#who else missed my wg?

[adelarsims]

Wolfgang J. Münch, 16, arrested for tagging on public property and running from the police (but not fast enough apparently)

[moongothic]

(Frankenstein'd two asks together for the sake of previty)

I've been pretty torn between answering this ask and just doing a deep dive re-analysis post about Marineford as a whole (from Crocodile's perspective) because I feel like rereading it now as a Crocodad Truther, I could probably make a whole lot of new observations and/or read into things differently than I did last time I read it (when I was rereading for the purpose of studying the viability of Crocodad) Like there's so much to say about the whole arc and I'd include this line of thought in there anyways... But also, do I really feel like writing a giant essay like that........

I am going to start this by refering to this mini-essay I wrote like a month ago, about how Crocodile seems to have this attitude of "no crying over spilt milk". What's happened has happened, what's done is done, it's your own fault things turned out the way they did, there's no undoing any of it and you just have to continue on. And I do think that attitude would be key here to understanding Crocodile's actions in Marineford re:Crocodad

(Sidenote because this is not relevant to the rest of the post, but the reason this is about Crocodad and not CrocoUncle etc is because if Crocodile was only loosely related to Luffy it would not have the same kind of impact emotionally (for Crocodile; like there is a difference between a nephew and a son). Additionally a part of Crocodad is that it ties into Crocodile's connection with Ivankov in a really important way. If Crocodile was only loosely related to Luffy, him also being trans would kind of be like a random sidenote without being relevant to the two being family, but suddenly if Crocodile is Luffy's other biological parent, him being trans matters a lot more. Also if he's not Luffy's other dad then we'd be still stuck asking who the fuck birthed Luffy to begin with)

While Sengoku's announcement here would make for a horrific revelation to Crocodile in this situation (a revelation we never see his immidiate reaction to, which continues to be deeply sus), what would it change, really?

The little idiot child who Crocodile had attempted to murder multiple times was his own son. Sure, he might've insantly lost whatever grudge he might've held against Luffy, then what? That feeling would be one-sided, because at this point in the story Luffy hated Crocodile's guts and he knew that too. Luffy has no idea about them being related, and even if Crocodile literally walked up the kid right that second and told him the truth, what would it change? He'd still be the man who nearly nuked a million people off the face of the earth, took over a country and killed Luffy and his friends while laughing about it. Being Luffy's other dad wouldn't make him any less of a horrible asshole (if anything it might make it slightly worse 'cause you get to add shit like "child abandonment" onto his list of crimes).

Luffy came to Marineford to save Ace. Crocodile came to Marineford to kill Whitebeard. He had no reason to interfere with Luffy's quest, and with the help Luffy already was recieving from the prison escapees, the Newkama and the Whitebeard Pirates, what would Crocodile's assistance add to the mix? Would Luffy even welcome him in helping save his brother?

Luffy had his own life, a life Crocodile had not been a part of. He had no right to try to insert himself into it at this point, after all he had done to Luffy. There's no crying over spilled milk. What's done is done, you just have to move on. He should just focus on what he came to do; get his revenge and take Whitebeard's head, as planned.

Deep breaths

...Only to realize that Whitebeard is a dying old man and not worth even killing anymore, because he's not the same Primebeard whom once beat Crocodile and crushed all his dreams. Defeating Whitebeard would not give him the catharsis he came for.

And at that point, the fuck was Crocodile going to do? The revenge he wants isn't there anymore 'cause it went bad a few decades ago. And between the raging war and Doflamingo on his ass it's not like he could just sneak out without anybody noticing. He doesn't have allies (aside from Daz under him) to worry about. He only has his hatred to the World Government.

At that point, he might as well be a nuisance to the Government and assist Luffy. Even if the help wasn't welcomed, even if Luffy hated him and regardless if he knew the truth or not, helping Luffy right then and there would still be better than letting the Government have their way and kill his son right in front of him

[morimemichael]

Jealousy

Slashers reaction to their s/o flirting with someone else/getting compliments from someone else.

This goes for OG!Michael, RZ!Michael, Brahms, Ghostface (Stu), Pyramid Head

WG: jealousy issues, doubtful behavior, a little gore, some NSFW, dev!consent?¿ apart from that I’ll try to include some fluff too (cause I can’t live without it :’D)

OG!Michael

You’d be mesmerized to know how many things Michael can know or find out about you.

That’s how he found out you were extra friendly with a coworker.

Maybe he hasn’t made it clear, but he didn’t have any intentions to share you with other men.

You were his and his alone.

Something inside him snap when he saw your lips kissing goodbye on this guy’s cheek.

To you was something insignificant, but to him?

Ohh boy…

He was jealous.

No need to mention that Michael slaughtered this poor guy.

He got home with you, disappointed, and a little sad for what he saw today.

You were starting to wonder where he was, it was already dark and you hadn’t seen him in all day.

Your question was answered when you felt a large hand going up your back, straight to the back of your neck.

His breathing low and steady as always.

His hand grabbed the back of your neck and squeezed it a little bit, making you move away from the kitchen, but not so far.

“Hey, Michael! Missed u today, where u been?” You asked him, not being aware that he spent almost all day stalking you

He didn’t reply, instead he moved his hand upward and grabbed you by the hair this time, tucking at it so he could whisper in your ear

“That hurts!” You yelled at him, but he didn’t care. You tried to reach his hand holding your hair, but with his free hand he catches yours and puts it behind your back twisting it.

“What the hell is wrong with you!?”

He tucked at your again in protest

Then you realized that he might have been stalking you throughout the day and saw that little interaction between you and your male coworker. It must be that right?

“I’m s-sorry Michael, I’m sorry, it’s not gonna happen again.” You apologized.

He lowered his head so it leveled with your right ear.

“Mine.” He whispered, his voice raspy but clear. “Say it.”

“Ok…ok, I’m yours. Only yours…” You swore. He let you go, your hands reaching the cold marble of the kitchen.

Latter that night when you both went to sleep, he apologized for the way he treated you earlier.

RZ!Michael

Things with Michael turn different when he’s jealous. First things first, sometimes you can’t tell if he’s jealous or not cause his behavior it’s almost pretty much the same.

You both know each other since you were 9yo. You were the only one who used to play with him, and he’s thankful for that. But your heart was torn apart when he committed that awful crime. You knew his sister and father were shitty, but you never expected Michael to kill them.

When you found out he scaped the mental hospital he was being kept, something inside of you wanted Michael to come see you. You weren’t so wrong after all.

So it’s been a couple of weeks since he’s staying with you, and you know better than to ask him where he goes at night, leaving you alone in the house.

There was this particular time when your ex stopped by and stayed for lunch when Michael was out stalking, as usual. Or so you thought. Turns out that he decided to stalk you this time, and when he saw this foreign man to his knowledge, he snapped.

You didn’t had time to even serve lunch when you heard your ex screaming. “Holy shit!” And he sounded in pain too.

When you came back to the living room Michael had stabbed your ex’s hand to the wooden table that was already prepared to eat.

“Michael…please.., he’s my ex.”

Michael wasn’t sure of your words, so he pulled out painfully the kitchen knife of your poor ex’s hand, a pained moan scaped his mouth. The he grabbed the doomed guy by his neck and looked at you again.

“Michael, Michael, please…I swear he’s my ex. Please!!!” You begged him.

Michael decided enough was enough and let your ex go, but not before pointing you to go upstairs with his knife. You obeyed.

Once you both were there he grabbed you by the throat this time and squeezed a little bit. Now you were scared. He tucked a little bit just to let you know that if he want to, he could kill you any minute.

He bend you over the edge of the bed so your stomach was facing towards the bed, and your ass up.

“how romantic” You mocked. To be honest this wasn’t the first time you two fucked. But this? Holy fuck, this was totally different. You weren’t even sure if you’re disliking this.

“I’m not sharing.” He growled at your ear. He took out your pijamas and panties with one hand, with the other he took out his mask. He positioned himself with your entrance. Spit a little bit his cock to use it as lube.

He grabbed you by your neck again and put it the tip of his cock.

“Michael, I’m not even-” You protested, reaching your right hand to his leg to try to stop him, but he grabbed it and pulled it against him so you were closer to his chest.

“Shut up, and fucking take it.” That’s all he said before thrusting all the way into you. He set a brutal pace and all he could hear was your screams and moans of pleasure.

“Fu-uck Michael!! Don’t stop, don’t stop!!” You moaned. He got closer to your ear again.

“This is what you get for making me jealous.”

You thought you could make him jealous more often.

BRAMHS HEELSHIRE

“Brahms!” You moan your lungs out. He had you lay down facing the bed, and now he was fingering you like his life depends on that.

And all for what? Well, you told Malcom earlier that he had a nice hair cut today. Apparently, Brahms didn’t like that.

He slapped your ass with his free hand “Your mine, mine!” He growled on your ear.

“Okay…okay, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah…I bet you are.” He stated, his fingers moving faster now.

You were reaching the point of your climax when he stopped, and pulled at your hair.

“You wanna cum?” He asked. You nod and hummed. “Well, beg for it.” He slapped your ass again.

“Please…I’m so close.” You begged vaguely.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” He replied, voice deeper now, filled with pure lust.

“Brahms, please…please I wa-I need to cum, please! I won’t do it again I promise!”

His fingers thrusting into your core in a brutal animalistic way. That was enough to make you cum that night.

Once you were finish he grabbed you by the hair again and said “if I see you again with him, his dead. You hear me?” He question.

“Yeah-yeah.” That’s all that would come out from your mouth.

PYRAMID HEAD

This big guy had never talked and never will, so if something just bothers him he will let you know in other ways.

Like when, for example, James complimented your bracelet one day. He was pissed, but he didn’t say anything, not that he could. So what did he do instead?

Well, he fallowed James all around Silent Hill making his life more miserable if that’s was even possible.

You weren’t exactly pissed at his behavior but you certainly didn’t like it. So next time he sees you you’ll let him know.

To your fortune that time was right now.

“Is tormenting James even necessary, Pyramid?” You asked annoyed.

He lowers his head and shakes no.

“So, why are you doing it?” He couldn’t answer you knew it so you asked him again. “Is it because you’re jealous of James?”

He shakes his head no several times, trying to hide the obvious feeling .

“Yeah…you definitely are.” You said.

He lowered his head again and was ready to leave when you grabbed his large hand.

“You can stay, it’s okay. It happens.” You smiled at him. From under his large pyramid, something like a tentacle came out to caress your chin.

“Promise me you won’t do it again, ok?”

He just nods and walk away peacefully.

GHOSTFACE

Since you two finished watching that movie, you wouldn’t stop talking about the killer.

How he was using a kitchen knife to kill people on the movie, or how he used his own hands to choke someone. You could notably see he was pissed at your comments of appreciation.

“Oh come on! I’m just messing around!” You laughed at him. He couldn’t be mad just because of that right?

“Well, go messing around Michael Myers then, perhaps he will burie his knife in you.” Stu said back.

“Stu come on! It’s just a movie!” You laughed a little bit

“If it’s just a movie don’t make me jealous!” He confessed.

“Jealous?” You giggle, then tried to hug him.

“N-no, no, you go hug Michael, he needs it more than I do.” Stu’s voice faking a sad tone. “Or go kiss his mask instead, cause apparently you don’t like mine anymore….ouch.” He continued.

“Well, if you say so…then I’m heading to Haddonfield then!” You said smiling to wait his reaction.

“No babe, don’t leave, I was just kidding.” He pouted, grabbing your hand so you wouldn’t leave.

“Ok..I promise to not saying anything like that again about Michael, if you promise to not get jealous.” You offered.

“Deal.” Stu replied smiling.

“I’m starving, wanna order some pizza?” He offered.

“Hell yeah.” You said, pizza didn’t sound that bad.

“Besides…I like your costume better.” You confessed.

“Ohh…” Stu was flattered, and couldn’t help but blush a little bit.

After that, you ate your pizza and cuddle all night, you being the smaller spoon. You quickly fell asleep in Stu’s warm arms.

Well I needed a little bit of humor with ghostie okay? 😭 I hope you liked it! See ya around 😊

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Chapter 1134 - Initial Thoughts

And we return once again likely to close out the year for One Piece

Which is usually the stage for something big With last chapter already having its own big moment it bears wondering what else Oda can throw at us

Let's find out

Spoilers for the Chapter, Support the Official Release too!

Colorspread for this chapter, the crew is flying on a Franky Mecha with water guns (except Robin and Chopper, Robin's is holstered but she's just sitting looking beautiful in what looks very similar to her Enies Lobby look, with leather garter...this winter's getting hotter)

Also on the Franky Mech there's a message 'WE ARE ETERNAL' on the right shoulder

We start the chapter with Luffy thanking Saul for taking care of Robin, speaking like a Yakuza

Someone of the crew asks him who taught him that routine, Luffy says nobody, but to me it reminds me of Jinbe's introduction in Wano

Robin introduces Saul to Luffy, but he already knows and notes how Robin did indeed find the friends he alluded to back on Ohara

The crew sans Luffy, Zoro and Jinbe once again cry XD

Saul apologizes for the scare, seems the other giants were in on it, his assistant Ange in particular

He praises Luffy for making Emperor, having been an ex marine he knows what kind of station that is, and asks Luffy to keep protecting Robin

Lilith floats up to say hello, but Saul doesn't recognize her since he only met Vegapunk Stella

Jinbe passes her a big box, something brought from Egghead

Oh? 'It's one of me!'

It's a perfect copy of Vegapunk Stella, he used it before to go to Elbaf given that he couldn't leave the lab without the WG noticing

So it seems Vegapunk didn't really die at all, I mean he did but he just kinda isn't also, could help in clearing Luffy's name y'know?

Lilith needs some stuff to fully extract the clone, so begins to set up a new lab

Bonney also asks if this'll help with Kuma too, which Lilith confirms

Think this mainly confirms my suspicions that Lilith, Bonney and Kuma are gonna stick in Elbaf for the rest of the adventure

Saul welcomes Vegapunk but asks why they're a woman, before Lilith can explain though some children ask if they can play

Ange introduces herself, revealing also that they had to convince the children that play by the springs to hide to keep Saul's performance authentic

Ange offers the crew a tour around the school, but Luffy and Usopp are already on the move

This is the Walrus Folk School, Saul opened it at the king's request

Saul however wishes to take Robin to the library, so the crew is gonna split again

Chopper intends to go to the library, Sanji intends to go wherever Nami's going, Brook says that a school is nostalgic (at least meaning he went to a school) but Jinbe and Franky are more curious about Treasure Tree Adam

Luffy, Usopp and Zoro meanhwhile are being chased by kids, hoping to play 'prisoners'

Usopp though has to remind Zoro that they're kids so we cannot cut them XD

The kids however are instantly deterred by some other kids, seems to be a similar boy/girl divide like Punk Hazard wherein the boys what to play with the humans but the girls want to admire them as cute

The trio seem surprised by the next generation of Elbaf warriors being so thin-skinned, but the kids don't want to be fighters, sparking even Usopp to be surprised

The kids also don't take kindly to their dialect

Someone tells them that their use of 'brat' and 'bastard' are old-fashioned, which Zoro notices came from an adult

The kids warn the trio they should probably move, because they're standing on Miss Ripley, the biology teacher

And hellooooo Miss Ripley...lots of teenage giants are gonna be really interested in biology

Of course Luffy has been standing on her tits XD Sanji would murder him if he weren't the captain

Usopp apologises for standing on her, but she doesn't mind

It appears that the legends of Elbaf warriors is outdated by 100 years, relics of a bygone era

Ripley officially greets the Straw Hats, hearing of them from Saul, and using the same old fashioned dialect apologises for the kids, she gets called out by the kids but simply reminds them to do as she says not how she does

It turns out that Elbaf's newfound ideas of peace come from their former king Harold, his last claim was to Seek Trade with other nations

There seems to be a faction called Graybeards though that oppose this view, Harold clashed with them a lot

Ange notes how he was a visionary killed by his kin - not mentioning Loki by name - but since his claim is still recognized, Elbaf has no sovereign

Luffy meanwhile looks a little disappointed

Ripley concludes the 'history lesson' and asks the kids to show the trio around the school, but then asks Luffy why he looks different to his bounty poster

Luffy responds as he did before, it's when he's most free, and Ripley notes that it resembled a legendary warrior from Elbaf's fables

She wanted to see it, having been from the last generation of Elbaf's warriors

Over to the Library, Saul is told how they already know his story with the books from learning it in Egghead, but still reiterates how overcome he was to find books still there

He does warn Robin however about the library, noting to pay attention to the book she's carrying

To her and Chopper's surprise, the book on archaeology grows in size!

Before them (and Bonney and Lilith who have come along) is the massive owl library, any book brought here is gigantified

Makes you think, maybe other things can get gigantified, maybe Big Mom was looking to replicate this effect

That big owl is kinda unnerving me though, getting Wan Shi Tong vibes

Robin however is taken aback by the library, tears welling up as she remembers the first time she saw Ohara's library

Back to the Realm of the Dead though and Loki is chatting

Whoever he is talking to, they are being driven by a 'moment of true fear' - whether it's to avoid or enact it is unclear

The speaker is talking via a giant Snow Den Den Mushi, designed to resist the cold

Given the image, it's likely one of these Greybeard folks, but they've been allied with Loki for a while despite never having met

Whatever situation this guy is in, Loki insists he would've just slaughtered everyone, which the guy says he doesn't want

Loki calls this person naive, they're called Mosa and the translator's note says that the suffix implies high status like a noble or a duke, saying he shouldn't leave survivors because they'll just try to get payback

Mosa thanks Loki for his counsel, suggesting that there's a layer a kindness to his all-murder notion, which Loki quickly lashes out at

In the village, the giants are starting a pre-drink but a big black lightning bolt strikes the main castle

Two hooded figures emerge in a ruined throne room, surrounded by the Gorosei summoning circle

And one of the hooded figures' faces looks like Shanks....

Well that, that is what Oda can throw at us.

I've never liked the idea of Villain Shanks, the internet is gonna go wild with the Rat stuff again. So I'm very much hoping that there's an explanation for this. The second person has a bandaged face but given the eyelashes they are likely a woman. Being able to go to Elbaf is already strange enough but since we know that Garling is now a Gorosei then maybe our secondary enemy force for this arc is the Figarland family? I'm still not sold on the idea that Shanks has a twin but there aren't many explanations which prevent Shanks from being in league with the WG at the moment.

It's definitely a headfuck, especially with it being revealed that Elbaf is actually very peaceful now, and perhaps Loki and the Greybeards intend to restore it to a warmongering country once more. This could mean bad things for the library and Saul, I do very much have a worry that the Owl Library may burn down like Ohara's one did. I do wonder how this affects Usopp's character here, since he looked up to Elbaf for its bravery as warriors, plus Franky's interest in Treasure Tree Adam can't be neglected. The Vegapunk stuff does feel a bit like the stakes of the arc were undermined, but I suppose someone who did see their death coming would make a bunch of contingencies. At the very least I am content with the idea that she, Bonney and Kuma will linger in Elbaf rather than continuously having to be on the run.

Still, Hello Miss Ripley~ we know that Colon is visiting her so he probably is going to school, wonder what the direct connection is with her and that family, we haven't seen the father he also has lunch for yet. So it still seems more characters are gonna come out of the woodwork.

Things growing giant in the library is interesting though, we've seen the cat change into something larger so maybe there's some sort of magic or effect in Elbaf that can alter people and objects? Maybe the longer you stay the more likely humans are to be affected, thus the warning. Not a time dilation, but if you linger you may turn into a giant yourself?

Mysteries and Histories and Confusions all around, definitely an Oda calling card, 2025 One Piece is gonna be mind-bending.

[gunthermunch]

[Transcript under the cut]

Marcus: decaf WG: thanks. don't think i asked for decaf Marcus: pretty sure you could use some decaf WG: damn. maybe WG: …sorry, i'm really not good at small talk Marcus: you think i enjoy weather talk? just sip that coffee Wolf. It's cool. WG: ok but don't go ''you're being doomy'' at me Marcus: okay? why would i do that. WG: you weren't there when mom used to take us to big family gatherings Marcus: true. i was busy partying WG: … WG: shit WG: do you uh. mind? if i ask you something? Marcus: i'm all ears WG: do… you also have these thoughts like- haunting… words? or something. I mean, stuff you or someone else said before and it's stuck in your head and shitting everywhere like a bug like a… fly. Marcus: A fly? WG: yeah. maybe three. WG: I dunno, i think its been kinda growing with me, y'know? more space in there, more flies Marcus: did uh- i mean, what happened? WG: uhh yeah i don't think you wanna hear all that it really is a lot Marcus: i've heard a lot of stuff these years WG: are you sure? i dont think i ever told anyone all of it Marcus: yeah c'mon WG: well okay, so… WG: Mom probably told you about my kid years so im not getting into that. then there's my teens and it's messed up i almost die thrice, scary shit. anyways i went blonde, started larping, decided i no longer wanted anything to do with my own body and life and then suddenly school was over and of course i wanted to die for good so then i was all alone, made that to myself, stuff stuff i also met a guy before this he was great and i also turned my back on him. then i don't even remember how but i followed Cassandra to Strangerville which was a whole fever dream jesus fucking christ and then there was Nervous. love that guy. I asked Cass on a date but i messed everything up, then ran away. Again. Stole her whole truck. Now i'm a different kind of blonde and also a babysitter and also completely useless. WG: And now- so, years ago i accidentaly discovered this secret door in Gunther's house that leads to a basement and christ who even does that? the hell? and i'm SURE it has to do with whatever Bluma's going through so that means I could fix it up but i'm not doing it because i'm still running away. And I'm not even scared, I'm just letting stuff happen WG: and i cant keep being on my own. and i need someone. WG: man i miss Morgan. WG: i think that's all Marcus: …you still got that Cassandra's number?

[brookstolemybrand]

The thing about the writing problems with Sabo's character is that almost all of them could be so easily fixed by just mentioning him a bit earlier, or even just hinting about him (I don't count Ace's tattoo as a hint because it's only clear that it even was a hint in retrospect)

The way I'd do it would be to just have Ace and/or Luffy refer to him in some indirect way in Alabasta. Just enough for the audience to understand that the two of them have someone they both used to know who was important to them but who isn't around anymore

One idea I had was that maybe Ace stays for just a little bit longer with the crew and to celebrate the reunion he asks if they have any booze, and either him or Luffy ask for an extra cup. The others might be surprised since Luffy usually doesn't like alcohol. They drink and then pour the extra cup into the ocean

Nothing else had to be said, the implication is very much that someone is missing from the table (with bonus implication that they were lost at sea) and the audience gets to make their speculations

Also it'd be an early hint about how Luffy and Ace became brothers

And then when the flashback comes along later and Sabo is introduced, everyone would immediately know that this is who the extra cup was for, even before they see the scene itself

Obviously this is only possible in retrospect (because I'm pretty sure Oda hadn't come up with Sabo yet at that point) but I hope the live action version does something like this (even if it's not literally this, and even if it never actually gets far enough to introduce Sabo)

My point is, that's really all you need to make Sabo fully integrated into the narrative IMO. That way he's subtly introduced with Ace so it doesn't come out of nowhere when there's a third brother, but at the same it preserves the element of mystery and surprise, because we don't know anything about him

It also removes the problem of people seeing him as Ace's replacement because we would have been expecting someone like this ever since Ace's introduction

And I think that demonstrates that there really isn't anything wrong with this character, it's only that his introduction is a bit too abrupt. It's all about properly managing audience expectations. Unfortunately you can't always do that in a serialised format when you come up with something just a little bit too late and can't go back to add the foreshadowing

I'm glad Oda still chose to include Sabo because I genuinely think he was a much needed addition, someone (preferably someone young) for the audience AND Luffy to personally connect to within the Revolutionary Army and a sort of secondary protagonist for that side of the plot which Luffy can't yet be involved in because he's busy chasing his goals

Somebody needs to be fighting the World Government directly, otherwise the audience might feel too torn about the fact that Luffy is just over here having a fun adventure and looking for treasure while this totalitarian government is oppressing people and keeping slaves. Luffy has challenged them, yes, but only for his own reasons. Because Luffy isn't and doesn't want to be a hero. So to balance that out and to leave Luffy free to do his thing, you need heroes like the Revolutionary Army to respond to the glaring problem that the setting introduces so Luffy ignoring it (for now) doesn't feel jarring; somebody else is working on it

Sure it's probably ultimately going to be Luffy who takes care of the WG, obviously, because he's still the actual protagonist. But you get what I mean, right? If someone else wasn't focusing on that issue, the audience might feel like it's something Luffy should be doing before going after the One Piece, because it feels more pressing and urgent

That's why a character like Sabo is important; this is in fact his main role in the story, not just being Luffy's big brother but being Luffy's counterpart in the RA, similarly to the way Koby is Luffy's counterpart in the Navy

[your-pal-nebula]

WG AU me and my dad came up with

(Warning: mentions and descriptions body horror)

So, it's canon that when LRW is running low on ink, her clones come out super weak and pretty much instantly poof into a pile of papers the moment they come into existence.

But what if, instead, when she ran low in ink, her clones came out super fucked up?

Like, missing limbs, deformed in some way, only part of their body is colored in, like part of them is just grayed out or white, stuff like that. They're pretty much constantly in agony because of the way their body is, and they wish they were dead the moment they're created.

Because they're so messed up, LRW just kind of pretends they don't exist whenever it happens. Occasionally, she puts them out of their misery herself. Which isn't difficult because due to how weak they are, just pushing them over is enough to make them turn into a pile of papers.

But sometimes the fucked up clones wander off and shamble around the city for a minute.

They never get very far before getting hit by a car or shot or whatever else, as I said, they're so weak that a single shove kills them, but they have given a fair few innocent children permanent nightmares at the sight of a human who's constantly hunched over, with only one arm, a piece of their jaw missing, with half of their body gray and white, and only speaks in low groans and whose only actual words are "kill... me...."

Tbh if I ever wrote a fic about this, it wouldn't be very long- only three or five parts. That's my estimation, at least. It's a pretty good premise for a short WG horror story but couldn't be made that long without dragging on or being milked to death.

Yes, fanart of this AU is welcome, just credit me

Also I just decided we'll call this the Reject Clones AU

[yamatossideboob]

One Piece 1116 spoilers!

My spottings this week:

Yamato's taking his time getting ready for his field trip but whatever as long as he's on page. ily Yamtoe!!!!! hi Otsuru!!!

Struggling to remember here, were the Ancient Weapons known at all to the greater public? even as myths or historical fact? either way they are now lmfao

There's something so unsettling about seeing Imu looking up at that portrait, and I can't articulate why... it's weirdly human coming from someone/thing who's previously been so removed from humanity.

aww Ingram, Karoo, its okay lads, shes on board a sky ship fleeing political retaliation with an albatross man and Monsieur Mangetot

i do hope we get a moment with Vivi seeing her own missing persons poster. or! or! her own wanted poster??

okay I'm really glad we now know this stolen Mother Flame business, AND finally get confirmation that the weapon used to destroy Lulusia IS an Ancient Weapon, and Uranus to boot! This is immense!!! Aside from the confirmations, this also potentially puts a cap on any AW use since their fuel source is clearly limited, which stops them from like. breaking the OP endgame bc why else wouldn't the WG just spam it constantly lol. Althoughhhhhh since York is still likely to make it off Egghead, and she surely knows how to recreate it, I could well be wrong...

also wow York is even worse than we thought

One Punch King????? howrya mate!

srsly though, the knowledge of what really happened to Lulusia reaching the public is gonna be the fucking cherry on the Fuck The WG sundae coming very soon

This is such a packed chapter and yet *this* is the moment I've been waiting for.

I've said before on here how I wished the link between Vegapunk and the extermination of Lulusia was emphasised more. The parallels between Vegapunk's innovations and real life scientists having their work used for evil purposes is too great, and while OP isn't quite the series to explore a subject like that as it deserves, I'd been holding out hope that this manga would at least lampshade it, if not have Vegapunk address this. I can be satisfied with this. I am glad Vegapunk understands what his work lead to, even if he never meant for it to. Such is the price of capital and the state dictating scientific development babes.

also damn I hope that little panel of Momo and Kinemon means they won't be completely caught unawares by the Blackbeard gang showing up to pilfer Pluton a.a ;;;

ah yes hi Mr Oral Fixation, good to see you as always sexy

aaaaaaaaaand hi Shirohoshi. I forget if you know *you're* an Ancient Weapon too lmao

actually yeah Joyboy why DID you preserve the Ancient Weapons whats that about hmmm

Sengoku trying to off himself by onigiri choking to avoid questions about wtf he knows about the Elders and Void Century

Akainu maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad

FUCKING YES CROCUS!!!!

I still hate how cute you are York. stop being horrible.

Man I can't wait to see how the hell Stella pulled this off lmao

Also YES THE GIANT ROBO HAD A PURPOSE THE WHOLE TIME LMFAOOOOOO

(I'd heard the theory wrt the transponder and the robo but I didn't believe it fsr 💀)

So this will take the heat off the giants and Strawhats long enough for them to gtfo, I guess the Ancient Robo will meet its end here by Elder claws? I hope at least we find out what its connection to Joyboy is before it gets scrapped

Rayleigh soused as a student during Rag Week, I hope he shows up again in a more long-term way sooooooooooooooon

AND another chapter next week!! this absurd ridiculous gargantuan lore drop keeps on chugging!!! What will we learn next? What cameos shall we have? Will the Ancient Robo actually do something beyond one (1) panel?

Tune in next time nakama! Til next time! 💪✖️

[silverysnake]

Tagged by @pumpking64 thank you so much!!

Share your wallpaper: It‘s THIS art by @neverland-in-space (not gonna put it here bc I don‘t wanna repost)

The last song you listened to: I have a playlist with my favourite songs from this years eurovision that‘s just on repeat the whole time so I‘m gonna put the six songs that are in it here: Cha Cha Cha by Käärijä (Finland), Queen of Kings by Alessandra (Norway), Promise by Voyager (Australia), Blood & Glitter by Lord Of The Lost (Germany), Who the Hell Is Edgar? by TEYA and SALENA (Austria), Carpe Diem by Joker Out (Slovenia). Cha Cha Cha and Queen of Kings are definitely the two I‘ve listened to the most tbh bc I keep putting them on repeat until I remember that I could listen to some of the other songs too.

Currently reading: Started rereading Good Omens for idk the sixth or seventh time now and spatort fics of course

Last Movie: Stereo. Please don‘t ask me what it was about it was some weird german movie I found in the depths of netflix, the only thing I know for sure is that there was a ghost that was played by Moritz Bleibtreu. The last movie I‘ve seen in the cinema was the new Guardians of the Galaxy which made me cry my eyes out.

Craving: Some coffee and for my schürk/ross wg fic to finish itself bc I can‘t find my motivation

What are you wearing right now: cargo-pants and a batman-shirt

How tall are you: 173 so pretty average haha

Piercings: Had earrings since I was six

Tattoos: None, but I wanna get one soon

Glasses? Contacts?: Nope

Last drink: Water. Stay hydrated guys!

Last show: ‚last‘ ist good, I‘m watching seven shows rn (and yes I‘m gonna elaborate on that): 1) Spatort, 2) Soko Leipzig, 3) Polizeiruf Swiecko (the sad gay german cop shows, no one should be surprised by this), 4) Magicians with some friends (how does this show have so much plot I still don‘t understand?!), 5) Dark (every time when I say „hey this would be a funny thing to reveal but actually please don‘t i don‘t want the situation to get worse“ that exact thing is revealed like in the next one to three episodes and by now I‘m just horrified by everything), 6) Mord mit Aussicht (my bestie pressured me for weeks until I gave in and honestly it‘s pretty entertaining and another german cop show), 7) Supernatural bc for some reason I thought that is a good idea

Last thing you ate: some bread for breakfast

Favourite colour: Purple and green :)

Current obsession: The already mentioned sad gay german cop shows

Unrelated obsession: Norse Mythology

Any pets: Nope, but my parents have two cats and I‘ve missed them every day since I moved out

Do you have a crush on anyone: Nope

Favourite fictional character: It‘s been Loki for years so I guess he deserves to be on here (not just the Marvel version but in general) and I guess currently it‘s Adam Schürk haha

The last place you traveled: Spent a week in a village near Burg (bei Magdeburg) last month :)

Tagging: @shadow-of-a-cloud @homoromoacecase @neverland-in-space @lyxchen @anotherobsessedfangirl @schuerk-wie-schurke @ancient-namess and anyone else who wants to do this :)

[littleharpethcrossfit]

Saturday, 21 October, 2023.

It was a brisk 45 degrees at the early workout, but it warmed to 60 degrees by the start of the 0930. A perfect sunny Fall morning at the Barn.

The Admiral and Birthday Boy Armando led our mobility warmup.

Warmup #2

Demo'ed by Dana.

4 Rounds

10 Banded Good Mornings

10 Banded Thrusters

Armando's 51st Birthday WOD

1 ROUND

10 Bench Press ( 185 / 135 / 85 )

Row-Ski 1,972m or Bike 3,944m

18 Deadlifts ( 225 / 185 / 125 )

51 Sledge-Hammers

10 Minute Interval For Rest And Re-set Equipment

Bernard's 47th Birthday WOD

1 Round

10 Shoulder To Overhead ( 135 / 95 / 75 )

Row-Ski 1,976m or Bike 3,952m

24 Power Cleans ( 135 / 95 / 75 )

47 Sledge-Hammers

Scores:

Post Time For Armando WOD and Time For Bernard WOD.

HOWEVER, Chicken-Legged Larry gave me some heart-felt suggestions regarding the posting of scores, and since I am always and forever in tune with the old "2 heads are better than 1" (except in marriage), I realized that posting scores as one combined number was a superior method. Even better would have been scoring the elapsed time from start to finish including the 10 minute rest. But since we didn't post that way, I did all the math, combining everyone's scores and collating them as (thanklessly) always.

Shane=25:34** Bernard=25:41** Larry=26:03** Armando=26:20** Ed=27:58** Elisa/Kayla/Alicia=28:06 Robert=28:30** LSU=28 "something" Nathan=29:30* Rodney=29:31 Jon=29:33 Warren A=29:38 Joe=30 "something" Mitch=30:56 Dyer=32:09* Tim=32:30* Cherrita=33:45 Coach=35:54 Tom=35:56 WG=38:16 Faith (The Kid)=39:39 Shannon/Michelle=41:00 Sandy=42:00 Average Dave="Personal Records" Many failed to post scores. Like the lovely Ruth Anne.

Notes:

Considering these two Birthday WODs were designed by unprofessional programmers while under the influence of copious alcohol, our gang performed them with enthusiasm and negligible glomming.

Jon was sponsored by Rodney and is a Pediatrician known professionally by many of us. FYI, Robert has a jealous and monetarily competitive disliking for all Medical Doctors. Billed as a mono-structural athlete (runner), Jon seemed to do well under Rodney's tutelage and left with a fine BSN T-shirt. Michelle is Shannon's Sister and today was her first visit to the Barn. I think Michelle was intimidated and did not want to work out with us, stating her inclination to just go for a run in the park. With some arm-twisting and locking the Arboretum gate, I got her to work out with Sister Shannon. And it was a beautiful thing to watch. I'm sure they made fond memories today. She left with a T-shirt also.

Usually Kayla brews us iced coffee on Saturday mornings. Timmy even brought extra ice. Alas, Kayla didn't bring the coffee fixings today, mumbling the excuse that she "didn't come here from home". She left in a hot-rush immediately after the WOD like maybe she left something boiling over a hot fire, or maybe left the shower running.

Miss Linda returns from visiting our North Carolina Kids today, and she is going to be crabbier than usual when she sees all her pre-cooked meals that she left for me untouched in the fridge. She will know that several of my favorite Barn Girls fed me with their own home-cookin'. Usually the resident dog would have profited from this situation, but Miss Esther took Ginger The Pup home with her for the last few days.

This commercial showing Domino Pizza delivery persons flying thru the air delivering hot Pizza's without benefit of parachutes or drones is going to result in an outbreak of youngsters who identify as birds getting killed jumping from planes or other high places. Kayla brought a SoCal girl-friend to the Barn last week who I believe thinks she is a bird. Sammy D wasn't here that day, else they woulda bonded like Gorilla Glue.

Sunday at 0730 and 1 PM. I hope Kayla can make it.

[beckface]

It’s 1am and brain go brrr so i’m gonna just. Talk about a realllly self indulgent wg and twobrains au for a bit don’t mind me

context- I wrote a fic one time that was like the city turned on WG a bit and her secret identity got revealed after a really bad battle, like Becky overheard some conversations out of context of people she cared about and assumed that their mixed emotions were them completely shunning her. Then TB comforted her in the woods and the ending kindof implies that she bitterly decides to stop protecting the city.

So thats the backstory for whatever saccharine family bullshit i’m about to start saying idk I didn’t plan this

warning this is aggressively Becky hurt/comfort

Twobrains goes home and eats his dinner but keeps thinking about Becky, like he’s all discombobulated because he’s getting weird fuzzy memories of her secret identity and realizing that he has a lot repressed of warmth and love that the two shared

He talks to his henchmen and tells them everything, Squeaky is just kindof quietly listening and observing like the stone cold embodiment of evil the weird mouse tumor is. He’s like “this could be a beneficial development” and Tb is like “I am in so much pain”

Anyways a couple days go by and things go back to normal except wordgirl (now known to be Becky Botsford) is no where to be seen. Everyone is worried sick but really hesitant about expressing it or going to look for her because they feel like she’s now alienated (pun. laugh. laugh at my pun.) from everyone else

And they don’t really understand that she’s really vulnerable right now because everyone has it in their heads that they don’t really see Wordgirl as a full fledged person, and more like a godly beacon of power. This is infecting their view of Becky, and the people who knew Becky are being very standoffish and weird about it

So TB is thinkin his thoughts and goes through old tapes of Steven and WG interacting, stuff he refused to watch before. He goes to a villain meeting and all the villains talk about how it’s been nice that they haven’t been caught doing crimes but they’re all really hesitant to do anything too big.

Some like Granny May and Mr. Big are just doing their thing as normal but keeping it lowkey, some like Butcher and Chuck feel too guilty to do any crimes while Wordgirl is sad and MIA, and Tobey is just out here losing all villainous motivation because Wordgirl isn’t showing up and, he along with Victoria and Eileen miss Becky a lot.

Kid Math IS here and stopping some villains, but he’s in the city over so he can’t be at Fair City all the time!

Twobrains considers all this and decides to take some action under the guise of being annoyed at everyone being all melancholy. He goes to her spaceship hideout (he knows where it is from that one episode where she procrastinated and took him there) and finds her there sulking as expected.

Becky is laying on the couch, the tv on but not really watching it. She’s knows that her family and friends probably miss her, and she should probably talk to Bob because he’s in just as deep as she is, but she’s stuck in her own head still.

When she hears a knock on the door, or rather, on the window, she goes to check it out. Twobrains somehow climbed his way up to the window and is now very clearly regretting that decision, and almost falling off

She saves him and he’s like “Are you just gonna mope forever” and she’s like [emo music] “you’re not my dad you don’t understand!” and he’s all “Thats it. You’re coming with me.” and he just kinda scoops her up like you would a wet cat and she’s too preteen angst to care, and thus begins the “Wordgirl hides from everyone and lives with Twobrains for a bit” au

He makes her a little pallet in the guest room and puts in some toys and stuff she left in his lab when he was Steven that he never gave back to her before (I am holding on to that headcanon for dear life I bring it up so much) and over time the guest room stops looking like a guest room and starts looking like an explosion of 11-year-old-girl happened in the middle of this evil lair

He gets her some civilian clothes at some point so she doesn’t have to just wear the uniform all the time but like he has no idea what little girls wear so it’s just his outfit but smaller. The henchman go out and get Becky some actual outfits and stuff

Twobrains starts to grumpily bond with Becky and the Henchmen find it funny how he goes out of his way for her but acts like it’s such a horrible burden.

“Boss aren’t we committing a crime? Why are we stopping at the pretty princess sale?”

“You imbeciles, well OBVIOUSLY this pretty princess special edition deluxe wallpaper color-by-number kit isn’t going to buy itself?? I swear, having Wordgirl around is so annoying, she doesn’t even know that this is out yet and still won’t leave the house anyways, so I have to be the one to get it for her! Ugh.”

“Boss why. Why do you need to get it for her.”

“Do I pay you to ask questions?? Go get my wallet!”

She pops up while he’s building his evil rays and EVERY single time she makes a big deal about how she could stop him if she was still a crime fighter and goes into detail about how she would do it. Like she’s so bored she makes up crimes for herself to stop. Eventually he’s like “I need some peace while building. Clearly the reasonable solution is not to ask her to leave me alone for a bit, so I’m going to build a room dedicated to hologram battle scenarios.” And it turns out to just be a battle training sort of deal but Becky thinks it’s the most fun thing ever

Mousebrain convinces TB to spread a rumor that Wordgirl has gone back to Lexicon, just for safety purposes. TB can tell that Squeaky has a plan, but is keeping quiet. For now. TB can guess pretty easily where this is going though.

one direction this could go is Becky thinks she’s just gonna stay away from everyone but as she and TB get closer she gets more and more into the things he does, she starts negotiating with her moral code a bit and begins by being curious about his work, and is genuinely interested when he excitedly infodumps about his projects

Then she starts helping him build his gadgets, evil or not. She even gets to wear one of his spare lab coats, but she has to tie up the sleeves and cape of the coat so it fits on her. He does have some goggles that fit her. One day when going to work on the lab she wears the outfit he bought that was just a copy of his, and combined with the lab coat and goggles it looks like Twobrains and his mini-me (who other then the outfit looks nothing like him so it’s silly) working on some sort of contraption together

He feels all proud when she wears the mini-me outfit and alcjakdjalxlckd im sick in the head someone help me but no yeah he’s like “Look. My child. She has arrived.”

“Y’know kid this is really fun, Why couldn’t we have just done this sooner instead of you pestering me about my schemes all this time”

“Doc. Arresting you for committing multiple felonies is not ‘pestering’”

“Ehhh you say potato I say pestering”

“No you say potato, I say felony-hey haha stop it!”

“Whats that? I can’t hear you over this pillow in your face.”

*murmurring*

“Come again? I think you might have- hEY-“ [twobrains is thrown on the ground by an aggressively tossed pillow]

“Muahaha! You think you can defeat me? I am Wordgirl! Master of the art of pillow fighting!”

“Oh ho ho- you may have mastered the arts, but don’t forget who taught you! Never understand an old pro with some tricks up his sleeve- HENCHMAN, NOW!”

[The Henchmen and Twobrains all bombarded Becky with pillows. She gives up quickly with a giant smile, and she and Twobrains fall on the pile of pillows laughing hard]

“HAAH- hah hah- Oh god, I haven’t done that in years, I feel like a little kid again!”

[he turns to see Becky’s eyes shining and a thoughtful grin stretching across her face]

“?”

“Whatcha lookin at me like that for”

“Nothing I just- I’m really happy right now”

He tells some of the other villains at some point, not all at once just the ones he’s closest too. He avoids telling the kids, something tells him that they would tell her parents where she is, and mouse brain doesn’t like that idea.

He tries to remain unbiased because she’s clearly hearing everything with the worst intentions right now, but from everything she says about how everyone from her life is supposedly talking about her they all seem pretty heartless just because she’s different and powerful. He doesn’t really want to have her go back to that either.

Chuck and Butcher have both been worried sick since they’re both really soft and have grown to care about Wordgirl a lot, so they’re happy she’s okay, and doubly happy that she’s not stopping their crimes of her own accord now. The two come over for lunch often and hang out with TB and his gaggle of people he accidentally adopted

TB has started to use her real name around the house because “Wordgirl” feels awkward. Becky at first is weirded out by him calling her Becky, and it feels strange for him too, but over time it starts being more comfortable and almost nostalgic, because WG remember everything from the steven time ofc and TB is getting more and more memories of Becky now that the truth is out

Sometimes Kid Math comes over to stop an evil scheme. Becky keeps her distance but is always overtaken by this intense self-hatred and guilt, but she feels too paralyzed to go do anything either way.

Becky, pointing at her feelings of inadequacy whenever she’s not doing something to serve others even if it’s too much for her: Damn g my cut is insane shoutout to my barber (camera pans to childhood trauma)

She basically really hates not doing anything and it makes her feel worthless or like she’s actively doing something wrong, or like it’s her sole duty to take care of other people and she’s failing at the point of her existence somehow

She ends up talking to TB and the other villains/henchmen that know where she is about this, because who else does she have right now? and they are all like “F that, you don’t owe anything to anybody!”

Between this, bonding with her villains, and becoming dangerously comfortable with avoiding seeing anyone she knows after the attack day she kindof becomes a villain in the shadows

She’s petrified of being seen in public again, but she helps some of the villains now. Mostly TB. She starts out by assisting with rays and such, but ends up wearing a cloak and breaking through walls for them or superhearing things etc

One day it gets to the point where she wakes up from a nightmare and in a angry, panicked haze goes and just wrecks a nearby building all on her own. She realizes someone might see her and rushed back to the warehouse, finding Twobrains awake. She apologizes, thinking she woke him up, but his sleep schedule has never been and will never be normal so he was just up on his own doing god knows what

He at first doesn’t think much of it other then that it’s weird she’s up so late, but catches on that she’s off when she keeps hanging around him but not talking.

She wants comfort and is just highkey affection starved but he’s not really the one she would go to for it and she doesn’t feel that she deserves it after doing something bad but she doesn’t want to be alone and he’s like the main adult in her life now and she just keeps spiraling until Twobrains who’s just been 🧍‍♂️ this whole time decides he doesn’t have time for the Becky-overthinking thing and picks her up in like the proper holding a child way

She’s very confused and he goes “You can tell me if you want. You don’t have to though, but you’re alright kiddo. Don’t start thinking you’re not n’ all that jazz.”

She just kind of leans into his shoulder quietly and he holds her with one arm while grabbing cheese snacks and stuff and then sits down with her to watch some late-night tv. They end up falling asleep on the couch together like that

So yeah Becky kindof does similar crimes to Tobey, rage/pain/panic-induced destruction but she’s not public about it, so no one knows who’s doing it. The regret she feels afterwards becomes less and less, and after spending so much time with villains the way the city treated her badly not only becomes clearer to her, it exacerbates SOOO much to the point where she starts internally hating the city a bit. She doesn’t want to but she gets in these mental spirals a lot and starts nitpicking every little time something has happened that she felt stressed or unappreciated by people in her life, and it makes it worse

Her mental state isn’t exactly getting worse, she’s healing previously repressed trauma in a lot of ways, but it’s not really improving because as much as they want to help and as good of listeners a lot of the villains are, and as nice it is to be apart of their support system now, they don’t really encourage healthy coping mechanisms

this is kindof where things go static for a bit. WG is a secret villain in the city but like not really, she’s living with Twobrains who’s getting really attached to his new child and they’ve got a sweet relationship but it’s still built on a very rocky foundation, especially with Squeaky purposefully trying to turn WG evil

Okay goodnight AKFHAJDH

[emo4life]

i really hope fx does something this year... 

[sashi-ya]

interested to know what you're thoughts are on how law's character arc will end in op? his alliance with luffy, his ability to obtain the one piece, anything really.

i'm convinced he's going to die. idk why, and i really feel like it'll have something to do with the eternal life surgery. hopefully i'm wrong! but as resident law lover, i want your opinion!

Hi babe!! thank u for asking! It is a liiiilte bit (a lot) long so I hope you don't mind ♥

Well, first in first I HOPE HE DOESN’T DIE because Idk if I can handle losing him. That being said, let me tell you what I think…

As much as Law tries to hide it, Law is Luffy’s friend. So no need to have an alliance anymore. He has found in Luffy someone who wants the same as him. Law is not interested in the One Piece treasure at all. His true motivations are a little different from being the “pirate king”. Let me tell you why….

Spoilers from “One Piece Novel: Law” (canon) and Manga under the cut. -And a LONG theory -

The novel tells us about what happened after Cora’s death, how Law managed to cure himself and how he ended up meeting Mr. Wolff, Bepo, Shachi and Penguin. In the novel it is stated that Law didn’t really care about being a pirate, but his true reasons to set sail were no other than taking down Doflamingo (What Law believed was Cora’s purpose). So, in order to fulfil Cora’s will he spent two years training not only his df powers but also as a surgeon working at a local hospital. Bepo, Shachi and Pen did the same, of course. So, to be honest, I don’t think Law's first purpose was in no way to become the Pirate King.

After the battle of Dressrosa, once Doffy was defeated and Law spoke to ex admiral Sengoku, he understood that;

First, as we all know, Cora’s love was beyond any type of revenge or plan against Doffy.

And then, the unknown meaning of the D. That meaning he was probably not really interested in until he saw how Doffy reacted knowing he was a D. And of course I’m sure he asked himself a lot about why Luffy has the same secret name? Is he supposed to do something similar to Mugiwara-ya? What does that D hide?.

Then, in Wano… he states his intentions to know about the meaning of the D clearly on ch. 995 of the manga. He even asks Robin if she knows about it.

But, let’s discuss something else here. His relationship with Smoker, X-Drake and Koby. (And ofc his step grandad Sengoku)

So, as you may know before the alliance with Luffy, Law was a Shichibukai right?

So, what happened in the two years of time skip for him to become a warlord? Most of the people accepted the quick explanation that this little emo doctor one day appeared at Marineford with a box of 100 PIRATE hearts and so the marine said “Oh amazing, let’s make him an ouka shichibukai”. Weird, right? Specially when it comes to One Piece. And mainly because how the fuck did they check if those hearts were from pirates? And what does that even mean? Did Law want to show the Marine how strong he was? or...

In the same chapter Law is presented as “Trafalgar D. Water Law, Surgeon of Death & Mastermind of the Rocky Port incident”. WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? WHAT HAPPENED THERE?

So, the only information we have about it till now (+10 years) is that it also involves Koby. Koby was decorated as Hero and Captain of the Marine after that because he “saved many civilians' lives”. So, we could say that if Law was the one who planned the incident and Koby fought in it at least they have met each other -at least once-.

And of course we all think Law was probably the bad guy, right? But, there are NO proofs of it whatsoever. What if Law AND Koby worked together against the 100 pirates Law left heartless? What if Law is not a real pirate, but perhaps has something to do with the Marine? Maybe the idea of creating this incident was to show fake information to the Marine. One possibility is that they wanted to show Law as a rival to hide his connections with some marines (Koby, X-Drake, Smoker) or maybe just the opposite, like "hey, this guy helps the marine" let's give him the Shichibukai title.

And by this I’m not really saying Law is a Marine. I don’t really think so. But, maybe he has something to do with the S.W.O.R.D. project where Koby, X- Drake, probably Smoker and Tashigi and Kuzan are involved.

From here I think it is important for me to clarify that -in my opinion- there are two sides of the Marine. The “bad guys” who let’s say are represented by Akainu; people who use the word “justice” WRONGLY. Those who work in the Marine just to protect nobles and tenryuubitos. And then the "good guys" those represented by Smoker, Cora, Bellemere, Koby, Garp, X-Drake, Ishoo who fight for TRUE JUSTICE. Even though if that depended on fighting with and not against some pirates.

A good example and I think Oda wanted to show this as a foreshadow of the future big war was these specific moment at Punk Hazard

Marines + SWORD + Pirates together against people sent by Doffy (a former Celestial Dragon). Or even during Dressrosa!

Aaaand what about Law’s relationship with Smoker? Remember how Law saved Smoker ass during his fight against Vergo? Remember how Law told Smoker about Green bit? Why the fuck would Law tell a marine about his plans? There is some info missing here that I hope Oda will enlighten us with it sooner.

Another of the many reasons Law might be involved in the SWORD project is his relationship with X-Drake. Back to Dressrosa arc, specifically during Cora’s flashback, X-Drake literally saved Law’s life indirectly. How? Well… the Ope Ope no mi was stolen by Cora from X-Drake's father. Little Drake was there too.

When Doffy heard the Marine radio stating they had found a child he thought it was Law and so they escaped. But in reality, the child was no other than X-Drake. Drake was adopted by Sengoku, just as he did with Cora and became a Marine. Drake and Smoker TRAINED together.

And then again, up until the current arc, with the help of Drake I think Law was able to escape Wano prison and attacked Hawkins.

And why would Drake help Law to escape if after all his dad was killed because of the events that involved little Law?... well, maybe because they are more than fellow supernovas… and what's Drake? A marine from Sword like Koby.

(Not to mention how Drake got even with Law because of his past by hitting the shit out of him during the “acting” at Wano prison in from of Hawkins).

So… to not make this text endless (even though I have many other reasons to believe Law is not a pirate at all) I'm sure Law FIGHTS for TRUE JUSTICE (besides him wanting to know about the will of D) for many reasons; 1. To avenge his family deaths, 2. To end up with the endless night the WG has brought into the world… after all he is a D, right?

But if you ask me about what's gonna happen with Luffy? I don't think he will get mad when he learns the truth about his precious Torao. After all Luffy is used to fight with the good marines against injustice! He even accepted X Drake to join them during Wano raid (Ch.990)

About his possible death, I really hope he doesn’t die, but to be honest, Oda has the power to decide it so… let’s pray this won't happen. And as he said many times “the moment someone makes a theory that’s true I will change it”.

So I could make this theory ENDLESS but for the sake of your sanity I won't go any further hahaha.

Thank u for asking, darling! ♥

[fromtheplanethexagon]

the robot problem: a critical look at tobecky, 5 years late

hello wordgirl fandom i am back :) and i have a lot of thoughts that i never got around to expressing before i moved on from the show. so be aware that everything i'm saying is based on my experiences during the 2012-2016 era of the fandom & state of tumblr in general, and i am not familiar with more recent fan content.

it's been over five years since the show ended, and @ifbrd​ reminded me (along with some great analysis) that while tobecky was super popular since before the show technically started (thanks to the play date shorts), it's pretty unhealthy in a lot of ways that tend to be excused or flat out ignored in fanworks. i'd like to reflect on that a bit (a lot); specifically, how both the show and the fandom approached this enemies-to-lovers ship, and how easily this ship can slip into uncomfortable territory if we're careless about how we interpret the ship and create fan content of it.

i will admit, i'm mostly writing this as a response to past me and my old creations - though i moved on from the show as a whole years ago, i do like taking the time to reflect on old interests once in a while, and reevaluating my thoughts on them. and this ship is probably the biggest one that still lurks in the corners of my mind once in a while, so let's go.

cherish is the word: a short positive note before a much longer negative one

i wanted to start this essay off with some positivity, because i am going to be very negative after this. tobecky was, in some ways, cute. it's obvious from the very beginning that these two characters are on pretty equal ground, even if one of them isn't aware of it. and that's part of the fun - the irony of how unaware tobey is that his nemesis/crush/person that pretty much always wins against him is someone that he completely dismisses as incompetent. i want to point this out because honestly, in general i don't like enemies-to-lovers because a lot of them use a power imbalance within the dynamic, and i hate power imbalances, especially when it comes to actual life-or-death scenarios (at least, as much as cartoons can do that). in most episodes, becky is never actually forced to go along with his wishes. she's not held in a 'date' against her will, nor is she ever really outwitted by him. i bring this up because there is one huge, uncomfortable exception, which i will get to later.

another big plus to the ship is the fact that they just... get along? even when fighting? of course we get brief moments where they just hang out and talk about paintings or whatever, but i'm talking about how much they get each other, even if they don't realize it. like the word banter, for example. been there since day one. becky loves words, and while most other people in her life don't really care (ranging from 'eh, that's cool i guess' to her brother calling it annoying), tobey gives her a chance to show off and thus treats her as a worthy adversary as herself, not because of her more generic superpowers - something that we've seen in canon that she feels self-conscious about (see: her motivation in patch game). one of the less noticed examples, to me, is "it's your party and i'll cry if I want to", because it's just - okay. they both are excluded from a social event, and while it's obvious that tobey deals with it by destroying the city, it's also pretty obvious that becky also deals with her frustration by fighting in that battle. like, yes, realistically it's just objectively bad that he's destroying buildings. but they're also providing each other with a way to work through their frustrations, first by fighting and then by talking things out, and finally by hanging out together instead of dwelling on being excluded from the party.

so it makes a lot of sense to me that many tobecky fans gravitated towards writing far-in-the-future fic, usually by implying that some growth had taken place before starting to write the ship. (there are, as far as i'm aware, 2... maybe 3 exceptions, that take the time to attempt a real redemption for him, at least when i left the fandom.) because if you take away his worst moments, either by reasoning out that he was 10 years old and a mess, or that he was a cartoon character in a cartoon world where everyone's actions are over-the-top, or by just flat-out pretending that certain episodes never happened, there's some pretty solid ground to start a ship on.

go gadget go: we all do not see it, we simply close our eyes (review of canon)

when the show began, i was the same age as the characters. a lot of other people were, too - at least in my cohort of the fandom. i think it's pretty safe to say that many of us have fond memories of the show's earlier seasons, and held on to that interest as we got older, for whatever reasons. so like, not to be all 'as an OG fan...', but i remember seeing the shorts air for the first time in 2006. i have a diary entry in july of 2009 about how i, a 12yo with no concept of the idea of 'shipping', was disappointed in the new tobey episode because i wanted more tobecky interactions. (that was robo-camping, btw, lol.) and so i remember how exciting their rivalry felt, watching them as someone literally their exact same age, and then watching that again as a nostalgic 17yo, and then uh... growing up, to put it frankly, and realizing just how unhealthy most of their interactions were.

okay what i meant to say was, this section is an overview of the relationship's canon portrayal throughout the years.

first, we have early tobecky: this includes the shorts and the first few seasons. this is their classic relationship: he likes her and takes robots on rampages to get her attention, she majorly disapproves and has fun taking him down. we've all seen the show, you know what i'm talking about. his backhanded ways of trying to find out her identity often feature prominently in the episodes, which - sigh, i've mentioned this whole issue before, but it's kind of a grey area in the whole uncomfortable-factor thing, because while trying to find out her identity is VERY invasive, it's something that like... everyone in the show tries to do, even her canon crush (scoops). on the one hand, it's really not a great look, but on the other hand, this is a cartoon meant to parody a genre in which this trope is extremely common. so i just wanna say that i have Issues and Thoughts on this aspect of their relationship, but there are other things i find more important to discuss here.

second, we have late tobecky: this is seasons 7-8. this is... a very strange and huge shift from the previous dynamic, though it's not necessarily obvious. what i mean by that is that for some reason, the show writers made it so that half of tobey’s rampages have nothing to do with his crush on wordgirl, even though that used to be the sole reason for his villainy. seriously. we have the birthday episode, where he's upset because he feels left out; wg vs tobey vs the dentist, where he's mad that he has a cavity; and trustworthy tobey, where his robot goes on a rampage... after becky accidentally makes it malfunction. the two outliers are ‘guess who’s coming to thanksgiving dinner’ and ‘patch game’, but they still differ from previous seasons because 1) his destruction is isolated to a forest far away from the city, and 2) his motive is still to impress wordgirl, but his methods are relatively tame. also he completely gives up on the secret identity thing??? i may have missed some things but i think he straight up tells her 'yeah there's no way you're wordgirl, lol' and the subject is just dropped for the rest of the show.

i also want to include 'the robot problem' here, because it's one of two season 6 tobey episodes, and follows the 'doesn't destroy buildings to get her attention' pattern: in fact, he teams up with her to try and stop someone else from going on a rampage (even if his reasons are selfish, lol).

and finally. the other season 6 episode. we have go gadget go, the bane of my time spent in the fandom. because GGG is the single episode where tobey truly manages to take away her autonomy, and proceeds to abuse that power for an extended period of time, for his own amusement. it's bad. it's Very Bad. put in the context that it's a white boy doing this to an (ambiguously) brown girl, it's REALLY REALLY BAD. and the more i look back on it, tbh, the more weirded out i am that the show not only made it seem like she wasn't affected at all within the episode, it just... forgot about it (which is not unusual for shows and especially children’s shows, but WG does make some efforts to either retain continuity or create canon reasons for why things are forgotten about). it's the kind of thing that you can't excuse and honestly you can't redeem (like at this point, you gotta ask yourself why you're spending so much effort trying to redeem this guy when becky has several other possible ships that are nowhere near this unhealthy - violet, scoops, honestly even victoria if you want another hero/villain ship, my absolute fave rarepair rose, etc).

so if you want to still ship it you have to just pretend that it never happened. (i remember trying for weeks to write something exploring the aftermath of this episode, to try and make myself feel better about it, but the more i wrote the more i realized just how traumatic this event should've been, so i eventually just dropped it.) and i brought up my own timeline of experiences earlier to point out that this episode aired eight whole years after the show started. which means that when i saw it, even though i was a huge stickler for canon at the time, i'd built up my own idea of the show and characters strongly enough to go 'yeah, no, this episode sucks and i am going to pretend that it doesn't exist'. and i think a lot of other people did too, because i really saw like... no one mention it, ever, except for some rogue fanfics over on ff dot net that already liked dynamics like that.

because here's the thing, and i don't know if people nowadays are aware of it? but i'm 80% sure (cannot find a source, so the other 20% is that it was just a rumor) that the show was originally supposed to end after season 6. and even if it's a rumor, it makes a ton of sense, because we get 1) an 'ending' to tobecky, which is a bad one, 2) a permanent wordgirl identity reveal that significantly changes one of the major dynamics in the show, 3) an episode where TJ gets to work with wordgirl and get a nice potential ending for their sibling dynamic, 4) an episode where we see Two-Brains explore life without his henchmen... the list goes on, and idk how many of these are just major stretches. but the point is. if the show had ended there, that would've been a pretty solid ending for many things, including their relationship: aka, it would prove that it was only ever heading somewhere bad, and when tobey finally has his moment of triumph, he is truly evil about it. and this provides us fans who HATE go gadget go with an easy reason to dismiss it - we can say that it was an attempt to conclude things in a way that wouldn't have happened if the writers had known they'd get more time. but despite that... it is still a canon episode.

it is odd to me how dramatically the dynamic shifts after that, though, because we seriously go from 'worst case ever, tobecky is toxic, your ship is dead' to 'no actually they get along and hang out and get ice cream together and tobey isn't even pressuring her into it, she's happy to go along with it :)' like, immediately. i never knew much about the show writers, so i don't know if the writers changed in between these seasons, but i would absolutely not be surprised if they did.

the earlier episodes are definitely problematic as well (though they pale in comparison to GGG) but i think everyone who ships it is aware considering that tobey is, yknow, a villain. from memory, he destroys buildings to get her attention, lies to her about the level of danger that people are in to trick her into spending more time with him, blackmails her into reading his poetry, and he creates a robot based on her that’s supposed to be devoted to him (but of course, all of these things backfire). not great stuff of course, but like... he’s a villain, that’s the point of his character. and considering that he’s a child these are things that can be redeemed, if done thoughtfully.

anyway, to sum up this section, the show starts off with a pretty standard 'enemies with an unrequited crush' setup, takes a really dark turn for a single episode, and then for the rest of the show takes their dynamic in a direction that makes it much, much easier to ship. as long as you ignore a lot of previous content.

wordbot: where's becky's autonomy in all of this? (misogyny)

we've finally gotten to the fandom. i recognize that a lot of this is going to come across as hypocritical considering how active i used to be re: this ship, but like... i'm a very different person now. anyway. disclaimer i guess - i don't write this to accuse all tobecky shippers of being like this - i know a lot of us aren't/weren't! but boy do i have things to point out, so without further ado:

it is very hard to ship this without allowing some bit of misogyny to slip into it. very, very hard. the entire premise of the ship involves a girl falling in love with a boy that repeatedly pressures her to date him via threats to the safety of herself and people she cares about, which... it's 2020, i shouldn't have to explain why that's terrible & a terrible example to set for children (which is why i am glad they never made it canon, tbh). best-case fan content has tobey stop pressuring her and start working to redeem himself out of an actual change of heart, which leads to becky seeing him in a new light. worst-case fan content treats his incessant pressuring and sometimes outright threats as something romantic - and even worse, romantic to the point where he deserves her attention and love as a reward for not giving up or whatever. i did see this pretty frequently for a while, especially in the earlier 2010s (didn't read much, Not My Thing At All), but i don't feel like going into detail here because of how obviously problematic it is. one medium (but still bad) case is where the fan content makes him start his redemption, but treats her liking him back as a reward for not knocking buildings over anymore. another not great case is where she tries to fix him with her love, which is a very common and very dangerous romantic trope. both are just... so incredibly unfair to her.

in content where she tries to 'fix him'... yeah i feel like it's really obvious how misogynistic that is. girls and women should not feel responsible for the evil actions of men, plain and simple. idk what else to say here i just really hate that trope and hated it back then and it just sucks! so can we not do that anymore, thanks.

in content that treats her like a reward for good behavior, there really isn't much of an explanation for what she sees in him. if she just goes 'oh wow, you're good now, i am going to fall in love with you for it' the whole thing falls flat because it makes NO sense whatsoever. we get to hear so much about tobey and his feelings and why he likes her and how he feels about it, but where is that energy for becky? why does she choose to trust him, to spend time around him, what does she enjoy about his presence? where is her getting over scoops in the process of falling for tobey? where is her telling her friends about this, confiding in them, asking them for advice? where is her choice in the matter?

win a day with wordgirl: do you guys even like becky or do you just like the idea of her (misogyny... 2!)

it was pretty standard for all fandoms the early-mid 2010s, but that's still not a good excuse for why so many tobecky fanfictions centered specifically around tobey's feelings while refusing to give becky the same level of empathy and nuance. it is true that to ship them comfortably you have to redeem him to some degree, which means spending time figuring him out and trying to find ways to pull him to the light without feeling super OOC. but ships take two people??? and there was so much potential for fanfics to explore becky's complex feelings on the matter - because she is! complex! she's heroic and kind but she's petty and has a competitive streak, she easily befriends villains but also doesn't trust them and doesn't believe they can ever really change, she's the savior of an entire planet but has feelings of inadequacy as her civilian identity and struggles with feeling like she can be successful without superpowers, she's great at the straightforward meanings and uses of words and loves reading but struggles to write passages that aren't dry as hell, it can be easily headcannoned that she's neurodivergent (special interests, issues with fitting in with her peers, taking things very literally, etc)... seriously there is SO MUCH to explore about her character, and a lot of it comes into play when you add tobey into the mix (literally ALL of the things i mentioned are explored at some point using tobey as a parallel or foil), but i rarely saw fanfiction that explored her thoughts on things further than 'he's evil but... maybe good?' or 'he's evil but... i kind of like him anyway?'.

if you want her to fall for him while being a villain, explore it!! why does she go against her morals? does she lie to herself about it to feel better? does she feel like she has to 'fix him' as part of her superhero duties to the city, and if so, how does that affect her as she tries and fails to help him? does she fall for him when she believes that he's turning good, only to feel betrayed when he starts acting worse because he feels like he can get away with it? it's such a shame that fanworks spend so little time even considering these questions, and it is absolutely a product of how deeply misogyny is/was baked into how we approach media (especially back then).

tobey goes good: but wait, i thought this show was progressive (a conclusion, i guess)

ifbrd wrote a great meta recently about how the show is a bit misogynist, despite being progressive in several ways. honestly i don't have much to add, but i'd really recommend reading through this; it makes a lot of great observations about the ways that male and female characters are presented differently through the show

i have little to add, so i'd just like to conclude with a reflection on the ship from my current viewpoint. i do think part of the reason so many of us latched onto the ship, despite how obviously problematic it was, is that the show treats a lot of things that would be serious in real life as normal or even comedic - which is fine lol, i'm not going to pretend that it's not a show for little kids, so they have to keep the tone light.

but if we, as teens/adults, decide to engage with this content in a more realistic manner, we have to be prepared to confront how messed up so many of the things going on really are. and if you still want to ship it, there's nothing inherently wrong with that! there's a lot of interesting things to explore in this ship, no matter what stage of enemies-to-friends-to-lovers you write them at, and it can be really helpful to have a space where you can explore a dynamic such as this in fiction. (speaking from experience here tbh, writing some fic for them helped me deal with complicated feelings about some ex-longtime friends.)

so to write this ship at all means that there are canon issues that you need to deal with if you want to have them end up in a healthy relationship in any manner that makes sense (unless you create an AU where none of that is applicable, which, power to you then). and i’m not saying ‘write them with a healthy endgame or you’re Bad’, not at all lol. but at least please, please take a step back once in a while to examine the dynamic that you’re writing, and please be careful about whether you mean to be romanticizing whatever behaviors you end up portraying as good.

[davidlynchschreibner]

A long while ago an anon asked me for Davenzi touch headcanons and as happened previously it spiraled out of control into a snapshot-style fic. I left it a long time but with other angsty projects in the works I think it is high time for a fluff break. I hope you enjoy!

A Love Song In The Language Of Hands

With a mother whose arms had always been open for him to crawl into, a boisterous extended family during summer holidays, and friends who drape limbs over each other with thoughtless ease, Matteo has never had any real cause to be touch-starved. Yet, he finds that he has become most spoiled by the ready availability. He asks for nothing but observes how his bones ache and muscles cramp if he goes too long without physical contact. It sates that twinging discomfort to feel a hand on his back, passing over his hair, flicking the round tip of his nose. As he submerges in the warmth he realizes how much he had missed letting it soak in. Readily he gives back, reaching with his hands as once his heart could not, and revels in the care he can exchange. But while the affections of his family both blood and chosen quench his thirst, David is a pitcher of water drawn from an abundant well and the shady cool of a shelter to drink it in. Matteo feels quickly parched for want of the warm press of his body and chapped lips sliding over any available skin. Where the hugs of his friends soothe an ache David’s touch is a euphoric pleasure. So he’s always groping around for it in daylight, artificial light, and darkness. They are teased for their relentless displays of affection but any potential embarrassment rebounds off him without even leaving a scuff mark. Matteo isn’t particular about the method or the mood of their touches but he always craves them. Even a playful slap is good if its David’s hand that’s connecting. He doesn’t have a reason to need like this. But every day he does.

They have equally restless hands. David is an artist and through his eyes Matteo is the first masterpiece he can touch. Not like the stylized saints or marble heroes which awe viewers in museums. Nor the beautiful street art that spills over high city walls and the crumbling innards of abandoned buildings. Matteo is low to the ground, spindly, undecorated when he peels off his many patterned layers. David finds him a perfect canvas that begs for sweeps of paint and ink. The smooth hills of Matteo’s shoulderblades and the sharp mountain range of his spine make a small world to populate with myriad creations. Matteo loves David’s art with oceanic depth and power; he is eager to be part of it. It begins with a bird, a question, and a pen. They both find David’s little portrait on Matteo’s shoulder immensely satisfying. Later, Matteo volunteers to trial a design David is debating for a character and all frustration evaporates as he works. David admires the design after, blows air across the non-toxic paint to dry it, and says only ‘perfect’. With this in mind, Matteo discovers an excellent way to vent stress. When the feelings inside make David feel his skin is stretched too thin Matteo offers for David to communicate in the way he does best--- with art. He works so delicately and diligently, unspooling all the tangled cares of his day and putting them where they are felt, acknowledged, and later washed away by the shower. Matteo lies still for however long it takes, occasionally humming a gentle query or a contented encouragement, until David is almost as relaxed as the puddle of boy beneath him. With an admiring eye the artist observes his work and the way Matteo shows through in the spaces between lines. He smoothes his hands over the fresh ink, uncaring of the way it smudges in places, and presses a kiss to the top of Matteo’s tawny head.

It didn’t take long for Matteo to learn he loves the springy curls of David’s hair beneath his fingers. In quiet moments he strokes tender touches over the pleasantly textured strands, meditating with abstract appreciation how beautiful his boyfriend is. David never lets anyone else touch his hair (would understandably bristle if they tried) but he allows even the most provocative of ruffles because this is Matteo’s love language. His hands are not mean when they tug, not dehumanizing when they reach, not careless when they accidentally get tangled. They can give in their turn the softest admiration and comfort that cards away all worry. The underlying love can be felt no matter what the particular delivery method is. It would be a lie to say that Matteo doesn’t take advantage of his unique permission. Whether it is a playful mussing, sliding his hands into the tight whorls in order to push away or bring closer the face he loves so well, or reverent strokes reserved for private moments, it’s a treasured indulgence. David has grown to enjoy lying pliant under gentle attentions. When they’re curled together in bed or on the living room sofa with a film playing on the television he becomes so relaxed beneath the steady passes over his scalp that he’s fallen asleep on more than one occasion. Matteo buries his fingers in the thickness of the top, rubs over the shaved sides, traces the fine wisps that frame David’s hairline. He loves every hair on David’s head and what he can say with the ways hands move over them.

It’s not a feature most people give thought to but David thinks Matteo’s forehead is particularly well suited to kisses. It’s one of his favourite spots made all the more attractive for being usually covered by tangled ribbons of hair. They tumble into his eyes and move across in unpredictable patterns that shift the slivers of skin between with every movement. Matteo’s forehead isn’t seen in full often but David never forgets the warm plane and the way it curves around his eyebrows. There is a variety of ways to kiss it, each one a silent message that David’s intuitive boyfriend is an expert at interpreting. A slow press still humid with the shared moisture of many kisses says a silent ‘I love you’. A hard smack planted while Matteo tries to dodge teases ‘you’re my favourite idiot’. A feathery brush is an acknowledgment of connection when it feels like there is not enough time in the world. The lingering kiss that rests long and is eventually replaced by David’s cheek murmurs ‘there’s nowhere and no one better than you’. There’s a short peck reserved for praise which makes Matteo’s cheeks dimple and glow more than any flattering words. Sometimes his brow is wrinkled with the swells of his stressors and David traces his lips over the lines until they relax back into smoothness. When David is otherwise occupied with the demands of school, work, and his activities for the student group he volunteers with he apologizes for not being his best self with a firm kiss to Matteo’s temple. They’re still discovering the endless vocabulary of forehead kisses. And they have all the time in the world.

For all that David once fashioned himself a vampire it’s really more Matteo that has an interest in necks. David’s pointedly and specifically. It has always been this way even in the swaddled months of winter, back when they were both hiding in too many layers of clothes and anxiety and David first stood in the WG’s kitchen stripped down to a low-necked shirt. Matteo is quite enthralled with the long lean line his boyfriend displays when he turns his head. His eyes trace the curve from a distance, track the way it bobs when David swallows, shine with contentment when they come indoors from the cold and he watches David unwind his scarf. It’s Matteo’s special place to lavish kisses of both the tender and excited variety. A butterfly-soft contact to reassure, a passionate mouthing in the heat of the moment, a slow press in place of those three precious words. It makes his skin tingle and tighten pleasantly when he runs his lips over David’s throat in the early morning and a patch of stubble pricks him. Sometimes he buries his face there, just presses into the curve of David’s throat and breathes him in. It presses safety into his nerves, the shape slim but solid like the trunk of a young tree, and fragrant with his favourite person’s scent. Despite the strength of it this is such a vulnerable location and they both know it. The skin is thin over blood and bone and he sometimes revels in the fact David is completely at ease beneath his touch. Never shies, never tenses, instead tilts his head in invitation and wraps Matteo up in the warmth of his arms and sunbeam smile.

It’s a very common occurrence to find Matteo lying against David in lazy cat-like fashion and this sight is the one which readily comes to mind. But this is not always the case. It’s fact that David takes immense pleasure in curling his arms around the relaxed borders of the person that embodies home. He would do so until they both surrender to inevitable eternity. But the times where he curls into Matteo and lays his head down are also plentiful. They instinctively relax each other and find the grooves where they can fit together. Sometimes David releases the mindful control with which he guides his life and lets himself dissolve. With a contented puff of air he rests the head so heavy with thoughts in all the dips and bends of Matteo’s body. They cradle him with wordless patience and support. Whether it’s the soft bellows of Matteo’s belly, the sinuous hammock of his shoulder, or the firm plate of his chest, David feels the weight of his skull absorbed as easily as an empty eggshell. Other times, he is thinking of nothing serious at all and feels anchored to the world by the grounding pressure against his head. He turns his cheek into the divots between ribs and listens to the metronome of Matteo’s breath. Or Matteo does something annoying and David lets his head lift and thump back in fond rebuke. Or gently, so as not to jostle their brains, David slots his head just beneath Matteo’s and feels them rest like stacked stones. David can always rest his head on Matteo and the same is true in reverse.  

Matteo is fascinated by David’s hands. They are useful in ways he loves to count and he thrills at what they can do. Yet they are not big or heavy with those abilities. The slim lengths of his brown fingers slide between Matteo’s pale digits like the tumblers of a lock clicking into place. Their palms are exactly the same size as he idly measured the first time they pressed together. Beautiful hands, he thinks, capable of both labor and the softest of touches. Long ago Matteo’s hands felt cold with emptiness that longed for another to enfold. It seemed perhaps he would never have that--- especially not from a boy. But David is always eager. In bed or on the street his fingers spread invitingly and prove ready to hook around Matteo’s. He loves those generous hands and how well they care for him. David knows when Matteo is anxious by the way his fingers twitch with the urge to fidget. The calloused pad of David’s thumb rubs soothingly over the nearest knuckle. If Matteo’s hand clenches suddenly tight he’s reaching his snapping point and David quickly places himself between whatever the trigger is and his boyfriend. When Matteo is wilting with the exhaustion of prolonged social engagement he slots their fingers together like a seamless mechanism, squeezes weakly, and David squeezes back in agreement. Then the former gets towed by the hand to an available space where things are less hectic. He’s tugged to lying his weary body against the strong support of David’s with their hands still intertwined. Their palms and fingers speak to each other with a language no one else understands.

Love can be expressed with roughness, David has discovered. He grins when Matteo shoves him across the couch, glares without real ire when teeth nip him, enjoys the way he can’t properly pin his boyfriend down because he fights dirty. The burn in his muscles when they wrestle is like a joyful flush. No matter how tenderly he’s cared for Matteo is still untamed. But that’s perfect--- David wants to be challenged and played with. Matteo pokes him in the side when he’s trying to focus and he slaps at the offending finger to make it go away, but it’s already been retracted in favor of an expectant expression that’s difficult to resist. If he wants to linger in bed (as happens every now and then) but Matteo wants to make breakfast he will seize David by the ankle and try to drag him off the mattress and even across the room should it come to that. They race each other and Matteo cheats to get ahead, but then David tackles him to the ground and they’re both yelling and laughing too much to go on. One day they are talking about something tedious and Matteo starts hitting him repeatedly with a pillow. With a frustrated growl David rips it from him and squashes the soft stuffing into Matteo’s face until he signals that he needs a breath. Even when David swallows it back because really he is irritated there’s always a sound of delight vibrating inside him. The other boy is a complete menace but it’s invigorating, lights him up inside, and is somehow more charming than good manners. His stomach jumps and then explodes upwards into butterflies when he’s given that devilish grin presaging some mischief. It’s not a delicate declaration of ardor but they are not fragile.

Their feet tangle and press when they lie together. Sometimes in the heat of summer cuddling is too sticky and they sleep sole to sole like sets of palms in prayer. Matteo loves thick socks, the fluffier the better, so the bottoms of his feet are kept smooth as silk. David began life running barefoot outdoors and his feet are calloused with years of pounding the ground, jumping, twisting inside his trainers so that the soles of his feet scrape. Matteo traces the arch of David’s foot with his toes and marvels at how the other boy is not at all ticklish. In the slanting light of another afternoon David balances a book at an awkward angle because their legs are wound together like a trailing plant and Matteo is cuddled under his other arm. Sometimes when they wrestle David seizes his boyfriend’s leg between both of his and holds tight against the wriggling and kicking as Matteo struggles to gain the upper hand. Eventually they declare a stalemate and lie panting with their limbs still twined. As their breathing quiets into sleepy softness Matteo burrows his foot beneath the edge of David’s trouser leg and runs his toes up the curve of the calf inside it, shivering as rough hairs brush against his skin. In winter Matteo’s feet are consistently freezing but David’s are always warm. They snuggle into the pile of blankets like two birds in the nest. Without being asked David stretches across the cool bedsheets and folds Matteo’s icy feet between the pleasant heat of his own. Like their hands, their feet are often holding each other.

The ways in which they affirm their love through touch are many and ever expanding. It’s impossible to count every expression and location and occasion. There are, David thinks, as many types of touch as there are words in the dictionary. Every one is listened to and remembered. Some spoken sharply, softly, slow and slurred, a burst of sound, an entire speech, staccato. They whisper in the dreamy dark and shout so suddenly it’s startling. Matteo has always been slow to find his words but he writes David beautiful sonnets with his fingers. David sometimes doesn’t know how to say what he is thinking but he can explain with the way he fits his body to Matteo’s. This language is foreign to some. But it is complex, evolving, equal, and most importantly theirs. They’ve had to learn it but it feels as comfortable as a mother tongue. When Matteo can barely lift his exhausted head let alone open his mouth he knows David will listen with his arms. On days that David can’t explain the feelings that throb inside his skin Matteo hears those thoughts through the head tucked beneath his chin. Sometimes they use words, sometimes they use touch, but they tell each other how much the other is loved twenty times a day. With their bodies they can talk, and talk, and talk.

[scarfacemarston]

No Dutch, We didn’t “All Have Her” Part 2: About the Epilogue

This is in reference to this post. If you want to read more about working girls in RDR, this is my post.  Not really any trigger warnings here except historical talk of sex work and a very non-explicit mention of assault.

I’ve received a few asks where people have pointed out that Abigail talked about how a John (a male client) tried to bail out on her without paying. She forced them to pay through...interesting methods. There is a line where she says “Oh, that must have been ten years or eleven years ago!” Jack is 12 in 1907.  People are saying that means that she went back to work after Jack was born. I don’t agree. I think this was a mistake on Rockstar’s part. It goes against what was said in RDR 1 and RDR 2 both by camp members and Abigail herself. Abigail talked about how she quit selling herself the moment she met John. You can read what I wrote in the above links.

Also, it would literally be impossible for her to get back to work. I wrote about the history of prostitution during this time and their role in gangs. Working girls (WG for now on) did not sleep with others in the same gang because it would cause fights. Look up Big Nose Kate and Etta Place for IRL examples. Prostitutes were considered “used up” at a certain age and were undesirable after pregnancy. Abigail was already almost “past her prime”. Her Johns would know immediately and not want her because of  completely normal things like stretch marks. differences in breasts after breast feeding, small pockets of weight, etc. .Everything normal. Please realize that any comments like this are NOT shaming her, but how “customers” would view her)  Who would watch Jack? John is gone. Arthur is the enforcer who does everything. Miss Grimshaw is running a camp.  Hosea and Dutch are running a gang. Pearson is the cook. Javier and the rest of the gang came later and when they did, they aren’t going to immediately take care of a baby they don’t know.  While the gang cares about her and Jack, they are not responsible for them. If it was so easy for Abigail to leave camp by having people look after Jack, then she would have left in the main story to get Jack supplies and help out in other ways. Yes, she did this during the St. Denis robbery and yes, that confused me.  Plus, Abigail hates asking others to do things for her, but it seems like she doesn’t like burdening people to babysit. Yes, she does this with Arthur once. I don’t think she would have pushed it if Arthur said no. Arthur gave her five dollars for supplies once which it sounds like she gave to John. That’s it. She never asks anyone else to do anything for her so I doubt she would feel right asking anyone to watch Jack, even when Tilly and the others join the gang. They care for him, yes, but they have chores and cons to go do/plan. 

 Back to Abigail, it’s also lot harder to leave someone three and under vs a four year old. Also, formula is near impossible to come by during this time. It’s very expensive and there is no wet nurse. Abigail would have to breastfeed every few hours. (Another completely normal sign.) If this happened when Jack was two, then she would still A. show normal signs of a past pregnancy and B. Still have to feed Jack every few hours. (I admit I don’t think it would have been breast milk at two? I guess it’d be smashed food? IDK about historical baby food.)  The only other option would be to take Jack with her while she served the Johns which was not a common thing at all and there is no way that happened. Who would set up shop for her? That costs money. Who would bribe the officials? That costs money. Who pays for her required doctors visits? (Yes, prostitution was both illegal, but also required the girls to have doctors visits.) Who pays for her supplies? Who is going to protect her? She has no working girls to back her up or  madam. She’s alone. Uncle was likely there because it was before she was taken in by the gang - which Uncle introduced her to.   I think she’s capable of protecting herself. No doubt, but stuff happens sadly. If she has Jack with her, the Johns are probably going to leave. If they don’t, who’s to say they won’t hurt Jack? Even in the small chance this happened and Uncle was there, I don’t think he can do that much to stop a man if he was determined enough. I think he would definitely try, though!  Abigail would be endangering the gang, herself and her son if she went back to work. She would also be hemorrhaging money. It’s illogical. Again, she quit when she met John, Arthur himself makes fun of her love for her immediate love for John if he antagonizes her. 

I don’t doubt the incident happened, I just think the writers wrote the dialogue made a mistake. There have been several other small mistakes, I’m not holding it against them, of course! It’s a huge game and mistakes happen in all games. I just wanted to explain this.