#uhh is that covering the spoiler bases???

[emil1863]

HE GOT HIS EPISODE!!!!

[deegeemin]

❄️✨❄️REMINDER THAT IDW SONIC WINTER JAM IS OUT!!! ❄️✨❄️

I'd love to talk about some neato things I got to draw in the comic! Spoiler warning for some contents below! If you haven't read anything yet, come back after reading the comic!

Let's start off with the cover thumbnails! I was more inclined to do A since it wouldn't spoil the big surprise Orbot and Cubot had in store! Otherwise I probably would've gone with B or D! It has that bombastic party sort of feel that I think would've been super fitting!

Here, Eggman is temporarily staying at one of his many bases throughout the world after the collapse of his Eggperial city! This base is inspired by Industria from Future Boy Conan and a bit of Eggmanland!

He also sure loves his chicken and fries!

A little beachside balcony in Green hill! I felt like we generally don't get structures there as much so I thought it'd be a nice addition!

The design on the floor is the stage from the JP Sonic X intro! It gets covered up by snow after but still neat to include!

Look at this magnificent cast of characters! I wanted to use the poses that each pair had when they were first seen together! I'd considered giving Big his winning animation pose from SA1 but alas no space haha!

Cubot's taped on eye brow gag was one I suggested and it's a reference to the same gag from FLCL!

Lil sonic team logo Iasmin asked for! Sonic sure knows to appreciate himself! Good on him.

And here's a sonic 3 wreath and the SA2 lock on reticle from the mechs!

Amy and cream's spread of delicious looking food beautifully rendered by the coloring god Reggie! I wanted to include all their items from the Official Sonic the Hedgehog Cookbook! So if you want to make them yourself, YOU CAN! (except for uhh the experiment on another panel. you guys can figure out what's in that yourselves haha)

Also made sure to list all the pages you can find the recipes!

This is one of my fav gags that Iasmin wrote in!! Can you all guess what this is meant to vaguely resemble?

Quick round of character refs from Eggman's screen going in order from left to right! [Conductor's wife and Conductor, Barry and Gadget, Early Conductor design, Early Barry design (his outside eye markings are white tho), My uh Sonicsona lol]

Mecha Sonic mark 3? Yep Iasmin wanted him to be there and so there he shall be!! Hopefully we get to see him again!

I remember seeing the story Iasmin made and it really felt like it could be something you'd see in a sonic anime episode if it were made nowadays. I drew the comic with some influence from Sonic X because of that. I think the most telling detail fans might notice is the constant 3 spines for Sonic.

but YEAH another absolutely wonderful comic I got to work on! See ya'll on another issue!

[sha-n-dowbannedlol]

Genesis

Obey Me! x Reader

cw: references to events in obey me and obey me nightbringer (possible spoilers?), the story i promised in this post lol, uhh thats all for now i think!

Prologue

Once a human meets their demise, their souls only have two choices two make: to stay and wander as a spirit for all eternity or to be reincarnated based on their actions during their past lives.

A particular soul that has lived a relatively normal life would be reincarnated into that of a human once again, while a soul that has lived despicably is sent down to the Devildom, doomed to live in eternal darkness; maybe if they're lucky enough and knows to keep their head down, they'll be able to live peacefully. But if they don't, then there's also the possibility of another demon tearing them apart limb from limb, but such demise in the Devildom isn't unfortunate—what's truly unfortunate is if a soul managed to piss off one of the seven rulers in hell. Death is a much preferable outcome than being the seven brothers' tortured plaything.

On the other hand, if a soul has lived admirably, then they are welcomed to be enveloped by the everlasting warmth in Celestial Realm, blessed by white wings and a halo.

And to selflessly sacrifice one's own life to save those of others.... that is one surefire way to be crowned with a golden ring of light upon one's head.

Especially if that sacrifice saved all three realms.

Simeon was a mere few seconds too late.

Lucifer stood still, eyes widened as he looks at you, both of your palms still wrapped around his own, holding the hilt of the blade that has now pierced through you.

Lucifer couldn't speak, couldn't move, his whole being felt frozen as his blood ran cold. He feels so far away, feels like he's being drowned in the deepest parts of the ocean. He couldn't find it in him to breathe, and the sound of your name being yelled out by Simeon sounded so far away that he almost couldn't hear it.

The eldest focused on the way your grip slowly loosened on his hand, and he wasn't sure if you were truly losing the warmth in your palms or if it was just his shock making everything feel like ice to the touch. He was so focused on the dulling of the brightness in your eyes that he almost didn't register the sound of rushed footsteps entering the room.

Before your limp form could even meet the cold floor, you were immediately caught by the Avatar of Greed. Mammon looks down at you, and if his words weren't enough, just one look in his eyes is enough to tell you just how desperate he is for you to stay. He holds you tightly to himself, as if providing you the warmth of his body will be enough to keep your own from going cold.

Levi was quick to kneel at his brother's side, tears already streaming down his face, and you watch as their mouths move, but you find that you can't make sense of their words.

Your ears just kept ringing, and in your last moments, you look around the room. Mammon held you in his arms, next to him knelt Leviathan. On your other side, the twins sat, with Belphegor holding onto your arm and Beelzebub looking into your eyes, too stunned to say anything. Not far from you stood Asmodeus, Satan, and Simeon. Simeon looked panicked, Asmodues has a hand covering the bottom half of his face as tears stream down his cheeks and Satan looked at you in disbelief, as if he has yet to process what is going on.

And there, right where he has been since he first entered the room, Lucifer stood still. His hand is still in the air as if he's still holding the dagger that is very much now burrowed in your abdomen.

In your last moments, the last thing you saw was his crimson gaze finally landing on you. And with the last of your strength, you speak, for the very last time.

"I'm sorry,"

And everything went dark.

...

You expected the cold embrace of death to welcome you, but instead, everything feels warm.

As you open your eyes once again, for some reason unbeknownst to you, you expected to be greeted in darkness. However, it was a bright, almost blinding light that welcomed your senses, making you squint.

Feeling uncomfortable as you lay on your back, you slowly stood up, before turning your head to realize why it was so uncomfortable to lay on your back; Your wings, you had forgotten to keep them. You scrunch your brow as you try to fluff your wings, seeing a few feathers had been messed up from when you were unconscious.

"You..." The voice dripping with disbelief sounded like it came from everywhere, yet nowhere at the same time, and you didn't have to look around to know where it came from. "It's you... You're here....!"

You merely smile at his words, standing up straight once again. Your halo shined brightly atop your head and your wings stretched out, almost in pride, as you smiled up into the light.

"It is me, father." You greet him,

"I'm home,"

[tatefan811]

this is so stupid oh my g

HIIII,,, SO UHH!!! me and my brother are writing a FIDDLESTAN fanfiction and in another fic after the one we r writing there is gonna be MASSIVE tate conent and i wanna INFODUMP ABOUT IT!!!

OK SO the sequal fanfiction persay is revolved around tate and his life because i'm hyperfixated on him and i LOVE HIM OK SO in this universe, stanley never breaks Fords project, Ford ends up going to his dream college, and Stan goes to backupsmore and meets FIDDLEFORD!!!!!! They make a computer company and a bunch of other shit will happen (NO SPOILERS, WINK WINK!!) and after all of that they adopt Tate:333!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so yeah basic rundown and whatnot ANYWAYS MOVING ON

the sequal will bascially be Tate in his sophmore year in highschool (1997) and he meets a kid named BRODY BACKLE!!!! (a lot of people have a oc named/based on "backle" but i found that out AFTER me and my brother made him.) Brody is kind of a reckless guy, he gets close with Tate and they become best "freinds" (there is A LOT of homoerotic tension with them) they do normal teenage stuff persay Brody makes Tate do reblalous things aganist his dad's rules, and genuinely becoming KIND OF AN ASS.

I WANNA DESCRIBE HOW THEY LOOK IN THIS OSHJSS

So for context Tate is 15 and Backle is 16

OKOK

Tate used to wear; sweaters, (Knitted by Fiddleford) cargo shorts, big bulky sneakers, HATS. and very soft kind of look (me and my brother joke all his outfits are picked out by Fiddleford) BUT AFTER he meets Broody he dresses in oversized band shirts, baggy pants, beanies, backwards hats, and of course his hair covering his eyes because by god in my au his eyes are BLINDING like the bluest eyes you have ever SEEN.

Brody/Backle wears; bascially the same thing Tate would wear minus the hats, His head is shaved with blonde hair, his ears STRECHED TO THE MAX, pircings EVERYWHERE and genually like ur averge alt guy, he chills out when he gets older tho

They never OFFICALLY GET TOGETHER (as if rn) but they do kiss, hold hands, get matching stuff, cuddle, hug, all that mushy couple stuff they do (When they get older i might get them together who knows,,) when they get older they created the bait shop together, they spend a shit ton of time together they are INSPERABLE, they own a house together near the bait shop, (no homo, Brody says whenever someone asks about it)

Tate (when he gets older) would wear ; what he wears in the cannon gravity falls universe but looser because dear god holy shit. when he isn't working he would wear button ups, with hand knitten sweaters made by Fiddleford, cargo pants, and very beat up shoes with of course, a hat. So bascially what he wore before he met Brody kind of thing

Brody would lowkey dress the same as he did when he was youger, when he's older, he usally wears band tee's with a flaneel drapped over it (all of his flanels were owned by Tate at one point, he would have blonde wavy longish hair and is a genually chill guy.

in they older years, Tate and Brody spend most of their time (when they aren't working) fishing, talking about endless stuff never ending coversations, Brody never really opens up to anyone that isn't Tate (Broody lore coming soon). ALSO, Brody is VERY affectionate to Tate like thats his number one thing in the entire UNIVERSE right there, Tate has a hard time giving love out to Brody, he doesn't understand how to do it or how it works, Brody understands and he knows Tate loves him back.

When they were teenagers, Brody always stayed at Tate's house, never really going to his own. Stan and Fiddleford see him as another member of them family at that point, Brody would spend weeks at the pine's house, Brodys parents lowkey stopped gaf about Brody after 5th grade so his parents did not care he was spending most of his time at this random kids house

Tate's first kiss was Brody, they usally got affectionate when they were high or something along those lines, they kissed mulitple times, whenever Tate would ask what they were, Brody would ignore the subject leaving Tate confused and upset. When they got older they eventually sorted everything out leaving all the tension behind them.

ok i'm getting sleepy sorry if this is shitty my autistic brain needs to rant to someone and the someone is tumblr so, yay

[raxistaicho]

Edelgard suggested she might be wrong, though!

Eeeyyy, Strikes (that’s her nickname and it’s a lot shorter than butwhatifidothis, sorry) doesn’t usually make arguments anymore! This’ll be a nice break from Fantasy Invader.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

Spoilers for Trails in the Sky a ways under the cut

And uhh, that’s not an argument I’ve ever heard before, honestly, it must be a super old one. Good thing it got dropped, it’s weak.

So because Edelgard said,

It means the devs are saying, “you did wrong, tho.”

So I guess when Dimitri says he’s a monster who deserves death it means we need to ram him into something that can kill him, accept the game over, and start a new file of Three Houses?

When Joshua Bright said he was a broken person with a broken heart, it meant Estelle should have immediately given up on him?

When Velvet Crowe said she was monster and claimed she ate Seres just ‘cause, that meant she retconned reality and changed the circumstances under which she ate her?

It’s almost like sometimes people with trauma and a poor self-image say self-deprecating things that aren’t actually true.

“Which doesn’t mean Byleth is defying destiny by walking at Edelgard’s side. No sir.”

Again, the devs only said Silver Snow was the route that was made first to explore the world, not that the worldbuilding suits SS specifically. Otherwise, what the fuck is Azure Moon there for? I’ve seen it argued that White Clouds best suits Azure Moon because of Lonato and Miklan (setting aside that their respective issues were not about Dimitri’s personal tragedy but the broken state of Fodlan society), but with Strikes’ argument Azure Moon can’t possibly mesh with White Clouds because White Clouds only supports Silver Snow, according to her!

I mean... Azure Moon doesn’t mesh at all with White Clouds anyways, but that’s for very very different reasons.

I’m on to you, you red-headed, red-caped bastard.

I won’t let you invade Nohr, Ryoma >:(

Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but Byleth’s side, whichever side that is, does plenty of mowing down in all routes.

Damn, Fodlan is doomed.

Those poor celebrating commoners.

Oh no, is this Crushed Nugget again?

Now we’re delving straight into, I believe, Crushed Nugget’s Everyone is Miserable in CF set of posts, which is something I’d reeeeeaaaaaally like to dig into sometime, because it’s just a lot of petty and trivial ways to try to demonstrate everybody as being unhappy or less-fulfilled characters in CF.

These can range from the ever-popular “Lysithea doesn’t want to destroy the Empire in CF”, to “Yuri feels overworked in CF”, to “Raphael is irresponsible and happy in CF”, to “Ingrid is sadge in CF”. Yeah, being happy is bad if in CF and being unhappy is also bad if in CF.

It’s basically just her plucking at literally anything she can find to say that CF is bad in that exact moment without any regard for consistent standards. Ignatz’s is especially amazing given you know if the paintings he drew were reversed she’d instead say VW Ignatz is good for wanting to immortalize the horror of war so we never forget what war takes from us while CF Ignatz is bad for trying to cover up the pain with pretty pictures of something.

If you looked at red flags through pink lenses, wouldn’t they still look red?

Hey, you’re the one who said,

Because even the lord of the route is trying to tell the player that uhhh Byleth doesn't belong here, they're supposed to be on the other routes. Which checks with how the devs said that SS is the route the world-building is based on, and how within the game itself CF directly goes against SS' world-building. 

Don’t blame me for arguments you made!

She’s missing the point. It’s not argued that you don’t get to choose SS. The argument is that you do have to choose CF. You can’t default onto CF the way you can SS.

Another important point is how riddled with But Thou Musts SS is.

Who’s in charge of the army here, Seteth!?

So... going CF isn’t about tearing Byleth away from their proper place in SS?

If Byleth is meant to go SS, as Strikes said above, then CF is about defying fate.

If CF isn’t about defying fate, then Byleth isn’t meant to go SS.

So suddenly Byleth is more than a self-insert for the player to glom onto? That’s a bit contradictory to the usual Edelcrit line, but okay.

Since Byleth is now their own character and not a self-insert to represent the player, then Edelgard isn’t trying to date the player and the player demographics have no bearing on whether or not she’s bi, nor does her "gap moe” have any bearing on whether or not CF is a valid choice, because maybe Byleth doesn’t care about all that. Maybe they’re into MILFs.

Technically no, there’s a sequence of options that can have Byleth making no positive choice regarding which side to take.

Miss the coronation entirely, then you have a “I must kill Edelgard,” and “...” option at the Holy Tomb.

Indeed, you can spend basically all of SS being dragged around expressing discontent, and getting But Thou Must’ed into following along with the plot.

Also, again, the argument is not that Byleth can’t choose SS. It’s that they have to choose CF.

Hey, speak for yourself, I usually marry Dorothea.

Strikes is getting real fuckin’ philosophical all of a sudden about the concept of player character agency in a narrative-driven video game.

For real, this is some Bioshock/Undertale-level shit.

You know, I never considered that maybe Corvo would rather just stay in his cell and accept execution as penance for his failure to protect the Empress. He can’t speak in Dishonored 1, how do I know what his thoughts on the subject are? Am I puppetting him to commit mass murder like some kind of revenge-loving cordyceps!?

I am so sorry, Corvo :(

But actually, Strikes, how do you know that Byleth wants to fight Edelgard? Maybe they want to pick Black Eagles every time? Are you perhaps denying their agency every time you join your beloved Golden Deer? (I’m just assuming GD is her favorite route since she professes to love Claude). Are you denying their agency when you click on, “I must kill Edelgard”?

How could you do such an awful thing?

Bonus round time!

Why is she continuing her arguments in the tags??? That sounds annoying as hell.

Also, uhh,

Look at that fucking smug grin. Is that the face of an expressionless killing machine?

I have no idea where this, “Byleth reverts to being the Ashen Demon in CF” argument came from. I guess because they’re killing people the Edelgard detractors would rather they not kill, they have to be doing it heartlessly? That’s assuming a lot.

That’s... more or less exactly what it is, actually.

I know Strikes doesn’t like Edelgard being portrayed as a sad, tragic figure, but uhh... she is. Edge of Dawn is right there, it’s about Edelgard’s sorrow thinking about the future.

[kudosmyhero]

Transformers: Infiltration #4

Read Date: February 19, 2023 Cover Date: April 2006 ● Writer: Simon Furman ● Art: E.J. Su ● Colorist: John Rauch ● Letterer: Tom B. Long ● Editor: Chris Ryall ◦ Dan Taylor ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● (cover) we've got Bumblebee hanging off a tank's cannon--I'm not sure if it's a real tank or a Transformer--with Ratchet looking on in concern. The purple and gray flyer… is that Starscream? (nope, it's Blitzwing) ● pg 1. Three years ago, Akron Ohio, Verity having trouble with placement in foster care. Her caseworker seems amazing. ● pg 2. Now in NW Nebraska, Verity is lowering herself down a shaft of some kind while the boys watch from above. ● pg 3. Ratchet and Bumblebee--or at least their human holoform things--are up there as well ● gah, holo-Bumblebee has a creepy smile as well!

● basically they're running an errand for Prowl to get evidence for something that will warrant an alert status upgrade ● the three humans are so tiny next to the Decepticon equipment. ● pg 9. Verity is about to open something… ● pg 10. uhh skeletal remains of someone in uniform ● pg 11. this really spooks Verity but she pulls up her angry outer shell to deal with her fear--just like her caseworker saw 3 years ago ● pg 12. Ratchet and Bumblebee are so cute

● eep! But Skywarp and Blitzwing come at them from above! ● the flyers are there to destroy the base ● Ratchet and Bumblebee tell Hunter, Jimmy, and Verity to abort stat. Verity wants to check one more thing first… ● aw! Bumblebee has a cannon that pops out of his hood ● Bumblebee wings (heh) Skywarp with his laser, while Ratchet takes on Blitzwing ● Ratchet uses Blitzwing's paranoia/overactive optic sensors to spook him with a well-placed flash that causes the jet to veer into some trees ● Ratchet goes to make sure his opponent is out of the fight, but he takes a huge blast to the chest ● Gah! who's the tank?! (I'm still learning) ● yiiiikes I think Verity just walked in on Megatron ● 👏👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: Three years ago, a young Verity Carlo meets with a social worker after running away from yet another foster home. Her social worker sees right through Verity's tough façade and states that all she sees is a girl "in a world of hurt and pain".

In the present day, Hunter O'Nion, and Jimmy Pink watch as Verity rappels into the depths of an abandoned Decepticon fortress in the wilderness of Nebraska. Using their holomatter avatars, Ratchet and Bumblebee watch on; Ratchet is adamant that when this escapade is over, the humans are going home, while Bumblebee warns the trio to watch for booby traps.

As the two boys follow Verity into the shaft and split up to investigate, Bumblebee confides to Ratchet that he thinks that the Autobot medic might be right—but to change Prowl's mind, they'll need hard evidence that something's wrong… and the humans fall into the "acceptable losses" category if it means getting that evidence.

In Dallas, Texas, Drake meets with a group of humans in the Epsilon Holdings building—a front for the shadowy group known as the Machination led by Abraham Dante. Jolly reports on recent events: a series of anomalous vehicle attacks throughout the southwest United States have led the group to conclude that the "visitors" are moving into the next stage of their operations. Having received a homing signal from their deceased operative Stoker, Drake and his team of operatives are dispatched to "accelerate" their "acquisition strategy…"

Deep inside the Decepticon bunker, Verity discovers a strange sight: a jumbled series of glowing green tubes, each one big enough to hold a human. Ignoring Jimmy's warnings, Verity goes ahead and opens one… and is immediately confronted by the gruesome sight of a rotted corpse wearing a military uniform. Despite the shock, Verity manages to compose herself and move on; as she does so, however, she's unaware that, topside, the two Autobots have visitors of their own in the shape of Skywarp and Blitzwing. Paying no heed to the Autobots, the two fliers launch a massive bombing run on the base, forcing the two Autobots to outrun the explosions!

Ratchet yells for the humans to evacuate the base as fast as possible; while Jimmy and Hunter comply, Verity, determined to make up for losing her cool earlier, ignores Ratchet's orders and goes to investigate the last section of the base. As she does so, battle breaks out as the Autobots try to buy time for the humans—Bumblebee pits his superior processor speed against Skywarp's teleportation power and comes out on top, while Ratchet shoots Blitzwing out of the sky. When the medic goes to make sure that his opponent is downed for good, however, he's not so lucky, and is quickly taken out by a volley from his opponent's tank mode…

…and, underground, Verity discovers that she's not the only occupant of the Decepticon fortress as she enters the last room of the base and comes face to face with its other occupant: Megatron!

(https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Infiltration_issue_4)

Fan Art: TFA Blitzwing by Kath-the-shadow

Accompanying Podcasts: ● Swerve's Bar Podcast - episode 07

[kattahj]

Manner of Death the manga!

It was really fun to read this and see what's the same or different from the TV show. Of course, neither is the original, as both are based on the novel I haven't read!

More below (with spoilers and some pictures)

Bun is aware that he's gay, but SUPER closeted, and was recently dumped by his long-term girlfriend because she figured it out.

He is very confused by how Tan likes to hold his hand and flirt with him yet claims not to be gay. The explanation, of course, is that Tan is a lying liar who lies.

There's no drunken kiss or party flirtations, Bun and Tan meet at the murder scene.

Bun doesn't know Janejira before, she's just a murder victim to him.

Tan fully calls himself Jane's boyfriend, it's not just Bun and M making the assumption. The truth is that she was his knowing beard. Unfortunately for both of them, she was also in love with him for real, and when he suggested she should get a straight boyfriend, she repeatedly threatened to kill him and herself. Yeesh! That's why he wasn't initially shocked by her death.

Sorawit has a puppy crush on Bun and tries to flirt with him. This gives me such second-hand embarrassment!

M is still bursting out of his shirt.

He doesn't pressure Bun to have the death declared a suicide, Bun caves to the pressure of (Tan's) threats.

Oat and Fai are combined into one cute girl called Fai, whom Bun seems to consider making his next beard.

Pued has confessed the murder to Tan, and both of the brothers are forcing Tan to try to help them cover it up.

Por orders Tan to murder Bun, which he doesn't want to do, because he loooves him.

Instead, they fake the death, which makes Pued upset since he didn't want Bun dead.

He did, however, want... uhh...

WTF Pued?

Tan's mom is still alive, but very sick, and the family are threatening to hurt her or stop her treatment in order to make Tan do what they say. Which is something they have been doing since he was a kid.

The handcuffs come into play early on, but not quite the same way!

Oh, and we meet Bun's brother briefly towards the end:

[llycaons]

rest of my comments are going under a readmore bc this is a lot. how exciting! I'm staying up late to read like a kid again hehe. um spoiler warning for the first hundred pages of alexandra rowland's a taste of gold and iron, because I really do commment on like, everything

the misunderstandings beginning from before they really meet properly, based on reputation and an event that was hastily covered up, actually makes a lot of sense. unlike frustrating 'why is he so oblivious!' plots, it's an understandable misunderstanding of the type of person kadou is, only resolvable through extended interpersonal contact (hehe!)

I like kadou, but evemer's judgement of him also makes sense to me. when he was like why IS he eating so richly if he feels so bad? shouldn't he limit himself in penance? I was like hmm much to think about!

also kadou sleeping with one of his guards is ethically pretty dubious. arguably so is this relationship, but we'll see how it goes. I would much rather read something like this where the guard is extremely judgemental and critical of the prince than something like tgcf where one is a god and the other is a worshipper

'five days is how long you mourn a parent or child' THAT'S IT??? in some eras people went into mourning for YEARS. months at least. can't tell if this is a remarkably foolish choice or an indication about this culture

I really like evemer, too. he has a strong moral code and his judgements stem from honest adherence to his belief in justice and fairness. he's extremely straightforward, he's not afraid to criticizehis charge, and he clearly loves his mom. also it's fun to watch a servant be hostile and critical of a royal, even if just internally. and he has a point. kadou isn't exactly an impressive or ascetic or particularly strong-willed person

so the big issue of national security centers on trade secrets surrounding...maintaining a maritime monopoly on trade routes. okay? I can tell it's important while not being overly anxious. if it's not solved their country will decline in power, but nobody will like, be mass murdered.

on the flip side, it's not like their national power is upheld with the kind of violence the goblin emperor's state was. I can see the comparisons - maia and kadou are both shy, nervous, compassionate young men - but I don't think this book will spout the same political bullshit that I hated so much in tgo. I hope not. actually if this book avoided politics of the lower classes entirely that would be cool bc I really don't see it handling that well with a royal mc

evemer and kadou are both extremely relatable ngl. like I've been in both their shoes - terrified of vague uncertainties, of people's judgement, of embarassing myself. and also being the competent one, judgemental of people in a position of responsibility not able to get it together.

I really do enjoy how judgy evemer is. another thing that annoyed me abt tgo was how uhh servile and scraping the staff was bc maia was just THAT perfect and good and pure of a leader. but evemer has little to no respect for kadou, takes no pleasure in serving him, and has already stated that he thinks going without food will build kadou's character. he's a little out there but he feels like someone with integrity who expects a lot of the people he serves

he's a little insane actually but that's okay. character development 👍

the author uses the barely-altered and thus familiar 'for the gods' sake' instead of the incredibly corny 'oh my gods' WHEW

I do have to say tho. kadou genuinely has an anxiety disorder and nobody seems to know that's a thing? or well, he just calls it cowardice. nobody's been rude about it but the fact that he doesn't know about it means that it's not recognized in this setting as a genuine uhhh disorder ig. and he's dealing with it all alone

so this is a vaguely SWANA-inspired fantasy, but the religious system is original to the setting

fwiw part of the reason I hate the cover is bc they look like two white guys to me but shit, I don't know. who can say where those models are from. but they're darker-skinned in my head

so kadou makes some bad decisions when he's freaked out and anxious and yeah it's partially on him for not managing his 'cowardice' better but also he has very little off the type of support he clearly needs. someone needs to introduce deep breathing to him....being assertive...communicating...I feel for him but I also understand why his family and staff are frustrated

his terrible decisions and panicked incompetence should make me annoyed with him but honestly I just feel bad. like he's really struggling! so I'm more like *fondly* oh, you <3

damn...he's back to fucking to the guy who started this mess. bad idea!!!! on the other hand....he literally has anxiety

it's smart that this part isn't explicit (sabe the good stuff for later, lol) but I really hope the actual get-together for the main couple is

I usually don't like guard/royal relationships bc of the power dynamic but I think it's being interrogated and handled fairly well here

kadou snapping and throwing himself into a self-destructive spiral is a great way to shake up their dynamic

the writing gets a little shaky here - more of evemer's plain straightforwardness?

anyway it's great when he was like damn this guy could stand to be punched just a little. nobody in his position has the right to feel sorry for themself. he's wrong - kadou is legitimately suffering - but the lack of hero-worship even as he takes his duty seriously is rly nice

and he's not gonna actually let kadou get hurt, or leave him there at a bar with people he's intentionally provoking. you know he's not

actually the metal-tasting has only come up a few times. it's not hugely plot-relevant or even that weird or obnoxious, as I was worried it could be for such a specific and unique magical trait

side note - france exists in this setting? or at least the french language, tho it's not called that. cadeau like a present, huh...

the scene where evemer was all proud of suggesting kadou learn to spar and kadou was like 😯 really...you'll teach me...and then immediately knocked evemer out like 'Ive been trained in fighting since I was a toddler, you idiot' had me laughing so hard. what a turnaround!

of course evemer assumed all of kadou's issues would be solved with Military Training! of course he assumed he couldn't fight - he thinks he's flighty and careless and weak. and instead of immediately clarifying, kadou let him sit in his smug satisfaction for a few minutes and pretended like he didn't know how to throw a punch, until it was time to completely take evemer by surprise and knock him on his ass. HA!

I was wondering how kadou was even alive bc he doesn't seem to have any hobbies or interests or friends so like, what did he even do in his 25 years before the story started? besides get tutored and spend time with his sister. but it's such fun to see he has a real strong personality and a sneaky streak under that shyness and protectiveness for his people

he's also mean as FUCK to both evemer and all these commoners bc he's miserable and wants them to hurt him. like we're all surprised we didn't know he had it in him...but it's a great contrast! up until now he's been the quiet shy nervous physically smaller one, so turning this around and making him aggressive and tough and physically powerful is really refreshing

welp, that was chapter four! whew

[jaxyza]

RAHHH POE SUPERHEROOOOO feat sidekick Karl

SooooOOOOO this includes a LOOOOT of Lore from my superhero story that I've been working on for a while (which I have not completed yet gwahhh) and uhh spoilers for both bsd and my story i guess WAHAHAHHAHA i might post the original superhero story online, either bit by bit or in one go. We shall see.

For context, Poe gets recruited by the superhero organization in my story.

BUUUT YEAH YAY SUPERHERO AGENT POE!!

Full name: Edgar Allan Poe

Agent/Hero Alias: Quillstrike

Gender: male

Age: 28

Height: 6"0

Species: human (ability user)

Affiliations:

• The Brigade (employed agent)

• The Guild (former Master Architect; third rank)

Skills:

• High intelligence

• Writing and literature

• Deduction

• Planning and strategizing

• Sharpshooting

• Architecture

• Engineering

Abilities:

• Black Cat in the Rue Morgue: allows him to trap readers in his murder mystery novels, with the only way out being to solve the mystery.

Personality: introverted, passionate, awkward, sweet, obsessive, persevering, beats himself up over small things, competitive, compassionate, helpful

Trivia:

• Poe was recruited alongside former Port Mafia Executive Chuuya Nakahara in the same batch.

• Poe usually covers HQ-based tasks and engineering work due to the usually noncombative nature of his skills and abilities.

• He's afraid of heights and prefers to travel on ground instead of the aerial vehicles.

• He is a very sharp sniper, and sometimes works alongside Marksboy in taking down long-range targets.

• Poe's raccoon Karl aka The Clawed Commander is his sidekick and confidant.

• Poe's best friend Ranpo was the one who encouraged the former to join the Brigade.

• The pins on his blazer signify three significant things to him: 1. The Brigade emblem, to show his affiliation; 2. Linked rings, to symbolize his deduction skills; and 3. A quill, to express his ability in writing.

[lizardgimpking]

Book Review: The Lamplighters (Emma Stonex).

Sometimes, you just buy a book because the cover is cool, y’know? This one immediately grabbed my attention last year because of its distinct looking cover-art, and that, paired with its promise of a lighthouse based mystery thriller meant when I saw it for sale in a charity shop a month or so ago, I just knew I had to give it a go. And...well...uhh...it’s okay? Hm.

Told from multiple perspectives across two periods of time, ‘The Lamplighters’ chronicles the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in the early 70s, and then follows the wives/lovers they left behind as they’re interviewed by an author about it in the 90s. The way the book sets itself up, you feel like it’s going to be a investigation based thriller where the author tries to piece together the truth behind the seemingly impossible nature of the men’s disappearance. Ultimately though, the direction it take is far slower and unfocused than that, for better in small parts and for worse in others. It’s better in the sense that it really captures the mood and atmosphere of living in the isolating and sea-swept environment of a lighthouse, and indeed living in the isolating and melancholy aftermath of a great loss. If there’s one thing this book does really well, it’s that it really soaks every page with the vibes of its central location, and all the romantic imagery and inner-darkness that comes with it. If you’re a fan of that often quite brutal but all the same still alluring nautical atmosphere, this is gonna be a book that really hooks you in with its strong imagery. I did find myself less enamoured with a lot of the rest of the book, mind. The way in which it tells its story, jumping back and forth between two timelines, with multiple character perspectives in both, but only really giving you some sense of a revelation right at the very end? It can prove a little tedious. Rather than being an intriguing mystery or a slowburn thriller, this is mostly just a mood-piece that dangles an opening intrigue at you and then proceeds to do very little with it, beyond explore the emotional ramifications in increasingly unoriginal ways. Maybe it’s to do with expectations, but given a quote on the back of the book calls it ‘Thrilling’, maybe it’s more that it was mis-sold.

This is more of a pet peeve (And maybe a spoiler as to the direction the book takes so maybe skip this paragraph if you intend to read it), but mystery novels that tease larger, possibly even supernatural concepts at play and then take a long time to reveal something far less interesting fob me off quite a bit. I’ve read a few books of this nature, which tease ghosts and entities at work, only to then ignore that in favour of a more mundane conclusion, and whilst this particular one delivers a little of what could be considered a wider scope, it ultimately chose to underwhelm in its main revelation. At least in my opinion. Also, there’s a narrative thread which teases a lot of potentials and then the book’s conclusion ultimately completely ignores it...and I really don’t like that kinda SHIT. Misdirection perhaps, but it doesn’t work in a book that’s so slow and so lacking in interesting revelations throughout.

I didn’t hate ‘The Lamplighters’, but it did disappoint me. There’s some great atmosphere and imagery to be had throughout its reasonably short read, but it over-promises and under-delivers, and along the way tells a rather straight forward story in a protracted and convoluted nature. If you go into this just looking for a moody slowburn mystery, with melancholy romance and darkness to spare? You’ll probably enjoy it quite a bit. I was looking for something more intriguing, especially given that striking cover and promises of thrills, and ultimately...whilst not dreadful by any means, I didn’t come out of it fully satisfied. Ah well!   

Read it or Leave it : Unsure. Reading Next (Ender’s Game by Some Twat *Won’t be Reviewed*)

[rae-iguess]

I posted 18,023 times in 2022

That's 8,561 more posts than 2021!

45 posts created (0%)

17,978 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@ech0light

@girlgerard

@deathshadowrules

@the-moon-pal

@sugarglider-s

I tagged 1,850 of my posts in 2022

#important - 338 posts

#iswm spoilers - 67 posts

#signal boost - 35 posts

#long post - 27 posts

#!!! - 16 posts

#fuck - 15 posts

#lmaoo - 13 posts

#what the absolute fuck - 13 posts

#me - 13 posts

#holy shit - 13 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#once again. ‘i’ve never connected with men and masculinity’ ‘i wanted to be carrie brownstein’ ‘i’ve always identified more with femininity

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

last night i had a dream that mcr dropped a new album and upon learning that information my first thought was "holy shit. i need to tell rae" and i think i sent you an ask that just said "bro" with a screenshot of the album on spotify lmao

from memory the album cover was like. white with black and orange whisps? there mightve been a face but that also might be my awake brain trying to insert logic into the dream

that made me tear the fuck up, u thought about me in ur dreams?? anyway that sounds like a sick album cover

6 notes - Posted June 26, 2022

#4

"Captain?"

uhh I saw someone talk about their iswm persona then this happened

his name is Ishmael according to procreate <3

7 notes - Posted April 2, 2022

#3

18 notes - Posted April 24, 2022

#2

oh I forgot to post these here <3

my dossier and the pins/patches I'd wear 🥰

20 notes - Posted April 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

uhh I blacked out and these happened

made eeby deeby like that cause I think he'd be grosser <3

based on @zzoupz drawings

100 notes - Posted March 6, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[tenspontaneite]

I think I'm going to be ready to put the piaj edits live soon, which is great timing really, but before I do that I want to get up to date with my information travel timeline and that's,,,, uhh,,,, yeah let's have a look at that.

This is my current key for writing/interpreting the information travel timeline:

Plus a bonus look at some of the sections and tracking pages. Also this key is heavily censored for spoiler reasons, but you get the idea.

And here is an example of what the information travel timeline looks like:

Covering the days immediately after the pre-canon death of Avizandum, and Xadian response to it.

This is all horrendously complicated but....necessary? Because I legitimately have a story here that's so logistics based that it matters what information is being sent, when, by who, via which information channels, and in certain cases, whether those channels have the capacity to send short notice emergency missives or not.

Using codes like this means I can easily search for a specific piece of information being passed on, or a specific source that is passing information, and track what they're doing through the timeline.

I enjoy it but man it's a lot of work. Last stage before I'm happy with the piaj edits though.

[thebomb-thebird-andtheburntbitch]

A World-- Certain

dabi / f.reader

genre: real world to parallel world au? (is that an au? it’ll make sense dw), angst, romance, pinning, fools to lovers? (or dabi is stubborn/scared as all get out), longing/yearning (teehee)

warning(s): uhh, dabi hits a point where he’s determined to find a way back home or burn the city to the ground trying (is that a warning?), cursing, violence (or dabi punches one cop and sets another on fire- as he should), touya spoilers included? (like kinda minor ones, but you know, just in case), guns/dabi gets shot, sickly-sweet ending don’t worry, tiny mention of death

w.count: 9.8k 

synopsis:  the last thing he remembers, dabi had stepped in to join a rather nasty bar brawl that erupted at your pub one night. he along with a group of other villains who sided with you against a group of villains who weren’t exactly fans of your unground work. when he woke up, he wasn’t in the medical basement like he expected, nor was he at his apartment or yours.  he was in a room he hadn’t seen before. when he leaves to your pub to get some answers, you’re not there. in fact, the entire building was abandoned and rotting.  just what the fuck happened and where was he exactly, because this wasn’t exactly the city he knew anymore. 

a/n: this is the second part to my two parter series, A World--, so be sure to read the first part A World-- Unsure, or else this really won’t make sense LOL.  The concept can be kinda confusing already, but trust me- it’ll make sense aldfkasd. Enjoy! 

also! since @lildockel​ asked to be tagged when part two went up, here is it!!

After seeing his white hair,  and feeling how healthy the strands felt between his fingers, instead of the damaged, overly dyed black mess it all used to be, Dabi raced back into the bar.  Rushing up the steps into the abandoned apartment as he looked around.  Rushing to a mirror still hanging just barely on a nail, he used the sleeve of his jacket to wipe it of dust and cobwebs before ripping off his jacket entirely and tossing it to his feet. 

He hadn’t realized it before since he never kept a habit of looking at his scarred and damaged body, but now as he stood in front of the mirror in the shirt he woke up in, he noticed the scars that he knew crawled over almost every inch of his body had changed.  

The scars didn’t run up his whole right arm and stopped just at his elbow. His entire left side wasn’t engulfed in purple and staples, but instead ran up his forearm and then just around his shoulder and a patch on his neck.  He reached up over his head and behind his shoulders to grab the back of his shirt and pulled it over his head and off to join his jacket on the floor before he looked at his chest.  The scars that wrapped around his chest before weren’t nearly as bad and turning around to his back, he could see more skin than scars now.  

He could feel the draft of the empty apartment on his skin, something he hadn’t been able to do in a long time. 

He knew that each time he over used his quirk he would cause himself harm.  His tolerance to the cold took a harsh toll on him since his quirk was heat based- he wasn’t built to handle heat as well as he should be with a quirk like his father’s.  

He brushed his hand through his hair again as he stumbled around, head spinning to keep up with what the hell could be happening.  The world was almost the same, but everything just felt different because of things that weren’t supposed to be.  He snatched his phone from the pocket of his discarded jacket, trying again to call your number.  It was there, clearly imputed with his information and call history, but just as before he was met with an automated message.

Your apartment wasn’t here, your bar wasn’t either and your phone number was nonexistent.  It was like you didn’t exist at all. 

Dabi moved back to sit against the wall that was across the room from the mirror, just so he could keep an eye on his reflection to help process exactly what was happening.  He was no fool, and he could figure out that the world he knew was different from this one.  

He sat on the ground as he thought.  His hand came to rest over his neck, thinking back to the dart that was shot into him back at the bar.  It was too convenient that he got shot with it then woke up in some weird- what he can only assume is- parallel world. A world exactly like the other, with just a few things altered. 

Rather, the longer he sat in thought, the longer he thought that maybe it wasn’t a parallel world he was in, but actually a dream.  The last thing he remembered was passing out covering you, so maybe the needle he was shot with put him into a dream. 

He tested out his quirk, letting his hand be engulfed in fire before diminishing it, finding it worked exactly like it had before; so, he was in a world where quirks still existed at the very least.  He wondered if the him he had become was still a villain, and if he was, then was he with the league? What was the actual year he woke up in? Was it parallel to the original timeline, or was it ahead? Delayed maybe?  

The date on his phone lined up to the next day after the bar fight, but his phone also still had your number in it that didn’t seem to exist, so he didn’t trust his phone as much as he wanted to be able to. 

Thumbing through his phone’s contacts, he wondered if he should try calling a different number.  There was always a league member, but which one.  He wouldn’t be caught dead calling Twice for answers and he didn’t really trust Toga’s tendency to go off on a tangent to get a straight answer out of her.  Spinner wouldn’t have been a bad idea since he kept shit short, but he didn’t answer his phone for fuck. Maybe Magne? Though, he didn’t really want to call her, felt like if he did, he’d be imposing on her ‘me’ time.  

By the end of his mental checklist, he was stuck between Shigaraki or Compress. He didn’t think Kurogiri even owned a phone, or else he’d dial him first. Sighing, he pushed his thumb against Compress’s contact.  He didn’t want to deal with Shigaraki if he could avoid it- at least not yet. 

The line rang out loud when Dabi put the phone on speaker and with a few more rings, the line picked up.  It was a strange wave of relief when he heard the man with a thing for theatrics address Dabi by name when he picked up. 

“Oh, thank fuck,” he sighed. There was an air of silence before Dabi spoke again, hearing Compress on the other line clear his throat in anticipation.  “Okay, this may sound like complete bullshit, but hear me out for a second.” 

Dabi unloaded the entire situation he suddenly found himself in to Compress as well as asked any questions he felt he needed to know the answers to, to get up to speed on exactly what kind of dream he ended up in. He was on the phone with the masked villain for almost an hour before the call ended with Dabi understanding things just a bit more. 

In this world, he was still indeed a villain, but his face was kept under wraps. Dabi wasn’t presumed dead as Touya Todoroki, but rather disregarded his birth name for the alias just because he wanted to.  His real name wasn’t a secret like it was in reality, that was why he didn’t have black hair- because if his identity wasn’t a secret, there was no point in dying it to stay hidden. But, he wasn’t as flashy a villain here, so no one really know who he was anyway.

In this dreamscape, Touya Todoroki never died, but ran from his home and betrayed his family after finally having enough of his father. Working now as a criminal, he stayed on the downlow side of society. 

Things were more or less still the same otherwise.  It was just his background and you that was truly different.  Dabi sat and stared at his reflection wondering if you really existed here- and if you didn’t he wondered if that was partially his fault. 

When he was at the bar, he had previously resolved himself into drifting away from you and the feelings you had towards him.  Was it his stubbornness to get away from you what caused you to not be here? Or were you here in this world, but as someone completely different than the Y/n he knew?  Could you exist with a whole different personality? Were you a hero? A villain? Or maybe still just a regular citizen?

Dabi immediately wanted to start looking for you, but with everything linked to you not even existing, he didn’t know where to start. Typing your name into his phone’s searching engine did nothing to help as nothing about you was listed anywhere.  Okay, so you weren’t famous, or infamous in any sense so you had to be just a regular, everyday person? Right?   

Sighing, he dropped his head back and closed his eyes, trying to think. He could always ask one of his connections to start looking for you in his stead. Then, his eyes opened again as he scowled- once again growing irritated.  Why was he putting your whereabouts above trying to figure out how to get back- or wake up? He had unconsciously put you above how to get out of this dream.

Bringing a curled fist to rest against the side of his head, he hissed through his teeth.  

“God dammit.” 

-x-x-x-

It was Dabi’s second day in this dreamscape he started calling it.  It was a strange feeling, being inside of a dream yet still having the ability to fall asleep and wake up again.  He sat on his bed of his apartment he owned in this dreamscape and sighed.  It was a far cry from his place in reality, tucked and hidden away from main streets and curious eyes. This place was just off a busy street and when he hung out the window to smoke, people were walking two stories below- just minding their day.  

Puffing out a plume of cigarette smoke, he heard his phone ping from inside on the desk sat in the bedroom.  He would always mentally correct himself into saying ‘his’ instead of acting like this place was some random hole in the wall.  It was his- as far as he knew. He left his cigarette perched on the window sill, going to his phone and yanking it off the charger to see a text from Shigaraki. 

Compress had blabbed to the leader of this dream’s League of Villains about Dabi’s little breakdown of what he believed was a dream.  Seeing the text of ‘you still high, or you coming to work or not?’ made his lips twitch.  He wasn’t high and he hadn’t been high; then again, it wouldn’t be any version of Shigaraki unless he was mocking Dabi for something.  In this case, it was Dabi’s die hard claim of this dreamscape being a false reality. 

When Dabi stopped to think about it, he could understand where everyone was coming from.  For all he knew, this body- the body of Touya- was a completely different person in this reality and Dabi’s personality just manifested into it.  He ran his fingers through his white hair and groaned, annoyed at the situation. 

“Fucking parallel universes and their stupid ass rules.” 

He sent a reply back to the leader- well, it was just a middle finger emoji- and abandoned his phone to go finish his cigarette before it burned away on its own, unattended.  

Once he burned through the toxic stick, he snuffed it out on a glass ashtray he kept on the small balcony just outside the window and retreated back inside his room.  Reaching up and over his head behind him, he gripped the back of his shirt and tugged it off, shaking his already messy hair out before he started to change.  

It was odd seeing a full closet of clothes instead of like the five whole outfits he would interchange on a day-to-day basis before cleaning them and repeating the process.  In reality, he had no use for everyday clothes since he was always wearing his villain gear or lounging around in close to nothing at his apartment.  Though, he did remember that you had bought him clothes to keep at your place, so he did have more- just never wore them because he thought it was weird you were buying clothes for him. 

You claimed it was so he would stop walking around in nothing but boxers or tank tops in your house, but he didn’t buy that excuse. He saw it as something to intimate; too close to a bond he was too afraid to acknowledge. 

Pulling on a grey shirt and black pants- him being the most comfortable in his safe feeling monochromatic wardrobe- he tugged on a jacket and flipped the hood up.  At this point it was a habit to try and conceal himself now- even if he probably didn’t need to in this dreamscape reality. 

Leaving the room and soon the apartment, he was soon pulling his phone from his jacket pocket and seeing an incoming call from the hand-freak himself.  Groaning, he contemplated denying the call, but if this Shigaraki was anything like the one he knew, he'd just blow up his phone in retaliation.  So, reluctantly, he picked up. 

“What?” 

“Don’t ‘what’ me. Where are you?” His tone was impatient and gruff. “You need to get to the bar, we have work to do, dammit.” 

“I’m workin’ on it, calm the hell down.” The low murmurs of the daily street this early in the morning with people making their daily commute to wherever the hell they were on their way too was just enough to make Dabi’s scarred skin crawl.  He always tried to avoid crowded areas in the past for numerous reasons, not just for the sake of his identity.  

However, it was easy to navigate the streets since they were exactly the same as he remembered from his reality. The more he was here, the more he came to the realization that everything was the same besides him and you- or lack thereof. 

Hearing Shigaraki bitch and moan on the other end of the line, Dabi sighed and pulled the phone from his ear and promptly hung up the call before he shoved his phone back into his pocket- but not before putting it on ‘do not disturb’, so even if the annoyance he calls a boss calls him back, he wouldn’t know. 

Not too long later, the pyro was walking into the bar, seeing the leader annoyingly tapping his fingers on the bar one at a time in succession as he seemed to be calming down from a temper tantrum.  A temper tantrum that Dabi was most certainly the cause of. 

“It’s about time,” the leader hissed as Dabi promptly ignored him, only giving him a tut in response to his neediness. Flipping off his hood and messing around his hair to feel less matted from the hood’s previous pressure, he moved to the back of the bar and plopped himself down into a booth. “I said we need to get to work,” Shigaraki started complaining, “not take a breather because you couldn’t show up on time.” 

“Spare me the bitching, oh-so-fearsome-leader,” Dabi waved off lazily with his hand flopping back and forth on his wrist. If Shigaraki hadn’t had his father’s hand on his face, Dabi probably would have seen the scowl painted beneath it. 

It was silent for a beat, with the two of them and Kurogiri only being present in the bar at the moment.  

“Is your attitude still shitty because you’re convinced this is one big fever dream? Because, if you’re stoned or drunk, I’d really rather you not mess up our jobs and go away.” 

“If this is your form of concern, you’re shitty at it,” Dabi rebutted. “I already told you, I’m as sober as a rock, so hop off. If you were in my place, you wouldn’t be slap-happy either.” 

All day long, Dabi had to deal with orders being barked at him before he eventually went out on his own to look for possible new villains to recruit for the cause.  He was hardly being mindful, low-level thugs weren’t cut out to join the ranks and anyone else just annoyed him. When he finally had enough and called Shigaraki that he was finishing up for the day, he just hung up without getting a proper ‘okay’ and stared at himself in the reflection of a window in an alleyway. 

He raised his lip in annoyance as his reflection that he wasn’t familiar with anymore.  Who he was looking at wasn’t Dabi, but Touya. The Touya who was dead until he decided otherwise, the Touya who looked too much like his parents.  His previous red hair that faded to match his mother and his eyes that were copies of his fathers. 

On his way back to the apartment he stopped by a general store and picked up two boxes of hair dye.  That evening, when he finished showering, he ran his hand across the width of his steam fogged mirror and looked at his new reflection.  He let an awkward smile breach his face as he looked at his pitch-dyed hair. 

“That’s better,” he mused, walking out of the bathroom to just put on a pair of boxers, lay in bed and think. Think more about how he could leave this dreamscape all before he passed out, closing his eyes on his second day in a dream. Maybe he’d ask the league members to keep their eyes and ears out tomorrow for you, since the sooner he can figure out what’s happened with you in this place, the sooner he’ll be to a solution… probably? 

-x-x-x-

Day after day passed and Dabi found himself less and less sure of anything.  When he first came here, he was aware that everything was fabricated and fake- nothing was truly real since he distinctly remembered his life before all this happened.  

Now, a month has passed and everyday when he wakes up, he feels more fussy than the day before.  His mind and memories feel like their blurring and he started waking up and writing down small memos on post-it notes just to try and get a semblance of reality again.  He wondered if one day he’d wake up and see all his notes, just to throw them away because they would have no meaning to that ‘him’. 

The thought irked him. He was himself, Dabi knew that, but he felt like he was losing it. 

He had woken up today with his head pounding.  Leaning over the side of his bed, he held his forehead in his palms as he squeezed his eyes shut.  Pushing the heels of his palm into his eyes, he could see the splotches of darkness coat his closed eyes from the presssure. He groaned, head even more hazier than the day before.  

Dabi felt like he was forgetting something.  

Getting up, he threw on whatever was hanging on the back of his chair in his room and flipped on the hood of whatever jacket he grabbed and left.  He wasn’t called to the league just yet, so who knows if he even needed to go today, but maybe being at the bar would jog his memory.  Just maybe it would clear his mind- somehow. 

When he walked into the bar, he immediately made a beeline to the booth in the back as he laid down, sprawling out across the red velvet booth and covered his eyes with his forearm.  One of his legs propped up on the booth while the old hung lazily to the floor, his other arm rest on his chest, feeling his stomach rise and fall with each breath.  

If he just lay here long enough, something was bound to spark something in him, right? After all, he was in a bar.  

A bar? What does a bar have to do with anything? 

He grit his teeth when he heard the door to the bar open, someone walking in. Whoever it was, they had decided to waltz over to Dab and sit themselves on the short coffee table in front of the booth. 

“The fuck do you want?” He growled, a small whistle and the smell of smoke greeted him in the form of a hearty chuckle, one that made him irk. 

“My, someone’s grumpy today, isn’t he?” Hearing Giran’s smoke laden voice first thing after laying down really wasn’t how Dabi wanted to start his day.  Moving his arm just enough to peer over his arm with a glare, the villain broker raised his hands in mock surrender, a half smoked cigarette between his lips. “Easy there, I’m not looking for a scuffle this early in the morning.” 

“Yeah? Then leave me alone or else I’m going to set you on fire.” With another chuckle from the broker and no movement of him leaving his place on the table, Dabi groaned.  Moving his arm, he ran his hand over his face before he reluctantly sat up and rubbed the back of his head, his tangles of unbrushed black hair snagging between his fingers.  He glared at the tooth-gapped man with a smoking habit worse than his own.  “What?” He growled. 

Giran dug around in the inside pocket of his tacky blazer before he presented Dabi with a pocketbook.  The scarred pyro looked at the blank book before looking back up to Giran’s face, his brows turned up in questioning.  

“The fuck is that for?” 

“That, my dear Touya,” hearing the broker sing-song Dabi’s real name made him bark at him in warning to never do it again, one that Giran promptly ignored, “is everything I could dig up on that little lady you asked me about a couple weeks ago.” 

“Lady?” Dabi’s brows furrowed, his headache spiking again. 

“I gotta say, I’m not usually one for such slow work, but with the villain count spiking, I’m a busy man.  I got a lot on my plate, so I had to put your little search on the back burner.” Tossing the pocketbook onto Dabi’s lap, one of his scarred hands immediately held it to his leg to keep it from bouncing off his leg onto the floor.  Giran then stood, stuffing his hands into his equally tacky trousers.  “A man as busy as me has things to do, so I’ve gotta bounce.  Talk to me again if you need anything else.” Giran turned but stopped short, swiveling to look at Dabi once more. ”Oh and as for that woman’s whereabouts, don’t be so bummed when you read about it.” 

Dabi watched Giran leave the bar about as quickly as he came in, the smell of smoke the only lingering thing indicating that he was even there to begin with  Well, that and the pocketbook Dabi held in his hands.  He eyed it with narrow eyes and knit brows. 

“Lady? What lady was I-?” He cut himself off as he just shut his eyes and tossed the book onto the coffee table where Giran had previously sat. 

All morning, Dabi kept to himself on his booth, just lounging and laying around.  Every time someone went towards him he’d growl at them, not like it did anything to deter them away regardless. However, if someone even though about touching the pocketbook, he’d sit up and snatch it away and stuff it under his legs or his back or his head- just away from their grabby hands.  Whatever info was in there, they didn’t need to pry into his business.  

It was well into the afternoon when Dabi had his fill of the noise that only got louder over time in the bar and dismissed himself, leaving as he heard Toga calling out behind him before going back to whatever the hell she had been doing.  

The pocketbook was in his hands folded to rest against the inside of his wrist as he walked around the streets, not wanting to go home, but not wanting to be nowhere.  His desire to be somewhere, along with his annoyance accompanying that desire- but, not having any idea on where to be- unconsciously lead him down roads and through alleys to a run down, abandoned building. 

“A bar?” He questioned himself out loud, not knowing why this place seemed familiar to him.  He felt like he should know this place, but it felt like the way it was right now- run down and in shambles- was wrong.  His head ached and he found himself climbing through a busted window to get inside.  

Dust plumed under his boots when he landed inside the place.  He began to wander around, dragging his hands along walls, kicking rubble with the toes of his boots, scanning the falling apart shelves that barely hung on the walls. Moving to the back room past the vacant kitchen covered in dust and smelling like the inside of a mechanical pencil, he placed his hand on a wall next to a staircase that led upwards away from the other empty rooms.

“This wall,” his eyes narrowed in both pain from his pounding head and his fuzzy recollection, “shouldn’t be here. Isn’t there supposed to be a door?” His palm that was flat against the wall curled into a fist, his knuckles pushing against the cold stone.  “A door? Why would I-” 

Dabi silenced himself as he snatched his hand away from the wall as if the structure was suddenly covered in some sort of burning acid.  

“Fuck this,” he growled.  He turned his back to the wall, ready to leave and clear his head, but stopped as soon as he went to take a step out.  He glanced up the stairs before his feet started taking him up them, entering the would-be apartment through the rotting, crooked door. 

He stood in the middle of the space that would be a small living room, his headache dulling, but just faintly.  The feeling in the pit of his stomach clawed and deep in his head screamed that he was forgetting something; something important. 

He pushed the pad of his thumb into the crease of his forehead, between his furrowed brows. Something was missing, wrong, just not fucking right here.  Pushing his thumb harder against his skull, he tried blocking everything out and picking at every corner of his brain he could to think for a moment. 

‘You keep doing that, you’ll put a dent in your head’

Dabi’s eyes shot open, breath catching in his throat as he swallowed back a cough from the sudden intake of breath. His hands dropped from his head to hover in front of him, elbows tucked by his sides. His senses were alert as he whipped around, looking around the empty apartment space. 

“Who’s there?!” He shouted, his echoing voice bouncing back to him as he listened for any sounds to give away who he may have heard.  

He heard someone- a woman- as clear as day.  It seemed to echo- but given the empty room, it wouldn’t be shocking for voices to carry and bounce like that, after all his did.  Standing in silence, he heard absolutely nothing.  No breathing, no sounds of movement, no more voices.  Just silence surrounded him- and a slight ringing in his ears.  

The moment he started to settle down, thinking it was all in his head- which thrilled him- again, the same voice echoed around the room. 

‘Don’t just take up space you- actually, take up as much space as you want if you heat the place up. My heater just went out, so come on Space-Heater, hop to it’

He started to think a league member was toying with him. Did someone from the bar follow him? Was this a quirk to dick him around for a lark? Then, he remembered the pocketbook. 

It had been in his free hand the whole time, but he had forgotten about it. He quickly flipped it open and inside were small clippings and photos of a woman taped inside. Like some cryptid profile in a recluses dairy; much like Giran’s shady, handiwork to be expected. 

The more he flipped through the pages and read, the more his head pounded. 

‘Dabi’ 

The voice called him by name as he dropped the pocketbook. Spinning around with a waft of blue fire coming out of his arm in sheer instinct to protect himself from whatever may be around him.  The voice ignited his fight or flight and Dabi was never one to run, ever a fighter.  Fleeing wasn’t in his nature- not even when he was a child. 

‘Was it too trouble to keep remembering?’ 

“Who the fuck are you? Where are you hiding?!” 

‘You rejected me to this extent? That you forgot me entirely? Is this really your dream?’ 

… Dream? 

His eyes widened before he looked back down to the open pocketbook at his feet.  It lay pages facing up, open on a page he hadn’t yet read. His fire simmered and he starred down at the open spread. Slowly kneeling, he gently ran his fingers over the clippings and the single picture on the opposing page. 

It was a photo of a gravestone. 

The date of death wasn’t that far back; rather, it was pretty damn recent. This person, this woman, was dead? 

Dabi felt small flames lick at the scars under his eyes as he stared down unblinking. 

“Y/n?” 

It all hit him like a bus. The memories he had slowly forgotten about came back to him and it knocked the breath from his chest.  He stood to his feet and rushed downstairs, leaving the pocketbook in the empty apartment he finally remembered was supposed to be yours.  On the way down to the bar, he nearly tripped on the stairs before he stood behind the bar top and looked out into the room.  

Was it always this hard to breath? 

Was all this his fault? 

He remembered the emotions he used to push all the way down into his gut.  Did his want to put distance between the two of you kill you in this dreamscape? This fake reality?

For a time, he forgot about time itself as he sat on the floors of the once lively bar he remembered.  He ran you- your name, your face, your voice, your stupidly good heart, everything- on repeat in his head to ensure his memory wouldn’t slip away from him again.  He was just a breathing corpse, or so he felt like. He didn’t even feel like smoking for once, even if his stress was through the roof. 

His eyes flicked up when the rusted, busted doors of the trashed building opened to see two figures enter. The sun had long since set and the only light in the room now was two bright flashlights searching and finding his slouched body under the bar, facing the door.  

From the shadows casted by the flashlights and the figures outlines, he could see two policemen in front of him. His eyes traveled away from them down to his palms, irritation flooding his head at their intrudance to his safe space. 

“Hey!” One cop called to him, making their way towards his floor-slumped body, careful not to trip. 

Was it his fault? 

“This is private property.” 

Did you end up a dead stranger because he kept pushing you away? 

“Sir, you need to leave immediately.”

Why was this bothering him so fucking much? 

“Can you hear me?” 

He was brought out of his self pity when the cop who now stood next to him had gripped his arm and hauled him to his feet.  Dabi’s body was still slack, not putting in too much effort to keep himself upright.  He felt his back dig into the bar behind him, the only thing beside the cop tightly gripping his arm, holding him up. 

Had he ever felt his miserable before, beside back when-

“Sir!” Dabi winced when the cop damn near shouted in his ear.  He wasn’t some old man. He could hear perfectly fine.  His scarring on his ears hadn’t made him deaf. 

“-off me,” Dabi muttered.  The cop not hearing him, asked him to repeat himself.  Dabi’s lethargic face tensed in fury as he ripped his arm out of the policeman’s grasp and brought his other arm up to knock his fist into the cop’s jaw.  “Get the fuck off me!” He yelled.  

The cop dropped his flashlight as he fell to the ground, half out of it from the way Dabi punched his jaw- nearly knocking him completely out.  The other was quick to draw his gun and point it at the villain, but it wasn’t quick enough.  

Dabi was no fool.  The moment he knocked the first cop on his ass, he knew the second would act.  Grabbing the wrist of the second one as he tried pointing his gun towards him, Dabi twisted the policeman's wrist, disarming him and shoving his head through the small window in the front entrance. 

He didn’t need light to see that the cop he held against the door, head just barely through a window, was bleeding.  Dabi had turned him around, keeping one of his hands on one of the cop’s arms behind his back and the other on his head, keeping him uncomfortably pushed against the glass frame, nou doubt cutting up his skin further.

“You think you scumbags can just waltz in here and disrupt me? I happened to be in the middle of fuckin’ something.” 

“B-but,” the cop he held captive began to try and argue, “this is private property!” He gasped. 

Dabi’s eyes rolled in annoyance.  “I don’t give a shit,” he seethed before his palms ignited.  The policeman’s head was soon engulfed in blue fire as well as his wrist before his clothes ignited as well and the entire man was on the ground, a dead, burning mess.  

The smell was familiar to him- the first familiar thing he’s felt in a while.  He left the bar behind him, the space being intruded by law enforcement made it feel different.  It wasn’t his space anymore.  As he made his way down the street at the dead of night, he soon heard sirens and screeching of tires making their way down streets.  Looking behind him, in the dark, clouded night sky, he saw outlines of smoke and fire in the distance.  

“Looks like the building is gonna burn down,” he spoke to himself before he made his way further down the street.  Passing a random building he didn’t even know, he reached his hand out and ignited it, setting drapes and signs on fire.  

As he made his way down roads, he set building after building, house after house on fire.  Soon, he stood at the end of the main street, blue on either side of the road and screaming from inside the buildings.  People scrambling to get into the open, the panic of being in the middle of a blazing area with no idea on how the fire started. 

It was pure hysteria. 

People ran past him standing still on the sidewalk. Everyone was terrified and panicked as he didn’t seem at all bothered by anything happening. He stared blankly, uninterested with his hands in his pockets as he just gazed at his flames that ate everything it touched and spread like a plague.  

As he stared, losing track of time once more, he felt something push against the back of his neck.  He smiled, knowing the feel of a gun all too well.  

“I guess not knocking you out worked in your favor, huh?” He knew it was the cop he clocked in the jaw at your bar.  

By the time the firey lump of his coworker started eating the building, he probably regained enough sense to leave the building and chase him down.  Not in time to spare the buildings and homes being eaten alive by his fire, but in time to threaten him just when he was ready to start enjoying the show. 

“Sorry about your pal,” Dabi chided, “but he said a lot of shit that just pissed me off? I mean, private property? Come on.” The villain didn’t turn to look at the cop, just felt the man push the gun’s tip against his scarred neck further.  “Don’t tell me you’re gun shy? Come on, pull the trigger.” 

His self-destructive words were absolutely insane, urging the man with a gun at his neck to shoot him? It wasn’t like Dabi expected the cop to not have the balls, he knew cops and they didn’t care what they had to do to keep villains at bay.  Dabi had just set fire to everything, the entire world in his vision burning as he spoke- that only was enough proof to the cop he was indeed a villainous man. 

“It’s not my place to judge-” 

“The fuck it isn’t!” Dabi laughed, whirling around and taking hold of the front of the gun and pushing it against his chest. “Pull the trigger you pathetic excess of a protector of the public!” 

Maybe it was his words, his temptation to espcae this fake reality oozing out, his insane smile that pulled at the staples across his face or maybe it was just the policeman’s sudden decision- but the trigger was pulled and Dabi, felt for just a moment, a bullet tear through his chest. 

-x-x-x-

Dabi’s eyes cracked open, vision blurry as he stared at a ceiling.  His mind was fuzzy and his head pounded with a headache he immediately took to noticing, even if he had just opened his eyes moments ago.  

He felt something behind his head, something covering his body and heard noises of machines humming besides where he was laying.  Annoyed he was on his back, he groaned, but found his throat drier than desert sand and grumbled to clear it.  His body felt heavy and weak as he started to slowly move around on the bed he rested on. 

His knees lifted, feet moving as his heels dug into the mattress to push his weak feeling legs up and his arms moved to brace into the mattress to try and lever his body up.  After a bit of a fight with his own body, he managed to sit up and his eyes finally focused from their blurriness.  

He looked around seeing equipment attached to his arm and patches on his chest that linked to a machine that showed his heartbeat.  His chest was bare as he wasn’t wearing his normal jeans, but grey sweats that he didn’t remember actually owning before.  

He groaned, his hand coming to push against his head.  The headache combined with his confusion was making him feel nauseous.  What happened? Had he been somewhere before this? Where was he? 

Looking around the small room he was in by himself again, he started to slowly remember.  He remembered the dream- his dream- and the dream he had forgotten wasn’t actual reality. Dabi remembered being shot. His heartbeat started to quicken when he started to finally take in the familiarity of the room and it’s concrete walls.  

Pulling the patches off his chest, he fumbled with whatever was in his arm and took it out.  The scars he was familiar with ran across his body in large proportions and the bangs that hung in front of his eyes were a dark, dyed black.  

He felt around his staples on the back of his hands and felt around his stomach and chest, tracing the large scars he knew were the real ones.  He pushed his hand through his hair and felt the strands just as he truly remembered. 

“Holy shit,” he breathed, moving to swing his legs over the bed and lean into his knees, hunching over as he brought his hands to his forehead- relieved. “I’m back.” 

He sat in his own silence and relief to be in a world that finally felt right as he tried regaining himself.  He remembered the dream he was stuck in and remembered the lack of your presence- your death in that place.  His eyes widened as he stared at the ground before he lifted his head up. 

You.

He stood to his feet quickly, but immediately teetered and fell to his ass on the floor.  He hissed, angry at how weak his legs felt.  He must’ve been sleeping for way too long if his damn legs didn’t want to work. 

Dabi growled as he used the bed to get back to his feet and took more cautious steps towards the door to leave the room he was in.  The open basement waiting area was empty and dim, not currently being in use. 

Using the wall, he ambled the perimeter of the room to come to the stairs that lead to the bar- the bar he was sure was there. The bar that he missed and that bar that didn’t exist in his previous dream without you. 

It took Dabi far longer than he’d like to admit to get his legs to climb the stairs, even if they were starting to gather more strength the longer he was awake and the longer he forced them to move and do as he commanded.  It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t as hard as when he originally woke up. 

Getting up to the door, he unlocked it before he practically fell through the frame when it opened.  Stumbling in, he shut it behind him and leaned his back against it to catch his breath.  He stopped and stood still, seeing the doorway into the bar’s kitchen and beyond it.  He had to make sure, he had to confirm this was real. 

Ambling his way through the space he knew so well, he came out of the back and smirked when he leaned against the doorframe and looked out into your bar.  The tables were empty and polished, chairs pushed in neatly and booths clean.  He saw the rec room beyond its own doorway and sighed.  

“It’s here,” laughed weakly to himself. “It’s all back.” His legs felt tired as he moved around the bar to slide into the barstool he always sat in.  Letting his legs rest, he rested his elbow on the bar top and pushed one hand into his hair to hold his head and the other arm stayed on the bar.  He began to replay all the memories he had here that he almost completely forgot in his dream.  

What would happen if he let that dream consume him? What if he eventually accepted that dream as reality? Would he have forgotten about you like he almost did? would he had died or just slept until he was old and grey? He didn’t know and he didn’t honestly want to think about it. 

He missed the polished scent of your pub instead of the dusty, rotten one of the abandoned building in his dream.  He felt his shoulder tense when he heard the pub entrance open behind his back.  Swiveling just a bit to view the door under his hand that partially covered his vision and his black bangs, his eyes widened at seeing you enter. 

You were carrying bags in your arms, head down as you worked on shutting the door and relocking it.  You hadn’t even seen him yet, eyes focusing on other things and the task of shutting your door and relieving your arms of the weight of whatever you had just gone out and bought. 

He heard you sigh and he mimicked the sound silently.  It felt like it had been so long since he heard you.  You dropped the bags to your feet, rotating your shoulders to give your arms a break from how long you were carrying them. Dabi could tell from the way you stretched and rolled your neck that you were tired.  

His breath stuttered when you turned and your chin came up, eyes finally finding the body sitting at your bar.  It took you just a beat to realize that it wasn’t just some stranger who had broken into your closed pub in broad daylight. 

You were about as frozen as he was as your jaw dropped, making your mouth go slightly agape.  He couldn’t blame you, he guessed. He lifted his head from his hand and gave you a weak, tired smirk. 

“Cat got your tongue, sweetheart?” 

You were soon tripping over your bags and rushing to his place at the bar, your hands grabbing his shoulders and pushing him from his slouched position into one that was straighter.  You twisted his stool and made him face you as you leaned him back to rest on the bar and inspected him. 

Dabi inspected you in the same manner.  

He watched as you silently, but frantically pushed your hands across his body.  His bare chest was warm and every touch of your fingers made him feel hot. it was like you were confirming that he was real and not some delusion you had made up from stress. He would do that same after the you-less dream he had been succumbed to for fuck-knows how long now, but your warm touch was too comforting- too real to be a just another dream. 

Dabi could see your eyes slick over as you just kept trying to silently convince yourself he was in front of you.  He furrowed his brows- you hadn’t looked at his face since you saw him and you weren’t saying anything.  It irritated him. 

The pyro snatched your roaming wrists in his hands as you jolted and went completely still.  

“Fuckin’ look at me,” he demanded, his impatience getting the best of him.  Slowly, your head lifted and you did.  He could see the tears brimming your eyes and he briefly wondered if you could even see him clearly with all those tears in the way of your vision. “Now, talk to me.” 

Your mouth fell open, but snapped shut again. Only small sounds coming out. What could you say? You had no idea how to form words in the given situation.  What should you say? Ask him how he feels, ask him how he woke up and if he was okay? Ask him why the hell the first thing he did was get up out of bed and come to the bar? 

“Let me make this easy,” he told you, a scowl still on his scarred face. He brought one of his hands up to the cup under your jaw, his thumb and fingers pushing your cheeks to make your lips purse , your chin rest in his palm.  “Can’t talk? Fine; then just say my name, it should be easy.” 

You swallowed. One word, just two short syllables long, that’s it.  It really should be easy.  Opening your mouth, you did your best to force your locked up voice out. 

“Dabi?” You questioned, your brows quirking up as he chuckled, smirking down at you. 

“Atta girl,” he whispered before he brought his lips down onto the ones he had pushed out so invitingly to himself.  You found your head spinning when Dabi’s hand that held your cheeks and under your jaw, pulled your mouth open so he could push his tongue inside to tangle around yours. 

The entire time he roamed your mouth, his eyes stayed open and on yours.  Your small huffs of shock dwindled as your wide eyes started to narrow and drop to a lid as your tense body finally slackened.  

This is what woke him up- what had him remember, not being shot.  His want to be around you, to taste you for the first time and to smell your scene again. Drawing his tongue out of your mouth, he peppered your flushed cheeks and the corner of your lips with small pecks, before greedily taking your lips again.  Every time you tried pulling away from him- to get some answers no doubt- he didn’t let you get far as he kept chasing after your lips. 

Your taste was so fuckin’ addicting, he almost growled. 

Lifting himself up from his barstool, he had forgotten that his legs were weak and he found himself immediately releasing your lips and losing his balance.  Grabbing your shoulder and arm to try and keep his balance, you squawked, not ready to hold his weight and you both tumbled to the tile. 

You groaned as the man lay on top of you, his arms laying outstretched on either side of your head with his chin next to your neck.  When he didn’t move, you brought one of your hands to his back and tapped him gently. 

“Uh, Dabi?” You felt his breathing against your own as he just hummed signally that he didn’t just pass out..  “Think you can get off me?” Your voice was weak and without even looking at you, Dabi could imagine the flush that most definitely painted your cheeks a vibrant red. 

“No, I don’t think I can,” he chuckled. He felt you fight under him, your arms pushing against his side before you lifted him just a bit before pushing him and sliding yourself out from under him.  He groaned. “Fuck, you should treat a patient with more care.” 

“Oh, sorry,” you panicked as you were soon grabbing his arm and throwing it over your shoulder and heaving him up.  You looked back to your bags of groceries before deeming Dabi’s overall health top priority. You were ready to take him back downstairs to the basement when he stopped you, his free hand shooting out to grab a door frame and keep you from proceeding.  

“No,” he denied.  “Upstairs. I want to be in your place instead.” 

“What? But, Dabi, you’re-”

“I’m fine,” he bit.  He couldn’t just outright say that he missed your apartment, especially right to your face.  “Just, take me up there instead.” In the end, that stupidly good heart of yours relented and obeyed his request.  

Dabi felt like he just reached nirvana when you helped sit him down on your couch.  His arms lifted to the back of the couch instinctive and he dropped his head back and shut his eyes, taking in the newfound comfort. He could feel you stand in front of him before he felt the cushion next to him dip, informing him that you had just sat next to him.  He could feel your concerned eyes burn into the side of his face. 

“You don’t need to stare.” 

“Well, you still need to answer some questions.” 

Dabi peeled his eyes open, as he tilted his head that still rested back on the cushions to look at you. “Ask away.” 

“Okay,” you breathed, not expecting him to be as cooperative. “Well, how do you feel?” 

“Better than ever,” your pointed look at his legs made him clear his throat with a chuckle. “Better than ever with a bit of a balance problem.” 

“And your neck? Does that hurt?” 

“Nope.” 

“What about your head, any headaches or eye strain?” 

“Had a headache when I woke up, pretty much gone now.” 

You ran him back and forth about questions of if he was in pain or any discomfort, and while he normally would have found the entire process annoying, he couldn't help but smile through it. Listening to you talk so much made him feel remarkably better. 

“Alright, now for unprofessional questions,” you told him. “Why the hell did you think it was a good idea to go up to the bar as soon as you woke up? I was gone no more than 20 minutes and you somehow climbed your way up there. What if you fell back down the stairs or something?” 

“I don’t know about you, sweetheart, but when I wake up in a basement, I’d like to get out of it,” he joked.  “I wanted to see the bar anyway.” 

“It’s the same as it’s always been.” 

“Not to me.” 

“What?” Your twisted face that had been chewing him out the past several minutes had softened at his tone.  His joking smirk fell as he looked back at the ceiling and his mouth pressed into a line.  Just remembering that awful dream really pissed him off.  

“What was the quirk I was under?” 

“You,” you started, “you knew you were under the effects of a quirk?” 

“Of course I did, I’m not stupid.” 

“Well, the guy with the needle fingertips is the one who got you in the neck during that brawl, remember?” Dabi nodded. “His needles contain a type of sedative that sends the affected body to sleep and their mind into a created reality of their dreams. I guess you had a dream, huh?” 

“Yeah. A fucking stupid dream where everything was the same expect the important stuff.” 

“Important stuff? Like what exactly?” 

Glancing at you from the corner of his eye, he decided not to tell you about his identity.  To you he was still just plain Dabi- the Dabi who took Stain’s words to heart and hated this hero-praised society. If he told you who he really was, what if you looked at him differently? So, he kept it to himself. 

“You weren’t there.” You were silent at his side, his gaze moving to focus back on the light fixtures that were turned off above him since the sun was bright enough through the windows to light the living room up.  “When I woke up in that dream, you weren’t there. The bar wasn’t there either, it was just some run down building owned by the city. You didn’t know me in that dream, and you died as a stranger to me in that dream too.”  His eyes lidded as a grim shadow cast over his face.  

“I died? But how-”

“I really don’t want to get into the details.” 

“Oh,” you pushed yourself.  “That makes sense. Sorry for prying.” It was silent for a beat. You looked away from Dabi, glancing around your living room as he watched you from the corner of his vision.  You had stood up from the couch, making him twitch. “I’m going to get you something to drink, you’re probably thirsty.  Since you’re recovering though, I’m gonna make you drink a lot of water.” 

He was content on letting you do what you wanted, but the thought of you leaving his sight for just a moment made his skin crawl.  If you went to the kitchen, you’d be going around a corner and behind a wall, he couldn’t see through walls.  

You got one step from the couch when he snatched your wrist and yanked you over.  Falling back on the cushions, your back was against Dabi’s side where he had snaked his arm around you, keeping you hostage.  

“What are you-?!” Your voice stopped when he dropped his forehead to your shoulder and squeezed you.  

“Don’t leave my sight yet.” 

“Did my disappearance in your dream really bother you that much?” He cursed you for being so perceptive on why he was suddenly so handsy with you. In the past, he tried to be as mindful of your feelings as possible.  He didn’t want to take advantage of your emotions back then, but now it wasn’t quite like before.  

“Yeah, it did.”  His honesty shocked you.  There was no joking undertone and no sound of a smirk on his lips.  It was sincere and it was sad. 

You relaxed against him, raising one of your hands to push through his hair that tickled your neck and cheek.  You wished you had a book or your phone to keep you busy at the very least, but you didn’t. You just traced the design of your apartment’s wallpaper with your eyes, sitting in silence for a while. 

“Hey,” you softly called after a while to test if he had fallen asleep.  You heard him hum behind you. “Is the reason you did what you did in the bar, because I didn’t exist in your dream?” 

Oh fuck. 

He had nearly forgotten that he practically shoved his tongue down your throat not that long ago.  In the past, maybe he would’ve felt bad about doing that; to you in particular- you being his best friend and the same friend who patched him up on the regular and the friend who got rejected by him. But now, he didn’t feel any regret looking back on the deed.  

In fact, the only regret he felt int his moment was the memory of his rejection. 

“Can I take it back?” 

“The kiss?” You croak? “Well, of course you can. I-”

“Not that, you idiot.” 

“What?” 

“That time I told you that I didn’t do relationships, when I rejected you. Can I take that back?” Your silence made his stomach churn.  God, this is why he hated relationships, why he hated fuckin’ feelings.  This is the sole reason he squashed what he felt towards you down into the pit of his stomach. Now it’s all coming back up to burn his throat like a case horrible heartburn. 

“Dabi, this isn’t a joke to me.” 

“I know, I’m not that much of a prick.” 

“Yes, you are.” 

“Not to you, I’m not.” The moment you opened your mouth to argue against him again, he bit into your neck, making you squawk and kick your legs out before bopping the top of his head with your hand that had been previously brushing through his hair. Which didn’t help your case, since all it did was knock his teeth into your skin more before he unlatched from you. “Hey,” he spoke as he moved to push his cheek against the top of your head so there was no way you could even get a glance at his face.  “If you think you still like me, then I think I like you too.” 

Dabi felt you start laughing before he heard it.  He felt like he was going to burst into flames as you squirmed around in his arms, laughing like he just told the world's worst dad joke. He pinched into your sides, making you yelp between laughs. When you settled down, you just rested against him willingly and hummed. 

“That’s not how you ask a someone out, Dabi.” 

“Oh, shut the fuck up.” 

“Neither is that.” 

“That’s it,” he finalized with himself as he planted his chin on top of your head with enough force to make you whine in dull pain. “Just for that, I’m not taking you on any good dates. It’s just concrete basements and empty fridges for you.” 

Yu gasp. “That is not how you treat your girlfriend!” 

“I don’t remember asking you to be that to me?” 

“You son of a-”

He pushed a hand over your mouth, muffling you as he felt you smile against his palm.  Tiling your head back to look up and back at him, he pulled his hand away from your lips and pushed a finger in front of his own, shushing you. 

“You sure you want me?” He asked. “Last chance to back out of it.” 

“Well,” you answered, “do really you want me?”

Dabi rolled his eyes. Like he would flake out after all this, you should know better than to ask him something like that.  He was meticulous, he wouldn’t be so certain of something like this if he hadn’t thought it over first.  He’s had his time without you and now he’s gonna make certain that it never happens again. 

“Oh, baby, I only want you.” Your face flushed and he kissed the end of your nose- since your lips were too far away from this angle to reach.  “Now turn around dammit, I want to kiss you properly.” 

That stupidly good heart of yours never fails to listen. 

-END- 

[lingtosite]

How are you feeling about all the todo fam and dabi development up to chapter 303?

uhh sorry idk when I got this msg as you may have noticed I haven't come to this website in months.. but I appreciate the question & kinda feel like ranting so let me answer it hehe

-- spoilers below --

Well first I'm relieved that they finally revealed it, although it felt rushed. I expected one of the good guys to find out via some backdoor instead of Dabi going on national TV. Because of that it felt like all the buildup with the black speech bubble and who the hell are you kinda fell flat.

As expected though, once he revealed his secret Dabi behaved in a coldblooded manner towards Endeavor & Shouto. It felt very cathartic that he was able to get back at his abusive father who's apparently still in denial that he didn't do everything he could've and had the nerve to blame the victim. It didn't surprise me that Dabi hated Shouto and tried to kill him in front of Endeavor. I actually thought it was an ingenious way to get revenge especially on Endeavor (I promise I'm not a psychopath). However, it shocked me that Dabi had put Natsu in danger for his revenge and as a result I stopped being a Dabi apologist. Like what did Natsu ever do to him lol (Or did he do something?) That made no sense to me. But at the same time I think there is more to it that we don't know yet; a part of me believes that he didn't really do it on purpose, but instead he screwed up and now tried to cover it up in front of Shouto & Endeavor by saying he planned it all along. To make himself look like a heartless mf. Sounds like something that could’ve happened based on Dabi’s track record. God knows if this will ever be explained though because this is a shonen manga and it's probably bad news to make readers sympathize with a murderer. Tbh I haven't been reading the manga properly after that - I get the feeling Deku is out to kill Shigaraki now and if Shiggy can't be saved then how can Dabi be saved. Unless they mean saving by ending their miserable life.

Which brings me to the part where Shouto said that he is gonna kill Dabi. I think he might actually do it because first of all they didn't really know each other. It's pretty clear to him that Dabi is off his rocker and when he said that it gave me the impression that he believes killing Dabi would be the kind thing to do for both Dabi and the family. Second of all it'd make sense if Dabi is representing the part of Shouto that hated his dad but in order to move past it he has to forgive so he kills off Dabi who represents the hatred. I used to believe 100% that Dabi can get redemption because of that whole Apollo theory or whatever but at this rate I think he is being portrayed as being beyond salvation so now I believe maybe 30% and hope 70% lol.

Other than that I'm kinda disappointed that Touya wasn't in some special training program. I hope they reveal at some point how the heck he managed to survive the fire. It feels like so far all the flashbacks were from Endeavor's POV, we have yet to see what exactly happened from Touya's POV like we did with Tenko's flashbacks. It'd be nice if the manga doesn't race towards the end like so many shonen manga do in their final arc and then we never get a chance to see it. Although I won't mind too much if we don't, cuz then the fandom can make up whatever they want lol.

[omni-scient-ramblings]

I posted 22 times in 2021

6 posts created (27%)

16 posts reblogged (73%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 2.7 posts.

I added 65 tags in 2021

#writing - 11 posts

#panda writes - 8 posts

#writeblr - 7 posts

#not writing - 7 posts

#fic - 6 posts

#my writing - 6 posts

#panda posts - 5 posts

#watcher - 5 posts

#and they were oarmates - 5 posts

#fan fic - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 129 characters

#also i will warn you that i am a notoriously slow writer so you may send in a request and i may not get to it for like six months

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Daily Writing Challenge - June 9th 2021

This was a terrible idea, Sarah thought to herself, sitting on the edge of the boat, seated next to Jesse.

~Cut to make the post shorter, click the link below for full story~

1 notes • Posted 2021-06-09 23:27:46 GMT

#4

Hey! So uh, long time no post, at least not to this blog, so uhh, basically I need to practice writing BNHA stuff in preparation of a fantasy au fic I wanna start, so like if y'all wanna send stuff to my asks of like requests and whatnot, as long as it doesn't include spoilers for like the manga or season 5 of the anime or the third movie, I'll see what I can do

Also please make it an AU, idc what kind of AU just put your suggestions with an AU and make it SFW, as well, with like canon typical violence at most

Thanks!

3 notes • Posted 2021-09-22 02:07:36 GMT

#3

Daily Writing Challenge - June 1st 2021

Her lungs felt like they were about to burst. All she had to do was get to the surface. If she could make it to the top then everything would be okay. When she had signed up for the scuba diving trip she'd expected to see some coral and some fish, a manta ray maybe, but that was all. Not... Whatever the heck this was. She wanted to glance behind her but she couldn't, looking back would cost her seconds she didn't have. She had to keep going, she had to keep swimming, just a little farther and she'd make it-

"AHHHHH," her words came out as an underwater garble of words as something - no, someone - grabbed her leg.

~Cut to make the post shorter, click the link below for full story~

6 notes • Posted 2021-06-01 21:33:08 GMT

#2

Daily Writing Challenge - June 2nd 2021

Based off the Song Adventure Is Out There by AJR

Also a prequel to the short story I wrote yesterday... This is leading up to the day Sarah met Evan

Sarah sat on her bed, covers thrown over her head, intent on blocking out the world around her. Her hair was a mess and so was her room. Her joints ached from being curled up in one spot for so long and while she was tired of feeling this way, she couldn’t bring herself to get out of bed and actually do something about it. 

The world was terrible and cruel anyways, there was no reason for her to actually get up and do anything anyways. People would dump you for no reason and they’d break your heart through a text message without a second thought to how excited you were to celebrate your six month anniversary.

~Cut to make the post shorter, click the link below for full story~

7 notes • Posted 2021-06-03 00:09:03 GMT

#1

Writing Master Post

So all my writing can be found in one place ;)

And They Were Oarmates

A series about the gay oars from Puppet History

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6 (Yell at me if this isn't posted by the end of November)

Epilogue/Part 7 (Yell at me if this isn't posted by the end of 2021)

Grishaverse Fics

Anything I've written about any of the characters in Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse or the S&B Netflix Show

The Green Eyed Merchling

Tales of Arcadia Fics

Anything written for Trollhunters, 3 Below, Wizards, or Rise of the Titans

Alternative ROTT Ending

The Owl House Fics

You guessed it, any fic I've written for the Disney Channel Show: The Owl House

Hootlingo - Origins (Crackfic)

Writing-Prompt-s Stories

Includes anything I've written based off a prompt from the famous @/writing-prompt-s

Wrong Timeline

Poetic Ramblings

My edgy semi-vent poetic sounding ramblings, these are all okay to reblog btw

Second Place

Who Needs Friends

Writing Before Death

Empty

Written In The Stars

Do You Lie Awake At Night?

Daily Writing Challenges

Mostly challenges from my summer writing camp but maybe if I'm feeling productive I'll do some unprompted too

Tuesday, June 1st, 2021 - "What's Life Without Adventure?"

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2021 - "Adventure Is Out There"

Wednesday, June 9th, 2022 - "Adventure Is Just A Little Ways Away"

9 notes • Posted 2021-04-16 01:57:08 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[zirkkun]

What are your views on UT!Chara? Are they good, neutral, evil (in your opinion) (No need to answer this ask if you do not want to)

hoo boy let me just. you’ve activated a Secret Essay(tm) of mine anon fbdshabl sorry i’ll try to keep it short LMAO

(under a read more just for a) length b) ut spoilers.. even tho im p sure most of you have beaten the game but who knows lol c) uhh Chara’s story is pretty dark so this has mentions of abuse and whatnot so please be aware of that ^^;;)

Morality alignment wise is like. Idk. I’m bad with assigning that half the time because it’s all subjective in a way right oh no my true neutralness surfaces like for example I wouldn’t do something I think is bad right? But someone else might think it’s bad. (Like my 16 yr old self might consider me today a terrible person just bc I like Undertale lol 16 yr old me is rude don’t listen to them) If I were to put them on a kind of DnD like alignment scale though, I think I would probably put them in a lawful neutral kind of alignment, maybe leaning a bit towards lawful evil.

But here’s the thing. Without Chara having any sort of backstory as to why they hate humans? It’s very hard for me to gauge where their motivation lies for the things that they did. Based off of what Asriel tells you when you talk to him in the Ruins, the genocide route, and the bits of narration we have, we can pretty much assume:

- Chara was pretty abusive, this is undeniably a fact even from just watching the videos in the True Lab; and while Asriel recognizes this, he didn’t want to lose them because they were the only one he felt close to. Which is likely part of the abuse they dealt by making him feel alone without them. - Chara hated humanity for reasons they would not disclose to Asriel, but it’s pretty implied that they attempted to commit suicide by jumping into Mt. Ebott. This could mean that they were abused in their past, which could in turn provide reason for their abusive nature (because, with Chara being a child, it’s very likely that they took in the personalities of those around them to make their own person up. Even though they were hurting, they didn’t exactly know why, and even still, many people with an abusive history that end up abusive themselves might not even recognize that they’re being abusive, which might be the case for Chara as well.) - Chara probably cared for Asriel. There’s a lot of things to indicate that they may have faked it or maybe it seems like they didn’t by their abusive nature towards Asriel, but it’s unlikely that Chara would fake caring about someone. If they jumped off the side of a mountain because they hated the people they were around so much, there’s very little reason for them to pretend they liked someone at the potential expense of their own happiness. More likely than not, Chara desperately wanted to keep Asriel close, but ended up being really controlling in an attempt to keep him close. Additionally, when you hug Asriel at the end of the True Pacifist route, the line “Hah... I don’t want to let go...” is said by the narrator, indicating it may have been Chara who said it. But considering how Sans also has lines that are spoken silently and in the default font, this may not be entirely accurate.  - Imma go off for a second about genocide because i have a pet peeve about when people suddenly decide that Chara is the one that caused it. This doesn’t make any sense -- but at the same time, with little to no games considering the Player and Player-Insert character to be two seperate characters, it’s no surprise to me that people i guess “projected” onto Chara. However, if you seperate the player from Frisk (in the same manner that Kris and the Player are seperate in Deltarune), it becomes easier to understand. Chara had nothing against the monsters. They liked monsterkind. It’s extremely unlikely that they would have the motivation to kill all of the monsters on their own. This wasn’t created until far into the genocide route, where the player has done most of the work for them. Chara is now living on pure Determination, which as we know is void of care and purely puts a person on a path of achieving their last desire, and once they wake up like this, with most of monsterkind already dead... well, what else is there to live for? They already attempted to kill humanity, failed, and now the only people they treasured have fallen like flies. Nothing matters in this world. Might as well delete the whole thing to finish the job. (also Frisk doesn’t have any motivations of their own either... unlike Kris they are shown to have no specific motivations (that i’m aware of?) one way or another and don’t reject the player ever so the idea that a canon frisk would reject the genocide route doesn’t make sense to me either. obvs au’s are exempt because they’re free real estate lmao anyway this is unrelated) - Chara’s a very calculated and observent person as well -- just look at how they died? They weren’t even afraid of death. They poisoned themselves with full faith that Asriel would take their Soul and bring them back to life (which also goes back to my point about how much Chara cared for Asriel, since, if they didn’t trust him, they would not have left him with that huge responsibility) by absorbing their Soul into his own body so they could exist as one. Chara saw their death as a stepping stone in their plan. All this from just seeing Asgore accidentally eat buttercups once and getting sick. A whole plan to get revenge on the people who hurt them from that. They even made a statement about wanting to be placed back on the Surface just to cover Asriel’s ass when he eventually took Chara on his own to the Surface. - okay this is probably just more of a me thing, but I’ve never gotten the whole “Chara hates Sans” concept. But considering I also don’t really think of Chara as the one who attempted the genocide route, I guess it makes sense. Chara probably doesn’t care about Sans one way or another, really, and Sans probably has very little idea who Chara is. I’ve always seen Sans’s statements during his battle said directly towards the Player, more or less using Frisk as the messenger -- like, for example (yes I have this on hand don’t judge me):

“sounds strange, but before this i was secretly hoping we could be friends. i always thought the anomaly was doing this because they were unhappy. and when they got what they wanted, they would stop all this. and maybe all they needed was. i dunno. some good foods, some bad laughs, some nice friends. but that’s ridiculous, right? yeah. you’re the type of person who won’t EVER be happy.”

- (cont) At this point it sort of taps into something I was gonna write for that Sans essay but here we go. I bolded “the anomaly” because this is the point where he directly refers to the player as their own individual in the game. What’s the only thing that’s different between Undertale and any moments of his life previous? The player. Hence, anomaly. Even Chara would have existed before the player showed up, right? Chara fell sometime within the 2010′s according to the opening of the game, and in between that time and when Frisk showed up, 6 other humans fell into the Underground. Clearly none of them had the same powers Frisk did, because otherwise, they would have not died and left their Soul behind for Asgore to use. That leaves one thing different -- player interference. Chara even directly states that the player is the one who woke them up with Determination, meaning they were asleep (or dead) for every year previous to their arrival. Sans probably only knows them as “the first human” like every other monster in the Underground (aside from the Dreemurs, of course).

i could probably go on for a while. but i will save you the time you probably didn’t want to spend reading this already by shutting up fdbshafb