#who is in fact an adult but nobody in the family will acknowledge that

[primal-con]

Got my mom to watch the '86 movie but in doing so became completely gripped with Arcee, Springer, and Hot Rod's powerful sibling energy, more at 5!

[qiqi-media]

Don't know if it's because of the new movie release but I've been seeing a lot more of descendants the og movies resurfacing on different social medias and the Audrey comments have started back up again. One in particular that I've never liked

"Why is she doing all of that over a high school break up?"

For starters Descendants was about teenagers, all of their relationships were high school relationships. The "true love" couple had their true love's kiss while they were both still in high school. So to refer to Audrey and Ben as a "high school" relationship that's purposely downplaying her feelings and their relationship. I get being confused because Descendants goes back and forth with the canon. At the end of D1 she was fine and in Wicked World her life didn't drastically change because of their breakup. But in D3 that is what happened, her life drastically changed and she was treated like shit.

She lost all of her friends "There's nothing to lose when you're lonely and friendless" & "Why is she here." There was no reason why that had to have happen, Audrey was never shown to be so terrible to the point where if she wasn't dating Ben that everyone had to abandon her. Especially in D1 her actions were no worse than Jane's and Jane still kept her friends and were friends with the VKs. Jane in my personal opinion was worse than Audrey, at least to the Vks in D1. Her worst crime was laughing at Jane's hair and I'm not understanding why that's unforgivable in comparison to Mal trying to manipulate her with said hair. Chad was even more social in Auradon but Audrey is completely shunned and for what? Because she's not dating Ben? People were straight up ignoring her when she spoke and in canon Audrey up until that point hadn't done anything so cruel to where that would make sense. She wasn't any snarkier than Chad or Jane on occasions and definitely not worse than things the Vks did. The only explanation we can come to is that when she wasn't Ben's girlfriend she didn't matter to people anymore.

That's not even addressing her shitty ass family, they treated her like dirt because she wasn't in line for the throne anymore. (those were never Audrey's intentions btw) Her cousin, her mother, her Grandma all acted like she was a failure because she wasn't with Ben and more specifically because she "lost" Ben to their Family's enemy. Like she had any choice in the matter, Ben didn't even have the choice of when and how they broke up. So if she couldn't turn to her friends or her family who did she have?? Nobody she was isolated and alone. Other adults? Look at Belle she talked shit about her too. She had Chad but because Audrey knew she couldn't return his feelings she stopped relying on him after a certain point.

All of this because she and Ben broke up, because she wasn't next in line to become Queen of Auradon. (That's another thing, her acknowledging that if she and Ben stayed together forever would end up with her being Queen isn't her being thirsty for the crown. It's her preparing for her future that, yes she was looking forward to but she wasn't thirsty to marry him because if she was, her family seemed more than open to an arranged marriage. But there was never one, they were simply boyfriend and girlfriend.)

She lost her life long best friend too: Ben. Even if they truly made up post D3 we know their relationship would never be the same.

So trying to act like Audrey had an entire breakdown over the simple fact of their high school relationship ending is false.

"How was she not supposed to tie her self worth in dating Ben when people started treating her like a waste of space when she wasn't with him?"

[da-janela-lateral]

very curious as to what you mean by esper survivorship bias! there’s a couple things i’ve noticed that could be related (like how other than the obviously powerful teru, mob, ritsu the only child espers we see are the awakening lab kids whose powers are so limited that if they’re the baseline most espers would probably never find out they have powers at all) (or how other than the main 4 esper teens and the awakening lab kids and sort of takenaka the only psychics we see are adults that are part of claw) (sorry. my adhdemons)

FINALLY MORE EXCUSES TO TALK ABOUT MY HYPHOTESIS.

I first adressed it in this post, little time after I read some fics focusing on Teruki's relationship to Claw and started wondering about some stuff. After reading (part) of the World Domination Arc in the manga, I got more questions, which I'll explain here:

The Esper Survivorship Bias Theory

Contrary to the norm in works focused on the paranormal, in Mob Psycho 100 society overall doesn't care about espers. This is of course related to the main theme of "nobody is special" and the story's tendency for desconstructing shonen tropes, but it also implies that while rare, espers aren't seen as a big thing. This can be seen in the following details:

While describing Mob's powers, Inukawa treats them as only something unusual.

The Kageyama family, their friends and their acquaintances find Mob's powers ordinary.

Espers are a known phenomena (for an example, Mr. Asagiri looks for dozen of psychics on the start of the Mogami Arc).

Even when people don't believe on psychic powers, they don't insist much on this view after tiny proof (that is, powers are somehow beliavable).

Espers existing at all doesn't change how society works.

For that to happen, there must be a condition: the occurrence of psychic powers is common enough so that people acknowledge them AND usually don't mind their existence. They are like a weird, yet mundane fact.

This may contradict the canon's premise that psychic powers are extremely uncommon, but in the Seasoning City region alone we see several characters with them. Toichiro affirmed Claw has about 700 members and that he had hired international mercenaries, which in turn may mean there is a significant esper population out there. So why are there so few espers in-verse, they take years to meet people like them?

Simple. They aren't as extremely rare as people think. This is survivorship bias.

Most espers on canon are adults over 20 years old, and even a great part of these are members of Claw. The only psychic children we see are the main cast, the Awakening Lab kids and Takenaka. What a interesting coincidence that Claw too is 20 years old...

It's not that young espers are ultra uncommon nowadays, it's that as soon as they're obvious, Claw takes them.

This is not limited to powerful people, as the organization went after the Awakening Lab kids even though Claw either knew they had insignificant powers, or had no information on the level of their abilities at all. Any esper youth that enters their radar is a valid target.

Besides that, it's essential to remember Teruki is an exception to the rule. He survived being hunted down by Claw since childhood, but he also lived in dire conditions and was obsessed with being stronger than the criminals who went after him. Despite their powers, most esper children are normal. They wouldn't have an idea Claw existed. They wouldn't be prepared for a kidnapping attempt. And considering espers tend to feel socially alienated, lonely children have bigger chances to trust the Claw officials if they presented themselves as "someone who understood them".

In other words: espers aren't as rare as people believe. It's that as soon as they show their powers, Claw takes action. This is why there are so few characters under 18 who have psychic powers.

Final comments

Of course, many of the arguments I have mentioned could mean other things. MP100 has a pretty soft worldbuilding after all because psychic powers aren't the main focus, but rather a pretext for developing each character's perspective and inner turmoil, as well as the story's themes. Lot's of things are also played for humor and don't have real relevance. Furthermore, one could mention how the audience's view over MP100's world is limited to Mob's very uncommon life, and how some elements we've seen aren't the standard.

I'm just thinking a lot about the Claw targets' families. What did they know about the kidnappings? What did they do about them? How did the authorities investigate these cases? Have they found any closure? Have they connected the dots about the nature of the disappearances?

And what about the targets in question? How did their recruitments work? What they thought about what happened to them? Did they miss their loved ones? How many of them went on and kidnapped more kids? How many of them survived? Did they get to reunite with the people they loved and have a chance on a normal life?

Some food for thought.

[team7-headquarter]

Team 7 introductions are like:

Naruto: I want to obtain POWER so I can force people to look at me like an actual human being and not a monster, haha! They won't ignore me or isolate me anymore! They're gonna BEG ME and put their lives on my hands and— Oh and ramen. All the ramen. And maybe prove to everyone that they are dumb ass fuck for not believing in me? Yeah, prove them wrong, that's cool! And and and Iruka-sensei is cool! I'm so happy when someone does the bare minimum and respects my life and acknowledges the fact that I'm just a kid and that I'm suffering (one of) the craziest discrimination acts applied by our government Hokage...

Sakura: you know how the first real goal I got like the first thing I wanted for myself after years of being bullied and being nobody and wanting to disappear was the affection of this boy? Well, all these other girls think I don't stand a chance and that they'll get the boy, so I'm gonna win the boy and laugh at their faces. Does it mean that I need validation and affection and attention and love? Not, what are you saying, I have a perfect normal life and parents that are totally involved in my life and I am happy! So happy! I wouldn't know what sadness or loneliness is like! Never! I'm normal and totally nothing to worry about!

Sasuke: you'll find that the things you like in life are meaningless when you carry the trauma of being the sole survivor of a genocide committed by the brother you loved and adored. I want him dead which shouldn't be surprising given that we live in a society ruled by violence, right? I hate a lot of things because I'm painfully aware of how miserable our reality is. Since this is my trauma, no one else has the right to do something about it. They certainly didn't seemto have the balls to go after him, even when they call him criminal, so I'm gonna kill Itachi myself. Obsessed you said? Try enjoying life when you know someone can commit genocide and no one would give a fuck and the government won't do a thing. Try caring for others knowing they can get kill any day and you'll have to look the other way. I dare you to.

Kakashi: *most emotionally neglected adult in the village, abandoned as a kid, saw his father do the right thing and get so socially pressured he ended up commiting suicide and the government didn't give a shit, forced to become a perfect weapon at young age to show off the village strength, forced to become an elite assassin as a kid, people in the village widely making fun of his trauma and acting like he's just weird / peculiar and not on the verge of losing his mind for real, a champ at dissociation and a minute more away taking roots in front of the graves of his mistakes because he spent way too much time there in self-punishment, basically the most miserable jounin in the whole village*

Kakashi: hm, I won't let you get to know me or get close to me because everything I touch dies and I don't want to get attachments because you're soldiers and you might die and it doesn't matter that I have history with two of your families and that you all remind every single minute of the boy I watched die and the girl that I killed and the boy used to be. You will never know any of that. I am a whole man with a whole life that you'll never know because I am just your superior here and you must obey me in our missions. I'm definitely not hiding the fact that the village just failed me and set me up to be the one who failed you all in case you get killed or lose your shit once and for all.

[byoldervine]

Unoriginal Writing VS Field Trips

A lot of writers worry that their ideas have been done before or rely too much on existing scenarios. And you absolutely do need to be original if you want to write your own book that you intend to publish professionally. But a lot of writers can also take this the other way and start worrying that every single idea they have, no matter how fleshed out and unique it actually is, is just a version of a very broad and generic trope, and so it’s automatically bad and nobody will ever want to read it since it’s all been done before

Let me tell you about what has been dubbed the Peter Parker Field Trip in the fanfic scene

The Peter Parker Field Trip is an incredibly specific type of one-shot fanfiction about Peter Parker visiting Avengers Tower with his class on a school field trip while having to try and hide his status as the Avenger Spider-Man, usually along with hiding the fact that he’s basically been adopted by the Avengers and they all treat each other as family, if not legally having been adopted by Tony. And this is only the summary, it gets way more specific from here to the point where you can follow each story beat by beat and the vast majority of these fics will follow them:

1. Peter discovers that the adults arranged for him to go on the trip despite trying to get out it/telling them not to sign the permission forms. Peter tries to talk his way out of it on the way but fails. Sometimes the teacher will discourage him from lying about having a Stark Internship while they’re there

2. While they’re on the bus Flash teases Peter about how now everyone’s gonna know he doesn’t actually have a Stark Internship, meanwhile Peter’s freaking out about everyone realising he’s more than just an intern

3. The kids arrive at Avengers Tower and pile out of the bus to be greeted by some of not all of the Avengers, usually with Steve and/or Tony leading the introductions. Peter tries to keep his head down but the Avengers either spot him or were actively looking out for him, but at this point they usually don’t acknowledge him too much

4. An actual intern hands out access passes to the kids, everyone has level one clearance except for Peter who has Level Ten Alpha Clearance™️, which is even higher than most of the other Avengers and is reserved for Tony and those closest to him. Peter asks if he can just get a regular pass like the others but the intern says they don’t have any extras, usually while being starstruck at meeting Peter

5. The kids go through a security scanner, through which Jarvis announces their security clearance. Peter has his Level Ten Alpha Clearance™️ broadcast to the entire class, leaving everyone shocked. Flash thinks Peter, resident Poor Kid McOrphanface, bribed Tony Stark, known billionaire, for higher clearance

6. The tour goes ahead. They meet Bruce either in his lab or the medical bay. Bruce has a pleasant chat with Peter, who quickly helps him with something while he’s there. People are shocked that Peter works with Bruce on science stuff

7. The tour goes ahead. They meet Natasha in the training room. She offers to give a demonstration and has Peter come up to fight her. The class are shocked when he doesn’t get instantly thrown on his ass, even though overall it usually ends with him on his ass

8. The tour goes ahead. They meet Thor either on the landing pad as he arrives back home or he’s in the kitchen making an absolute mountain of pop tarts. He’s the one that comes closest to leaking Peter’s Spider-Man identity because he has no social awareness and just wants to wrap the Man of Spiders in a bear hug

9. The class break for lunch. There’s an ungodly amount of coffee machines in the cafeteria. Everyone is talking about Peter. Flash is talking shit. Clint then proceeds to drop out of the vents to ask Peter about either Mario Kart or babysitting his kids, potentially both. Clint then realises the tour was today, apologises and goes back into the vents. Peter can’t even muster up the energy to be embarrassed

10. As the tour continues, Flash is getting more vocal about his dislike for all this. There’s a 50/50 chance he’s going to get physically violent with Peter. If he doesn’t, he’ll ask Tony Stark why he’s let Peter lie about all this stuff only to be told harshly that Peter is Tony’s kid or something similar. The bullying will be discovered and Flash will be kicked out. If he does get violent with Peter, one of the Avengers will stop him, Tony will defend Peter while revealing that Peter is his kid or something similar in the process, then will kick Flash out

I just described to you an ungodly number of fics beat by beat. And people don’t just read one of them and call it a day; we consume each and every one of them despite knowing the exact plot and having read it a gazillion times

And I think that these fics are the most obvious example of the fact that people don’t care about the repeated use of tropes or clichés or plotlines; if they like it, they’ll like it. They’ll be willing to read those tropes a million times over, even if they know what’ll happen at every turn. And that proves that it’s not the use of tropes that matters, it’s the way you use the tropes. Even if it’s just a new way of wording it, people will enjoy it. It doesn’t have to be completely new or original, it just has to be out there

[accirax]

initial thoughts on DCAS episode 13

i guess Marcus cares about everyone. Marcus characterization jumpscare.

it's so interesting to me how much Alec seems to care about his family in retrospect when we've seen illustrated time and time again that he didn't seem to care about them (or at least his son) in the moment pretty much at all. i guess it's a "you don't know what you have until it's gone" type of thing?

hey, we finally got names!

well, that happened. once again, congrats to the AleRiya shippers. i probably still prefer them as friends for now, but i'm not opposed to them becoming a ship in the future. i doubt they will, since the writers seem to really like Connor and Riya and probably want that to be endgame, but i digress. it's really important to Alec's character, i think, that he was one of the only completely new characters created for s1, and was quite possibly crafted with an All Stars season in mind. thus, as much as Alec was created for Fiore in s1 (to help her have numbers and allies and stuff), he may have also been created for Riya in DCAS. i wouldn't be surprised if a lot of Alec's traits were crafted with this friendship and possibly even this plot beat in mind.

this whole scene is so sad :(

i... really don't understand Aiden's motivations here? like, what will happen if you tell the group "Alec and Riya kissed"? who would care other than Connor, who you already acknowledged would be crushed by the news? do you really think that Gabby or whoever would stop working with the villains under the knowledge that two legal adults smooched? is this about ruining Riya's reputation? the footage will certainly air on TV regardless of whether you tell anyone or not. am i just missing something? what game is Aiden playing at???

here's how aro Kristal truthers can still win.

waterBENDING? does Grett watch Avatar? :D i suppose she is in a good age demographic for it.

QUIRK??? DOES ALEC WATCH BNHA????? that's way more surprising than Grett watching Avatar. i do not know what Alec would possibly enjoy in BNHA. like, who's his favorite character? Aizawa???

this is WAY funnier than him being invisible. props.

Alec may have the looks of a mastermind strategist, but he has the heart of a simp. truly tragic. you know, if you want a family again, you could always direct that (platonic) love at a certain other competitor...

what a fucking loser (affectionate)

"have you considered that your employees might think you're cringe?"

LMAOOOOOOO this says so much about Jake. of course he's a villain shipper. but, see, to my point-- Jake literally doesn't give a fuck about this! what are you planning to gain!!!

Jake get the banana

potassium

ALEC FUCKING DIES?????? AIDEN KILLED A MAN??????????

i didn't put it together after watching the trailer, but it's really interesting to me that Yul and Grett were lightning and water respectively. i guess it's saying that if they could actually work together, they'd be a super deadly pair? or, maybe it was a coincidence.

nobody is wearing a cape, Gabby included. i thought she said she was working on her mask and cape designs :(

it's... a massive geological structure that weighs and should be able to withstand several tons of force? what?

TURN INTO A BIRD.

cathartic and appropriate that Yul becomes desperate once he feels his power is lost.

this was a real L episode for Alec. sorry buddy.

neither disappointed nor surprised. it truly was Yul's time to go.

THE TWINK TRUCE!! they're even making, like, the same face, lol.

GOTTEM

SO interesting how closely this mirror's Grett's exit in S1. Grett grew from her experience, while Yul can only manage to POSSIBLY be at the emotional maturity of s1 Grett now. and, tbh, he's not even close to that.

HOORAY!!! now make sure you apologize to her. thoroughly.

HOW?????????? i seriously don't understand this... maybe Aiden will explain himself better when this happens next episode.

yay, fun superhero challenge! love a good themed episode. i do think the fact that like... five people could have had immunity in this one was kind of weird, but, eh. as it turns out, Grett and Gabby could have won immunity as well as Aiden and Jake and it would have changed literally nothing about the outcome of this vote. it was really just about Yul (and kind of Connor, i guess).

i do wonder if Yul's elimination will essentially spell the end of the "heroes versus villains" portion of the game, and the gameplay will shift to being more individually focused. we do kinda have four groups of two at the moment-- Gabby and Grett, Alec and Riya, Aiden and Jake, and... Connor and Ally, I guess? that could make for some interesting votes.

after a somewhat longer hiatus than usual, now we're going to be doing one episode per week! how exciting! in that case, i'll see you again on (presumably) Wednesday for the power rankings, and if you don't read those, once again on Saturday for Episode 14. bye for now!

[ladylingua]

so my oldest niece went off to college this year and I'm really worried she's not going to get the most out of the experience

neither of my older siblings finished college & felt incredibly pressured by our parents to go/succeed, and when they didn't do well they felt like my parents were disappointed in them in such a way that it left permanent scars on their respective relationships

to the extent that they do not really acknowledge or discuss my academic success in any way, never a congrats on graduating, never visited me at school, etc. which I get- it's putting a big thumb into an open wound for them to consider that aspect of my life, so they just simply don't

so it's like this big sore spot/verboten topic between us, which is why I never really broach the topic with their kids

and also when I was a teen applying to college it felt like every adult I barely knew would come out of the woodwork to dump opinions on me that I didn't want, which is another huge reason I figure I ought to keep my mouth shut about school

but I'm worried no one is giving my niece the kind of advice/support she needs

like she decided against going to the state school 4 hours away to attend a tiny private christian college 45 minutes away,

and hey, christian college feels like a terrible idea to me but she does seem genuinely excited to be there, and I do think smaller colleges are probably a better fit for her because she's coming from a tiiiiny town where her graduating class is like 60 kids

but my worry is that the vibe of the school is like career training + bible, and not, like, considering how to expand your world and open up ways of thinking and possibilities for your future, which are the two things I think are actually the most important things to get out of college- which are not things my siblings would ever consider important because for them college was just an ego killer and a waste of money, and I suspect they are encouraging her to focus primarily on thinking of college as a jobs training opportunity and try to just get through as fast as possible on a major that can net a good paying job

but whatever, she's happy, she's not me, it's ok for her to like an environment that sounds awful to me

but then the other thing I worry about is that from what I can tell, my niece is going home like every weekend

and like, as a boarding school graduate and someone who thus has spent 8 full years living in dorms:

you gotta stay at school

in fact, the more homesick you feel the more imperative it is you stay at school

sitting around feeling feral and miserable with the other terrified children is how that community forms

and the only cure for homesickness (besides moving back home) is to throw yourself into new routines, new friends, new community, new life

coming home every weekend feels good now, but you're missing out on all the magic of the dorms- the memories, the bonding, the inside jokes, etc etc

I think my siblings are both more than happy to have her home

what I feel as my parents prioritizing independence and wanting us to launch, they both felt as abandonment which in turn has given them really different parenting styles where their families are incredibly tight knit (not a bad thing at all!) and I think they think it's a good thing she's home every weekend

and maybe it is! maybe that's right for her, she and I are not the same and nobody asked me

but I worry she's not being supported in getting everything she could get out of college, and then on top of that I fear that what she gets out of college is truly none of my business so I watch from afar wishing she would ask me for advice and hoping I'm just profoundly wrong about my worries

[legendaryfacecoffee2]

Name: Ruth

Age: She is probably an adult lol-

Birthday: April 29th

Sexuality: Lesbian

She is Rennie's older sister, but although her main goal is to make Storm her oldest sister proud bc she never acknowledges her and gets mistreated by Storm but she still loves and respects her (I know... It's bloody toxic). She hates her younger sisters (Rennie and Star) especially Rennie but nobody knows why... But she in fact killed Star and her husband making little Shadow stay with his grandfather.

Name: FungEye (See what I did there??? 😏)

Age: Uhhhhhh.. I mean would you call an entity an adult if thy are possessing a child lol?-

Birthday: Probably the same as Fungi's birthday

Sexuality: Bisexual

He is an entity who possessed Fungi when she was born and was the one who was responsible of killing Desi whole family and planet. (Btw the big eye on FungEye is supposed to be Fungi's "mouth" which is why there is his nose on top of his head) Oh yeah he is a male btw don't ask why, I can't do my genders right-

He is best friends with Storm and has a crush on her, but unfortunately Storm doesn't know the definition of relationships is so ofc she doesn't romantically like him. (Even if she did knew she would think having romantic relationships is disgusting regardless of the person).

Name: Storm

Age: She is probably an adult too

Birthday: December 25th💀

Sexuality: NONE NOT EVEN ACE-

She is basically a monster literally and mentally, she manipulated Desi and Jenise to work with her even though she was responsible for their planet destruction. She hates all of her sisters (Ruth, Rennie, Star), destroyed planets for fun. She is literally the main villain fr. She is only best friends with FungEye and they both destroy universes together.

OMLL THAT'S ALL MY OCSSS AYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAY But uh yeah, feel free to ask or so ^^

[matcheadz]

I would like to thank whoever made the fic about Mama Vergil giving adult Nero her happy meal toy for the following brain rot:

When Nero and Vergil get closer, it’s in a very mute and limited capacity. Dante and the rest of the DMC crew have sort of resigned to the fact that they won’t ever be buddy-buddy. What they don’t know, however, is they only see what father and son allow them to see.

They’re both, underneath the façade of sarcasm and the extravagant displays of power and pride, actually sort of quiet people. Nero’s boisterousness is a learned behavior, a one born out of rebellion from his assassin days at the Order. Vergil, underneath the ambition and devilishly cold stares, is a romantic and a bookworm.

So when they start seeing eye to eye a little, it’s quiet. Private. Nero, ever the more communicative, will tell Vergil stories that he missed out on while he was absent. Of the odd treatment he received while in the orphanage, of his late brother, how he found his children etc. Vergil, if nothing else, is a good listener. He will nod and hum his acknowledgments, stay silent and thoughtful at Nero’s revelations. Sometimes, mostly when recounting stories of him as Credo, the corner of his mouth will twitch in what Nero *thinks* must be a smile.

Then one day around their first December, Nero starts picking up more and more jobs. He’s insistent to do them on his own, and the shit twins are more or less respectful of his wishes. But the three of them had fallen into a habit of picking up jobs together. Not all the time; nobody could afford that. But enough to feel his absence. Like a party member not showing up for Sunday brunch.

Vergil, still hesitant on reaching out, defers to Dante, who scoops his nephew’s job right from under him. It was a rough one. Probably should have included all three of them, and maybe Lady as a backup. Nero’s furious. He’s absolutely filthy, the van is likely to need hundreds in repairs and he’s tired. Tired enough to snap at Dante in early morning the last of the demons die, but not rev Red Queen’s engine. There’s an awkward silence between the two. Dante, ever the attention hog, doesn’t understand what he’s done but clearly feels bad. Vergil, on the other hand, is completely aware and turns around to walk into the only open “restaurant.”

You see, last month, while Dante had been entertaining Nero’s children during a birthday party, the both of them had coincidentally stepped outside for air at the same time. Nero had a constitution for gatherings built up over time, but he had never “become a people person.” And Vergil? Well, Vergil was Vergil. So Nero had gone on a small tirade. Sat at the stoop of his front porch, he had rubbed a tired hand over his eyes and complained about money.

They were strapped for cash as it was, with three kids, a niche freelance job and an orphanage sparing a meager wage. It was even worse that two of their foster kid’s birthdays were in November AND Christmas was coming up. He was adamant “that those kids got it better than he did.” Vergil did as he always did and merely nodded and hummed his acknowledgments until Nero had sufficiently relieved the weight in his chest to go give Kyle his proper, happy birthday.

so Vergil walked into this “restaurant” and bought the most nasty, disgusting double bacon cheese burgers for the three of them. Still covered in blood and dirt, and Nero still seething, they scared the absolute shit out of the opening manager by eating inside. The Snickers Effect took hold of Nero and he eventually mellowed out. In a small moment of silence, Vergil pulled out those fucking Shrek toys, one for each of their meals, and handed them to Nero while he chowed down. Dante fucking snorted the coke out of nose while Nero just stared at the damn thing in his hand with a sort of defeated look.

The job may have taken him two steps back, but it was nice, admittedly. Nice to have somebody there when shit got hard. To have family around. When Christmas came around, Nero sort’ve squirmed alot when the kids unwrapped their presents. It wasn’t alot, but it was enough for them. (At least that’s what Julio said after he gave his foster papa a big hug (Nero did NOT cry))

And those little McDonald’s toys sat well loved in the trio’s fairly bare bedrooms.

[lizbethborden]

The last two Abbott eps really left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Regardless of how Jacob's younger brother feels internally, he DOES mock and belittle him and clearly is unwilling to engage with Jacob on his own level or respect his brother's boundaries. The fact that the episode flips it around and makes it about how Jacob is in the wrong is incredibly frustrating. Yes, it is an adult child's job to recognize that how their parents and peers treated them relative to a sibling was not the sibling's fault--but the sibling still reaped the benefits of that. Caleb clearly acts in a way that makes it obvious he thinks he can do whatever he wants. He was not respectful of Jacob even slightly. Why should Jacob be made out to be the problem in their relationship? The gay brother who was belittled and ostracized by his family is supposed to be the bigger man? Shocker.

Then Melissa's whole family situation. Don't get me wrong, i understand the bickering relationship with her and her sister, but the dynamic between her and her relatives... I don't want to necessarily call it "abusive" but it's not NOT abusive. None of her relatives shit on each other the way they shit on Melissa. Nobody mocks Kristen Marie's appearance except Mel, her sister and age peer, whereas all the older adults, like her mother and uncle, make fun of Melissa's looks, call her fat, and criticize everything she does. And that's the status quo and the status quo is completely unchanged at the end of the episode, softened only because her mother thinks she's in a relationship with firefighter guy. Why is it just left there? Why is it incumbent on Mel to placate and woo her family into accepting her, to the point that even her mother's rude and back-handed compliment about her food delights her?

I can't tell if this is the effect of having multiple writers on a show, as the show has done OK with toxic family dynamics in the past. I am honestly wondering what the goals were of these episodes. Is the lesson we're supposed to take away that family can do anything they want to you as long as they're not stealing your money the way Janine's mom does to her? Why was Janine's role as the "better sibling" acknowledged and worked through in the text when her sister came on, but Jacob is held to the standard of accepting his brother without holding HIM responsible for anything?

[minetteskvareninova]

Hetalia Headcanons: Austria, Hungary and all the rest

Czechia and Slovakia are long-lost siblings. That's why their separation wasn't a divorce. My authentic reaction when I learned that in the original, Czechia and Slovakia aren't siblings (c'mon man, we literally call each other "brothers"):

Human names of Czechia and Slovakia are Anežka Vodníčková and Miloslav Vodníček.

Nations age at different speeds, which is why Slovakia was a child untill like the 19th century, when he went trough a growth spurt, while Czechia was already a teenager by the time she moved in with Austria (despite them being born around the same time?). Romania had a similar growth spurt to Slovakia's, though he became an adult faster, while Serbia and Croatia were always around the same apparent age as Czechia and Hungary.

The relationship between Austria and Hungary was always tumultuous as all hell, because Austria wanted Hungary to follow his house rules and she didn't like that one bit. The conflict between them sometimes even turned violent, but luckily they managed to keep their conflicts away from the rest of the family, including baby Italy.

In the 17th century, Hungary tried to escape Austria's house five times, every time with the help of Romania. The first three times played out pretty much the same - Austria's house became a mess in Hungary's absence, while she again realized (unbeknownst to Austria) that actually, she hates Romania more, so when Austria came, willing to negotiate, she was always eager. The fourth and fifth time, Hungary was more determined than ever before and Austria more or less learned to get by without her, so their struggle was more bitter. In the end, Austria won on the battlefield and Hungary and Romania were both forced to submit. Also, all this time, Turkey was at their border, attempting to invade several times, so that was fun.

Czechia and Hungary were always each other's great rivals despite the fact that they often had the same boss, who usually made them play nice. Of course, their enmity was all power struggle and had nothing do to with the fact that Hungary basically held Czechia's little brother as a child slave. B-baka.

Czechia grew up with Holy Roman Empire, and since she was older than him, she was eventually able to dominate the household... Untill Austria grew up and took over, supported by Hungary.

Both Hungary and Czechia were at various points in the Middle Ages (when they were all children) engaged to Poland. Needless to say, in neither case was this arranged marriage considered for very long, to their immense relief, and in the end it was Lithuania who had to bite the bullet.

Czechia declared independence in 1618, and as a result caused a civil war between the Germanic brothers (the very many Germanic brothers that there were before they joined into Germany). She lost so badly she was basically enslaved by Austria as a result.

Ukraine was once "leased" by Russia to Austria. After living with abusive (Russia) or incompetent (Poland) masters her entire life, Austria's house was incredibly refreshing for her. She made friends with almost everyone here, including Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary, who as mentioned hate each other's guts, and overall enjoyed her experience there, gaining confidence along the way. When she had to return to Russia, she thus started to demand better treatment. This being Russia, it didn't go over well.

Slovakia and Czechia bonded only slowly over their stay at Austria's house. They notionally acknowledged their sibling bond around the start of the 19th century, and more or less got each other's back ever since.

Nobody had a good year 1848, but Austria's was undoubtedly worse than anyone else's, with EVERYONE in his household turning on him - Czechia, Hungary, Romania, even teenage Feliciano.

Czechia, Hungary and Romania united to demand GLORIOUS INDEPENDENCE, or at least renegotiations of the terms of their service and cohabitation. Slovakia was also there, ready to follow Czechia wherever she might go. Of them all, Hungary was the most gung-ho about independence, to Czechia's chagrin ("This madwoman will get us all killed."), since Czechia wanted to keep more wiggle room for negotiations instead of Hungary's all-or-nothing approach. Then there is the fact that this time, Czechia openly advocated for the freedom of her little brother, which Hungary didn't like one bit, and then Hungary also started to feud with Romania, Croatia and Serbia... Basically, the whole thing turned into a tragicomic mess so typical of Hetalia characters, which was finished by Austria reestablishing control over his unruly household with the help of noone other than Russia.

Feliciano escaped and tried to reunite with Romano, dreaming about living with his beloved long-lost brother... But of course, being Feliciano and Romano, they got lost on the way to their meeting spot. Feliciano was found by Austria and brought home, and the brothers' dream of reuinification remained unfulfilled for a while.

Okay. We all agree that the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 was the big wedding between Austria and Hungary, right? I've seen at least one fan who shares this headcanon with me. Of course, Czechia felt spurned, not because she had any romantic feelings about Austria, but because she was jealous of Hungary now becoming the mistress of the house. So she insisted on a polygamous union, which Austria of course refused and tried to somewhat mollify her with more freedom within the household. Czechia still held out hope that maybe, just maybe, when Austria will be at his weakest, she can seduce him, but then she slowly accepted that this isn't going to happen and came around to the idea of independence that she called stupid when Hungary dreamed about it before (#poeticcinema).

The whole household then remained more or less stable (with some minor squabbles and subject nations acting out) untill WWI, when the house was destroyed by the artillery and the subjects decided to leave their masters to their own devices. Austria left to take care of his badly injured cousin Germany (hence the divorce), only to then have the victorious nations forbid him from moving in with Germany, fearing that this could help Germany recuperate financially, which they didn't want. Czechia and Slovakia of course moved in together, only to realize cohabitation isn't easy, at which point they started to squabble, just like they did with other nations in Austria's household. Romania declared independence earlier, and now came to take the things he left at Hungary's house before. Hungary was left impoverished, it was actually kinda sad...

[pos-syscourse]

Saturday Songs!

Ramblings of a Lunatic by Bears in Trees

TW for discussions of suicide, ideation, and death.The video also features emeto, sickness, and severe nosebleeds.

This is one of those classic songs that takes a positive beat to some really genuinely distressing lyrics! The song sounds so uplifting while the lyrics are so depressing...

So many of my friends are suicidal. In fact, I may have lost someone recently due to it. It's been a struggle for me to accept this, especially since I don't know for sure if they're alright or... gone. Systems, in general, have such a high rate of suicidal ideation...

When I first heard this song, I focused heavily on my own ideation. The song was incredibly relatable to me, as both a writer and someone who struggles severely with depression. I believe I heard it first in the throes of some really dangerous depression, with very little sunlight keeping my vitamins up and a lot going wrong around me. I really felt the lyrics very strongly: Maybe this writer's block that I've been perceiving / Is to stop me diving deeply into my internal being. What if the universe is stopping me from doing the things I enjoy because I'll learn I was never good at it in the first place? What if I'm not worth anything?

What if these words I take the time to doll out are pointless?

...

But I know they aren't.

The key thing I think about when I listen to this song now is that... just this video alone has 154k views. One hundred fifty four thousand views. That's so many people who have listened to "the ramblings of a lunatic." There's 194 comments on this video alone, so many of them talking about how they relate.

I'm not alone. This band isn't alone. Nobody is alone in this world.

In those moments when I feel so alone -- like I will never be able to get a grip on all of this bullshit in this world -- I like to remember that there are others who are surviving with me. And lord, have we survived a lot. In the video, it seems like the characters are surviving a lot too. Everything just... reflects back to me my own trauma, my own fight to survive.

I won't pretend otherwise... things are hell. I am losing my friends slowly to the trials of an incredibly hard life. I get friends reaching out on the edge of that cliff and I know I cannot, in the end, do much but offer my words of encouragement and love. I encounter flashbacks of trauma and ramifications of abuse, and while I've made progress, I constantly feel I will never be free of those struggles.

But... I am now approaching my thirties. I am an adult. I have a fiance, a job I love, a family. I reached recovery targets this year, completely accepted a major trauma I've experienced, to the degree that something that used to trigger me severely... doesn't. And I look at my friends, the ones still here, the ones still able to fight, and I know they can do it, because haven't they done so much already? Look at where we are.

Look at how we've grown.

When I hear this song, I hear all of that hope alongside all the pain. I hear the fact that these people, struggling, aching with depression, released such a beautifully relatable song. And I think it's so important to acknowledge the rest of the album this song comes from...

To quote the band... The album is "about coming to terms with the worst parts of your personality – with the things that scare you, with the things that keep you awake at night… with the deaths of your friends, and the slow acceptance that you are deserving of love.”

You are deserving of love. It is slow to accept. But it is always, always true.

My heart goes out to all of us here who feel like our words are wasted, who feel we are not worthy, or feel we ought to simply disappear. We are still here and we can thrive. It is a hard fight, but we are all fighting together.

I hope today is a day you do not have to fight; where you can lay the sword down and not struggle simply to exist. But... if you do have to fight today... know you are not alone.

You are loved. You are not alone.

[aeoki]

Atlantis - Divine Bridge: Chapter 6

Location: Seisou Hall Theatre Room Characters: Touri, Yuzuru, Eichi & Wataru Season: Winter

TL Note:

Amanohashidate / 天橋立 (lit. Heaven's/Divine Bridge) is one of the three scenic views in Japan. It’s a thin strip of land connecting two opposing sides of Miyazu Bay, located in northern Kyoto prefecture.

Eichi: Hehe. Judging by your speech, it seems your “foolish side” still noticeably remains within you.

You’ll most likely repeat the same mistakes in the future.

Touri: U–Uuu.

Wataru: Eichi–

Eichi: Why do you look at me with such a criticising glare, Wataru?

What Touri needs right now isn’t lighthearted and sweet comfort – He needs to be scolded so that he can face reality.

He also needs hope. Don’t worry, Touri.

I, too, started from the lowest depths of nothing.

I stepped out from the lowest starting line and now I’m arrogantly acting like the idol that you admire.

Yuzuru: You’re heir to a big conglomerate, so you were born with a golden spoon in your mouth, no?

Eichi: Yeah. I brought in elements that would be advantageous for me from the outside and rid myself of the “nobody idol” which no one will acknowledge.

There is nothing more unsightly than seeing an elderly speak of his success story to the young, but it should be more meaningful than spouting empty and fluffy words of comfort.

At the very least, that’s how I won. I have actual achievements to my name. I’m sure there will be those who object, but at the least, history says I’m the winner.

Yuzuru: …Eichi-sama, you’re saying that you want the Young Master to copy your filthy methods?

Eichi: Unfortunately, there isn’t enough time. It won’t be long before the end of the election. There isn’t time to create a scheme similar to the one I used to crush the “Five Oddballs”.

Touri, deep down, you’re a good child who is more kind-hearted than anyone else. I don’t think you have the capability to handle the same heavy, dangerous weapon.

You cannot become me, and you mustn’t.

Touri: B–But I–

I admire you so much, Eichi-sama. I want to be just like you.

Eichi: There isn’t only one path to the same destination.

You have been gifted with a pair of angel’s wings. You can soar freely through the skies, but there is no need for you to intentionally walk down the bad road I cut open that’s drenched in blood.

Touri: I–I’m no angel…

Eichi: Besides, I hate myself so if anything, seeing someone blindly imitate me would only be an annoyance.

It feels unpleasant – like I’ve been forced to look into a mirror that reflects what I don’t want to see.

Wataru: ………☆

Yuzuru: (Ahh, Hibiki-sama has a smug look on his face as if he’s saying, “See! It’s exactly as I said, isn’t it?” But it would be a pain in the neck to acknowledge that, so I shall ignore him.)

Touri: I copied you because I admired you, Eichi-sama, but was that… unpleasant for you?

Eichi: I can put up with that – I now understand that it was an expression of naive affection.

The issue is the other individual.

Yuzuru: The other individual?

Touri: Tsukasa? It’s Tsukasa, right? He sure is infuriating!

Eichi: No. In fact, Tsukasa-kun has had his first initiation of adult society recently and now bears the dirty sentiments that I prefer.

To be honest, I’ve begun seeing him as someone endearing. I didn’t have an ounce of interest in him before, though.

Wataru: I understand what you mean. He has begun giving off an Eichi-like scent (?) recently.

Touri: T–That Tsukasa… Ugh, he’s the last person I wanna lose to.

Yuzuru: But who is the “other individual”, then?

Eichi: Have you heard of the Z. K. Zaibatsu?

It’s the other family who was allowed to call themselves a zaibatsu as an exception after the war – just like the Tenshouin family.

Touri: Oh, it’s because of that that Hiyori-sama’s family could only call themselves the “Tomoe Foundation”, huh.

Eichi: Yeah. That was the beginning of their decline.

Incidentally, the Z. K. Zaibatsu built their base overseas after losing a power struggle with my great-grandfather in the past.

They changed their family name and now, they call themselves the Z. K. Zaibatsu.

Touri: It was originally a Japanese name, right?

Eichi: It appears they still have a lingering attachment to Japan, so they decided to pronounce Z. K. as “zekkei – a picturesque scenery”, and they’re using that as the basis for their logo too.

Yuzuru: Why have you started telling us this story…?

Wataru: Is that common knowledge in the financial world? I have been listening with great interest as it sounds like a story from another world in my eyes.

Eichi: At times, I feel distant from you, Wataru. And it’s rare for your hunch to be off, Yuzuru. I wonder if the poor condition of your master is affecting you as well.

The Z. K. Zaibatsu can be seen as the Tenshouin’s bitter enemy, but there is a talented young lady who has intelligence and promise rivalling her father, the current head, and her older brother, the family’s heir.

Her name is Z. K. Amano Hashidate.

Touri: Oh… I knew it.

Eichi: Yeah. It seems they have a bad habit of naming their children after picturesque places.

It might be old-fashioned to say this, but it’s not a name fitting for a girl at all.

It seems her youthful and dignified name also bothers her somewhat.

She has even used her power to be publicly referred to as “Amano Hashidate[⁎]”.

Amano is a much cuter first name, isn’t it?

Touri: I see. I wonder why I didn’t notice right away.

Eichi: In high society, only her parents kindly refer to her as the Z. K.’s daughter. It seems she really doesn’t like her boorish first name and only chooses to mention her family name.

Touri: Then the Hashidate that’s currently in the lead in the student council president election is…

Eichi: I can only guess at this point, but it’s too much for it to be a coincidence. It should be Amano Hashidate – in other words, Z. K. Amano Hashidate.

Yuzuru: What do you mean by coincidence?

Eichi: I told you about “Project-ATLANTIS”, didn’t I?

The Z. K. Zaibatsu is trying to access this big project while we have our arms folded.

The one who requested an audience with me was none other than the representative of Z. K. Zaibatsu, that talented young lady.

Wataru: Was that the reason you didn’t dine with us the other day?

Eichi: Yeah. She called me out of nowhere and I had to return to my family’s mansion. That’s where I had an audience with her.

She was quite assertive – I was captivated the moment I met her.

She said something along the lines of “Eichi-sama. We’ll be able to create a utopia if the Z. K. and Tenshouin families were to be wed.”

Touri: N–Not this again… What? Don’t tell me you fell for her slovenly seduction, Eichi-sama?

Eichi: It was a rather charming offer. I suppose I could possibly consider teaming up with the Z. K. Zaibatsu.

Touri: Whaa!?

Eichi: Naturally, that’s only if I’m speaking logically. They were once chased out of the country by us – it would be impossible for them to completely throw away their grudges to become one big happy family.

I called her a talented young lady but she’s still young – she couldn’t completely conceal the hatred in her eyes.

She, Z. K. Amano Hashidate, must be an assassin sent to crush the Tenshouins.

She may not succeed in doing so, but she must be intent on harassing us at least.

She must be after the Himemiya family as well, seeing as our two families are close with one another.

Yuzuru: Is that the crux of the matter?

Eichi: Yeah. What should we do, Touri?

Our common enemy has made an appearance.

Touri: …………

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ← Previous Chapter ᠂ ⚘ ˚⊹˚ ⚘ ᠂  Next Chapter →

[bitchkay]

Prince and Princess☆

~Adephagia Voleri & Gulliver Voleri

CW: the twins are growing up, issues pertaining to the line of succession and the twins birthright, Adephagia and Gulliver are around 17, meaning down the list, Halo is 14, Genesis and Theo are 10, Atlas is 9, and Dylan and Eliana are 1, little brothers being little brothers

Word count: 1707

Rating: Teen and up Audiences

Note: the way I did research on different monarchies and systems of choosing and heir and types of heirs and cross referenced it with how much I know about court of darkness and how they handle the royal hierarchy system, it was crazy

☆𝕋𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕖'𝕤 𝕒 𝕔𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕕, 𝕗𝕠𝕦𝕣'𝕤 𝕒 𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕪 + 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕪 𝕤𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕞𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥

Adephagia and Gulliver were you and Rios first born children.

As the first born children to the king one of them would one day succeed their father on the throne.

But as twins it was often hard to say who that birthright would go to.

Adephagia was born first but Gulliver is technically the first born son, making him Voleri's heir apparent. That's just how it is.

However…

Because of your magic, both twins were… a special case.

While neither had developed any form of ancient magic from Voleri yet, both had manifested their magic early– well early under normal standards; all of your children manifested their magical abilities early, the earliest being Halo. They were still young, late teens, growing into beautiful young adults but they had magical power nobody had ever seen in a collection of heirs before. This is due to your magic.

They still had a lot to learn in terms of magic and how to control the amount of magic at their disposal and in some years time they would be eligible for enrollment in the academy on the Isle of Colde, but until one of them inherited Voleri's ancient magic, nobody knew what to think in terms of who would take the throne.

Had your special type of ancient magic —creators magic rather— not been involved it wouldn't have been a question who would one day rule… unfortunately.

Ancient magic has always been needed to rule a kingdom. Would Voleri inherit a queen from your oldest daughter or would Gulliver continue the long standing tradition of kings at the head of the kingdom?

You didn't want to put too much pressure on them at such a young age and allow them to just be children for as long as possible but you also had to get through to them that they were in fact a prince and princess, and with that role came responsibility especially as they grow older.

“Are you scared?” Adephagia spoke up.

“Me? Scared? Never,” Gulliver responded.

In a few weeks time, the twins would attend their first official event as Voleri's heirs alongside the heirs of the rest of the kingdoms, so they're being fitted for their first set of royal finery.

“Gul’ you're scared of the dark,” Adephagia deadpanned, speaking towards the curtain that separated them.

“Not anymore! I'm well past that!” Gulliver crossed his arms in front of his chest turning his back to the curtain before one of the royal tailors moved his body back into the position they needed him to be.

Although their parents would be accompanying them this is their first big event where they and the other descendants would be independently acknowledged as heirs to their kingdoms and introduced to the world they would one day be in charge of. The event would resemble a banquet of sorts, food and non-alcoholic beverages would be served (which the twins were always happy to indulge), as well as the mingling between kingdoms and important levels of hierarchy.

Not to mention it would be the first time Adephagia and Gulliver have seen the other princes and princesses since they were children. They both thought this reunion was long overdue.

“This is our first event, Gulliver. First event together. Up until this point we have only interacted with lords and diplomats from our own royal court and that's only if they have been treated as family. Many members of our own government we have yet to have met properly because we were too young or only know of because of our tutoring. Aren't you even slightly interested in getting your foot in the door? We're getting older and I believe it is beneficial to at least know these things especially since we're Voleri's heirs,” Adephagia says as another fabric is laid across her waist, notably being compared to another.

“Don't think I'm not, sister. Everyone treats me like I'm inevitably going to inherit our father's throne, when I honestly think you're more cut out for the role, and I'm not the only one who thinks so, so I'm planning on making my presence known as much as you are.” different jackets get draped over his shoulders at the same time as he talks at the curtain.

“Of course everyone treats you like you're inheriting, you're a boy. That's always been the tradition. The line of succession always followed that path and ancient magic always passed to the oldest son in a royal family. You're under enough pressure without even trying, there's no need to one up me here.”

Adephagia and Gulliver have always had something of a bumpy relationship only because of their differing personalities but they were always really close regardless since they were kids not just because they're twins but because they understand each other like the DNA they share and love each other like their other half. Because they're at an age where they're starting to grow more independent and be their own person they've been somewhat distant– well at least up until their baby sisters were born. In helping take care of little Dylan and Eliana they did get closer again but that doesn't  change the ever growing burden of successorship. They may fight a lot but nothing will really truly make them as unsound as when the topic falls to the line of succession.

“And we don't know if those will be our circumstances, ‘Phagia. You have always been smarter than me, able to grasp these concepts quicker than me. Maybe I want a chance to prove I actually I'm not just a placeholder for the throne.”

“And I'm saying you don't need to. You've never been a placeholder Gul… don't think I don't want to prove myself as well, I'm older-”

“By an hour–”

“Shush. I'm older but with things like this, politics, the line of succession, I've always been treated as second to you.”

“I always hated that…” Gulliver breathed out.

“What?” Adephagia said, looking at the curtain as if she could see right through it to Gullivers thoughtful expression.

“This whole line of succession and how only the first boy gets the throne… although I understand because ancient magic typically runs through the males of the family, our mother is mighty powerful like a god and so is our dad… what happens if both of us manifest some form of ancient magic… What then? We both show promise when it comes to magic anyway…”

“The throne inevitably goes to you Gulliver. Even if we're both capable of ruling you've always been first choice; you take precedence because you're male. Unless you die or I end up manifesting ancient magic instead, as long as we use this system of primogeniture you will still overwrite me… even if you think you shouldn't.”

~

“Finished, both of you. Are these to your tastes, your highnesses?”

The curtains that enclosed them were pulled away finally. The twins looked at each other first inspecting their attire with a nod of approval before looking in the mirror.

“Beautiful, I appreciate your efforts,” Adephagia said, checking herself out in the mirror.

“Gorgeous detail work on our attire,” Gulliver says looking at all aspects of his finery.

“If I may, can I make a suggestion?” Adephagia spoke up.

“Of course, princess.”

Adephagia stepped down from her pedestal going over to where Gulliver stood standing next to him pointing something out.

“This part here on the collar of my brother's jacket, what is it made from? I like it, and I'd like something similar integrated into my neckline here,” she pointed out comparing two parts of their attire. “Can I also ask if Voleri's coat of arms be placed on the skirt? I find it's somewhat hidden on my sleeve here.”

“If I can also make a suggestion, I'd like my coat to be longer. Possibly about here, if it's not any trouble? I also like the trim of my sister's skirt, and if it can be added to the hem?” Gulliver said, making his own suggestions.

“Pardon me again, but I'd also like if this part here, at the waist, can be cinched tighter for a more flattering silhouette and if a belt can possibly be added?” Adephagia spoke up once more.

“Yes, wonderful! All that can be done! I can have your garments altered by the end of this week, if your schedule permits you to come back for another fitting, that would be good.” The royal trailer writes all of their suggestions down before pulling out a calendar.

“We can be there, that would be great.”

“Hello!”

A voice popped into the room, a little boy pushing the door open.

“Atlas! What are you doing here?” Adephagia asks as the 9 year old boy comes up in front of her.

“And Theo,” the slightly older boy came in behind him. “Sorry to intrude.”

“I wanted to see your dress. You look pretty,” Atlas raised his arms asking to be picked up.

“Oh you're a little too old to be picked up, big guy,” Adephagia said, musing up his hair.

“Hello, I'm here too,” Gulliver said as all the attention went to his sister.

“Dad would've picked me up,” Atlas said, making a smug face.

“And I'm not dad, am I?” Adephagia said, looking down at her little brother with her hands on her hips.

“I don't know, you kinda look like him,” Atlas said before promptly running away as Adephagia tried to grab him.

“Hey! Come back here!”

Theo went up to Gulliver putting a hand on his shoulder. “You look nice too, Gulliver.”

“Thank you, glad to know I'm not the only pretty one here.”

“Let us get changed first then we'll come right out.” Adephagia goes back up to the stand she was at before grabbing the curtain ready to change back into her regular attire.

“I have a present for you ‘Phasia,” Theo says, moving towards the door to give his older brother and sister some privacy, smiling all the while.

“Oh… great… I can't wait…” Adephagia forces a smile on her face as she waves the two boys goodbye.

“My bet is on it being a beetle.”

“Oh shut your trap, you know how much that boy likes bugs!”

©bitchkay.tumblr.com

I love these guys like they're my real children guys you dont understand😖

[unnamed-axolotl]

Hey, everyone. I was made aware of the callout post made by @/antimennard on Instagram, and I wanted to share my side of the story, so everyone has all the facts and are well-informed.

Please do not harass anyone mentioned in this post.

TW/CW: grooming/manipulation, proshipping/incest

I'll address things in order of occurence. I've gone back and looked at some dates to get the most accurate timeline possible.

The Steven x Spinel allegations are a very serious thing, I agree. This was late 2019, early 2020 - I was 15 or so at the time, and I was in a group that was kind of organized by a person named Nano. She was an adult, and the group was full of minors and adults. The adults of the group were actively sharing NSFW, and were encouraging and allowing minors to do the same. We all thought it was okay, because we were kids. We, collectively, were actively groomed into thinking it was okay.

I posted the things I created because I was never told not to (not by parents, friends, family, nobody), and I was too young to know any better or realize that it was wrong myself.

After a while, a few of the members started to realize how disgusting the situation was. Members of the group were now actively agreeing that what they were drawing was incest. Me and another person, who I will not name for privacy, left around the same time, I believe. If you look at Nano's account (which I believe is still under @/what_the_fudge_nano or something along those lines), she IS a proshipper, and proudly so. She didn't have a label put on herself when I was associated with her, and I only saw it recently, maybe a few weeks to a month ago, when I went back to make sure I'd blocked her. I have cut her and other adults from that server off completely, and the accounts that I posted Steven/Spinel stuff on, as far as I'm aware, are out of my access. I have deleted them.

I will be going back to my account and doing a delete spree, because now I realize there are most definitely things that remain on the account that shouldn't be public.

That was, I think, the end of my experience with the SU fandom as a whole, actually. I didn't stay in it for long, especially after the show ended. I am not proud of what I did in the slightest, and I think I just suppressed all of it in hopes that I'd forget about it. I genuinely don't know why I didn't go delete things. I knew I was uncomfortable with everything, so I'm honestly, genuinely confused with my past self for that. At a point, I suppose I figured that the posts were old and buried enough that they'd never see the light of day again, so I just didn't go back and delete them. I acknowledge now that this was not smart in the slightest, and so I have gone and done that.

Moving on... When I was 16 or so, in and around 2021, I got into FNaF again after being out of the fandom for a long time. At this point in time, I'm sure you know, Gacha FNaF content was making a surge in popularity, and that was my re-introduction into the fandom.

Mennard was something that was incredibly popular at the time in the Gacha FNaF community, and since that was my main input for FNaF content at the time, that's what I locked onto. I did draw it, and I did post it, and I am NOT proud of it now. I bring that phase up as a joke sometimes, because I figured it was just one of those "haha cringey phases", but I have been informed now that it makes others uncomfortable. I'm sorry for the damage I've caused through this. I will not bring it up anymore.

I understand and am fully aware that this is not an excuse, but I feel it is worth mentioning at this time that I am autistic. I was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder when I was young, and I have been due for reassessment for years. My IEP states that I have a learning disability. I feel like I have mentally aged and matured slower than others. Again, I know this isn't an excuse, but rather maybe an explanation as to why my brain worked the way it did and still does. Still, I'm sorry.

Later on, as I matured some more, I began feeling weirded out by the concept of the ship, and the things I was making, and so I stopped. I moved onto other things. I do not ship or feel comfortable in the slightest with Mennard anymore.

Occasionally I will draw the two together as friends or found family; anyone that knows me knows I hate sad or bad endings, so I just put them in situations where everything is okay. However, I would like to make it clear that I do NOT see them in the way I used to.

The callout post mentions that I liked art recently that was posted by a Mennard shipper on Tumblr and Instagram. I'm going to be incredibly and totally honest with you; I did not realize. There was one that I liked on Instagram that had the mennard and michaelxennard tag, and I didn't even see that tag. I was simply scrolling through the Ennard tag at the time and liking things I thought were cool.

Regarding the posts that are still up, I have deleted a good few of them, but I will be going back and purging everything that I have not yet deleted. I apologize, sincerely, for leaving them up for so long. I'm not sure why I never deleted them, but I will be actively doing that as soon as this is posted.

Finally, I would like to apologize for any stress or harm that I have caused to either involved fandom, or any people involved. I genuinely hope to move past this, as I believe I have genuinely improved myself and grown from this over the years.

I do not have a grudge or sense of anger against the creator of the callout post. I understand that you and others were uncomfortable, and I am sorry for making you all feel that way. All of this happened a long time ago, and I assure you and everyone that things have changed, and I do NOT indulge in any of these things anymore.

Thank you for reading. Please let me know if there's anything else I haven't touched upon or if you have any questions at all.

[casspurrjoybell-19]

Does it Matter? - Chapter 32 - Part 2

*Warning: Adult Content*   

Dara looked down at Bug.

"I was worried I wouldn't be able to. This only happened because he tried to help me." 

"Which in turn only happened because some strange vision guided him to do so. It all seems so pointless and cruel." 

"It's certainly cruel. Whether or not it was pointless is a bit more difficult to determine." 

Brayan hummed his agreement.

He wasn't sure whether there being some point to all of this would be a good thing or a bad one. 

Dara looked between Maric and Brayan.

"What are you going to do about the girl?" 

"Ah," Brayan said.

Normally he would have been on top of that, would have thought it over already but his mind had been elsewhere.

He'd forgotten about her entirely. 

Mathers stood.

"Shall I go get her?" 

Maric nodded.

"Please." 

Less than a minute later Mathers returned with the girl, along with Hudson whose presence nobody had requested. 

"She's surprisingly good at Monsters," Hudson informed them.

The girl fidgeted uncomfortably.

"I didn't win once." 

"Why would you win?" Hudson asked as though the suggestion genuinely confused him. 

"What's her name?" Brayan asked Hudson. 

Hudson shrugged and the expression on his face gave Brayan the impression that the idea that he might know that information also confused him. 

"What's your name?" Brayan asked the girl. 

"Maya," she murmured. 

"Maya," Brayan echoed.

"Without you, this young man would have died. We're very grateful for your help." 

"Okay," she said.

"Do I get something?" 

"Killed, probably," Hudson commented. 

"Shut up, Hudson," Brayan told him as Maya's eyes went wide.

"The thing is, Maya, this is Lord Nolen's slave and we suspect that he was the one who poisoned him. So the fact that you saved him may not exactly be welcome." 

"But I didn't know that," she said.

"I didn't even know whose slave he was or anything. I just thought I should do something." 

"I'm not saying you did the wrong thing," Brayan assured her.

"This is just the situation we're in now and we have to come up with a solution." 

"This is the only work I have and I sleep on the floor in the kitchens. I don't have anywhere else to go. I don't even have any money. What am I supposed to do?" 

Brayan had to restrain himself from correcting her manners.

She hadn't even acknowledged Maric.

Honestly, he wasn't sure she even knew who he was.

"Well, money we can do but I'm not sure that alone will solve your problem. Lord Nolen will be angry. He won't act against us if he has any sense but you..." 

She folded her arms over her chest.

"This isn't fair." 

"No, it's not," Brayan agreed. 

"I don't have any family. I don't have anywhere to go." 

"Oh, that's perfect," Hudson cut in. 

"I thought I told you to stop talking," Brayan said.

"Why is being quiet only a problem for you when your input isn't wanted?" 

"The Wrasher can take her," Hudson offered, ignoring Brayan's scolding.

"They can disappear her, no problem." 

"Aren't the Wrasher pirates and assassins and criminals?" Maya asked.

"I don't think I want to be disappeared." 

Hudson waved a dismissive hand.

"We're outcasts who go where the money takes us. You learn to sail a boat and maybe that boat is carrying some things it shouldn't be in a hidden part of the hull or maybe it isn't, who knows. You get better money and more respect than you do working here, that's for sure." 

Maya hesitated.

"I could join them? They wouldn't hurt me?"

"Wrasher are family. No one will harm you. No one will let you be harmed." 

Maya mulled that over, a small smile slowly forming on his face.

"Yes. Okay, yes. I want to join." 

Hudson returned her smile.

He didn't do that often.

"Welcome, then, little sister." 

Maya beamed back at him. 

The smile disappeared from Hudson's face as he turned back to Brayan.

"Want me to take the slave as well?" 

"To the Wrasher?" 

Hudson inclined his head in confirmation. 

"The Wrasher may be able to make a servant girl disappear but an Eth? That may be asking a bit much." 

Hudson let out a huff of laughter.

"You only doubt us because we're so good at it. This wouldn't be a first for us. The Wrasher hide things well." 

"Should I be wondering how you came to have such dark hair?"

Maric asked as he ran his fingers through Dara's equally black hair. 

"You can wonder whatever you like."

Hudson waved a dismissive hand.

"We don't talk about this. But I can take him away, if you want. He would be safe." 

Brayan hesitated and then sighed and nodded.

"That would probably be for the best." 

"He should decide for himself," Dara said.

"He shouldn't take too long to wake up." 

"You're right, of course," Brayan said.

"We'll wait." 

Hudson pulled his deck of cards out of his pocket.

"Monsters?"