#without having to get violent to defend your point?? do better

[ilostyou]

resisting the urge to say a thing

[itsabouttimex2]

“You need to do better.”

(This gets vitriolic, and is a full-blown criticism of Macaque’s portrayal in Season Four and Five. If criticism of a character/franchise you like upsets you, I do not recommend reading.)

Wow. I had no faith in his character writing, and I’m STILL disappointed.

And it only took one episode! How impressive!

Macaque, who has put in ZERO on-screen effort to become a better person or make amends to his victims, is criticizing Wukong for being a bad mentor! And does Wukong criticize him back? NOPE!

After getting screamed at and berated, does Wukong defend himself? NOPE!

Ooh, but there was a second long reference in a dual yelling match that mentioned that Macaque was a genuinely bad person who took glee in hurting innocent people! Oh, fucking delightful! Ooh, Wukong even points out in one episode that Macaque goes unpunished!

Pointing out a flaw in your writing does not make it less of a flaw.

Macaque will always be allowed to do whatever he wants to anyone he wants- power theft, attempted murder, insults, deceit, assault-

And the narrative and characters will never hold him accountable or force Macaque to look inwards or become a better person.

Macaque will always fall upwards into redemption without any obstacles or pushback.

There will never be a struggle to goodness with a satisfying conclusion. There will never be a moment where falters in his newfound goodness and questions going back to his old ways. There will never be explicit remorse or regret. He will never have deep introspections on his crimes and atrocities that provide a reason for him to want to change.

The sum of his “arc” will always be “you were a good guy all along”, and that lack of depth is where it will stay.

RIP Seasons 1-3 Macaque. You were fun and interesting and cool and lovable.

But the man they replaced you with was destined to be a boring and brooding “anti-hero” who has no real connection to the actions you selfishly and violently performed with your own two hands-

And you will always be a less interesting character for it.

The execution of the actual arc boils down to a single heroic (but ultimately self-serving) moment and then Macaque is immediately forgiven for all the crimes he’s committed and is a magically better person without any effort and nothing he’s done is ever brought up again.

It severely weakens any character’s arc to cut them off from their past actions. If MK forgot his traumas every season instead of carrying them forward- we’d all agree that doing so was a case of poor writing.

It was the reason that people disliked Mei’s portrayal in Season Four- she immediately moved on from the Samadhi Fire arc and “no longer wielded it” after spending a whole season gathering and learning to use it.

Why can’t we agree that it’s bad for Macaque, too?

You can’t “develop” a character by dropping an entire plotline and writing it off with one line.

You can’t “redeem” a character by pretending that they were a good person right from the start.

Sorry, bud.

I really did like you. I just wish I could like your writing.

——————

And, what is more clear to me now than ever?

People only defended Macaque’s shitty writing because they think he’s hot.

I know this now, because I’ve seen white-hot Li Jing arc hatred from fervent Macaque arc defenders.

So we all agree that an “I didn’t really mean it!” isn’t an excuse to abuse the people around you? That you don’t get to mistreat innocent people just because you’re stressed and upset?

Hmmm.

Hmmmmmmm.

I wonder why people despise Jing for his dogshit “one nice thing redeems all your bad actions” arc but love Macaque for his??

(Because they think the monkey is hot.)

The funny thing, though?

Li Jing apologizes to at least one of the victims of his actions. He expresses regret and remorse.

Macaque doesn’t even have that.

——————

Anyways here’s a line that I hate because Macaque has in no way developed enough to have the right to deliver it-

AND NO, SUDDENLY HAVING AN AFFINITY FOR PERFORMING KIND OR SACRIFICIAL ACTS IS NOT GOOD CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

HIM MAGICALLY OFFSCREEN BECOMING A GOOD PERSON WHO CARES ABOUT INNOCENT LIFE IS NOT GOOD CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

IF ALL IT TAKES TO “BE BETTER” IS ACTING LIKE A HERO, WUKONG IS LITERALLY A THOUSAND TIMES BETTER OF A PERSON THAN HE IS

THIS LINE IS DOGSHIT

“You need to do better.”

Really, Macaque? Maybe you should take your own damn advice- try apologizing to one of the people you tried to hurt and tried to murder in cold blood!

Like when you trapped MK under his staff after stealing his powers and tried to murder him when he was helpless?

Or when you kidnapped MK’s friends and tortured the kid by forcing him to fight them?

Or you led a violent assault against a palace full of innocent people?

Or violently beat his dear friends until they were screaming in pain?

Or assaulted Tang, who posed no threat to you?

Or threatened to murder an innocent girl if you didn’t get your way, then ran away (and encouraged MK to abandon her) first thing when it put her into a life-threatening meltdown of raw power?

(Isn’t it cool how NONE of these people have interesting or varied reactions to him doing this and ALL immediately are cool with him like a gelatinous hivemind.)

(Oooh ONE mildly questioning line from Pigsy but no anger over his adoptive son nearly being killed multiple times over)

(Isn’t it cool that no one has complex or interesting thoughts on this.)

(Isn’t it cool that by robbing them of unique feelings on the matter they robbed Macaque and the Monkie Kids of compelling and interesting interactions that could’ve helped flesh out their personalities and strengthen their characterization.)

(Isn’t it cool that Macaque and the Monkie Kids are actively denied intriguing character dynamics so Macaque’s shitty “redemption arc” can happen faster.)

(Isn’t that cool.)

Why don’t YOU do better, Macaque?

(In a way that is more satisfying than “one kind-hearted speech from a kid that I tried to murder changed my mind and now I am a better person but all my character development happened offscreen and without personal introspection”, at least.)

Also what the fuck do you mean by “do better”?

Be heroic and put your life in danger? He already does that! He’s done it more than you have!

Just tell MK that he’s not alone? YOU COULD DO THAT YOURSELF, MACAQUE!

Help MK with his traumas and fears? MK doesn’t tell anyone about those! He keeps them bottled up, lock and key, and actively refuses attempts to help!

Wukong TRIED to reach out to him, and MK PUSHED HIM AWAY! Was he supposed to tie the fucking kid down and torture the information out of him?

He respected MK’s boundaries by not pushing any further and letting him leave!!

WHY IS THAT A BAD THING??

What the fuck, man

[olderthannetfic]

Being a trans man and not being an anti is also isolating, which is part of why I think trans guys gravitate towards either being an anti or reposting anti posts. If you're not an anti, you get booted from discord servers, blocked on social media at best or sent misgendering rape threats, death threats and suicide bait by other trans men at worst, and now that I'm in college I've found IRL that not being an anti makes a lot of people in queer spaces available to the average college student incredibly uncomfortable. So you have to either be entirely alone - which is very difficult when you're young, queer, and just coming into your own identity - or you have to be around it a lot without saying a word. Agreeing with it at first wouldn't even be necessary. You just have to not say anything against it, and then you'll be able to be around other people.

It doesn't help that most trans men who get sucked into anti circles are teens at the time. There's 501 proposed anti-LGBT laws right now, not counting everything that has passed, the majority of it anti-trans. If you're a teenage boy seeing all this transphobia on the rise, you're going to feel powerless. Bullying people like antis do makes you feel power over at least a few people. Being told you can consume your way into being a good person via media intake makes you feel like you have power and control over at least that.

I was sucked in incrementally because I wasn't exposed to the more violent antis who fantasized about murder and hurting people for writing fiction, I met my only friend - who was an anti - after my dad had beaten me for coming out as trans, and I was sixteen. I got out when I was eighteen because once I went to live with my mom, a psychologist, she gently corrected me when I would say things that aren't based in fact. She pointed out how upset these people were making me. She taught me how to fact-check claims and look into the veracity of claims.

And when I tried to convey to my friends that no, what they were saying wasn't supported, they turned on me. Including the only person who had been there for me when I was hatecrimed, who had reached out to me specifically because she met me what day. I lost every friend I had in roughly 30 hours.

If I hadn't had a really great mom, a very intelligent rabbi who's well-versed in psychology and is a former lawyer who saw the "fiction made me do it" excuse used to defend heinous crimes and doesn't buy it, and an older half-sister who lived through people calling her a psycho lesbian because she's a lesbian who played D&D, listened to metal and dressed Goth in small-town Montana in the 80's/90's, I would have probably killed myself. Having those three people who accepted me and did not accept this extremist rhetoric kept me sane and repaired my self-esteem enough to keep me going.

But a lot of people don't have three adults who are intelligent, supportive, and know better than to fall for this faux-psychology. A lot of people don't even have one. Often, they have unsupportive people who also believe firmly in the faux-psychology of "if you watch a thing you'll do that thing IRL". So there's not only no one hauling them out of this, it's getting reinforced.

Being a non-anti who is a trans man gets me a lot of shit from a lot of people online and offline. (As other anons have mentioned during the ace discourse, online talking points come up on college campuses and in real life, because the internet is not an alternate dimension, it is something being used by the people around you who exist in the same physical space as you.)

A reality that I don't think people want to discuss is that trans men, just like all other people of all other genders, suffer a lot of psychological distress if they're put in a position where they have no support. I sure as fuck wasn't happy being in a position where I went from having tons of online friends, discord servers I could hang out in and fandoms I associated with good vibes to none of that, plus harassment, plus massive misgendering.

It's a lot less awful of an existence to be a trans man and an anti when you're young and need community and support than it is to not be an anti and be isolated. And humans gravitate towards the least awful option 99% of the time.

--

Yuuup.

Having some kind of real support network, usually offline but at the very least not randos you met a day ago on discord, is vital and is the difference between not only whether you rot in a pit of antidom forever but in stemming the massive flood of trans teen suicides. The overall queer rates aren't great, but the specifically trans rates... they're bad. They're so, so bad.

[rise-my-angel]

those targ stans comparing Rhaenyra's strong boys to Jon are the absolute worst

Like, on one hand, I do see why people defend them. It wasn't their fault they were born to such unfavourable circumstances. Its not easy to grow up being conflicted about who you really are, and as much as Rhaenyra loves them, its clear she does not prioritize them over herself.

But theres more problems then that. The biggest point against them is the incident with Aemond. First of all, I don't condone the actions of Aemond when grown up since he is certainly unhinged, but here he was what? 10? 12? Somewhere around that age, and he felt he needed to claim Vhagar, the biggest dragon, after her riders death because that was the only way he felt he had to prove his worth in this family. For kids who are not sure if they were bastards, the Strong boys have never indicated once that they felt that desperate to prove something for their place in a family. Aemond telling his mother that him losing an eye is alright because he "gained a dragon" is heartbreaking. He thought losing his eye to claim a dragon was the only way to prove himself. When have the Strong boys ever indicated they felt that desperate?

Secondly is the attack itself. Aemond was alone and ganged up on. He was attacked by multiple people at once whom clearly brought items to attack him with, and him calling them bastards should not have illicted that violent of a responce. It is NOT normal to wound someone so bad they lose an eye during a fight between young boys.

Without knowing Myachs face yet, Robert phrased it best when the worst that happened was Joffery got bit in the arm by a wolf the size of a dog. "Damn it, children fight. It's over." But Cersei escalates this by propgating Jofferys lies and publically paints Arya out to be a wild animal. And we all knew then that Joffery was in the wrong in a much less serious situation (unless your Myach).

But here, the wounded child, was the one the other kids attacked themselves, and then allowed their mother to take charge and demand he be tortured. She accuses Aemond of starting a fight they know they instigated, and then allowed their mother to demand torture for a boy saying something that was already a rumour.

We all look at the adults in that situation but the Strong Boys mutilated Aemond and then allowed their mother to lie about what happened and demand torture for something he merely said in anger.

Now part of the issue is that Jace and Luke especially have essentially, no real individual character. Much like Baela and Rhaena's lack of character development, they are mostly a duo who dont stand on their own. Season 2 will change that for Jace obviously, but all we have seen of the boys in the most prominent scenes with them is a willingness to use aggression and allow their mother to violently lie for them to cover up their own wrongdoings.

Other then being bastards, the Strong Boys have literally no comparison to Jon Snow. They were called and raised as highborns. Those boys were literally involved in inheritance debates. They have massive privileges every other highborn does.

Jon grew up a known bastard and that literally dictated his entire life as lesser then the siblings he grew up with. He is nothing like them because he fought for everything he has and it's still nothing compared to what those boys were given for absolutely nothing.

Also, Jon never cut another boys eye out in a fight when they called him a bastard. Literally the first time we see him get that violent is trying to stab Ser Alliser, and that was for insulting his fathers honour after said father was arrested for a treason Jon knows is likely untrue.

Jace hopefully will have better development this season, but as it stands, he and Luke both were the kinds of people who wouldve spat down on the likes of Jon Snow.

And those bad traits come from where else but Rhaenyra herself. I don't support shitting on them because theyre bastards but most people who don't like Team Black get painted as bastardphobic regardless. Its a weak argument to disavow giving by looking at real critiques, and just going "oh youre just supporting treating bastards badly why should i listen to you"

As if people like me literally aren't massive Jon Snow defenders, who support Jon staying a Snow and being proud of who he is rather then him feeling like he needs a truename to be of value.

I mean people get angry just seeing them being called the Strong boys. Like use your eyes, people. They look just fucking like Harwin theres not a single drop of Laenor anywhere near those kids apperances.

I'm not trying to just diss the Strong boys, unlike what some fans will paint any criticisms as. Its all just really messy. You just cannot discuss them without Team Black throwing a tantrum.

[team7-headquarter]

Thinking again about how Sakura and Tsunade are depicted as violent women for comedy relief purposes and how much it links to their value as people in the war setting of Naruto.

Let's start with the obvious: In Naruto, the more capable of violence an individual is, the more the shinobi system finds them valuable.

That's because they are always at war or waiting to be at war. They need to be a threat in order to be respected and in consequences, defenseless people can't speak without someone with great power or influence willing to back them up.

The Land of the Waves is the perfect example.

Now, it's very important to say that comedy relief moments in Naruto aren't meant to be taken all seriously. They tell us about the characters and their dynamics, but "women beats men" is a trope that most of the time is meant to be taken as a sort of compliment for the female characters of Naruto. It means they are strong and won't take any bullshit, that they are assertive, have a strong personality and generally they are great fighters.

I'm not defending the trope. I don't like the trope myself, but it is what it is.

This sort of "masculinization" of the women of a story is common for older media. "She's not like the other girls!", "she was raised with 5 brothers, so she's very tough!", "she does (insert activity that is associated with the male stereotype) so she worries no man will ever find her feminine enough to date her", blah blah blah.

It is followed by the author stating that they are still very much women, capable of being wanted and being feminine— you know the rest.

Those characters are always overcompensating for some vulnerability of their past. They were or felt like helpless little girls at some point, so they decided to grow strong to prevent anyone from hurting them or their loved ones again.

It doesn't matter if their natural positions should have given them some advantage. They were kids and more than that, they were women. It's a given that they were going to be discredited.

In Tsunade's case, she was the granddaughter of the two Hokages, a student of the third one, she was a Senju, a promising medic nin. Yet, it took Dan to speak for her for other shinobis to take seriously her proposal of assigning a medic nin to each team, at least until the war was over.

Tsunade innovated the way wars were fought. It is a fact. What needs to be said about medic nins in times of war is that their services will always work in favor of violence. They save soldiers so they can keep fighting, right? To have the best medic nins on your side makes your tropes terrifying to other countries, 'cause yours would not stay down for long. They would die less, get less sick, it'd be harder to take them down.

Tsunade's first vulnerable moment was when her little brother (Nawaki) died. That's her first time really feeling like a helpless little child. Orochimaru was a strong punch to the gut too, but nothing as bad as losing Dan. She convinced herself that she had put a curse on them by accident and isolated herself.

You remember what she's famous for?

Her beauty, her temperament and her skills.

She's pretty, but don't play with her because she will punch your guts to a new galaxy if you dare.

And that's the joke. Haha, this woman won't let you fool around or disrespect her. She doesn't like feeling like she's being dismissed. In many of the comedy relief situations, Tsunade is punching someone (Jiraiya, Naruto) for being inappropriate when talking to women or existing around women

So it's interesting to think how those scenes were supposed to show the audience that Tsunade was strong and capable and worthy of respect. Look, she is dangerous so it's better not to interrupt her while she's speaking or do not underestimate her for being a women

It was explicitly stated in her fight with Madara, where he called her a weak woman. No comedy there.

Now, those funny-violence gags are not reserved for women. We saw Naruto punch people too because he thought they were being unserious.

I think the real problem comes with the fact that such comedy was maximized with Sakura Haruno

Sakura is the original helpless little girl. Before any other female character, we were presented with a too smart for her own good brat with anger issues who based all her worth on how well she could compete on the social scenario of teenage girls.

In order to understand Sakura, we need to place her side by side with Naruto. They are the hero and the heroine of the manga. They were the first male and female characters we saw being bullied. They were both loud and annoying. None of them thought before speaking or considering how their actions could hurt others. They blindly thought they knew what they wanted, who they liked and who they hated. They had their rivals/best friends and that feeling of not belonging, of always being invisible, of being ignored. Naruto accumulated rage appeared in the form of Kurama, but Sakura had that inner version of herself.

All I'm saying is that Sakura is full of issues and insecurities. Her normal life didn't save her from it, despite what other characters could think.

What was Sakura's arc through Naruto Classic? Do you remember? It was her learning that being shinobis was not a game and that she needed to become dangerous if she wanted to be and do anything in that world of hers. It was not enough to memorize concepts, because applying that knowledge in the safety of a classroom was very different from actually fighting for her life.

Sakura spoke mostly through Naruto back in their genin days. We know she impressed Ibiki Morino with her intelligence and Kakashi gave her some high praise during the Chunning Exams. Those comedy relief was meant to show us that she had the potential, but she needed to learn first.

Turning her into a new version of Tsunade was Kishimoto's way of complimenting her. He gave her the beauty, the strength and the skills. Most importantly, Kishimoto gave Sakura the means to make people shut up and listen to her. There is a reason to consider her within the narrative that doesn't extend to her value to other characters (aka how much team 7 cared about her).

What another example? Think of Temari or Chiyo or Kushina. They are all accomplished kunoichis with attitude and a mean punch.

The contrary is the stereotype of quiet girls who are either made fun of for being weird or get discredited for not being the "violent" type.

[links-in-time]

Wild Visions - Chapter 4

The Chain tries to figure out what has affected their Wild brother. Meanwhile, Hyrule tries to do some investigating while playing along as Princess Zelda.

🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴

“Woah, Sailor, slow down, what do you mean Hyrule is Zelda?” Time asked, trying to understand Wind's wild and mostly incoherent babbling. 

He, Legend and Sky had returned to camp late in the afternoon, closely followed by Twilight and Warriors. Wind had instantly fallen into telling them of their meeting with Wild on the road near the Rito village. 

“He tied us up and left us there. But he took Hyrule with him, he kept calling him ‘your highness’. He didn't attack him at all.” Legend explained, while he allowed Wars to tend to his dislocated arm. 

“Wild also took the Master Sword, he didn't seem at all happy that I had it,” Sky added, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

The young knight had retrieved the Master Sword when the first portal had opened in his time. He had briefly heard Fi call out to him and urge him to take her on his journey. That had been months ago now, and her familiar weight on his back had become a comfort. Now he felt almost too light without her there. He knew well enough that each of the heroes of Hyrule had their own relationships with the sword. Some were better than others. But he wasn't the only one that mattered. Whatever mad state Wild was in, he clearly remembered his connection to the Master Sword. 

“He didn't seem like he was going to hurt Rulie?” Four tried to clarify. 

“Not at all. For whatever reason, Wild seems convinced that the traveler is his Zelda. And if we can be sure of one thing about Wild, he will defend Zelda with his life. I don't think we have to worry about Hyrule,” Sky insisted. 

“So what do we do?” Asked the Captain. 

At that moment he popped Legend's shoulder back into position. Most of the boys winced at the scream which tore its way up Legend's throat. Wind, who had been sipping on a potion, spat out a mouthful and quickly wiped his face on the back of his sleeve. 

“Sorry Lege, you were pretty nicely distracted,” Wars patted him on the back and offered the Vet a potion. 

Legend snatched it from the Captain’s hand, glaring at him as he took a violent swig. 

“Wild clearly doesn't recognise the rest of us. He never said a word when he attacked Four and myself,” said Time. 

“He only spoke to Hyrule when we saw him,” Wind added. 

“Sounds like how he was before,” Twilight uttered, deep in thought while he'd listened to the others. 

“Before?” Asked Four, “before when?”

“Before the Calamity.” 

***

Link felt greatly relieved to have Zelda back under his watchful gaze. He still couldn't remember how they had been separated in the first place. But he decided that in light of rescuing her from the Yiga soldiers, it was of little consequence. 

They walked in relative silence around the perimeter of Lake Totori, the light of the slowly fading sun reflecting off its deep waters. On their left, the imposing pillar of rock the Rito called home stood silhouetted against the sky. High above, Link could see the tiny forms of Rito flying among the clouds. He wondered where Revali might be. Whether he might be at home with his people, or spending time at Hyrule Castle with the king and the other champions. 

The sooner he and Zelda reached home, the sooner Link would find out. 

Night began to fall as they reached the stable. Link approached the front desk and asked for two horses for himself and his traveling companion. They had always agreed he wouldn't refer to the Princess by any royal titles while in common company, just in case they were ambushed by Yiga. 

“Link, it’s getting late,” Hyrule pointed out, stepping forwards and offering Wild a sleepy smile. “Perhaps we should stay here for the night and push on in the morning. We're not in any rush and it would be safer to travel by day.”

Link considered the proposal for a moment. Zelda was right that the roads were safer during the day. At least they wouldn't have to worry about stalfos. Also Zelda would be able to get a good night's sleep in a bed before a long day of riding. As much as Link felt a nagging in the back of his mind to get going, he didn't want Zelda to suffer on his account. 

“Alright, we can stay the night. I'll stand guard outside,” Link decided. 

Hyrule almost panicked, but he managed to keep his cool and kept talking. 

“But surely you need rest too, Link? How will you protect me if you're tired?” 

“I've traveled for days without sleep before, I can manage,” Link replied, offering Hyrule a placating smile before turning away from the desk. 

Hyrule wanted Wild to go to sleep so that he could search through his stuff. He hoped he might find something to tell him what had happened to his friend, but he couldn't do that if Wild insisted on staying awake. Then Hyrule had a thought. He wasn't Hyrule at the moment, at least not to Wild anyway. He was Zelda and Wild had sworn to protect and obey the Princess of Hyrule. 

“Link, I order you to sleep.” 

Wild halted in his tracks. Hyrule gulped, nervous that he'd overstepped. A moment later, Wild's shoulders sagged and he turned his head to look back at Hyrule 

“Alright, fine. I suppose we're safe enough here. And there's always someone at the front desk.” Wild sighed and walked back to the front of the kiosk. “Will you swear to wake me if there is trouble?”

The man behind the counter appeared a little startled by this request, but quickly overcame it. 

“I swear to wake you sir, but rest assured these lands have been much safer in recent times.”

Link thought that was an odd thing to say. Perhaps the Rito had been running extra patrols. Revali’s last report had told of more monster sightings in the hills and around the Hebra mountains. Still, he nodded and thanked the stable-keep. 

He and Zelda found a pair of beds together on the far side of the room. Link carefully lent the Master Sword against the wall by the head of his bed, before taking off his boots and his belts. Zelda was quick to get herself comfortable and snuggled up under the blankets. Link almost chuckled at how only her eyes and nose were visible above the top of the blankets. 

Zelda had such beautiful eyes, filled with light and wonder, like the light of - a fairy. Wild and untamed -  

Link shook his head. For a brief moment he thought he was looking at someone else. But there was Zelda, her eyelids softly drifting shut as her head sank into the pillow. 

Everything was alright. Zelda was safe and Link would take her to the castle. He would fulfill his latest command and everything would be alright. 

***

“You all know Wild remembers very little about his life before Calamity Ganon,” Twilight sighed. 

The others nodded as they gathered around their newly rebuilt campfire to listen. 

“When Wild remembers something, he often slips into a catatonic state and he won't respond to anything for a while. Then when he comes back to himself, sometimes the things he remembers affect how he behaves. For example, he told me once that he remembered a time when Zelda was one of the few people he would speak with. With anyone else he would sign or simply not speak at all. The memory was so strong that he struggled to talk to us for a few days afterwards.”

“Do you think he's stuck in a memory?” Wars suggested. “He's reliving some trauma where Zelda was in danger so he's doing everything he can to protect her.”

“That could be one explanation,” Twilight nodded. 

“There's something else too,” Time spoke up. “I found muddle bud spores on Four’s tunic after Wild attacked us.”

“So he's confused,” Sky remarked. “That's why he didn't recognise any of us. The muddle bud made him think we were enemies.”

“We could have looked like anything to him if he got hit by that stuff,” Legend huffed, rubbing at his newly healed shoulder. 

“But why does he think Hyrule is Zelda? That's what I don't get,” said Twilight, rubbing his hands over his face. 

“I don't think we're going to find the answers tonight,” Time sighed. “At least we know where he's going, and we know he can't teleport with more than one person, so he and Rulie will have to walk or ride to the castle. If Wild let's Zelda stop to rest on the way, which I can almost guarantee he will do, we should be able to catch up to them easily enough.” 

“Then I suggest we leave at first light and cut across country to make up for lost time,” Wars stated, slapping his hands on his thighs. 

“I agree, everyone get some sleep. I'll take first watch,” Time decided “We'll break camp in the morning.”

***

Hyrule itched to get up out of bed. But just because Wild had agreed to go to sleep, didn't necessarily mean he was going to do it. As dutiful as Wild seemed towards his Zelda, Hyrule knew him a lot better than even Wild thought. He suspected that Wild would try and stay awake as long as possible to keep a subtle eye on Zelda as she slept. So Hyrule waited as long as he could to make sure Wild had in fact fallen asleep. 

Even then Hyrule forced himself to stay put. Wild was one of their lightest sleepers, the slightest sound could wake him even from a deep sleep. Leaving Hyrule to fight off his own fatigue and wait for the tell tale sound of Wild's breathing to change. 

Somewhere after midnight, Hyrule took his chance. He soundlessly slipped out of his bed and crept across to Wild's. His slate lay on the pillow beside his head. With feather light fingers, Hyrule pilfered the device and turned it away so the light wouldn't fall onto Wild's face. 

Hyrule quickly but clumsily flicked through Wild's inventory. He didn't know what he was searching for, but he had spent enough time looking over Wild's shoulder while he'd consulted his slate, that he hoped he would notice something obvious if he saw it. Nothing jumped out at Hyrule however. There were no new plants in his ingredient list. No cursed items in his inventory. Also nothing of note seemed to be missing either. 

Defeated by his first search, Hyrule carefully replaced the slate where he'd found it. He knew Wild kept almost everything he had in his slate, but he also carried an adventurer's pouch just like the rest of them did. Since Wild had slept on top of the blankets, it made it easier for Hyrule to pick Wild's pockets. There wasn't much to be found in the first pouch Hyrule tried. Some dirt and a few bits of broken twig, along with a few golden seeds and his climbing gloves. His second pouch almost felt empty too, until Hyrule's finger tip brushed something hard and cold. 

He hesitated before gingerly removing the object from Wild's pouch. Hyrule turned with the thing gripped in his fist and held it beneath a nearby lamp. It glinted in the warm light, and Hyrule saw at once that it was a small glass vial. Similar in shape and size to the ones Wild used to keep his elixirs in. Only this one was a colour Hyrule had never seen before. 

The liquid inside was a warm honey yellow with a very runny consistency. As he tilted it one way it appeared almost clear, but if he shook it, the contents would become completely opaque. Knowing better by now than to drink strange potions, Hyrule popped off the cork and took a sniff. 

Though it looked like honey it almost certainly wasn't. There was nothing sweet or familiar about whatever was inside that vial. It was certainly magical however, which is why Hyrule slapped the cork back in almost immediately. The magic inside felt like corruption, like the miasma that choked his era. It was so foul it almost made him retch. 

Had Wild drunk some of this stuff? Was that why he was acting so strangely? But surely, even with his low ability for magical perception, Wild would have sensed the dark aura over such an item. Then another idea dawned on Hyrule. What if he'd been forced to drink it? What if someone with vicious intent was behind Wild's actions? 

Hyrule didn't have to reach far to think of a certain someone he knew might be capable of something like this. Had their persistent enemy finally found a way to corrupt one of their own? Had Dink got to Wild while the rest of them were sound asleep? If he had, Hyrule merely added this latest crime to Dark Link's long list of offenses against his brothers. 

< Part 3 : Part 5 >

[yandere-daydreams]

Title: Shadow and Firelight.

Commissioned by the very loverly @letstalktea.

Pairing: Yandere!Original Form!Sukuna x AFAB!Reader (JJK).

Word Count: 5.1k.

TW: Dub/Con, Public Sex,, Slight Exhibitionism, Considerable Indulgence of the Writer's Blatant Size Kink, Unhealthy Relationships, and Mentions of Death/Violence.

Sukuna’s home was a vile place.

Quite honestly, ‘home’ might’ve done the structure he forced you to dwell within a disservice. It was more of a lair, built of bone and brimstone, filled to bursting with peering eyes and flowing mead and festering curses more than happy to share in the splendors of their master’s neglectful generosity. His throne room was, by far, the worst – used solely as a makeshift banquet hall where Sukuna could waste awake the time he didn't spend burning down villages and slaughtering mortals by the hundreds. Usually, you tried to stay in his chambers, to resign yourself to the boredom of self-inflicted isolation and keep your subjugation as private as it could possibly be, but today, dressed in one of his ragged cloaks, you'd found your way through the maze of hallways and into a hidden alcove of his throne room, where you could gather your courage at a safe distance from the curses swarming around his banquet tables.

Even from your nook, the sounds of gnashing teeth and tearing meat were nearly deafening. Despite the dim light, you could see creatures with backward-bent limbs, wings of leathery flesh, needle-point teeth and bristled tongues and eyes that cracked like shattered mirrors, but you did your best not to linger on your own mounting dread, to remind yourself that these were the same monstrosities you would’ve cut down without a second thought before Sukuna took an interest in you, decided you’d be of more use as a plaything than a sorcerer. The same monstrosities you would still cut down, should the need to defend yourself arise.

Swallowing down your better intuition, you left your alcove and approached his throne. It followed in the same sensibilities as the rest of his den – cut from pitch-black obsidian, decorated with plush satin and yellowed skulls, further elevated by a raised dais and the ring of low-burning fire that ran along its outer edge – the only source of light in the entirety of the hall. He was laid back in his throne, as careless as he always seemed to be, legs spread apart and an idle grin painted across his lips. His eyes fell from the revelries of his subjects as you stepped in front of him, but you avoided his gaze, opting to focus on the calcified mask that covered half his face. It would be easier not to lose your confidence if you refused to recognize his.

You lowered yourself into a shallow bow, waiting for him to acknowledge you. Submission in itself was a show of rebellion, with Sukuna. He preferred you lively, resistant, feisty enough to keep him entertained but not so mindlessly violent as to force him to spend every waking moment worried that you may try to tear out his throat with your teeth. To soften yourself was to go against his desires, to purposefully make yourself into something he didn’t want you to be. It was never an act you could keep up for very long, but you’d take what few precious moments you could get.

There was a low hum, a nod of approval. He was in good spirits tonight, and as much as you hated his smile, you were thankful for his levity. Your task would be that much easier if you didn’t have to convince him to lower his guard, first. “My dear,” He started, resting his chin on a balled first. “To what do I owe the honor?”

“Is it wrong of me to want to pay my lord a visit? I get so lonely while you’re gone, you know.” You kept your tone light, cloyingly saccharine. Bringing a hand to the collar of your cloak, you toyed with the well-worn fabric, attempting to return his grin. “It’s difficult not to feel neglected when you deprive me of your company so often.”

He leaned forward, resting his chin on a balled fist. His grin widened, and you attempted to ignore the way your stomach turned at the sight of his pointed teeth. “And what offering do you bring to prove yourself worthy of your lord’s valuable time?”

You loathed the emphasis he put on the hollow title, loathed that you’d been the one to employ it. But, you forced yourself to brighten – squaring your shoulders as you undid the clasp in a single, swift motion. You allowed the cloak to pool around your feet as you put your true attire on full display. He’d presented the clothes to you weeks ago, said that he’d taken it from the home of one of your fellow sorcerers and laughed at your blatant disgust. It was unlikely that he remembered the interaction, but the outfit had remained. That was the only part that mattered, to you.

Somehow, your heart had not grown softer to the array with time. If anything, the translucent lace banded around your chest only made you feel more vulnerable, and the slitted skirt of silk and glass beads that fell from well above your waist and past your ankles was still more impractical than anything you would ever willingly adorn. Delicate golden chains spun from your ankles to your thighs, from your wrists to your biceps, the color meant to compliment the scarlet material but only making the outfit more gaudy, more garish. Your skin itched where it was exposed to the humid air, and you had to fight the urge to purse your lips and retreat back to your chambers as Sukuna raked over you, evaluating the sight before him as he would a platter of roasted meat or a freshly mangled corpse. Instead, you spun on your heels, pretending to drink in his undisguised lust. It was the least you deserved, really, for putting on an act like this for such an undeserving audience. “Unfortunately, as you can see, the only offering I’ve brought is myself. Do you think such a meager sacrifice will suffice?”

This time, you earned a low, rumbling laugh. Sukuna didn’t stand, but he leaned forward, easily reaching over his wall of fire and towards you. With only a second of hesitation, you accepted his hand, but didn’t allow him to drag you onto his dais. Rather, you used your free hand to gesture to the deep shadows dancing at your feet – quirking two fingers upward and watching as an arching staircase formed from the darkness - flat, at first, but taking on more definition as it rose. The structure was simple, translucent, still dripping with inky blackness, but it held its shape as you scaled it, only sinking back into its source once you’d stepped onto the polished marble of his stage. It felt frivolous to use your abilities for something so unnecessary, but nothing was ever truly necessary, anymore, not when your captor happened to be the man he was. From his perspective, the only things in the world worth pursuing were amusement and pleasure and hedonism, and most things you did were amusing to Sukuna.

You moved to circle him, to clamber onto the arm of his throne or look for some other secondary point of access, but Sukuna’s hand fell to your waist before you could, another joining it on the opposing side. Despite your scrambled protests, you were hauled upward and into his lap, forced to straddle him and string your arms around his neck, to press your chest into his and restrain yourself to a delicate smile while his touch fell lower – to your hips, then your ass, kneading his fingers into the soft flesh. You could already feel his cock pressing into the inside of your thigh, his breath fanning over your shoulder. You hated being so close to him, but Sukuna had a tendency not to let go of something after it'd fallen into his grasp, and you doubted he would be so kind as to make an exception for you.

“I do adore your ability.” A loose smirk, a quick kiss pressed into the side of your neck. “Have I ever mentioned that?”

You tried to lean back, to push yourself away from him, but Sukuna didn’t allow it. His hold only dropped to your thighs, pinning you down as another pair of hands wrapped around your midriff, his fingertips nearly making contact over the curve of your spine. His mouth quickly latched onto your collarbone, monstrous teeth nipping and sucking until a pulsing bruise had been bullied into your skin. He continued to drift lower, after that, trailing rough kisses down your chest until his lips brushed against lace and he took to biting, sharp growls slipping past his lips as his teeth ripped into the delicate material, instantly reducing it to a collection of near-decimated scraps. You went rigid in his arms, digging your nails into his shoulders, but Sukuna paid you little more than a glance. That was to be expected. Sukuna was not a creature who could be easily torn away from his desires.

“I don’t mean to question you,” Still, you persisted. If only so you’d be able to tell yourself you’d tried, later on. “But, are you certain you’d like to do this here, my lord?”

If nothing else, that caught his attention. He raised his head and pressed a kiss into the corner of your lips, his eyes now glazed with something more than his usual bloodlust. “Afraid to put on a show, little one?” You despised the petname, loathed the way it rolled off of his tongue. You hated that you knew what he wanted when he used it. “Or, do you just not want to share such a lovely sight with anyone but your precious lord?”

For a moment, you hesitated. If you asked, he would’ve abided you, laughed and pulled you into his arms and taken you back to the privacy of his chambers, back to his bed. Even if you wouldn’t be able to escape the unpleasantness that intimacy with him accompanied, a mattress would leave fewer bruises than a glorified hunk of rock, and you wouldn’t need to be so close to him, you wouldn’t need to rely on him as you did in your current position. You were tempted to. For the sake of your own comfort, if nothing else.

But, you made the mistake of looking towards Sukuna’s face before you made your choice, towards his contorted grin, the undiluted arrogance gleaming in his many eyes. “Why bother?” you asked, just to watch the way his smirk faltered when you failed to back down. “Unless you’re suddenly afraid that your disciples might steal me away from you, of course.”

His voice dropped lower, falling into something conspiratorial. “I can’t wait to see what you’re up to.”

“Oh, you’ll drop dead long before I make my confession.”

If he was still listening, you couldn’t tell. His attention had already returned to your body – your chest, in specific, the remnants of the lace band torn away and disposed of without a second thought. The skirt was next, not discarded as your top had been but taken up and pulled to the side, allowing Sukuna to take you in with minimal disruptions. The set hadn’t come with panties, and somewhere, in the back of your mind, you were thankful for that. It’d save you the misery of having to let him strip you down any further.

Without warning, he took you by the hips, repositioning you to straddle his midriff rather than his lap, to rely solely on his strength for any support you could hope for. For a brief moment, confusion overshadowed your distaste and you moved to ask what he was doing, but anything you might’ve said was quickly drowned out by a startled shriek as the mouth that stretched across his stomach opened, a tongue as wide as your torso lapping over your slit.

This time, you weren’t able to bury your reaction. You stiffened, clenching your eyes shut and jolting upward, but Sukuna only chuckled, only hushed you, squeezing your sides gently and taking your hands in his when you attempted to push yourself away from him. “Don’t squirm, now,” he murmured, his tone equal parts mocking and nauseatingly sweet. “If you want to get bitten, you’ll have to hold still for me.”

And yet, he made no effort to hold himself back. With one pair of hands keeping your wrists above your head and the other still holding your hips steady, he was free to relax, to lean back, to watch with idle smugness as the tapered tip of his secondary tongue traced patterns into your cunt, into your clit, applying just enough just pressure to keep you stimulated but never growing out of the slow, aimless pace that left you constantly frustrated, constantly waiting for what came next. He seemed curious, if anything, watching you carefully as he ran the flat of his tongue over your pussy in long, drawn-out strokes. You felt curved teeth brush against your thighs, his pointed nails digging softly into your flesh, but somehow, warmth began to flood into your core regardless, forming a knot of loose tension at the pit of your stomach. You tried to close your eyes, to adjust to what you couldn’t avoid, but Sukuna was good at that – ruining even your most feeble attempts at seeking out comfort.

Just as you’d begun to catch your breath, to strangle your hitched moans into airy gasps and soft whimpers, his hold on you tightened and his tongue shifted, drawing a few tight circles into your clit before plunging into your entrance. It was only the tip, but it was still so thick, so wet, and so warm, you couldn’t stop yourself from lurching towards him, from crying out – the strangled noise mercifully muffled by his chest. His disciples were still enjoying their feast, either oblivious of or indifferent to the scene playing out on their master’s throne. You could take this, humiliation at a distance, their gazes obscured and your submission held at arm’s length. You weren’t sure you’d survive if Sukuna decided to truly turn this into a performance.

You opened your mouth, but the air had fled your lungs, any strength you might’ve had abandoning you the moment he began to move. You weren’t inexperienced. You weren’t some shy, blushing beacon of virtue who’d grow flustered at the first hint of carnality, but as his tongue began to push into you, you were rendered awe-struck by the feeling of his tongue curling and twisting inside of you, the way slick and saliva came to coat the inside of your thighs, sensations you couldn't say you'd ever so much as imaged before. For a long moment, it was all you could do to brace yourself against him, to try to remember the difference between what he was doing to you now and hazy memories of blade-like appendages driving themselves into your flesh, but even that attempt at consolation was spoiled by Sukuna’s interference. A single hand shifted downward, the calloused pad of his thumb coming to press into your clit. A cracked whine slipped past your lips, and he straightened, taking both your wrists into one hand and cupping your cheek, forcing you to tilt your head back.

There was another kiss, shallow but lingering. “Such a treasure,” he muttered as he pulled away. You watched as his tongue flicked over his lips, as he continued to draw tight, slow patterns into your clit – his pace never exceeding anything beyond lethargic. “And to think, you used to have such sharp fangs. If only all your pampered little sorcerer brothers and sisters could see what a docile kitten you’ve become, in my care.”

You knew what he was doing. Aside from you and the occasional assassin he deemed strong enough to deserve his personal attention, he had no interest in sorcerers, even if only as simple pawns in your ongoing torment at his hands. He wanted to make you angry, to leave you clawing at his neck and cursing his name, but you managed to bite your tongue, to stifle anything he might’ve gotten out of you into a slight mewl, a buck of your hips into his tongue as he fucked into you. “I-If it would please you,” you managed, when you finally found your voice. “I’d do anything you asked of—”

His tongue curled inside of you, grinding against your inner walls, and you buckled into yourself, relying on Sukuna’s strength to keep you upright. He was still smirking, but the expression seemed thinner, now, and it was difficult to tell if he was simply distracted, or beginning to grow tired of your facade. “You really shouldn’t be so accommodating. If you aren’t careful, I may start to behave as if you actually do love me.”

Truly, there would be no greater Hell.

You weren’t sure what it was. He was too rough, and too clumsy, and everything he did, he did with enough force to maim. It should’ve hurt. The agony should’ve been unbearable, and in a way, it was – tears forming in the corners of your eyes, your body nearly collapsing under the weight of it all. You tried to stave it off, but even that was a futile pursuit, your denial only working to make the wave of bliss that inevitably washed over you all the more overwhelming. You arched your back as you clenched around his tongue, your vision burning white, and for the first time since you’d come to him, Sukuna seemed to take an active interest in your satisfaction, nursing you through your climax with quick, precise thrusts. He kept going long after the pangs of overstimulation began to turn more painful than pleasurable, only shifting, pulling his tongue out of your cunt and lapping over your slit, the tip laving over your clit while the flat, sopping body ground into you, teasing your entrance. It took a minute, generously, before you came undone for the second time, this orgasm taking you in short, sporadic bursts rather than a single wave. It was excruciating. It was euphoric.

It was torture, and it never seemed to end.

When he found the mercy in his heart to stop, his tongue retreating and his second mouth seal back into a thin, barely visible line, you slumped in Sukuna’s hold, any remaining amount of energy you might’ve had drained, dredged up, and drained again. He allowed you to, lowering your arms back to your sides with surprising gentleness, taking your waist in his hands and settling you into his lap. “Such a selfish little thing. Using me for my body then playing exhausted – I don’t know what else I expected from a sorcerer.” You couldn’t stop yourself, this time, baring your teeth and shoving weakly at his chest. He let out a breath of a laugh, his lips ghosting over the top of your head. “You do know that it’s too early to fall asleep, don’t you?”

“Bastard,” you mumbled, when nothing else came to mind. “You don’t get to make demands of me.”

“Where’d that charming tone go? I was starting to warm up to those doe eyes of yours.” He didn’t force you to move your head, but he led your hips back, allowing for a hair’s width of space between your hips and his. With a few decisive movements, the ragged scraps of fabric he wore around his waist were discarded and his cock was freed – already flushed, leaking, and pressed snuggly against his stomach. Your throat went dry as you looked over him, the base alone as thick as your forearm and the length no less daunting. You’d seen him nude, before, bathing in sun-warmed rivers and stripping himself of gore-stained clothing after yet another mass slaughter, but there was a difference between occasionally glancing towards him over the pages of a novel from the other side a room and sitting in his lap, staring up at him, close enough to feel the inhumane heat that radiated off of his body. It was hard not to feel intimidated, even if Sukuna had proven that bodily harm was not the worst thing he could subject you to.

It was hard not to feel like a tender prey animal, sitting in the maw of a predator ready to swallow you up.

Gathering up your courage, you locked your jaw into place, doing what you could not to betray what little pride you had left. “What exactly do you expect me to do with that monstrosity?”

“I didn’t take you for the naive type.” He reclined, gesturing vaguely towards his lap. “Do what you must. I’ve always been partial to your lovely mouth, but—”

You cut him off, wrapping your hand around the base of his cock before you could bring yourself to feel anything but hot, coursing indignation. Your fingertips didn’t touch, but you had no doubt that you were visibly shaking, but Sukuna’s voice melted into a raspy groan, and you chose to take solace in his silence.

“I said,” you started, grinding the heel of your palm into his shaft. “You do not get to make demands of me, beast. I’ll ask when I have a need for your suggestions.”

Predictably, infuriatingly, he posed no argument. Rather, his satisfaction only seemed to grow more tangible, his smirk eating away at your nerves as you began to pump a loose fist over his flushed cock. It was a weak effort, a second hand quickly deemed necessary and your full attention simply dedicated to performing the act with as much dignity as possible, but you narrowed your eyes, attempted to make up for the overwhelming difference between your size and his with a generous amount of concentration and a degree of force that would've easily castrated a mortal man. You swiped your thumb over the leaking head, watching as he closed his eyes, allowing his head to lull back. Utterly relaxed. Utterly unafraid of anything you might've been able to do to him, despite how many of his kin you’d cut down before you’d fallen into his arms.

If it had been possible for you to hate him any more than you already did, then in that moment, you would've been tempted to.

“This is why I’m simply forced to adore you, you know.” He spoke absent-mindedly, his candace thin, but even. “You were the same way when we met – biting at my fingertips even as I pulled your broken body off the battlefield. Anyone else might’ve thanked me for saving their life, but you attempted to slip glass shards into my wine a week later.”

You hated the way he spoke of it, as if he couldn’t be bothered to recall that he was the reason you’d been in such a desperate state. You hated the way it fell from his lips – each word more arrogant and each sentiment more self-serving than the last. You let yourself daydream, briefly, of lingering near his fallen body long enough to find something sharp and carve out his tongue, of wearing it at your waist like a well-loved trinket as you fled from his den. It wasn’t realistic, obviously – you were aware that when he did die by your hand, you’d be far too preoccupied dealing with his disciples to take any trophies from his rotting corpse, but it was a consolation, nonetheless.  

If he was perturbed by your failure to respond, it didn’t stop him from pushing forward. One of his hands wrapped around both of yours – less guiding your touch and more controlling it completely. You tried to pull away, but his hold was stead-fast, maintaining your pace but forcing you that much closer, making it seem that much more intimate. You grimaced openly, but Sukuna only smirked. “Maybe, one day, you’ll be able to show me this kind of gratitude without a knife up your sleeve. Now, there’s an idea.” His grip tightened, his fingertips drumming over the back of your hand. “A little lover to embrace me when I return, always smiling, always eager to please. And, always in an outfit as lovely as this, of—”

It was your turn to catch him off-guard. Hastily, gracelessly, your lips crashed into his, stifling him before he could make you suffer through another moment of his voice. As soon as he’d gone quiet, you tried to pull away, but his hand was already cupping the back of your head, his tongue already sweeping over yours, lodging itself halfway down your throat before you could so much as realize his lips had parted. You felt his grin press into your lips, but reprieve only came when he released you, his hold growing just lax and allowing you to jerk back, to pant, to struggle and fight just to get a breath's worth of air back into your lungs. Even that was short-lived. You could already feel two of his hands drifting back to your waist, another pulling your arms behind your back while the fourth remained at the back of your head, keeping your head tilted back, towards him. You could feel him repositioning you, easing you forward, until you were posed on your knees, the head of his cock pressed against your cunt. You glowered, but Sukuna only cupped your cheek, his lips brushing gently against your forehead.

“You know what I desire, don’t you?”

Perhaps you would take his tongue, when you left. It’d be a due payment, as that seemed to be the instrument at the core of your agony. “Of course I do. At least one of us has to have a functioning brain, beast.”

“I really did prefer ‘my lord’.” The title was purred in a high-pitched, drawled imitation of your voice. “Well? Do you want to take your duties upon yourself, or does someone need a helping hand?”

You bared your teeth, but didn’t attempt to argue. Instead, you straightened your back, rolling your hips and tracing the head of his cock over your slit before starting to sink down onto him. Immediately, the stretch was near-unbearable, his girth alone filling you to the brim and threatening to tear you apart, but you soldiered on, forcing yourself to relax, to get this over and done with as quickly as possible. Even with your efforts, your progress seemed to be too slow to sate Sukuna – the hands on your waist pushing you downward suddenly and—

Oh.

Oh, gods above.

You were going to kill him.

You only realized that you’d closed your eyes when you opened them, again, the darkness of his throne room serving as a stark contrast to the way your vision seemed to burn around the edges. Your shadow cast itself against him, spilling over the arms, mingling with the dark stone. For a moment, it was all you could do to stare up at him, to try and understand the way the firelight danced in his many eyes. For a moment, your body was something separate from your mind. Attached, sure, linked in some mysterious way, but entirely, totally separate.

And then, the wall standing between your consciousness and your anatomy crashed down, and you began to scream.

Or, attempted to scream, at least. The noise got caught in your throat, broken down into something closer to a cracked, stilted whine. You made no attempt to move, to worsen what he'd already damaged, but your cooperation had always been a needless luxury to Sukuna – nice to have, but wholly optional. All he had to do was buck his hips, keeping a loose hold on your waist as he thrust into you from below. He was far from entirely bottomed out – his cock only about half-sheathed inside of you – but you could’ve sworn he was attempting to fuck your cervix rather than your cunt. You had to stop yourself from glancing downward, from letting yourself acknowledge the outline just barely visible against your stomach. It didn’t hurt, but you nearly wished that it would, that the pain would be as insufferable as anything else he did to you. You nearly wished he’d just chosen to bury his teeth into your neck and tear until he tasted blood.

A wish that, despite your immediate regret, was swiftly granted. As he fucked into you, grinding into your pussy in a way that was too restrained and too brutal and too blissful all at once, he let out a throaty groan, bowing his head and letting his mouth come to rest against the side of your neck. His breath fanned over your skin, his tongue tracing over the length of your jugular vein, as if he was trying to taste your pulse through muscle and tissue. He pressed a soft kiss into the corner of your jaw, then the tender junction between your neck and your shoulder before latching onto the curve of your throat, digging his sharpened teeth into your skin and biting down.

The pain was instant, searing. You felt fresh, hot blood flow from the open wound and pool above your collarbones before trickling down to your chest. Involuntarily, you clenched down around him, and he let out a raspy moan, muted further by your skin. You were still too sensitive, too full. It was still too soon, and yet, it was already happening – your nails biting into your own arms and your mouth falling open in a silent moan as you came around his cock. His climax followed shortly after yours, but he made no effort to pull out, to spare you from the feeling of his release filling you to the brim, dripping down the inside of your thighs as you continued to convulse around him. Even as he began to slow, his face remained buried in the crook of your neck, his soft panting stifled by your proximity. Despite your mutual exhaustion, how drained you knew you must’ve been beneath the adrenaline, your attention strayed from him, returning to the darkness that dwelled against his throne.

Swiftly, seamlessly, the bend of an arm emerged from the shadows lingering above his head – your own, of course, because you didn’t have the energy to conjure anything else. The hand was curled around the grip of a flat sword, the blade growing darker, thicker as it rose from the darkness, posing itself to drive into the nape of Sukuna’s neck. You folded two fingers into your palm, and the blade plunged down, down, down until it finally—

Sukuna chuckled, and the ring of flames erupted into a wall of pure, scorching light. For a single brilliant second, that burning whiteness overcast every shadow, every ounce of darkness. By the time it retreated, your blade was gone, and all that was left was Sukuna’s wide, fang-infested grin.

You did not have the mercy of a delayed realization, a moment of foolish hope before oblivion set in. No, your heart shattered instantaneously, and you buckled into yourself, going limp in his oppressive hold. There was no sobbing, no thrashing or kicking, no screams of protest or cries of agony, but Sukuna coddled you, regardless, cupping your cheeks and kissing the top of your head. “Don’t look so disappointed. I let you have your fun, didn’t I?”

He paused, brushing away the single tear that rolled down your cheek with the pad of his thumb.

“There’s always next time, little one.”

[genshin-squabbles-and-wobbles]

The Enraged Inferno || Part 2

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Character: Diluc

Type: Angst, tragedy, Revenge and Reader in her villian era

Tags: Fem!Reader

Requester: @sailorstar9

Content: Years later, Since the reader's distant relative is Baizhu, it would make sense she would have Dendro healing abilities, as Baizhu have been training you to defend yourself and medically educate you. However, ironically, you were in your villain era, You were angry, you felt robbed. This was trauma without you realizing it. Despite being taught to be a catalyst user, you decided, why in the hell would you even try at this point? You decided, a sword would suit you much better. How would life continue after this?

Trigger Warning: I might be a little violent in this story to stress the Villain Era the reader is in, and also, dealing with trauma so please proceed with caution. I might add cursing a bit, please let me know if you can feel the idea of the reader without the cursing.

Part 1: Here

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You applied medicine to your scars to help ease the sore aches. This medicine was specifically made for you by Baizhu. You rubbed your healed yet scarred wounds with medicine as you stared at them blankly.

"W-What are you doing!? S-Stop! It hurts! W-Why?? AHHH!!"

Those words of your own voice echoed in your head, you clenched your jaw. Three faces burned in your head, you remembered them so clearly. As they were the result of your so called infamous death. You stood up, and took your sword with you. Of course you kept your catalyst weapon with you out of habit.

You walked out your room, and went down to manage the register up front as you rubbed your forehead to help keep a calm your expression. You don’t want to scare customers, and you never intended ruin Uncle Baizhu's business with your own issues anyways. Qiqi was doing her usual things such as organizing the shelfs. You walked to the register, and got ready for the day.

"I'll manage the register today but only because I actually have another job for you, my dear" Baizhu appeared from behind, as he was in the storage room of the pharmacy pulling out fresh medicine in a series of crates.

"Good morning, Uncle. What do you need me to do today?" You walked to him and helped him unload the crates of fresh medicine. You were strong even to carry these crates like nothing, and of course, Baizhu would notice and comment on it, however not this time, since there was another matter at hand to be concerned about. "Well...there is an order that needs to be delivered to Mondstadt. I would like you to do that for me. Our usual deliver men are on break, so I need someone to cover for them. I didn’t find anyone in time, so you are my last option. I apologize for dropping this on you so suddenly my dear. I'll make it up to you."

You looked at him surprised as you remembered-- Baizhu doesn’t entirely know that you faked your death in Mondstadt. He only knew that you almost got hurt and that you needed a safer place to be in. However it had been years, and you have been training to be better in self defense. Out of anger, out of fear, out of revenge. You wanted to taste the days where you get to strangle those servants with your own hands. You know, you practiced, unknowingly to Baizhu. You await that experience to drip in your mouth, as though-- right now, you remain thirsty.

You nodded slowly with your arms crossed, deep in thought. "No worries, I got it, I'll prepare to leave in the afternoon." Baizhu smiled. "Wonderful, thank you my dear. And...I know your mother passed away recently, but...I know she's very proud of you. If only we knew, we could have helped, but your mother isn’t the kind of women to speak up when needed to be" He placed his hand on your shoulder. You smiled, but that was just a mask. You knew that very well with your mother, but don’t worry. That ends with you, you'll be the first women to speak up and scream to let them know who you are.

You especially wanted to dig deeper graves for those three servants, deeper than your own mother's grave. Deeper, to the point of touching hell itself. You'd rather be a criminal then some innocent bystander. You rather cause a shitshow then be in one. You rather cause chaos and sink your hands in those who deserve it. You didn’t care. Jean included. She doesn’t get off empty handed. None of them do. And Dulic...would you rather he pity you helplessly or fear you graciously? I don’t need to provide such an answer do I? Fuck those prissy shits.

Later on, you already left, you bid your polite goodbyes to Baizhu and Qiqi, as you were preparing to take the walk to your homeland. You wonder how life is like on there. You wore dark clothing, black pants, black turtleneck sweater, black shoes, bags under your eyes, as you nightmares of your incident. You used to wear such pretty and light clothes. Such innocent bloodstained clothes. Don’t worry, this time, the blood won’t be yours, and it would never show on black clothing would it? You were walking on your path to Mondstadt, as you were passing Guili Plains.

Some hilicurls spotted you nearby and ran towards you, without hesitation, you swung your sword and decapitated them all in one swing. You placed your foot on one of heads and crushed it under your foot. It was like you crushed a large snail shell. Stiff but with enough pressure, it breaks. You looked at the shielded mitachurl with malicious and murderous intent. Immediately, the mitachurl backed away sensing violence in you. You stepped forward, planning to be merciless and brutal towards it, however with that step, the mitachurl ran away.

"No one will mess with me...no one will take me as a joke. Ever again." You muttered to yourself and walked towards Mondstadt once more. Your lovely homeland.

A day later, you arrived there and looked around. Nothing changed, it was the same. You walked to the person you needed to deliver the medicine to, it was a man named Anthony. The medicine was for his sick little sister named Anna. She had a chronic illness, he is trying everything to help her feel better. Once you bid the man farewell, there was one thing has plagued your mind, what had come of the home you grew up in? You walked to your neglected home, the one you used to live in since a baby. You still had the keys to it. You went to the corner of Mondstadt and saw it, it was the same but had overgrown greenery, however, it was still...home. You unlocked the door and walked in, and saw dust and clutter everywhere. Boxes, and taken down picture frames.

You wondered if your mother was suffering from guilt from sending you away, however, it doesn’t matter now, she was gone. You were gone. Everything was gone.

You sighed. Regret filled your lungs, as you looked at the pictures of you and your beloved mother, as you loved her but you were so angry with her. You cried enough before, but being here makes you want to cry again, this was the home place of your mother. You never really had a father, it was just you and her. Now it's just you. The loneliness is aggravating. You started to go through through the mail, as it had pile up over the months, until you saw a letter that caught your eye. A letter from the Favonius Knights to sell the house since there was no one there paying for it nor the bills in it.

You thought for a moment. Could you perhaps move back in Mondstadt? Take over this home, and maybe, return to a life here. You thought for a moment, then thoughts of Diluc flood your mind, Jean, and her servants. You assumed they married and had children. You felt disgusted. "Hah, bunch of weak backed shit heads. I'll show them." You muttered with a reverge thirsty smile. However, the deeper the smile, the more empty and lonely it was.

You took the letter in your clutch and left. You walked into the Favonius Headquarters, and walked in on Jean in her office. Jean looked up, as her jaw dropped, and stood up. "Y-You..but...you.."

You looked at her unfazed. "Is that really yo-"

You placed the paper in front of her on her desk. "Shut up."

You pointed at the letter. "My mother passed, so I will be taking over the house, so no need to ransack it or sell it" You had malice and murder in your eyes. Yet you were emotionless. You wanted to strangle this women with every inch of your life.

Jean took a step back, startled. "You...You aren’t the same person as before...you...you're different."

You glared at her silently. "Man, if I could strangle you here and now, I would. However, I have better things to do then to waste my time on some waste of flesh here in front of me."

Jean's jaw dropped once again, as she looked at you worried. She took the stamp and stamped the letter with shaking hands. As she is well aware of murderous glare you had towards her. You took the paper and turned to leave. This was not like you. Not like you at all. This wasn’t the person she knew when you two were younger.

"Wait..." Jean stopped you, as you continued to walk out. "Wait!" Jean ran and stopped in front of you. "In case you didn’t know...Diluc and I didn’t get married...so so...you can stop your anger towards me! He voided it and he left. He...He owns a winery now, but I am still trying to get him back and make him marry me! So still consider us engaged! So don-"

"Good for you." You said coldly, and not really feeling like your anger had to be justified to her. You walked passed her.

"Also..." Jean continued hesitantly. "Your boss, Baizhu, said you had another order of medicine, he sent me a messenger about it..." You sighed and groaned with your head tilted back and eyes closed. "Can’t you leave me alone you petrified shithead...?"

Jean was taken aback at your reaction to her, even more that this was from your job, and not even in her control. She was used to you being kind, she was used to being loving and forgiving. No matter what she did to make you hurt and suffer, you always smiled and forgave her. You even wished her happy marriage, this only made Diluc like you more, as nothing seem to faze you. Despite nothing still fazing you now, your kindness was gone.

All you see, is a pile of useless shit in front of you. The downfall of Mondstadt. Jean felt your eyes as such. She sighed and held both her hands up. "O-Okay okay, dear Archons..."

Jean gave you an address to the delivery. "Here, this person ordered medicine just now, you should get it to them..." You took it and left. Jean watched you leave as she felt shivers down her spine. She had a bad feeling about you.

You can finally breathe, it was suffocating in there, like close enough you were about to punch her. But now isn’t the right time for that, there will be a time and place. You always knew that.

You walked back to your now renowned home, as you looked at the address. "Huh...a winery..?" You began making the medicine and preparing it. You then wrote a letter to Baizhu, about you living in Mondstadt and you will expand his business in Mondstadt.

The next day, you looked at the address and walked outside of Mondstadt, and straight to a large mansion placed in the middle of nowhere. "Huh...a big winery...but also a big mansion..." There was a line of grapes crops and a small town nearby. You walked to the door, and knocked. Adelinde, a maid of Diluc answered, as she held the door open. "Ah, thank you for the medicine. We have to sign a receipt that we received it, yes?"

You nodded and held up your hand crafted receipt as you don’t have access to the record papers. It was back in Bubu Pharmacy in Liyue. You needed to keep records of orders in case anything, business rules. Baizhu was smart for that especially when it came to taxes. " You walked in, and looked around. "This all...kinda seems familiar..." you whispered to yourself.

Adelinde opened Dulic's main office, as you walked in with the papers for him to sign, you gazed around his office, then onto him. Diluc has yet to acknowledge you, as you looked at him with a blank face. His hair had grown, he looks more like his father now. He is taller now, he got more muscular now. He dresses more astrostcatic now, despite his attempt to blend in.

You walked up to him without a care for manners or etiquette and placed the paper on his desk. "Please sign for your order." You said, as you wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Just then Diluc looked up at the paper, and nodded. "Yes, one moment." He had an annoyed expression, and then took out a pen to sign. But then he looked up, and his gaze fell onto you, and he paused.

His eyes went wide, as his face went pale. His annoyed expression dropped as he takes in this life changing occurence slowly. He gasp as he immediately stood up and walked to you and pulled you into a tight hug. "I...I thought you were gone..." He spoke in such a desperate tone.

His eyes were shut tight, as tears fell onto your cheek. Finally, a tragedy that wasn’t true. He desperately nuzzled your hair, as he slowly leaned back against his desk while hugging you. You were standing in between his legs, being held against his chest.

You sighed and pulled away using your hands on his chest to push yourself away from him. You looked up at him with a tired and blank face. "Sign the receipt so I can go." You said coldly. He looked at you, confused. This wasn’t the same, kind and sweet woman he knew. "Huh...?" He placed his hand on your chin and gently pulled you to look up at him, and look at your face. "What...What happened to you..?" He looked into your dead eyes and scrutinize your tired face.

[qqueenofhades]

What are some of your other favourite medieval misconceptions? Everyone only ever wore shades of brown?

Other "favorite" medieval misconceptions, "favorite" here having the meaning of "cause my eye to start twitching uncontrollably and a red haze to descend" include:

Everyone in the Middle Ages was always dirty, miserable, and sad

Peasants worked all the time and were constantly on the verge of starving to death (bonus points if "all medieval people were peasants")

Everything was violent, bloody, and "barbaric"

People could expect to get gruesomely dismembered at all times and for any reason

Politics was exactly like Game of Thrones/Game of Thrones is an Accurate Representation of the Medieval World/pretty much anything whatsoever citing Game of Thrones as historical text

Everyone in medieval Europe was white, straight, cisgender, and Christian

Disabled people were ignored/destroyed/"put into asylums" (because the medieval era is exactly like Victorian England!) and/or had no recognition in their community and/or were just left to die

Queer people did not exist/were always persecuted/had no opportunities or framework to live/identify like "modern" people

"Medieval history" only refers to Europe and/or Europeans

Pretty much anything to do with the Vikings, whether in far right/white supremacy or Oooh The Vikings Were So Liberal

The all-powerful Catholic church completely controlled everyone's minds and everyone blindly obeyed them in all things until suddenly, one day the Renaissance happened! Yay!

The Renaissance suddenly gave women rights!

The Enlightenment suddenly gave women rights!

[Fill in the blank] suddenly gave women rights!

Evil historians are hiding the real truth of [insert marginalized group here] from you

The only thing medieval people cared about was religion and they were all religious zealots

Conversely: people were always desperately trying to break free from the church but they were constantly stopped from doing so because the church was, again, all-powerful

Women were silent, illiterate, uneducated, oppressed, and only ever expected to serve their husband/have endless babies/keep the house clean (which somehow coexists in their minds with "everything was dirty all the time")

Women always died in childbirth

Women did not have jobs, education, or any recognition in society

Women could never be rulers, warriors, or any other "male" job

Women could constantly expect to be raped and this was a normal and natural part of medieval society (bonus points if invoked to defend some modern "medieval" media as "historically accurate")

Women were constantly viewed as witches in the premodern era

Anything a woman did that was "unusual" would get her accused (and often killed) for witchcraft

There were no cosmetics, beauty standards, personal hygiene, etc., so people never combed their hair, dressed nicely, used makeup, washed, etc etc

Medieval people/society had no use for artists/art, literature, books, classics, or other high culture, because that was all instantly forgotten when Rome fell and nobody found it again until the Renaissance

Medieval people all died when they were thirty

Medieval people never traveled more than 10 miles from home

Medieval people never questioned their society/their place in the world/anything else; they just accepted their lot in life without complaint

Things have been a perfect straight line of progress ever since and modernity is "better"

Do I have some things to get off my chest here?

Maybe

You can't prove it

Shh

[animeyanderelover]

Yandere tamaki, bakugou,kirishima,shinsuo(separate)

Taking care their unwilling kidnapped sick darling

It's been too long since I've writen for My Hero...

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationhip, possessive behavior, obsession, clinginess, overprotective behavior, mentions of abduction, sickness

Unwilling kidnapped darling is sick

Katsuki Bakugou

💥 Katsuki keeps that frowning scowl on his face as he forces you into not one but three blankets and just tells you to rest and do as he tells you. Is he angry at you? Probably, he blames you a little bit for getting yourself sick like this. You should have done this and that like he told you too but you just had to play the rebel which is, admittedly his doing. Kidnapping you was a wrong choice but a choice the hero made nevertheless. Your rebellious attitude had to be expected but it's incredibly hard for Katsuki to hold back his temper at times. He won't succumb to his anger and scream at you and scare you like some sort of asshole. He isn't the violent bad guy you might write him off as and he is adament to prove that to you. So maybe he's partially responsible for your sickness now too, he should have taken better care of you.

💥 Despite what his darling might think, Bakugou is actually disturbingly good in nursing them back to health. He's informed and knows how to use that knowledge practically too. He cooks the food that will benefit your health, knows how much you need to take from which medicine per day to feel less like shit and still respects the fact that you need rest. Sure, he checks still multiple times a day for your temperature or to see if you have no problems whilst sleeping but otherwise he just lets you rest. Katsuki even acts like he wants the distance, tells you that he doesn't want to get sick too and luckily you never test him in this conviction since you despise him. He might want to cuddle up to you a bit but knows that you'd hate it and that would just mean scratching his ego. A hint of arrogance can't be helped though since he basks in the fact that you're more reliant on him now and he occasionally rubs that into your face although he doesn't push you to the point where you refuse said help.

Eijiro Kirishima

♦️ Kirishima makes an instant fuss over his darling when they start feeling sick and tired and is likely over the top enough to swoop them up in his arms and carry them into their bed. His poor baby got sick so it's obviously his job as their loving boyfriend to take care of them now that they'll need him. Everyone gets sick once in a while, don't worry. This will pass soon. I' say that he has less knowledge than Katsuki and whilst he might know the common folktales how to help with this and that, he has only vague ideas when it comes to the medicine. He's probably the type who'd actually try to nurse you back to health without relying on pills and medicine unless he realizes that it would seriously help you. Tries to make jokes in hopes of making you feel a bit better, he generally talks a lot unless he knows that you just need some silence right now.

♦️ Kirishima kind of glosses over the fact that you're still an unwilling participant in this all because this man has straight up kidnapped you, even if it was in a risky situation. He's decided to put his delusional walls up in order to defend his actions and with your sickness in full work right now, you have not the energy to argue with him anymore. Eijiro grows even more clingy, tells you that he has a robust immune system so you won't have to worry about him getting infected by what you have. Affection and cuddles are good medicine too after all! Well, that's at least what he always tells you when he has you trapped in his grip. He spends hours like this with you where he dozes off a bit and you somehow manage to do too even if begrudgingly. He is a bit more clueless at times but refuses to let you help, reassures you that he'll figure out how much of this specific medicine you need. You just rest and get well soon.

Hitoshi Shinsou

💟 Hitoshi feels guilty after the abduction of his darling, especially since he used his quirk without any hesitation. Sure, you were in danger but it doesn't change that he feels like he just used you the way everyone else was always afraid he'd use his quirk when he was younger. This guilt only gets fed more when you fall ill because you vehemently won't listen to his pleads to be more careful and due to the increased stress of the situation you're in. He sort of panics at first since he hates to admit it but he doesn't really know what he is supposed to help you with in this situation. There is this lingering hope that he can change your opinion of him at least a bit though by taking care of you now and proving to you that he genuinely loves you. He just sends you to bed at first and spends hours in front of his laptop, reading online what he can do for you now.

💟 His approach is similar to that of Katsuki in that he also lets you rest enough. He knows that you're in a bad mood now that you've fallen sick and are forced to rely on him more and for that very reason he's afraid that you'll potentially snap at him and hurt his feelings if he acts too overbearing. It's already a relief enough that you accept the food he prepares you and the medicine he gives you to ease your symptoms. He never brags about it to you though, Hitoshi is just grateful that you comply with him right now instead of continuing to be angry and worsening your health even more by doing so. You might accept his help because you're worried that otherwise he might brainwash you again, he doesn't know and is too afraid to ask you that question. He doesn't speak much but there is some sort of pride bubbling up in his chest when he notices that his treatment helps you and the sickness you're enduring as of now.

Tamaki Amajiki

🌗 Tamaki is devastated by the cold shoulder his darling gives him and copes with it by thinking lowly about himself. He understands you, he's just a miserable person isn't he? Taking you away out of his anxiety to be left by you and ruining you like this, he really is a low piece of trash. When your health slowly deteriorates, the guy suffers a small panic attack and instantly blames himself as the reason. He must really make you sick. A part of his consciousness knows that he shouldn't overdo it but that part is muddled under all the panic that his brain produces as he can't help but turn overbearing now. His poor sweetheart is suffering so much right now, how couldn't he? Even if it's just your common cold, Tamaki will act really dramatic and make it look like something more serious as he starts acting like the worst mother hen you've ever met.

🌗 You're placed in a bed with multiple pillows and blankets and he even goes out to buy you more, occasionally even gets you a cute plushie to cheer you up a bit. He spends a lot of time in the kitchen or hunched over his mobile and reading articles how to help you. He gets you medicine and asks you in a jittery tone if you could take a bit since it should help you. He's still scared that you'll hiss at him, insult him even if he almost expects it because of what he has done. He lingers around you, often peeks into your room to see if nothing is bothering you. Deep down Tamaki really wants to lay cuddled up next to you though even if he might get sick too. His immune system should be strong though, right? You find him staring at you when he thinks like that although he looks embarrassed away the moment he snaps back to reality. If he's desperate enough to tip into his delusional side, you might wake up one day to his form holding you tightly against him, mumbling that you'll be fit soon.

[xxnomadsxx]

You know Mileena’s fatality from MK1 where she stabs her opponents head with two sais and twist them until the head can get pulled off?? (You should really see it to get a better idea)

Picture Nomad!Branch going hunting with a group of ferals trolls and for SOME reason BroZone decided to tag along with him?? (They don’t know how else to spend time with Bitty B, they’re desperate at this point 😭) They promise to be quite to not disturb them, and what do you know a critter does appear!! The group does it thing and manage to hold the critter down and the brothers think that Thing is going to be the one to put it down (honestly, they would have), so image to their absolute horror when Branch is the one to run at the snarling creature with two knives, stab both of them to its head, BREAKING and TWISTING its neck, to finally decapitating the creature and have its head rolling on the ground. The ferals and Branch all celebrate the kill since yay!!! food for the rest of the village for another week, meanwhile the brothers are losing their shit at their brother killing a critter so violently and IS HE LICKING THE BLOOD OFF HIS FINGERS (At least two brothers definitely fainted)????

Needless to say, BroZone needed a moment to process this and did NOT eat the meat during dinner that day trying to hold back tears at the loss of the mental image of baby Branch 😭😭. Meanwhile Branch and Thing are already talking about heading out again tomorrow (Cue to ANOTHER break down of BroZone trying to convince Branch not to go).

(I LOVE your Nomads AU!!!)

THANKS FOR THE LOVE!!!!!! I love this idea sooooo much AHHHH!!!❤️❤️❤️ if u have more pls do tell 😁😁

I’ve said before Branch only comes out on hunts for emergency (or trying to step out of his comfort zone) but since this takes place after they have been found, I like to think he has a easier time leaving the grey village once he knows the Bergens are cool now!

The story would be Branch and Thing wanting to bond (and get more food) by going on a hunt with some of the hunting squads, Brozone would overhear this plan (not putting in too much thought on what the hell a hunt was) and begged to go so they could spend more time together as a “family” (they are so desperate to spend time with Branch, they have no idea how to bond with him without it being something they did with him as a kid) Branch (reluctantly) agrees some cheering happens, the brothers get some gear and their on their way.

They honestly thought they were just gathering berries or playing a game and you know no not hunting HUGE DANGEROUS WILD ANIMALS!!!! The hunt trip overall consists of Bruce and Floyd being bad at being sneaky (Clay and John are like stealth masters) Thing keeps trying to piss Brozone off by being super close with Branch and doing “family stuff” (or what he thinks family stuff is) basically just rubbing their Brotherhood in the other bros faces(they are seething with jealousy) The brothers are also trying to “protect” Branch by shielding him or getting ready to “fight” when they hear a noise (their not the best at “protecting” Branch well besides John of course)

Soon when the hunt looks like a failed trip a GIANT CRITTER comes out!!! The hunting sqaud does its thing and gets the critter tied down as they wait for the killing blow. The brothers at this point circled around Branch to “defend” him from the beast and the bros are just waiting for Thing to handle-…why is Thing just standing there?!?Why aren’t they running at the opportunity to kill?!? why are they starring at Brozone with a knowing look and smug smile?!??

Yelling that’s what the brothers heard before Branch jumped over them and took two daggers out of his hair. He proceeded to stab them into the beasts head, as he quickly twisted them BREAKING the creature’s head off as it rolls limply on the ground… The cheers of the hunters were tuned out by the horror that is currently overwhelming Brozone they just saw their sweet baby brother (who would cry over stepping on a fly) who has just killed a critter 20x his size, he was so sweet and innocent what happe- OH MY TROLL IS HE LICKING THE BLOOD OFF HIS FINGERS, WHAT THE FU-(so Floyd and spruce fainted, John and Clay were standing due to years of being desensitized to this kind of thing, Clay is trying not to puke as John is slacked jawed at the site of Branch )

When they got back they just had these horrified looks on their face but no one payed to much attention to them, except for Branch fretting over them asking if they were ok (the brothers would find it adorable that Branch cared so much if they weren’t currently losing their minds at the moment) When they sit for dinner they are trying their best not to breakdown as the meat of the creature Branch killed was sitting right in front of them taunting them as the horrible revelation of Branch not being their Bitty B anymore is finally sinking in. Next to them Branch and Thing are chatting about going out again tomorrow for ✨funzies✨!! Cue Brozone immediately panicking and begging Branch not to go as they are currently having a complete meltdown while holding Branch trying to keep him their with them (Branch panickingly agreed so they would calm down, he was so scared ) Thing was not amused that they just ruined bonding time 😐

[rpgchoices]

Dark Urge fixed some of the problems I had with act 3

This post has SPOILERS. BIG SPOILERS for both Baldur's Gate 3 and Dark Urge. If you check my tag dark urge I previously wrote an act 1 + act 2 summary of what to expect from it, without any spoilers. Without spoilers, very briefly: expect to have a past you cannot control (of course), your character will say some messed up stuff, you can give in the urges or resist but there are at least two scenes you have no control over, you do get loot for giving in the urges, the story has more mystery and lore, act 3 is the culmination of Dark Urge story too and you can have a happy ending.

Now with SPOILERS

I will go over the acts and write down what extra content happens when you compare Dark Urge to Tav, with BIG SPOILERS. If you want to see why I think Dark Urge is so much better for the story, skip everything and go directly to act 3. A general big change is that as Dark Urge you automatically get the "Baldurian" dialogue because you are from Baldur's Gate.

Act 1: In act 1 there is little Dark Urge content but an introduction. I kind of wish the game had just gone with DU (Dark Urge) instead of Tav directly, to hide the secret better, but I also like Tav a lot and I don't always want to play as an ex-murderer. Still, if you roleplay well the idea is that DU has these violent urges and think they are caused by the tadpole. So you will have to ask your companions about it, and the suspicion remains for half of act 1, at least until you give in the first obligatory urge. The narration oftens tells you that DU wants blood and carnage, wants to feel life slipping away and, well, wants to murder, and you can give in these urges (ex. attack people, bite someone's toe off, kill Gale?? or at least cut his hands) or avoid these urges. Everything else is exactly the same, a part from the fact that DU has a REASON for being on the Nautilus. While Tav is just one of the random people the Nautilus has taken, DU is the one who was put there on purpose.

There are two big events in act 1 and some smaller ones. You can kill a squirrel, but it did not trigger for me, so I don't think it is an obligatory event, but you will kill a bard. Alfira will come to your camp after you sleep a n amount of nights, and she will want to join your party. This happens even if you had not met Alfira in the game. During the night DU will brutally kill her and at this point you can hide the body, or confess your crimes, up to you how open with them. I always chose the option to confess. If you confess immediately you will have a group chat with your party and you can defend yourself (ex. I don't know how it happened but I must have been the one who killed her), or you can wash the blood and then volunteer the information the next morning when the body is found. There is actually a metagaming way to save Alfira… when you get the night scene, reload to the save before, go to Alfira, use the incapacitate instead of the killing option (in actions) and knock her out. Because she is knocked out, the next night a new bard NPC will come to your camp and will be murdered, but not Alfira.

After the murder you will meet the butler. It is immediately clear this is a magical being, and he knows you. He knows DU likes to kill, and he is surprised if DU refuses to give in the urges or even feels guilty for what he had done. You will also get an amazing cloak that turns a character invisible after a kill (it is great for Astarion's sneak attacks).

For the rest of act 1 there is little more content. You can talk minimally with your party about what happened or your urges, but that is it.

ACT 2: In the underdark and during the mountain pass there is no real content, but stuff starts happening at Moonrise Tower. You will meet characters who suddenly knows who you are. They are pretty cryptic about it, but they talk to you as if you were one of them who suddenly disappeared. It really feels like coming, well, almost home. Ketheric remembers you, even the jailer remembers you. There is also a cat in Moonrise Tower who is scared of you and if you talk with them DU WILL kill the cat, so be mindful to avoid talking with cats in the Tower. The skeleton dog from Ketheric room? He also remembers you and your smell.

When you put your hand in the cracks of the wall and hear the brain you will also get new and different dialogue.

After you meet Isobel, you will see your butler again and he tells you that to have a real gif this time you will have to kill Isobel. The quest will be there but you do not need to complete it. If you do not complete it, the butler will come back at night after the Moonrise Tower fight. This is where he asks you to kill your lover (in my case it was Astarion). He tries to convince you and if you say no, this is also where you find out that you cannot really control the urge - you will have to pass a wisdom check to take enough control to wake up your lover and tell them what is happening. At this point, they will tie you up because you are not in control anymore. You can pass 3 wisdom checks to try and thank them, or you can give in the urge but it does not look like there is any difference here but dialogue. The next morning you will have an extra talk with your lover and the party as well.

At this point it looks like the butler abandoned you because you failed your Dark Urge quest.

Another small thing, while under Moonrise Tower you can explore a bit and you will find one of the pod that smells like your blood and other small traces and hints to the fact that someone wanted to get rid of you and that is why you ended up on the nautilus.

Act 3: Act 3 is where most of the stuff gets resolved and things really come together. Orin targets you because you are family, you are her brother. She hates you because you were the Bhaal chosen one. My favourite part is that this really explains why the Chosen three's plan is failing. You were supposed to be Bhaal's chosen, not Orin. Multiple characters (Gortash and Sarevok) comments on how you were such a better Chosen because Orin is fickle, that is why she turns against Gortash. Gortash and Orin against each other always confused me during my Tav game, mainly because it felt so unexplained - like, they were so close to their goal, why is everything crumbling? Because she was never supposed to assume that role. She grew jealous of DU, chosen of Bhaal, and got rid of him by inserting the tadpole in his brain and discarding him.

When you talk with Gortash you also gets even more insight. It is clear that Gortash likes you, that is why is asking for an alliance. Not to a random adventurer called Tav, but to his old ally and friend. You and Gortash basically devised the whole plan, YOU took the crown, you were a fundamental part of it. And suddenly you stopping it (or taking control of the brain) for me had so much more meaning. While playing Tav I always wondered why is Tav even in charge, but when I played DU it really seemed like this was THEIR mess to fix. The confrontation at the temple of Bhaal is the end of the DU storyline which also wraps up why Withers was even with you.

You confront Orin and after you kill her you will meet your father Bhaal, who will ask you to become his chosen again. You can agree, and then at the end you will be able to claim the brain in Bhaal's name. But if you refuse, and give in the guilt for having murdered so many people (before your amnesia), Bhaal will take back his blood and leave you dead on the ground. At this point Withers will come in (and we know Withers is Jergal, the god of death before the Three) and will revive you. You will be born anew, your past is lost because the urge in you had been taken away but the memories with it. You can ask him about those memories too and he says that he can show you the names of your victims if you so desire. You are also a blank slate, a new person born from what you have learnt in your journey instead of your past. So yeah, you can have a good hopeful ending.

More importantly, this fell so well in the themes of BG3 especially the ones of being born again, changing and gods fighting for their chosen. Like Selune and Shar were fighting for Shadowheart, your character was also in the middle of a play of gods. Given Withers was with you since the start, it really feels like he was aiding you not at random, but because you were an escaped chosen one who could be stolen from Bhaal. And being born again and getting rid of your master/tormentor/powerful god/dictator fits so well. ALL your origin companions are in a certain measure subjected to absence of freedom or imbalance of power.

(Also before the Bhaal mission, but after the lover's personal quest you will have the option to break up with them and worry about the danger of killing them, which gives you an extra cute scene).

After the Bhaal mission there is no more content for DU and everything else seemed the same!

[nartml]

Your misogyny is showing. Get your shit together

(First and last time I'll ever bother with such a rude ask, but I'll use this oh so sugary sweet statement to get some things out the way )

CW: Rant ahead, not Sakura or Hinata friendly, if you disagree and won't be nice about sharing your opinions fucking DNI, this isn't for you.

My misogyny 💀

Because I don't like Sakura and Hinata, I assume? Why is it always misogyny's fault with y'all?

Respectfully, I don't really care about Sakura and Hinata. I'm mostly indifferent to them, but they're fun to criticize, considering there's so many flaws to talk about.

Maybe I was harsh with my words when respectively bashing them, but what I said still objectively stands. Sometimes, not liking a female character has less to do with misogyny and more to do with the fact that they're really, really not that good.

But alas, I sincerely apologize for my just so disgustingly misogynistic words (in case you don't get it, I'm being 100% sarcastic)

In a bit less harsh, more analytical manner, allow me to rephrase:

Sakura is someone who doesn't fit in the Shinobi world. She's too delusional about her romantic fantasies regarding Sasuke to be able to properly advance in such a harsh environment. And Hinata, with or without her infatuation with Naruto, is an incapable kunoichi. She's far too timid and hesitant to be a warrior.

Now, those are not necessarily bad things. Not having what it takes to be a Shinobi can easily be considered positive; be it because you're a hopeless romantic and that hinders your ability to maximize your potential or because you just don't have the spine or endurance necessary to be a badass ninja. Those aren't reasons to violently hate on someone. Specifically about Sakura and Hinata, those aren't even the reasons why so many people dislike them.

Or at least I hope not. I'd understand the point of your ask better if I had said anything derogatory about their appearance, for example. Those types of haters are annoying, and I manage to turn into both Sakura and Hinata's biggest defenders the moment someone says shit that degrades Sakura for her chest or some other bs, and/or fetishizes Hinata in any way. Rest assured, I'm anything but misogynistic.

But oh shit, it's time we realized that Sakura's "feelings" for Sasuke were simply a shallow school girl crush. And that would've been okay, understandable, maybe even a little cute, if it weren't for the way she constantly pushed herself onto him, consistently referred to him as hers in her head, saw him as a trophy, a blank canvas to project her fantasies onto. She was disrespectful, and her confessions were sickening.

Because how dare you compare your loneliness to that of a genocide survivor? How could you make your supposed love's pain all about you? How could you be so ready to abandon your friends, family, life, and future just to follow him to someone who you know would cause him harm, when you so clearly don't even know or understand him? How could you try to minimize everything he went through, try to diminish all he's suffered in the name of "laughing and having fun like the good old times"? "What about me, Sasuke? I'll be in so much pain if you leave. Please, if there's even a small part of you that cares about me, stay". "I can't get close to you, I can't exchange blows with you, I can only whine and beg, it's pretty pathetic. There's nothing I can do for you".

These are all things she's said and/or done paraphrased. There's so much more I don't care to recall. And they're all very annoying.

Her sole motivation was Sasuke; he's the reason she talks about how she'll get stronger to catch up to him and Naruto, about how she wants to "save" him, or "protect" him, about how she wants to be able to "fight for herself next time".

But she never managed to really do any of it, because it was all so surface level. Her aspirations for life began and ended with Sasuke, a guy she ultimately doesn't know a single thing about. That's objectively pathetic.

I don't like her because of the way she treats Sasuke, because of the way she views him, because of the way she's so pretentious about her "undying love" for him.

I don't like anti-sasusakus who come at it from a "Sakura deserves better" perspective, because she got exactly what she asked for; now she even gets to parade around wearing that Uchiha crest like the trophy it is to her, while having done nothing to earn it!!!

But.

But.

Honestly? They're not exactly wrong. Maybe she doesn't deserve better. But her character would, at least if Kishimoto even wanted to write that story.

What do I mean by that? I mean that Sakura, as a main character, does not benefit from her feelings for Sasuke. It's not that Sasuke isn't good for her, it's that her "feelings" for him aren't.

I'll use Naruto as a comparison. His feelings for Sasuke [No, I don't care how you interpret their relationship. If you want, they can be platonic feelings or familial feelings (you'd be wrong but who am I to judge), or romantic feelings] actually serve as his basis for self improvement.

Usually, in media, love is something that drives characters to be better.

Naruto's love for Sasuke is his greatest strength.

Naruto kept getting stronger, with Sasuke as his motivator. Naruto kept trying to understand him, to see things from his perspective, never held any sort of idealistic "Sasuke would never do that" train of thought.

Naruto got to better understand the injustice of the system through Sasuke and his love for him. Naruto initially fought to bring him back to Konoha, not because he wanted to play house with him, or because he wanted Sasuke to cater to Konoha's every whim, but because in Naruto's mind, Konoha is home and it's safe, away from Orochimaru's dirty hands.

But then once he finally understood Sasuke better, once they fought and he carried Sasuke's burdensome hatred with him, he let him go. He let him travel, leave Konoha, without ever asking for him to stay, because he gets it (Unlike Sakura, who still didn't get it, and did the exact opposite)

In Sakura's case, however, her "feelings" for Sasuke hold her back. Though that's a bit of conundrum, seeing as any sort of achievements she's made are directly linked back to her crush. Like I said before, he's her motive. No, it's specifically the shallowness of her love, the half-heartedness in her convictions to improve that holds her back. Her "feelings" aren't as genuine as she –or any of you– likes to think they are, and that keeps her from growing, from seeing clearly (i.e: in the long run, they hold her back)

They're proof of her superficiality. She's too caught up in romanticizing the absolute shit out of Sasuke, too caught up in using him to live out her fairytale dreams, too caught up in asking others to bring him back to her, or whatever. She's too caught up in whether Sasuke looks at her or worries about her to fight properly. And I mean "fight" both literally and metaphorically here.

So yeah, her "feelings" for him aren't good for her. It would've been a much better character arc, in my opinion, something that could be actually empowering that would give her depth, if she had ended up with Lee instead.

Because Lee is the exact opposite of Sasuke, in the sense that he's ugly in Sakura's eyes (I'll state here that I don't think Lee is ugly, bushy brows and all, he's very pretty to me), and so to end up with him, well. That would require Sakura to see past physical appearance.

Sakura tends to be very judgemental of other people's looks, and the way she treats them is often correlated to how beautiful she finds them.

But falling for Lee would've been a great way for her to move past the cover and read the book. Something which could then translate to her being less insensitive and judgy from then on.

[Sakura fans love to point out that she might say rude stuff, but then she regrets it, so it's okay! To that I say, it hardly matters that you regret something you say and promise that you'll be better, if you're just going to repeat the process the next day]

That said, she didn't even have to end up with anyone. She could've remained single, after realizing how wrong she was about Sasuke. She could've stopped pining after him, and gotten herself a goal that is bigger than just ending up with him.

But that's not who she is. That's actually, an entirely different character. That's not how Kishimoto wrote her, and criticizing him because of that is stupid. He knew what and why he was doing it, and the narrative some of you adopt, the one that goes "no, I'm better than so-and-so, this character should've been that way instead", is exhausting.

Sakura fans never represent her how she canonically is. Truly, 100%, the way she's depicted in the show. They nitpick which parts of her they like, and ignore the rest. You guys love the version of her that isn't shallow, that understands Sasuke, that is assertive, that is 3-dimensional; a person whose hard work actually comes to mean something, who is much more genuine about her love for Sasuke, who is by all means an independent badass. The Sakura who is selfless and understanding and a go-getter badass. And that's okay, I guess. But at least admit it.

It's always an outsider commenting on how "she's better than Tsunade" because they saw her punch one time, or "her feelings for you have matured" (something cancelled out entirely by Sakura later). It's always "I've caught up to them" after something that amounts to nothing significant. We're told she's great. We've yet to see it for ourselves, outside of those five? Six maybe? Eight is my being generous. Truly iconic scenes that she has in the entirety of the manga.

I stand by my closing line on her post.

She's foolish, and too caught up in her own romantic, fantasy world to substantially thrive in a reality as cold-blooded as the one she was born in.

And that's all she'll ever be.

As for my girl Hinata. I absolutely stand by everything I said on that post. Not taking a single word back. Maybe Sakura has a few redeeming qualities; like I said, you could explore her character outside of her crush on Sasuke and make a true badass out of her. (While still acknowledging the fact that that's not who Kishimoto wrote her to be)

But Hinata? There's no character to explore. Period. She's nice. Sweet. Kind, maybe? Sweet. Did I mention nice? I should probably not forget to say that she's sweet. Let's not omit that she's privileged and doesn't care one bit that her family is a-okay with slavery!! OH, and she can cook well. She also has those big boobs. And all her symbolism with Naruto was ripped off sns, coincidentally.

She's very passively likable, and the definition of forgettable. Like it or not.

____________________________________________

As for me, I should make it clear here and now that I am no misogynist. I like to think of myself as a very passionate intersectional feminist, who gives credit where it's due.

These two ladies? They don't deserve the aforementioned credit.

Have a great day 💞

[corvid-gae]

I believe i can make a better Minecraft movie than the garbage that is being produced rn. This isn't even "oh i'm totally a better writer than these professionals" this is because they seem to be ignoring the 'themes' of Minecraft in favor of corporate sanitation, and I can do better than a corporation.

So where to start? Well, by analyzing the 'themes' of Minecraft I mentioned. And what are those? Well, 3 major things imo.

Number 1; Creativity; Minecraft itself is a sandbox game, naturally one of the major themes it carries is creativity. You can create anything you want, the worlds your oyster in Minecraft.

Number 2; Community; While Minecraft can be a single-player game, the whole of the game has become about a community of people. SMPs, Minigame servers, even outside the game Minecraft is about community. As much as people may not like the mob vote, we come together as a community to decide things that we want to come to the game!

Number 3; Love; Now you might look at me weird for this one, but Minecraft is full of love. Love by Minecraft content creators who LOVE the game for all its worth, mod makers who love to create new content for the game, even the Minecraft End Poem. "And the universe said I love you, because you are love-" the game is full of love.

Now are these things the end all be all of 'themes' in Minecraft? No, of course not. It's a sandbox game which means themes can be all over the place, but these are the themes I personally would use in a Minecraft movie since without these themes a movie would fall flat. And if we're all honest with ourselves, just from that newest trailer the Minecraft Movie has NONE of these.

There's no creativity (just another jumanji isekai ripoff) no community (aka no one in the community seems to be liking it) and no love (it's a corporate cash-grab through and through)

But how would i fix that? Well, I have a few ideas.

First and foremost; who are the protagonists and antagonists? Well OBVIOUSLY Steve and Alex are our protagonists. Steve has lost his memories and must find out what happened to them, and Alex? Well she is related to his missing memories (also NO, no romance between them. No "oh she's a STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER" in the Hollywood way) And the antagonists? Well, one would first assume Herobrine- but i think that's too easy. What about the Piglins like the actual live action? Also no. So who the hell is the antagonist? Well that depends, an antagonist would be in opposition to all of the themes that I listed- Creativity, Community, and Love. What in Minecraft fits this? A destructive force that acts alone and out of hate (or at least some kind of hate.)

The Wither.

But hasn't Minecraft Story Mode used the Wither for its story? Yes, yes they did. But why fix whats not broken? The Wither is a GREAT antagonist if the themes of Minecraft are as I listed above. Not to mention you can do a LOT with the Wither. It doesn't just have to be a large monster, it can be many things. For this movie the Wither is akin to a blight spreading across the land, killing anything in its path, reducing it to a greyed out violent form of its past self.

Next; What would the general plot be? Well, the general idea is that Steve wakes up without his memories. All he has is a journal with his name on it and a few entries (how to craft, certain creatures and what they drop, etc. The basics of Minecraft) but there's also a map that leads him to a village, which is when the plot truly kicks off when he defends the villagers from some Pillagers (Villagers who have been affected by the Wither blight.) The story follows Steve as he finds Alex (who is related to his unknown history. She admits she also has very little memory. All she knows is that she knows HIM and they need to stick together) and then they travel to find what caused the Wither blight; what happened to their memories; and how the hell are they going to stop the blight/get their memories back. The climatic point of the story reveals that THEY are the reason the Wither blight is spreading, both had accidentally unleashed it while exploring a Stronghold that held the Wither, which also explains their lost memories (somehow, i don't have the specifics its OKAY- this is a concept for a reason)

At the climax itself Steve is dying. There's a reference to the End Poem, he comes back to life (because obviously it's Minecraft. You revive) and him & Alex manage to stop the Wither blight as well as reverse it, obviously saving the day.

Now there's a lot of holes in the idea, but as I said it's a CONCEPT i'm toying around with because I do believe this basic structure would provide a much more fulfilling movie than game isekai with popular actors #12. I'd love to see people add on to this since as I said, COMMUNITY is one of the largest parts of Minecraft, and personally i love building on others ideas.

[racefortheironthrone]

How have superhero stories grappled with the more grounded depictions of fighting crime? Which is to say, someone with much higher power than those they’re fighting breaking bones and causing harm in real circumstances?

It’s like there’s a disconnect between some of the more “straight” stories of someone who is seemingly nice on every level as a hero but goes out during their nights to beat the hell out of people with their alter ego and power , and ofc how that image links with punitive justice / brutality status quo of justice enforcement

On the worst end, you get Rorschach’s (part of the point of the character I know) who throw suspected criminals down elevator shafts, and on the best end you get spidey or flash harmlessly webbing guys up or tying them up before they can hurt anyone

Ideally you’d get heroes going out to defend others lives and doing so in as non harmful ways as possible and incapacitating without violence, and addressing the root issues of criminals at the same time (inspired by your Batman post) while putting thr buck of energy towards the real masters of evil propagating the system

One of my favorite recent stories was the Zdarsky daredevil where it shows how easily a fatal accident can happen in a normal fight, and how dangerous any kind of violence is, but I’m not sure how much of an outlier / regular that is.

Maybe vague, but what I’m getting at is how, if at all, has this trend changed in superheroes over the years? And how successfully have they grappled with the “Ka pow” solution and what would actually come of it?

I've talked about this a bit in the past with regards to Batman (although I think the Punisher is the better case study) and vigilantism in general.

I think it's genuinely important that superheroes avoid the trap of "Spidercop" et al. (the Playstation Spider-Man games really pissed me off on this topic, as amazing as they are in other aspects) and grapple with what it means to be a vigilante in society, both the good and the bad of it.

That being said, though, I think this is basically a solved issue in superhero comics and has been practically since the beginning.

Building off their initial focus on organized crime coming out of the pulps - because pace to my abolitionist and restorative justice brethren, but that shit does not work on mobsters - superhero comics pivoted by creating the supervillain.

While many supervillains get their start as exaggerations of the organized crime figure, and there are some great punch-clock villains out there, most supervillains exist outside of the framework of criminal justice reform because their motivations are usually sui generis and their criminal activities are so baroque and often have more to do with personal vendettas and dominance displays than anything that actually motivates real-world violent crime.

[justmenoworries]

Lore Olympus Episode 247 Spoilers

Mfw Persie demands an appointment with Chiron "asap", only to then be just late enough for Demeter to get anxious.

Yeah, no, this was an obvious power-play on Persie's part to make sure Demeter didn't feel secure enough to actually defend herself. Don't tell me this isn't something current Persie would do, she 100% would.

Lmao, RS panicked because literally everybody was pointing out that hxp weren't doing any parenting, despite saying they'd be better parents than Zeus and just shoved Dionysus into the episode as a gotcha.

"I'd like to start by asking you both what you hope to achieve with this session today?"

Demeter doesn't want to achieve anything, this was literally forced on her. She had no idea Persephone was doing this until the last second.

Persephone just wants to dunk on her mom some more without consequences.

"You trapped Hades in a jar!"

Oh fuck off, Persie, your smurf-boytoy wasn't even hurt. Honestly, compared to what Hades put Demeter through, locking him in a jar was extremely minor and justified. Hades had no right to intrude on Demeter's home when she only wanted to see her daughter without her groomer present.

"We're not here to point fingers."

Yeah, but Persie's gonna do it anyway and the narrative will back her up like it always does.

The way Demeter just calls hxp's asses out on being capitalist jackasses who profit from death and the spirits who can't do anything to stand up for themselves.

"[...] You haven't even seen what I do in the Underworld."

Persie, you haven't done shit in the Underworld. You delegated work to someone else, that's not the same as working.

I really appreciate what we got to learn about Demeter and Metis' relationship. Honestly, I wasn't expecting Metis to just flat-out tell Demeter that she was created solely to help defeat Kronos. But since this is the same woman who slept with a much younger man despite knowing two of her daughters had a crush on him, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised she was a shitty parent in other ways too.

I'd enjoy all of this Demeter-lore more if the episode didn't immediately twist it to invalidate all of her concerns about Persephone's development and hxp's relationship through invoking generational trauma in a really manipulative way.

So.... Daphne did tell everybody about Apollo? Or just about the tree-part? Does that mean Apollo's political career is over? Because I think the fact that he violently assaulted a nymph should put a damper on his popularity with the populace.

Artemis finally asks a question she should have asked in season 1. Better late than never I guess. And of course we cut off before anything of substance is achieved.

We haven't gone anywhere with the therapy-session and the whole Artemis and Apollo conversation just served as another cliffhanger.