#which does show in their duo dynamics

[llama-bird]

A collected list of things I learned this weekend by watching the streams:

1. Grian's strongest love language is touch. (Love-language as in how he shows that he likes someone or is comfortable with them, consciously or not.) To me, it's fair to assume that, judging by the way he reacts with those people that are obviously dear to him: he hugs Jimmy when celebrating, he puts his head on Gem's shoulder in exasperation and he constantly got a hand on Scar's chair. (Which imo is the sole reason Scar accidentally elbowed him in his bits, because that happens if you stand that close and people are not used to it. The second reason is Grian's height.)

2. Ren and Skizz are an amazing duo with lots of chemistry that only works irl. Now, I'm not 100% sure it wouldn't work in game but most of their interactions stem from facial expression and movement - their silent Games Part was easily the funniest part of the stream. I was choking on laughter and my face hurt from grinning so much.

3. Jimmy and Grian are actually a deadly team. They bicker a lot and they always try to annoy each other (or, Grian likes to annoy Jimmy) but when it matters they can not only be civil they are also incredibly smart. They just know each other. And seeing them do a task involving a blindfolt and a stick without trying to trip each other and instead be that swift and careful was scary.

4. Grian likes to strike a pose. During the nerf-war, whenever he had a gun, he was not only shooting he was also holding himself like he was in some kind of movie and honestly I'm not surprised by the theater kid vibes.

5. Impulse and Skizz have the same favourite colors. Purple and yellow and black and yellow, apparently. Noone is surprised. Fork found in kitchen.

6. Ren does a little shoulder-shuffle when he's happy or excited. Like, he shakes them a little? We saw it when he made that bracelet with Gem and was proud of it. It reminds me of a dog and its adorable. I love him for it. He also seems to have a lot of anxious energy and I think hes sensitive to sound?

7. Gem and Grian both can't sit still and that only adds to their sibling dynamic imo.

8. Jimmy and False look like a genderbent version of each other, we could witness that during Guess The Build.

Edit:

9. Joel things magpies are the worst kind of bird and I'll never forget that.

[jikookuntold]

The Untold Stories of “Are You Sure!?”

I know it's been quite some time since Jikook's travel show, Are You Sure?, aired on Disney+, and I've been wanting to share my thoughts about it here ever since. After watching the entire series twice, I've finally organized my reflections and found time to put them into words. Without further preamble or disclaimer, let's dive right in.

I’m Not Sure…

I must admit that a duo trip for Jikook and a reality show based on it wasn’t in the most optimistic Jikookers’ bingo card. But we got it in the best way possible, a whole Disney+ series with some of the most beautiful, meaningful, and intimate Jikook moments to gush about for years. Through the eight episodes, we saw them talking sweetly, laughing together, cuddling and touching intimately, being domestic, and taking care of each other. I can talk about those moments for hours, but I know many Jikookers have done it in the past few months, and I’m going to look at this show from a different point of view; What does this show add to our Jikookery encyclopedia?

For new fans, this show can be a guide to know more about Jikook’s real and special bond, but for veteran Jikookers like us, maybe there was not much new information. We cherished seeing them together, enjoyed their sweet moments, and learned more unknown facts about them and their dynamics. You may say we already knew how inseparable and couply they are and have been familiar with their domestic nature. But was that all we perceived from AYS, or we can go deeper and find more? Yes, there is always more to see without hallucination or delusion.

First of all, keep in mind that AYS is a TV show after all, and we know TV shows, including reality shows, can be scripted. These shows are often filmed and edited in ways that emphasize specific narratives or push certain agendas. I’ve discussed the topic of "Scripts in BTS Content" before (link) and concluded that the narratives in BTS reality shows, especially the paid ones, aren’t far from the members’ real dynamics, making them largely authentic. However, in the case of AYS, we have even more solid proof of this authenticity: Jimin and JK themselves confirmed that we see them as they are in the show.

But the thing is, what we saw in the show wasn't everything. No matter how honest and authentic they try to be, approximately 96% of the footage had to be edited out to condense an eight-day trip into less than ten hours of television series. This percentage would be even higher if we accounted for duplicate shots from multiple cameras and repeated scenes - though there's no precise way to calculate this. The truth remains: there was far more that went unseen, and I'm attempting to shed light on these untold stories from "Are You Sure?!"

USA

The first chapter of AYS was also the shortest, consisting of only two episodes, and it began with Jikook in New York, US. The timing of this trip was particularly interesting: JK traveled to the US on July 12th for his "Seven" promotions and GMA performance, and the next day, we saw Jimin at the airport heading to the same destination. Unofficial sources had announced that they were planning to film something together in New York - which turned out to be true, though not the full story. What many Jikookers overlooked was the significance of this moment for JK's career. As he embarked on his solo journey with a bold, sexy song and romantic music video, he clearly wanted Jimin by his side during this pivotal and stressful moment.

Meanwhile, Jimin’s presence beside JK served as crucial emotional support during this important moment in his career. While some might argue that Jimin similarly supported Hobi and Suga during their solo performances by traveling to the US, and JK is just another BTS member he loves and supports. But don’t forget that both times in August 2022 and May 2023 had coincided with Jimin’s own solo schedules in that country. This time, however, his trip had no purpose other than filming a potential travel show and simply being there for JK. This was when Jimin had just finished recording his second album, Muse, and "finally" had free time to spend with JK, plus, unlike Hobi and Yoongi’s solo performances, Jimin’s presence in New York for JK, wasn’t covered in the respective Bangtan Episode.

However, their journey immediately faced setbacks: JK's live performance was canceled due to heavy rain in New York, leaving him feeling gloomy, he even joked about being "cursed by water" on their first day. On the other hand, Jimin got sick and spent most of the day unwell, growing pessimistic about their show's prospects. Despite this streak of bad luck, they managed to uplift each other and enjoy being together. The second day told a different story, with Jimin feeling better and JK supposedly being happy about "Seven" topping the charts, their real dynamic emerged, leading to some of their most intimate moments. I’m sure you know which moments I’m talking about.

Okay, let's address the elephant in the room: “Jikook discussing how they hadn't seen each other”. Their conversation in the first episode about this separation raised questions about their dynamic during the solo era, specifically the period between the YTC Busan concert and the release of "Seven". Despite the inaccuracy in the official English subs for this part of the episode, I have to remind you, the era Jikook were talking about was when Jin and then Hobi enlisted in the military after releasing their farewell gifts for fans, Namjoon and Jimin released solo albums, and Yoongi embarked on a solo tour after his comeback.

At the same time, we stopped seeing Jikook together as frequently as before. This coincidence between the solo era activities and Jikook's so-called separation fueled conspiracy theories among haters, with claims like "Chapter two revealed the members' true relationships”. But we already had the answer to these claims: Jimin was working intensely on not one but two albums simultaneously, leaving him little time to spend with JK or anyone else outside his work. Meanwhile, JK had more free time, which explains why he was frequently seen socializing with various friends and acquaintances.

So, the question is: Did Jikook really not see each other for six, seven months? We witnessed them together at least four times during this period and it appears our definition of "not seeing each other" differs from Jikook’s. They were specifically referring to their inability to spend meaningful quality time together, which simply wasn't possible during that era. However, immediately after finishing recording his second album, Jimin went straight to JK to create new memories with him. Personally, I think parts of this "separation era" weren't solely due to busy schedules. At that time, they still were not sure about their upcoming enlisting situation, and perhaps they were trying to do a trial for their eventual military separation, but they failed miserably, ended up pining over each other. So, this result possibly leading to their joint enlistment decision. Of course, this remains just a theory and I could be entirely wrong, and the simpler explanation might be Jimin's overwhelming workload at the time.

Now let's discuss the untold part of the story. After wrapping up their trip and filming, Jimin returned to South Korea on July 18th while JK remained in the US to depart for London the following day. Considering the time difference between Connecticut and South Korea, Jimin actually stayed for more night and day after filming concluded. This means they spent at least one full night and day together off-camera. Antoya, the New York restaurant, confirmed in an official post that Jimin and JK dined there twice, first time with cameras and staff and the second time without them, while the show included only brief footage from Antoya, mere seconds of them discussing JK's sore throat.

Based on their filming schedule, we can determine the second visit occurred after they returned to New York from Connecticut, following the completion of shooting. This confirms they enjoyed private time together, just the two of them. Jikook's time in the US wasn't just about their couple-like conversations during hikes or their casual touches on the boat or in bed. Their connection went much deeper: JK cared for Jimin when he was sick, prayed for his recovery, and prepared special meals for him. Similarly, Jimin supported JK through his stressful days, and as we realized by analyzing their travel schedules earlier, it was something that extended far beyond simply filming a show.

We never saw footage of Jikook's topless photo on the wharf or never witnessed how Jimin's nose got injured by JK's elbow in their sleep. While we were deprived of many potential moments, what we did receive were some of the most genuine and authentic episodes of the series. The impact of this trip on Jikook was big enough that we saw JK passionately discussing their experience on Suchitwa and begging Jimin to join his live just days after returning, the experience that was pleasant enough to motivated them to continue the show with more travel destinations.

Jeju

The next destination for Jikook’s travel show was Jeju Island in South Korea. These three episodes featured Taehyung accompanying Jikook, though his participation was included to the show only two days before filming began. While this last-minute addition sparked unnecessary controversy among some shippers, it’s important to recognize the benefits of Taehyung’s guest appearance; it proved that aside from the predetermined itinerary and props, nothing else about the show was scripted. Moreover, despite the presence of a third party, Jikook continued to display their unique and romantic connection - both on and off camera. Also, for viewers seeking an unbiased comparison of their dynamics, these episodes are valuable case studies.

Vminkook enjoyed numerous exciting activities in Jeju, from ocean fishing and kart racing to more mundane moments like shared meals, sleep, and playing together. Despite the Jeju episodes having the shortest average runtime (60 minutes compared to 63 and 77 minutes for the US and Sapporo) and including lengthy scenes like their 15-minute Japanese restaurant meal, we were still treated to precious Jikook moments. Highlights included their heartfelt conversation about enlisting together, the adorable pool scene, their casual cuddles in bed, and romantic interactions alongside playful bickering and roleplaying. These moments, authentic and unfiltered, reinforced just how deeply connected and inseparable they are, no matter who accompanies them.

Aside from what was shown on camera, there were some other interesting facts to notice. As we know, the Jeju filming officially began on September 26th and concluded on the 28th, just before Chuseok. I’m not sure if you were aware of the rumors from a credible source, about Jikook being spotted in Jeju during August that year, but I understand if you remain skeptical. Regardless of the rumor’s validity, Jimin himself confirmed their off-camera time together when he mentioned spending the night with JK right before departing for Jeju.

What makes this sleepover particularly special is the fact that JK had only arrived in Seoul the previous day, and we witnessed him rushing through the airport to go home. By his own admission, he hadn’t slept since landing, implying they stayed awake together all night. Even more intriguing, we later learned that Jikook received confirmation of their buddy system approval that same day. It’s highly likely they celebrated this news with a night of dining and drinks together alone—yet all we received was a vague mention in the show.

However, these off-camera moments extended far beyond their private date night. When JK’s mom mentioned Jimin twice during their phone call and inquired about their Chuseok reunion, the warmth of familial bonds was sensible. Throughout their trip, JK remained by Jimin’s side, even when Taehyung stepped away for personal activities, he lingered nearby even as Jimin slept, a quiet but telling detail. The show removed many intimate moments, for example the footage related to the iconic photobook image of JK proudly displaying Jimin’s name written in sunscreen on his belly. But I’m far from disappointed, if anything, I’m grateful for all the beautiful moments we got beyond our expectations.

Japan

As someone who doesn't particularly enjoy cold, snowy weather, I found these Sapporo episodes to be unexpectedly warm and sweet, and they left me emotionally attached. It's no surprise that Jikook themselves seemed to cherish this part of their travels most of all, as it marked their final trip before military enlistment. Japan has held special meaning for them since at least GCF in Tokyo, and winter has always been their favorite season. While their US trip presented some mishaps they weren't prepared for, and Jeju introduced a third party that altered their dynamic, Sapporo offered something different. Here, they seemed at ease - ready and willing to showcase their peak authentic, boyfriend behavior.

The Sapporo episodes featured some of the most memorable moments in the entire series, from their strolls along snowy sidewalks and playful antics on Sapporo's empty streets to listening to romantic songs while sharing AirPods on the train. Their indoor moments were also precious from playing and bickering to half naked Jacuzzi moments. At one point, Jimin remarked that is just how they are at home as laying on the floor singing, as JK effortlessly completing his verses like it is their everyday routine. Though their impending enlistment loomed in their thoughts and made the atmosphere bittersweet, these moments felt so natural and effortless.

There were so many sweet moments in these three episodes that I won’t be able to recount every one of them, I know you remember them as vividly as I do, and I cherish them all. As this post’s purpose suggests, I want to focus on the untold part of their Japan journey: Tokyo. We all saw them depart Seoul on November 23rd and return on the 28th, yet the three episodes of Japan only covered Sapporo. What went unshown were their two nights and two days in Tokyo. Yes, JK had his "Hate You" MV filming and an interview scheduled, but Jimin had no professional reason to accompany him, he could have joined JK later in Sapporo. Jimin was amid preparing Muse and might have used those days to rest or wrap up his work. Yet they chose to travel together, deliberately carving out private time away from cameras.

So, it's safe to say that the Tokyo portion of Jikook's Japan trip served as their private time together - a detail made even more meaningful by their personal history with the city. Throughout show promotions and commentary, they referenced their 2017 trip a few times, suggesting that they wanted to recreate those precious memories before enlistment. And so they did just for the two of them, preserving these new moments for themselves just as they had six years prior, never intended for filming or public viewing, and all we saw was a beautiful four-minute long edit created by JK himself, and of course Jimin’s sweet twitter edit. But this time, two photos of Jimin in Tokyo presumably taken by JK was all that we were allowed to see.

We Are Sure

After years of promoting the OT7 (7-1=0) narrative, Are You Sure?! a travel show, exclusively featuring Jikook, emerged as a completely unexpected phenomenon. To be honest, this Jikook portrayal, unaligned with most of the Jikook narratives we have seen from Hybe in the past few years. Does this signal a future shift? A soft or hard launch? I can't say for certain, and I prefer to remain pessimistic, only time will reveal the truth. What's undeniable is that AYS was a gift and a blessing for anyone who genuinely loves Jimin and JK. The series offered us rare glimpses of their authentic dynamic, something we'll always be grateful to Jikook for sharing. Across eight episodes and 52 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage, their undeniable chemistry shone through. Their endless inside jokes and constant roleplaying revealed just how close they are off-camera, maintaining their special connection in their own private world.

After reflecting on all the beautiful moments in Jikook's exclusive show, I wanted to end this post on a positive note, but one issue demands acknowledgment. Jimin and JK openly expressed their love for this journey and the series itself, and asked us to give it love and support. Yet the harsh reality remains; ARMY collectively chose to ignore the show, even voting against it for iHeartRadio awards. While disappointing, this wasn't surprising, because these haters knew that any success for this show could signal Hybe to produce similar content in the future, an outcome they clearly fear. At the very least, I challenge those dismissing Jikook's bond as "fanservice", true fanservice caters to fans, and when the so-called fandom rejects the content, this label becomes meaningless.

Whether fans like it or not, and regardless of Hybe commercialization, Jikook will continue doing as they please, and their actions clearly demonstrate that being together is their priority. Their joint enlistment and little to no updates from the military proven this beyond doubt. Military service is no luxury vacation in some lavish villa with yachts and fancy meals; they aren’t being paid to film content. They consciously chose harsher conditions solely to remain together, knowing separation would be unbearable for them. What they share is a bond built to last a lifetime. I feel privileged to exist in the same era as Jikook, and I pity those who either cannot or refuse to recognize their beautiful relationship.

[standamianwayne]

yandere!batfam/damian’s twin!reader

stepmom selina anyone?? anyone interested in some stepmom selina?? (me, i am)

i feel like selina would be such a girl mom but also i have this image of damian’s twin being like his opposite. sooo i think the dynamic between her and selina would be fun cause it’s like black sheep & white sheep.

selina would try and teach her the art of stealth and reader would teach her the art of idk friendship?? no but fr i feel like reader and selina would be such a fun duo. bruce’s girls tbh like they team up and they’re unstoppable. also can you imagine the boy advice selina would give? “yeah just steal one of his prized possessions and he’ll come after you. works every time 😏” like okay thanks queen! in terms of like yandere behavior, i feel like she’s one to plant the little seeds of doubt in reader’s mind about others. like “aw sweetie it’s okay, you’re way too good for them! you never do anything wrong 🥹.” meanwhile the person in question is filing for bankruptcy cause their valuables are gone.

barbara is so ‘cool older sister’ coded it’s actually insane. she’s incredibly smart and good with tech, plus she’s really pretty and cool as hell??? reader is like “hiii hello hiii ” and she INSTANTLY becomes her newest role model.

her like ‘yandereness’ would probably be similar to tim’s but instead of trying to keep reader home, she more so just watches her. like if reader wants to go to a party and it’s on a bad corner of town, barbs will give her directions to go to avoid the most trouble. probably the least likely to kill someone tbh i just can’t see her doing it.

reader and cassandra they were both raised by assassins so they probably bond over that and then how life is after leaving. it’s canon that cass can speak (which we’ve seen her do) but she uses body language instead of words. with this, i like to think that she can teach reader how to read people easier. you know, as a little bonding activity! also damian is canonically good with music (the violin specifically i believe), so reader is likely the same. so now just imagine reader playing an instrument while cass dances 🙏.

cass’s type of yandere is mostly just watching from the shadows. like reader brings a boyfriend home and cass is in the corner standing like mothman. if anyone does reader wrong TRUST cass will be kicking the hell out of them 🙏🙏.

stephanie, like duke, is the closest to the normal sibling experience one can get 😭 but tbh i see her as being more as a best friend that’s a ‘sister figure.’ plus i like stephcass so screw you that’s canon now. having improvised fashion shows at 4am, gossiping about everything and everyone (which she then tells cass but shhhh), having self care days like that’s her bff! with steph i feel like she’s not the type to actually attack anyone directly, but instead just telling cass and/or tim about whatever (or whoever) it is reader is having problems with. now if they’re patrolling together and reader gets attacked? yeah she’ll beat the other person up! (or at least get a couple hits in if reader already took care of it)

now that the fam is written for, please please please send any requests y’all wanna see! romantic (outside the batfam ONLY!!! no sweet home alabama here) or platonic, feel free to send an ask or leave a comment!

heyyyy… heyyyy…. how yall doing….? 😔😔 sorry for disappearing buuuut thanks so much for sticking around! sorry if this part doesn’t quite live up to the other two but somehow the girls are harder to write for?? i hope i got them but honestly any criticism would be appreciated. also i kinda skimped over the yandere part for helena so sorry abt that😭. might go back in and change it but who knows.

also i’ve been fixated on conner kent for some reason???? that’s my pookie guys yall dont get it.

anyways love love LOVE yall so much bye byeeee ❤️

[dindjarindiaries]

Hunter was trying to be a good older brother to Crosshair and a good father to Omega in The Return, despite a few moments of weakness, through protectiveness, observation, and supportiveness. He ultimately succeeded in his objectives.

The Bad Batch S3E5 "The Return" will always be one of my favorites because it doesn't shy away from the complexity of the family's dynamic after 1) losing Tech, who was often a peacekeeper/mitigator, and 2) regaining Crosshair. While I, and many others, wish the former was explored more, it does an excellent job of showing us even more about these siblings' dynamics than we even knew before.

As always with any analysis, this is a disclaimer that you may view this episode in an entirely different way due to various biases, one of the most notable being based upon your own favorite characters and your own life experience. All I ask is that you read through carefully before chiming in with any counterarguments!

The line of dialogue that most of my argument here hinges upon is from Hunter about midway through the episode, just before his and Crosshair's fight.

"I know you."

Going back to the very beginning of the episode, we see Hunter and Wrecker sitting and waiting for Omega to wake up. Crosshair's clearly not there, and when Omega asks about their brother's whereabouts, Wrecker says he wasn't there when they woke up, before Hunter adds this.

His face is clearly displaying concern, even though his words are reassuring. He's no doubt worried about Crosshair, too, but like he says later on: he knows Crosshair. He knows what to do when Crosshair's upset, and that the sniper wants/needs time alone, hence why he and Wrecker didn't go after him. Hunter is trying to reassure Omega, who isn't as familiar with Crosshair at this point, by insisting that this is how he adjusts to change. It's important to note that there doesn't really seem to be any hostility radiating from Hunter (or Wrecker) towards Crosshair here.

In fact, the duo only gets up and goes to check on Crosshair once Omega's involved. This proves something else that's important to understand for Hunter's character in this episode: he's wrestling with both his concern for Crosshair and his protectiveness over Omega, and that's because of this moment from season 1:

Because of Crosshair telling Hunter in S1E15 that he had his inhibitor chip removed, without the context of when, Hunter has to assume for Omega's safety that this was Crosshair acting of his own accord. This is because, if Hunter's to be a reliable protector of her, he always has to be as cautious as possible with those she's surrounded by—and unfortunately, in this case, that includes Crosshair.

(Remember that, even as the sergeant of Clone Force 99 and the eldest brother/caretaker of their family, Hunter's priorities have shifted since the war ended; Omega now comes before all else. He says this as early as S1E7 to Rex, when they had only had Omega for a short time. This is now at least a year after those events, which means that sentiment's only grown stronger for Hunter, especially after losing Omega to the Empire for six months.)

Because Crosshair is smart and also knows his brothers just like they know him, he comes to this conclusion himself. This is why he's not surprised when they start watching him and Omega from a distance, and why Crosshair insists it's because "They don't trust me."

Then, Echo arrives, and they start making plans to go to Barton IV. This is where we see Hunter's protectiveness of Omega really shining, along with some interesting glimpses of Hunter's concern/curiosity about Crosshair and what he went through.

The fact that Omega and Hunter have the same expression here... that's intentional. Omega is but a mirror of her brothers, and always has been ever since she met them. She and Hunter are literally displaying the same amount of sympathy and concern for Crosshair here.

Now, this look from Hunter that's immediately after Crosshair's done talking is read as anger from a lot of people, which is understandable. To me, though, especially through this lens, it looks more like Hunter is coming to a conclusion. Hunter can tell that Crosshair knows more (and has gone through more) than he's letting on about, but he doesn't care that much about getting the intel that Echo no doubt wants. Hunter just doesn't like the fact that Crosshair won't open up about what happened to him.

It's important to keep in mind that as Hunter and Wrecker were watching Omega and Crosshair before, they undoubtedly saw Crosshair's target practice going poorly. Hunter would certainly make note of that, and thinking of his physical struggles along with hearing this... well, yeah, Hunter's gonna have a serious pondering face, because he wants to know what's wrong with his youngest brother so he can help him. But because he knows his brother, he knows that he has to keep his space for now and be mindful.

Once plans for the trip to Barton IV come up, Hunter proposes that he goes with Crosshair and Echo, again proving that Hunter isn't really trying to avoid Crosshair. In fact, Hunter only expresses any concern when Omega wants to join, and we all know why. He's worried about her and doesn't want to risk it, which he says plainly.

It's clear, though, that Hunter is still worried about Crosshair being so close to Omega, too, especially if they're going to an Imperial hideout. Hunter has trauma from that moment in S1E8, and it's not easy for him to see past that, as much as he does still care and worry for his youngest brother. Again, he has to suspect that anyone is capable of hurting her, aside from the brothers who've been protecting her alongside himself the entire time.

Crosshair even acknowledges this when he and Hunter pass one another while packing up the night before.

(I'd like to note that, in this moment, Hunter's the one who moves to accommodate Crosshair's path. To me, that's more evidence of the fact that Hunter is keeping a safe distance from Crosshair to let him process, but because Omega's there too, he's also keeping a watchful eye on him. He's really torn between the two.)

"Don't hold it against him," Crosshair tells Omega. Why? Because:

Crosshair understands that most, if not all, of Hunter's moments of caution towards Crosshair have everything to do with Omega and her safety, rather than Hunter being angry at Crosshair. Hunter doesn't like that Omega's going on this risky mission, and he really doesn't like that it's happening with Crosshair there, when he hasn't even told Hunter everything that happened. How is he supposed to properly protect her (and Crosshair) without knowing all the details?

(And how sweet is it that Crosshair agrees with Hunter's take on Omega coming with them?)

They get to Barton IV, and there, we get one of Hunter's moments of weakness, when he's really giving in to his protectiveness of Omega and his frustration/worry about having such few details about Crosshair and his falling out with the Empire.

(But first, let's quickly acknowledge Crosshair emerging in his old armor, and the fact that Hunter, Wrecker, and the others kept it. Hunter (and Wrecker I believe) both lost pieces of their armor during their search for Omega, no doubt either losing them in dangerous situations or selling things to get by, but they never once touched Crosshair's kit—even when it would have been really easy to sell his things before selling their own.)

Because the base is empty, Hunter starts to worry that it's a sign of something bad. Remember, just because Hunter is the level-headed sergeant and leader of the group, he's not immune to trauma. Imagine how traumatizing Eriadu and all his failed attempts to find Omega with Wrecker were for him, especially with him literally being a tracker. The last time they were all together like this on a mission was when Tech died.

So, Hunter gives into that protective sense and challenges Crosshair, because now he needs the details. He has a sense that this place is notable to Crosshair, but not how, and if he wants to protect Omega, who is his main priority, he has to find out. He's also getting more and more frustrated that Crosshair won't talk to him about it.

This can be evidenced by one of their exchanges. It's only after Crosshair brings up his cell again that Hunter insists, "I get the feeling there's more to this place than you're saying." And... well, Hunter's right. This is a place of trauma for Crosshair, and Hunter's no doubt picking up on that. After being reminded of Crosshair's imprisonment, Hunter has to ask, he has to press, in his mind, for the wellbeing of Omega, Crosshair, and the rest of his squad.

Again, Hunter doesn't like operating off little information to accomplish all these things. He's a protector at heart, and he always has been. Crosshair not giving him all the details he can remember (likely because of his own trauma) makes Hunter feel even more on edge, and that's why he lashes out a bit more at his brother, questioning him about why he didn't mention the raiders before.

Unfortunately, with Crosshair deflecting to avoid his own hurt, Hunter takes the bait and engages, leading to their exchange of "Just following orders?" "If you're scared, why don't you wait on the ship?" Thankfully, Echo steps in and breaks it up, which gives Hunter time to clear his head again. This is Hunter's first biggest moment of weakness.

Now, we're getting to one of my favorite sequences: Hunter watching Crosshair from a distance inside the depot.

Hunter clocks Crosshair's discomfort right away after Echo says that Crosshair's words about the base serving its purpose "Sounds familiar." Again, it's easy to understand why people might read this as Hunter being angry or cautious, but to me, it looks like Hunter's just trying to get a read on why that particular exchange sent Crosshair away, and what exactly he's looking for.

Wanting to figure out more so that he can help Crosshair and thus help them all in this very moment, Hunter quietly follows Crosshair, and that's what leads to him seeing Crosshair pick up Mayday and the other regs' helmets.

(Hunter lurking in the back right. I'm obsessed with this shot.)

Remember, Hunter is observing this as someone who remembers Crosshair not wanting anything to do with the regs. He antagonized them perhaps the most out of any other in the squad during their arc in The Clone Wars, and he even told Hunter in S1E15 that the Batch was superior to the regs, and to most other soldiers in general. Hunter seeing Crosshair treat these reg helmets with such reverence is such a strong indication to him that something major has shifted for Crosshair, and it had likely happened on this planet.

But Hunter, again, knowing his brother, remains a quiet observer. It would've been easy for him to engage here, but he recognizes that Crosshair needs this moment to himself. Hunter even leaves him to it after. Would someone who really didn't trust Crosshair at all whatsoever turn their back to him like that? What he does is give his brother privacy, and acknowledge that he needs to know what happened... but this isn't the right place or time to be pressing him about it.

Danger is lurking, though, and Hunter's desperation to know the truth so he can be better equipped is growing. It hits a peak when Crosshair, prompted by Batcher's barking, checks the perimeter by himself. Pay close attention to how Hunter reacts to Crosshair's exit.

It isn't really anger in this expression. Wrecker's behind him is certainly one of concern. Hunter instead looks determined, and that's because he's about to pursue Crosshair to start getting answers. He's tired of not knowing, and because the stakes are starting to rise, and the evidence is all around him. Hunter decides that he's given enough space and now has to push Crosshair to talk to him.

Because, as Hunter's about to say in a few seconds, he knows Crosshair. He knows, and from what Echo says later, he's always known how to get Crosshair to talk, and it seems that it often involves some fighting and bloodshed—because Crosshair has a harder time opening up than his other brothers.

But Hunter will be damned if he doesn't try, especially now that Omega's safety could depend on this information.

Now, at last, we're at the pinnacle moment of the episode for these two characters: the fight, and another moment of weakness for Hunter. He reminds Crosshair that he knows him, and he demands this time to know what exactly happened here.

Hunter, because he knows his brother, has to push Crosshair (literally) to get anything out of him. He doesn't want this to be simple bickering like before. So, Hunter goes for a low blow. He knows that Crosshair values loyalty above all else, so he brings up Crosshair's disloyalty to both the Empire and their own squad, knowing it'll hurt him enough to get some real responses out of him.

Then comes the physical shove. This is a clear demand for Crosshair to start giving answers.

But look at how Hunter's expression changes as he waits for Crosshair to talk.

His brow softens, because Crosshair's hesitance to say or do something right away is evidence of the fact that it's something really, really serious that happened. At the end of the day, he's just worried for his brother. He wants to know, needs to know, so he can help him. It almost looks like he's pleading for an answer here.

And Crosshair does answer truthfully, revealing that he killed Lt. Nolan. Hunter is obviously shocked, and he even has a somewhat guilty reaction to Crosshair saying "after they betrayed me", because, I mean, we all know Hunter's been harboring guilt for leaving Crosshair behind.

That's when Crosshair digs his claws in to protect himself, too, also going for low blows against Hunter—starting with Hunter ignoring the warning Crosshair had sent from Tantiss.

(What's really telling to me here is that Hunter doesn't once defend himself when he easily could have. He could have told Crosshair that he was the only one who wanted to listen to Crosshair's warning, but that his and the rest of the squad's desire to try to save Crosshair ultimately won out. But he doesn't. He just takes it.)

Hunter only starts to get really angry when Crosshair gets Omega involved.

Hunter turned Crosshair's loyalty against him, so Crosshair turns Hunter's protectiveness against him. Imagine being a protector like Hunter, who's even more fiercely protective of Omega, and being told that after months of desperate, worried searching, you're the reason why the person you care the most about went through their worst bout of suffering.

Yeah, that stings. Especially because there's truth to it, the part about his jealousy towards Crosshair being the one to free her instead of himself. Hunter no doubt felt like he had failed as Omega's protector by losing her to the Empire, and not only that, but the brother he left behind had to be the one to bring her back to them.

(I also think that, in reading between the lines in this entire part of Crosshair's argument, he could even be insinuating that Hunter's shouldering the blame for Tech's death. If he knows the details, then he knows that ultimately, Hunter's the one who approved the mission. "You ignored it", in reference to Crosshair's message, could mean that both Tech and Omega could have been safe if Hunter had simply made the right call. It may not have been intentional on Crosshair's part, but I could easily see Hunter thinking that, especially if he already felt guilty about it.)

No wonder why these two are about to fist fight in the snow. Their ugliest, scariest monsters have finally come out.

And that's when the scary monster comes out, too.

(I love the symbolism!)

Hunter immediately snaps back into his protector mode. He warns Crosshair to move, but also physically shoves Crosshair out of the way and takes his previous place, making himself the one who's closest to the threat.

(Hunter does this a lot with his squad, by the way.)

They focus on getting to safety, and then figuring out a plan with the others to get the wyrm back outside the perimeter. This is when Hunter insists that they have to make sure the wyrm is drawn out that far so that they're not trapped inside with it, and Crosshair volunteers to take it on his own. But Hunter's not okay with that.

You would think that Hunter would want to be as far away from Crosshair as possible after what just transpired, but he doesn't. Instead, in this moment, Hunter is assuring Crosshair that he doesn't have to do things alone anymore, that they're brothers at the end of the day, and he wants to help. I think this is Hunter's first true attempt at making a truce with Crosshair, and attempting to extend his hand to him.

Of course, Crosshair snaps back asking Hunter if he's sure that's what he wants, and that leads to a moment of tension—but notice that, unlike the other times, Hunter doesn't retaliate. He understands with more clarity now why Crosshair's lashing out. Crosshair's hurting.

So, in teaming up with Crosshair here, Hunter knows he can mend what's most important to Crosshair by proving it with his actions: loyalty.

If anything, what Crosshair lashing out here and what Hunter going with him proves is that Crosshair's mostly hurt that he's lost the loyalty/trust of his brothers. When they get out there and Hunter's trapped underneath the ice, left to rely on his brother for guidance and rescue, it allows Crosshair to mend that sense of loyalty and trust. He can earn it back.

Not because Hunter necessarily needs him to do that, although it certainly is helpful, but because Hunter knows that Crosshair needs that. Crosshair needs to feel reliable to them again.

That's what's so perfect about Hunter's safety literally being in Crosshair's hands here. They're able to banter the way they likely would've during the war, and Hunter doesn't hesitate when Crosshair extends his rifle to pull him up and get him out of the hole in the ice.

Hunter gets proof that he can indeed trust Crosshair with his life again, and Crosshair gets that proof, too. Because, at the end of the day, they're just an eldest and youngest brother. Youngest siblings (I say as a youngest child myself) are often looking for validation and trust from their older siblings, especially the eldest. This display of trust must've been so, so validating and healing for Crosshair.

That brings us back to that first line of dialogue I highlighted: "I know you." Hunter knew Crosshair was hurting like this all along, and while he was struggling between his protectiveness over Omega and his concern for Crosshair, he was finally able to make his brother's journey to healing happen.

We then get the nods of mutual trust, understanding, apologies, and forgiveness, before they sit in peace together.

(This is one of my favorite shots in all of Star Wars. I mean, come on.)

I love how the shift in their dynamic is evident enough that everyone recognizes it once they get back. They hug it out with Wrecker, and then we shift into one of the most meaningful dialogue exchanges we'll ever get between them.

Now that Crosshair's laid more of his vulnerabilities out on the table, he seeks reassurance in Hunter. Again, youngest siblings so often just want to feel validated by their older siblings, especially the eldest. Crosshair's looked to Hunter to lead him and guide him his whole life. This is why the guilt's so evident when he comes clean about making mistakes with the Empire.

It would've been so easy for Hunter to say yeah, you did make mistakes, you did hurt us and many innocent people. Instead, Hunter says these simple few words that carry so much weight:

Hunter takes on that burden with Crosshair. He lets his own vulnerabilities show by saying, yeah, I'm with you there, there are things I wish I hadn't done, either. He then gives him reassurance and hope by saying that they can forge a new path forward, that they're not tied down by who they used to be, nor what bad decisions they made.

Hunter is putting them on the same level here, and for someone like Crosshair, who probably thought his brothers would never trust him nor accept him the way they used to because of what he's done, this means everything.

(I also feel like Crosshair really needed to hear the "I have regrets too" line from Hunter in particular. He needed a hint that Hunter really did regret leaving him behind, even if it was the best/safest option for the rest of the squad at the time. You can certainly still regret doing something, even if it was the best option at that time.)

In summary, The Return is about not just a return to Barton IV, but a return to who Clone Force 99 used to be. Crosshair's return to his squad, the return of their trust in him and vice versa. A return to the familiar.

Hunter didn't handle this perfectly, nor would anyone who was in his shoes with all these complicated relationships and trauma, but he did his best. Even while caught between his concern for Crosshair and his fierce protectiveness of Omega and the members of his family that he had left, Hunter still found a way to make things right. He completed both objectives.

For as much as Crosshair needed to have the trust of his family back, Hunter needed the reassurance that he could still keep his entire family safe on missions like these. He needed to know he could still take care of them, physically and emotionally.

And he succeeded.

[brotherly-lov3]

A deep thorough look into Huey and Louie's sibling bond

It's to no one's surprise that these two share a sweet and close connection as they're one of DT 17 show's main duos, but there are some details that add more prespective to their bond that could go unnoticed and overlooked.

And as a fan of their bond I'd gladly point out some of those details, so bear with me...

Let's start with the thing that defines their bond most. It's the comfort they get from one another. As we've seen when Louie got attacked, the first thing he did was to go to Huey for comfort, and When Louie was feeling bad, in Timephoon ep, and apologized for accidentally making them disappear, Huey's first thought was to comfort him and bring him in for a hug.

Louie also provides an equally important emotional support for Huey. He cares about his brother's emotional state and uses careful words to lessen his anxiety; like when he comforted Huey and cheered him up when he was nervous about going to the contest without the JWG.

He also jumped in to protect him when he started to get anxious from Dewey's continous protests and reassured him, even though Louie himself wasn't a fan of his new legs either.

The one time when Louie triggered Huey intentionally because he was tired of adventuring, he immediately looked guilty, feeling bad for doing so.

They feel safe around each other. Louie said it before, and it was obvious in the way they jump in each other's arms —literally— when they're scared. During the final credits, Huey and Louie looked terrified falling off the plane, but that look was wiped away once they found and held onto one another <3

We can see that Huey does his best to prevent any harm near his brothers by taking safety measures. He's protective of them, which made him Louie's choice for shielding, knowing his brother will rescue him.

Accordingly, protecting Huey is also a priority to Louie. He'd just grab Huey's hand when he runs away from danger. When Huey was being tugged by the money shark, Louie rushed to save him, not letting him go, and both ended up inside the shark.

Huey and Louie share a close connection, and the way they act like bffs is so precious. Putting a casual arm around the other's shoulder, vibing and going silly together, teasing and annoying each other all the time.

Huey even wanted to practice a secret handshake with Louie when he saw the three Caballeros perform theirs.

They go to one another for help. Like when Huey made Louie dress as him and lie to Fenton's mum and Gyro, and when Louie kept persuading Huey to help him with Louie Inc. even though Webby was more than willing to do the checklists job for him.

Another thing is so important about their dynamic is that they cherish the bond they have. They like their closeness to one another, and they showed that off in 'the spear of Selene ep' when they literally built a statue of themselves high-fiving, looking proud. 

And as the oldest brother, Huey cares for Louie. In the video of Huey's 30 things, 'making sure Louie also was having fun' was one of them. You can see that clearly in 'Glomtales ep' when Huey left his iPad for Louie before leaving, aware that his brother gets bored easily. Not only that, but also he was the only one who called Louie later, trying to include him in their journey and excited to share the fun with him. Huey only hung up when he saw no point if his mum wouldn't let him show stuff to Louie.

It's also so cute that Huey always tries to win Louie over on his side whenever he argued with other characters.

Louie cares about Huey as well that he gets sad when Huey's mad at him and happy when he receives praise from him. In the Halloween ep, Louie was so determined to gain the candy fortune, but upon seeing how upset Huey was about it, he gave it all up.

Louie was probably the one who really understood what did the woodchuck mean for Huey more than anyone else; while everyone looked shocked when Huey lost the challenge against Violet, Louie was the only one who looked sad for him.

It's also telling how Louie would feign reading from a book when he pretends to know about something, imitating his oldest brother (Louie always uses the internet as a source of information) and would disguise as him a lot.

It proves that Louie looks up to Huey and that made it a good conclusion when Louie was the one to keep the JWG after Huey was kidnapped and use a book for the first time to find their brother.

That arc got closed when Huey's brothers finally acknowledged the book's importance, which led to one of the sweetest hugs in the show.

Huey and Louie make such an integrated team as they have complementary types of intelligence. Huey was the one who usually knew what they should do, and Louie was the one who better knew how to do it.

When they team up they work in sync and fall into an easy rhythm. And I think they would be as good of a team as Scrooge and Donald in 'the most dangerous game night ep' if they actually had a chance to play with everyone else.

Last thing I want to talk about is their opposite personalities. Huey's the responsible, honest and active oldest triplet. And Louie's the careless, tactful and lazy youngest triplet. This contrast was the main focus on throughout their arc as they showed in many episodes how Louie just acted irresponsibly all while Huey judged and reprimanded him for being lazy and getting them into so much trouble. It made Louie annoyed sometimes, thinking his brother was overreacting or trying to ruin his plans, until he discovered Huey was right later.

However, that arc ended with a sign of love. When Huey explained, in 'the fight for castle McDuck ep', that he learned to take the hard way to protect them from falling into trouble like Louie always got them to when he used the easy way. This time though, he didn't say it with an accusing tone, he said it affectionately as he hugged his brother close. Louie was even distracted for a bit before realizing what he said wasn't all flattery.

The message was that at the end of the day, Huey just appreciated his brother, trouble and all, lazy and all, 'pulling a Louie' and all. It was just beautiful.

This took so long so I'm going to stop here. Thank you everyone who reached this far. If you have anything to add, feel free to do so. REALLY I'D LIKE TO READ YOUR THOUGHTS.

I wanted to write about them since I came here, and I finally got inspired to do so thanks to @writebackatya 's poll.

[causticsodaa]

Beyond the Surface of Suo and Sakura’s relationship

**MANGA SPOILER WARNING**

This is my first post on this website, apologies if theres anything incoherent here. This post is also very simplified and lacks some information as I wanted to keep it as concise as possible. If you would like a full-blown analysis about their relationship, do let me know. I may consider making a complete writeup.

Contrary to popular belief about their “lack of interactions”, Suo and Sakura share many important and pivotal moments together scattered across the story. They may not have that big impactful moment compared to other dynamics in WBK (examples being Chika calling Endo by his full name, or Nirei yelling at Sakura in Noroshi, but we’ll get to that later), however they are important to their relationship and for their individual characters. There’s too many to list here, so I will keep it short.

From the start of Wind Breaker, Suo has always teased Sakura; even lying to him when they first meet:

We all know that Suo is a very unserious guy, and this aspect of his character is highlighted the most when it comes to his interactions with Sakura. He constantly pokes fun at him; blatantly lying to him with the sole purpose to mess with him and just being a general tease.

These aren’t even all the instances when Suo does this! I got lazy while compiling images (yes, theres *that* many moments where Suo teases Sakura), but I hope this paints a good perspective.

This makes Sakura thinks of him as “untrustworthy”, in a more lighthearted sense.

Infact, out of anyone else in the cast, Sakura is the only person who actively questions Suo’s character. (I’m not counting Tsugeura because their confrontation was a one time thing)

But here’s the thing: Even if Suo takes advantage of the fact that Sakura is gullible enough to believe anything just so he can mess with him, Sakura still relies on Suo.

He relies on him to come up with a strategic plan for their war, partners with Sugishita despite his initial reluctance, and even follows his advice on how to fight with others people (which works in his favor immensely during the beginning of Noroshi and while he works with Sugishita)

Theres also another moment I’d like to showcase (which is very underrated imo):

Here, we see Sakura taking the support of Suo’s shoulder in order to kick Endo in the face. We also see Suo defending Sakura a few moments ago as well.

Heres’s the thing: Sakura is an arial fighter. He can easily jump to certain heights by himself, much less be able to kick his opponents mid-air. He doesn’t require any support to lift his body upwards.

So why would Sakura do this?

It’s simple: Sakura trusts Suo, whether it be direct or subconsciously. And as his vice captain, Suo also trusts Sakura. Why would he appoint him as class captain if otherwise?

Their mutual trust plays a massive part in their relationship. There are many instances showing this aspect, but for now I will just analyze this iconic scene:

Both Sakura and Suo immediately jump into action in order to protect their friend, Nirei, from any immediate threat (Endo). They exchange no words, only a knowing glance to each other.

I believe that this page shows the essence of their relationship: Despite their petty banter and occasional disagreements, despite how less ‘open’ their relationship is, they are more often on the same wavelength than not.

They care for and trust each other immensely. However, many of their nuances are in hidden between the lines of their relationship due to the guarded nature of characters.

And it is with all these aspects combined that makes the Suo and Sakura duo appealing to many people.

TLDR: Suo and Sakura trust and care for each other a lot, despite their personal shortcomings and Suo incessantly messing with Sakura.

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk. There was so much more I wanted to write about here (such as their flawed perspectives on each other, suo’s perspective on sakura, and how they uplift each other), but unfortunately Tumblr literally refused to upload most of my images and nuked half of this post bc it decided not to save the draft; hence the short analysis. If you have any additional thoughts, feel free to let me know :)

[spinfins]

Modern Veilguard AU! in which they all work on a kid’s tv show like Sesame Street.

Assan is the world’s most popular muppet and Davrin is, of course, his puppeteer and LOVES his boy (think Kermit and Jim Henson.)

Taash and Harding are the hosts. They’re dynamic is very much “people are going to die,” “of fun!” And the kids eat it up. Also they’re in love.

Bellara is the Bill Nye sequence of the show where she teaches the kids about whacky science and blows the set up once a week.

Neve is the editor, God help her.

Lucanis is the AGENT. Enough said. You need something done he gets on his phone and makes it happen. Everyone is pretty sure he’s in the mob. Also his restaurant does all the catering.

Rook is the overworked producer who tries to fix everyone’s problems, and loves their weird found family.

Varric is the director, but he’s rarely available because he’s so busy with his book launches, and philanthropy, and really just dumps all his stuff on Rook. Everyone is pretty sure he’s in the OTHER mob.

Dorian is the main financial backer and an old friend of Varric’s.

Emmrich is the professor who is guest starring that week, and he’s here to teach us about our bones, boys and girls!

Manfred is his semi-verbal son who is a big fan of the show and the main reason Emmrich agreed to do the appearance in the first place. He is always wearing an X-ray hoodie with a skeletons upper half on it.

It’s Rook’s job to make sure the guest is happy.

👀

Solas is there too. He’s the tv station manager who is being pressured to drop the show in favor of a cooking show hosted by a weird brother and sister duo with the last name Evanuris. It’s prime airtime.

[libraryraccoon]

Hi, I would like to request Alastor with a reader who is like the Trailblazer from Star rail please

I just like to think that their dynamic would drive everyone up the walls

- Alastor unleashing Trailblazer!Reader on the world

Gender : GN

Pronouns : None

Message of Raccoon : Alastor with a Caelus/Trailblazer!Reader but it's mostly crack.

Alastor

First of all, you look like a raccoon.

I'm not the one who makes the rules.

You were, in fact, an angel.

But you were fallen because you rummaged through people's trash…

So now you're in Hell.

Alastor met you shortly after you arrived, you were beating up demons with an angelic baseball bat when he found you.

He immediately found you interesting, because :

You had an angelic weapon, a baseball bat. It was the first time he had seen a baseball bat as an angelic weapon.

You were a raccoon demon and you were in a fight. Raccoon demons, according to popular belief, were people who flew unnoticed and fled from any type of battle; they didn't like to fight.

You were beautiful.

But, like, the kind of beauty that was misused.

With all these points taken into account, yes he find you interesting.

Alastor came to talk to you before taking you to the Hazbin Hotel.

Over time, he understood that you were the exception who confirmed the rule on raccoon demons.

Why ? Because you were a being of chaos.

Not a day went by without someone seeing you running through hell, angelic baseball bat in hand, creating chaos and destroying everything.

Carmilla brought him to her neighborhood one day at 3AM because you were creating chaos there.

He swears that it's you who create the principle of chaos.

And when you're not creating chaos, you're rummaging through trash…

How Alastor even began to love you is a mystery even he doesn't have the answer to.

When Alastor realized that he love you, he had two reactions :

“Holy shit I can be in love.” Coming off the aromantic 'can't feel romantic feelings at all' spectrum was NOT one of the things he wanted this year.

“HOLY SHIT I FALL FOR THE VIOLENT RACCOON FROM HELL”

Denial. Instantly.

It took him 3 months to come out of the first phase of the grief, the denial.

Not about being able to love, no, he accepted that.

But falling in love with you ?

Hell nah.

It took him 4 months to accept it, finally coming out of his grief.

He complained to Rosie about it, 100%.

“How could I fall for someone like that..” -Alastor, totally done with all this shit.

“Look on the bright side, Y/N is handsome.” -Rosie, not understanding the seriousness of the situation.

He didn't confess, praying that his feelings would go away.

It was you who confess.

He helped you heal some of your wounds, and you just said "Thank you, I love you." Before kissing his forehead and leaving, like if it was normal.

After that, you got the "you can touch me but not too much" pass, which allowed you to touch Alastor.

And you use it too often at Alastor's opinion.

Now, when you're not digging through trash, not doing what you were created for (chaos), you stay with Alastor.

People don't fuck with Alastor anymore, not because they're afraid to be in his radio show, oh no no ! They didn't want to meet the madman that he call his partner.

You two are the most feared duo/couple in Hell.

Even if in truth you are just two people who love each other and love chaos.

Alastor entertained himself by watching the chaos you created. It's canon, I don't make the rules.

The Hazbin Hotel crew judges you so LOUD.

Charlie is the only one to support you two with Niffty.

Angel Dust asks too many questions for his well-being about you and the history of your relationship.

Vaggie is, and always will be, shocked to see you touch Alastor without consequences, or even to see you kiss him.

Husk asked you how you can love Alastor...

You took 3 hours for explaining the why-

No one asked after that.

Sir Pentious was just like "🧍‍♂️ does that mean you're Alastor's weakness ?"

Lucifer give you a lot of side eyes.

No, I won't elaborate.

Vox tried to kidnap you…

…

There was a week without Vox on TV, and every time someone mentioned your name, he flinched.

Let's not even talk about when he sees you after that..

Alastor himself doesn't want to know what you did to him.

You are the more affectionate and touchy one in the relationship.

Alastor always knows what you are thinking by your expressions.

The day you told him you were an angel and why you were sent to Hell, he was shocked.

Because, how on the 7 circles of Hell, a being of chaos was an angel ??

He just asked "How can an angel be so chaotic ?"

And you just shrugged your shoulders.

You yourself didn't know how you got to Heaven in the first place-

I just know that you touch his ears and his deer tail as soon as you are in private, and that even before being a couple.

You're just a 'I need to touch everything' person.

Alastor tried to get you to stop digging through the trash, but he never succeeded.

Alastor loves you, yes, but sometimes (read : often) he wishes he didn't.

[esthelle-wanders]

Warriors and Artemis: What The Heck Is Going On With Them (a self-appointed analysis)

SO I don’t tend to get too involved with shipping— but during my time in the Linked Universe fandom, I’ve noticed something consistent: while everyone has their own set of headcanons for favorite couples, Hyrule Warriors Zelink is the princess-hero duo with the widest variety of interpretations.

Aside from other factors— like Warriors fans living for angst— I think this stems from the reality that, in the context of Linked Universe specifically, the dynamic between Wars and Artemis is among the Link-Zelda relationships we know the least about.

Hence, in light of the recent holiday, I wanted to take a moment and collect all the clues we’ve gathered for this relationship over time. And, maybe, spark some conversation! (Buckle up and maybe make some hot chocolate, there’s surprisingly a lot to talk about)

[All image credits go to Jojo, with thanks!]

Part 1: Jojo’s Hints

When considering any Link-Zelda dynamic in Linked Universe, the easiest place to begin is Jojo’s response to the “love interest” question…aka, Default Zelink.

Obviously, this response doesn’t define the limits of fandom creativity, or invalidate the thousands of excellent stories we can tell with our own interpretations. It is, however, incredibly helpful as a starting point when we’re trying to puzzle out where Jojo might take a relationship in future updates!

Note: Redacted

[Originally, this next section included my analysis of a Q&A Jojo gifted to the Linked Universe Discord server. It was brought to my attention that this material was not meant to be shared outside the server. Of course, I have removed it. Creator boundaries are very important, and regardless of my intent or awareness, I want to honor that. Thanks to @luna-loveboop for catching this!

For the purposes of this analysis, I’m leaving my conclusions intact, and replacing this specific section with a link to the LU Discord server. If anyone wants to read the evidence there, along with a host of lovely lore tidbits, absolutely check it out!]

Analysis Resumes:

So, here’s what we know:

1. Wars and Artemis are almost certainly romantically involved.

2. It’s more than mutual feelings, but less than an established relationship.

3. It’s been at least SIX years since the end of their adventure.

Obviously, I still have questions. Chief of which is: what does it mean that this is where their relationship stands, when it’s been 6+ years since their mutual adventure?

This sparks a few more questions.

1. If there’s mutual interest, why hasn’t it progressed?

2. Are there obstacles to a definite relationship?

and, of most interest to me:

3. If there’s an obstacle— are either Warriors or Artemis the reason for this?

Conveniently, that part’s next!

Part 2: Warriors and Artemis

A. Warriors’ side

Thus far, Wars has referenced Artemis (directly) exactly once (in “Moving Forward”):

This doesn’t tell us anything about the specifics of their relationship, but it does show that

1. Artemis is a fond subject for Wars: he cares about her.

2. She’s an exception to his hangups with secrecy: he trusts her.

(I considered providing instances of the “Wars and Not Being Told Stuff” saga, but that would 1. take forever and 2. test Tumblr’s image limit. I think we can all agree that this is a trait of his.)

This is a pretty reasonable indicator of how Wars feels about Artemis… for now. He cares about her, and even more notably, he trusts her.

But what about the princess in question?

B. Artemis’ side

As of now, the Zeldas have only come up a handful of times in LU.

Aside from background comics and cameos, references in the main story are largely restricted to Time giving Sky relationship advice in “Miss Her,” Wild addressing his thoughts to Flora at key moments in the aftermath of Twilight’s injury, and Time mentioning Lullaby in “Timeline talk 1.”

And then, of course, there are the Malon chapters.

Romance, as it pertains to the Links, is the subject of conversation at multiple points throughout this “arc”— but for my purposes, the most important stuff is this panel from “The Bet.”

Okay, aside from Wars making political-intrigue fanficcers very happy, this is super informative. A few key takeaways:

1. Wars also assumes Default Zelink.

2. He doesn’t see birth or status as an obstacle to marriage.

3. He’s so confident that he’s willing to bet on it.

(Admittedly, the Chain places a lot of bets— but it’s still worth mentioning that he’d stand his ground on this)

From here, I think we can make three statements and remain well within the realm of probability:

1. Wars thinks very highly of his Zelda.

He sees how much Time loves his wife, and Time’s general self-possession, and assumes it has to be the princess.

2. If there are obstacles to HW Zelink, they probably aren’t external.

Wars treats public support as a given, as long as the involved parties can play the political game.

3. He seems to be speaking from experience.

There’s no signs of frustration, or even a hypothetical here— he’s talking about this like it’s par for the course. Ergo, he probably hasn’t experienced anything that would contradict that assumption.

My conclusion: Artemis isn’t the obstacle. There’s no indication here that Wars’ Zelda is unable or unwilling to make the political arrangements he mentions. In fact, given how unconcerned Wars appears, I’d say it was never a point of contention at all.

That’s as far as I’m willing to go with this panel alone— but if we factor in Zelda’s attitude in Hyrule Warriors proper, I think it’s reasonable to assume that Artemis is open to taking this relationship to the next level.

*inhale*

So. If there’s mutual feelings, and there aren’t any external obstacles, and it’s been 6+ years— why aren’t they a couple?

Part 3: Let’s talk about Wars

Specifically, Wars and his relationship with… relationships. Of the romantic kind.

Since the earliest years of the LU fandom, it’s been fairly well-established that Wars is the resident flirt.

This comes from a few of the side comics, but also from the first-ever Linked Universe post:

Over time, the fandom’s interpretation of these traits seems to have shifted a bit.

Early fanworks tended to depict Warriors as the “Casanova” of the group. More recently (within the last few years), I’ve seen the widespread reading that “women problems” has more to do with Wars’ personal trauma than with a hypothetical reputation as a womanizer.

While these alternate perceptions have a big impact on how we might interpret situations like this—

— surprisingly, it makes very little difference to this self-appointed investigation. Whether he’s a chronic flirt, processing trauma, or both, the fact is that Wars doesn’t seem interested in “settling down” with a definite relationship.

This is clearest, I think, in this panel from “Powerful Ring”:

Warriors is being a tease here, but using the term “shackle” telegraphs a pretty clear opinion. Time even draws a bit of attention to it with his good-natured “aside.” It’s not something you’d say if you were actively looking to get into a long-term, committed relationship.

We’re encroaching on the image limit, but it’s worth noting that Wars’ attitude here contrasts sharply with Sky’s, and even Hyrule’s. Sky is all bashful interest, and Hyrule expresses doubt over his own ability to “settle down” as the Hero. Meanwhile Warriors, who sits between them on the Zelink romance scale, projects pointed, if very light-hearted, distaste (or at least disinterest).

So here’s Warriors’ side, updated:

1. Warriors cares about Artemis, a lot.

2. He also trusts her, a lot.

3. For whatever reason, he doesn’t want to be in an official relationship with her.

Part 4: Conclusion

Okay! Time for the TLDR:

1. Wars and Artemis are almost certainly romantically involved.

2. It’s more than mutual feelings, but less than an established relationship.

3. It’s been at least SIX years since the end of their adventure.

and, finally,

4. Wars himself is the obstacle to taking the relationship further.

Annnnd that’s as far as I can go, without veering off the tracks into headcanon territory.

Of course, while I tried to be as neutral and “canonical” as possible, at the end of the day, this is just speculation! And Esthelle amusing herself tracking down hyper-specific panels in Linked Universe like it’s an Important Assignment and not an Excuse To Read The Comic Again.

Whatever it turns out to look like, there’s so much potential in the Wars-Artemis dynamic! They’re interesting, and we should talk about them more— even if I didn’t plan to write quite this much about them in one post. I can’t wait to see what Jojo has planned.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far! If you have additions, corrections, theories, or general thoughts, I’d love to read them.

[mari-lair]

I doubt season 2 will get to the Grim Reaper arc (they have the clock keepers and picture-perfect to tackle first) but if it does I HOPE they don't skip chapter 59 to 'get to the action faster'

We got the intro to Teru and Akane's dynamic in this chapter, which is very important considering they play a big role in later arcs

Showing how their dynamic slowly changes wouldn't be effective without exploring how it used to be.

And we have a ton of instances in this chapter that show Aoi loves/pays a lot of attention to Akane.

Which is VERY important to show that 1 - Aoi is a genuinely sweet girl. The drug will put her uglier sides on display but she does still have a kind heart, is not 100% a mask like Aoi claims it is 2 - Half of the arc is about Akane and Aoi, please don't take away the very few set up this duo have T-T I am begging you anime.

[daydreaming-paradies]

Duo Dynamics with HSR Men

ᡣ𐭩 Summary: What is your duo dynamic with HSR men?

ᡣ𐭩 characters: Dr.Ratio(194), Argenti(219), Luka(278), and Gepard(163)

ᡣ𐭩 Warnings: Fluff, Hurt/comfort, crack, Reader being insecure of Love(Aregnti), Unrequired love to required love(Luka), Serval and Pela want to smack someone on the head(Gepard), a little bit of angst

ᡣ𐭩 ~ Want to Continue?~

Dr. Ratio

I hate everybody but you x sunshine

Veritas Ratio’s coworkers notice that Veritas is rude and arrogant towards others but you, the sunshine student under Veritas Ratio. Even Topaz was confused by how Veritas treated you kindly while treating others with arrogance and pride. You always greeted everyone and Veritas with a smile on your face but since Veritas treated you with kindness, everyone has been teasing him nonstop which annoyed Veritas but it was worth it in his opinion. One day, you see Veritas taking care of one of his status, your eyes shine so much and go up to him. “Dr.Ratio!” You called out to him. “You look absolutely exquisite today sir.” The poor man’s heart is about to burst out in cuteness overload for you but he did not show it. “Well thank you,[Y/N]. I know that I am exquisite today but please make sure to turn in your work.” You nod and go off on your merry day. “Jeez Doctor.” Aventurine says with a sly smile. “I never knew IPC’s Sunshine had this much power over you.” Veritas has to hit Aventurine with a book since he nearly exposes the flustered man to Topaz.

Argenti

Believes they don't deserve love x Absolutely down bad

Ah Argenti, the man who sees beauty in everything and everyone. He is the man with love for anything but he is absolutely down bad for you. You on the other hand do not see Love in a positive light. You are often insecure with yourself after a harsh break up with your ex, you unfortunately don't believe that you are undeserving for love. You think to yourself that Agrenti will use you for your body or looks. Argenti knows this and he has every right to understand where you are coming from but he also knows that he is not like your ex. He kept pursuing you, asking for a chance and the dude even says that he will wait for you like a knight would. At first you are wary and harshly reject or ignore him but after a while, you slowly accept Argenti’s advances with a promise to deal with your actions that the red haired man immediately. It does take time but you slowly slowly come to realize that Argenti loves you for you, how Argenti worships you, kisses the ground you walk on. You have decided to give love another chance and ask Argenti out which he happily accepted with an attack of compliments to you. Maybe love is not so bad after all.

Luka

Childhood best friends to lovers

Luka is your childhood best friend and the first friend you had. You two did everything together and even looked up to each other. But sadly, life gets in the way as you have to move away to another city. Luka was heartbroken as he never confessed his love to you but he was determined to wait for you. He kept his promise alright as now as a young man in high school, being all his happy go lucky self when he heard someone call his name. He looked to the source of the voice and he saw you all grow up and pretty, he felt his heart race at the sight of you, He did not know what came up to him. He ran up to you and hugged you tightly, mumbling how he misses you and how life is not the same without you. You were glad how you could see Luka again but you noticed how Luka had that look of longing in his blue eyes, how his hands brushed against yours and he made excuses about it. You had a sneaky feeling that he had a crush on you and you are not going to lie. You also have a crush on him too because he knows you very well unlike the others and to be perfectly honest you want Luka to confess his feelings to you already. You cannot stand this unrequited love but thankfully the aeons are not so mean after all. Luka confessed to you underneath the starry skies of your two���s favorite hang out spot and you tearfully reciprocate his feelings with a kiss on the lips. Ah,young love.

Gepard

Oblivious x Oblivious

If everyone can say one thing about you and Gepard is that you two are so oblivious to each other’s feelings is both funny and facepalm worthy. You two talk about each other all the time and even trying to say that you two don’t probably don't feel the same makes Pela wanna cry and Serval wants to hit someone with her guitar over and over again. It takes you both 4 whole months that you two love each other. “I did not know me and Gepard loved each other.” You told Serval and Pela with Gepard in Serval’s line of sight. “Why does nobody tell us? We should have known this in the first place.” The sight of Pela hitting you with the book and Serval smacking Gepard upside on the head over and over again while chasing him is to this day a funny story nobody can live it down. That is what you two get for being so damn oblivious!

~Taglist: @dailypenpen @purpleqilinwrites @areislol @yoghurtsan @ryuryuryuyurboat @thestarswhisper @windblume-wishes @husky-studies @sanzach / @zaeshi-amatus @mitsvriii @aventxsha @the-guardian-kitsune @asoulsreverie @mccnstruck @snobwaffles @sweetlyvibe @dxmoness @inkybloom-luv

[lostpai]

Xià Fěi and Vein’s Dual Powers

Vein and Xià Fěi hold the powers of Foresight and Hindsight – here's how I came to believe it. Get ready for a lengthy post—this is the first in a series. (30 mins read).

Have you heard of the dual power theory? Let me explain this beautiful theory first caught by @miyamiwu (GIFs and correlating posts can be found here and here).

For those who missed it, Vein and Xià Fěi’s frames in the LULL Bridon arc credits feature VFX that spill into each other’s frames. As seen in her post, this does not happen with any of the other four characters, all of whom have confirmed powers. We know that Link Click never does anything without a reason! What does this mean, and why are these two characters highlighted over the others? Well Miyamiwu threw it out there that maybe it correlates to them having a dual power. And that theory makes so much sense.

Where have we seen the use of dual powers? We've seen dual powers used before with Lu Guang and Chéng Xiǎoshí, as well as with the siblings Li Tianchen and Li Tianxi. So, this isn’t something new. In fact, of the 7 confirmed characters with powers, 4 of them are in pairs. This makes it highly probable that two new complimenting characters who act as a duo are also connected in this way. The symbolism is clear: the two share something deeper, just like the other powerful pairs. If four others can have dual powers, why not Xià Fěi and Vein, a pair so tightly connected both in contrasting personalities but equal and parallel in their relationship? Now that I've explained this dual theory my goal was to figure out and prove which powers makes the most sense for either of the two to have. To help me I've set up two cannon-bound rules that helped me find what it is. Rule #1 Dual powers means the characters would either have parallel powers with complementary abilities or opposite powers that act as a counterbalance to each other. Vein and Xià Fěi are constantly contrasting in these frames. Not only do the characters themselves contrast personality-wise, but their friendly dynamic complements each other. Given this dynamic, their powers would either need to complement or contrast with one another, or exist in the fine line between. It also goes to show that assuming Vein has smoke or immortal/resurrection powers would not work, because it needs a fitting connecting power.

Rule #2 There’s no reason to assume Link Click's powers are elemental. Based on what we've seen, Powers are tied to photography, time travel, or something related to the body or the mind. Introducing elemental powers would, in my opinion, mess with the established lore.

Assuming Xià Fěi has light powers doesn’t quite fit, even if it aligns with Rule 1 about having a parallel or opposite. Similarly, the theory of Xià Fěi having fire powers falls short if Vein’s doesn't seem like he would complement or contrast with that power in any way. In my quest to narrow down the possible powers, I couldn’t help but find a loophole that had me wondering why Xià Fěi and Vein's eyes always glow so brightly, as if their power is constantly active. Even the other main characters' eyes dim when their powers aren't in use. This led me to a third rule—more hypothesis than canon-based, so your free to ignore it— My biased Rule #3 - If both character’s power is one that stays on, it could be a passive or constant ability, always active but perhaps unnoticed until the right moment. This rule genuinely backs you into a corner, but it only managed to put my last two remaining theories on a pedestal... So, after digging myself into dozens of holes including loopholes to find potential powers that actually fit within a time-travel story, I finally hit on foresight and hindsight—and suddenly, everything clicked. Maybe its called link click because everything always clicks into place. hahaha....just pretend I'm funny. These concepts not only make sense for both characters story arcs, but they’re backed by existing theories and new evidence I've uncovered. Now, I’ll dive into each of their respective powers, explaining the why, how, and what that support my theory.

Vein: "Immediate Foresight" Memory that does not transcend time, but transcends a series of moments.

GIF by ydotome

Vein’s foresight works differently from Lu Guang’s—while Lu Guang’s power transcends time, Vein’s memory doesn’t carry over through each reset. I will stand by my belief that Vein didn’t know or recognize either Lu Guang or CXS before they were introduced to each other in episode 3— otherwise he would have simply killed them both.

While it looks like Lu Guang is on the edge of having both foresight and hindsight, I'd like to argue his power is more akin to clairvoyance. The difference in these powers is significant, but different enough for it makes sense for characters to have such similar abilities. Let me explain further. Vein's power is PREDICTIVE Lu Guangs power is TRUTH

Foresight - Vein's power is about predicting what might happen, based on the present circumstances. It’s more about a sense of anticipation or intuition—He would know what’s likely to happen. The where and how is clear, while the why and when remains predictive until within that moment.

Clairvoyance - Lu Guang’s power is about seeing specific details of the future, present, or past. He wouldn’t just predict what might happen; he has seen and experienced clearly both the past and future as if it were happening right in front of him. It’s about truth—the direct and clear perception of events, like he’s watching a film. 

Since the director mentioned that Lu Guang always stays within his own timeline, I don't believe their powers see different timelines or possible outcomes, but rather 'the timeline's current outcome' in varying levels of clarity. This view of Foresight aligns with Vein's almost superhuman reflexes,

Next 3 GIFs by ydotome I invite you to take a look at this scene until you REALLY understand it. On second glance there's something subtly off about the timing of Vein's reactions.

Study how swiftly Vein moves—it looks effortless. Too easy. Upon closer inspection, it even feels like Vein's own movements anticipate a frame or two before than the other even prepares to strike. Like he is one full moment ahead of each strike. I have several frames here for example (this gif is originally 69 frames long)

While many anime characters can dodge like this, few do it with their eyes closed for three full swings without some kind of 'extra sense perception.' So I'm calling it evidence. Here Vein is showing complete confidence in his knowledge that he won't get hurt. 

Just the fact that he stands still with that smug ass little smile screams that he is in control of the situation. I'm hypothesizing that Vein learns the truth of the moment only within that moment; everything before is predictive. The closer he is, the clearer the information becomes. In that instant, he can dodge every strike because their next move shifts from a probability to a complete certainty. This gives him a sense of control and explains why he often looks so pleased.

I believe Vein is constantly downloading new information about his opponent and surroundings mid-battle, making him the perfect, constantly adapting adversary. Vein is the embodiment of 'right place, right time,' and I doubt need to elaborate further. But I'll show some more GIFs instead.

This post is kinda long already but I also invite you to look into the Vein vs. Shao Yuanyuan fight as well. Because it feels like another use of his foresight abilities (Video link here) and finally Vein's fatal limitation.

If too much is happening in too short a time, it’s possible to slip through the cracks of his foresight. He may fail to react to an immediate danger simply because his attention is divided between too many things. While he might have the right information, he is still human. In a scenario like this, Vein could potentially be open for attack but never taken completely by surprise. So why was Vein blindsided by his own death?

There could be better theories to this part specifically, but maybe Vein never saw the possibility of the attack coming, because Vein's death was never supposed to have happened. It was too fast, and everything he thought would happen changed too quickly. Simply because a more powerful third party had inserted themself into the situation. (From what I understand Lu Guang changed something in their timeline and Vein had never been killed before).

GIF from @shantechni The REAL genuine fear shown when Vein is called by his real name, and during the heart attack show how caught off guard he was. His mind racing, dare I say it had little to do with the fact that he couldn't breathe, but that there was a flaw within his foresight. That he was finally unable to take control of his precious moment. He didn't know what was going on until it was too late to prevent it. But there is nothing wrong with Vein's foresight, because he still figures it out. But at the moment of his realization, Vein's death is already in motion—an attack happening in real time without even touching him, its not something that he can run away from. And it is this eye opening realization on the brink of death where Vein is given the answers he's looking for.

He knows his killer, he knows what happened... and all he can do is laugh at having been one-upped. It's all so very interesting—and he would love to see who plays the next piece in this game of chess. Vein's death is now a certainty. His own tricks used against him. And his final words,

“So that’s how it is…” I'd like to slide in another extra piece of proof for my Foresight theory. This is the 6th episode's cover art. I think its pretty self explanatory.

Screenshot @mysterialistic (posts relating to this sentence here, here, and this) Thank you so much for bearing with me, but we're only halfway done! I already cut this bad boy into two separate separate posts too! Next up....

Xià Fěi: "Hindsight" The tragedy of only ever figuring it out in hindsight. Power born from memories and a grief that transcends the present...

"I’ve made up my mind. No matter how bizarre the truth, I’ll find out what happened."

The idea of hindsight comes from it being the inverse of foresight, and fitting Xià Fěi's potential character development. 

I propose that he always had the power and it wasn’t 're-awakened' until Vein’s death. With Vein���s foresight gone, Xià Fěi's hindsight is born.

I think Xià Fěi always had the ability but was too young or traumatized to use it. His time at Chéng Wěimín's school raises questions. There’s a solid theory that the school was full of children with powers. (here and here).

(if you look up this scene you'll see Chéng is mouthing something, and from there we never see young Xià Fěi's eyes again, as they remain cast in shadow). There are a lot of inconsistencies with this new information, wasn't Felix only an exchange student for college? What's with this scene? What did "it's time," mean? Here me out, what if Xià Fěi's memory was altered by Chéng Wěimín? Xià Fěi seems unaware of what 'Bahati' was. He doesn't seem to know about the fire or the meaning of the word. If he remembered he could've helped them- or maybe warned them. But instead he was perfectly comfortable helping CXS question his previous boss, as well as Vein. Also how interesting is it, that he ended up working once in the same place that he went to school in at one point?? Xià Fěi feels like a character that follows the theme of returning back to the past. If not during the Bridon arc, that at least because we known off screen he's going to dedicate his life to finding out what happened to Vein. Another thing that stood out to me during episode 3 was when (time stamp 14:30) when CXS said "Bahati" there was a magical sound effect. I study these Link click sound effects a lot and they're always happening. Mostly when someone notices something or when one could make the case that someone is subtly using their power. For example the sound effect shows up the most around Vein and Lu Guang. And its always the same sound effect. What if Xià Fěi remembers when the name is spoken, but anything related to CXS's father is a trigger word for a memory wipe on the subject? Another piece of Xià Fěi's story. (Found by @joyokosuka, post here)

I want to believe Vein's interest in Xià Fěi has to do with their close connection and not just because there was a subliminal connection that comes with dual powers. If you believe in fate and all, which I’ll get into the next post. But I don't think either were actually aware of Xià Fěi's power, as it wouldn't have re-manifested until Vein's death. It also makes sense, because Xià Fěi was open to powers existing. Xià Fěi discovering his own past, and using his gift of hindsight would open up a whole can of worms for everyone. The good and the bad, and the past that should've stayed buried.

I imagine Xià Fěi will be pretty upset when learning about the past and revisiting his memories before Vein’s death. It’s going to destroy him if he figures out that Lu Guang and CXS were involved. I could see him using his power in a way that might allow him to re-experience or analyze past events but not actually go back in time. He will constantly search and long for for what he missed out on.

And if not to attempt revenge… then for closure.

Xià Fěi is taking up the gauntlet of an unwanted legacy for closure. How sad and ironic that Vein could've potentially been using his power along side him but Xià Fěi never realizes until the death of his counterpart. Xià Fěi's power gives an ulterior meaning to what he told our mains.

“but I’ll remember the time I spent with you guys forever”

It's so haunting. Knowing he was backstabbed by his friends. This feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy. The tragedy of hindsight.

Now after explaining where Hindsight would fit into the plot, I'll share the rest of the evidence for why Xià Fěi's power is Hindsight, more than just because he is Vein's inverse/parallel. In another post by @miyamiwu (Click here) beautiful theory by the way. There was one thing she said that stood out to me.

She explained that “In Mandarin Chinese, time is viewed in a vertical fashion. The past is above you, while the future is below you.”

Because of this I asked my friend for an impromptu lesson in Mandarin, to help me analyze that the name 夏斐 (Xià Fěi) can be linked to the idea of time. Thank you so much to Yuqianqian 🌸💕 for dealing with my madness.

In Mandarin the past and future is viewed in a vertical fashion only through a spoken fashion.

Let me introduce you to “The Four Mandarin Chinese Tones” which are used to identify the TONE (shēngdiào) of a word. You use each tone to help you pitch your syllables. All Chinese words have tones.

First tone: a level and higher pitch Second tone: rising, start from a lower pitch and end at a slightly higher pitch Third tone: falling rising, start at a neutral tone then dip to a lower pitch before ending at a higher pitch Fourth tone: falling, start the syllable at a slightly higher than neutral pitch then go quickly and strongly downwards

The reason the future is viewed downwards And past is viewed upwards is because they pitch upwards and downwards when you say it!

Fun fact you can figure out out which tone both the first and surname are in by using these diacritical marks.

1st tone:  ā 

2nd tone:  á 

3rd tone:  ǎ 

4th tone:  à

Neutral tone - a  (no pitch)

So Xià (is the 4th falling tone) followed by Fěi (the 3rd falling/rising tone). 

Chinese people usually give their kid a 2 words name or 3 words name. If the words in a first name were both the same tone it’s would be hard to pronounce. 

谐音 is a literarily trick similar to how a writer can use homophones in English to symbolize something. 

谐音 is when words can sound the exact same but be are spelled completely differently. 

“By, bye, buy” “To, too, two”  “Flour, flower” “Knight, night”

夏斐 Xià Fěi’s name actually uses 谐音

夏 is Pronounced Xià it means “summer”

下 is also pronounced Xià it means “down”

It changes meaning depending on the word next to it though, but other meanings of Xià still include; Downwards, Under, Below, Descend, Fall, Give birth too, Spate...

'Second of two parts'... guys is it obvious I ship Veinfei 下 is not typically not used anymore unless it refers to very specific instances of time, directions, or positions.

This play on words of Xià and the concept of 下 “down” works in tandem with the 4th tone. And brings us back to the original idea of “the future being below you.” It perfectly relates the idea of time to the name, while also holding symbolism. The future is below Xià Fěi.

And who is future?

Vein's name is first pointed out by @rainibao (here). That Vein’s true name - 萧未影 Xiāo Wèiyǐng relates to the concept of the future! 

I’d like to add that 未 by itself does not mean future, but rather it’s 未来.

未来 - Future 未 on its own means “not yet”  Both are falling tones.

Just in case I made this pretty confusing. I gave Xià Fěi's name as proof to show that he is RELATED TO TIME and related to VEIN. Meanwhile every example of Vein points to downwards symbolism as well. And even though Xià Fěi should represent Upwards symbolism, the fact that he also represents downward symbolism felt like it does help my case in relate to hindsight as well. But either way, heres some pretty obvious Upwards symbolism for Xià Fěi too.

This is a post by miyamiwu (here) guys wtf I already ran out of image space Here with the water Lu Guang is drowning and falling downwards into the Future Vein pulls Xià Fěi upwards above water into the past. Once again it also references unwanted legacies left behind by Vein.

In the end we see the huanting idea of Vein as a concept of life after death Xia Fei as a concept life before death  And Lu Guang representing death itself

Thank you so much for listening to my theory! I feel like this theory has revolutionized the way I see these two. Feel free to contact me or disprove or add to my theory. I took like a whole weeks to make this. Soon I will release the second part of my theory (yes I have more evidence). This time in relation to Liú Xiāo, how he fits into this entire equation, and what his other power may be. And what happens Post-Vein's death. PT. 2 (TBA)

[saetiate]

kaiser x reader, how they meet. a lil excerpt of a fic i’m working on

Being in a relationship, falling in love… For Kaiser, those seem like impossible features of life for him. He could still remember stealing just to eat, bruises over his body and an empty heart. Even now, with his and Isagi’s tamed dynamic duo becoming Bastard München’s pride, with Noel Noa’s recent retirement announcement, a relationship feels akin to the idea of a second moon orbiting around earth.

So to hear your voice like a windchime at this event…

“Thanks so much for participating! Having Bastard München be part of this outreach program has been a dream, especially for the children.”

It almost makes him want to break something.

“You think you’re helping them?” He snaps from over the table. He doesn’t mean to, but it comes out like a spit, something ugly that’s been coiled up in his throat. Even stone-faced Noa looks shocked.

“This isn’t the field, Kaiser.” He comments, like an attempt at doing so offhandedly, except nothing Noa does is ever casual.

You meet Kaiser’s eyes and to his surprise, there’s no challenge there. He sees clear eyes and genuine intrigue. The consideration feels like ants crawling up his skin.

“It’s the first time we’re doing this, so to be honest, I’m not sure. But I think it’s a start. If there’s anything better that we can do, please let me know, and I’ll incorporate it.”

It’s a damn rehearsed message, makes him scoff in your direction. It’s only the genuine nature of your smile that keeps him from voicing his distaste. And yet, the moment you finish your conversation with Noa, you come to sit next to him.

You place the schedule, neatly clapped onto a clipboard, right in front of him. He quirks an eyebrow at you.

“You’re under no pressure to sign up.”

“Which is why I haven’t.”

You laugh. Laugh, like he’s charmed you with a joke.

“There’s an outreach program in your hometown, if you’re interested.”

“You think I wanna go back there?”

You hum. “I don’t know. But I do know they practically revere you there, and that they’d appreciate your presence. You don’t have to see anyone you don’t want to. You can show up for 5 minutes out of the allotted time. You can show up to one across the world instead. You can sign up and then cancel last minute. But if you’d consider it for even a moment, I’d love to have you.”

He looks at you, direct and cutting, and you greet him so openly that his stare gets harsher, and then he immediately pulls his eyes away.

He’s been crude to you today, hasn’t he? It’s his due, then, to pay his penance.

He sighs, flipping through the pages with one hand until he finds the page with his hometown, then scribbles his name down hard enough to leave an indent on the next couple pages.

“Thank you, Kaiser,” the way you say it is so soft it feels intimate, like a lover’s breath against his ear. He would’ve had less of a reaction if you had put your hand on his thigh, but there’s no touch, nothing that solidifies you to him or this moment when he replays it later in his head. “I really do look forward to seeing you there.”

[c0wch-eee]

My mutual told me that I should talk more about Nezha 2 on tumblr so here goes a random thought:

AoBing x NeZha (oubing) is what the Ladynoir team could have been if the Miraculous writers had just LOCKED IN.

Oubing is also in a way based off ying-yang dynamics, with the two characters having opposite superpowers (Nezha has fire, AoBing has ice) similar to Ladybug’s creation and Cat Noir’s destruction. But even more importantly, Jiaozi’s interpretation of their dynamic meant that Oubing were EQUALS. NeZha held the Demon Orb while AoBing held the Spirit Pearl, which were halves of the Chaos Pearl, meaning the two were equal in power. In Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, it was clear that Ladybug was the more powerful member of the duo, being given the power to purify akumas and amoks, AND Miraculous Ladybug, ON TOP of her main lucky charm power, while Cat Noir only has cataclysm. Even though NeZha is the titular character (and the main character) of the movie franchise, the writers somehow conveyed a more equal sense of power between Oubing even though AoBing isn’t even in the title (unlike Cat Noir).

The reason why it’s easier to see Oubing as equals both in a power sense and in a relationship sense is because both characters get their moments to shine. The first act of NeZha 2 was almost entirely comprised of AoBing’s feats (albeit he performed them with NeZha’s body while both souls were sharing NeZha’s body) which established his competence a thousand times better than all the times Cat Noir had gotten mind controlled by the enemy (yet it had never happened to Ladybug once in the first 3 seasons or so). But not only that, when NeZha found out that he was wrong to accuse AoBing’s father for the crimes upon Chengtang Pass, he admitted his faults and swore to AoBing that he’d rescue his father no matter what. Not only allowing AoBing his moments of defeating the enemy, but also showing that NeZha is imperfect, allows the audience to get past the presumption that the main titular character is obviously the better one in the duo, and that NeZha and AoBing are both valuable in the team.

Their dynamics also mimic Ladynoir quite a bit too, with NeZha being the de facto leader out of the two, similar to ladybug. But the difference is that AoBing is never relegated to being the follower of NeZha’s plans. More often than not, AoBing acted as the guidance to NeZha’s impulsiveness to keep the two grounded, and without AoBing, NeZha’s passion and sentimentality could have easily been taken advantage of. It’s a great way of showing that both parties contribute different but valuable roles to the team, and whenever conflict does arise within the two, it’s mostly due to a conflict of interest or ideology, which both parties would later try to reconcile. I didn’t mind that Ladynoir experienced conflicts in their relationship, but they aren’t explored as deeply as I would have liked beyond one party’s unreciprocated feelings.

Other similarities I found between the two was NeZha having two mostly good parents similar to Marinette, while AoBing has one influential father who put a lot of pressure on him at the start of his arc, similar to Adrien. NeZha (at least in his small form) is much more emotive than AoBing, similar to Marinette’s wild expressions compared to Adrien’s calmer demeanor.

Anyways. Stan Oubing.

[junebugdunes]

alright listen. it is 3 in the morning and I have a cold but listen to me. I feel like one of the biggest reasons I'm so enthralled with Ramsey and Percy's dynamic is because it subverts the typical cop/con buddy duo-

Usually in buddy cop shows the dynamic play out as the smug or playful conman and the straight man cop

But what I'm really into is Ramsey is actually the "straight man" in their dynamic because Percy is so strange but completely able to roll with basically anything that happens, and she takes everything on the same serious level that she would normally

Which I think a lot of characters mistake as her taking everything at face value, but she doesn't do that either- Ramsey takes advantage of the situation by lying to her about his epithet and trying to play off how big of a criminal he is, and she does believe him, but you can see as the episodes move along she has her suspicions- but she's not accusatory. [Ep 6 "All's Well That Ends Well" 15:15]

She won't make any moves until she has solid evidence, which is a really good quality considering her line of work. She's smart, but she's not unfair. (Added to the fact that even once she recognized Ramsey, she made sure to negotiate something nice for him because of how much help he was. [Ep 7 "Winner Takes All" 23:20])

I've read a lot of fan stuff where people have completely misread her character and they make her so... robotic? And like, unemotional. Which she completely isn't.

She's very emotional. Although a lot of her more emotional scenes are read as comedic, she's not cold or robotic. Some of my favorite scenes from her are the crayon debauchery scene:

[Ep 6 "All's Well That Ends Well" 6:55] Along the same lines as when Zora broke her peashooter (the Oh Danny Boy scene)

When the Well Watcher was promoted to Sky Watcher and she was very supportive :) [Ep 6 16:50]

And when Ramsey used his epithet for the first time in front of her [Ep 7 19:15]

I feel like the comedy of these bits are really through Ramsey's reactions as he kind of just... doesn't know how to handle the situation or his brain literally won't process it [Ep 6 7:40]

Yes, Percy for the most part is a joke character but the whole point is the joke plays off of her being the silly one and Ramsey being the straight man, not vice versa.

I'm really tired so I can't exactly remember how I was going to wrap this up but

TL;DR: I really like Ramsey & Percy's dynamic and I feel like a lot of misreadings of it are due to a lack of understanding Percy's character

[mellohiizz]

wanted to talk about odyssey duo and my um. view on their dynamic and relationship.

probably going to be a pretty long yap, but i really wanted to talk about them since there's been some talk about them after the last uu video. it caused me to think deeper into their relationship and i wanted to write it down.

(putting it here just in case: not targeted at anyone. just yapping about the codependent silly guys that i hate.)

the thing about odyssey duo, to me, is that yes, they are in some ways unhealthy. they're codependent and messy. but that doesn't mean that they're "toxic" or their friendship is not working.

they're both flawed characters with destructive traits. parrot is dry and unable to express his emotions properly, which leads to misunderstandings over his intentions. wifies is not a saint either, he's stubborn and can get very pushy when it comes to his own decisions. (insisting on dean leaving without explaining anything and trying to do it without parrot knowing, burning the compass to forcefully keep parrot from going to farlands)

but the main thing about them to me is that if you really look into it, they're both trying to make it work. they do care about each other and have both shown it more than once in different ways.

they both did and said things that aren't great. but it doesn't make one or the other good or bad. yes, parrot came out quite cold and uncaring a couple of times, but it doesn't automatically makes him a bad person, or means that he's mistreating, or even 'abusing' wifies in any sense.

if we're pushing it to that point, you could say wifies also used parrot in a sense of wanting to feel human and wanting someone who would 'want him back' without knowing his real self. (im being dramatic with this, obviously)

parrot comes off as uncaring because of how dry and unable to show his actual emotions he seems to be. which is a valid character trait considering how often he just couldn't because of the circumstances. parrot is someone who's very goal oriented. when he needs to focus on something, he locks in. it's the only thing he thinks about and everything else goes to the back of his mind.

which also brings me to the point of the way parrot deals with grief. one thing is how often parrot just couldn't express his grief over losing someone. he grieved luigi, yes, because it was one time he actually was allowed to take a little bit of time to actually process the fact that someone died in front of him. and even then, instead of fully allowing himself to grieve, he had to focus on other things.

same goes for dean. dean's death was pretty much shock value for both parrot and viewers, and parrot tried to grieve him too. but during it, he was interrupted by literally the number one threat at the time.

so of course when another loss comes into picture, parrot doesn't allow himself to grieve him. he acknowledges his loss ("your leader just killed my best friend"), but there was no time for him to actually let himself properly grieve wifies or even allow himself to react. they were in the middle of dealing with the mafia, and he needed to focus on that instead.

we only see the impact wifies' death had on him by the end of the episode. where he does listens. he lights the beacon despite expressing his indifference to them the whole episode. that, once again, shows that he does care.

he was hesitant on letting wifies go through with joining the mafia in the first place. he agreed because he trusted wifies to be safe and know what he's doing. it was already shown to us that wifies is parrot's weak point. he tried so many times to keep wifies away from the danger simply because he didn't want to lose him. back in the video where clown was hunting parrot, there was a very clear parallel between branzy being clown's weak point and wifies being parrot's. the difference in that was parrot knew clown wouldn't have hesitated to kill wifies.

they both changed the ways the go about things for the other. they care, but unfortunately, they were doomed by the narrative. the universe screwed them over by putting them into circumstances where they just wouldn't have worked it out.

in conclusion, because this is already very long, yes, odyssey duo are messy. they're not the healthiest duo, and they do have issues. but they tried to overstep those and work, and that's what i like about them.