#you were wearing a mask

[silversaucekai]

I have no appetite, I can’t sleep, I feel irritable, I’m clumsy and a bit confused, my chest hurts, I’m sweaty, I’m emotional, my joints hurt and feel sore, my body feels weak, but I guess it was allll worth it if you could come into work sick for a few days huh?

[moongothic]

Crocodad AU where immidiately after having left Dragon and his baby boy Crocodile finds an 11 year old Robin. And while he's 100% only recruiting her so they can make a beeline for the Poneglyph and Pluton in Alabasta by the two of them... Crocodile accidentally sorta kinda adopts Robin.

At this point Robin's been running for her life from the Government for three years so her deep trust issues and fear of betrayal are starting to take root in her little heart. Like perhaps they haven't taken fully over yet, and being still a child I'm sure Robin might've still had that genuine hope that she could find a safe place to stay in. But I'm sure the though of "what'll he'll do with me once he gets what he wants?" would be nagging at her at the back of her mind. Meanwhile Crocodile's struggling between the pain and hurt he's already gone through and given him his trademark trust issues, as well as the aftermath of The Dragodile Divorce. But he also has his Fresh Paternal Instincts and probably misses his baby. So when given a small, scared child who is running for her life, being chased by the very same Government that'll want his son dead if they ever find out about him... Yeah that might fuck with your brain a little

You know this post was supposed to be just that first paragraph and just a few footnotes from the following two paragraphs. And then I kept on Having Thoughts. And I kept on writing them down. And oh no what happened when did this post get so long (Look I was going to either kept on writing my Additional Thoughts in the tags or I just put them in the actual fucking post)

Like considder this: based on this one SBS, we can kinda tell that if Crocodile was given a chance to raise a child, that child would be a spoiled little shit, right

So in this scenario, where Crocodile's looking after lil Robin, would he be kind of torn? Unsure how to feel about her?

Because on one hand, this strange child would have the potential to not only ruin his plans, strip him of his Shichibukai Privileges by outing him and his plans to the World Government, but also put his son in grave danger by extension (if she found out about him having been involved with the Revolutionaries and/or having a child). But on the other hand, his paternal instincts could make him want to spoil this poor little girl rotten. But only because he needs to (perhaps literally) buy her trust so she'll behave. No other reason, he doesn't feel sorry for her one bit, no sirree. (But maybe he did feel sorry for her, since his son could very well end up exactly like her. Poor little thing) (Which is why he needs to nuke Marijoa out of orbit as soon as possible, no matter the cost, and this child can't get in the way of Crocodile protecting his son) (But also this is a child. Like how bad could she be. Besides all he really needs to do to win her trust is be nice and make her feel safe, right?)

Of course, while I'm suggesting Crocodile could have some parental instincts, realistically, he hasn't actually spent any time being, you know, a father to a child (looking after his newborn for an unknown though short amount of time aside), so it's possible he wouldn't even know how to parent Robin even if he wanted to, would he? (Like taking care of a newborn and an 11 year old kid aren't the same either) So if he was kind of just emotionally flipflopping between No Trusting Ever and It's Just A Kid for God's Sake, Crocodile trying to be nice to Robin to make her feel safe and then telling himself to stop being so soft and vunerable... Yeah that would make for an absolute mess of a relationship. (Not to mention, let's be real, dude's a scary motherfucker too, and a bloody giant compared to itty bitty baby Robin. He could keep on accidentally scaring the shit out of Robin (who would be On Fucking Edge To Begin With) by just Being Himself. Like for example, can you fucking imagine if he caught Robin trying to cheer herself up with a little "dereshishishi" only to tell her to stop because "it was stupid"? 'Cause I can imagine him doing that, and boy howdy would that make Robin feel bad)

Or who knows, maybe Crocodile was just Born To Be A Dad, maybe he just Fucking Gets It. Like Crocodile is canonically pretty good at manipulating people to do what he wants them to do (see: how he played Vivi like a fiddle), so knowing Robin's position and understanding how she feels, maybe he COULD completely nail how she needed to be treated. Not being too familiar but still making her feel safe and happy, knowing exactly when to be stern and when to spoil her, etc. Dude just goes off and wins the Dad of the Year Award while being a deadbeat dad himself. The only thing Crocodile would have to worry about then would be making sure HE doesn't get too fond of her. And certainly that could never happen, he's so in-touch with his own feelings and so grounded, he's not a softie, get outta here. Or maybe he does but never realizes until it's too late and good luck backpedalling on those emotions now dumbass

Alright so, the reason I went on that whole rmble is just that like. I'm so interested in the relationship Robin and Crocodile already have in canon. I'm so facinated and curious about how the two feel about each other, considdering they did spend 4 whole years of their lives together as criminal business partners, though neither ever trusted the other. A partnership that was only ended because Robin betrayed Crocodile, out of her own trauma. (God, I want to see these two "reunite" so bad, I want to know how they feel about each other now after the timeskip and Robin joining the idiot in flipflops who foiled Croc's plans)

My question here is just that... if they had met 13 years earlier, would things have been different? Especially if Crocodad Real? Because as I mentioned in the begining, Robin would've been on the run for only 3 years by this point, as opposed to 16 years before running into Crocodile. Simultaneously, this would be before Crocodile went onto spend an entire decade all alone, slowly losing his marbles in his emotional solitude. They'd both be emotionally traumatized, yes, but would it have been as bad in this scenario? Like I did start this post kind of joking about Crocodile adopting Robin, and for clarity's sake I don't think they'd have like a father-daughter relationship nececarily. But it would be a strange relationship still, because we'd have two broken people, both struggling to trust anyone. One who had lost her mother and her only friends, leaving her all alone and afraid while running for her life. The other a father who had just given up his son whom he probably missed dearly. Both having these holes in their hearts from loss of family, holes that could not be filled with replacements. But could they find comfort in each other anyway, because they still as people occupy similar roles to their respective loved ones? If they both could just get over those trust issues?

Okay I've been going off on the Emotional Side Of Things for this AU Concept, THERE'S PLOT TOO

So if Crocodile did pick Robin up like 19 years ago, that should be before he set up base in Alabasta, long before he had built is homebase and financial empire etc.

Now the thing is, while we don't know when, where and how Crocodile learned about the Ancient Weapons, Pluton specifically and how the lead on it would be in Alabasta... Considdering Crocodile did once upon a time aim to become Pirate King, it would make perfect sense if he had learned about Poneglyphs during his past adventures, as he would have needed to get the Road Poneglyphs to find One Piece. And while the World Government did bury the truth about why Ohara had been burned down and why Robin had been given her bounty (remember, the WG claimed it was because she had sunken a fleet of battleships, which she had not, it was because she could read the Poneglyphs), considdering this is a Crocodad AU specifically, you could totally make an argument Crocodile could've learned about what actually happened to Ohara from Dragon and co. So, just to make this AU work, you could just assume Crocodile learned about the concept of the Ancient Weapons from Dragon. And who knows, maybe he overheard the truth about why Robin had been given her bounty from Dragon too (maybe Dragon was able to get intel from Garp in secret) or while going to Marijoa himself to attend a Shichibukai meeting or something IDK.

Maybe he learned about Pluton being in Alabasta before finding Robin by accident, and maybe they made a beeline for Alabasta the second Croc recruited Robin. Travelling takes time and the guy would've most likely had to find an Eternal Pose to Alabasta just to get there (also canonically Robin didn't enter the Grand Line until her 20s so they should've met in West Blue probably, since that's where Ohara was) Or maybe Crocodile had to haul Robin around for a few months while looking for That Missing Piece of Information that would lead him to Alabasta. (Imagine the two travelling from like island to island, library to library, Crocodile trying to find that leads while Robin's just so excited about ALL THESE BOOKS (she's helping too with the research) (but to her, research is playtime, so she's just having the time of her life) (Also, notice how Crocodile's Theoretical Child is a fucking loser ass nerd? Yeah Crocodile would encourage Robin reading and studying, surely. And that would be fucking cute))

But like, once they set sail to Alabasta...

Sure, Crocodile could try to do it The Slow Way that we know he tried in canon, building trust and creating his little empire etc. But also, in canon, Crocodile couldn't have jumped into action head first because without Robin, even if he had found the Poneglyph he couldn't have read it and found the location of Pluton. Crocodile choosing to do it the slow way may have been partially because he didn't have much of a choise and it could've felt like the smarter move long-term.

But in this scenario, he already has Robin. Yes, he could do it the slow, secure way.

But what'd be there stopping him from infiltrating Cobra's palace and kidnapping him (in the night, when nobody suspects a thing), demanding Cobra to spill the beans lest Crocodile kills him and/or his pregnant wife* (*Vivi was born 10 months after Luffy so depending on how long it's been between Crocodad leaving Luffy behind and this scenario... Yeah either the wife is there, still pregnant, or there's a newborn Baby Vivi)

Like it'd be a risky move but depending on how ballsy Croc's feeling and how confident he feels in being able to kidnap the king without being noticed... Yeah he could probably do it. And I'm sure he'd have no problem killing Cobra either, if anything it'd be required if he didn't want the Government to find out he was out to find Pluton, and god knows Cobra would tell on Crocodile if left alive. I could see Crocodad being maybe a little iffy about killing Baby Vivi though (it's not like the newborn baby could report him to the WG anyways), but if nothing else, he just needs to be able to pull off the bluff of his life to convince Cobra to do as he's told. And we all know Crocodile's good at convincing people.

The only question is, how would Robin take that?

Watching Crocodile go into Full Murder Mode, hearing him say he'd kill a pregnant woman/a newborn baby if he didn't get what he wanted? Like yeah, I'm sure 11 year old Robin would be fine with that, that wouldn't make any alarm bells go off in her head at all, it'd be fiiiine. IT WOULD NOT BE FINE, SHE'D BE SCARED SHITLESS. That fear of "what will he do with me when he gets what he wants"? Well, Robin may not have found the answer to that question in particular, but she certainly found the answer to the opposite question, and it's not good

So say Cobra, kidnapped (perhaps with Baby Vivi) by Crocodile in the night, guides the two to the Poneglyph under the tombs. Crocodile puts Cobra out of his misery because he's not needed anymore. And he asks Robin to read the Poneglyph for him.

Robin, who has spent the last little while, be it weeks or months with Crocodile, him having become her "guardian", the thing keeping her safe. Crocodile, who has now shown how cold blooded and cruel he can be. Robin, who might be scared out of her mind. Of him.

And the Poneglyph says Pluton, the thing Crocodile wants, isn't there. It's in Wano.

What's she going to do?

EDIT: I wrote a sequel post, enjoy

[halorvic]

[temeyes]

capt mactavish beard era (one that rivals capt garrick's LMAO)

[longelk]

SIR JAMES

[gayshitanddadjokes]

Okay so the stepsiblings Tim and Cassie again! I want the rest of YJ to figure it out first and just not mention out of politeness, thinking that 'yeah, everyone already knows but you don't just say it out loud'. Like she brings (read: drags kicking and screaming) Tim to meet young justice. Everyone (actually I wanna say everyone but Kon because he's a moron) can immediately tell and they assume that Cassie knows and is just making fun of him for thinking she wouldn't recognize him so they play along.

Next time Kon and Cassie are making a fuss about Robin not telling them his secret ID they get the most incredulous looks in the world.

Kon: I just don't think we can trust him if he doesn't trust us

Cassie: I mean I love him but who knows what he's doing when he's not here

Everyone else:

[beatriceportinari]

2 methods of cleaning burnt deposit on an arcopal cup : scalpel blade and glass fibers pen

[foxgloveinspace]

People jumping ship cause of the new masks is very ahhhh. Telling. Tbh.

[pixelatedraindrops]

The Doctor will see you now 💉🩺💊

(unmasked version below)

[faunandfloraas]

i do still periodically remember that post on twt that had far too many likes talking about how fnf is def a song about romance, chan was lying for pretending it was about australia and i still start squinting into space because how fucking stupid could all 500 of you be

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

@ people who knowingly go out in public sick without wearing a mask, may i just say .................... you have disappointed me deeply. not cool. not cool at all. gross behavior.

[foursaints]

taking notes, nodding thoughtfully while reading your lily thoughts and I realized I struggle to understand her as a character because everything she is in canon is so muddied by who she is in relation to everyone else. I want her to have a hermit era where she locks herself in her apartment every night learning some new little craft just for the satisfaction of mastering it and I want her to have a going out era where she’s at the bars every weekend and everyone’s watching her but she only dances with her friends and always goes home alone. Like I need to her to live her best life outside of who she is to other people, and see how that’s realized for her. What crafts would she learn behind closed doors, what’s her getting ready routine?

I’ve had friends who feel very much defined by who they are to other people and the expectations surrounding them and it’s interesting to question their conception of themselves - a lot of times, I’ve found they don’t have the words to describe themselves without invoking other people’s opinions of them, even if it’s just an attempt to diminish the reality of those opinions (ex. “I’m not *that* good at piano” etc etc). I want to know how Lily would describe herself and what she sees when she looks back on her accomplishments.

anyways. thank you always for your thoughts 💕

this is such a beautiful message, it’s so thoughtful and well-put. i agree that i find her challenging to pin down because she only (canonically) exists in relation to others but that struggle is what always brings me back to her…

i tend to see lily as profoundly lonely but in a secret way that only makes her more Singular. i think her private life (her getting ready routine!! her daily rituals!!) is extremely well-cultivated because she is used to being misunderstood/projected on but it’s the fact that she appears so self-sustaining that gives her that special halo she has. lily always has little private things it seems she’s doing just for herself (it’s to make the daily experience of Being Herself feel more bearable… she’s trying to assert borders on the nothingness by giving herself Things Lily Does) but it makes others want to watch her and guess at what she’s thinking.

the flipside of this question, to me, is also that it is addictive to be loved in the way that lily is. she doesn’t have a clear picture of who she is (profoundly lonely also means empty) and it can be freeing to have an outsider offer a flattering one for you: when she’s the object of love, she’s a beautiful intelligent witch and even apparent flaws like her temper become charming & palatable facets of this picture. it feels really good to be that girl.

i think it’s less a question of expectations and more one of definitions. her relationship with petunia interests me the most because her sister refuses to see her as Special, and if lily isn’t Special then she’s nothing at all. and that’s really horrifying but it’s also part of her reality.

to me, what happened to her (dying young and getting made into a saint, essentially) is the best thing that could have happened - because she in a sense escaped her own self and Became “that girl” permanently in collective memory. i think she’s pathologically committed to her own self-mythologizing and that’s an answer itself.

[kisuminight]

I mentioned before that c!Tommy does have a run-in with c!Dream and c!Niki during Dream's Syndicate Arc. It's an interesting meeting, because it forces Tommy to engage with, and reflect on, the image that he's built of Dream in his head.

See, Tommy runs into Dream and Niki when they're doing resource gathering. The two of them have separated a little, but not too far--out of line of sight but still within shouting range. So Tommy runs into Dream when Dream is nominally alone--and doesn't recognize him.

Dream is in blue and white. In a cloak, not a hoodie. His hair is braided, but it's visible--which is more than Dream really ever used to let it be. More importantly, Dream is unarmored and unmasked--when Dream never felt close enough to Tommy to bare his face to him, and didn't even feel safe enough on his own server to walk around unarmored since after the L'Manberg Independence War.

So Tommy comes crashing up and shouting hello to someone he thinks is a brand-new member of the server. And Dream freezes and just about has a panic attack. Because it's bad enough that he's interacting with someone other than the Syndicate, he's now interacting with Tommy. More importantly, Tommy is the person most likely to realize that Dream hasn't lost his memories--if only because of his sheer obstinate paranoia that Dream is always out to get him.

Worst of all, even if Tommy doesn't hurt Dream directly, he's going to tell people. Spread the word that Dream is back, it Niki's Blade, and that is going to put Dream in danger, put Niki in danger when people come hunting for power because apparently power is more important than peace.

For now, though, Dream needs to make sure that he really, really sells the no-memory, newly Awakened Blade bit. And keep Niki out of it, if he can. Being a Blade with an "unknown" Driver will grant her more protection inter-personally than any reputation she could gather by being in Resonance with Dream.

Dream tries to keep his voice quiet and soft when he introduces himself. Make it not immediately recognizable. He shouldn't have bothered. Tommy recognizes it, sputters out Dream's name, and then descends into cursing. He's go a sword in his hand and he's going for Dream.

Dream gets caught in his own head--does he pull his own sword to block and blame it on Procedural Memory? Does he pull his Soul Weapon and let the fishing rod take the blow to throw Tommy off further--too busy trying to be not-previous-Dream.

Then Niki is there (she came as soon as she felt Dream's rising panic). Her shield counters Tommy's sword, and she puts herself between Dream and Tommy. Dream shivers in her shadow and tries not to feel pathetic about feeling grateful.

"Tommy," Niki greets. It's a cool tone, nothing like the warmth she uses for the Syndicate. Her emotions are a curdled and bitter underneath Dream's tongue, though it doesn't seem actively hateful. "Are you alright Dream?"

"Yeah," Dream mutters, fighting the instinct to move further behind Niki. "The kid came out of nowhere." Tommy is a threat because he's surprising, not good at combat--if he tries anything, he won't be able to do enough damage to outpace Dream's healing. The real problem will be if he tries to make a trap, or if he calls backup.

"What the f*** Niki! Why are you protecting Dream!" It's not really a question, as Tommy tries to edge around Niki to get closer to Dream. "And you! Aren't you even going to acknowledge my name?"

Dream takes a deep breath, steps forward, and looks Tommy dead in the eye. "Why do you think I know your name? You didn't even introduce yourself before trying to attack me." He's trying for reasonable. It even comes across that way, for all that his mouth is set in a nervous line and his hands keep clenching and unclenching because he wants a weapon but is worried about making the situation worse.

~

The entire situation is a mess. Tommy is convinced that everybody is Wrong and that Dream isn't a normal Blade (true, not that Dream knows) and that Dream somehow remembers his previous life (also true) and that everything Dream did in his previous life was deliberate without input from Dream's Driver (he's one of the few people to get that right) because Dream is evil (false).

Tommy is Not Dealing well with seeing Dream unexpectedly again. He is incredibly resistant to adapting his mental image of people, especially Dream. Since L'Manberg's creation, Dream has been the Enemy. Tommy has a valid reason for why he feels so negatively about Dream--but he's also obsessive about it, and tends to project his feelings for Dream onto Dream (which is... not helped by cannon!Dream eventually falling into using fear as a mechanism to make Tommy do what he wants, or Blade!Dream's passive attention-attraction).

~

Dream is lying extra hard about not remembering and honestly just trying to convince himself that it would be a Bad Idea to just take Tommy's last canon life. Tommy's biggest threat to George was a combination of his chaotic nature, general antipathy, and Dream's lack of a Memory Patch. Tommy is generally sympathetic to Niki, so he's less likely to just start trying to kill her Because.

The problem is that he's feigning that he doesn't have his memory, and suddenly attacking Tommy wouldn't make any sense for the "character" that Dream has been portraying to the Syndicate. In the past, terrifying Tommy has made Tommy run--but Dream doesn't look scary now. And if he tried to make himself terrifying, well, that's hard to blame on Procedural Memory and it might be enough to push Tommy over into attacking Niki, too.

~

Niki still doesn't like Tommy. She's gotten over her desire to see him dead, but there's still a general distrust. She's stopped blaming him for things that weren't his fault--but he's on thin ice for upsetting on of Her People, and it's made worse by the fact that she's getting all the chaotic ups and downs as his presence turns the Emotional Bleed from Dream into a storm.

So Niki plants herself between the two of them and does not move. Tommy's good, but Niki is better, especially as she's been training with Techno as part of the Syndicate meetings. If it comes to a fight, she's confident that she can take Tommy out.

~

While it's a mess, I don't think it would end up in the kind of mess that ends with any of the participants dead. Dream basically going "I don't even know who you are," in various levels of plaintive both makes things better and worse. Tommy is furious that Dream is pretending that everything that happened means nothing, furious that Niki is agreeing with Dream, and furious to cover the deep, cold hurt that is trying to rip him up inside because they were right and Dream doesn't even know him anymore.

Eventually, Niki manages to get him to back off for now. Tommy is loud and brash and declares that he's going to prove everyone wrong about Blades and that Dream really does remember everything. Then he goes charging off in a huff to get Tubbo in on the "plan." Niki takes one look at the situation and decides that it's time to take an extended vacation in the arctic, actually. Tommy doesn't know where her city is, but she doesn't want to be trapped there while waiting for him to get over himself.

Overall, this AU probably isn't going to end with proper closure for Tommy in any way. At this point, the way he's fixated means that he won't stop until he's sure that Dream is gone for good, and finally convincing him that Dream's memories were lost (no matter how false that is) will probably be the best short-term solution.

Admittedly, in the long term it's going to make Tommy feel pretty betrayed, but the Syndicate aren't really characters that care about his opinion overly much? Well, Ranboo might care about how it affects his relationship with Tubbo. But Techno mostly cares that Tommy is annoying and also betrayed him and to Philza, he is just Some Kid that Wilbur was attached to (and Wilbur hasn't even been revived in this AU).

Tommy is good as a plot device and as a character--but he's chaotic and difficult and also he and Dream need to have their therapy arcs in separate time out corners if they're ever going to recover from the catastrophe their relationship became. So for the sake of the story and also healing, Dream's Syndicate Arc is getting precedence

[incorrectsibunaquotes]

I struggle immensely with the “Nina is the Most Pure of Heart™” narrative, not because I think she’s a bad person, but because I just don’t think she’s any more morally sound than anybody else in the damn house

[lopez-richter-fangirl]

It’s been such a treat to talk about the shows WITH people I was there with that I just realised I haven’t shared anything about the actual show last night here!

Sam Cochrane was the understudy who posted about Joey going to see his Fringe show and he did an excellent job! He hadn’t had as much time with the script as Brendan had (but truly even with the few extra days Brendan had it’s insane how flawlessly he learned that track) but it being a comedy show meant there was a lot of grace for when things went a little wrong. Joey had to grab a prop for him or guide him into place once or twice, the famous everyone else scene had a very funny moment of “wait, what voice am I doing?”, and everyone was very supportive whether he hit or missed the sound cues

I’ve also loved the fourth wall breaks in the show, Lauren saying “don’t fucking clap for that” when Gabe got way too personal with the fake Camille boobs and she was right to, Gabe was feeling extra wild this show. He also ate some of the bread from the sandwich after which Joey covered it with the tank top but Gabe tried to go back for more

Lauren almost forgot to sing “made my brain just jizz” and laughed at herself because bby girl was not going out without a goof. It was like she got to the final number and already checked herself out for the evening and I respect that so much. Very grateful I was able to see her

And at the end Joey’s been saying his little “if you liked it we’re tincanbros if you didn’t we’re therealteamstarkid” and asking people to buy merch so they don’t have to take it all back but last night (even though they were running over) he asked people to say their social media handles and Lauren was like “what?? We’ve never done this before!!” as if he were asking her to do math live on stage or something instead she’s the cutest

Loved seeing this show so so so much I love them all

[mothermara]

I should start wearing better masks to work and also gloves and bring industrial strength sanitizer. I should wear a hazmat suit. don't fuck with me