#who are actually close enough with her to be able say sth like that and not end up dead behind the walmart™️

[waddlesizsleepy]

whoever called my wife (kumatora) cute in the post game, i am going to hunt you down

[midnightshard06]

STH Rarepair Week Day 3: Hurt / Comfort

You can check it out on ao3 here if you prefer.

Summary: Sonic stumbles across a heavily damaged Metal Sonic and does the only thing he can think to do, take him back to Tails to see if his brother can fix him. It ends up being a rough day for everyone involved, especially Sonic.

Pairing: Sonic/Metal Sonic

Warnings: Mild violence, nothing graphic

Word Count: ~3000 words

AN: Still feeling these two's dynamic out so apologies if anything seems weird lol.

"You can fix him… right?" Sonic glanced nervously at Tails. 

His brother twitched his tails nervously. "I'll do my best… Metal's in really rough shape."

Sonic couldn't help but pace as Tails got to work on Metal Sonic. What had even happened? Sonic had just found his robotic doppelganger abandoned and in more pieces than he cared to count. It had hit him hard, hard enough to almost panic at the sight of it. The only thing that held him together was his drive to collect the pieces so the robot could be fixed. 

That had been a whole process in itself. Between having to find every little piece and periodically needing to stop and shake loose unwanted images of an actual mangled corpse from his mind. It was a constant battle to remind himself that for how alive Metal acted he was still a robot. A robot who could actually come back from something like this. Hopefully.

At some point Tails shooed him outside, but honestly he barely noticed. His mind just continued to go over questions he didn’t have answers too. Normally he’d go on a run to clear his head but it felt like if he left something awful would happen.  No. He needed to stay here until Tails was done. He needed to see that Metal was going to be ok with his own eyes.

He glanced back at the closed door to Tails’s workshop in concern. Why hadn’t Eggman come to try and collect Metal? Why leave him out there… in that condition? Sonic shuddered and quickly banished the memory of how Metal had looked from his mind. Remembering that right now wasn’t going to help him. Maybe after he knew Metal was going to be ok he’d go find Eggman, see if he couldn’t figure out what had happened. Yeah. That felt like a decent course of action.

Hours passed, or at least it felt like it. Everything felt agonizingly slow as Sonic paced. He idly noted he’d worn a shallow groove into the ground, something he’d need to fix later. At some point during the agonizing wait, Amy showed up. Whatever she was saying didn’t register in his mind but she gently guided him down to the ground to sit. Not like he had the energy to resist right now anyway.

Having someone else there was probably good. At least he shouldn’t make the groove any worse than it already was now. As they sat there she talked. About what, he didn’t know. Her words washed over him as he was unable to make them out properly. It didn’t matter though, he was pretty sure they both knew that. Whatever she was talking about didn’t matter. What did matter was that she was there at all, helping ground him. He was glad he had such good friends.

By the time Tails came out to get him the sun was setting. Amy thankfully stayed by his side as the trio went inside. He felt a spark of hope pierce the haze that had settled over his mind as he saw Metal completely reassembled on one of Tails’ work tables. Wires coming from the back of his head were still connected to the Miles Electric, but besides that he looked good as new. “Is he..?” Sonic looked over at his brother.

Tails nervously wrung his hands. “I was able to put him back together fine. There were a lot of pieces but as far as I could tell you managed to get them all. Though due to the heavy damage he sustained I’m… not sure if any of his core programs were damaged. I tried to run a diagnostic but I couldn’t for some reason. It just… wasn’t working.”

“And that’s not a great sign I assume?” Amy asked, frowning.

“Unfortunately.” Tails nodded, looking away from Sonic. “It might not mean much but… I’m just worried.”

Sonic took a deep breath and did his best to push aside his own worry for now. “Boot him up.”

“Are you sure?” Tails looked up at him, worried.

“We won’t know what’s going on until he’s up and running right?” Sonic did his best to give his brother a reassuring smile, though he wasn’t sure if it was effective for either of them. “No use in dragging it out.”

“As long as you’re ok with it.” Amy put a hand on his shoulder. Sonic took a far shakier breath and nodded.

Tails nodded back and went over to where he’d left the Miles Electric on a table. “Turning him back online in three, two, one…”

Sonic held his breath as Metal’s red optics flared to life. The robot looked around sort of peacefully for a bit after sitting up. Although he looked at all three of them his gaze lingered the longest on Sonic. The eye contact was a little unnerving but he didn’t have much time to think about it before Metal was launching himself at Sonic. For an incredibly brief moment he thought that might have been a positive thing but that was quickly shattered as Metal kept going and caused the two to crash through a wall.

Sonic managed to separate from Metal once they were outside. He winced at the hole they made as he shook off debris that tried to stick to him. That would have to be fixed later. Right now he had a rogue robot to take down, even if it hurt to do so right after Tails had fixed him. “C’mon Metal. We don’t have to do this right now!” Sonic tried, but he was met with nothing but Metal charging at him again. 

He dropped into a spin dash to dodge out of the way, and as much as he didn’t want to he turned to crash into Metal’s back. He pulled out of the spin dash and kicked off the robot’s back, sending him crashing into the ground. The sound of metal scraping against the hard ground had Sonic pinning his ears to his head. Could he really do this right now? As Metal got up engine whirring, it was clear he wasn’t going to have a choice.

Before Metal could charge at him again Tails and Amy were there. “I think he might have gotten reset.” Tails sounded a mix between nervous and upset. “He might have just reverted to his base programming.”

That one stung. If Metal really had gone back to just his base programming that meant that all the time Sonic had spent slowly broadening his counterpart’s horizons was wasted, gone just like that. That also meant he wouldn’t remember the quiet times when the two had really gotten to know each other; the times the two talked about their respective siblings and whatever they’d gotten up to. The races which were only for the pure enjoyment of testing each other. Pushing each other. Metal and everything he had slowly been becoming, gone. 

Sonic clenched his fists and he could feel tears start to gather in his eyes. He didn’t let them fall though, he couldn’t. Regardless of his own feelings, Metal needed to be stopped before he hurt one of them. If either of his friends tried to stop him as he rushed forward he didn’t hear them. It was hard to hear much over his own racing thoughts. 

He threw himself into the fight with Metal not caring if he got hurt. As long as this could be over quicker it didn’t matter. He’d walk it off anyway. Plus the pain was a wonderful distraction from the hollow feeling that had settled in his chest. With each clash Sonic dared to feel the tiniest bit of hope that Metal would come to his senses, only to have it dashed each time. Metal was seemingly back to the same robot he’d met on Little Planet all that time ago. At some point he stopped hoping to see something different.

Eventually while catching his breath he found himself restrained from behind. He struggled of course but stopped as soon as he recognized it was Amy who was holding him back. His legs felt like they couldn’t support his weight any more once he saw Tails jump onto Metal and shut him down. With no more immediate distraction he let himself fall limp, confident that Amy could handle his weight. His eyes trailed to the ground and he suddenly felt oh so tired.

Amy and Tails were possibly talking about something but he couldn’t find it in himself to care to listen. Honestly he did his best to just let his mind go blank. That was much more preferable to confronting the reality of the situation, and just how much it hurt. At some point Amy was trying to lead him back to Tails’ workshop, he did at least cooperate. It would be pretty rude of him to force her to drag him around, no matter how terrible he felt.

Sonic was led into the living area Tails had attached to his lab. Amy got him to sit down on a couch, before walking off for a moment and returning with a blanket to wrap around his shoulders. He pulled the blanket tightly around himself and stared at the floor. It was hard not to think about what was happening but focusing on the pain from his still untreated injuries helped. A cushion next to him dipped. It was probably Amy sitting next to him.

“How are you holding up?” Amy asked, voice tentative. Sonic just folded his ears against his head. “Right, bad question. Sorry.” She took a breath. "We'll figure this out. For now will you let me take a look at your injuries?" Sonic nodded, not trusting his voice right now. Even though he didn't want to, he released his tight grip on the blanket. 

He finally lifted his gaze from the floor to watch Amy start to treat his injuries. They were worse than he typically got fighting Metal. That didn't make him feel any better. The whole time he couldn't bring himself to look at Amy, but he was silently grateful. He really did have good friends.

"Can I see him?" Sonic barely heard himself.

"... are you sure that's what you want?" Amy made what she thought very clear in her tone. It was a bad idea.

While he didn't really think it would help, he felt like it would be worse to sit here. "Yeah." Sonic nodded.

Amy hesitated before gently guiding him towards Tails’ workshop. Finally he looked up all the way, if only just to be able to see where he was going. His brother looked up from the Miles Electric as the two of them entered the workshop. He frowned, but didn’t say anything. It was clear the fox knew why they were there.

Sonic silently watched Tails work for… well he wasn’t sure how long. Honestly he didn’t even know what his brother was doing, but it felt like all he could do was watch. Amy made sure to periodically come in and make sure the two of them were taking care of themselves, though she paid extra attention to Sonic. Probably because he hadn’t made any moves to even attempt taking care of himself since finding a place to sit.

At some point Amy pulled Tails away from his work to send him to bed. It was probably well into the night at that point. When she tried to do the same for Sonic he waved her off. While she tried to be persistent she crumbled when Sonic finally turned to look at her. Based on her reaction he really didn’t want to know how he looked right now. She did at least bring out some pillows and extra blankets for him, so he had the option to make himself a bit more comfortable. Not that he remembered doing it but he did try to arrange them so things were a bit better.

For a while he just stared at the table Metal was once again laid out on. There were a few new dents and scratches but at least he was intact. Well physically anyway. Sonic pulled the blanket around his shoulders tighter, ignoring how it aggravated some of his injuries. “Well…” Sonic said quietly into the now dark workshop. Amy had shut off the lights when she’d left, probably trying to encourage Sonic to sleep. “I guess we’ll have to start over again huh? Cause I know I can’t resist trying. You mean too much.” He sighed and watched Metal’s unmoving body for a while. There wasn’t much point in saying anything else when no one would hear it.

His eyelids started to grow heavy, and he mentally prepared himself for a night of little to no sleep. He’d barely let his eyes slip closed when he heard a noise. It was hard, but he managed to crack his eyes back open only to see Metal now sitting up. The robot was experimentally opening and closing his hands. Sonic tensed, ready for another potential fight. Metal turned to him and the gaze felt much less unsettling than it did earlier. ‘Sonic?’ Metal signed, tilting his head.

Sonic sucked in a sharp breath. Well he was certainly awake now. “Mets? Are you… you?” He was on his feet, blanket falling from his shoulders.

‘I am back to typical running capacity after critical systems failure. The automatic reboot and restoration of my system was a success.’ Metal stood up and moved towards Sonic.

“So… that means you’re ok then.” Sonic felt hope bloom in his chest as he rushed to his feet.

‘I am fine now yes.’ Metal gave him a once over. ‘The same cannot be said for you. Your face is leaking.

Oh. He was crying huh? At least now it was for a good reason. With the ease of practice though he managed to cut off his tears. “Nah. I’m good now Mets. I’m… good now.”’

Metal watched him for a moment. ‘You were the one to find me.’ It didn’t look like a question, but Sonic nodded anyway. He wanted to ask what happened but he also didn’t want to force Metal to think about it so soon. ‘I apologize.’ He looked down briefly, fists clenching. ‘I should have been stronger I-’

Sonic closed the gap between them and wrapped Metal in a hug, effectively cutting him off. Of course Metal wasn’t the nicest to hug, and the rigidness of his body was digging into Sonic uncomfortably in several places, but right now he needed it. Apparently both of them did. After a moment Metal carefully returned the hug. It was familiar enough, even if the two didn’t do it often. “Doesn’t matter.” Sonic was quiet, but he knew Metal would have no problem hearing him. “You’re ok now, that’s what matters.”

Metal tapped his back and pulled away. ‘I suppose.’ His robotic counterpart seemed to be taking in Sonic’s injuries now. ‘What happened?’ He tilted his head before looking Sonic in the eyes.

“We… booted you up before you were done doing your own stuff.” Sonic attempted to shrug casually. It felt stiff. “We fought a bit cause you weren’t really there. Not a big deal.”

Sonic got the impression that Metal would be frowning if he could. ‘We fight all the time. You do not typically receive injuries like this.’

“I… might have been a bit reckless because I was upset.” Sonic chuckled nervously. “I’m fine though, honest.”

Metal didn’t seem like he was convinced. ‘Fine.’ He conceded. Sonic grinned before yawning. The brief shot of adrenaline from Metal waking up was starting to wear off already. ‘You need rest.’ Metal glanced down at the mess of blankets and pillows Sonic had set up for himself. ‘This is not a proper place to do it.’

“Eh, I’ve slept in worse.” Sonic shrugged. 

Metal shot him his best attempt at an unamused look before noticing the hole in the wall. Without any warning Metal scooped Sonic up and walked towards the hole and outside. Sonic was honestly so surprised he just let it happen. He barely even noticed Metal had snagged a blanket as well. They didn’t go far, just far enough to have grass under them. Once they stopped Metal carefully put Sonic down and spread the blanket on the ground. ‘You often say being outside calms you down. I thought this would be better than remaining inside.’

Sonic grinned before sprawling out on the blanket. It took Metal a moment, and Sonic patting the blanket in invitation, but he did join Sonic on the blanket. Well Metal was right about this one, he felt a lot calmer being outside having a wonderful view of the stars. Most calming though was Metal’s silent presence next to him. It almost felt silly how he felt earlier, but part of him couldn’t help but wonder if Metal would feel similarly if Sonic somehow forgot him.

Much to Sonic’s surprise, Metal reached for his hand. It wasn’t often Metal initiated anything physical. Since the robot got less out of physical affection than Sonic did, it was often up to him to initiate. After the day he’d had though it was very welcome.”I really am glad you’re ok Metal.” Sonic kept his gaze trained at the sky. Metal squeezed his hand since he couldn’t really communicate any other way right now. It was plenty for Sonic though.

It felt good to finally let the tension leave his body, but at the same time now that he didn’t have a distraction anymore he really could feel his injuries. Though thankfully he wouldn’t have to focus on that for long as Metal unthreaded their hands and started to gently work through Sonic’s quills. If it wasn’t clear before it certainly was now that Metal knew he’d been upset. The robot only did this to help calm Sonic down, even if Sonic assured him he didn’t mind Metal doing it whenever. He’d always get a retort along the lines of ‘if I do it too often you’ll become desensitized to it and it will become less effective’. He didn’t believe that in the slightest but he wasn’t about to fight Metal on it for now.

Right now he enjoyed the even strokes of clawed hands through messy quills. There under the stars, with his other half returned to him he finally allowed himself to sleep.

[sayakxmi]

[Magi reread; special edition] Episode 1: Aladdin and Alibaba [Part 2]

Anime!Alibaba is so violent for no reason.

"Throwing me out like that is so cruel!" Bro, you broke into his house.

"Stop following me." Bro, you allowed him to stay inside.

Again, Aladdin's more interested in the dungeons. Also, we don't get that hilarious scene where it turns out the dungeon is that close, which is a shame.

Anime!Alibaba: I'm going to clear Amon and all the other dungeons in the world faster than anybody else!

Bro, you're late, like, 14 years.

Anime!Alibaba: I don't have the time to waste it on you. <- you say that, but you don't really act like you mean it, lmao.

Like, sorry I'm not adding more screenshots, but they were kinda just walking around, so.

Also, Aladdin asked Alibaba if he likes money (boy, does he), and Alibaba actually said sth like "you need a lot of it to change a country" and, like, true, but, bro, you don't even want to change a country. You just want a normal life, but the normal life doesn't want you.

Also, Aladdin is far more excited about the money-monologue, lmao.

WHAT ARE THESE EXPRESSIONS

In the manga, Aladdin bumps into Morgiana cuz he was playing with that weird trident, here he does it, because he was too busy thinking about boobs to notice her.

Also, Morgiana's anime hair always bugged me so much. The manga keeps describing it as fiery red, but hers are basically pink. That's kind of annoying, and makes her and Kougyoku look a bit too similar.

-pouts-

Also, dunno, it's interesting. I didn't comment on it when I was talking about the manga I think, but in that moment especially Morgiana is depicted being ashamed about being a slave. Which is understandable. But I just forgot to comment it earlier, so I'm doing it now.

Anime!Alibaba really was like, leave me the fuck alone, but here is is, acting like they're in it together. Lmao.

Well, the good thing is, we don't get Budel molesting Morgiana (he beats her up instead). The bad thing is, we get whatever the fuck is this scene with a close up in a moment.

Besides the Sacred Palace scenes, this is Ugo's very first appearance.

He looks kinda neat here.

Aww.

Live Morgiana reaction.

Live Alibaba reaction.

Now I kind of need like 6 other characters to have this scene, for the whole gang to have live reactions.

More Alibaba and his goddamn tunnels.

"This is my friend, Ugo-kun! Everybody calls him a djiin or something..." Who tf is "everybody", you've only ever spoken to three people - Alibaba, Budel and Morgiana.

Also, now I remember that Aladdin actually did introduce himself. Sorry, I overfocused on his display of thievery.

Her!!!!

Also, kind of interesing. In the manga and in the anime two opposite things happen - in the manga Aladdin and Alibaba call each other friends, and it's an entire moment about it, whereas here Alibaba says that he promised himself he won't try to befriend anybody.

Lol.

Also, now that I think about it, the whole scene with Alibaba calling Aladdin his servant/slave isn't here at all, so I think it wasn't the anime, but some other translation instead, that I ended up confusing with the anime.

Aladdin is not amused by Alibaba's ass-kissing.

I get that the ppl who worked on the anime were trying to kinda include everybody from the trio in one episode, and kinda tried to mix these first chapters, but that's still stupid as shit. Like, this genuinely makes no sense. I know that Jamil's an idiot, but not that much of an idiot.

Apparenly they're sent to some mine that we know nothing about, except then they end up not there, anyway. Ok.

Can't wait for you to punch Budel in the face.

Pretty. But also it's the momentTM where Aladdin tells him that if he keeps lying, he won't be able to trust anybody, even himself. Like, bro, bold of you to assume Alibaba has enough confidence to trust himself with anything.

Nearing the photo limit, so have this scene for the last one here. I do like these scenes in Magi, they look... magical (ba dum tss).

[amyyscorner]

Live reaction: Goosebumps (2023)

Spoilers below the cut

ok emo i hope he dies WAIT IS HE SUPPOSED TO BE RL STINE?? ding dong bitch DONT WALK OUTSIDE JESUS HAVE U NOT SEEN A FUCKING HORROR MOVIE??? mans gon die the doorbell ghost really be trolling LMAO THE CHANDELIER candles. ofc he has candles. sth gon burn HIS NAME IS HAROLD? LMAOOOOO i knew there was gonna be a fire. mans burned i love being right ooooooh pretty introoooo me likey NOT UNHOLY BY SAM SMITH PLEASE I THOUGHT THIS WAS A SHOW FOR LIKE 12+ NAUR Ayo AYO IS THAT HER???? OMG I LOVE THAT HER NOT THE BIKING ACCIDENT LMAOOOOO i love lucas already PLEASE NOT MORE UNHOLY I AM GIGGLING oooh its the same school as the guy who died harold isaiah is the jock lucas is the nerd/idiot margot is the girl thats not like the others NOT HER READING AT THE EVENT PLS HARRY STYLES WONT PICK U BESTIE PLS THE POOR GUY LEAVE HIM ALONE D: isabella seems like the girl who is actually chill and just wants to do her thing AYO SAM BE CUTE im in love with james i need james in my life james is me oh so jocks gf is an insta popular girl "im literally super nice" "so why am i being trolled?" maybe bc u called it being trolled jock who doesn't get good grades? i hope they get less...two dimensional like give the jock an actual problem maybe he has adhd or a learning disability so he focused on physical activity now who tf is glasses nathan bratt BEN HOLY SHIT U ARE FATHER PARENT ok so nathan is the lil nerdy weird adult the parents were grieving their kid wtf dude??? nathan has killer vibes hes gon die or at least get hurt HE GOT HURT LMAOOOOO yeah nah he deserved that ben tho? king. love him NOT THE BLOOD KEY LMAOOOOOO OH IS BEN JOCKS DAD? oh baby :( now he is too scared to tell them he won't be playing in the game bc there is no way he will be able to get that A THEYRE TALKING IN THAT IDIGAH LANGUAGE margot is not for me but she seems like a good friend to him ayo you know but hamilton seems like helpful dont help him cheat just help him study yeah nah thats so dumb yall deseve to fail trust me i can say it bc i used to cheat in this one class HOW OBVIOUS CAN U BE JESUS CHRIST okay so margot likes isaiah but he is dating allison so far im not as invested as i could be tbh not the murder hourse being the new place jesus this is so stupid all of you deserve to die all of you so fucking dumb like i get the rush of it. i've been in an abandoned psych clinic before a few years before it burnt down but this? idk besties, you should know this is dumb thor he is obviously thor he has a blonde wig and a hammer actual stupid people dont go to the basement please YES IT IS HAUNTED YES IT MAKES FOR A GOOD PARTY UNTIL EVERYONE DIES BESTIES so far i hate the main characters dont go down there dont go to the basement dont walk TO THE DOOR THAT MAGICALLY OPENED TO THE BASEMENT WHERE A DUDE DIED "i bet the fuse box is down there" - okay video game main character oh okay so allison knows she likes him and is insanely jealous girl why are you such a bitch to her?? she just didn't know to be late to parties wtf fuck them yes walk down the creepy stairs i hope u get hurt for being such an asshole cause wtf stop exploring and just find the fuse box ur not a video game there r no secrets to find good attempt at the jumpscare. unfortunately not random enough oh no the ghost door to the ghost basement closed how unexpected i'm so surprised wow this was so surprising omg hes fine he will walk up and scare you guys SEE i knew it SHAKE IT LIKE A POLAROID PICTURE

okay we finished the first half of the ep 2nd half reaction coming soon

[billythesquid]

CW: brief mentions of animal abuse and death

Honestly reading this post for the first time was really baffling to me.

I live in England, and I've never encountered anywhere before where having an indoor/house cat is the 'norm'/ideologically right thing to do.

In the UK at least, it's kind of a case-by-case basis - I live kind of in the country side, me and my neighbours houses all have back gardens, and we're away from any particularly busy roads, so my family have always had cats that come and go through the cat flap (except at night when we tend to close it to stop other cats getting in). Same for my neighbours. My aunt also lives on a farm in Wales, and ofc her cats roam free as well.

I think the first time I came across a cat who was kept specifically as a house cat was when a friend of mine moved into a house right next to a busy road, and they thought it was a safer decision for the cat. Still, I remember mentioning it to my parents at the time, and they actually viewed it as a less ideal situation - that really the cat should have been able to roam outside, and that it was a shame that the road was stopping that. This is not to say that my parents' views were necessarily 'correct', but I just wanted to highlight the difference in perspective here.

I'm obviously coming from a particular perspective as someone who lives outside of a city, so I can't speak for everyone living in the UK, but even when I lived in the city for a while as a kid we had cats who could leave the house - one of them was hit by a car, so honestly I'd say probably house cats in cities are the way to go. But again even though that happened, it wasn't seen at the time as us being terrible owners for allowing him out of the house. Letting cats outside is just the norm in the UK.

I've also now done a bit of digging about this, bc I was really curious about where this really uniform message of 'keep your cats inside, the outdoors exposes them to disease and they pose an ecological threat to wildlife' was coming from - I wondered whether it was sth that you always see in vets offices, or if its a particular line/standard of veterinary practice.

Bc of tumblr demographics I assumed this was a North American thing, and it looks like it is - I'd be interested to know the actual demographics of the commenters though.

Anyway, I looked up 'indoor cats America' and found a PETA article about it, which sure enough gives a p strong assertion that cats should without exception be kept indoors (https://www.peta.org/living/animal-companions/caring-animal-companions/caring-cats/indoor-cats/). One of their main arguments was around FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus) and how keeping a cat indoors was the only way to prevent them catching this disease (it also started off with a very harrowing story about a cat that got sick from being outdoors, which... came across as kind of emotional manipulation and generalising, frankly, but I guess that's PETA?).

And then it went on to give honestly what reads as a bit of a moral panic around the dangers of humans hurting cats???

Idk seems a little bit,,,, scare mongering to me but tbf I don't know the statistics, and maybe this is an American thing? But I'd honestly highly doubt this level of catnapping and abuse is as rampant as the article makes it out to be????

Anyway I was also wondering whether maybe the reason why North Americans see keeping cats indoors as so critical is bc FIV is particularly prevalent there, whereas it's not so big elsewhere? So I looked up 'FIV cats' and it came up with an article from the RSPCA (https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/cats/health/fiv). The RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), probably the biggest UK charity for animal rights (kind of our equivalent to PETA? ish? Although maybe more establishment irdk). The article said:

And I was just struck by the very non-alarmist tone of it all - how FIV cats can also 'have a similar life expectancy to unaffected cats'. Also, instead of making a blanket statement about how all cats are equally at risk, the RSPCA article breaks down the risks, highlighting how FIV is most commonly spread by unneutered males fighting for territory, and can therefore be avoided through spaying male cats - which is highly recommended for all cat owners to do in the UK.

And then, when talking about keeping fiv cats as indoor cats to prevent the spread of the disease, there's a link to the RSPCA's article on looking after house/indoor cats (https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/cats/environment/indoors), which says:

there's a very big emphasis here on an indoor lifestyle being suitable for some cats, in some situations, and the additional benefits of allowing a cat outdoors.

I kind of meant for this post to not just critique keeping cats indoors and argue for letting them outdoors, which I kind of failed to do. To clarify, I'm definitely not saying that the UK way is the 'right way' - I genuinely do think we probably don't think enough about the ecological impact of cats killing birds, and I actually think it's helpful to see how keeping cats indoors could be a very easy solution to that. And there are big dangers to cats outdoors, especially where there are humans.

Also I'm aware PETA might not be the best source of info for the mainstream North American feeling re animal treatment - please tell me if I'm completely wrong, or where you actually learnt this from, or if you don't even know a 'source' it's just 'common knowledge' (like me and cats being let outdoors).

However, I did want to counter the tone of moral purity that a lot of people seemed to have in the comments re indoor cats, by gently reminding everyone that keeping cats indoors is a (country specific) norm with it's pros and cons, rather than a moral necessity. I'm sure other countries also have other very different attitudes to the best ways to treat cats, and I think it's better not to make a moral hierarchy out of it (reminder to myself there as well).

I'd be really interested to learn what the norms are for keeping cats in different parts of the world, and what you're told about the 'best' way to care for your cat, if anyone wants to share.

Thanks for reading!

ideologically i disagree with outside cats but i cannot deny the allure of being able to just meet a little guy anytime anywhere

[shirebarbie]

[Yelena Belova x reader] Never Have I Ever

Author’s note: here I am again, not knowing what I’m doing. if anyone actually likes this, pls let me know :’)

Summary: you and Yelena get a little carried away while playing a drinking game in your bedroom. (warning: alcohol consumption)

___

It was Friday evening and you were finally just relaxing in your room after a long day of training in the Avengers compound. Sure, you loved working there and the whole saving-the-world thing was pretty cool, but sometimes you desperately craved a bit of peace and quiet, even boredom. While half the team was out and about, probably clubbing somewhere, you were lying in bed and pondering what you could do.

Baking took too much energy and time, and cleaning up afterwards was the worst. Off the top of your head, you couldn’t think of a movie or a TV show you wanted to watch. The city was way too crowded and bustling at the time to go for a walk, and in order to play video games you would have to move to the living room instead. Everything seemed too much work, so you just switched on the TV, for starters, and began channel surfing, hoping to maybe stumble upon something that caught your eye.

Some cutesy romantic comedy was playing on one of the channels, so you put down the remote and started half-watching it as you played around on your phone. When you looked up again, you saw the two main characters play-fighting, and eventually sharing what seemed to be their first kiss. Only slightly gulping, you immediately thought of your friend Yelena. Or maybe not just a friend, but it was too scary of a thought to actually confess. Sometimes it was hard to know where you stood with her in terms of feelings. You two had met through Natasha and, even though Yelena was neither living nor working in the Avengers’ headquarters, she occasionally dropped by, and the two of you quickly became close. Sometimes almost inseparable. Every now and then she also volunteered to be your sparring partner or train with you.

“Maybe I could give her a call and see if she feels like doing something fun,” you thought and reached for your phone again. After debating whether you should give her a call or simply send a text, you settled on texting because who would answer a random phone call on Friday night.

I’m bored and desperately wanting your company.

Nope, it sounded too thirsty, you almost facepalmed.

Wanna come over and do sth fun? I’m a bit lonely and running out of ideas for what to do

There it was, you thought, that sounded alright. It’s barely been a few minutes when you got a reply from the blonde assassin.

Be there in a few

Bringing booze 😊

That was very Yelena. You chuckled to yourself and started tidying up the room a bit and making yourself look at least semi-presentable. Soon enough there was a sharp knock on your bedroom door.

“How did you get past the main entrance security? I thought you’d call me when you got downstairs so I can clear the protocols and open the door for you,” you asked in disbelief as Yelena got in and plopped on your bed.

“I’m happy to see you too,” she retorted in her typical fashion. “You really think a little security is a problem for me to handle?” she asked you with a dry chuckle. “I thought you’d know me better by now.”

“Dumbass,” rolling your eyes affectionately you said, “but if you got me in trouble with the rest of the team and staff, I’m gonna kill you.”

Yelena batted her eyelashes innocently, “we both know I’m too cute for you to be able to do that.”

“Sure, whatever you say, Belova.”

“Aren’t you gonna ask which drink I brought for our little party of two?” the blonde raised a dark eyebrow at you with a mischievous smile.

“Why is something telling me that it’s vodka?” you sighed. Sometimes you believed you knew her better than she even thought you did.

“Maybe you do know me after all, (your_last_name),” Yelena muttered. “Anyway, we need shot glasses, stat.”

“Whatever you wish, Your Highness,” you mock bowed at her when you got up to go to the kitchen and search through the glassware. You managed to find two little glasses, but you were still hoping that you wouldn’t get too drunk – who knew what feelings and confessions could come out if you got a little liquid courage? It seemed to be only you and Yelena on that floor, and everything suddenly seemed possible. And scary.

“Here are your glasses, boss,” you strolled into the room where Yelena was still comfortable on the edge of your bed. When she smiled at you, it felt like your heart grew bigger in size all of a sudden. “So, you wanna just drink and do nothing else, or did you have another idea in mind?”

“Actually,” Yelena began, and you immediately knew you were in for a ride – she had plethora of crazy ideas, “maybe we could play a drinking game. Like they do in all those movies.”

“Who am I to take away a drinking game experience from you?” you joked, finding her childishness so endearing sometimes. It must have been hard having a childhood like she had.

“Now that’s what I like to hear!” Yelena exclaimed, twisting the cap on the bottle and pouring you two a shot each. “Can we do ‘never have I ever’? That seems easy enough.” You simply nodded and made yourself comfortable on the bed again, sitting cross-legged right across your friend, or crush, but still close enough.

“You have the honors of going first,” you gestured to her. “Let’s just not drink the whole shot when we answer, though. I don’t wanna die.”

“As if you could have that many fun experiences to drink after each question…” Yelena mused, but you knew she meant well. She just liked joking around with you.

“Okay,” she clapped excitedly, making your heart skip a beat, “I’ll start, then. Never have I ever done a hair dye prank on somebody.”

Both of you took a sip of your drink.

“Do I even wanna know?” you asked Yelena cautiously.

“I’ll just say that the red never washed out of Nat’s hair properly, so she just went with it.” Yelena giggled joyfully. “But how about you?”

“Imagine the Winter Soldier with green hair. My life almost flashed before my eyes when he realized what had happened, but I couldn’t back out of that bet with Sam.”

“Never have I ever,” you began, “laughed inappropriately in a very serious situation.” Immediately both of you took a sip again, breaking into laughter right after.

The game went on, all kinds of questions passing between you and Yelena and, over time, the more you both had to drink, the riskier questions you both asked.

“Never have I ever,” Yelena exclaimed dramatically, “had to hide more than two bodies in the same day.” She finished whatever she had left in her little glass as you sat with your mouth agape.

“What?” she argued, “it’s a part of the job.”

“Okay, okay,” you laughed. “It’s my turn again.” As you looked deeply into her mesmerizing eyes, you felt something wash over you, and you decided it was finally time to disclose some things. “Never have I ever wanted to kiss my sparring partner and friend.” The second that sentence was out of your mouth and hanging in the air between you and Yelena, you thought you’d pass out. Thankfully, you collected yourself enough to take the last sip out of the shot glass, but your heart broke a little when you noticed that Yelena wasn’t drinking. Ouch.

Whatever was written on your face, she caught on it quickly and shook her head as if to rearrange her own thoughts. “As much as I would love to take a sip for this particular question, I’m afraid we finished the whole bottle.”

Oh, okay, you thought. Maybe that wasn’t going to be such a disaster after all.

“Well, um… I-I’m glad we cleared that up then,” you stuttered, barely able to meet Yelena’s eyes for a split second.

“Think we should do something about it?” Yelena smirked as she slowly began leaning more towards you. Subconsciously you started doing the same thing. If she could be brave about it, so could you. Opting for a wordless nod of your head instead of a verbal answer, you finally closed the distance between yourself and the Russian. Her hands flew to your face almost instantly to cup your cheeks, and your arms snaked around her waist. It wasn’t a cute little innocent first kiss between two friends – it was fiery and passionate through and through. Grateful for the fact that you were technically the one who kissed her first, Yelena decided it would be her turn to initiate something, so she gently pushed you down on the bed and straddled your hips.

Your hands slid from her waist to her perfect thighs and squeezed them as she kissed you feverishly, but slowly, just taking it all in. When she pulled away, both of you were barely breathing, eyes locked with each other’s.

“As far as movie-like experiences go… this wasn’t bad at all,” she joked, now sitting up above you. You shoved her playfully and giggled a little bit, her bright smile matching your own mood.

“We should play games like this more often,” you concluded, gently pushing Yelena off of you so you could sit up again. Through a small fit of laughter, she agreed with you. “Now let’s go raid the kitchen for food and snacks. All that drinking just made me crave something unhealthy.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

[kitcat992]

yk what's a character i really enjoy your take on? wanda.

i just love how you made her much more of the "hero" type, but also more grounded... how you didn't sacrifice her vulnerability in the face of being A Strong Powerful Woman, sth which i absolutely hate marvel doing with all of its female characters, just so patronizing, yk? so it's nice seeing a woman who is strong and everything with their powers, but still human. (disclaimer, i am a woman, so i'm not being sexist and saying all women are emotionally weak or whatever)

it's currently 3:35am so i don't have the energy to get into it, tho i wanted to share the thoughts i had before i forget haha, but i'd be grateful to know more about your thoughts are on the character

Wanda has been SUCH an interesting character to write, especially as the MCU Canon goes on and I stay firmly put in my 2017 era of post-Civil War-with-a-proper-ending-this-time-around. It's a bit frustrating at times because the MCU clearly has progressed with their plans for her (ehhmmmm plans is a strong word. More like "progressed with her character sans a road map") But when I started the Identity Saga, we were post Infinity War and she was far different than who she is now.

(Also, obligatory, fuck the MCU, don't like it don't want it they can keep it Imma just play with the characters over here thank you very much)

She didn't have much of a role in the first installment, though I always wanted her to be very close with Peter and even fill that hole left behind from Pietro. You see it off the bat, with Wanda reading Peter's mind and defending his innocence despite Steve freaking the Fuck out like an overdramatic cap would do 😅 From there she immediately latches onto him, and like Steve recently put it -- Wanda's full of emotion, and it shows.

I think what's made Wanda so great in this series is actually her age. I truly don't know what the fuck the MCU has been smoking because her age changed like, 3 times in canon -- at first she was a higherschooler, then they bumped up her to 24, then WandaVision apparently has her in her 30's (again not currently taking in any new MCU content so I'm just repeating what I've been told her) Apparently, they wanted her young but changed their minds when they proceeded with the Vision romance.

I always enjoyed the concept of her being much younger, which is why I worked her age to be 22 in the Identity Saga. Old enough to be "an adult", young enough to still miss the youth she didn't get.

And that helps a lot with her relationship with Peter. He's like a little brother to her, again filling that hole from Pietro but also giving her a love she can cling onto that's familiar.

MCU Wanda will always be a hero/Avenger in my books, and I truly don't care what canon or her TV show or MoM says. If you wanna talk COMIC Wanda, yeah that bitch psycho and needs some meds. But MCU Wanda started off strong -- we got to see a traumatized female hero get the chance to use her strength, abilities, and smarts to help better the world that broke her so badly. Only instead we got "woman depressed woman crazy woman crazy with superpowers oh no."

Eh, whatever. I like writing this Wanda the way I do. The per-Infinity War/Civil War era gave us some of the best characterizations, if you ask me.

I will say, it IS frustrating to see "strong" female characters be portrayed as unbreakable. The strongest woman cries. The strongest woman screams and yells and shouts that shit isn't fair and it hurts their heart and their soul. But then they keep pushing forward, working *through* that emotion -- unlike most men, who refuse to acknowledge that they even have emotions and because of it that makes them "manly" and "tough". To me, a strong female superhero would absolutely sob and break down and let their emotion show, because in doing so you're able to move past that struggle.

Like Steve said, Wanda is full of emotion. Both good and bad.

[wildernessuntothemselves]

I'm the anon who asked advice about losing friends in your 20s a while back. I also feel like I get hurt and stuck on something that a lot of people would be able to get over and that's how I end up all alone,with my last friendship I tried to get over sth for 8 months,I tried with everything in me and then I had to accept defeat yet again,sometimes I feel guilty that I let people get close to me when it always ends in the same way,yk how you can tell if sth is triggering a specific trauma these

aren't instances where I can tell thats what happened but I still am holding out a little hope that when i can get therapy(even tho finding the right one is a whole pain in itself)I'll be able to treat whatever it is that Im not even aware of,I don't if you've tried it or plan to and I don't know if it'll actually help but what was quote,we deserve a soft epilogue...we deserve softness in general,specially people like us who went through so much to develop such intense issues,we deserve to have

lasting connections,I also think even when it does seem like I was unreasonably hurt or wtv even if I can't see it,it could be that I wasn't unreasonable at all,if having to give without any limit is what you learn(amongst other fucked up shit)then it's reasonable to think even if you think you know your limit you don't know it well enough and can't dig the info out yourself and need help from a professional,I'm not saying we are in the same boat,I barely know what boat I'm in but yeah I just wa

wanted to share and I'm sorry if it added more to your pain in some way,in any case I hope the patterns of pain stop repeating for you,idc if that's unrealistic,you deserve a miracle dont you think,I'm also not really sober rn so I'm sorry that what I said is all over the place

that's exactly it. it's not the words themselves it's the trauma they trigger. not to quote zefrank again but i will because that man describes what i'm going through better than i ever could

"you ever do that? project a movie from your past onto someone, vomiting emotions and feelings over some unsuspecting person? they say some little thing and suddenly you feel like you got hit by a wave and you withdraw or lunge and you feel like you did when you were small and you say, you! you made me angry, or you made me sad.

and it's hard enough to have a conversation with someone and now you're having it with ghosts too. ghosts that once made you feel shunned or angry or alone or maybe even made you feel like you might get annihilated altogether."

anyway i did go to therapy for a long time and you're right finding the right person is a challenge in itself. it took me years to find the right one and that's how i know where my problem is. the issue is that i stopped going to her for a couple of reasons and i haven't been able to get over the issue yet.

but my therapist did tell me once that if i feel like i'm shying away from someone for an unknown reason then i probably do have a reason, i just don't know it. the two specific examples she gave me made sense but now without her i can't judge if i do have a valid reason and i don't know it or if i'm just running away

i do hope they stop too but they've been repeating over and over again for so long that i'm just exhausted at this point and every time they repeat, it makes me want to fight back less. idk don't you sometimes feel like there is something fundamentally wrong with you and that's why you'll never get it right? that you weren't built for the daily struggles of life and that it would be so much easier if you just ceased to exist?

[angelkurenai]

Lucky idiot - Dean Winchester x Reader

Title: Lucky idiot

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Warnings: None

Summary: Hey sweetheart May I request a DeanxReader Imagine where reader is a mermaid but with a twist?Idk if you know the kids show called 'H2O just add water'But basically reader always turns into a mermaid if she gets into contact with water.And I imagined that reader would rescue dean from drowning after he was pushed off from a cliff by a ghost or sth?Then like thelittle mermaid moment where he sees her face after waking up.Then sam shows up and reader disappears.Then they meet her at a cafe I❤️u

“Look, all I'm saying is if you'd let me drive for this ti-”

“Get back to research, Sammy, I've got enough things on my head. Don't need you to make me more dizzy than I already am.” Dean grumbled before his brother could even get to finish his sentence.

“Which is exactly my point here.” Sam couldn't help but huff “Do you really think it's a good idea to drive while being so dizzy? I mean, for the love of, Dean, you nearly drowned three to four hours ago! Unless you're trying to finish the ghost's job right now, I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, letting me drive would give both of us higher chances of getting out of the car alive.”

“Bold of you to assume that if I let you drive, you'd get out of this car alive.” the older Winchester retorted with a half smile, that didn't feel even half as real though, before focusing as much as he could on the road before him “Besides, I've been more than nearly killed plenty of times and despite the trip to the other side, I was always the one to drive the car. I'm fine, just like every other time, Sammy. Only impatient to get some food. Again nothing new.”

“And that's supposed to calm me down now, or what? Honestly, Dean-” Sam huffed, shaking his head “I can't understand you sometimes. It was pure luck that you even found yourself out of there, alive. I mean, if the fall from that kind of cliff didn't do it then the water would have certainly been it and you know it.”

“But again it wasn't. Neither of the two did it for me as you can see, tough as it might have been. Unless, of course, your ranting is looking to be a serious contestant in that?”

“I assure you, me and my ranting are not trying to bore you to death. It's the last thing I want. But that doesn't mean I am not going to talk about it. Seriously Dean-” another shake of his head that this time earned an eye roll from the older Winchester “You could have drowned so easily and yet somehow you found your way to the shore, which let me point out is absolutely not normal. Not in the kind of situation you were in. Not unless there was some kind of help coming from very deep within that part of the water which is even more disturbing to think about. Maybe in equal measures to you not admitting that you being safe and sound on the shore within minutes from the spot you fell is suspicious. What if the ghost isn't the only supernatural creature here to begin with? What if we have to look more into other beings like...”

Sam kept going. Dean was sure of it. Not because he was listening closely, not because he was paying attention to every word and pondering over it because he had to admit that he hadn't made it out of the water on his own. There was no way he would have made it out alive on his own, that much he knew and could understand just like every other sane human being would easily would. That didn't mean it was because that's what he was currently wondering about. Not when there was little wondering to do about it, no. Both because he didn't have the mind to and also because... well, for the same reason as to why he couldn't listen to his brother at the moment. The images running through his mind.

Yes, he was sure Sam was talking to him but only because of the murmuring he could hear, which sounded more like a distant echo. And it was exactly because of those images which he couldn't shake off, he could never forget, that everything else around him sounded and looked distant and blurry. As if he wasn't part of the scenery, as if he wasn't living in it, but was actually more immersed in another world.

And truth be told, he was in a way. He was too focused in his memories, in the images, in the feelings that were still as vivid as they were a couple hours ago when he really felt them that he was almost reliving the moment. Even if part of that world, part of those feelings and moment were also just as distant and blurry as the present.

Dean was struggling, his entire body was struggling, his lungs were struggling, every cell and every inch of him, struggling to hold onto life. He wanted to hold onto the air in his lungs desperately so but as even more of it left and he couldn't find new one, his actions became more frantic and panicked than his thoughts. The fact that he had not been able to prepare for any of it had not helped to give him a head start of any kind, making it easier and faster for his vision to get blurry and filled with dark spots as the air and therefore fight left his body.

It was only when his mind had started feeling like it didn't care anymore, like there was no reason for fight and like maybe, just maybe, sleep would be a good choice. It wouldn't hurt anymore and he wouldn't have to struggle too hard, even if he really didn't get the chance to wake up ever again. His mind was in such a haze that all reason and will had left, perhaps even his perception of reality too. Because in his haze as he looked up he saw the blur of something that shouldn't have been there not only because he was all alone and sinking but also because it looked like something that shouldn't exist.

Then again, as he thought of it now in the car, he found about the existence of many things that shouldn't exist. Killed plenty of them too.

And yet none like this. It was no surprise that he kept it to himself, that he still wondered if it was all real in the first place. The flash of a shimmering white tail, not one of a shark or a dolphin, a fish could have been accurate if it wasn't for its shape and the colors that it reflected, sparkling under the minimal sun that could reach such depth almost holographic, extending long - almost endless in his eyes at that moment - brushing past his arms and legs, it was all still there in his mind. Vivid and clear as much as it had been that moment, which wasn't to say a lot, but he still could not shake off the feeling of arms wrapping around his body. Real hands, belonging to a human, touched his face. A small shake, he was sure there was that, but not only was his head a mess his eyes were also nearly closed and what sight he had was blurry. It didn't last long, Dean was surprised to even remember it, before a pair of arms wrapped around his torso and it was in that moment he felt the pull only followed seconds later by water moving past him at a speed that is by no means normal, but is certainly enough for Dean to close his eyes shut completely. The dizziness it offered mixing with his already hazy mind, led easily enough to him losing both track and sight of what was happening; and he was fairly sure his consciousness too.

He felt like he was coming in and out of consciousness far too many times for anything to make sense. There was no telling apart reality from hallucination to even dreams.

The feeling of being dragged into the shore was something like a ghost feeling in the back of his mind, arms around his torso dragging him and struggling to pull him out of the sea, sounds of struggling and an effort beyond the person's strength – because obviously the lack of water and presence of drenched clothes that only became heavier this way along with the sticking sand made it all much harder to move. Similar to that was the feeling of a pair of hands, human-like, far too human-like and that somehow set Dean on edge, that pressed on his chest, pushing with all the strength the person could master. And certainly similar to the feeling of hands on his face, the touch much more clear than when he was underwater, though still under a veil of haziness in his minds.

All of those moments, though, despite how blurry they seemed, despite how hard it was for him to figure out if they were real, he knew there was one that he couldn't have dreamed of; that it had to be real. The feeling of lips pressing on his cheek, chaste and feather-like and very hesitant much like the way a forehead rested against his; all shortly after he felt the water pour out of his lips – out of his lungs – like there was no ends. But there was, and in the end he could finally get the precious and much-needed oxygen his body was craving for. He was probably – certainly – still very dizzy and his vision had plenty of black spots but there was no mistaking the sigh of relief he heard, human-like so human-like, and a hand cupping his cheek.

“What could you possibly be doing there you idiot?” the voice was low, sounding very much English and very much human “If only you knew how lucky you were.” a small laugh, and it was probably the sweetest sound he'd ever heard, one he would never forget, he should never forget and he knew he'd hate himself if ever forgot “Lucky idiot. Hm seems fitting, since I can't get a name out of you. Who knows what-”

He could not remember more words being uttered, not from that soft and caring voice. He only remembered someone, someone that sounded a lot like Sam and was most likely him though his dizzy brain couldn't even put that together, call out his name in the far distance before came the sound of hasty rustling and water splashing. It was in those hasty few seconds that he got something he wished he could hold onto forever: His eyes slid open, just slightly so, catching sight of a face, your face.

Admittedly he had felt all air leave his lungs for the second time in that moment, and when your eyes met his and he noticed you pause for a half second, he couldn't stop himself from reaching out to touch you to make sure you were real. Or at least try to, because he didn't have the strength to get more than halfway there. Fact which he regretted later because he couldn't tell if you really had been a fragment of his imagination, what if the face he saw was only in his mind – hard as it would be for him to even dream and therefore make up such a sight.

A sight that combined with the very much mermaid-like, he could only now tell that he was driving and had sobered up, tail vanishing below the surface of the water had been keeping him on edge. Too much for it all to just have been a fragment of his own imagination. Not because it sounded and looked too crazy, nothing could with the kind of life he had, but because he didn't want it to be just him. He wanted it to be real even if he didn't know where he would ever get to see that face, feel those gentle and caring hands that had pulled him to his safety (if he was right about all of it) and hear that compassionate if not clearly teasing voice that revealed a real spark and personality underneath that he could easily adore.

Wait- Adore?

“That's it. That's the caf- Wait- Aren't you gonna stop he- Dean? Dean? Dean!” Sam nearly yelled to get his brother's attention, thankfully making the older Winchester press on the breaks and make the car come to a halt. The younger Winchester could only thank their lucky stars that the road was empty at the moment.

“Huh? Wh-what?” Dean blinked in surprise, as if finally having been brought back to reality.

“Alright, that's it.” Sam huffed stubbornly “We go in there, get something to eat and then you give me the keys and I'm keeping them for the next three days for sure. And I won't hear a single thing from you. We're lucky to be both alive at the moment. Got it?”

He did not leave any room for argument as he stormed out of the car and made his way to the cafe they were originally heading to. Dean, in all honesty, couldn't be more glad for it. It had been anything but silent in his head all this time, he could use a couple seconds of not thinking and not talking to put himself together because at the end of the day he had work to do as well.

Or at least that was what he kept telling himself, repeating the words over and over again like a mantra, to the point he almost believed it. To the point he believed that he had gotten you off his mind, to the point he believed he was getting over everything and to the point that he had convinced himself he was focused on the job and there would be no further distractions. Or at least so he thought until he pushed the cafe's door open and before he could take more than one step inside, felt something – or rather someone – collide with him.

He looked down, lips parted and ready to retort, only for the words to die out in his lips and every though to drown in the sea of disbelief and surprise that took over his entire being. Once more all air had left his lungs and yet the struggle for air had never been as painfully sweet as now.

“Well, look at that...” your voice was soft just like the smile that formed on your lips as your eyes locked with his and Dean still had trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that you were there, right in front of him; before you added in a low voice “It's the lucky idiot.”

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket, Se03. ep 6.(Part 1)

The main female protagonist who, has been the “mother /psychiatrist/ fixer/curse-breaker” for 57 eps & 2 seasons, has finally had her own “I’m a real person with my own issues” ep !!!! YESS! So happy!!! also, so underwhelmed. Tohru has been painted to be this utterly selfless & altruistic character for long, that when she’s finally a balanced character it’s presented in half an episode? Don’t get me wrong, I like the ep, but there’s also the same feeling of bullet train that I felt in momiji’s ep! ugh!! I hated that feeling! Go away~ oh well.. I’ll quickly state what I didn’t like, before jumping into what I liked, in order to end with a happier note~

What I didn’t like:

Tohru’s monologue after leaving shigure & Isuzu felt more like a background exposition more than a true character’s thoughts. The reason is that It is quickly narrated with quick flashbacks from the past with intentional pieces missing from the flashback. Pieces like” how did Kyoko hurt tohru? She said to kyo, in se02, ep “ I feel like I’ve only caused her sadness” &  tohru’s flashbacks in se02 of her mother leaving/ closing a door. All these things not included in tohru’s 1st ever personal monologue made it seem like quick fill in for the audience more than tohru’s main struggle. Compare it to Yuki’s 3 ep monologue in se02, filled with all his own background info, hence, we as audience sit back & just feel. With tohru a little brain work is needed of putting things together in the puzzle is needed because NOTHING abt her trauma has ever been explained to us prior to her monologue . Also, compare this kyo. A character who ONLY have 2 eps dedicated to him in 57 eps, yet even without monologues & with hidden secrets for climax purposes, his emotions are clear cuz his background was explained early in se01, ep24 & se02, ep9. Compared to them both, her monologue felt a bit lacking.

What’s up with the following scene? Her crying & kyo comforting her mid-street. He saw her crying, asked what’s wrong & she couldn’t say & he gave her a comforting advice. All good. Kyo always give the most needed advice for tohru to be herself & feel comforted. Se01, “complain more, be selfish” Se02, somen table scene & asking her abt her future plans & the hiro incident. Kyo has tried to guess whats wrong first. Here he saw her cry in the middle of the street & just gave her an advice? couldn’t he at least guess wrongly if it is her granpa? school? anything? This scene is AMAZING but it feels off a little.

Kyo’s “ now I remember” EXCUSE ME?????? se01, ep14, valentine ep, he got a nightmare, then when shigure talked to him, we saw a quick flashback that we didn’t now what it is but now it IS kyoko. se02, the entirety of ep9 & the “ I won’t forgive you” & the flashback of young him with kyoko talking abt tohru. se02, ep 22 his fight with yuki & the clear face of kyoko telling him abt something regarding the hat. His entire shutdown of tohru IS abt kyoko NOT abt him being a monster cuz tohru accepted monster kyo in se01 ep 24! so.. REMEMBER WHAT????? the accident?? I feel like being hit with a rock. I mean, it makes sense that kyo will get PTSD after seeing the hat, cuz he remembers the bloody accident vividly. But it is the dialogue that IS weird. “ I remember” ?? it makes no sense? unless it is another hidden secret & will be revealed later. If so, then forget this point.

Kagura (more on her below). Now, let’s talk abt what I liked!

-Grief (the most difficult theme to express in literature): Excellent writing!

Grief is one of the most diverse human emotions. ppl who grief a loved one either erase everything abt them in order to cope with the pain of loss & live on, or drastically engrave everything, not want any memory to slip away, or hold the deceased on a pedestal, or hate them irrationally in order to forget abt them, some deny that the loved one is gone, others talk to them daily, some act & live normally for years & suddenly it hits them that this loved person is truly gone & they breakdown. Others, direct their disbelief of losing a precious one into the envy that other bad ppl are still living, why my precious one is dead?. Thats why, it is a difficulty emotion to understand by others. Ppl watching you will always think that comforting you is enough & that the longer you take, the more impatient they are with you. Tell me, watching tohru this ep, didn’t you feel that:

Come on. tohru, you can love your mom & kyo! who says only ONE person can be your precious?

Umm, why she cries for her mom NOW? 2 years after her death? Is she over it already?

Tohru~~ your mom aint going no where cuz you loved a guy? she’s in your heart, girl. Ugh!

Compared to yuki who was abused by his parents & kyo whose mom commit suicide in front of him, tohru’s trauma is meh~

Feeling this way abt tohru is exactly how many feel abt ppl struggling with grief. You are NOT a bad person if you felt this way. It means that thankfully you weren’t struck by grief to tohru’s extent or that your grief went about differently than tohru. Grief is a crippling feeling. It is valid, strong, overwhelming, paralyzing & above all very unique to the person themselves. Tohru feeling that her mom is slipping away from her memory is so realistic & utterly heartbreaking. Grief hurts & moving on from grief hurts more!!!! The more you go on & live your life, the more you feel like you betray your loved one.

Tohru’s entire existence is for her mother & so her mother LIVES inside her:

Finishing high school cuz it’s her mother’s request.

Getting a job to sustain herself cuz she has no one to support her financially.

Giving her mom’s wisdom & teachings abt life to others.

imitating her dad’s speaking style to prevent her mom from “leaving”.

Being the perfect girl in order to portray that her mom, who is a gangster & is hinted by the ugly relatives to be unfaithful to her husband due to tohru not taking after her dad, actually raised a respectful girl!

Talking to a dead cold lifeless picture as if it is a living human being & going into panic attacks when she looses such pictures.

Suppressing all her true “ ugly, negative” emotions & only giving the fake smiles & positive attitude.

She fears that ppl will leave her if she isn’t “comforting, happy”, hence, the whole facade of “ i’m okay, I’m okay”.

Immersing her self in ppl’s issues so she won’t face her own feelings of utter loneliness, fear of the future, & being left behind when everybody moves on with their lives.

Thinking that having selfish desires contradicts the “ hopeful, kind” girl images, hence, the fear to actually wants sth for herself. Everything HAS TO BE for the sake of the others.

Tohru is deeply traumatized & her complex, unhealthy but extremely realistic attachment to her mom must be broken. Tohru must learn to LET GO.

-Kagura’s character’s assassination. aka (violence heals y’all!)

The show wanted to express the emotion that kagura is still in love with kyo, but is learning to let go & accepting kyo/tohru love. I love that. Her speech with kazuma abt not being able to face tohru cuz her face will show her emotions is so relatable & it hit ME personally. Loved that. Then, she learns that tohru truly loves kyo & should confess to him not talk to Isuzu & I get that, it make sense that she lashes on thru & teach her the value of being open abt your feelings & dont loose him. all cool & understandable. BUT:

How dare you slap tohru like that? you don’t know what she’s going through? tohru is wearing funeral clothes for God’s sake! she just visited her dead mom, you insensitive woman! How dare you assume that all tohru is struggling with is love love, romance romance yay~ confess, kiss, be happy?

Tohru & kyo’s issues are deeper than typical, normal, shallow shojo love. It is related to child trauma & abuse. To their own individual identity & self-image! Their romantic love is meant to guide them towards better choices for the future, not magically heal everything. Their mutual love is NOT the answer to their issues.

How dare you slap someone to make them go back to their senses? this is such an anime move! ugh!~ it cheapens the emotional weight of character’s emotions.

“ I’m not apologizing to tohru. We communicate thro fists” excuse me?  you arent even communicating with kyo thro fists! he sees you & run! the only time he thanked you for, was when you didn’t “ communicate thro fists” & played with him as a child! Not only make her hit tohru but not apologize??

No one told her off? are you foreal?? Isuzu pouting lips is no match for Isuzu powerful emotions when she’s embarrassed, & kazuma! where you at? Happy at the “ open confrontation”? Why do you kill kagura’s character like that?

Side Notes:

I hate how this went by in half an ep like they did with machi!! tohru is THE main character for God’s sake! But it looks like the show is not so fond of the true tohru who wants stuff & screams & talks to herself, alas she isn’t the angelic, innocent girl that is saturating the heck out of all shojo amines. Oh well~ perhaps tohru’s issues will be visited again in the finale?

Kyo gets PTSD reaction in front of tohru. great. Now what’s next? I won’t ever forgive the anime if next ep, kyo & tohru are all normal or worse the episodic theme prevents the continuation & jumps elsewhere. Nearly all the eps that didn’t end with a happy note, started the next ep somewhere & totally forgot the cliff hanger. such as, Isuzu’s ep in se02, it ended with tohru’s nightmare & next ep started yuki’s issues with tohru all smiley & bright. Another example, the Cinderella play ended with kyo/tohru torn symbolism where each is awkward with the other, next ep machi !!!!!! & kyo/ tohru all normal in kazuma’s house. But this time, it will be an epic mistake to do the same. Kyo going full traumatic in front of tohru to the point of her screaming is not sth you skip & start over erasing. Don’t disappoint me show! you can’t screw that, can you?

I love the symbolism of kyoko disappearing from the picture & the crack of her framed pic at the end with it still continued in he ED. Good job.

They are building for a hug clashing scene between kyo & tohtu. it must hurt. It is designed to hurt. I wanted it to hurt. It is not abt romance. It is abt mental & emotional trauma. I’m excited. But I’m scared. After today’s ep, I can confidently say I don’t trust the director. I’m an anime-only, but tohru’s part in the story is the least touched upon, the quickest to get over with & has the wackiest animation. They just don’t know how to depict an emotional tohru~ sigh~

Tohru is written to be a unique protagonist in the sea of innocent, selfless & always happy shojo heroine & opposed to the badass, physically strong female protag in shonen. She is the most realistic, but so much of her potential is wasted so far~~

“ saving the sohma’s. breaking the curse for others is a lie, in reality I wanted to do it for kyo” This line is supposed to be liberating for tohru cuz for once she is putting herself FIRST! It is not abt kyo. It is abt herself! it is cuz SHE wants him. See the difference? See how this line gives tohru the biggest character development!! but still sth is missing. I duno..

I have lots to say abt tohru, kyo, shigure, the grandpa, kyoko, Isuzu & even kazuma! I’ll do that in part 2.

I still liked the ep tho. It is solid. I”ll like it MORE if they continued from here & didn’t cut it cold.

[babyboiboyega]

Confessions (Wing Beifong x reader)

Pairing: Wing Beifong x reader

Content: angst, major injury

Word Count: 1 .4k

REQUESTED BY ANONYMOUS:  “would live to request a LoK Oneshot (but in an anonymous way, I got the notifications active so you wouldnt have to tag me :D), but I don't know if you're too busy at the moment.. but just in case you'd write sth.. a Oneshot with Wing in the last episode, where the whole team is fighting against Kuvira. The reader, who also is an earthbender or Wing getting hurt really bad (but still surviving it) and both of them confessing their actual feelings??”

I hope you enjoy this! I’m sorry it took me a while! I was thinking of maybe doing a short drabble or a small oneshot as a second part to this where Wing and the reader can talk more! 

Babyboiboyega’s Legend of Korra Masterlist

Babyboiboyega’s Masterlist of Masterlists

********************

Every breath you took coated your throat with a mixture of ash and dust. Every building you ran past was a game of chance, whether it would come crumbling down on top of you. Yours limbs were stiff and with every step they threatened to give out, but you would not let that happen. You couldn’t let that happen, not when you were tasked with finding those who were hurt and who needed help. Despite knowing how important it was to stay focused and alert, you couldn’t help the way your mind wandered to your friends and if they were okay. Specifically, if he was okay.

No. There would be no “if’s”. He would be okay; he had to be, because you had no idea what you would do if he wasn’t.

There were so many words that you had to say to him, and if- when- you made it out of this alive, you would find him and tell him what your heart had revealed to you a long time ago. You couldn’t count how many times you had been close to telling Wing exactly how you felt, but you had never gotten the chance. Between everything going on, Kuvira, the brief time where the world was encompassed in pure evil, the two of you hadn’t really had the time to interact as much as you wanted to. But somehow, the feelings that you harbored for him had only grown over the months. They had grown all the way up until this moment, when you were just about ready to pop and confess everything.

But all of that would have to wait until after the battle was over, whenever that would be. You knew it would have to be over soon, you had just stumbled across the sight of Korra racing after a disheveled Kuvira.

As you raced through the debris ridden streets, you kept your eyes peeled for both enemies and survivors. It proved to be quite difficult as there was a blanket of ash that covered any an everything it could reach. Only when you had lifted enough earth to make a small building and still hadn’t found anyone did you turn on your heel and begin making your way back to Tenzin and the kids.

Your feet caught on a few pieces of debris, but you made it back to them in one piece. You couldn’t say the same for Tenzin as you caught sight of him leaning exhaustedly against Jinora.

“Tenzin! Jinora!” Your voice rang out across the broken street as you approached them. Without hesitation, you quickly walked to Tenzin’s other side, taking some of his weight. Jinora threw an appreciative look from the other side of her father before continuing to walk and support her father.

“Y/N, you’re here! We’re glad you’re okay.” Meelo exclaimed from your other side, prompting a small, reassuring smile to be thrown his way. You could say the exact same for them; the sight of them in good shape, for better or worse in Tenzin’s case, made the smallest sliver of hope appear in your chest. Something that told you everything would be okay.

“I’m okay, Meelo. I’m glad you all are okay!” Your eyes trailed to Tenzin’s hunched figure beside you, “Tenzin…is it over?”

Before a word could be uttered, the ground beneath your feet began to rumble. Your teeth knocked against each other as if the ground was threatening to either swallow you all whole or laugh you into the sky. Jinora’s look of appreciativeness changed into one of unbelief and fear. Your eyes followed her faze over your shoulder where you were met with a sight that, undoubtedly, made your face mirror Jinora’s.

The sight of a tidal wave of pure spiritual energy consuming everything in it’s path was terrifying enough to both freeze you to your sport while making an inner voice yell at you to get out of the way. You didn’t have to choose between the two actions, for you were already being pulled towards an alley.

Despite being pulled by two people, your feet still couldn’t move fast enough to escape the incoming cloud of energy and dust.

You felt the heat of the energy licking at your neck and without a second thought, your arms shot forward, pushing Tenzin with all of your might into the alley. Your view of him and the kids were obscured as the cloud of dust enveloped your body, the pure energy setting every nerve in your body on fire.

Your arms shook with the effort of raising them against the intense winds that pushed against you. You were barely able to raise a slab of earth in front fo you as it all intensifies, however, it proved to be futile.

You couldn’t help the yell that escaped your mouth as the slab gave way against the winds, your body being effortlessly picked up and thrown backwards.  

The panic that you felt was like no other as you floated through the air, your eyes searching for something- anything- that wasn’t dust. However, the search was cut short as you slammed against something that effectively took all of your breath away and made your vision go dark.

*****

The first thing you had expected when gaining an ounce of consciousness was to choke on a mouth full of dust. Well, to be honest, you were surprised that you had even gained an ounce of consciousness in the first place. You remember every detail that had happened and you knew that it hadn’t been good. You didn’t need your memories to know that much; the pain that radiated through your body said enough.

The first sense that came back was your hearing. You heard nothing at first, but then you heard what sounded like footsteps. They were muffled due to the sound of your own blood rushing in your ears, but you could hear them nonetheless. You had no idea how long it had been before voices accompanied those footsteps, but with every second that passed, your hearing threatened to go back out…and it scared you.

“Y/N! Say something, let us know where you are!”

You tried with everything that you had to reply, to call out to him, but your mouth felt as if it were filled with cotton.

The air around you was charged with electricity, giving off a heat that would have normally made you uncomfortable; but your limbs felt ice cold and like they were being weighed down by something relentless. You couldn’t move or say anything if you wanted to, and you wanted to; so badly.

“Y/N! Please say some-“

“She’s over here!”

Through your hearing that continued to fade in and out, you could hear the sound of footsteps quickly making their way over to you and the sound of debris being pushed over.

“Oh no. No, no, no. Y/N!”

You couldn’t see him, but you could hear him. You could hear a rathe large piece of debris being dropped somewhere and then you could feel him.

His thumbs gently rubbed at your eyes, removing the ash that blocked your vision…and then you could see him. The sight was enough to bring tears to your eyes, Wing unharmed and here, right before you.

“Hey! Can you hear me?”

With all the strength you could muster, you moved your mouth, hoping that sound was actually coming out.

You knew that you should have been worried at the look his face as he looked at the state you were in, but all you could feel was relief at the sight of his face. He was okay. Nevermind the tears that trekked down his face, cutting paths in the thin layer of dust that covered his features.

“You’re going to be okay. I’m going to get you help, I got you.”

The feeling of his hands picking you up was masked by the intense waves of pain that wracked your body. The only thing keeping you from crying out was the sound of his voice reassuring you as he ran quickly.

“You’re safe now, Y/N. You keep your eyes open for me, okay? You have to keep your eyes open for me, please. I need you- I love you. You can’t leave me.”

The sound of his voice cracking as he spoke made tears appear in your eyes. You never knew that you could hate a sound so much until you heard the sound of Wing crying. It made your chest swell with sobs.

You could feel your mouth moving once more and this time, you could feel both and hear your voice as it came out of your mouth. The sound of your voice made Wing stop and look down at you, his eyes wide and filled with tears.

“W-what’d you say?” He lowered his head closer to you as your mouth opened once more.

“I love you too…more than you know.”

****************

Once again! I hope you enjoyed this! I’m still taking requests for LoK and the other fandoms I write for! Don’t hesitate to send them in!

[xiu21chen99]

hxh headcanon!!

/imagine ofc!! everyone expected another, i hope shhdjdkf

umm... my art?? I'll be transferring it to digi-art tomorrow or sth but uh be nice pls, im new to dis

the art is related to the hc,,, anYWAYS DARK CONTINENT ARC TIMELINE and... TW! blood, violence and death. this is what i envision the "battle for hisokas head" arc story thingey would go

ON THE BLACK WHALE!

Hisoka has killed most of the spiders already, all that was left were Illumi, Kalluto, Chrollo, Shizuku and Bonolenov (bc the latter three formed a group truce rmmbr)

he decides to save the Zoldycks for last so he hunts for the mf who mangled his face and literally killed him

Hisoka makes quick work of killing Bono and Shizuku (nooo my bby ;-;)

Chrollo and he have a sort of stalemate stance bc they're in a discrete room in the Black Whale, they're meters apart and they're literally just walking in a circle to see who'd make the first move

Bono and Shizuku's bodies are in the same room

Illumi comes in with Kalluto in tow and the two siblings stop dead in their tracks to watch

that's when Hisoka moves in for the kill

but Chrollo counters w a spell he pulled from his book- an explosion erupts, tho it's a small, kind of controlled one but still, everyone in the room are forced back

Hisoka's thrown to a wall while the other three skid back on the feet

the emergency alarms ring in the room, the automated doors move to close

Illumi and Kalluto make eye contact before Kalluto runs for it, Illumi goes to block the door when he left, making sure Chrollo doesn't follow suit before walking towards Hisoka

"what are you doing?" Chrollo asks when Illumi helps the clown to his feet.

"oh, did i not tell you?" Illumi pulls out a few needles from his outfit "Hisoka has also commissioned for your head, but only under the circumstance where he could see."

"no, you forgot to mention that." Chrollo humors, book in hand and a forced smile on his lips

"oh this should be fun," Hisoka adds beside him, cracking his neck with a sinister grin

"i take it you were serious about the... engagement ring you mentioned earlier?" Chrollo asks as he flips to a page in his book

"quite, yes. i have already told my brother to not contact our parents about it, hence why he was with me up until now." Illumi explains, pins glowing with violet nen

"how boring, i had hoped you'd at least introduce me to my in-laws before we get on with it." Hisoka teases, cards in hand

"disgusting." Chrollo sneers, and the tension in the room snaps.

There's another explosion, quite bigger and definitely stronger. Illumi blocks the stray debris from his eyes with a hand, squinted eyes taking in everything that was to see.

Hisoka was still beside him though his head was snapping from left to right trying to navigate their common target

There's whispering, then Chrollo's puppets appear behind them, seeming to have grown from the concrete ground

they were mindless pawns, Hisoka gladly kicked them all til they returned to dust

what came next were Bono and Shizuku, though Illumi could have sworn they were dead earlier

"it's a stolen power, they might still be able to use their nen." Hisoka warns, and as if to prove his point Shizuku attacks Illumi with Blinky

"cut off their heads!" Hisoka yells, disappearing into the still present dust cloud of the post-explosion

Shizuku was the easier target, death made her think that vacuum of hers was a sword. Illumi pins her to the wall and snaps her head off

Bono was more clever, he hid in the dust and used his whistle like body to distract Illumi from where he actually was

Then he attacks when he had his back turned to him

But Illumi soon gets the hang of it, whips back to his right to catch Bono mid jump, and crushes his neck like paper

He drops the twice killed body and wipes his hands on his pants

There's strong aura somewhere in the room, so he follows his instincts through the smog

Another explosion, but this time actual smoke builds up in the room, triggering the fire alarms and the sprinklers

"you fucking bitch!"

"you should have stayed dead, Hisoka!"

Illumi follows the voices and now obvious sounds of fighting

as the smoke clears, he sees multiple figures go after who he assumes was Hisoka. Logically speaking, he was the only target of those useless puppets

Illumi jumps to his feet to help him, throwing pins at the three running to Hisoka at stumbling speed

He lands behind Hisoka with grace, feet as silent as ever.

the smoke is nearly gone now, so when Illumi turns to see if Hisoka was alright he's shocked to find a rock figurine, roughly formed to Hisoka's shape and build

"Hisoka-"

"i can't believe you fell for that" Chrollo says behind him, but Illumi has already sent needles flying his way

"what did you do?"

unprepared, Chrollo's sent to the wall, hands pinned and spread. there were matching pins buried deep into the palms of his hands making him unable to move

"I just killed the bastard who shouldn't have come for my friends."

his hands needed to touch something to detonate. with two more pins each added to his hands (and two more to each of his feet), Chrollo's made to float with Illumi's Manipulation

(hc power here bc i think he could do this, but he only saves it for special occasions or enemies lol)

Illumi pulls forth a mind control needle amd jams it into Chrollo’s forehead, “answer my questions, and answer me truthfully"

"what did you do to Hisoka, you could not have killed him in that short amount of time. I should have been able to sense something if you did. he is not in this room, so where is he?"

Chrollo groans, "he's trapped in the room i laid out for him"

"explain."

"i stole some random passenger's teleportation ability. its' condition is to only be able to open a portal if the room's closed and only has one door. i opened the portal and left him in the in between."

"you have been planning this, correct?"

"i only came up with it when Shizuku encountered the man with this power. he's still alive of course, but if i kill him then his nen portals would cease, and Hisoka will be trapped in that limbo forever."

"and nen after death..?"

"he adores the spiders, he surely won't hold a grudge if i killed him for this."

"this is a well executed plan." Illumi complements despite the situation

"thanks."

"open the portal, bring him back."

"why should i?"

Illumi grabs another pin from his shirt, this time giving it a lick before jamming it into Chrollo's arm

"i am already annoyed at how everything has turned out, just pull Hisoka out of the portal."

life slowly drains from Chrollo's eyes, as he goes limp against Illumi's pins that kept him afloat and away from any possible detonation medium

Chrollo-puppet, now on his own two feet, pulls out his book and flips to a page. The wall behind him opens, the metal folding out as if crumpled then Hisoka walks out, in shock. The wall closes silently, as if it never opened to begin with

Hisoka snaps out of it quickly, lips curving into a pleased smile, "nice work, Illu!"

Illumi waves a hand dismissively. "would you like to do the honors?"

"ooh~ don't mind if i do," Hisoka pulls out a card from somewhere and approaches the still Chrollo.

Illumi walks to a wall to lean against it, knowing Hisoka would take his time.

"you've married an idiot, Illumi Zoldyck." a voice said beside him, and he snaps his head up to see Hisoka's killing slash

"wait-"

But it was too late

another explosion, this time strong enough to blow the doors open and the walls broken

Illumi's once again pushed to the wall, back through the metal it poked him with blisters

As the dust settled for a third time, Chrollo stood in the middle of the room, unharmed and unpinned.

Under his foot, Hisoka. Dead?

"no-" Illumi coughs, dust filling his lungs

Illumi stumbles to the pair as Chrollo backs away, to the door now open

"Hisoka-" he falls to his knees beside the man, cradles the head to his lap. This was real, this was really Hisoka. he felt it- he felt the last ebbs of his presence fade along with the explosion.

He was really dead...

Was his Bungee Gum/after death nen a one time thing?

He was so stupid, he should have noticed that Chrollo was a fake. It had been too easy. Fuck.

Hisoka coughs, and Illumi zeroes in on it, on the way his once steady chest heaves with labored breaths. "Hiso- Hisoka?"

"Illu..." he drawls, unable to say it clearly

"what do i do?"

"ta... take m-" he coughs again, "take my heart, Illu."

"what do you mean?" Illumi presses a hand to the side of Hisoka's neck, trying to find a pulse

"this is my nen condition-" heave- "Bungee gum will help me get the engagement ring to you. it's in my heart, literally-"

"Hisoka, you are not making any sense-"

"just kill me already, illu-" cough- "and carve out my heart. you'll find the ring there."

"o-oh" Illumi's eyes widen

"do it, illu. before my-" heave again "nen runs out."

Hisoka's smiling. his glamour of texture surprise has worn off already, so his nose-less, peeling face stared back at Illumi

"go on, love."

with no other choice, Illumi elongates his nails and digs into the crevice between Hisoka's rib cage. his blood felt hot and sticky between his fingers, but Illumi dug deeper.

his heart was still beating though weakly, as if it still had a chance to live on

"bye, love." were Hisoka's last breathy words as Illumi pulls the organ out. It was shrouded in pink nen, Bungee Gum he thought, its distinct tint a permanent brand in Illumi's mind

gore slid down his hand, as illumi held it closer to his face for inspection

for a few fleeting moments it continued throbbing, but now it's stilled to a mere heart.

Illumi has done this method of killing before, but this is the first heart he thought held value

blood dripped from his hand down to Hisoka's smiling face, eyes open and gaze somewhere to Illumi's direction

as the Bungee Gum lifted, a ring popped out from an outward ventricle.

a bloody ring

how did he manage to do this?

despite the crimson, Illumi slips it to his ring finger with a grim smile

even after death, Hisoka still amazed him

He gently puts Hisoka's head to the ground, off his lap, and closes his golden eyes

Illumi's en grows with unbridled rage that it covered the whole ship. Chrollo is just a few hallways down

Bloodlust up in new heights, Illumi lets his presence explode, making sure nen and non nen users alike felt his hunger to kill

Finding Chrollo was too easy, but this time he's sure it was the real one. he was at the balcony, looking out into the sunset.

"i take it, you loved him?"

Illumi doesn't answer, instead walks closer with eery silence

"if you loved him then why didn't you tell him?"

one step forward, two, three. just a few more left.

"he wouldn't have reciprocated? blah, he was of peculiar taste, I'm sure he would've accepted you."

pins, needles, hell even a card he got from Hisoka. he threw all of it to Chrollo, aiming for where he was and the surrounding spots he could have gone to, to avoid them

pinned down and bleeding, Chrollo continues "or were you not aware you loved him until you saw him die right before your eyes?"

Illumi, more than once, said that assassins don't need friends. didn't have a need for anyone else but family.

but

"he was my friend. that's all there was to it."

Chrollo's head rolls to the balcony, falls off and to the sea. a king of hearts was placed where the head should be, engraved into the floor.

later that day, Illumi went back to the room where Hisoka was, to find Kalluto there. His kimono was bunched up by his hands to make sure blood didn't touch the ends.

"aniki, what happened here? where's danchou?"

"kallu, i want you to help me with something." Illumi said instead, "can you help me clean him up?"

"should we throw him overboard?" Kalluto gestured to Hisoka.

"no, i want to fix him up and find a coffin in this ship. i will bury him when we get back to the mainland."

"why?"

"because..." Illumi fiddled with the bloodied ring, "he was my husband."

for those of u confused don't worry, i am too. basically chrollo used a bomb dummy of himself and that’s the one hisoka killed but uh got him killed instead. shjsjfkf sorry if this was shitty it's 2:30am nd i just wanted to write this before i forgot. I'll fix it tomorrow hopefully

also the hc is the ring in hisokas heart thingey and maybe the room trap plan bc togashi wouldnt have introduced that bitch if he didnt plan on using him for the plot shjsjdkfkgl good night!

[ertrunkenerwassergeist]

I send you a Thing over on Ao3 comment section on Heart of Thunder. Feel free to answer it here and delete it there afterwards! I hope you like my little idea on reversal of the selkie!au 😁💗

Delete it? Maybe. But here it is, so that people know what I’m answering to:

How about a reversal of the selkie!au? Galahd has legends of selkie. But those on the islands are like Fae. You have to be very careful to cook me out of meeting them more or less intact. So Galahkari treat them with due caution and keep the hell away.

On the other hand, in Lucis skin changers have a moderately benevolent history. Helpful, if you treat them well but break a contract or harm an innocent around them and YOU. ARE. DONE. There are many stories of a queen or two shedding feathers of a Swan (one black and one white, guess who was more beloved) to settle down with her beloved. Countless more romanticised versions among the literature - all of which the refugees from Galahd scoff at with derision. But most of Insomnia treats those like fairy tales or sth, believing it even less than the takes of the Astrals and their Messengers.

Wider Lucis is a different story. Ppl there still have the Shifters appear from time to time. Tales of ppl with slightly wilder look around them are common. They all try to exercise their hospitality and manners especially well around those individuals.

And if that annoying herd that keeps destroying crops suddenly moves away or the Thunderocs that try to nest on the antidemon lights disappear they keep it to themselves and just smile extra warmly at the stranger should he appear again. Cor is a skin changer. Not many (beyond the Retinue) are aware of that. Mors certainly was not despite using the feral child as a soldier/guard. He feels like a wolf or a bird of prey of some type.

Regis knows the lore, some of the skin changer blood flows through his veins, he understands the urges. (Hmm, maybe Ardyn's mother's ancestor had phoenix blood in their veins? Maybe Somnus was just his half brother?) and knows that Cor's instincts are much sharper. Trusts that whenever Cor deals away with a member of his court, there is something wrong. Hell, even his suspicions are usually enough to start an investigation.

(That's why Titus irks him so much. He has trouble finding evidence between being run ragged by the war, something just /itches/at him in that man's presence. Drautos on the other hand just does not believe in folk tales) And then come the Galahdians.

And Nyx Ulric.

And Cor's every instinct just screams at him to get close to the man. That he is Important. (Doesn't help that he smells nice beneath all the spices, Cor can smell the fragrance even hours after the Glaive finished Guard duty in Citadel. Regis just laughs at him and starts mercilessly teasing his friend. It's only because Cor considers him family that the King does not end up with his throat torn out.)

Unfortunately, the moment Cor gathers enough courage to actually try talking to the man, he stumbles upon a convo disparaging the Lucian naivete re. selkie and decides to stay away and pine from the distance.

Hi, I just wanted to clarify in case tumblr ate my reply to your question: you can absolutely feel free to post this on tumblr with your reply.

Have some more tiny pieces

Galahdians being a bit like the Irish, wary as hell about the fair folk but not selkie, still human.

On the other hand, Cor being able to put on feathers or fur and being *very specific* about how he goes about helping ppl (and only certain ppl) or solving problems Imagine them ranting about naive Lucians having romantic tales about selkie and having the image of bloodthirsty Eldrich sea creatures in mind.  While Lucians think about their Swan queens and maybe some furry Messenger like helpful creatures (as long as you don't offend them) Complete culture shock😜

.

Me:

Okay, first off: This is wonderful. And I love it very much. Also for everybody’s sanity I’ll put my answer under the cut.

Let’s say the term fae is used in Lucis to describe all magical beings that aren’t humans, animals, daemons, the Astrals or their messengers. When they say “A fae must have done it”, it means something very strange is afoot that shouldn’t bee too closely looked into.

Because benevolent or not, the fae like their privacy. Old children’s tales say that you should never tell anybody you saw a fae or that one helped you. Otherwise they will play cruel tricks and after they’ve had their fun you’ll never see them again.

Lucian tales go along the lines of helpful sprites that protect homes when milk and food are set out, of the Titan’s folk (read dwarves) that first taught humans how to mine, of the lindwurm that was blessed by Bahamut and gave the person who solved his tasks secret knowledge.

But the most popular tales are the ones about shape-shifters. Animal-walkers. It is said you can recognize them at the glint in their eyes, the sharpness of their teeth, the something that is different from what a human face should be. Their stories are most popular with hunters and people outside of Insomnia.

I really love how you describe them :D

On the swan queens: Maybe the white swan could actually be a human that got cursed, and the Lucian King (then prince) broke the curse. The black swan was a shape-shifter, and only shed her feathers permanently after her man who wanted her, solved three unsolveable tasks.

Let’s say the white swan queen was considered very imperious and hysteric and inconsiderate, while the black swan queen was very beloved for her generosity and benevolence.

Which is around the time romanticised tales about shape-shifters and humans crop up like weeds. And they keep being popular into the modern times.

Now for the Galahkari.

Their word for magical beings like that is fihrie. But they are far less benevolent. For them fae/fihrie are beings that dance in the twilight when sun and moon share the sky and their music and laughter drives people mad. They are the beings that twist trees into wrong forms and trap freshly departed souls in their dead bodies. They are the ones that ride on the winds of winter and steal the unwary. It’s also said that they steal the first breath of a newborn baby because that is the most precious thing to them, and if the child survives despite that, it stands with one leg in the fihrie world.

Their stories aren’t about beings that are nice.

But then there are the selkie. Stories tell that they once belonged to the fihrie until one of them once stole not the first breath of a newborn, but the second. And that changed them into something that was just tiny bit more human and less fihrie.

So when the Galahkari come to Insomnia and see all those romanticized tales of swan queens and the lindwurm and sprites and tiny people with butterfly wings?

They think they have lost their minds. And wonder why these people are still alive. Because those Insomnian stories would insult any fihrie down to their bone. Which literally means the offending party will die a slow and gruesome death.

A theory says that the Lucians are loosing the war because the fihrie are so unbelievably furious.

Which leads to a lot of strange behaviour from the Insomnian point of view, when sigils appear everwhere along with salt lines and talismans and flower/grain/grass wreaths.

There is more than one loud discussion of how none of the Lucians seem to realize just how dangerous the Other Folk is. How you give offerings when having to walk through their territory, and while there you don’t eat or drink anything that comes from there. How you make sure a newborn’s first breath is takes as close to a fire as possible, because in their mind it is better to belong to the fires (to Ifrit) than to the Others.

And Cor stumbles into one of those discussions without anyone noticing. Let’s say Nyx isn’t there for one reason or other.

What would Cor think about this?

He would obviously know from Nyx’ aura alone that Nyx is a fae. (Just like Nyx knows Cor is not human. But Nyx keeps his distance because this is not his territory and he has not been invited to Cor’s hearth. Normally Nyx would have to make the fist move and he tried to, but this is not Galahd and things are done differently.)

Now he also knows what the Galahkari think of fae. This would make Cor’s protective instinct go into overdrive. Because Nyx is fae - obviously the only one that came from Galahd - and he’s younger then Cor. Which makes him one of Cor’s now.

And this is how not only human cultures clash, but also fae/fihrie culture.

[seoafin]

jjk & tower of god chapter on the same day,,, i spent all of my brainjuice talking abt tog w some friends + working on my wip so this one might be incoherent LMAO but nsjdhfjd this my 2 cents for the chp (1) - 🐱

first of all, the zenins shld just eat shit 🥰 the bar is just nonexistant now 😭😭😭

also maki’s mother said sth that hits way too close to home for me too🥴

the maki & mai, megumi & tsumiki "make a place where they are happy” parallels...mai,, maki wanted a place where u'd be happy!!! 😭😭😭 good points abt any interesting nuances the original jpn might have had though

ALSO MUSCLE MAKI IS HERE

and lmao megumi's "ew no" face ,,, i didn't think he could make a face like that JDJJDJD ,, once again i think his outsider-insider status is interesting but the amount of ppl counting on him/leaning on him bc of strategic position is a lot. ig this is what kamo meant by supporting the 3 families,,,, gojou indeed is playing the long game. megumi in the meantime, very persistent in not getting more involved in clan politics, not using power that is offered to him, or leveraging it - in a way it is good, and it also makes sense with "stress is other ppl" but is interesting from a structural pov. megumi may not rly give a shit abt the rest of the jujutsu world. if the ppl close to him are affected, then he cares. otherwise, forget it.

also im interested in power implications here bcs it sound a little like there’s a slight split b/w leadership and everyday zenins and im curious what it's like if u have no connection to the top of the clan,, and again higher ups being unaffiliated with the 3 clans so they have to appeal to them. curious what other talents the gojou clan have and what they're known for bc clearly it's not just gojou, they still have power without him and still have a stake in the shifting power structure. kamo must be busy too...

MAKIIIIII ,,, honestly my heart hurts a little seeing her getting beat up in recent chapters. but i’m rly happy,, shes FINALLY getting the focus she deserves and i’m confident she will make a recovery and she IS in fact the one leading efforts on the zenin side. im rly hopeful she can take over the clan one day and no longer say she's not good enough

that stomach wound is bad news though so im wondering how she will come back from that,, that she didn't know her own father's abilities says a lot, too. i wonder if she could see the extension of his blade, or if she hasn't been able to see/understand many ppl abilities

im hopeful for next chp now. u can do it maki!!!!

flashing back on these bits, it makes more sense now why megumi wasn't melting down post-shibuya,, seems most information came to him in a sort of timely and calm way? also i rly have to wonder if gojou did not spend a decade plotting in front him bcs he's done it before,,,, like the whole clan head scene in megumi's middle school years....in a way i imagine he wouldve seen that gojou come out of the high school and watch him get more serious as he acquired even more skin in the game

all the time though i wonder abt megumi's tendency toward inertia and nonaction to things that would seemingly give him power and trying to understand it and that IS him being selfish and that IS,, imo the biggest indication of what he actually does or doesn't want. he wants it, he will act and work on it immediately himself. he doesn't like it? act like it doesn't exist. it make me want to shake him around like NO!! megumi pay attention!!! But his reaction to this clan stuff is a contrast to his behavior in recent chapters imo

and more mahjong references,,, between this and yuuji’s pachinko,, i wonder abt the undercurrent of gambling haha. a gamble for the shaman world and who will come out on top? a contrast to the flowy ocean imagery that connects shaman stuff out to the rest of the world

also this ,,,, there's that one jp tweet (i cant find it again😞) that talks about how toji, as the point of distortion, created megumi, who is currently playing a potential convergence/healing/uniting role (if he actually takes it on as a responsibility lol) and connects this back to the medicine buddha,,, whose mudra (hand sign) is used for chimera shadow garden. with the commentary abt ppl with heavenly restriction needing to know what to throw away in order to become strong or tap into their full strength and toji’s commentary at the end of fight with gojou,,  i actually always felt that toji died not having been entirely resolved with himself bc he talks abt going against the self that decided to forget abt self-respect, to live without thinking abt himself or others,,, in a way, living selfishly, for himself, by ignoring anything immediate and i think he succeeded for a while bc he didnt even remember megumi's name. he remembers it when he talks to getou abt him being thankful for toji not killing him bc of potential drawbacks

and at the very end he thinks of megumi again and that last act does think of someone else, like a "life before your eyes" moment where toji thinks about how the zenin's treatment of him led him there or how his return to shibuya ends with him remembering how he gave megumi back to the zenin,,, i think atm of his death he was starting to think he did want to care, in a different way, or that he needed a different paradigm. or,, maybe he was just starting to realize how far the zenin thinking had set into him

so we dont rly talk abt that being an enlightenment moment for toji but i kind of think it was. that megumi has the potential to become a pivotal piece as a legacy of distortion is interesting. i dont actually think toji set up everything intentionally bc he didnt know megumi's ability, and i dont think he wouldve thought that far. i think a lot of the heir and inheritance stuff is sth naobito set in after seeing megumi's development under gojou. it's clear now everyone has been keeping eyes on everyone else

at some point there's some interesting discussion to be had abt megumi and privilege - i'm surprised the canon characters dont hate him more for having stuff just fall into his lap, and so i liked that maki pointed this out that he could use this and he shld bc theres a frustration there - and yet at the same time megumi himself seemingly feels very little attachment to the zenin and the shaman world still. he just cares abt his little circle of people, and it's a very intentional choice, based on his good/bad ppl thing

u cant really affect the entire world, but u can assert urself on the environment around u and decide what u do and dont act on. this part of megumi is more teenage boy and kind of toji-like, i think,,, hence the emphasis on action

u express ur effect and existence through action, who u kill or who u save. toji having very little, while so much falls into megumi's lap while he doesn't want it, doesn't want to acknowledge it, likely doesn't want to take part in a system he doesn't like or, having been raised under gojou's wing, resents or finds corrupt or useless, or doesn't even think on bc he thinks its above his pay grade and gojou's there - this is also megumi's moment to solidify his own direction and commit to working in the system or out of it

the "not caring" is a defensive measure in a way too, i think. i dont think megumi is Big Good and wants to save everyone and everything and the world to be good and pure, i tend to think of him as a resigned chaotic neutral, who wishes he could be good orz

ANYWAY i think there's some interesting juxtapositions with the whole toji > megumi thing, that someone who is born without, restricted, births and creates someone full of blessings. its very shaman-like, action then reaction

AND i wish u luck on ur final paper (bless ur eyes to see incels bc i’ll just log off for the day when i saw one (1) of them on the net) AND DONT FORGET TO TAKE A REST,, the self care is much needed me thinks <333 (2) - 🐱

i love u 🥺🥺😭😭😭 you take care of yourself too!!!

also ur right...all this political intrigue im so curious i need to know how the jujutsu world is structured in terms of the higher ups and the clans. like i assumed that the three clan elders WERE to some extent also part of the higher ups???? but now it seems that the higher ups are a separate entity altogether, so like checks and balances i suppose. except both the higher ups and the clans are corrupt so no balance there 😭

the chapter implied the zenins are losing when it comes to the power struggle between the three clans. im interested. i want to see them all rot!!! like i also said though it’s going to be interesting to see the state of the kamo clan though, considering “noritoshi kamo.” like what do you even say to that???? im going to be surprised if it doesn’t affect their standing in the jujutsu world but then again the kamo clan IS one of the big three.

megumi really is a character that was blessed in all regards but like. doesn’t want anything to do with it LOL he really said ‘this is a pain no thanks.’ like gojo like megumi i suppose. i agree with u the whole toji and megumi set up....genius....i also love their juxtaposition. it’s so interesting and another source of irony.

[mschrisaholic]

idk if you do steve rogers, but i’ll just request anyways. a steve rogers imagine where the reader and steve are dating, and they’re in an argument and steve like raises his hand or something and the reader gets scared of him and that he’s gonna hit her even tho he would never do such a thing but the reader has an ex who used to abuse her

Please don’t.

STEVE ROGERS X READER

You and Steve are dating. Tony just declared war with some terrorists outside and Steve’s worried about you and didn’t think that you could handle this whole thing. You turned out having argument and Steve did something which startled you, because it reminded you of your abusive ex.

P.S~

My first request on Steve Rogers! YES, I do Steve Rogers! Sorry for adding too much drama in this one, it’s just something that I got in my mind. Hope that you’re still gonna like it!

English is not my first language, so please do forgive me if I make any mistakes, which I am so sure that there are some in my writing;)) Enjoy~~

My Masterlist

👆🏻my other works on Chris Evans & Tom Holland

Feel free to send me requests on Chris Evans / Tom Holland!!!

Stupid Tony! When can he learn the lesson, the lesson of never declaring war with terrorists? Hasn’t the Mandarin taught him this already?

The gate surrounding the compound was closing and the bullet-proof, scratch that, missile-proof wall was blocking your view from the outside.

“Barn Door Protocol activated.”

Friday’s monotone has told you how bad the whole situation was. The compound was on lockdown.

Walking out of the shared room of you and Steve, you heard the loud noise from a landing quinjet. Steve, Natasha, Rhodey, and Tony got off the jet and entered the compound. All of them got a tense look on their faces.

“You better shut your mouth before saying anything stupid next time!” Nat said to Tony before heading back to her room.

Steve looked up as he entered the compound. He always do this because he wanna see you once he’s back from missions, he knows that you would be at the mezzanine waiting for him as soon as you hear the jet. You gave him an assuring smile and he returned one to you before heading upstairs to find you.

“Steve, I know you wouldn’t be seriously injured, but still, are you alright? Do you have any internal bleeding?” You checked Steve out once he entered your room.

“I’m fine and nothing has actually happened.” He led you sitting on the couch, held your hands in his on his lap.

“But how come Nat are so pissed off?”

“She was angry, exactly because nothing has happened. Our mission is to take down the base of the terrorists and know their next move. But now, we’ve found nothing which means there's no way to further protect ourselves.” Steve said and furrowed his brows, you could also see his shoulders got tensed.

“Hey, babe. We’ve done enough protection. The gates are closed and the Barn door protocol is activated. Friday is gonna keep us safe.” You pulled out one hand from Steve’s grip and touched his biceps, trying to soothe him a bit.

“What if something like Ultron happened? We don’t have much information about the group of terrorists that Stark has declared war with. He’s stupid, selfish. Damn..."

“Language, Steve,” You giggled and continued,

“Just give Tony a chance to fix all of this. Although I think he's stupid too when I once saw the news, I’m sure Tony got some plans in his mind. When time’s come, you and the whole team will defeat the terrorists like what you’ve done with the aliens and Ultron things.”

There was a short silence between you two. You could tell that Steve’s having sth in his mind by his furrowed brows.

“Y/n, you should leave.” He turned his head and stared right into your eyes emotionless.

“What?” You were so shocked at his words. Was he trying to push you away when it comes to dangers like this?

“You should leave the compound, it’s not safe anymore. I would talk to Stark to get you the stealth jet which is undetectable and send you to a safe house.” Steve said as he stood up and leaving the room to find Tony. You grabbed his wrist by the door to stop him from leaving.

“I’m not leaving!”

“I said you’re leaving then you are. No more discussion.”

“No, I want to stay with you here and I will!” You’re already on the verge of tears when you’re thinking about how everything may be changed if you once leave the compound.

You startled at Steve slamming the door hard, which made you tighten your grip on his wrist.

“I can’t have you here. I may not be able to protect you if the terrorists are really here attacking us. I may lose sight of you when I’m fighting them. You might get hurt and this is the least thing that I want to see.” You could sense from the rising voice that, Steve got slightly annoyed at your act of rebellion.

“I can keep myself safe! You can just focus on..."

“For God’s sake Y/n!” Steve interuppted you sternly, “How can I focus on fighting them when I know that you’re here at the compound?There might be some terrorists sneaking into rooms and get you. I say you’re leaving and YOU ARE! Don’t make me repeat for the third…” He raised his voice more than before and he vigorously pulled out his hand from yours, as he did so, he raised his hand like he’s trying to slap you.

“Please don’t…” You interrupted him with your cracking voice as he kept your eyes closed as tight as you could and turned around your head from Steve, trying to duck him from slapping you.

“Y/n?” Steve softened his voice when he saw your gesture.

“Please don’t… If you really want me to leave, then I would…just please don’t…” You kept staring at the ground as you said but Steve could tell that you’re crying.

“Hey, y/n,” Steve tilted your chin with his finger gently and made you look at him. Your whole body was shaking and tears were falling uncontrollably. You stared at Steve with your red eyes.

It only took Steve few seconds to realize what happened. His gestures with his rising voice in anger reminded you of your abusive ex-boyfriend. You’ve told him all about your ex before and Steve was actually the one who saved you from that hell. He almost hit you with his motorcycle when you were running out from your shared house with your ex, like a captive escaping from the kidnapper. He let Tony to get you a room in the compound and since then you’re stuck with him. (Should I do a prequel for this?)

“Y/n, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scold at you and I would never, ever beat you."

“I know…Everything happened just now…it just reminds me of…”

“Shh…I understand and I’m so sorry. I’m just being so worried and I don’t want to have anything bad happen to you. All the bad things that may happen just get into my mind. I don’t want to see you hurt at all and I swear I would kill..."

“Steve, I understand. Don’t you dare finish the sentence,” you took a deep breath to calm yourself before you went on,

“If you really think that leaving the compound will stop me from getting hurt, you’re totally wrong. My heart hurts a lot more if I’m not here with you, facing what may happen to us. You brought me into your life years ago, there’s no way that you’re sending me away that easy.” You and Steve stared at each other, expressing all your love in just one gaze.

“I love you, y/n! I'm finding Tony now.” Steve gave your lip a peck before he opened the door.

“Steve! I’ve made myself very clear, I'm not leaving." You said to Steve sternly.

“Darling, I’m going to ask Tony to build the strongest defensive walls around this room with whatever materials he got in hand. Then, I’m teaching you some basic or even advanced moves for self-defense. As long as you’re staying here, I’m gonna do everything to keep my eyes on you!”

You smiled yourself, looking at his back. You’re staying with the love of your life. If anything happen to you, Steve would be the last one you lay you eyes on.

[mobius-prime]

228. Sonic the Hedgehog #160

Birthday Bash! (Part One): Giving and Receiving

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Jason Jensen

Welcome to the beginning of Ian Flynn's reign, everyone! As many of you will know, Ian is a fan favorite amongst readers of the comics, and for good reason. Objectively, I'd say he has a much better sense than any previous writer of how to construct dynamic and interesting stories, as well as a great head for writing dialogue. Every character has their own unique voice when speaking, and as someone who takes a particular interest in dialogue in her own writing, it's something I admire a lot, especially given how stilted and unnaturally formal a lot of dialogue by Karl and especially Kenders often sounded, regardless of who was speaking. That said, I think that it took a good year or so for him to fully come into his own as head writer for the series, so some earlier issues are a bit strange and not up to par with a lot of his later work. Some of this, to be fair, is due to him essentially playing clean-up for this first year, untangling a lot of the bizarre leftover plot threads that Karl and Kenders left behind, and generally trying to make the world of the comics conform a little better to that of the games. All that aside, anyone reading the comics will likely notice an immediate and apparent improvement in the overall quality of the work starting with this issue. This is helped along, in addition, by none other than the very talented artist Tracy Yardley! who always (well, almost always) introduces himself in the story credits with an exclamation mark. It's kind of his calling card. Tracy took a while to really improve his art as well, so while his earliest issues sometimes have some strange proportions and poses, later on his style became easily one of the most visually attractive and recognizable ones in the series, simplifying a lot of the inconsistencies that many character designs had as well as doing away with the strange pseudo-human proportions that some artists tended to favor, particularly with the female characters. All this said, I will say that Ian isn't going to be immune to my criticism, as while I do recognize his skill as a writer and the good things he brought to the table, there are definitely some problems I have with the way he handled certain things. We'll cross those bridges when we come to them, however, so for now, let's dive into the new world he's creating and see how he does!

Elias and Sonic are walking on the outskirts of Knothole as Elias explains why his father approved the Metal Sonic troopers from last issue. We don't even really get to hear the explanation, but to be fair, we hardly need one, as the idea was so insane to begin with that the only true explanation is that Kenders needed a plot device. Sonic tries to make Elias promise that "you royals" won't hit him with any more weird surprises, and Elias says they only have one more, leading him to a building next to where the Great Oak Slide into the village ends.

I mean, canonically he's supposed to be turning seventeen here, even though realistically he should be turning eighteen, because remember, for him to have turned sixteen in StH#68, had the Robians be deroboticized in early June in StH#123, and still have managed to spend close to a year in space before turning seventeen, literally everything in between the two aforementioned issues would have had to take place in the span of a few weeks - yes, that's counting the month-and-a-half time span that Sonic was confined to Knothole, as well as major events like Eggman's return and the entire Green Knuckles saga. You can see why this huge discrepancy still bothers me, right? Hmph. Anyway, no sooner has the party begun than an explosion destroys the door, and two new players enter the scene - Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear from Sonic the Fighters! Nack's been part of the comic for long enough now, so it's cool to see these two make their first appearance. Bark is totally silent - as far as I remember, he never says a single word during the entirety of the comic - but Bean, in the absence of an obvious personality to draw from in the game, has subsequently been given the personality trait of "criminally insane" in the comics.. He's erratic, he talks to himself, he cracks jokes where jokes really shouldn't be cracked, and most importantly of all, he loves his goddamn bombs. Bean starts chucking said bombs left and right at the various Freedom Fighters in the base, while Sonic tangles with Bark. He seems to think these guys are only after him due to something Evil Sonic did in his place, something which he has by now apparently finally explained to all the women of Knothole, and manages to break away from Bark to stop Bean's bombing spree by pinning him to a wall and asking about Evil Sonic. However, Bean happily insists there's been no mistake and he wasn't even aware of Sonic having an evil twin, nor does he particularly care. Oh, speaking of Evil Sonic…

Huh, it seems that Evil Sonic has actually explained his true identity to Rouge in between their previous failed attempt and now. I'm surprised she hasn't outright abandoned him by now due to Rouge not exactly being evil-aligned to begin with, but I guess the pull of the shiny is just too strong for her to resist. And as it turns out, Bean suffers from a similar insatiable need! Fiona pulls out a ring of keys and shakes them around, completely distracting Bean from his current activity of bashing Sonic's head in, and throws them out the hole he made in the wall, prompting him to immediately abandon everything to chase after them. Fiona then advances on Bark, who by now has gotten himself cornered by every Freedom Fighter in the room, and convinces him to stand down as he's outnumbered. Outside, Bean plays with the keys and talks to them, seemingly convinced that they're a beautiful woman with an "adorable accent" who wants his number, when a suspiciously-Shadow-shaped shadow converges on him, prompting him to try to invite him into smashing Sonic as well. Good luck there, buddy, I don't think Shadow usually runs with crazy…

Geez, Sally, cut Fiona some slack. Not everyone had a squeaky-clean record - hell, just look at Shadow! Back in the Chaos Chamber, Rouge and Evil Sonic begin to battle Locke, who tosses Evil Sonic to the side as he perceives Rouge to be the bigger threat. However, that turns out to be a bit of a bad idea, as with Rouge tied up in the fight, Evil Sonic takes his chance to go after the Master Emerald without her, obviously recognizing it as more than just a shiny trinket.

Back in Knothole, Shadow explains that he's only here to thank Sonic for saving Hope, as he knows he wouldn't have been able to do it on his own, and reminds him that as soon as he leaves this building they're back to being enemies, as Shadow's still aligned with Eggman for now. Sonic, to his credit, seems to recognize that Shadow is only allied with Eggman because he doesn't yet know better, and cheerfully invites him to come back here whenever he cuts out on that deal in the future. It's at this point that everyone realizes Bean has quietly snuck into the brain trust's comms room to casually let Eggman know that he and Bark failed to take Sonic down, and when Fiona ushers him back out of the room, Eggman is only too happy to let Sonic know personally that he wishes him a happy birthday and he's sending him a new, more metallic present. Within seconds a thud outside alerts them to the arrival of this present, and everyone rushes out to see a strange figure emerging from an egg pod - a figure which resolves itself into the combined forms of Crocbot and Octobot, now merged into the singular entity of… Croctobot! (Don't worry, Ian knows just how silly this is and even acknowledges it next issue.) But what of Evil Sonic and Rouge? How is their fight faring against Locke after the former got knocked aside? Well, Evil Sonic takes his chance to dramatically emerge from behind the emerald as the other two get ready to continue their fight…

Plot twist! How many people actually didn't know by now that Evil Sonic and Scourge were the same person? I'm guessing there had to be at least a few of you. You can actually already see Ian's new plans being put into action - it's very telling of his intentions when the very first issue he ever pens immediately makes a point of distinguishing a rather tired and boring character into a new and improved version of himself, with a unique name and new, visually distinct look. Apparently Kenders, who if you recall is the original creator of Evil Sonic, never liked this and continued to insist on referring to him as Evil Sonic, but screw that, Scourge is a much more interesting character and this was a change that sorely needed to be made.

Sonic Rush (Part One of Two)

Writer/Pencils: Tania Del Rio Colors: Ben Hunzeker

So unfortunately, Sonic Adventure 2 isn't the only case in the preboot of a partial adaption of a game being included without any actual ending. Sonic Rush, the game, introduces Blaze, a cat from an alternate dimension that is controlled by the Sol Emeralds rather than the Chaos Emeralds, and most of the plot revolves around the Sol Emeralds ending up in Sonic's dimension and her trying to recollect them to bring back to her own world. However, things are a bit different in the comics universe. In this story, Blaze comes to Sonic's dimension because, apparently, she's been having nonstop dreams about him, dreams which show her visions of Eggman threatening the Sol Emeralds and Sonic helping her protect them. She's frustrated that she would have to rely on anyone else to help her protect the emeralds at all, believing them to be her sole responsibility, but nonetheless she's tracked Sonic to Knothole. However, while deliberating her next move, a squad of swatbots - yes, ordinary ones, it's been a while since we've seen them rather than shadow-bots - happen upon her and decide that they should take her in for interrogation.

Yeah, I guess Blaze doesn't understand the dangers present in this universe yet, does she? An hour or so later, Rotor sends for Sonic, informing him that they caught the aftermath of Blaze's capture on their video surveillance. Neither of them know who she is, but they decide she can't be from their village, since she left several disabled swatbots behind, while most people in Knothole are noncombatants and those that aren't are accounted for elsewhere. Sonic rushes out to find their trail and tracks them to a nearby facility set up amidst the trees, and while he begins fighting his way in, the scientific robots in the building go about studying their new specimen.

Sorry, but why the hell would Eggman be looking to add some random Mobian to his team? He only likes robots anyway, and tends to either betray or enslave every living being that comes to him. Blaze suddenly awakens and becomes furious - not that she's been captured, mind you, but that they took off her coat while studying her. She must be really goddamn attached to her coat, because she starts absolutely trashing the place, exploding into flames and screaming so loudly that Sonic becomes genuinely worried about her wellbeing, rushing to where he last heard her. The door of the lab she's in is completely blasted off its hinges by the force of Blaze's explosions, but thankfully after this she seems to have found her coat, because the blasts subside and she appears in the doorway wearing it once again, staring down at an utterly shocked Sonic with a look of fiery fury (the literal flames coating her entire body probably help with the "fiery" bit). Uh… good luck dealing with that, buddy boy!