#will tag but these folks are mentioned

[mochiajclayne]

OP Analysis: Blackbeard, his motivations and devil fruit powers

Spoiler alert! This meta post will contain manga panels from the following arcs: Drum Island, Alabasta, Jaya, Post-Enies Lobby, Impel Down, and Marineford.

Blackbeard occasionally appears in the animanga but he is always taking advantage of the chaos behind the scenes. This is equally interesting as much as it is frustrating--but he is a man shrouded in mystery and majority of the information that we, the audiences know, were derived from other characters.

Under this cut will be my observations about Blackbeard.

Blackbeard was first mentioned by Dalton in Drum Island, stating that his group attacked the island a few months ago. I am curious as to why he decided to do this as the relevant information about Drum Island thus far is that they have the greatest doctors, and their medical knowledge is top notch.

My two cents is that Blackbeard wanted to cause an incident that would feature his group in the newspapers. However, the incident isn't news-worthy as what seemed to be the covered story by that time was the rebellion in Alabasta as well as the movements of the Revolutionary Army.

Another theory that I have might sound far-fetched, but I think Blackbeard was looking for the Ope Ope no Mi or at least, if someone in Drum Island ate it considering the reputation that the place holds with Blackbeard expressing interest in the devil fruit's ability to grant eternal life as well as his penchant on hunting down powerful devil fruit users. Starting out in an island full of the greatest doctors is a good place to look, don't you think?

(Another thing I've noticed about Drum Island is its striking similarities with Flevance: both abandoned by their royalty as soon as an issue came up. Wapol abandoned Drum Island as Blackbeard attacked them while the royal family of Flevance escaped with the WG's assistance when they found that Amber Lead Poisoning was incurable. I don't know if it's a similarity brought upon by coincidence but it's an interesting detail.)

Then, we have Ace's introduction/manga appearance. His "little business" was looking for Blackbeard. At this point, we know two things: Blackbeard and his group attacked Drum Island and Ace was looking for him. Their true connection wasn't revealed yet.

Then we have Blackbeard's first appearance in Jaya and revealing his intention of targeting Luffy due to his 100 million berry bounty. Pirates can't even keep the bounty and will be arrested if they drop by any Marine Headquarters, so this course of action is for the sole purpose of gaining an evil reputation. I have to admit that Blackbeard has a good discerning eye for setting his sights to Luffy at the beginning as the Alabasta incident was covered up. If he wanted to gain notoriety, eliminating a rookie captain of a small pirate group responsible for overthrowing a Warlord was a good start.

Speaking of Warlord, Lafitte (who is later on revealed as part of the Blackbeard Pirate crew), invaded the meeting to nominate a "certain man". Interestingly enough, Blackbeard was only acknowledged as part of the Seven Warlords after defeating Ace but he initially targeted Luffy in hope to qualify but failed. At this point, it was revealed that Blackbeard is interested in the Warlord position, hence, his insistence to prove his strength to earn the position. His true intention will be revealed later on in the animanga but knowing initially that the Government gives certain privileges with the Warlords, he is clearly planning to use it to his advantage.

Another mention of Blackbeard was from the conversation between Shanks and Whitebeard. Here, more details about Blackbeard are revealed: (1) he was part of Whitebeard Pirates, (2) he broke an ironclad rule and killed a friend, (3) he was part of the second division, to which Ace is the commander of, and he was looking for Blackbeard to teach him a lesson. Shanks asked Whitebeard to stop Ace from confronting Blackbeard as it's too "soon" for them to face each other. He also warned Whitebeard about Blackbeard hiding from the shadows and patiently waiting for his chance to take action and how he might end up taking over Whitebeard's position (as one of the four emperors). Despite Whitebeard responding that Blackbeard is his (or Ace's, by extension) responsibility, it was shown later on in the Marineford flashback that Whitebeard initially stopped Ace as he had a bad feeling about Blackbeard and his newly gained powers as well as to let this incident go, feeling apprehensive about the entire thing but Ace insisted to get justice as well as to make Blackbeard pay for dishonoring Whitebeard.

The incident that was the catalyst of the Paramount War: Ace and Blackbeard's fight in Banaro Island. Blackbeard invited Ace to join his crew and expressing intent to catch Luffy in Water 7 (this is still in line with wanting to secure the Warlord position as the Strawhats gained notoriety and recognition after the Enies Lobby incident). Ace, naturally, didn't like the idea and refused the invitation.

(Take this part with a grain of salt and I might be overthinking this bit, but I think it was a stroke of luck that Garp decided to visit Luffy in Water 7. Aside from looking out for his grandson's wellbeing, I think it's also partly to prevent pirates from attacking a pirate crew still recovering from their injuries. I'm amused that despite Garp's qualms about Luffy choosing to be a pirate, he's openly laughing and is proud of his grandson's shenanigans, but I digress.)

Here the common ground between Ace and Blackbeard was revealed as he confessed that he killed the Whitebeard Pirates' Fourth Commander Thatch to get the devil fruit that Blackbeard had been looking for (as they have a rule that whoever gets the devil fruit would be the one to eat it). He also mentioned that sailing with Whitebeard for several decades offered the best chance of obtaining the fruit. Here, the Yami Yami no Mi was introduced and based on Blackbeard himself, despite being a logia fruit, it's completely different from the rest--it is the most powerful ability of all the devil fruits.

One of the Yami Yami no Mi ability is "gravitation". Blackbeard himself says that it's a force that sucks everything in and not even light can escape, the attack is appropriately named as Black Hole.

Interestingly enough, whatever that Blackbeard absorbs, it doesn't completely disintegrate into the void but instead reduced a town into ruins. Continuing with the idea that this ability worked like a black hole, I do have a theory that there is a limit on how much Blackbeard can handle in terms of mass. Whatever that he absorbed doesn't disappear, instead, it functions like he would "carry" them around until he decided to liberate or release them. If we continue with this idea, Yami Yami no Mi poses a risk in a way that it's not an infinite pool of "storage" even though it can gravitate and pull everything including light. It's not as bottomless as Caribou's Swamp-Swamp fruit. I think this is also the reason why he can only handle two devil fruit power at the same time, despite the infinite gravitational pull that his ability offered.

Here we are introduced to the most dangerous aspect of Yami Yami no Mi: it can nullify devil fruit's powers through directly touching the opponent.

Despite Blackbeard calling Yami Yami no Mi as the most powerful devil fruit, another thing I've noticed about its property is that it doesn't function like the usual Logia fruit which allows the user to be a physical manifestation of an element of nature. It happened twice with Luffy being able to punch Blackbeard and Whitebeard's naginata wounding him in Marineford.

It was revealed later on that Blackbeard joined the Seven Warlords to infiltrate Impel Down and recruit the Level Six prisoners as crewmates. He definitely took advantage of the Marines focusing their forces for the Paramount War but I think one factor that worked too well for his favor was Luffy sneaking into the underwater prison prior to rescue Ace. Blackbeard's presence was like a fuel added into the fire and he took advantage of that mess.

Ending this long meta post with the iconic panel of Whitebeard straight up telling Teach that he's not the man that Roger is waiting for. With the recent manga chapters and Caribou planning on informing Blackbeard about the Ancient Weapons, I think Blackbeard's dream is eerily close to what Rocks D. Xebec aimed for--world domination. Interestingly enough, he does fear death unlike the other Ds in the animanga and I think that would be highlighted in the final arc. How far would he actually commit to his ambition if his life is threatened?

[smallishbabes]

I forgot that people are finding out Joel for the first time on HC so this is the first time they’re hearing Joel has a Tumblr. Like ya should’ve seen him credit fanart he got from Tumblr in his videos that shit was more wild lol

[mrkida-art]

Been showing some of this on discord today, some of you may be interested so here's some of my own tolkien dwarf world building/hc notes (there is a lot so these are snippets). Beware, it's personal notes of mine so there may be grammatical errors as well as typos haha.

cw for pregnancy, and death (and child death) mentions, as well as other darker themes such as child soldiers

[viivdle]

I stand before Cardan, and he looks mortifying in his beauty. He carelessly slumps down on the sofa in his chambers, blissfully unaware of my anxiety. Or, worse, blissfully aware.

“I ought to be mad at you,” he says, and I almost flinch at the sound.

“As I said, I didn’t kill my husband, Your Majesty,��� my voice shakes, and I hold onto the hope he will think I am holding back tears.

“Yes, that would be correct. Your husband is sitting in front of you, well and alive. Is he not?”

viivdle productive era??

my ~1900w jurdan fanfic heaven and hell were words to me is out now!!

i tried something different with this one, hopefully it was a good something different

this fic is for @annamatix who i have the pleasure to call my friend. i hope this is just the right amount of "romancy"

happy ramadan<33

[royalarchivist]

Foolish: Oh man, oh boy, I still have 28 more seconds. Ok, Jaiden, gimme something else?

Jaiden: Uh, Your power– how are you gonna use your power?

Foolish: Right! I'll use my power for mostly good! But sometimes bad, if I deem it necessary.

Jaiden: That's fair!

Roier: Yes!!! Cocaine and tacos!

Foolish: YEAH! Yeah!!! JAIDEN– OK, REAL QUICK– 4 more seconds! 4 more– what do I talk about?!

Jaiden: UH, cocaine!

Foolish: COCAINE!

Foolish and Jaiden showing off their teamwork during one of the QSMP Debates!

[ Full Transcript ↓ ]

—

Foolish: Uh, KELP will help... Um... Jaiden, give me something! One- like, one line.

Jaiden: Talk about- talk about the, uh, the empor-ing! The empor-ing! [Play on "emperor"?]

Foolish: The empor-ing! Ok! I will– to be fair for everyone, when I become KELP, I'll make sure nobody has power except for me!

[Long silence]

Jaiden: Woo!

Roier: Bravo! [Whistles]

Foolish: Ok! Oh man, oh boy, I still have 28 more seconds. Ok, Jaiden, gimme something else?

Jaiden: Uh, what about– what about– um... Your power– how are you gonna use your power?

Foolish: Right! I'll use my power for mostly good! But sometimes bad, if I deem it necessary.

Roier: YES!!!

[Richarlyson fires off some fireworks]

Jaiden: That's fair!

Roier: Yes!!! Cocaine and tacos!

Foolish: YEAH! Yeah!!! JAIDEN– OK, REAL QUICK– 4 more seconds! 4 more– what do I talk about?!

Jaiden: UH, cocaine!

Foolish: COCAINE!

[crookedghosts]

writing in an au is so fun cause sometimes you get hit with something SO CANON like "percabeth hosts capture the flag with their entire wedding party when they all arrive for the wedding" that you have to pivot and rework the entire back half of the fic just to make that happen

[starflungwaddledee]

Ah, guess there aren't many night owls in Dreamland, huh? Sounds like it would be tough to be sleeping during the day. Good thing you and Coo can keep each other company! Is he nice? Never met an owl before.

poll results: up we go! to the stars! they certainly think of each other quite fondly

<< prev || [masterpost] || next >>

[nana2009]

omg imagine, Yandere dave and mpreg karkat dream com true

well anony seems like you're one of the 5 people in luck! i'm gonna tell you something that probably a lot of people aint gonna like, so i'm spoiling a future ask ahead.

THAT IS ONE OF THE PATHS I PLANNED TO FOLLOW! AHA! >:D

danny would be their only child :3 yandave deserves to b a dilf too....he a lil crazy but he would b a good dad in the end....?

[mewos-laptop]

Can anti endos pls stop following us we LITERALLY have an entire paragraph abt how we literally don't give a shit what origins sum1 is bc it's none of our fucking business and it's creepy to pretend like it is ????

That's like asking a physically disabled person for their fucking medical records like are you DUMB stupid ????

[dreamlifebunny]

kill yourself

This is so funny to me because I had my anons off for several months due to personal life issues and needing to catch up on other asks, then today I thought "You know what, I'm gonna open them up and start answering questions again!" and THIS was the first message I received without even announcing my asks were open lmaoo 😭😭😭

Anon I am happy to talk about why you sent this over DMs if you'd like! I'm sorry you're feeling hurt, let me know if you want to talk more about this privately. I don't know what I did to upset you but sending d3ath threats is not the way to get someone to change their behaviour. It's also a criminal offence to encourage someone to hurt themselves; please keep this in mind and consider not doing this in the future.

[scratchybeardsweetmouth]

Barbecue Sauce | Ted Lasso 1x02 ⇄ 1x08

[lpsotd]

important announcement part 2: electric boogaloo

greetings tumblr! i haven't made an original post in (i believe) over a month, and i actually didn't plan on making an announcement about my absence at all, for no real reason honestly, i just didn't want to. however, i think i'm correct to assume there's at least a handful of people who have been my curious about my absence, or perhaps wondering why they've noticed a lack of daily littlest pet shops on their dashboard.

this post is going to be long, personal, and serious. i'm going to be talking about myself, my life at the moment, and what i'm going to be doing moving forward.

you can read everything under the cut. i'm providing trigger warnings for suicide and familial death. the first half of this post is where the warnings apply, the other half is about what i'll be doing with this blog and also relates to my internet presence in general.

the latter half of the month of september was extremely taxing on my mental health, the main reason for my mental decline is not something i'm going to touch on here, as it's too personal and there's no reason for me to air out my private business on tumblr.com of all places. all you need to know is that during late september, i was at my worst. i had been trying to push through and continue my life as normal despite the constant turmoil i was in, and i never had the motivation to do anything with myself besides taking a shower, and even then i was rather neglectful of my hygiene. i had plenty of support from those close to me. my mom in particular did her absolute best to make sure i was comfortable and felt loved and cared for, and i did feel that way. however, at this point in my life i was a ticking time bomb and i don't think any one person would've been able to cut any cords to put a stop to the timer.

on september 26th at around 1:45pm, i made an attempt on my life. i'm not sure what it was about that day in particular, but it was then that i decided i didn't want to deal with anything anymore. fortunately for me, i was stupid enough to post what was essentially a suicide note to my main tumblr blog, which friends of mine took notice of. this, of course, worried people and one of my friends called the police to my house. long story short, i spent a day in the hospital and was sent to a psychiatric hospital the following afternoon.

i was in the psychiatric hospital for little less than a week, and if i were to detail my experience here it would make this post at least 3x longer than i intend it to be. (and i do plan on dedicating a large post to it someday) in short, it was an eye-opening experience and i left with a better view on myself as a person. i was discharged on october 3rd and i'm currently in therapy and looking for other methods to help myself.

the doctor at the psychiatric hospital diagnosed me with adjustment disorder with depressed mood, although i'm made to believe i have borderline personality disorder as i get unhealthily attached to people and my entire mood depends on how they interact with me. due to this belief, i'm hesitant to get too close to people because i don't want to risk becoming emotionally attached/dependent on one (1) sole person and my entire mental wellbeing collapsing due to something like us parting ways. so at this moment i'm not sure if i'll ever be able to pursue a romantic relationship.

for the week i've been home, i've been trying to readjust to normal life again after becoming used to the static routine present in the psychiatric hospital. i've found myself becoming easily irritated and overwhelmed by even the slightest bit of noise in my home because the hospital was always so quiet and calm. i'm unsure if this irritability will go away as i become re-accustomed to the semi-chaotic nature of my home.

on top of all of this, my grandfather passed away yesterday and, as of writing this, i'm in a state of emotional numbness and i've somewhat disassociated from the situation. as it stands currently, life doesn't feel too real and i'm uncertain of how i'm going to deal with this when my emotions finally come to the surface.

that's it for the depressing portion of this post. everything from here will be pertaining to the state of this blog, what i'm going to be doing with it, and also my presence on other social medias among other things.

for the past three or so months i haven't felt very compelled to post to this blog. when i went on hiatus a while ago, i thought time away from this blog would reignite my passion for it and i'd be able to come back and do things like i used to. and while that was the case for a while, i quickly lost interest again and sometime in mid-late july i let my queued posts do everything and i barely posted or reblogged anything aside from gofundmes.

while littlest pet shop is still one of my special interests, i'm no longer as fixated on it as i was when i first started this blog. i once debated turning this blog into a catchall for my toy interest and no longer posting daily lps, however that idea no longer appeals to me and i think i'm going to be calling it quits for this blog.

i'm not happy about this decision, but i no longer get joy from logging on and posting to this blog anymore.

i find it foolish to delete this blog and never use it again, though. i still have over eight thousand followers and i believe i should use that to share and bring awareness to donation posts. so this blog will not be going anywhere.

if you want to follow me elsewhere, my main blog is @joplinspiderz and my art blog is @mushyspiderz. i'm trying to put more focus on my presence in art spaces, as i want to get attention for my art and earn money doing things like commissions, as i'm looking for other sources of income so that i can pay for things i need and can stop feeling like a freeloader in my mother's house (that is half of a joke. but i do really want to help my mom with her bills and such as well as my personal things.)

i also have an instagram, threads, and twitter where i will be posting my art as well. the audience i want for my art is people in my age range (18 and older) as i tend to draw things and characters that are suggestive/sexual in nature. all three socials are currently bare (that will change, of course.) the handle for my instagram/threads is joplinspiderz and my twitter is mushyspiderz.

the person i have been portraying on this blog has been a somewhat sanitized version of who i actually am, as i wanted to create a safe and comfortable space for those who age regress because i noticed a good chunk of the people interacting with my posts were age regressers. i'm 18 years old and i enjoy consuming media that is sexual in nature as well as horror movies. i like to include sexual themes in my artwork and my writing as well. you will not find anything outright pornographic on my socials, however sometime in the future when/if i'm able to, i would like to create a patreon where i post nsfw locked behind a paywall (profiting off of horny fools sounds like so much fun /silly)

i sincerely thank everyone who followed this silly little blog of mine and interacted with me. the littlest pet shop community is one of the best fandoms i've been apart of, everyone i've met and spoken to has been so kind. running this blog was also the reason i encountered two people who i consider to be some of my closest and best friends. if i didn't create this blog i'm not sure if i would've met them.

i've always felt joy when opening my inbox here and seeing messages from people who say things like littlest pet shop was a part of their childhood, and that my blog brought them back to their childhood and made them happy. i'm so very glad i was able to give people a sense of joy and nostalgia. running this blog has been a big part of me getting over being seen as "weird" or "cringe" by societal standards. i embrace being seen as "cringe" and i have my rare lps on full display in my bedroom.

again, i thank everyone who followed me here, and if you wish to support me you can follow any of my social medias where i will be posting my artwork. i will be logging on here every so often to boost palestinian gofundmes and donation posts, and i encourage everyone who comes across those to share as well.

that's all for now, farewell. 🩷

[thereareeyesinsidethetrees]

celestial au stuff

-shermie sees things in thermal vision. there’s probably a better word for that but you know what ae mean. he chose not to have glasses made for him

-stan sees everything extremely bright. this is useful for night or really dark areas where he can easily spot anything that may be lurking in the shadows. this is agonizing during the daytime. he wears sunglasses, specially made for him by fiddleford, to help with this

(in other words, to answer dipper’s question- why does the sun need sunglasses?- because the sun has photophobia)

-ford can only see direct sources of light. stan is the literal sun, so he always appears as the brightest thing around to ford, even if he isn’t giving off any light at all to others. stan is luminous enough that he also lights up a very small area around him. ford uses this to look at runes and solve cubix cubes (gifted to him by fiddleford) and such. fiddleford made him glasses that brighten everything up a little bit, though everything appears extremely dim and blurred to him when wearing them. he opted to forgo these glasses and just get sunglasses like stan, because of course ae made him photophobic as well what were you expecting

-they both really like the ocean. stan likes the way it evaporates around him, only to pour back down from the clouds. ford likes the way the waves pull towards him and follow his every move, like a flowy ball gown dress. it’s his favorite place to stim cause of how the waves react. when he looks underwater, everything (including himself) appears bioluminescent to him, a reference to his association with eyes. meanwhile, stan likes to make sea glass (he likes making specially shaped ones as gifts for the niblings)

-both the niblings have some article of clothing they always wear that are references to the stan twins. for dipper, his vest has a sun pattern on it. for mabel, she, of course, wears a different sweater every day. so she instead has a selection of capes, cloaks, shawls, and ponchos- all moon and/or night themes- that she wears over her sweater

that is all for now

[deiaiko]

#19.3 Unravel

It had been some time since Agni felt this nervous. Not even talking with Jinsung Ha recently had made him feel like this. He fiddled with the mask on his hand as he waited for Grace to come back. He had thought hard on how to deliver the news, but he knew that no matter how he phrased it, Grace would be upset. Velt nuzzled under his palm and Agni gave her a few pats, before deciding that she would be better inside her bowl in his lighthouse, just in case the shinsu acted up around Grace after he received the news.

Grace came back wearing the comfiest shirt and shorts Agni knew Grace liked to wear on lazy days. He joined him on the floor, and they ate dinner together. Agni always finished last, so while waiting for him to finish his meal, Grace told him about his day with Bam. Grace was intrigued by how much his way of thinking had changed, and how glad he was to be able to be by Bam's side when he was having a bad day. It reminded Agni of the hidden floor, when Grace faced his sworn enemy.

They left the used bowls on the coffee table and went to brush their teeth. Afterwards, they turned off the light and went upstairs to sit on their bed. Grace's curious gaze never left him, and Agni curled his feet nervously.

Grace was the one who broke the silence. "So…what is it?"

Agni's breath hitched. This was the part he dreaded most. "I talked with the crocodile earlier. Did you know that he could manipulate stone already?"

"Huh." Grace needed a few seconds to let the information sink in. "Didn't Rak learn it on the Hell train? How does he know it?"

"Turns out our crocodile also traveled back to the past like us. He found the young crocodile and taught him."

"What?!" Grace gasped, wide eyed. "That means our Rak is–!!"

"He's dead." Agni quickly snuffed out that hope. They had been in delusion for long enough; it was time that they faced the bitter truth. "He suffered a fatal injury from the explosion. He couldn't have lasted long without proper help." Agni omitted the actual cause for Rak's death, but still kept his words true. "I'm sorry."

"…Oh." Grace looked lost, just like Agni was. His lips parted a little, but they closed before any sound escaped.

Agni gently squeezed Grace's hand, encouraging and comforting as he let the silence stretch on, giving Grace some time to process the information.

"Agni…" Grace whispered, "do you think Hatz and Isu…?"

Agni bit his lip and avoided his gaze, as the nightmare of that day replayed in his mind. He witnessed Hatz get his arm ripped off when trying to protect him. He could still recall the clang of a sword hitting the floor, and Hatz's suppressed scream that gnawed deep at his guilt. He witnessed Isu get beheaded after being taken hostage, the memory of warm blood painting them both still vivid like it happened yesterday. 

Agni refused to acknowledge their possible deaths, because it felt like a nightmare that one day he could hopefully wake up from. He avoided the topic when Grace brought it up, so he wouldn't have to say it aloud and make it real. He had been so hard on himself, because he couldn't get rid of the feeling that he had failed Grace and everyone else involved.

Agni knew this had to change if he wanted to live better, now that they had gotten a second chance. So he swallowed down the lump in his throat that had built up over the years and asked mostly to himself; "What are the odds of their survival?"

"There's always a chance–"

"Grace." Agni looked him straight in the eye. "They were already severely injured before the explosion hit."

Grace fell silent and went still.

Agni felt a pang of guilt upon witnessing Grace's reaction. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap." Agni fiddled with his hands. He realized that he didn't know how much Grace knew of what happened. "My scar…do you know how I got it?"

"I…was told it was from the family heads' battle." Grace looked thoughtful. Agni knew he was trying to be careful with his words. "A stray attack?"

"It could have been worse." The memory of the scorching heat on his skin felt like it had only happened yesterday. He passed out right when he was about to heal Isu, and only found out later that he also lost sweetfish at that time. The days he spent recovering from the burn, to withstand the excruciating pain every second he was conscious, and finally coming to terms that it'd be a permanent scar, was one of the turning points that had changed him forever. Were Grace not there to care for him, he might have ended up destroying himself even more.

Agni hadn't realized he had his left hand clawing on his cheek until Grace pried his hand off and frowned, "You're doing it again."

"Maybe I should wear the mask…" Agni muttered to himself. After all, Grace gave it to him less so he could hide the scar but more to prevent him from unconsciously hurting himself. The only time he could safely take it off was when Grace was around.

Agni bit his lip nervously when Grace didn't reply. He no longer had the courage to look Grace in the eye that spoke so much concern, so he leaned close and rested his head on Grace's chest. "Rak, Isu, Hatz and Hwaryun were trying to get me out of that damned place. But we were caught while escaping, and…it was a bloodbath. I was…too occupied to react to the incoming heat. Rak shielded us from the explosion. And when I woke up…"

"They weren’t with you," Grace finished it for him after Agni trailed off a moment too long.

Agni nodded dazedly, "I've been telling myself that they're still alive, after a blow that could kill rankers. But…who am I kidding? I was lucky enough to survive with just this little–" Agni vaguely pointed to himself– "inconvenience."

Agni felt a hand gripping his arm, and he pulled away to see Grace looking at him with a pained expression. His eyes were glossy and his lips were pulled into a thin line. Trusting his instinct, Agni reached out to gently trace and cup Grace's cheek with his free hand.

"I'm sorry," Agni muttered. "I'm sorry, for not telling you sooner."

Agni silently witnessed tears that streamed down on his love's face. It was a bitter sight that Agni wished he'd never have to see again, that he had tried to avoid for so long by not telling him. He pulled Grace in and held him close to his chest, as if Agni was trying to gather his own crumbled heart back together.

Grace mumbled their late best friends' names as he held onto him tighter, shaking from each breath he took between sniffles.

Agni felt his own eyes sting with unshed tears. He remembered the years he spent climbing the tower together with his old team. Despite their banter being his source of headaches, Agni knew he too had come to acknowledge them as his cherished friends. Only when they were gone did Agni realize how much he'd miss having them around. Seeing the younger them didn't exactly close the gaping hole in his heart, but at least the emptiness was more filled.

Agni squeezed Grace tighter. "We have their younger selves with us now. We will protect them better this time."

Grace only nodded and sank further into his embrace. And Agni planted kisses on his hair, relishing the thought that after everything he had gone through, Grace was still a constant in his life. As long as he had him, everything would be okay.

When Grace started shaking again, Agni caressed his hair and hummed a comfort song they had known by heart. Still, it didn't make falling asleep any easier for Agni, especially not after admitting that his nightmare was very much real. However, as he had been through grief…this, too, would pass.

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[royalarchivist]

I won't be posting a clip of it, but for those who are keeping up with Arkanis, Araldo (the current villain in Arkanis) just seemingly destroyed Denix and Amora, the little green and purple ghosties.

(Timestamp: 5h 11m for Pac's stream)

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

can't even tell the people who tried to rape and murder your daughter to go fuck themselves anymore. because of woke :/