational, which is both the source of all their problems and their strength - they are not afraid of going after what they want and are willing to go through any obstacle to do so, and they’re also not afraid of upsetting other people in order to do so. eren is courageous, loves to take initiative and is very enthusiastic - something that is very contageous. competitive and hates compromise, he likes getting his own way. aries mars are also very individualistic and can have a huge ego.

venus in pisces - i know this is going to confuse a lot of people - like, how does he have so much aries energy, how is he so intense yet has one of the softest venus placements? i deeply believe he’s a pisces venus, and here’s why. his friends are EVERYTHING to him. pisces venus’ love very deeply and are very dependent on their loved ones, and eren is extremely protective of his loved ones and is willing to do anything to protect them. pisces venus’ are very vengeful, too, something that people seem to brush off about them - they might not do anything when you mess with them but as soon as you mess with their friends it’s game over. i also get a lot of “there was no other way, the word had to be fixed” vibes from this placement? like, this placement gives me the energy of someone willing to commit awful crimes under the excuse of it being for the greater good, which is something he dramatically experiences as he grows older and witnesses the cruelty of the world.

Armin Arlert

sun in scorpio - armin very resourceful!! he easily adapts to the circunstances he’s in and works his way around it. very intelligent and with great memory. extremely manipulative, cunning and perceptive. scorpios are known for their capability to be great investigators due to their natural curiosity, and armin has this deep need to see the world outside of the walls and he studies all there is to know about it with great passion. determined to succeed. 

cancer rising - armin just wants to achieve his dream and it’s so soft. cancer risings are very receptive of other’s emotions and incredibly sensitive, but it’s difficult for them to open up to others. his appearance is very soft and delicate. loves to help others and has a naturally warm presence that makes others feel comfortable in his presence. give off a very grounded and stable energy, but this is often because they try to hide their most intense emotions and don’t know how to deal with them/don’t want to bother others by opening up about it. 

moon in pisces - one word: EMPATHY!!! very compassionate. tendency to become a martyr and be very self-sacrificial. VERY imaginative, he is the strategist, after all. can feel others emotions and read them very easily. avoids confrontation but feels a strong need to take the weight off of others’ shoulders and to solve all their problems. very loving and giving, in tune with his emotions and emotionally intelligent. on the other side, this caring side of him can make him see other people through rose-colored glasses, and he is prone to believing in the best in people and giving them the benefit of the doubt. but when they’ve proven their true nature to him, he’ll see them for what they are and will no longer defend them, even if still feeling remorse. notice how he’s always like “this had to be done, we had no other choice” to justify his actions.

mercury in scorpio - bro armin’s eyes are so intense. when he gets on his manipulative bullshit it’s IMPOSSIBLE to look away from his gaze. he practically communicates through the eyes. armin is very sharp and his innocent appearance has everyone still thinking of him as a sweet angel as if he isn’t a whole war criminal. he easily psychoanalizes others to know what they want and uses it to his advantage, like how he used berthold’s love for annie to manipulate him to let eren go after him and reiner kidnapped him. scorpio mercuries be knowing shit, they be knowing everyone’s secrets and others usually confide in them as if they’re their therapists. 

mars in pisces - mars in pisces makes a person avoid physical confrontation at all costs. notice how armin’s first response to everyone wanting to kill reiner and bertold/the marleyans was “please let’s just talk about this first”? he hates violence and deems it not worthy most times. he is very physically weak and aware of his limitations, unlike eren and levi, whose first instinct is to use violence in order to get what they want. no, armin has developed a much more subtle and effective way to get what he wants without using violence: emotional manipulation. he is the KING of appearing innocent and naïve and having people feel bad for him and want to baby him and protect him, and due to his extremely intuitive nature, he knows EXACTLY what to say to someone to get under their skin. he twists his words and emotions to get what he needs out of people and it’s both incredible and dangerous. also, very self-sacrifical and his goals are based on his emotions.

venus in cancer - he loves so much and it’s so beautiful and heartbreaking. he gives everything to the ones he loves and thrives off of being helpful and keeping everyone safe. reads a lot into the behaviour of the people he loves. very emotionally intelligent, wants stability and to maintain peace and may bend over backwords to achieve that. needs to feel understood and has a soft spot for troubled people, those who are more demanding and assertive (eren and mikasa), people he can take care of and who can take care of him in return. very affectionate and communicative. warm presence, you can pretty much feel the love radiating out of him. 

Mikasa Ackerman 

sun in aquarius - if you get past the emotional walls of an aquarius that has them appearing detached and distant because they’d rather use intelligence than seem emotional, you’ll be met with an incredibly soft, loving and caring person. an aquarius strength is their ability to be very unique, individualistic and humanitarian individuals - they truly march to the beat of their own drum. mikasa possesses a great deal of determination and isn’t afraid of being rebellious, especially when her loved ones are in danger. 

capricorn rising - people with capricorn rising had to learn to be very independent from a very young age. mikasa is very intimidating but she has a very doll-like beauty, common to many capricorn risings. these people have had to deal with a lot ever since childhood, but they are fighters and their determination has them being able to survive even unsurmountable odds stacked up against them. capricorn risings tend to be serious and disciplined, and with a melancholic aura to them – which mikasa perfectly embodies. but the fact that these people have cancer in their descendant makes them strongly emotionally attached to their loved ones.

aquarius moon - even under the most stressful and dangerous situations, mikasa always remains in control of her emotions. she thrives in those situations, it’s the adrenaline of the moment that has her being so good at controlling her emotions until it’s safe to be anything but racional again. aquarius moons are feel very misunderstood and tend to racionalize their emotions a lot. however, it’s only due to their fear of vulnerability that they build this emotional walls, because they experience very intense emotions. i always think about that survey corp member saying “what did you have to go through for you to be like this?” when she was perfectly stable in a life-or-death situation. 

mercury in capricorn - mikasa is incredibly action-oriented and she speaks in a structured but confident way. although she’s on the quieter side and is reserved, she’s able to inspire everyone when all hope seems lost, and she’s taken up eren’s words of “if we don’t fight, we can’t win” and uses it constantly in order to keep going. she’s very hard to read due to her usually expressionless face, giving her a mysterious aura. she’s very ambitious, persuasive and determined. 

mars in capricorn - when people say that mars in capricorn people are the scariest when they’re angry, they’re not wrong. they act so calm and collected until suddenly they’re fixing you with a death glare and you’re rethinking all your life choices up until this point. mikasa might be extremely rational and calm, but as soon as someone threatens the ones she loves, she’ll stop at nothing to eliminate the threat. it’s like she fears nothing but ever being unable not to save them. she’s very responsible and reliable, with a lot of physical strength and stamina. very PROTECTIVE, grounded and GIVING 

venus in virgo - this is one of the things that makes mikasa so similar to levi, the way they love. this bitch is LOYAL to her very core. she knows very well where her loyalties are - eren and armin - and is ready to kill all her close friends and superiors in order to protect them. she threatened to kill historia if she got in the way of getting eren back home safely, jumped levi on sight when he wanted to save erwin instead of armin, and got pissed at connie for doubting eren’s intentions after the whole marleyan ordeal. acts of service are very much her love language - she constantly picks up eren’s and armin’s stuff and carries it herself or orders them to rest while she works. it’s very hard to gain her trust and loyalty but once you do it’s forever, she’s very selective about the people she cares for. she’s possessive, too - giving historia the coldest death glare in the world when she saw her with eren. i’ve also noticed that venus in virgo are very difficult to declare their emotions!! they’ll just wait for the person to notice their indirect acts of affection. very attentive to the needs and details of loved ones.  

[ratmonky]

Deceitful Curse

Word Count: 10K

Warnings: non-con, stalking, obsession, mild blood, chikan, gaslighting, manipulation, humiliation, degradation, misogyny, exhibitionism

AO3 Link

As promised, this will be a gift fic for my lovely friend @lyrrotting​ , I promise I will write your four armed Sukuna fic soon to make up for this shitty fic lol <3 

It was said that most people had an angel sitting on their right shoulder and a devil sitting on their left shoulder, the two bickered into the person’s ears about many things. While the devil would try to tempt the person, the angel would become the sound of conscience.

However, Yuuji only had the King of Curses whispering in his ear and he himself had to be the voice of conscience within his own mind.

Certainly, there would be a time he would be tempted to listen.

~~~

Life was good, Yuuji had already graduated over a year ago and gotten his sorcerer license to work until his inevitable execution.

Life was good, everyone had moved on with their lives. Inumaki had gotten a girlfriend, Fushiguro had a girlfriend and from what he heard, Maki and Kugisaki were dating each other.

Life was good, they were all happy.

Life was good, everyone else was happy.

~~~

There was a new coffee shop that had opened just two blocks down from where he lived. Naturally, Yuuji wanted to check it out for the sole purpose of seeing how big the place was. When he invited his friends over to his place and if they ever stayed the night, he wanted to have a place he could take them to for a brunch or a cup of coffee.

Unfortunately for him, the place was small. There were barely a dozen tables and nobody seemingly wanted to sit at the cramped coffee shop when they could walk to the nearby park to enjoy their coffee.

The place was crowded due to rush hour so he returned a couple of hours later to finally order something.

As soon as he walked inside, the sugary smell of the sweets and the strong aroma of the coffee surrounded him.

“Welcome!” said a cheerful voice. It was you, beaming at him with the brightest smile he had ever seen on anyone. It looked too genuine to be a fake service worker's smile.

He hesitantly walked up to the counter with a blush coloring his cheeks from the intensity of your smile that was aimed towards him. “Hi,” he said before lifting his eyes up to the menu displays. “Ah.” He had no idea what to get. “Takeaway, I think, and ahh… Um…”

As if you noticed his struggle, you started talking. “If you like sweets I’d recommend my special summer drink. If you like coffee, I can give you the best brew in the whole city. It isn't strong but the aroma actually tastes like fresh coffee beans, I roast them fresh every day.” You were so bright, still smiling. Didn’t your cheeks hurt? How could anyone be this sweet? “Or I can choose a drink for you! Trust me, I’ll make it count!”

He understood none of the things you were saying but he felt like he could trust you to choose a drink for him, so he nodded approvingly.

Clapping your hands together, you walked behind the coffee machine and disappeared from his view. “You live around here?”

Yuuji was caught off guard and didn’t realize you were talking to him for a while until you repeated your question. “Ah, yes! I live around the corner.”

“I’ll do my best to impress you so you’ll buy coffee from here every day.” Your tone wasn’t flirty. It was friendly and inviting, actually welcoming.

“That’s a good business tactic,” he said, matching your tone. “But I’m not that easy to impress.”

“Isn’t my prices enough to impress you? They’re rather cheap for the service you get and I’m not even talking about the quality of my products.” You reappeared with a plastic coffee mug, it had ice and apparently black coffee in it. You poured some sort of golden cream over the coffee on the counter where he could see it.

Like hypnotized, Yuuji watched with his mouth wide open as the two colors mixed in a gradient effect in his drink before you put a lid on it.

“Was that good enough?” you asked, proudly. “To impress you I mean.”

“Y-yeah.” He reached and took the drink you set on the counter. He was carefully examining the colors in awe when he abruptly realized that he hadn’t even paid yet. Hastily he dug his hand in his pocket and took out his wallet, “I’ll come here more often I think if I like the drink of course.”

“Hmm, you’ll like it so I’m not worried.” You smiled as he paid with his credit card. “See you later…” Furrowing your burrows, you looked at him so he would fill in.

“Itadori,” he introduced himself, blushing. “Yuuji Itadori.”

“(name),” you said, offering a cute smile. “Have a nice day, Itadori.”

“Y-you too.” He waved awkwardly and you did the same with a giggle. It was clear that he was a little overwhelmed.

By the time Yuuji exited the shop, he hadn’t realized how hard he was blushing or how he had forgotten to even try his drink. Then he blushed even harder realizing how embarrassing he acted back in the shop but he shook his head to get over those thoughts.

Decidedly, he took a sip from his coffee and immediately understood why you were so confident that he would be back to buy more.

~~~

The next day, it wasn’t exactly the incredible coffee you had sold him yesterday that brought him here.

It was you.

He was trying to convince himself that wasn’t the case though.

However, Sukuna knew the truth.

~~~

“Being single sucks!” Yuuji complained with a whine after slamming his empty glass on the table.

“You should try those dating apps if you really want a girlfriend,” Fushiguro replied and flicked the ash off his cigarette on the ashtray.

“I agree, Itadori, if you really are determined to be in a relationship then you should try meeting new people.” Yuuta fanned the smoke Fushiguro blew towards him away using his hand with a forced smile.

Inumaki nodded in agreement, continuing to munch on the salted crackers and avoiding drinking.

“It’s easy for all of you with pretty girlfriends to say!” Panda cried, “It’s only me and Itadori who’s single.” He wrapped his big arms around Yuuji and started rocking back and forth.

“You can always book a flight to China to meet with a female Panda?” Yuuji said in a confused tone, “Or the zoo?”

Panda froze and loosened his arms around Yuuji before pushing him away from himself. “That was rude.”

“Huh?” Yuuji raised a brow, still confused.

“His type is more… humane, I think.” Yuuta scratched at his cheeks and raised his brows, hoping that Panda would deny what he just said but he didn’t.

“Wait.” Yuuji’s eyes widened, “So, you’re telling me that it would actually work between you and a human, or is it-”

“Itadori,” Fushiguro said to stop Yuuji from delving deeper into the uncomfortable topic. “Leave Panda’s love life alone.”

“Hmm, why did you bring up the topic of wanting to get a girlfriend?” Yuuta asked, humming thoughtfully. “Do you have someone you like?”

“Deja vu,” Panda mumbled under his breath, nobody heard him.

As soon as the question was asked to him, Yuuji thought of one single person; you. The image of your smile and your cheerful voice. It was just a simple crush, the two of you were total strangers. Yet, he was still thinking about you right now and couldn’t get you out of his mind.

He suppressed all of those thoughts and noticed how everyone was looking at him, waiting for his answer.

“No, I don’t,” Yuuji replied.

~~~

Unlike Sukuna, Yuuji was an inexperienced young man. He was a celibate too. Which meant that to him, sexual desires had to come after love. The feelings of love and affection were important when it came to sex. Having sex was an act of love and a form of affection, to prove to the person he was involved with that he was devoting himself to them.

Pathetic.

The kid had already grown up to be an adult but still had the mentality of a child.

Sukuna knew he could help.

~~~

“You’re coming here more often now,” Sukuna pointed out. “Is it because you know the server likes you?”

“No, she doesn’t like me,” Yuuji deadpanned. He pouted cutely seconds later and watched you walk over to his table holding a tray with his drink on it with a bright smile. “I’m here only because this place makes the best coffee.”

“Here you go,” you chirped, putting Yuuji’s drink on the table. Your friendly smile and gorgeous eyes wandered on his face for a moment longer than usual. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Thank you.” He was blushing.

You flashed him another stunning smile before turning around on your heels.

“She’s into you,” Sukuna declared.

Yuuji ignored Sukuna’s words and stared after you as you walked back to the counter to take another order. His eyes couldn’t leave the way your hips moved with each step you took.

Sukuna’s lips on Yuuji’s hand grinned before disappearing.

~~~

“The girl looks like her,” Sukuna said.

“Will you be quiet?” Yuuji groaned and slapped his cheek so he would go away.

It was silent, he smiled to himself. Finally, he had some privacy.

The porn actress spread her legs and Yuuji wrapped his left hand around his cock after licking his palm as he was holding his phone with his right. He slid his fist up along his length and squeezed tightly towards the tip. The pressure felt the best when he applied it to the sensitive tip.

Loud moans coming from the actress filled his apartment since he hadn’t bothered to put on headphones. Not that he needed them when he was living alone but it was a habit now. So, he lowered the volume.

However, there was another reason why he didn’t need to hear the moans of the actress.

“She doesn’t sound like her, does she?” Sukuna made fun of him.

Yuuji ignored him and didn’t bother to tell him that it wasn’t the case. He just needed to cum and go to bed, that was it. He was too used to Sukuna interrupting his self-care time at this point and if the King of Curses didn’t mind watching a guy jerk off to some cheap porn, so be it. They were sharing Yuuji’s body and mind. Or not?

Yuuji focused on the video as the girl bent over and started fingering herself in an awkward position. His hand around his cock started moving to match the way her fingers went in and out of her cunt.

She really looked like you.

Wasn’t that why he had chosen this video?

Nevermind. Forget about it.

He had read or heard somewhere that masturbating with the non-dominant hand could give more pleasure. It was something he had done when he was only a teenager to try it out but now he liked to use his left hand.

It felt different, sometimes his hand went numb and it felt like someone else was touching him. You were touching him.

You.

This had to be how a handjob felt, if you ever gave him a handjob it would definitely feel like this.

Yuuji dropped the phone and closed his eyes, only focusing on his fantasies about you while jerking himself off. His hand moved faster while his hips were desperately thrusting up as if to mimic fucking you.

You would tease him, wouldn’t you? Stare at him with a grin, edge him and even slow down just to make him whine.

Or perhaps you would get rid of your clothes hurriedly to ease yourself down on his cock. Were you a virgin? You would be his first, he would want you to be your first too.

Were you the type to whimper or moan during sex?

Where would you place your hands?

Would you move your hips?

Which position would make you lose yourself?

He would want to be on top, so he could watch your face and kiss you.

What kind of face would you make?

Would you be blushing and moaning?

The image of your eyes overflowing with tears while your face was being stained with the same tears and your ruined makeup appeared within his mind.

Yuuji abruptly came harder than he ever had in his whole life and his seed landed on his stomach, his orgasm left his legs shaking in pleasure.

~~~

He didn’t go to the coffee shop the day after from embarrassment.

~~~

“You weren’t here yesterday,” you remarked while making his drink. “I was sure you were going to be here after I made you my new drink on the menu.”

“Ahh, I was just busy and didn’t have time to swing by.” It was a simple lie and it wasn’t like he could ever tell you that he was scared of himself after he came to his fantasy of seeing you cry. “I didn’t think you’d miss me this much.”

“Well, you’re my only loyal customer,” you pouted and put his drink on the counter. Nobody else was in the shop, another coffee place had opened just around the corner. “You always drink my special brew coffee too. It’s like an honor to me that you like my coffee.”

“It’s the best coffee I’ve ever had,” his reply was instantaneous and honest. “I like this place, I can tell how much love you put into making your drinks and it feels cozy here.”

You were grinning, “Mm, tell me more. Praise me more. What else?”

He started smirking but his blush ruined the smug face he was making. “Never mind, you’re weirding me out.”

“Hey! I was just asking you what else you like about my place! What’s weird about wanting to know how I can make this place better?” you feigned anger.

He wanted to tell you that he was only coming here for you. Wait, no. He came here for the coffee. Nothing else.

“What about making new drinks every week? They’d sell more and you’d get to try out new things?” he said after careful thinking.

“That’s actually a good idea, thank you, Itadori!”

Ahh, the way you said his name… Yuuji wanted to hear you say his name again and again. Over and over again.

“It’s nothing,” he replied, rubbing his neck nervously with his hand. “I’m just trying to help.”

~~~

It started with small words of encouragement.

“That woman likes you, I can tell from the way she smiles at you. Talk to her more and befriend her.”

“It’s not like you to say nice things,” Yuuji said, averting his gaze from yours in embarrassment when you looked his way. He hoped you hadn’t caught him looking. “Besides, she’s just a server. It’s her job to attract customers with a smile and sweet talk.”

“Every server needs a master,” Sukuna spoke through Yuuji’s hand. Nobody could see him since the guy had his hand pressed against his ear. “She doesn’t look at you the same way she looks at the other peasants here.”

Yuuji didn’t say anything.

~~~

His finger hovered over the follow button.

”That’s her?” Sukuna asked, his ancient soul was getting used to the technology he saw his vessel was using. “Those are her pictures?”

“Yeah.” Yuuji gulped, nodding languidly. It would be weird if he followed you, right? He had found your account by chance. Not because he found the account of your coffee shop and then scrolled through the following list to find a friend of yours and then searched through their following list to find your name to eventually find your account. Only by chance.

“She looks different in the pictures.” Sukuna was right. You were smiling as usual but you weren’t wearing your cafe uniform. You were wearing normal clothes. Clothes that revealed more of your skin, your shoulders, legs, thighs, and in some pictures your cleavage. There was a smug look on your face when you were looking at the camera as if you knew whoever was looking at these pictures was admiring your beauty.

“Yeah, she does.” He was now looking at a picture of you in a dress that fit you just right, showing your curves he hadn’t noticed in your uniform.

“She’s beautiful.” Sukuna could sense the intensity of his vessel’s stare at your picture.

“Yeah.”

“I’d save that picture if I were you.” Sukuna grinned.

Yuuji took a screenshot.

~~~

“You should be more assertive if you want her to consider you as a man,” Sukuna said as Yuuji was walking towards the coffee shop. “Women like confident men.”

“You come from the ancient times, this is the new age. Women are equal with men and I want her to feel-”

“Women want men. Not boys. Definitely not brats like you.” Sukuna disappeared when his vessel entered the coffee shop.

Yuuji sighed in a dismissive manner, “Whatever you say.”

~~~

Women want men.

~~~

“What do women like in a man?” Yuuji asked.

The happy laughter of the guys died out as soon as he asked that and the loud chatter of the other people inside the bar couldn’t fill the dead silence Yuuji created.

They were all looking at each other around the table now. Nobody wanted to talk.

“I guess they like guys who are assertive,” Yuuta responded when no one else did. “Megumi, why don’t you say something? What does your girlfriend like about you?”

Fushiguro was inanimate as he stubbed out his cigarette on the ashtray and took a long moment to consider what he was going to say. “She said that likes that I’m possessive and get jealous when she talks to other guys.”

“Hmm, possessive and jealous...” Yuuta nodded and then turned to Inumaki. “And your girlfriend liked that she can depend on you, right?”

“Salmon.”

“There you have it,” Yuuta concluded. “They like possessive guys who they can depend on!”

“What about you, Okkotsu?” Yuuji asked. “What does your girlfriend like about you?”

The person in question looked a little lost and taken aback that he was being asked. He had to take a deep breath to keep his facial expressions normal. “She likes that I take control.”

“How?” Yuuji was desperate.

“Isn’t that a bit invasive question, Itadori?” Fushiguro warned in a soft tone.

“It’s not invasive at all!” Yuuta forced a laugh and spoke in the same joking manner. “It means that I was a little pushy and bold, I think?”

Both Fushiguro and Inumaki started agreeing.

“I see.” Yuuji realized that Sukuna was right.

~~~

“Isn’t that her picture?”

Yuuji ignored him and continued rubbing his cock.

His hand started moving faster, his eyes were trained on the picture of you, eyes roaming on your body and imagining how it would feel to run his hands along your curves.

“She looks like she’d love taking it from her ass.”

“Shut up, she’s not like that!” he immediately protested. His cheeks were bright red from shame. He had never done it to the pictures of the people he had met. Only celebrities. It didn’t feel right.

“She’s a woman. I know what women want and like.” Sukuna was confident. “I know exactly what she wants, unlike you.”

Yuuji tried blocking out the curse’s voice in his head and tightened his grip as well as his pace. He was imagining you again, eyes full of tears and you were twisting your body to push him weakly away with your tiny hands as he took you from behind.

Thanks to that fantasy, he came in an instant.

~~~

Yuuji was a good guy.

He was sacrificing his life to save others every day and he was going to be executed for the sake of saving humanity from the curses.

He could never be the bad guy.

~~~

“Welcome,” you chirped as soon as he walked through the door. “The usual?”

Yuuji awkwardly smiled and bowed his head to greet you. “Y-yeah.”

“Had a good day?” Turning around, you walked away from the counter to reach the coffee machine, disappearing from his view.

Yuuji made his way towards the counter and tried recalling how his day had been. He had exorcised a couple of curses and even got the opportunity to catch up with Fushiguro and his girlfriend when they ran into each other downtown. To put it simply, his day had been the worst. “It was a good day, how was yours?”

Dumb.

You were only making small talk because he was a regular here, nothing more. He knew people who worked in small coffee shops like this were always friendly to attract customers, to give a sense of home to people who come here for a drink or the tasty sweets. It was a marketing strategy.

“My day was tiring. I took your advice and put a new drink on the menu but apparently, it’s really good because everyone wanted to try it. However, the thing is… it’s so hard to make it!!” You appeared in front of him again with his drink and pointed behind you, at the menu displays. “I ran out of strawberries twice and had to call to ask my friend to go buy some from the store for me.”

“Woah, that sounds really exhausting!” he said in a tone to match your own while you were making a cutesy pouting face. “Hmm.” There was a momentary pause as he took his coffee from you and grinned. “I changed my mind, I also want to try this incredibly hard-to-make drink too.”

Your shoulders slacked and you gave an exaggerated sigh. “I thought you of all people would pity me…”

“I’m known for being ruthless,” he joked, chuckling. The smile on his face was genuine and he couldn’t stop smiling, it was as if he could never be in a bad mood around you. “But yes, I was joking. No need to call a friend to buy more strawberries or anything.”

You pointed a finger at him with mock threat and anger. “Don’t make fun of me or I won’t serve you again.”

“That’s better than threatening to spit in my coffee.” He tilted his head and shrugged.

“You said it as if I don’t do it all the time.” You raised a brow.

Both of you laughed but once the joke died out, there was an awkward silence.

“Anyway,” you said, gesturing towards one of the tables you clearly had wiped and cleaned because you were getting ready to close the place. “You can take a seat there if you wanna, I sadly have to finish up cleaning.”

When he looked around he could see that there was a mop you were planning to use. He didn’t want to disturb you any longer. It would be weird if he sat down when you were desperately trying to close the shop for the night.

It was rude and you were only being polite to him.

“I’ll drink this on the way home,” Yuuji replied with a nervous grin, and the tension from your shoulders visibly relaxed.

“Have a good evening!” you chirped after him as he turned around his heels.

“You too!” He exited the shop.

“Coward,” Sukuna spat.

“Please, be quiet.” Not again. Not this devil again.

“You could’ve fucked her against that counter. She was all over you, begging for you to make a move.” There was an undeniable smile in his voice.

“Be quiet, will you?” No. You were just an innocent girl. Someone who was nice to him because he came to buy coffee. He was just a customer.

“You, brat, are going to die as a celibate if you keep this up. Have you ever stick it inside a woman before? Do you have any idea of how heavenly a woman’s warmth is? The way they squirm and moan under you as they give you the look of an angel’s and beg for you to take it slow, cling onto you with tiny little hands-”

“Shut up!” Yuuji slammed the coffee on the concrete ground, his chest heaving in anger and frustration.

Some passersby stared at him and walked further away from where he was standing.

Sukuna disappeared with a smile.

Yuuji took a deep breath to calm himself.

~~~

The bells over the wooden door chimed, announcing his arrival.

“Hi!” you quickly yelled and appeared by the counter, your smile widened when you realized it was Yuuji. “The usual?”

“You don’t need to ask,” he replied, eyes softening and shoulders relaxing. He felt like himself in here, he felt at home.

“Did you have a good day?” you asked before disappearing behind the coffee machine.

“It was a bad day until I came here,” he said lumberingly, his cheeks flushed from nervousness. He was terrible at flirting.

You laughed, he couldn’t see your reaction but you sounded happy when you spoke. “Ahh, I’m glad I’m able to make you happy! It brings me joy when I manage to help others have a good day in one way or another!”

So kind and selfless.

The two of you were a perfect match.

Seconds later you were standing in front of him with his drink on top of the counter. “I hope you’ll have a great rest of the night, Itadori! I’m glad my coffee was able to help you feel better.”

He opened his mouth to say that it wasn’t the coffee that made him happy but he closed it when he realized how weird it would sound. “Thank you.”

~~~

“I like you and I think we should hang out sometime,” he said, smiling awkwardly. Seconds of silence passed and he slapped a hand on his face in embarrassment. After taking a deep breath he tried again. “Do you wanna go out for dinner this weekend?”

“You are acting like a brat,” Sukuna mocked. “Go up to her and tell her you to want to make her yours like a real man.”

Yuuji ignored him while staring at his reflection in the mirror and groaned. He hated when Sukuna said things that made sense.

His clothes were ironed and his hair was slicked back with the hair gel he had bought in a rush.

“You look pathetic.” Brutally honest, Sukuna’s voice had a tone of embarrassment in it. He was ashamed of living inside him.

“I look good.” Yuuji wasn’t going to let him ruin this moment. He was going to prove to everyone else that he could get the girl if he acted like himself. There was no need to be pretending something he wasn’t when it came to you. He knew you would want him to be honest.

“She’s going to reject you, brat. Don’t ridicule yourself and take my advice.”

“What’s your advice?” Yuuji scoffed, “Manhandle her?”

“You’re feeling the instinct of mating and lust,” Sukuna said. “You want to fuck her, you don’t want to make love to her or whatever the humans call it.”

“What?” Yuuji forced a smile on his face and laughed hysterically, “Are you even hearing what you’re saying?”

“Love isn’t real. Obsession, lust, and devotion are real though. You want to breed her. Don’t mix up libido with what peasants would call love.”

There was a grim pause.

“I like her,” Yuuji said. “She’s pretty and she seems like a nice person. Her smile is cute and-”

“Do whatever you want, brat,” Sukuna yawned, getting ready to disappear from Yuuji’s cheek. “Try not to throw a tantrum when you get rejected.”

“You were the one who told me to go up to her and make her mine?” Frustrated, Yuuji rolled his eyes in irritation.

“Making some woman yours doesn’t mean to woo her or make love to her. Are all brats the same as you? Don’t you know that women are pleasure dolls for men? They live to please men.” Sukuna was getting serious, he raised his voice with each sentence. “Women are like fish, they don’t have feelings.”

“That’s not true.” Yuuji’s voice got a little weaker than he had intended to. “You’re wrong.” It didn’t sound like he was denying what Sukuna had said and trying to convince himself that wasn’t the truth instead.

Sukuna disappeared from his cheek with a malicious grin.

Shaking his head to gather his thoughts, Yuuji quickly walked out of his room and exited his apartment.

It took him twenty minutes to get to the coffee shop when it usually took him barely ten minutes. He had gotten flowers for you. Not really sure which ones to get, he had chosen one of the pink and red bouquets on display. He was nervous and sweating. He had to wipe his palms down on his jeans to keep them dry way too many times, he had stopped counting after the seventh time.

He stood outside of the cafe, trembling in excitement. There weren't any windows at your coffee shop thus he couldn’t see if there were any customers inside. He could only hope that it would be just the two of you alone since there was something very special he needed to tell you.

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

He grabbed the handle and opened the door. You were behind the counter, looking down at your phone. As soon as the bells over the door chimed you put it away and smiled, “Welcome!”

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

Yuuji’s grip tightened around the bouquet he was holding, his cheeks started burning in nervousness.

“Woahh, you’re going on a date?” you asked while he walked up to the counter, your voice was as cheerful as ever. “I couldn’t recognize you, should I give you the usual?”

“Uhh, no.” He paused. When both of you stared at each other he realized how awkward and confusing his answer was. “Um, it’s not a date but I’m gonna ask the girl I like out.” His face was turning beet red.

“Aww, that’s so adorable! She’s so lucky, you’ve even bought her flowers, so cutee!!” You pressed a hand over your chest, feigning being hurt. “Ahh, my heart can’t handle it.”

“Y-yeah.” He blushed harder, shifting his weight on his feet nervously. “She’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

“You better treat her right then and I hope she’ll say yes.” You didn't miss the eyes on you and continued smiling in discomfort. “The usual?” you asked once it started getting a little too quiet and he nodded.

The uncomfortable silence started making Yuuji reconsider what to say or if he should say them at all. You put his coffee on the counter before he could take his time thinking.

“Is that all?” you asked as you were putting his order’s total into the cash register.

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

“N-no,” he replied in a quiet voice while reluctantly taking out his wallet to pay for his coffee.

“I hope you have a lovely night, Itadori. Go get the girl!” you cheered him on with a cute smile.

“Actually,” he started, looking at you with his flushed cheeks and fidgeting with his fingers. “Ahh, (name), I wanted to tell you something.”

“Hmm, what is it?” You were smiling, watching him in confusion.

Yuuji decided that he shouldn’t beat around the bush at this moment because he wanted to seem confident. He knew if he didn’t spit it out now or else he would never say it. He had to get to the point and dive in ahead without any hesitation.

“I like you.”

Lifting the bouquet, he held it up towards you as you looked at him and then at the bouquet repeatedly with wide eyes but you didn’t seem shocked.

You opened your mouth to say something but closed it again.

“I mean, you’re such a nice person and I found myself always looking forward to seeing you. I think about you all the time and I can’t get you out of my head. I used to hate it here, it’s a large city with too many people… but then you took over this shop, and now I… don’t hate it that much.”

He was saying all that with a puffed chest and a big goofy grin on his face, his cheeks were blushing as he tried not to look nervous. However, when he saw the way your smile curled down to a frown as he kept on talking, it felt like someone poured iced water down his head.

Yuuji couldn’t breathe.

“Um, that’s flattering,” you said, forcing a smile on your face and taking the bouquet from him. “Were these for me?”

“Y-yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

You nodded languidly, noticing that you were the girl he wanted to ask out. “I… I don’t know what to say. Thank you, I really appreciate it.” You couldn’t find the words that wouldn’t hurt him.

Gradually, he noticed how uncomfortable you looked and his smile disappeared from his face.

“I’m sorry but I’m not looking for a relationship, I’m really busy with working and taking care of this cafe but I appreciate your feelings.” You averted your gaze from him for a moment, a scoff left your lips. Were you laughing at him? “I apologize if my affable demeanor gave you the wrong idea but sadly I can’t return your feelings.”

He looked down to his feet to pull himself together, an icy shiver ran through him as he spoke. “Thank you for being honest with me.”

So childish.

“Of course,” you said, forcing a chuckle.

“I hope we can still be friends, I wouldn’t wanna lose you.” Yuuji was desperate, he couldn’t imagine a life without you.

“Of course!” you repeated with a louder forced chuckle. “I don’t want this to ruin our friendship!”

“Me neither.” He couldn’t lift his head or move, his body had turned to stone.

The pauses started to grow longer and eerily quiet. You were the one who spoke next.

“Thank you so much, Itadori, I’m flattered by your confession and I hope we can be close friends!” Pressing the bouquet on your chest and hugging it with both arms, you used a soft tone to talk to him. “I need to close down and catch the train home, I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah…” Yuuji turned around and walked out of the cafe without saying anything else, leaving the coffee he had paid for on the counter.

“I told you, didn’t I, brat?” Sukuna mocked, voice full of mischief as he appeared on his vessel’s cheek.

“Leave me alone,” Yuuji hissed. He was walking away from the coffee shop, not going home though, not yet. He needed to calm down.

“Women want to be ordered around, brat. They want men to take control. If you act like a brat, they won’t see you as a man.”

Yuuji’s breath hitched upon hearing Sukuna’s words. His knees started feeling weaker than they ever could but he had to stand proud, assert his dominance over the King of Curses and collect himself.

It wasn’t fair! It wasn’t fair that he was in this situation, it wasn’t fair that he was rejected, it wasn’t fair that he was cursed to live in despair. He was eventually going to get executed and he hadn’t had a youth where he fulfilled any of his dreams. He had wanted only one thing, to feel happy with one person and that childish wish must have been too much to ask. Not only he got rejected but now he had Sukuna making fun of him.

“You must be a man and make her yours.”

“She told me she didn’t want a relationship.” Yuuji couldn’t deal with him anymore. “We’re friends.”

“Do you want a woman for yourself or not, brat?” Sukuna sighed in irritation before humming thoughtfully. “I’ll help you,” he offered generously, “I’ll help you make her yours.”

“Leave me alone, Sukuna.” Yuuji was getting angrier, and soon he started to tremble in rage.

“Let me help you to get a taste of a woman, brat.”

“She rejected me-”

“She’s just playing hard to get. A woman like her wants to be chased. She didn’t tell you to get lost because she wants you to keep coming back to her so you’ll continue to give her your attention. That girl would spread her legs for anyone who gives her attention if she wasn’t a prude. She’s a virgin, that must be why she’s acting like this. I can smell it, the blood that’s yet to bleed once her innocence is taken. You need to take it, brat.”

“You want me to rape her, is that it?” Yuuji spat, he had never thought he would say those words out loud.

“I never said that, brat.” Sukuna let out a chuckle, lying. “Let me show you what I mean.”

“I’m not letting you take over my body,” he replied coldly.

“I don’t want to take over your body, that woman is yours,” Sukuna assured.

“Then, what do you want me to do?” Yuuji asked.

Sukuna grinned viciously, “Let's go back to where she works first.”

~~~

“Itadori-”

The door closed after him with a soft click.

You let out a frustrated sigh and pressed the bouquet against your chest, hugging them tightly.

That hadn’t gone well at all.

Your eyes landed on the coffee he forgot to take with him on the counter. “I’m the worst,” mumbling, you put the flowers on the counter to prepare the cafe for closing.

You took the paper coffee mug and poured it out, the dark liquid went down the sink as you watched, hypnotized and lost in your thoughts.

That guy… He wasn’t like any other you met. He was adorable and matched your energy like no other person ever had. You enjoyed being around Itadori and you were glad he felt the same but… he knew you for less than two weeks. He was clearly confused, he had made a friend who he managed to click instantly and mistook his feelings for love.

Nonetheless, you felt terrible. It was never easy to reject someone, especially when you were so busy trying to manage the coffee shop of your dreams you finally got to open.

Itadori had to understand that. He would understand, right?

Oh, he had looked so excited and nervous. He had even slicked his messy hair back and brought flowers…

You hoped he would get over it quickly or at least, he would come to the shop tomorrow so you could comfort him. The two of you needed to talk a little more, you needed for him to know that you didn’t want to break his heart. You felt the need to apologize, ahh, so stupid. You hadn’t even done anything wrong.

It hurt though.

It still hurt.

You hated making other people feel bad. You wanted to be the reason behind their smiles and laughter, not tears.

Packing your stuff and turning off the lights, you left the shop. The door was locked two times as usual before you hurried down the street towards the subway.  

The station was packed more than usual and you immediately regretted not listening to your friend’s advice on renting that one apartment down the block. But complaining right now wasn’t going to get you home.

You hopped on the train and shielded the bouquet with your arms wrapped around it as you tried not to get crushed by the swarm of people getting on the train. Once the doors closed, you had successfully managed to find a place by the train door with a little space so you could avoid getting the bouquet crushed.

Facing the doors, you stared out the small window, it was dark but every second or another a light would zoom in and out. You weren’t sure if they were there for navigating or not but you found yourself too focused on the lights as the sudden brake of the train made you stumble forward.

When you regained your balance to stand up straight, there was someone behind you. They were a little too close but it was nothing out of the ordinary, you always found yourself being pressed against other people during rush hours in the subway.

At the next stop, the doors on the opposite side opened and another swarm of people filled the train. Now, the person behind you was trapping you between their body and the door that was in front of you.

You were showing extra carefulness to not let the bouquet get crushed, you wanted to take it home in one piece without anything happening to it. These flowers were beautiful, they smelled amazing too. You wanted to cherish them even if you hadn’t managed to cherish Itadori’s feelings.

As you were inspecting the bouquet you saw a small card that was attached to one of the flowers. You checked it and realized what it was.

It was Itadori’s phone number and a cute little heart drawn next to it with a small message.

‘I’d love to hear more of your voice and complaints about work in private!!’

You didn’t realize you were smiling at the note until something brought you out of your trance.

A voice to be exact.

“Your lover got them to you?” A husky voice asked.

Lifting your head, you stared at the small window. From the almost transparent reflection on the window, you could see that the guy behind you had talked. You couldn’t see his face from his hoodie covering his features but you could tell that he was talking to you.

“Um, not really,” you replied. It wasn’t abnormal to you that other people made small talk to you, you talked to strangers more than anyone else every day. You always overshared anyway. “They are from a close friend.”

“He must love you.” There was an undeniable smile in his voice.

You forced a chuckle, looking down in front of you. “Y-yeah.”

When the train braked abruptly, he got closer. “Touch her-” It was a whisper from the same guy, you were unable to make out the words clearly but you decided to ignore him for the rest of the ride. You needed to get off in twenty minutes and were too tired to act friendly.

That was when you felt the back of his hand brushing against your ass.

You froze, before you could call it an accident and blame it on the crowded train, he pressed the back of his hand more purposefully on the soft flesh.

Fear paralyzed your body and you found yourself at a loss of words. You didn’t know what to do, you wanted to move away but you were trapped between him and the door.

“You’re not gonna ask for help?” he asked, leaning forward to mock you.

It was too humiliating and you were unable to think of anything. Somehow, you shook your head to tell him to stop because your voice wouldn’t come out. You pressed the bouquet harder against your chest in panic, praying to whoever was listening that the guy would stop.

You heard him say something but every other voice was muffled now, it was as if your ears were filled with cotton.

The only thing you did was to hope that you could muster up the courage to push him away and get out on the next stop.

Why was this happening to you?

Why?

“See, I told you.” Sukuna scoffed as Yuuji’s entire face was beet red. “She’s not even gonna ask for help because she wants you to continue.”

Yuuji saw your blushed cheeks in the reflection in the window, you were breathing heavily and standing still.

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

When Sukuna convinced him to follow you into the subway train and let him do the talking, he was conflicted because he wasn’t sure what the King of Curses wanted to prove but now, he knew.

“Women live to be conquered by men,” Sukuna concluded, “Do you understand it now or should I elaborate more?”

Yuuji was quiet.

“She’ll bend down and beg for you to fuck her right now if you continue touching her.”

You wouldn’t.

Right?

Using his whole hand, Yuuji groped your ass while trembling from dismay but he couldn’t forethought the way you reacted being anything other than screaming for help or pushing him away.

Instead of fighting back or doing anything he had thought you would, you mewled and stayed exactly where you were.

They were all right.

Fushiguro, Inumaki and Yuuta. They were all right.

Sukuna was more than right. He had been trying to help him but Yuuji was too blind to see it.

“Check her cunt, I bet she’s soaking wet.” Sukuna had said to mock his vessel. He didn’t expect for him to move his hand between your legs and under your skirt to press his fingers against your clothed pussy. Neither did you.

Letting out a squeal, you hunched forward, pressing your legs together in panic as his digits moved along your clothed slit that was completely damp.

He started rubbing his fingers between your folds, your juices soaked your panties and made sloppy sounds each time he moved his digits.

“I can hear it from here, did you wet yourself, or are you this wet for me?” Sukuna laughed audibly.

You shook your head, slouching further down and trying to move away from Yuuji’s hands.

“Women aren’t good liars,” Sukuna said as Yuuji slouched forward with you and pressed himself against your ass. “You’re aching to have a cock inside you, no?”

“Please,” you begged. You wanted him to stop.

“Oh, look, she’s asking so politely to be filled with a cock.” Sukuna made fun of your misery while watching the brat finally grow into a man.

Yuuji was sure Sukuna had taken over his body because he would never hump the girl he liked as he was fingering her over her clothes in a train. In public, he reminded himself, in a train and in public where nobody seemed to care.

His hands were moving on their own, he hooked a finger under the elastic edge of your panties to pull them to the side.

“W-wait, please,” you whispered in a weak voice, finally using a hand to grab his wrist to try to pull him away from your pussy. You weren’t strong or convincing enough though.

Yuuji slipped his fingers inside you and grinded his growing erection against your ass, earning a surprised moan out of you.

The hand that was grabbing his wrist immediately went to cover your mouth to suppress your voice as he started humping you to deliberately mimic fucking you.

“Please, stop…” Your voice was fainter than a whisper behind your hand.

“You say that but you’re pitifully trembling in anticipation.” His lips were brushing against the shell of your ear but it was as if he wasn’t using his mouth to talk.

“I’m not…” You pressed your legs together and trapped his hand between your thighs while he twirled his digits around inside you.  

“Lying isn’t cute, you know.” There was a smile in his deep voice, “Come on try harder to lie and make me believe you don’t want it.” He dragged his tongue along the shell of your ear, earning a surprised but muffled moan from you.

Yuuji brought his other hand up to cup your breast over your shirt, his cock was painfully hard against his jeans, and the knowledge of him touching his crush was too much for him to handle. He could cum in his pants if he wasn’t careful enough. Sukuna was saying the most vulgar things to you but instead of pushing him away, you were staying exactly where you were. It was fascinating to see how much you were begging to be touched.

It disturbed him a little, would you let any stranger touch you like this? Would you be this wet for anyone?

Yuuji didn’t want to know the answer but Sukuna did.

“Come on, be honest. Would you be this keen to be fucked by any man or is it because it’s me?” Sukuna asked, he was barely holding himself to switch with the brat, he loved corrupting innocent souls like you. He loved seeing the painful and pathetic cries they would let out as their faces were stained with tears.

You shook your head rapidly as his fingers inside you curled to rub a sweet spot you didn’t know existed.

“So, does that mean you wouldn’t want to be fucked by anyone but me?” Sukuna laughed while Yuuji let out a low groan, grinding harder against your ass, humping you roughly.

“N-nooo,” you were sobbing now, tears started running down your cheeks.

“Good girl… You’re finally being honest. You hear that? She would never want to be fucked by anyone but me.”

“T-that’s not what I meant…”

It was fun to tease girls like you. Sukuna could feel your fear and took incredible joy from hearing your voice crack. “Now, that’s cute… I wanna hear you cry out my name in your cute voice too.”

Yuuji groaned, shaking his head as if Sukuna was going to listen to him.

“S-Sukuna,” he mocked your crying. “Come on, say it just like that and beg for me to fuck you.”

Your body was shaking in fear, your cries only spurred him on and you didn’t know what to do. “P-please stop, S-Sukuna.” The way you whimpered his name, there was no way Sukuna could hold back.

“You better take her innocence before I do it myself, brat.” Sukuna was a man of his word, he had promised the brat to not touch you but if he didn’t man up and fucked you here, he would have no choice but to do it himself. He would never let a girl’s innocence go to waste. The blood of purity was something holy for curses like him. It was the nectar of the gods from the most ancient times, something that could only be attained by the perfect innocent virgins.

“Don’t you dare,” Yuuji spat, speaking for the first time. “She’s mine.”

You didn’t hear him though. His fingers were thrusting in and out of you vigorously while he was humping you and fondling your tit. Your walls clenched around his digits as he moved his hand on your chest between your bodies to impatiently pull the front of his pants down.

Realizing what was about to happen when he finally pulled his cock free and hiked your skirt up, you stared at your reflection on the window, crying and begging him to stop.

Yuuji froze momentarily, pulling his fingers out of you. He could see your expression in the window but you couldn’t see his face. He was stunned by seeing your cheeks wet with tears and mascara running down to ruin more of your makeup, it was… it was purely so erotic and better than his fantasies.

He slammed his hips forward and buried the entire length of his cock in your pussy.

Your virgin walls squeezed tightly around him and the sharp pain of your hymen being torn made fresh tears run down your cheeks. Your hand covering your mouth went to the door in front of you to keep your balance because of the ferocity of his thrust. Your lips parted to scream in pain but his fingers being shoved inside your mouth stopped you.

You tasted your bitter juices on his fingers as he twirled them around your tongue, catching the muscle between his knuckles.

Yuuji felt lightheaded by the fact that he was actually having sex with his crush, on top of all that, you were both each others’ first. He knew he was going to cherish this memory forever and even though he would have liked to do it in a bed with the lights off, this was fine too.

It didn’t matter where he was as long as he had his cock inside of you.

With a moan, he staggeringly pulled his hips back to abruptly slam into your pussy. The blood of your innocence acted as a lubricant, made it easier for him to slip inside, and made a sloppy sound each time he thrust inside.

You could feel his entire weight settle on your back while he nuzzled against the side of your neck before he shakily licked the sensitive skin to get a taste of you. Instinctively, you tried moving your head away from his mouth but his fingers in your mouth prevented you. To put it simply, you were trapped and were at his mercy.

He picked up a discreet but still desperate pace to fuck you, he was still cautious of the two of you being in public but he was still delirious to be having sex with you. Sex. Did it always feel this good? Were you feeling good too? You wanted it, he knew you did because you told Sukuna you wanted it.

Slamming his hips forward, he knocked the air out of your lungs, you gasped on his fingers, drooling all over yourself from having your mouth forcefully kept open by his long digits.

Yuuji was hopeless to mark his territory, to mark you as his. He wanted everyone to know that you belonged to someone when they looked at you. You were his and only his.

His cock grew bigger inside you at the thought of him owning you. He started fucking you frantically, no longer bothering if the people around had noticed or not. Your cunt tightened around his cock and you felt his teeth sink into the sensitive flesh of your neck. He bit hard, hard enough to draw blood and leave you trembling in numbing pain.

Your eyes rolled to the back of your head as the tip of his cock hit a sweet spot and your legs shook uncontrollably under you, they were struggling to carry your weight.

His teeth sank deeper into your flesh and you dropped the bouquet you were holding against your chest to involuntarily arch your back instead. He chewed on your skin as he felt your virgin walls pulsate around his cock, you were begging to be filled with his seed, weren’t you?

Women were nothing but a bunch of breeding holes anyway. They all acted like innocent angels when deep down they all were whores. Pleasure toys for men. They lived to please men, didn’t they?

You lived to please Yuuji, didn’t you?

Yuuji pulled his hand out from your mouth and stopped biting you. He licked the blood from your neck to focus on fucking you with frenzied thrusts instead. All of his inexperience and desperation were behind his thrusts, along with his entire weight, forcing you to take the very shape of his cock and never forget the girth of it.

Continuing to peppering small kisses on your neck, he started angling his hips just right to hit the spot that made your knees unbuckle. One, two, three thrusts, and your legs were a shaking mess. You moaned in response before he wrapped an arm around you to keep you up on your feet.

“It feels good, doesn’t it?” Sukuna spoke suddenly, startling both of you. “You shouldn’t hold back anymore.”

Yuuji wasn't sure which one of you he was talking to but he kept on nodding and moving his hips.

“Nobody else is going to hear you, give me an honest answer,” Sukuna was chuckling. “How does it feel?”

How does it feel to be fucked?

How does it feel to be fucked on a train?

How does it feel to be fucked in public?

How does it feel to have your innocence taken away?

How does it feel to indulge the darker parts of your mind?

Yuuji’s hips stuttered when your walls clenched around him tightly as you refused to answer.

“I won’t know how it feels if you don’t tell me, (name).”

Your mouth popped open and you moaned upon hearing your name. How did he know your name?

As soon as he thrust into your pussy, you forgot about it and let out a moan.

Were you always this depraved?

He continued fucking you frantically. His pace was faster and more ruthless, he was close. With each thrust of his hips, he left you moaning in involuntary pleasure but there was no denying that it felt good.

It felt so good.

“Tell me, (name).”

It felt so good.

“Come on, tell me.”

“Please,” you begged. It feels so good. Feels so good.

“That’s not what I wanna hear,” Sukuna murmured. “Come on now.”

The automated voice announced the next stop.

“Hurry it up already.” He was getting impatient.

“It feels so good,” you whimpered, defeated.

“Good girl,” Sukuna grinned before disappearing from Yuuji’s cheek.

The shame overwhelmed all of your senses and you looked at your reflection in the window once more, you caught a glimpse of your aroused expression. You were such a whore.

Yuuji slammed his hips forward one last time and you felt the small twitch of his balls against your skin before his cock twitched, spurting thick ropes of cum inside you.

The train stopped and he pulled out of you.

His seed started gushing out of your pussy before starting to trickle down your legs. Most of the bodily fluid had pooled under you and when you fell hard on the ground, they soaked into your skirt.

The guy who assaulted you was nowhere to be seen as the doors of the train on the other side opened. Many people hopped off the train but nobody paid any attention to you and you were sure they had been oblivious to what had happened. Nobody would care anyway.

A sob tore out of you and you tried getting up. Your legs were like jelly but as you managed to stand up, you noticed the bouquet you had dropped. More tears started to come out, they blurred your vision and you found yourself grabbing it from the ground.

Thankfully, it wasn’t crushed.

The train doors closed and it started moving forward while you were trying to fix your skirt.

Ah, that was your stop…

You sobbed again but pressed a hand over your mouth to not disturb anyone. Your crying didn’t stop even after you got off of the train on the next stop. You wanted to call someone to help you get back home because you weren’t sure if you could make it alone. Your legs were hurt, the throbbing pain coming from between your legs wouldn’t let you walk or stand up.

You weren’t going to tell them what had happened. Nobody could know. You didn’t need their pity. You were too ashamed.

Sitting on a bench, you scrolled down your contacts but none of the names there would help you. Not unless they had something to gain from it. Wasn’t that why you dropped everything and moved here to open a coffee shop?

How pathetic of you.

People only used you for your kindness.

You shifted on your seat and something slipped out from the bouquet. When you picked it up, you noticed that it was the note Itadori had written for you.

There was an ugly pause before you dialed the unknown number and a familiar voice responded.

“Hey,” he sounded awkward. Of course, he would, you rejected him. “What’s up?”

“Itadori,” you whimpered, voice cracking. Immediately, you cursed yourself for being this pathetic.

“A-are you o-okay? W-what happened?”

Bursting into tears once again, you only told him that you only needed help in shame after clearing your throat.

It took him barely fifteen minutes to arrive at the station to get you. You wiped your tears as soon as he came into your view. He was breathless, face beet red from running.

“You okay?” he asked in between breaths. “I ran here as fast as I could.”

He ran here.

Has anyone cared for you this much?

“Yeah, thank you and ahh, I… This is embarrassing… I twisted my ankle and needed help getting home.” You were never a good liar but you hoped he was gullible enough to believe it. “I know it’s weird to call you here but none of my friends would come if I called-”

“Ah, it’s no problem!” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and chuckled. He had been worried for nothing. “I can carry you, that’s what friends are for, right?!”

You nodded and bit your lip to prevent yourself from crying. He was too kind. Too similar to you.

“Want me to carry you on my back? Or like this?” He emphasized his words by holding his hands in front of himself to show you that he was offering to carry you bridal style.

“Yeah, that would be better.” You masked the shame with a fake smile. You were embarrassed that you were pathetic to ask him for help even after you rejected him earlier tonight.

He smiled and took a step closer towards the bench. You wrapped your arms around his neck as he slid his arm under the back of your knees and placed a hand on your back to support you as he lifted you up to take you home.

You were grateful that you had a friend like him in your life.

~~~

The next day Yuuji came to the coffee shop to take your offer from the last night about giving him a free coffee drink of his choice. 

You served him his coffee with a smile and sat with him on one of the tables, talking about your day as he listened to you complain. 

In the end, Sukuna was right, Yuuji realized. 

Women were begging to be fucked. Women secretly wanted it and that was why you were acting indifferent after all that happened the day before.

He had been worried over nothing, besides, he needed to be more confident and assertive like everyone told him to be. Then he would get the girl. That was what every article he read online, all of his friends and people around him told him. That was what Sukuna told him.

“Wanna go get dinner after you close the place?” he asked, taking a mouthful of his coffee.

“I need to clean and it might take a long while-”

“I’ll help,” he replied, smiling. “Everything’s on me.”

How could you say no to that? How could you say no to anything he had to say?

In your eyes, he was the nicest guy in the world.

Were you really going to pass on the opportunity to have him in your life?

“It’s a date then?” You were grinning, cheeks flushing as you said it. Slowly, you placed your hand over his on the table.

Yuuji gave you a blank stare, something sinister sparkled deep within his eyes but you couldn’t see it. Unbeknownst to you, his other hand under the table had a mouth on it that had an unsettling grin on it too. It was funny how clueless you were. Nonetheless, Yuuji took your hand in his to give you a reassuring squeeze and made you blush harder before agreeing, “It’s a date.”

[oatmealcrisp-freak]

holy shit writing kuniharu’s second POV is actually making me cry someone please send help -sobs-

i’m not even joking. i’m legit tearing up, jaw wobbling, deep nasty breaths crying.

okay.

On the subject of Kuniharu Saiki

Kuniharu DOES love his son. He does help his son in invaluable ways, teaching his son responsibility and kindness (albeit ofc sometimes in a backwards ‘what not to do’ kind of way).

Kuniharu Saiki genuinely wants his son to succeed. He wants his son to grow up to be a responsible, good person. He’s a little skewed, yes, and the way he puts it doesn’t make it very respectable, but he’s honestly concerned for his son’s well being. He wants his son to have friends, and learn, and love, and grow.

But he also insults his son on the routine, uses him and pressures him to do morally wrong things constantly because it’s convenient for him (one of the first things he does in his introduction is encourage Kusuo to rob a bank and, unlike when Kurumi tells Kusuo to kill his dad, this is shown to be a regular thing for Kuniharu), and uses him as a punching bag. 

Likewise, Kusuo is absolutely vicious right back. He insults and dehumanizes his father constantly. It’s funny to him. He loves his dad so much that he’ll harrass his grandfather for harrassing Kuniharu, but he’ll also say just the most awful things right to his dad’s face. While I don’t fully blame a teenager for lashing out at a person who’s been trying to hurt their feelings to make them capitulate from day one, words matter, and Kusuo doesn’t need to bully his dad. It’s absolutely possible for children to bully their parents, and that is what he does. He’s old enough to be responsible for the choices he makes. We can tell, because he’s our POV character, that a lot of what he says are jokes. He does have a dark sense of humor. But jokes that hurt people’s feelings is bullying. What you say to people matters. Kuniharu hurts his son’s feelings. Kusuo hurts his dad’s feelings. It’s a really nasty and unhealthy cycle.

Like imagine dropping a bed on your dad just because he asked you to do something while you were watching TV, eesh lol and while Kuniharu did try to step on his teeny tiny son...Kusuo, was stepping on your dad’s face after kicking him to the floor reeeeeaaaaaally necessary?

(I do appreciate that Kusuo just straight up used his dad’s crummy taste in TV to turn it to something his ace homo leaning self would prefer - men’s butt exercises. You’d “rather” watch that huh. HUH.)

In the text of the fic, Aren tells Kusuo he did nothing wrong. Kusuo’s response to that is ‘you’re biased’. He tries to make amends with his dad in his own way through his art and he knows he could be a better son. He knows their relationship is strained. Kusuo gives what he gets. 

His friends don’t know this. They only see an adult picking on a kid who’s already going through it, and who is their friend who they see the best of more often than not - so yeah. They’re VERY biased. Kurumi and Kusuke have witnessed it but they’re both focused on Kusuo because Kusuo is literally bleeding internally and even though it’s largely thanks to Kusuo’s own negligence, Kuniharu put him on the bridge he fell off of, Kuniharu is an adult, Kuniharu has been really shitty and manipulative (in canon and in fic), so it’s Kuniharu they’re blaming but NONE of them are innocent. The blame is rightfully placed but they all acknowledge they’ve fucked up too. Kuniharu, spoiled brat that he is, is just the last to acknowledge it.

And, molotow spoiler alert, he’s not wrong either - Kusuo is going to be fine, with or without action. In fact it’s gonna be outside interference that kinda kills him for a bit.

Now. To read too deeply into a gag-manga character. Kuniharu is shown to be popular in highschool. When he tells this to Kusuo in the accidental time travel chapter, he does exaggerate but not everything is shown to be untrue. He is friends with a man named Kimutaku, he was attractive enough to get noticed by Kurumi even when he was creeping on her. Also, he gives very good advice to his mangaka’s team members, showing that he knows what he’s doing (when he’s not getting egotistical and derailing them) and that he’s intelligent. He was able to drag a massively heavy piece of equipment into his house to attempt to massage his son’s shoulders, and his home has a work out room. I think Kuniharu was absolutely exaggerating a bit, but also I think there’s truth to it.

(Less different than you’d expect!)

I think that going from that, to this and this

would drive anyone fricking nuts, never mind the psychological pressure of constantly changing jobs and having to take jobs at black companies where the bosses actually assault him in part because of shit like this.

Kuniharu has a right to be concerned about his son. His son is a dick to him, and only started really changing after he almost killed four people incl. Akechi, which Kuniharu would know about because they moved right after. However, Kusuo’s maturity is something that Kuniharu honestly doesn’t get to see in canon. He doesn’t see how much Kusuo helps his friends, he doesn’t see Kusuo help and save animals and strangers, he doesn’t see Kusuo warning Mikoto that there are consequences to helping people with their powers and they’re not always good ones. He’s also shown to take for granted and not really notice all the ways Kusuo helps him, and helps out around the house because that’s the norm - we don’t always recognize something when it’s an everyday thing, gratitude takes effort.

(Thank your parents when they clean house and make you dinner kids, they’ll appreciate it so much to know you’re grateful)

 He gets bullied physically and mentally at his job. When he comes home it’s to children don’t respect him and to a wife that gets scammed to the tune of millions of yen on the regular. He went from a reasonably well off and privileged youth to being the butt of the joke everywhere he went.

Kuniharu tries. But his stress comes out in the wrong ways. It doesn’t justify the wrongs he does in a world played straight where feelings get hurt, not at all, but he genuinely cares. I do try to demonstrate that in the fic. He thanks Kusuo, he buys Kusuo a present (partial bribe yes but also partial genuine olive branch), he thanks Kusuo’s friends for sticking around when his son is being a brat (which he was), he capitulates because he’s told his son is at risk of literal expulsion and that they might press charges, meaning a criminal record, just a semester before he graduates high school. He doesn’t have Kusuo’s telepathy to know that’s a bluff.

Kuniharu is a man with an inferiority complex the size of North America and it leads him to do incredibly scummy things, but he’s not the villain.

No, that’s Yoshida, who takes advantage of a crumbling household pillar the instant that he sees it. 

[gch1995]

I’m 25 going on 26 now, and I grew up loving the classic Powerpuff Girls cartoon series when I was a kid. Even now when I rewatch it as an adult, it’s still a cute and funny cartoon, especially now that I’m old enough to recognize all of the adult jokes. Like, there’s no way it was a coincidence that Professor Utonium’s despicably dishonest, greedy, lazy, manipulative, selfish, and sleazy former roommate from college was given the name Professor Dick Hardly by accident.

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup actually are pretty relatable little girls who have believable flaws and insecurities. They make believable bad choices for little girls. Those issues actually get dealt with seriously, rather than just being brushed aside as no big deal with no negative consequences. They are still endearing and sympathetic in spite of their flaws.

While he had a few OOC moments of bad parenting in some bad episodes here and there, generally speaking, Professor Utonium from the classic Powerpuff Girls is actually one of the best dads in cartoons that I’ve ever seen, which is sadly pretty rare in most cartoon sitcoms, even the ones that are actually aimed at a children audience.

Most cartoon dads are abusive, lazy, neglectful, selfish, and stupid oafs. Granted, those type of dads in cartoon sitcoms can actually be entertaining and funny to watch when they are actually being well-written as shitty and slow-witted, but still essentially well-meaning people in regards to their families, such as S1-S8 Homer Simpson from The Simpsons and even S1-S3 Peter Griffin from Family Guy. However, the entertainment quality of those shitty, but well-meaning cartoon dads was mostly lost when the writers flanderdized their negative traits to the point of making Homer and especially Peter downright despicable with little to no redeeming or sympathetic qualities much of the time anymore. They went from being shitty, but essentially well-meaning parents and husbands to downright bratty and spoiled man-children who were much more intentionally abusive, childish, cruel, neglectful, petty, and selfish in regards to their families and others around them with little to no sympathetic or redeeming qualities much of the time anymore, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why The Simpsons went downhill in quality after S8, and why Family Guy went downhill in quality after S3.

Nonetheless, even as they were originally written on their shows pre-flanderdization when they were still well-meaning, but misguided parents and spouses, cartoon dads like Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin, weren’t good dads on the whole. There were still plenty of recurring plot lines and/or gags of them being abusive, lazy, neglectful, reckless, and selfish. Back in early seasons pre-flanderdization, it was more forgivable, though, because they also still had their fair share of kind and selfless moments with their families, and their shittiness as parents wasn’t intentionally abusive, malicious, premeditated, and selfish in nature, which balanced them out enough to still be entertaining and likable characters in spite of their flaws.

Realistically speaking, though, dads like Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson would be better off having their kids taken away from them by CPS. Their good qualities and lack of malicious intent, particularly in earlier seasons pre-flanderdization, would still not hold up as legitimate excuse as to why they should be allowed to keep their kids. Bart would have bruises all over his neck, fractures in his neck, and he could possibly be killed if Homer strangled him hard enough to actually break his neck and/or cut off his air supply long enough in real life just once. Meg, Chris, and even Stewie would not only be injured, but actually outright killed in real life from some of the abuse and neglect that Peter and Lois put them through in later seasons of FG. All of these kids, especially Meg, would have serious self-esteem issues for the rest of their lives because Peter, Lois’, and Homer’s abuse and neglect of their kids went beyond just a pattern of being physical in nature, but emotionally and verbally abusive as well.

So yeah, Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson are really not good fathers who you’d ever want to deal with for a parent in real life, even pre-flanderdization. The major reoccurrence of the abusive, bumbling, idiotic, lazy, drunken, neglectful, and selfish dad trope in cartoon sitcoms is exactly why I really love Professor Utonium from the classic PPG cartoon. I don’t necessarily mind it in absurdist cartoon sitcoms when it’s done well as a trope, but I’m also getting tired of mostly just seeing bad and stupid dads in cartoon sitcoms, and not enough good ones.

For the most part, the OG Professor Utonium is a great dad who goes above and beyond to make sure Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup are happy, healthy, disciplined, and safe. He’s usually the parent most of us wish we could have in real life, if we don’t already. It’s refreshing to actually see a good dad in an animated sitcom for once.

Professor Utonium in the classic PPG cartoon is generally a very kind, loving, selfless, and supportive dad to girls. However, he also knows when he has to discipline them and be strict without ever being mean about it. He gives them good advice. He’s very selfless, and even though the girls are superheroes with superhuman abilities, he’ll still risk and/or sacrifice anything to protect them when they’re unable to protect themselves with their powers, including his own life. He didn’t need to be the stereotypical cartoon sitcom abusive, bumbling, dumb, and neglectful dad in order to be funny either. He was funny because he could sometimes be overprotective of the girls, and he could sometimes embarrass them by calling them sickly sweet terms of endearment and telling embarrassing stories that he shouldn’t have about them in public. He was socially awkward. These are relatable flaws in parents that even the best ones have.

While the girls don’t have a mother, Ms. Bellum and Ms. Keane were very brave, kind, and intelligent strong women who were good role models.

Also, the Professor did many activities with the girls and chores around the house that get gender-coded as “mother’s work.” Some of these things include begrudgingly playing dress up as Bubbles to make her happy when she was playing PowerPuff Girls with Buttercup and Blossom on a rainy day inside of no crime when he saw that she was upset that no one wanted to be her, cooking, cleaning, and actually sitting down to talk with the girls, listen to them, emotionally support them, and give them advice. He’s also not afraid to be openly affectionate, doting, and emotional with the girls. There’s just not enough good dads in cartoon sitcoms, which is why I really like Professor Utonium from the OG PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie. He mostly defied all the bad dad stereotypes, and was a really great one to the girls more often than not.

The main villains from the classic PowerPuff Girls cartoon are incredibly entertaining, especially MoJo JoJo. Him was always the creepiest to me because he was the most devious, insidious, and manipulative one. All of the psychological abuse and manipulation he put the girls and Townsville through was always the scariest to me when I was a kid because out of all the villains on the show, the torment that he wreaked upon the girls and Townsville by brainwashing them, gaslighting them, and/or exploiting their fears and insecurities often was played as dead serious with really scary results, especially in early seasons of classic PPG. While Him had a few human moments here and there, for the most part, he was pretty consistently played off as being seriously scary and dangerous.

MoJo JoJo was an egomaniacal asshole hellbent on destroying the PowerPuff Girls and world domination, and on a few occasions, he actually came close to succeeding. On a few occasions, he genuinely was more scary than camp evil. But he still had a lot of humorous, human, fallible, and relatable moments, too. My favorite MoJo moments are the ones where he is making jokes, irritably going grocery shopping to get eggs, getting too frustrated by the girls antics and childish behaviors and reactions to actually go through with his plans to destroy them at certain points, and getting angry and jealous enough to actually destroy the alien/robot invader from another planet who was destroying Townsville in all the evil ways that he always wanted to himself. He was highly intelligent at coming up with clever schemes and inventions with all his science and technology to take over the world, destroy Townsville, and/or destroy the PowerPuff Girls. However, his arrogance, impatience, and impulsivity always doomed him to fail to succeed in the end, though he did come pretty close on a few occasions, especially in the 2002 prequel origin story movie, and he did actually get to rule the world in “The PowerPuff Girls Rule the World!” Surprisingly, he actually was a kindhearted ruler who did good things, but then he gave it all up and went back to being evil because he got bored.

Originally, MoJo was a well-intentioned extremist who wanted to create a utopia ruled by primates where they would never be controlled or rejected by humans again. As much as Professor Utonium’s irritation with JoJo for being a destructive chimp lab assistant was completely justified, it’s also hard not to feel kind of sorry for Mojo Jojo and understand where he’s coming from in his motivations to become evil, particularly in the 2002 prequel movie because originally all he really wanted was to be loved by his owner, too. He understandably felt rejected when Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup became the center of his universe instead. Of course, that doesn’t excuse him for choosing to respond to the Professor’s rejection by becoming an arrogant, evil, cruel, hateful, hypocritical, domineering, manipulative, petty, selfish, and vengeful villain going on a quest for world domination, attempting to commit homicide several times, probably committing voluntary manslaughter of citizens several times that we didn’t see on screen when destroying Townsville all those times, turning the rest of the world into dogs to try to take over the world, and trying to destroy the girls. However, you understand why Mojo became the villain he did with his backstory. He’s relatable. Occasionally, he does have some genuinely sympathetic moments where he’s actually willing to be friendly with the girls, team up with them, and do the right thing.

HIM was just the personification of evil for no other reason than the fact that he was satan. While MoJo was a complex, human, and relatable anti-villain with his origin story as the Professor’s lab chimp, who gained genius-level human intellect from having Chemical X splashed on his brain, and then chose to become evil after feeling rejected by the Professor when he saw how he pretty much forget about him once the girls became the center of his universe instead, HIM was evil, manipulative, and hateful for no other reason than the fact that those traits were a part of his nature as the very embodiment of evil. Many times, a fictional villain being portrayed as one-dimensional with no sympathetic qualities or relatable motivations will annoy me, but with HIM being evil just because that’s who he is, it actually works because he is literally Satan. There doesn’t need to be a deeper sympathetic story behind why he is evil. Committing crimes, wreaking havoc, corrupting people, manipulating people, turning people against others, exploiting the fears of others, and deceiving others for his own amusement is just who he is, and in the early seasons of classic PPG in particular, that made him really scary to me when I was a six year old little girl watching the cartoon on TV.

You get the idea...The classic PowerPuff Girls was a fantastic cartoon, particularly the first four seasons. Granted, there was some series seasonal rot going on in the writing in S5 and S6 after the 2002 prequel movie, and Craig Mcracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure from the crew. Like, the characterizations of the characters and/or storylines in S5 and S6 felt comparably flanderdized, ooc, immature, inconsistent, pointless, shallow, and underwhelming at certain times to fit the plot, such as in the episodes “Keen on Keane,” “Pee Pee G’s,” “Seed No Evil,” “Reeking Havoc,” “Toast of the Town,” “Say Uncle,” “City of Clipsville,” “”Bubble Boy,” A Made Up Story,” “Mo’linguish,” and “Simian Says.” Even the good episodes of S5-S6 still didn’t ever reach the same level of greatness of the ones from S1-S4. However, the seasonal rot in the classic PPG cartoon of S5-S6 after Craig McCracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure still wasn’t nearly as bad as the seasonal rot on The Simpsons after S8, Family Guy after S3, and SpongeBob SquarePants post S3–S4 ish, so I’m still willing to consider most of S5-S6 of classic PPG legit canon.

However, it sounds like the 2016 PPG reboot fucked up everything that was originally good about it to go for a more slapstick comedic feel without substance without consistency, depth, and intelligence. Now, I hear that the CW is making a live-action TV show spin-off of the PowerPuff Girls being jaded and resentful young women who’ve given up crime fighting as result! No, no, no! Why? Why does the CW keep making dark, nitty, and gritty live action teen soap operas out of beloved childhood cartoons?

Yeah, the original PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie had dark moments. The girls could be bratty and make bad choices sometimes. However, it was still very much a fun show about normal little girls born with superpowers, which they chose to use to defend their father, their city, and on some occasions, the whole world, from crime. No one ultimately forced them to be superheroes for everyone in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. They chose to do it because they had brave and selfless hearts. There was ultimately no obligation for them to be superheroes in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. Sure, they got tired of fighting crime at times, but they still ultimately enjoyed doing it when push came to shove. They weren’t weighed down by the darkness of the world, hatred, and resentment. They still were relatively normal little girls with happy, peaceful, and normal lives of little girls whenever they weren’t fighting crime after the events of the prequel movie about their origins. That’s what made the PowerPuff Girls classic cartoon so special.

By turning Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup into jaded young women, who have given up on being superheroes because they’ve grown resentful of “losing the normal childhood to crime fighting” that they basically are shown to have in the original series for the most part in their spare time aside from having superpowers that they chose to use to fight crime to defend their dad and Townsville from, anyway, where is the fun in that?

[the-final-sif]

Okay, so I think I’ve got a solid timeline of events for villain!Katsuki

Katsuki leaves UA just before the provisional license exam, he’s at the point where he no longer things the hero system can be fixed without outside intervention. He’s done with how the media acts, he’s done with the blame being shifted to victims based on their quirks, and he’s done with the lies he’s been fed all his life.

Prior to this he started researching and planning what actual change would look like and require.

He meets up with Dabi, who’d only let the rest of the league know about the bet a few days prior. He was curious if Katsuki would keep his word or not. Dabi prods Katsuki gently, saying he knew the kid took honestly seriously but he’s still kinda surprised to see him go this far over a bet. Katsuki replies explaining it’s more than the bet. He talks about what he’s seen, and the failure of hero society to change. It’s more than enough to convince Dabi.

Dabi brings him to a secure location, then relays information to Shigaraki. Shigaraki is hesitant, he’s surprised Katsuki came back to them, but when Katsuki explains his side of things, and with Dabi vouching for him, Shigaraki decides to let him in. He can understand what it’s like to fall for hero society. He did for awhile too. Katsuki just needed more time on his own to realize that.

There’s an introduction period, the league is still figuring themselves out and most of them are hesitant to trust Katsuki. It’s about a week before he’s properly reintroduced to everyone and gets the sense that they’re not headed in any particular direction.

After that week, Katsuki decides “fuck that, I’m going to do shit, y'all are coming along” and since Shigaraki doesn’t really have anything better in mind, he decides to go along with Katsuki’s plans.

UA started panicking as soon as they realized Katsuki was gone, but nobody really knows what happened to him yet. Since he took all his stuff with him, all signs point to him having run away.

Izuku refuses to believe that, and most of the class holds out hope for awhile, but as no evidence turns up, more of them start to think it might be true and start discovering the amount of harassment and guilt he was facing.

There’s about a month and a half period in which Katsuki focuses on getting the league in shape. During this period, they do a forcible take over of the Shie Hassaikai.

Overhaul is killed, Eri goes under Katsuki’s care, and the league is established as a much more powerful force.

The Hero Commission is starting to get nervous, but not overly so. Not yet.

After this month and a half, Katsuki makes his first public appearance as a villain.

He’s in an updated version of his costume, most of it has stayed the same, but he’s added what looks like muzzle to the costume that covers his mouth. The muzzle actually functions as face shield/oxygen system so he can move at much faster speeds safely.

Katsuki’s villain debut is a full scale attack by the league on the Hero Commission directly. An event meant that the Hero Commission had gathered in a relatively accessible location, and the villains take advantage.

Importantly, Katsuki is enforcing a policy of limiting needless harm or deaths, because it ruins their message. The league reluctantly agrees, so they’re being a bit more careful than they were before. However, they’ve still got a hit list for this party.

The list consists of officials who they have confirmation deliberately manipulated polices or actions of heroes at the cost of people’s lives, all for some private gain. They do a lot of damage, and manage to kill 7 people on their list.

Katsuki’s first kill happens here. Previously, he’d managed to defeat Overhaul, but wasn’t quite able to kill him. He just wasn’t ready.

Shigaraki took care of it for him, and told him it was fine if he needed time to learn to kill. He was kind and understanding about it in a way that was genuinely weird to Katsuki. Not only because this was all about murder, but it was the first time in his life that he failed and an adult supported him rather than punishing him for his mistake.

At this event, one of the people he takes down tries to appeal to him by offering him a position as a hero to save themselves, and that pushes him over the line. He ends it quickly.

The league escape afterwards, and footage plus eyewitnesses confirm Katsuki was there, and he didn’t say a word to anyone he attacked.

UA, the Hero Commission, and the media collectively assume / sell the story of him having been brainwashed. It’s the only thing that doesn’t make them look horrible.

Aizawa has been weighed down by a lot of guilt during all of this. He should’ve done more, should’ve reached out, but he’d been waiting for Katsuki to come to him. He’s tried to find Katsuki, but Katsuki has purposefully avoided facing him in battle as Aizawa is one of the few people he doesn’t feel like he could hurt or allow one of the other villains to hurt.

The attacks start getting frequent over the course of another month, primarily targeting the people behind the scenes of the heroic’s system, with a lot of other targets of corruption along the way.

On his third attack, Katsuki has his first run in with Izuku, the first of any of his classmates to face him in battle.

Katsuki refuses to speak a word to him, despite the fact Izuku heard him giving directions to Toga, and the two clash.

Katsuki manages to pull ahead in their fight, but he’s distracted from their fight by someone caught in the crossfire. He diverts course to protect them. Izuku was so hyperfocused on Katsuki he didn’t notice the person. It throws him off enough that Katsuki is able to win their fight complete his goal.

After their clash, Izuku’s finally realized Katsuki isn’t brainwashed. Given what happened, he can only assume it really is Kacchan making all these choices, which leads him to reflect on why.

 Between slowly uncovering what Katsuki was suffering through, and watching Katsuki’s actions and their very real impact, Izuku finds himself struggling with the idea of heroes as well. Most of Class 1-A and society as a whole really are.

Shouto & Izuku talk, and Izuku confirms that it really is Katsuki. Not a brainwashed version of him.

At the end of their conversation, Shouto assumes that because it’s really Katsuki, they’re gonna go join him. He defects, and is a bit surprised when Izuku doesn’t follow him right away.

Dabi almost has a heart attack over this, but he can’t really judge.

Shouto is accepted into the league after he and Katsuki talk and he apologizes for not having done anything. Katsuki doesn’t blame him for it, as he understands Shouto had no real sense of what was okay.

Eri gains a new older brother, and she could not be more delighted.

During this period, after the first attack, Hawks was sent in to infiltrate the league. Katsuki can smell the commission on him from a mile away, but tells Dabi to kind of let Hawks in anyways.

The league begins slowly working Hawks out of the Commissions control, before finally after about three months, Hawks realizes how shitty they are and defects properly.

A big part of this happens after Hawks finally comes to terms with the fact that Katsuki isn’t brainwashed, and after Hawks meets Eri and realizes how happy and safe she is with her new family vs how he felt at that age with the Commission.

By the end of that three months, a number of other class 1-A kids and a few kids from 1-B have dropped out of the hero course, or in some cases, UA entirely. The public at large has started to become more disconnected from the hero system as they start to see some of it’s major flaws. The Commission comes under more and more questioning and is seriously losing power.

During this same time, you’d expect to see an increase in crime, but you actually see the opposite.

Katsuki has been very careful and forged an alliance with the MLA such that they’ve been able to crack down on certain types of crime (domestic violence, quirk kidnappings, sexual assaults, etc) while also steadily funneling money into getting social services in theses areas.

This means that you start to see less crime, people feeling safer and more secure, even as the hero commission and system is crumbling.

All of this comes together after a year or two of solid in the form of the government submitting to a major reform driven by figure heads planted by the MLA, but only after the league manages to eliminate the last key figures standing in their way.

Since so many heroes have either fallen from grace, stepped back from the system, or been killed in certain cases, Izuku ended up as an unwilling symbol of peace due to his connection to Katsuki.

Izuku is tasked by what’s left of the heroics system with stopping Katsuki from killing the final major figure whose all that’s standing in the way of the reform.

Izuku, in the end, makes the active choice to step aside, giving Katsuki the key he was given to the room so Katsuki can get to the person to kill them.

Izuku finally decided that he’s had enough of this too, and he’s done defending a broken system based on ingrained ideals that don’t add up.

Aizawa is watching inside the room up in the rafters, he’s stayed a hero of sorts but still functions like he did before.

Inside the room, Aizawa had the chance to cancel Katsuki’s quirk and stop him from killing the person. Instead, he chose to close his eyes and let Katsuki go through with it.

Katsuki looks up to where Aizawa is once it’s done, and Aizawa realizes he knew he was there the entire time. He hops down out into the open and speaks plainly as he always did.

“I’m sorry.” Is all he can really say. There’s so much he’s sorry for. For not speaking up. For letting Katsuki be put through so much. For letting him be driven to this.

Katsuki looks at him for a long, long moment, before he finally looks away and shrugs his shoulders. For the very first time in years, he speaks to a hero. To the only hero who ever tried for him, even if it wasn’t enough.

“S'okay. The problem was bigger than you every could’ve fixed.”

“I should’ve tried. I should’ve done more.”

Again, Katsuki needs a moment to consider that.

“Yeah. Probably.”

There’s silence for a few moments, and then Katsuki’s radio crackles to life. Dabi’s calling him back.

They share one more glance, and Katsuki turns on his heel and walks out.

Aizawa watches him go. There’s nothing else for him to do. His right to change this story ended when he failed to speak up all those years ago.