#and cannot get the kind of leverage that you need to give me a really good hug

[copper-dragon-in-disguise]

.

[elllisaaa]

how about emo hot skater boy Jake with a massive dick energy and idk maybe like a kinda cocky reader who doesn't believe skater boy Jake is huge and he has to show the reader (who might be acting like a brat) what they're missing could be interesting

EMO SKATER!JAKE who's honestly kind of a loser when you really think about it. he's got his friend group and even if he's quite famous for his unconventional style, none of these people are really friends with him. he spends all his days either listening to music and trying to learn guitar, or skating and perfecting his tricks.

what is maddening is how hot he is despite all of that. you cannot help but stare at him every time you find yourself practicing at the skatepark at the same time as him. however, you don't want to let him know that you're kind of attracted to him. so instead, you always tease him about his style - even if it suits him perfectly - or the fact that he's probably still a virgin with a cocky smirk on your face.

jake usually puts up with your bratty attitude because he knows that what you say is not true, and because he's pretty sure you don't think a word of it. he might look like a loser but he's not an idiot - he can feel the way you're often staring at him. however the jokes about him being inexperienced are getting quite old.

"i'm probably the first girl you talked to in real life though, so i'm not surprised you're still a virgin." jake sighs as you grinned at him with a glint of mischief in your eyes, but he has had enough of your temperament. "actually, that's not what they all said when they saw how big i was baby." the pet name he always gives you and that made your skin hitch at the beginning is slowly growing on you, now making a shiver run down your spine. but you try to stay focused, even if the way jake is looking at you and licking his lips makes it hard to concentrate on forming coherent sentences. "pff ! you ? a big cock ? that's pretty hilarious at least, i have to give you that."

jake rolls his eyes at you, and you try not to move as he gets closer, but you still fall from your board. but the boy in front of you is quick to wrap an arm around your waist and save you from an unwanted meet up with the ground. jake takes this as an opportunity to let his lips brush against your cheek, his long, soft brown hair tickling your face he whispers in your ear : "maybe i should show you how huge i am if you still don't believe me. maybe you'll finally shut up once i got your tight pussy stretched open on my dick."

the air around you seems to thicken, and you cannot breathe properly anymore as jake starts to suck and lick your neck. heat rises to your face, both from his dirty proposal and his kisses that make arousal pool into your underwear. "so what now baby ? cat got your tongue ?" his condescending tone as he bites down on the flesh just under your jaw finally shakes you out of your slumber - even if you had to hold back a whimper the moment his teeth grazed your skin. "i bet you couldn't even make me cum, you're such a loser jake." - "bet darling."

that's how you found yourself in the backseat of his car, ass up in the air and face down buried into one of his sweater, his scent maybe driving even more insane than his actually very big cock thrusting into you at a rapid pace. "not so cocky now, uh ? all you needed was an inch of my dick to shut up." and you want to answer, you want to deny, but at this point, you're only able to moan and bite the inside of your cheeks to not let any more sounds slip past your lips. "fuck… you're such a whore y/n."

you feel jake leaning forward, one of his hands still gripping your hips tightly and the other clenching at the door of the car for some more leverage. his firm abs are pressed against the small of your back, and his hot stammered breath is crashing right against your ear - you feel overstimulated in the best way possible. "admit it now baby." - "n-no !" - "come on, you can feel how deep i am right ? you can feel how much i'm stretching out your tight little cunt, don't lie." but you still shake your head, choking on your words as you try to disagree again, instead cut by a loud moan when jake hits your sweet spot. you clench even tighter around him, and he cannot hold back the low, throaty groan slipping past his lips.

"you're so tight baby, must feel good to be this full." yes, it really does, but you don't want to admit it - as if the tears rolling down your cheeks and the way your lips are bleeding from biting them too much are not enough proof. "n-no, don't like it…" - "you're such a bad liar, y/n, it's pathetic." and then he resumes his rhythmic thrusts, hitting your sweet spot precisely each and every time, and it becomes way harder to hold back your noises. your fists close around the material of his hoodie, burying your face into his intoxicating scent in an attempt to drown out your whines. "j-jake… s-stop, i'm…" you have to mentally stop yourself from saying the words, but you can almost feel the way jake smirks against the skin of your neck that he's been biting and licking at. "what was that baby ? are you close ?" you shake your head no again, and jake's smirk is growing as he stops moving completely, cock sitting deep inside of you. "then i'll stop if you don't want to cum."

your reaction is immediate : you whine loudly when you feel him start to pull out, even more tears gathering in your eyes. "no, no, no, no ! jake, wait !" - "what is it now ?" your voice is quiet when you answer, but jake still hears it clearly : "wanna cum… please." the beg falling past your lips entices him into thrusting back into you full force and this time you don't even make an attempt at keeping your voice down, screaming out his name so loud that everyone in the parking lot must have heard you. "admit it, baby. say that i'm big and then i'll let you cum." you don't want to, but the way he's rutting his hips into you and driving you closer and closer to your orgasm is getting to your head, your mind fogged up by lust. "s-so big jake, so fucking big, feels so good… please, please…" - "now that's a good girl. cum."

the simple command is enough for you to let go, his name slipping past your lips again as you grip his cock even tighter, making it almost impossible for jake to move. but the way you become putty in his hands feels even better. what he loves the most though is the way you're too weak to push him away when he thrusts inside of you again, seeing your body visibly tremble as he starts to fuck you again. "i'm gonna give you my cum, make you even more full of me. maybe that'll keep your mouth shut a little longer baby." you hardly comprehend the meaning of his words, but you don't really care when jake is moaning about how good you're squeezing him, you don't really care when he quickly brings you to the brink of another orgasm. you don't really care because you know that you'll be teasing him again the next morning, hoping that he'll fuck you in the backseat of his car all over again.

[prince-liest]

Some thoughts about Huskerdust relationship development:

I don't know if we'll get the chance to see this happen in canon unless Amazon gives Hazbin Hotel more episodes to work with per season (unless it's relevant to the Vees being the main villains of season 2, which is feasible) but one of the things I really want to see happen is for Angel Dust to backslide.

I feel like the biggest issue that Angel faced with Husk until they finally managed to connect during Loser, Baby is that Husk was honestly being really fucking judgmental about Angel being fake without understanding why he was doing it, because Husk thought he had a full enough picture of the situation (and likely was irritated enough by the incessant sexual harrassment) to be able to judge Angel Dust. At least until one of my favorite lines in the show, when Angel goes, "It's not an act!" and finally admits why he acts that way.

Recovery isn't linear. And even beyond that, you really cannot effectively recover from a trauma when you are still actively experiencing it. That's why Loser, Baby meant so much to Angel Dust. Husk realized that it wasn't reasonable to tell Angel that things are going to be fine when they're obviously not - but he's at least able to offer himself as a sympathetic port in a storm for Angel to be real with when he needs to talk to someone he doesn't have to be fake with.

That said, it still stuck out to me that he told Angel, "I just thought you were better than that," to dissuade him from caving to Cherri's pressure in episode 7. He connected best with Angel Dust when he stopped leveraging guilt and instead offered an open hand in episode 4, but he still has a tendency to apply that kind of pressure when he wants Angel to act "better," and while Angel's redeemable qualities were necessary for the plot in episode 7, I want to see how Husk would react when Angel isn't able to always behave like his best self, because he's still struggling and still under Valentino's thumb.

I think it would be really good for the growth of their relationship if Husk is able to see the worst of Angel and still be able to offer him safe harbor rather than judgment.

[hedgiwithapen]

Leverage let's go steal a beetle

Eliot Spencer really, really hated it when the con had to change gears halfway through. Made things messy and complicated and it was never good for anyone but Sophie to try playing two parts. But he adjusted his stupid little hat and hoisted himself up into the pilot's seat of the Helicopter.

"Hey." said the man already in the copilot's chair. "You're not Johnson."

"No," Eliot said. "He got sick. Celiac flare up, I think. Trust me, you do not want him flying one of these things." That was one way of putting it, anyways. Beaten over the head with a stale baguette was a little more accurate but hey, who was really counting.

"And you're...authorized?" The copilot asked, looking doubtful. 

"Am I--I got called in on my night off because she's got something that has to happen tonight. I mean, If you want, I can just go, and you can explain to Ms. Kord why her chopper's grounded for the night.  I had dinner reservations, man."

"No!" the copilot said frantically, no doubt thinking about the fate of anyone who disappointed Victoria Kord. Eliot had a feeling her idea of a severance package was a little something like the Hannity lady back at Wakefield's.  

"Alright then," Eliot said, settling in. Damn. It was a sweet helicopter. Shame he wasn't going to get to keep it.

~

Jaime felt more like he was falling, not flying, gravity dragging him towards his home. He could hear Khaji Da in his ear, feeding him information about the helicopter, the dozens of Kord Industry's private army foot soldiers surrounding the house, all armed to the teeth. Well, so was he, with anything he could imagine. 

He spun in the air, aiming the world's largest staple gun, dodging the live rounds they were firing at him.

Somehow that made this more real than the fight earlier. It was one thing to be fighting for his life running from the Kord building, all that glass and chrome and unreal wealth. Not here, above the rooftops and powerlines he'd known all his life. 

"Stand down. Give me back my Scarab." He heard Jenny's Aunt--and when had that become who she was, in his head?--say over some kind of loudspeaker. Half the neighborhood must have heard it, and the gunshots, but no sirens wailed.

"The Scarab's not yours," he said, unsure if she could hear him. He aimed at the Helicopter to be sure she understood. It dipped just enough that he missed. He could tell from Khaji's delight that this--deflecting bullets, firing back--was something they could do all night if they needed to.

"Target the family," came the next order. Jaime's blood ran cold.

He dove forward, but not in time. 

The house he'd grown up in exploded.

"No!" he screamed, mentally directing everything into the thrusters. He had time, he had---

Khaji Da stopped him, feet above the flames.

|You will die. I cannot allow you to go in|

"They're in there!" Jaime yelled back. "I can--I can still-- I have to save them!"

|No lifesigns are detected| Khaji Da responded. |I am sorry, Jaime Reyes.|

Jaime didn't have the chance to scream again as a flare of purple lightning lashed out, some kind of net or grapple or bolas that burned and stung and dragged him from the sky.

The last thing he saw was his home in flames, the roof caving in.

~

(approximately ten minutes earlier)

Parker dropped through the hole in the roof, swinging herself so she landed on the worn and patched linoleum instead of directly on the table. 

The older woman, who had the vibes of Hardison's Nana if she was Eliot, which was frankly a terrifying thought, threw a sandal at her head. Parker caught it easily. "Everybody out," she said, the Spanish falling easily from her lips and apparently throwing everyone else for a loop. The two men stared at her. The Nana threw another sandal. Parker ducked under that one.

Parker huffed a little. "Kord's people are coming to kill you all," she said, not bothering to beat around the bush. " Or worse? Not super clear on that. So. Everybody out, come on."

"Why should we trust you, blondie?" one of the men asked.

"Where's Jaime?" the girl about Breanna's age demanded. 

"Because I'm the good guy, and I don't know, but if we stick around here we will continue to not know. It's not safe here, can we go?" Parker pushed.

"You expect us to trust you? You broke into our house!"

"You left a hole in the roof, that's practically an invitation." Parker reached up and tapped her com. "Eliot? ETA? Someone give me something, they won't leave." 

"Seven minutes," Eliot said. "Get them out."

Breanna chattered breathlessly in the other ear. 

Parker turned off the com. "GarlicBre52 says you can trust me. I'm the Cavalry. Good enough?"

"Garlic sent you?" the more paranoid man said, looking suddenly like he might actually believe her. "How'd they know about any--"

"Look, you can talk to her yourself, after we go, because in about 5 and a half minutes, this place is going to be on fire and we need to not be here when it is." Parker was getting impatient. 

"Everyone, go," Nana Sandals said, and everyone obeyed, following Parker out the back door, and along a hedge to the next street over. Parker heaved open the food truck door. 

"What about my son?" the man who wasn't staring with outright glee at all the tech said. "What did you do--"

"Hey, we didn't do anything," Breanna said. "Parker, you told them we're here to help, right?"

"Of course I did!"

"Then where is Jaime?"

"Uhhh," Breanna said, fingers flying over her keyboard. " About a minute out. Don't worry, Eliot's going to get him."

"Eliot," Nana repeated. 

"Yeah, Breanna said. She spun in her chair. "Hey, Rudy."

"You know this girl?" Nana asked. Rudy frowned. 

"How do you know my name?" he said. "Garlic, I take it?"

"Eh, Really good facial recognition. I'm Breanna. Thanks for that tip last month, by the way-- the cobalt instead of tungsten? Really worked great."

Rudy gave a modest tip of one shoulder. "Yeah, Ma, I know her. From online."

"Uncle Rudy, you didn't tell me your government conspiracy hacker friends were cute girls. I'm Milli, by the way."

"Flirting later," the woman who had to be Milli's mom said. "Someone explain what's going on. Please."

Breanna made a face. "Uh. Long story very very short, Kord Industries wants something your son has, and we really don't want them to have it, and they want it bad enough to, uh. Kill you? So we're faking your deaths, if that's cool. I mean. Also if that's not cool? But like. Just until we take them down so like. Three days tops."

"And someone named Eliot is finding Jaime?"

"Should be, right about--" everything shook "--now."

~~

Eliot thumbed the buttons and switches on the control panel, giving a glance back. The poor kid was semi-conscious, dragged into the back of the helicopter at Victoria's feet. He swallowed bile. 

"Set a course for the island," Victoria ordered. 

Eliot glanced at the densely packed neighborhood below, lit up behind them with the orange of flame and the dancing lights of firetrucks. "Yes Ma'am," he said, and turned towards the water.  Carefully, casually, he released his seatbelt and harness, stretching his legs just a little.

"You're going too far west," Victoria snapped. "Johnson, get it together, unless you want to be fired."

"Mm." Eliot said. "That threat would work a lot better if I worked for you." He veered sharply, slamming everyone to the side as he snapped off the toggles and jammed the steering, then threw himself into the back.

Eliot thanked God and Hardison for the latter's parachute stash. 

"Hope you can swim, kid," he said,  pushing off hard with Jaime Reyes in hand as the helicopter spun wildly towards the water.

~~

Jaime choked, sputtering wildly and trying to yank away from the iron grip around his waist. He remembered the helicopter--being grabbed--the house--his family--

"Calm yourself, Jaime," Khaji Da said, but that was easier said then done.

"Let me go! Let go," Jaime thrashed, sinking deeper before popping back up above the water.

"Easy, kid. You good to swim?"  The grip didn't release. Jaime twisted, trying to get a hand under the man's throat.  Khaji could make anything he imagined, and he could imagine a lot of ways to hurt the people who'd--who'd killed---

"Hey." the man said, kicking them both closer to shore. "Don't do that, man. It's ok. We got them out."

Jaime blinked, salt water stinging his eyes and burning his nose as he tried to parse the threat.

|The Eliot Spencer is not lying| Khaji Da said. |Recent data suggests his connection to the fall of multiple criminal organizations. Recommended course of action: hear him out.| 

That was just unexpected enough for Jaime to listen.

"See that food truck parked on the beach?" Eliot Spencer asked. "That's them.  So don't just go haring off or try to gut me, ok? Can you swim?"

"Yeah, I--" he sputtered again on a too-large wave. "If you hurt them--Khaji--"

|Food Truck: Brick and Basil, contains several life-signatures that match the Reyes household, with additional signatures. No one is currently experiencing physical distress.|

The beach rose to meet them, the sand cool and soft under Jaime's bare feet. Eliot Spencer let out a piercing whistle, and the side of the truck swung open. Jaime sagged in relief as Khaji pointed out the silhouette of his sister, unharmed.

[hualianisms]

TGCF Audio Drama Ep 12 pt 2: XL gambles himself in exchange for one night of HC's company

[context: see part 1 translation. basically, after the Gambler's Den dice-throwing scene, SQX & LQQ need a distraction to investigate Ghost City, so XL gambles against HC to cause a distraction. XL asked for HC to accompany him for one night as the prize if XL wins. HC has just agreed.]

HC: Alright.

Ghosts: (shocked) Chengzhu agreed!

HC: However, what this gege seeks is of considerable value. It's also my first time.* Accordingly, the stake you bet on must also not be arbitrary.

XL: Of course, it cannot be arbitrary.

HC: But there is one small matter that gege must be reminded of. The last thing that gege has on him, he has already lost to me yesterday.

XL: Ah… Yes indeed. Please wait. I will search again. …Um… I…. Here… (searches his sleeves and pockets and finds nothing)

Ghost 1: I say, Daozhang, if you really have nothing to gamble with, why not just use your clothes to gamble with? Every time you lose one round, take off one layer of clothes!

HC to ghost 1: Shut up.

Ghost maiden: Daozhang, what is that which you're wearing on your neck?

XL: (takes out the necklace of HC's ashes) Are you referring to this?

Ghost maiden: This ring looks like a really amazing treasure.

XL's internal thoughts: This is what San Lang gave me…

HC: This gege, do you wish to bet on this ring, and gamble with me in a game of victory or defeat?

XL: …I can't do that.

HC: Oh? Why not?

XL: This item is far too precious, it cannot be carelessly handled and disposed of.

HC: It's been given to you, so it's yours to do with as you please. Why can't it be carelessly handled?

XL: That's all the more reason I can't. Normally, this is the kind of gift I do not accept. If I do accept it, then of course I must treasure it, only then can I be worthy of the sincere intentions behind it. How can I possibly use it to gamble, and squander it away frivolously?

Ghosts: So that's how it is, there are even these sincere intentions behind the gift!

Ghost Maiden: But this can't be used to gamble, that can't be used to gamble, then Daozhang, what do you have left?

XL: (Sheepishly) …It seems… The only thing left is me.

HC: Alright.

XL: (blinks) …What?

HC (enunciating the word slowly and suggestively): You.

Ghost maiden 1: Wonderful! If you lose, you can sell yourself and come here to wash clothes and fold bedsheets for old Chengzhu, serve tea and pour water for him!

Ghosts: What a great idea! Yeah! Yeah!

SQX: You'd better not agree. This bet has no winning odds!

XL: Alright, I will place my bet!

HC: (chuckles) Great.

Ghosts: Xiao Daozhang, you will definitely lose!

SQX: (gloomily) This time, we're really done for!

XL to SQX: Don't worry. This time I might not lose. You guys, go quickly [to investigate Ghost City].

[Translation notes:]

*This line is likely also innuendo (subtextually). the CN line here literally means "It's also the first time for me", which on the surface mean HC's first time accepting such a request. But the subtext implies it can also mean HC's first time (sexually). The ghosts interpreted the sexual meaning as they were gossiping later in this episode that "Someone wants to gamble for Chengzhu's 初夜!" 初夜 refers to "wedding night" i.e. the first night of a marriage where the marriage is expected to be consummated for the first time.

Essentially HC is saying, since XL wants something of such great value' (HC's company; subtext implying HC's first time), then XL must also give something of equal value i.e. "You". I interpret it as HC deliberately trying to leverage the value/rarity of XL's request as an excuse to get something just as intimate from XL in return

Bonus: there's also a part later in this episode where the ghosts are gossiping and hilariously misinterpreted. A ghost said "I heard that Chengzhu's brother wants to gamble him and steal away his wedding night" (aka first time) 😭 As that line is from the uncensored revised novel, I assume MXTX wrote it to make fun of how censorship wants to turn hualian into just Very Good Bros.

[the-pea-and-the-sun]

SOME NAMEKIAN SPECULATIVE BIOLOGY FOR FUNZIES

or: why do namekians look like that? : the sequel to "why does namek look like that"

disclaimer: im no dragon ball expert, or biology expert, this is all just for fun and my own personal satisfaction because thinking about alien biology makes me very excited. what im doing is a little closer to hard sci-fi than the type of sci-fi generally present in the franchise, and i am straight up ignoring some aspects of canon here to make a version of namekian physiology that feels more realistic and interesting to me personally, so this is more of an au than an analysis (but i mean. this is an extremely retcon-able franchise anyway) also im of the opinion that namekians are in fact not ken dolls down there, and im gonna talk about what i think they might have going on so JUST A WARNING in case that sorta thing grosses u out or whatever. i can and will speculate about namekian junk 👍also this ended up running kinda long so... click at ur own risk!

CANON STUFF IM IGNORING (for now)

namekians getting bigger

this happens in db and super hero movie. but im ignoring it because it doesnt make sense and isnt interesting enough for me to magical hand-wave it away. like supposedly it gives piccolo no greater strength than at his normal size yet it gives him more leverage when pushing cell?? also if hes the exact same strength that kind of implies to me that he has like …. the same mass too… which unless piccolo is SUPER dense already (and i dont see him breaking any floor boards.. but maybe thats why hes outside all the time) then his super low density would make him kinda…. weak… kind like how its easier to blow away an open sheet of paper than a balled-up sheet of paper. im sure there are some ways you could make this fun but the franchise just doesn't do anything interesting enough with this for me personally so im ignoring it

eggs coming out the mouth

this is a controversial one SORRY it just makes absolutely zero sense to me… they obviously at minimum drink and breathe out of their mouths why on earth would their eggs exit from there too… im also going to argue that even though they dont need food they do in fact have a digestive system so unless their mouth is the most horrible cloaca in the world they have more than one major orifice anyway (can you imagine having a tongue and teeth down there..) if this is really important to you then maybe this could be something certain namekians CAN do but generally dont, or its something that like . king piccolo can do specifically (because hes like. an evil demon or whatever. i dunno im not super familiar with dragon ball demon lore tbh)

also like... even if you REALLY wanna stick to the idea of namekians as a species that doesn't require food and never did, they should still have liquid waste. even plants have liquid waste. and since namekians dont seem to be shedding off big outer layers of skin on the reg (though this could be a neat concept, i like the idea of someone encountering a piccolo-husk) it makes sense that they'd have an additional orifice for shedding waste anyway. so it just makes sense to give that orifice one more job. even as narrow as namekian hips are, the egg has a whole lot more space than it would if it went through their fucking throat

NOW THAT WE'VE GOT THAT COVERED:

🟢⭐DISPELLING COMMON NAMEKIAN BIOLOGY MYTHS⭐🟢

or, stuff that's commonly assumed to be canon that i think is not

FIRST MYTH: namekians cannot eat and digest food, and have always sustained themselves off of exclusively water

they CAN sustain themselves off of water, but i think of them as being able to eat and benefiting from food in certain ways. there's been some examples of them eating, but im not really concerned with the fringe examples of namekians eating from video games, rather we know namekians either have or used to have the capacity to consume food because they have teeth! (and a tongue, and a uvula!)

and from the looks of it, some serious canines too! they dont just eat, they eat meat! given their ability to fight and create weapons, i think of namekians as likely being or having at some point been omnivorous apex predators like homo-sapiens. if you wanna believe that they don't actively need to eat anymore, then id like to think that some dragon ball magic had to happen to accelerate namekian evolution, because there's just way too many vestigial structures otherwise - if you're hand-waving the amount of energy required for namekians to be able to move around as much as they do, and assume that they photosynthesize or something like plants, and don't mate (which im about to argue against but we'll get to that) then...why would they even evolve to walk around at all? what im thinking is that namekians do need to eat, just very infrequently as we see in canon, and just used to need to eat a lot more. im attributing this change in namekians need for food to the big ecological disaster that gets talked about in dbz, so you could think of them as having pre-disaster biology and post-disaster biology, which accounts for namekians being able to sustain themselves on so little while also being a species that has so many body parts just for eating, and that eventually farms and has advanced technology. pre-disaster namekians ate frequently, possibly requiring a calorie content comparable to humans, and post-disaster biology occurred so that namekians could survive the kind of ecological disasters that guru lives through - and that they likely have to live through quite frequently on a planet with the kind of tides namek would have, being a planet with three suns and all. lots of tsunamis, earth-quakes (namek-quakes?), etc. so maybe a sequence of these disasters caused them to evolve to need very little food. so, like i said, if you'd like to think of them as needing no food, then the dragon balls would have to be involved for me to find that believable that since a mouth full of parts clearly meant for eating is just too evolutionary expensive to stick around as vestigial structures for any other reason.

but assuming they aren't completely vestigial, then there's a few different options we can consider, like that post-disaster namekians can survive without food and under extreme circumstances for a very long time, but they still gotta eat, like, once in a while. my current favorite theory is that they're a bit like tardigrades, and post-disaster they've evolved (or magic'd) into extremeophiles. that is that, they can survive extreme circumstances, such as going almost indefinitely without eating, but they enter a sort of cryptobiosis-like state where some of their functions stop working, such as reproduction and development. in other words, not eating won't kill them, but if a namekian wants to grow or have children, then they're gonna have to eat. they'd also likely rarely experience a hunger or desire for food because of this.

this would explain why all the namekians who are stated or implied to have had children look like they're carrying body fat. they're the ones who eat food! it just doesnt really make sense for that to just be the results of them aging... the fats gotta come from somewhere. and even for humans, atrophying due to aging comes as often in the form of losing weight as it does gaining it, but we've yet to see an older looking namekian who's thin. rather it makes more sense to think that these namekians were eating since they were planning to produce offspring, and rather than eat too little and have their egg come out underdeveloped, they eat more than they need to develop the egg and the rest of the energy gets stored away as fat, possibly never to be used since their cryptobiosis-like state where they don't need food is sort of a default for them once they're fully developed.

it would also explain why dende ages so much differently from both piccolo and gohan (besides retconning) piccolo just kind of jumps to adult form - much faster than both humans and saiyans, while dende's development kind of seems to freeze for a few years. their development, rather than being stunted, can just be frozen indefinitely if needed. (why dende is choosing not to develop i have no explanation for... he's just in no hurry i guess? or just isnt hungry? maybe there's some cultural explanation there) this goes well with namekians being a long-lived species too. if there's no food or very little food available until they're 100 years old, then they can just wait until they're 100 to finish developing and reproduce.

there's also something to be said here about how namekians dont have separate sexes but there are still kind of two types: "warrior" and "dragon clan" namekians, and maybe they have differences in development too, like warrior namekians needing to eat more often than dragon clan namekians, who might only ever feel the need to eat while developing or while producing offspring. although, i'd personally rather think of that distinction as more cultural than it is biological, as it's just more interesting to me that way. like, the natural genetic diversity that makes some namekians more equipped for fighting would cause them to choose or be chosen to become battle-types.

SECOND MYTH: namekians reproduce exclusively asexually

a lot of people assume this since asexual reproduction is the only type of namekian reproduction we see or hear about, BUT I DONT THINK ITS TRUE! they CAN reproduce asexually, but they have a LOT of genetic diversity, even more than most sexually reproducing species. so WAY to much to be an exclusively asexually reproducing species. just look at any picture of a group of namekians, they're clearly not all clones of each other.

toriyama said in an interview that they "may be hermaphrodites" and i like that! being a species of simultaneous hermaphrodites that can also self-fertilize goes well with the whole slug thing too, so thats the reproduction method that i think makes the most sense.

some species produce a small number of offspring at a time and invest more heavily into their offspring, and some species produce a large number of offspring at a time and don't invest very much into each individual, using the larger number as their reproductive strategy since the majority of their offspring will die off (think elephants on one end of the extreme, and spiders being the other end). given that namekians appear to only be able to have one child at a time, and seem to have tight-knit social groups that seem to care a lot for their children indicates a lot of investment into each child, so it just doesn't make sense to me that they would only be able to reproduce asexually anyway, as that tends to fit better with the reproductive strategy of having a large number of offspring who mostly die off. i think of sexual reproduction as being their preferred method, and asexual reproduction as being the alternative method they've evolved as extremeophiles, only choosing this method when there aren't any other namekians around to get genetic material from.

🟢⭐WHAT IM EXTRAPOLATING FROM THESE THINGS⭐🟢

knowing that namekians reproduce sexually means we can do some fun extrapolation about how they do about that ! (or, fun to me at least. are we not all excited about namekian junk??)

SO namekians obviously have to breathe, we see piccolo breathing all the time - android 17 even points it out at some point - and like i said i think of them as having digestive tracts (again, whether you'd like to think of them as vestigial or otherwise is up to you) so it kind of just makes more sense for their internal stuff to be structured like us primates in the same way so much of their external stuff is. seeing the way piccolo breathes (and like. has a nose on his face) indicates that their respiratory systems are in their chests too, and their clothes seem to cover all the same bits we cover, so they probably have at least one other major orifice down there. either they have just one orifice for both expelling waste and mating like a cloaca, as amphibians and reptiles do, or they have more than one like we and most other mammals do. you could pretty much justify any genital situation you want, hermaphroditic slugs have penises*, and so do primates of course, so if you like the idea of piccolo having a dick there's justification for it 👍there's honestly ways to justify all kinds of genital situations. its the only external part of namekian bodies we never actually see, so if this sorta thing interests you like it does me, get creative! use ur imagination! the only thing that i feel would have to be pretty set it stone for me to believe it would be at least one orifice for expelling waste and eggs and for in-taking sperm (or sperm packages...yknow how it is with slugs) and this same orifice could also expel sperm as cloacae do if you wanna go no-penis route, it just doesnt have to. they could be mostly internal or mostly external, or internal until they're about to be used, or internal until a certain stage in development, whatever boats your float. again, many options here. i encourage you to imagine the version of namekian genitals that pleases you the most.

im also imagining that namekians can store sperm for later fertilization too (like slugs!), since it kind of doesn't make sense to me that such a small population would have so much genetic diversity after all descending from a single member otherwise. so im imagining that guru had sperm stored up from various other namekians before the big extinction, and that guru's first batch of sons had two genetic parents - that is, guru himself and whatever namekian's sperm he had stored. and possibly even more than two! some species can have three or more genetic parents, which would do a lot to help increase the genetic diversity of a population after a huge population wipe-out like the one referenced in the namek saga of dbz.

also, sexual reproduction means sexual selection! since we're assuming all namekians are the same sex, any primary or secondary sex characteristics would apply to all namekians, but that doesn't mean there wouldn't be any selection. whether an individual in a breeding pair would choose to take on the male or female role would depend on a LOT of factors, for example being the male would be less costly, but if sperm can be stored it wouldn't guarantee it would be used, and in circumstances where few breeding partners are available, taking on the female role would be more advantageous (which, as we've established, is a situation namekians would be frequently subjected to). not to mention all the cultural circumstances that would influence which role is more advantageous at any given time. im thinking that most namekians would probably experience being both roles at some point in their lives, depending on these circumstances.

anyway, i find it fun to think about the traits that namekians would consider desirable in a mate. for a species like namekians, a lot of those traits would probably be cultural, which id like to tackle later in another post, but in the mean time i wanna talk about what physical traits that namekians might register as secondary sex characteristics. like i said their primary sex characteristics, like genitals and internal organs, are a bit of a mystery, BUT there's one trait that namekians have that i don't think can be explained any other way than as a secondary sex characteristic!

WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE PINK MARKINGS!! there isn't really any reason for their skin texture to be different in these sections, and it's obviously not providing any sort of camouflage. they're super bright, and contrast directly with the rest of their skin.

also, it looks like its absent on babies! so... LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A SECONDARY SEX CHARACTERISTIC! im thinking that these markings are a sign of sexual maturity and health, like pubic and armpit hair in humans, or like peacock plumage. they also look kind of... muscle accentuating? the horizontal stripes serve to emphasize these curves a bit. which means that this is a trait that at least some namekians are selecting for. apparently some namekians find big muscles sexy... NEAT!! though given their variety, and given the fact that "warrior" namekians are in the minority, it's certainly not the only thing they're selecting for. as a long-lived species with no gestation period (because of the eggs), namekians would probably benefit from mating with a diverse variety of partners over the course of their lives. lots of fun material for cultural worldbuilding here!

🟢⭐OTHER MISCELLANEOUS IDEAS⭐🟢

~another fun reproduction option~

so... namekians dont actually have to be simultaneous hermaphrodites. dende doesn't seem to have any concept of sex, but it might just be because his concept of sex is inextricably linked to his concept of age, so the "two types" of namekian may just be old and young. namekians are hierarchical, and their hierarchy isn't linked to any sex they have at birth or assigned gender role from that sex, but it is based on age. this hierarchy could easily just be cultural, possibly a cultural consequence of the oldest namekian being responsible for preventing extinction of the species, but if it isn't just cultural, then their hierarchy actually kind of resembles clownfish hierarchy, and clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites. they're all born male, and then whenever the dominant female in a group dies, the largest and strongest (and generally, oldest) male becomes female and takes over. fish are also pretty much the only hermaphroditic vertebrates, so it makes sense to model namekians after them, too.

other people have pointed out that older namekians are colored a bit differently than younger namekians, but we never really see this happen gradually. that is, we never see a middle-aged namekian with a skin tone between these two tones, so there isn't really any reason to think that it's a gradual consequence of them aging. you can kind of assume from this then that the color change comes from a sort of second puberty, as a result of their sex change - or rather, sex addition, as they still have the ability to self-fertilize after this. so before they change their sex, namekians only have the ability to fertilize other namekians, and can't produce their own off-spring asexually, whereas after changing their sex namekians can produce their own offspring, and can self-fertilize but can't fertilize other namekians. also for some namekians, it also looks like the pink and red part turns yellow and orange, so that could be indicative of a part of their sex change too? we do see the pink on king piccolo, but it seems strange to me that it would "fade" to that color as a result of atrophy due to aging, so im thinking it might be something that triggers when they change their sex too.

~alternatative explanation for the canine thing~

if you don't like the idea of a species as peaceful as namekians being meat-eaters, i have another explanation for you! having teeth at all definitely indicates a species that consumes food, however those sharp-looking canines don't have to have evolved as a consequence of eating meat. there's at least one herbivore with big sharp fangs too!

CHECK THIS FREAK OUT !! water deers have fangs for the same reason other hooves animals have antlers! so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think of namekians as having their sharp canines for the same reasons. it could be a fun secondary sex characteristic!

ALRIGHT THATS ALL I GOT FOR NOW THANKS FOR READING!! I HAD A LOTTA FUN WRITING THIS feel free to argue abt any points made here btw!! if anyone's got any ideas about namekian biology id love to hear em!

[ziorite]

buckle up lads— i’ve played cello since before kindergarten and even if i’m no virtuoso, i’m about to unleash my thoughts on the scheherazade job upon the world anyways.

look, if hardison was good enough to play the scheherzade solo at fourteen there’s just no way he sounds that shit even if he hasn’t touched the instrument for ten years. he’s supposed to have been the most promising violinist in the city which has to be stiff competition because most classically trained string players start playing young. like three to five years old young. and we know hardison was a foster kid so he almost certainly started later than most. obviously he was talented, but now he can’t even play a scale? it just doesn’t make sense to me from what i know. i’ve gone a month without touching my cello and pretty much hopped straight back into the stuff i was practicing before after fifteen minutes of warm up. the knowledge of how to hold a bow and pull it across the string and make quality sound is the kind that doesn’t leave you— for anyone of teenage hardison’s supposed skill, that instinct is part of you for LIFE. so no, the persistent portrayal of present day hardison as completely incompetent just doesn’t sit right with me.

but that doesn’t mean i think he could pull off scheherazade’s solo without nate’s rather convenient hypnosis. so i googled around and here’s the sheet music:

to be honest i thought it would be absolute batshit crazy the way they treated it in the show. the shifts are kind of crazy but i can see a very dedicated fourteen year old who practiced the shit out of this solo being able to play it. not to say it’s not still hard! there are some SERIOUS high notes that you’d be hard pressed to hit perfectly every time even with weeks of practice under your belt. shit makes me sweat and i don’t even play that instrument.

it’s a damn impressive solo for a teenager to be playing and an absolutely deranged one to try and perform on such little notice. that’s why i need someone to rewrite the scheherazade job with more focus on hardison and his violin dammit! i feel like hardison would be able to bluff his way through the other parts of the piece with enough practice in the time he has before the job, but there’s just no way he’d be able to play that solo on his own after ten years of not touching the violin. he might not even be able to practice during all the time he has— his calluses would be gone!! that’s a whole other story!!

string instruments strings are vicious y’all. and a VAST majority of the scheherazade solo is on the teeny tiny e string that basically slices through raw fingertips. i can barely make it through five minutes of dedicated practice shifting around on my thinnest string and i’ve had my calluses built up for years; i can file these babies with a nail file and poke a hot pan with them— they get pretty damn thick, and hardison’s working with nuthin y’all. you can only go so far before you give yourself an actual blister you physically cannot play on.

as a result, i feel like hardison would’ve let nate hypnotize him if ONLY the oily little slime ball (with hate and love) had told him. i really don’t understand why nate didn’t say anything until the first place. aren’t they supposed to have learned that you’re not supposed to con your own crew already?? (not that i think nate would ever really take that to heart.)

anyways, that’s my hardison-should-be-better-at-violin propaganda as well as my why-the-scheherazade-job-needs-to-be-rewritten manifesto. maybe i’ll write it myself one of these days— leverage brainrot is real and it is a sickness. hope this 2 am rant didn’t disrupt anyone’s dashes too much!

[fandomscraziness22]

20 Questions for Writers

tagged by @legolasghosty thank you friend!!!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

88!! that's crazy!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

257,528 which is also freaking insane

3. What fandoms do you write for?

lots of different ones! i have the most for julie and the phantoms, but also lockwood and co, the bright sessions, and jurassic world: camp cretaceous/chaos theory. i do have ones for leverage, the flash, the 100, and a few others i think

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

love came crashing in (lco)

Butterflies and Glitter (jatp)

it's like this heart is defenseless (lco)

watching is worse (the second time around) (jatp)

stand up when it's all crashing down (pjo)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to! i used to be much better at always responding, but now i can't always muster up the energy to do it

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

literally all of them???? uhhhhh for jatp i've killed just about everyone but the most unmentionable ones are learn to live with the unimaginable (carlos) and i miss the days when (luke survives). for lockwood it's probs but the wolves came and went (and we're still standing) aka my torture fic. one of my personal favs is my flash fic, Betrayal (Or, how he finds out) ALSO ALMOST FORGOT i thought i was innocent (but there is blood all on my hands) for bright sessions!!

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i do happen to have some fluff fics!!! you are alive. is one of my favs of my jatp ones, and what a glorious feeling (i'm happy again) for lockwood. also shoutout to i need you like water for my happy green boys kissing in the rain

8. Do you get hate on fics?

nope! i think i maybe sorta did once, but i just screenshotted it to share with my friends and laugh about it lol

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

no, but im not opposed to someday doing it. the closest i've gotten is i hate you i love you (i hate that i want you) for bright sessions or what a glorious feeling for locklyle

10. Do you write crossovers?

i sorta did once, but that fic is abandoned. i tend to do more of aus "just the one scene" combining my fav things, but not really crossovers

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, though i wouldn't be opposed!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yes! me and @anthonyjlockwood have our club au series for jatp, and then our green boys fluff come meet me at the end of the (cereal) aisle

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

oh i cannot ever pick!!! percabeth is a childhood fav, elias/laia from an ember in the ashes (my favorite book of all time), bellarke (i refuse to believe rothenburg on that), juke and locklyle and green boys and nahri/ali from the daveabad trilogy (i love them)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

joan helps caleb actually!!! i wanted to change how college tapes went, but idk if it's gonna happen. i just want joan to set caleb straight lol

16. What are your writing strengths?

physical injuries/angst is what i'm best at! also comign up with teh most niche of au ideas but only for one scene and nothing else lol

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i wish i could write flowery language and amazing metaphors, but alas, i cannot

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i've only really done it for jatp which i feel like was what everyone was doing in that era? idk, i try not to do it too often. tho i do still really want to include sign language into a fic because i actually know that

19. First fandom you wrote for?

the 100, though i wrote some of my own stuff for Lost and Narnia before that

20. Favorite fic you've written?

can't pick, and i've mentioned a lot fo my favs already. i'll give a shoutout to i know where i belong, my leverage parker happy feels fic, and i keep getting better at slowly getting worse my habor crest fic for caleb and mark!

tagging @sabetha and @anthonyjlockwood and anyone else who wants to do it!

[blackstarchanx3new]

FSR Rambles magic 8 ball-

Here we go again, I feel the chemicals kicking in-

Ah, we've arrived at a scene I literally wanted since I read the manga so I might have some stuff to say. X'D Shadow introducing Vio to Vaati. Like I stated on the posts of these updates, it's heavily implied (And even outright stated in the German translation, thx AK for that info ^w^) Vio met with Vaati directly.

Also his "I can't believe I didn't notice..." line when fake Zelda turns out to be Vaati ALSO leads me to think he knew what Vaati looked like/has met him before....?

In English it's vague as hell but the Viz Translation has a few genuine flubs imo compared to what I've seen of other translations. (The German one seems super accurate from what I've heard? but that makes sense because it was directly translated from Japanese to German apparently. English gives off "interpretation not 1 to 1" vibes.)

Suffice to say: I've REALLY wanted to know how their interactions went down. X'D

Shadow feels he has some leverage with Vaati since TECHICALLY him and Vaati are equals? Even though Vaati bosses him around oof.

Because Creatures of darkness can sense fear, despite Vio putting on a blank face Shadow knows Vio's nervous and kinda tries to subdue it. (He cares aww)

He's really excited to get this out of the way so they can officially work together.

I figure he technically doesn't NEED Vaati's permission but is still getting it anyway: Because he doesn't wanna upset daddy lmfao.

Also the lines about Vaati being "Lazy" and using people: It comes up later

Vaati's entrance here was so fun to think of. Bro was napping or smth lmfao. Loved the idea of his weight being so huge it shoves giant gusts of wind as he rises.

The other 3 in FS seem surprised, I think it's supposed to be Green who shouts "SO THAT'S VAATI!?" during the fight. Already mentioned Vio's "I can't believe I didn't notice" rather than HORROR at the Eldridge monster they're about to take on??? X'D

Figured he got the terror out of the way when he MET Vaati. Because Vio is ya know, not experienced fighting DEMONS and virtually ALONE right now he is obviously shitting bricks at the sight of this huge floating eyeball demon lmao.

He also holds Shadow's hand cause it's cute and Shadow Link is the only person who could MAYBE protect him against Vaati.

I can't with eye contact so maybe I'm just a wuss but Vaati's design is so unnerving to me. X'D Also again: If you know my previous fandom work you know I love creepy/scary scenes. You'll notice I virtually always avoid making characters look AT YOU because I literally hate that so much in manga.

Especially in romance scenes I cannot stand eye contact, don't look at me look at your lover lmfao. So if a character in my comics is looking AT the audience: It's because it's meant to be uncomfortable.

Vio tries to dampen his own fears and Shadow not so casually tries to keep things smooth between them and Vaati. Talking about how great this is.

Vaati can see right through that shit though.

Vio tries to pass off his fear as just being nervous to meet someone so amazing lmfao. Stroke that ego Vio, Vaati's a sucker for that kind of thing.

Vaati wants a moment alone with the hero. X'D Shadow again is very adamant on Vio being on their side because he really thinks they are.

He in THEORY has just as much of a say as Vaati and has MORE of a say considering Vio's fate is up to him because Gannon put him in charge of that.

Which is hysterical considering he's like 14 to 15 here at minimum considering Link's old enough to drink in FSR and Link deals with the curse for 7 years tho their ages are really whatever in the flashbacks. Like the idea of Vaati and a 14 year old having the same amount of say on their evil plans is so damn funny to me lmao. Gannon thinks Vaati is as competent and useful as a literal child and that's HILARIOUS.

Vio is quick to realize Shadow's wording here and that SOMEONE is a bigger player. He assumes Gannon because that's the only name he has to go off of.

Something I noticed in the manga: Despite being Shadow's partner Shadow doesn't EXPLAIN a LOT to Vio. Vio has to ask him things lmao. I genuinely wonder if it's a trust issue thing or if it's a "he didn't ask so I didn't tell" thing. I had to be smart about this scene because Vio and Shadow don't bring up Gannon until like...WAY LATER in the timeline of them hanging out. I really try to take into consideration the timeline of the actual manga while writing in-between scenes. I'd love to do an entire rewrite of FS but I do not have the time or patience for that. X'D

Honestly the most annoying thing about writing in between scenes is just how WEIRD it is from like: a regular ass person perspective.

Like it's not natural to be like "Yeah lol Gannon, I'll wait to bring that up like a week after it was first relevant"

This is done a LOT in media. Lmao literally just experianced a scene like that in JJK volume 0. It's like for the audiences sake, always awkward and ALWAYS done for exposition, and it's ALWAYS weird from like: an actual person conversation side of things? Idk if I'm articulating this well lmao.

So Shadow was told to leave the room because Vio brings up Gannon to gain Vaati's trust and I needed a reason for Shadow and Vio not to bring up Gannon here because they do later in the manga.

But I thought it'd be clever if Vio brought up Ganon because: He's already gambling might as well use the fact he THINKS the bigger player is Ganon to his advantage.

Anyways: Shadow's still a bro and gives Vio some advice on dealing with Vaati.

The panel of Vaati's eyeball/body taking up the entire background behind Vio while he steels his mind miiiiiight have a very special place in my heart. UwU It's just so ominous.

I wanted to get across just how much of a threat Vaati is. Mans is TERRIFYING. He's also HUGE.

Vio's rightfully terrified of this thing. I really wanted to show the struggle Vio went through with this plan because it was A HUGE RISK. I feel kinda snuffed we didn't get to see Vio's struggles with this plan in the manga save a few panels of him looking guilty.

We were robbed by page restraints and I'll never forgive whoever only gave Akira 2 volumes for FSA for that, they did SO GOOD for what they had to work with though so don't think I'm dunking on them for this.

I also get the liberty of giving thought bubbles. Smth I noticed is the severe LACK of thought bubbles in FSA?

Also 1 on 1 convos but that's a whole other thing. Again, time and page restraints would be my assumed reason. Pacing in FSA was rushed so I can't really say "For pacing reasons" imo.

So we get to see inside Vio's head as he goes through this, he uses Shadow's assumptions about him here: "Admitting" he always had second thoughts and admired the darkness.

Vaati is obviously skeptical of this nonsense considering who Vio is.

Vio really hams it up.

Bringing up Gannon which surprises Vaati considering NONE of the heroes should even know about Gannon. He is purely there to distract them while Gannon gains power after all lmao.

The fact one of them KNOWS is not only surprising but kinda scary!

Vio continues to show his "faithfulness" by bowing and declaring his loyalty.

His words hit different for somebody who's been through the same shit as Vio's describing, as Vaati's eyes widen and his wings droop as Vio continues to describe how he would have been despised. If you don't know: Minish Cap manga explains Vaati worshipped the darkness and was a bit of an outcast.

Vio's mind is on one person only at this moment: Princess Zelda! :D

Vio cares about Zelda deeply as we'll continue to see through FSR.

I don't like to see it as romantic (Just because I think Vio is gay but that's a whole other thing), but he is DRAWN to her and wants to protect her no matter what, because well a LOT of reasons.

1. He's apart of Link. And this version of Link and Zelda are childhood friends and deeply care about each other. So just on a personal level he wants her to be alright

2. He's apart of the chosen hero destined forced to save hyryle.

3. I kind of like to think Zelda Gannon and Link have the Triforce in FSR at least, and it's drawn to itself. Side note: Would love for the Triforce to appear on Link/the four's hands at some point. Because I love that design motif on Links.

The moment of truth...Did his plan work? Everything is FUCKED if it didn't...

Vaati just silently stares at him as Vio dares to raise his head to meet Vaati's eye.

But Vio can't even tell if Vaati's looking at him in this moment with that thousand yard stare.

Rightfully: Vio is still shitting bricks.

Lol so that blurred word bubble is Vio stating "Lord Vaati?" but Vaati can't hear him lmao.

He's too busy wrapped up in remembering the time he grave robbed-

Jokes aside: You might have noticed smth a tad ODD about being able to see what Vaati was thinking in this moment. But this point is SO FAR from being relevant I'll just leave you to think about it.

If ya noticed it: You noticed. I'll bring it up when it's actually relevant. Which is a LONG time away.

Anyways also if you don't know: Master Elzo gives Link the hat Vaati used to be magical boy at the end of Minish Cap's manga. So Vaati's just stealing it back lmfao.

He is still a demon with magic regardless of the hat, the hat is just a symbol of his bad boy-ness.

Also the idea he "returned" to Minish Cap Link after the dude died was an idea I just could not leg go of.

I maybe have an idea for Minish Cap Link in FSR but I dunno if I'll end up going with it or WHERE. Stuff has changed in the script before so who knows.

Stealing some of Zelda's light force forever fucked Vaati's mind and body up.

You can kinda assume what went down but the general idea is Master Elzo is fucking dead and Vaati's on a downward spiral. Link is dead because the door between the Picori and the Hylians only opens every 100 years. Also the "Using people" line: Vaati often doesn't use his own striength but uses others to achieve his goals. Ya know like a coward. X'D

Nobody ever fully trusted or accepted Vaati after what he did in the events of the Minish Cap manga. Sooooo.

Bro turns back to the dark side.

That's the only thing I could think of after seeing he was "Good" at the end of Minish cap manga I was like "????????" after reading FSA first. X'D

Like did he just wake up one day and decide to be evil again lmfao.

The Zelda manga's reference themselves so I'm under the impression they're all SOMEWHAT connected. SO like- WHAT'S VAATI'S DEAL???

Presumably after this he went on to do the events in the story told at the start of the FS Manga: where he fights the first incarnation of the four hero.

Which holy shit I'd also like to dive into buuuuut mmghhh- It's wild to me OUR Link from FS manga is the SECOND bitch to do this. Like MMHH So interesting to me...

Insanity aside this is my explanation for "Good" Vaati. He just reverted. Like a lot of people would under that scenario.

Lol looking at the same face he did years ago. That must be weird.

Vaati kinda felt a kin-ship with the purple hero cause...YOU KNOW. EVERYTHING I STATED BEFORE THIS. XD

He's a Link-

He's caught off guard by all this so is just kinda like "Oh...Yeah sure you're a part of the team yeah... Yeah...Whatever" Vio broke Vaati by appealing to his trauma lmao.

Shadow spying on if Vio's okay is very funny to me. Dude's worried about his new friend.

Shadow nervously walking up to Vaati after being caught spying is very funny to me. Bro was just keeping an eye on his new Boyfriend. UwU

Vaati asks for Vio's unput well: Because he was on the Four Hero team at one point lol. If he IS evil getting his opinion is a good route to take.

Which he doesn't fully believe considering he's still sus of Vio but doesn't feel like arguing with Shadow, who is the equivalent to his boss's entitled bratty kid.

Vio of course gets leverage to go to Death Mountain, because he's holding onto the idea he MIGHT be able to regroup.

Vaati's still distracted as fuck from the state of his expression. X'D Like he's kinda just, repeating himself/out of it.

Shadow's just like "Yeah yeah shut up we're great yeah yeah It's fine it's fine"

Shadow takes a moment to just walk ever so casually away from Vaati getting enough distance before showing how happy/excited he is.

I just like drawing Shadow trying to touch Vio in some way he's so starved for attention and positive interaction. Not having a bad word to breathe about Vio before the betrayal was always funny to me from the manga. He just admires this boy so much.

Like, I like showing off that "He's not really EVIL" side of Shadow link half the fandom seems to DESPISE.

Cry harder we sympathize with Shadow Link in this house. UwU

Vio's cracking under the welcoming nature a little by making a jokes, and even thinks "Man I used to be scared of this dude"

Shadow is just a little guy in love and I like that about him moving on-

Vio laughs at his dumb joke and Shadow's like "Finally you're not a tense weirdo" X'D

Vio's coping hard lmao.

He's still just a kid during these events so it's HARD to deal with what's going on. I wanted to write him getting his cracking through because how normal he acts in the events of the manga leads me to think he steeled himself overtime.

Laughing his ass off before going into a state of pure raw emotion of "Holy shit I could have just died" comes off as jarring and unnerving.

Shadow can tell SOMETHING's wrong but guesses the cause wrong.

Shadow assumes Vio's having a difficulty with the heat.

This goes off of TOTK/BOTW logic where sapphires ward off heat because I think that's awesome.

If I were rewrighting FSA I'd have him give Vio a different outfit or smth like that.

I DO love the sapphire specifically though because um: Anyone remember what the Zora Sapphire was in OOT?

Lmao an engagement ring- X'DDDD

From that one frame of Blue yanking out his hammer from his hat we know they store shit in there. Freakin' Link From the LOZ cartoon has a magic bag that shrinks his shit and I find that hysterical. I like to think Link's hat works similarly.

Vio's blushing and not unsubtle heart skipping is so funny to me.

If the fact Vio kissed Shadow first didn't already get ya:

Vio's in love with Shadow Link too lmao.

[cordycepsfem]

I genuinely can’t wrap my head around why the TQ are against therapy instead of blockers? Like surely as empathetic human beings you’d want to make sure that a child isn’t making an irreversible mistake? I guess you can blame the propaganda that they’re safe (funny how prone to misinformation the TQ is).

But I just don’t get it. Surely if a child/teenager is suicidal about something that is not real (gender) then a therapists office is the best place they can be? Not to mention help with any other problems at home they might be dealing with.

Why is irreversible medication the go to? Why is hating your body so desperately just accepted? We don’t tell people with anorexia they should stay thinner, we don’t tell depressed people ‘yeah you should just kill your self’.

What makes gender so special? What makes it more desperate than other mental health issues that it needs to bypass therapy altogether? But I guess in a way that makes it kind of tragic.

Anon, I wish I had answers for you.

Like many of us, I’m sure, I have a past with mental illness, self harm, and suicide. Never once did a professional tell me to continue to harm myself, to stop taking medications that were helping me feel better, or to go through with suicide. Their goal was to help me live through those dark times, find ways to help me, and teach me coping skills that would help me in the future. Not once was I told to leverage my suicidal ideation into basically blackmailing others into doing what I wanted… because that’s abusive.

I feel like part of it, as you said, has to do with a lot of misinformation surrounding things like “puberty blockers.” There’s also a huge social issue to consider - if parents are less than supportive, or if they don’t immediately jump to acquiescing to everything their child wants, there’s backlash. “Would you rather have a dead daughter than a living son??”

But by the time children get to that point, where they’re demanding X and Y or else - that’s a sign of serious mental health issues, not gender dysphoria, and those issues should be treated with therapy. I also think there’s a lot of “social transitioning” going on, where teens are finding these “identities” that are not indicative of gender dysphoria but are ways to control how others think about them and the words they use to describe them, like “non-binary” or “demiboy.” Those don’t require drugs, necessarily, but they demand an attitude change and special attention.

And there’s still a contingent of parents who are attempting to “trans the gay away” despite their child being very young - too young to know their sexuality. Swishy, feminine boys don’t always turn out to be gay, and even if they did, that’s okay. Tomboys and girls who dare to like “boys’ things” don’t always turn out to be lesbians, but again, if they did, that would be okay. Homophobia is driving a lot of people - either parents or individuals themselves - to look into transition. See Jazz Jennings for a real-time look into that phenomenon.

I cannot understand why parents accept the risk for their children and give them off-label dangerous drugs, followed by cross-sex hormones. They are giving up their child’s chance at full emotional, mental, and physical growth; any chance of sexual pleasure, orgasm, and fertility; and they’re doing it all on a pathway that is irreversible for the most part.

When I have conversations with some trans people or trans allies, I’ve had people tell me that I’m wrong and cruel for not transitioning and instead using therapy to handle my gender dysphoria and body dysmorphic disorder. Despite all of the evidence out there, for some reason magic pills and surgeries are going to cure a mental health issue better than therapy.

I don’t really pray anymore, but if I did, I’d pray for the children who were wrongly trans’ed to be able to sue their parents and doctors in the future. They lost their chance at a normal childhood and a full adulthood, and someone deserves to pay for it.

[away-ward]

Newcomer here and i just finished nightfall, wanted to share because i saw your fics. Unwanted confessions, and idk if you've received these kinds before: dn series made me feel old. These characters mature so fast and were so sexualised since they were young, and later on being only in their mid 20s, acting as if the world will collapse just because they dont have kids or make babies at 24. They gave me white christian religious parents trauma frfr. Their obsession of being liberal but gender roles still being so conservative put the feminism movement back to 200 years ago, i fucking hate every characters in this series except for emory, frfr. Like they can be dark romance rich billionaires and have amazing char arcs but what the fuck was that series? Dn made me believe, rich white privilege people and blonds are really THAT fucking stupid. I'd like to go to the US just to see blond white privileged americans act like rika & winter frfr.

oh, And that wuss ass "lover" guy will grayson who "claimed" to love emory scott so much (🙄) reach out to her yada yada, while fucking around with other women and having threesomes here and there so easily, it was NOT swoony or romantic. He's cheap as fuck, i hate manwhore male characters like him so fucking much. And they just excuse his shit because he was pining for emory, as if he fucking deserves her or somthing. I swear, will grayson does not deserve emory scott, but thats my unpopularopinion. if he had cared enough about emmy, he shouldve fought for her harder. Urgh, i hate weak male characters, such a turn off. All that nightfall plot happening only because he was the weakest of them, yikes. Cant believe he was only ever a man with emory, it's giving "she's only tough when a man saves her" trope, but in reverse, and oh, what does that looks like? Rika fane and winter ashby's arcs! Rika, winter and will, three dumbest characters of the series, frfr. No wonder damon liked them, theyre so similar with one another. Emory scott's patience is truly better than mine.

And Dont even get me started with alex. I hate her in noghtfall. Why did pd butcher her charcter like that? I was shocked, girl! Shocked! Not even banks and rika who treated her like shit initially got a slap, and emmy who didnt even bother got one? In a conversation thats not even about her? The fuck? Where's the girl's girl personality at? Out the window now that her love life with aydin was threathened? Wow. Worse is, they're friends (emmy alex).... i hate pd for this, they just cannot write two pretty female friends who thrive. They always make their male caharcters have amazing bonds with each other, but all fmcs had some sort of internalised misogynistic catfights. If pd can give us willdamon, they can give us rikalaex, banksemmy, alexemmy amazing female frienships alright. Pd just chose not to. And notice how all of their other books, the girls were always around men, but no amazing same-age female presence in their live? Even emmy admitted she was not familiar around woman. Like?? She had amazing relationship with her mom and grandma was compared to the rest no? Why cant we have at least this in this whole disgusting male worshipping series? Istg, there was no reason for pd to build up a powerful and empowering worldbuilding for a women like the horsemen's wives but only to make their same teachers to be men, who never had to know what it feels like to struggle as a woman, ESPECIALLY in their society in thunder bay? This happened in birthday girl, in fall away, misconduct, like??? Its a pattern atp. I hate it. If you have any book recs thathave amazing female relationship between women, please do share, i need some cleansing from all these stupid male chars.

Other than that, i guess i shouldnt have ever expected monogamy or exclusivity in relationships when it comes to pd's books too. These chars are all so overly touchy. I heard about the rikabanks bonus, and it ruined hideaway and corrupt for me. Because why is banks whole ass personality about being jealous of rika, being so caught with damon and kai, AFTER A WHOLE DECADE. does she not have a fucking hobby or go to therapy or something? Stupid as hell. And why is rika being in the centre a.fucking.gain. God, shes dull af, pd just stop! What also pisses me off even more is when people can freely kiss and touch will (like alex, winter to will in killswitch and noghtfall train scene), but god forbid emmy had the same attention or touchesfrom other men, that bitchass grayson starts to act up, as if he fought for her life or something. Fuck him honestly, atleast damon admitted he was a literal piece of shit. I hate people and chars like will because theyre so hypocritical. Never in a million years i would expect to hate will in his own book, but god damn, he really really ruined nightfall for me. Not a single redeeming quality to that fucker. He made me swore so much. I already hated him for his treatment to rika banks and winter in the previous books, and now him with emmy? And just watching emmy getting hurt again again again, not only by her world and herself, but also by will, by his own friends, and by the people associated to his world like aydin and taylor, and never standing by her side through it all? Yea. No. Fuck man, i hate will grayson so much. I wouldve given up on him by the end of the train scene, ngl.

will grayson will never be a real man to me. Like he's a wuss, my girl emory deserve better. "His only mistake was he loves too much", no his mistake was being a hypocritical self-righteous shallow privilege entitled narcissistic assaulting male whore. And Thats only the tip of the iceberg of his shitty character. Nightfall ws the biggest scam.

i honestly just wanna vent out my feelings about this book, because i just finished nightfall, and hooooo i never thought i'd hate will, man. Never thought i'd hate him like i hated michael and damon but here we are. It's always the hypocritical angelic male ones that ends up being scum like this. Oo at least kai was only whiny and hurt rika/ banks and bare in mind, kai was still fucking shit and i hate him, but god damn, will grayson really was the biggest disappointment of devils night series for me. I immediately went to tumblr to check out his tags and found your fics, and i'd like to say, i like your will only 5% more. I cannot imagine will being that good to emmy honestly, so i guess it stays as a wish fulfillment for me as a fan of emmy. I might fucking hate will, but emmy loves him so wtv. If emmy had done one wrong thing, its will grayson. i cant lie, this was shocking to me because i went into this book expecting to like will. But i only came to meet a whiny loser ass white privilege guy who never had to suffer anything other than the consequences of his and his friend's actions? Wow, not enough that we had this kind of man irl, theyre everywhere in fiction too, god! And people hate rika more? Nah, i hated rika, but never more than will grayson frfr. Theyre all so fucking dumb. And on that dumb note, whats with the chars (except for emmy) always anticipating damon? He never served? He talked shit so much, but never actually served? The fuck? At least in haunting adeline, zade meadows did what he said. Damon was just the guy thatblabbers too much, but do nothing. And even when he had plans, its always with someone else's help? Huh? Cant believe they compared zade to damon. Theyre both scums, but at least zade had creds, and then theres damon, the bland no-skills wolf-like guy.. ughhhh 🤮🤢 i hate when author tries to use shock value to hide their awful arcs, because damon torrance and rika fane were two of their mostshitty ass chars arcs written so far. Plus michael. Michael was like a standee to his friends, but thats a whole nother topic.

i honestly dont know if its fine for me to rant here since im a newbie but if you dont feel comfy, you can just delete this post, just wanted to vomit my rants yk.

i honestly dont know if its fine for me to rant here since im a newbie but if you dont feel comfy, you can just delete this post, just wanted to vomit my rants yk.

Honestly, I have inadvertently cultivated a place for people to send their anonymous rants, so I guess why not? It’s fine.

To be perfectly honest, though, there’s not a lot for me to reply to.

First, thank you so much for reading my fics! And for hating them 5% less that the series. I’m going to take it as a compliment. If it wasn’t meant that way, then let me live in delusion.

Of course, the characters in my fics are a bit more idealized. I write them the way I wanted them to be, which if you read other portions of my blog, is far from what PD has given us. That’s fine, they own the characters; they can write them however they want. But I wrote something that was self-indulgent and soothed over the parts of the series that hurt the most for me, or that I felt were the most intriguing. I wrote them for me first, and posted them in case it helped anyone else. I’m happy that people enjoy them, but I know they’re not everyone’s tastes.

Second, I guess I’ll say I’m sorry about Nightfall. The sour feeling of being let down, I think, is one that most of us are familiar with here.

Ummm. I do think it’s a little weird that you’ve read multiple PD books, and even finished the DN series… especially since you were looking forward to Will. Because I hated Will for the first three books and if I weren’t curious about Emory, I wouldn’t have finished the series at all. I also find it equally weird that your first impulse after finishing a series you hate is to go to the tag of the character you hated the most? I mean, I’ve definitely clicked on hot-takes I know I’m going to disagree with and hate-read things, but it’s not my go-to.

I’m sure the Emory tag is lovely.

I haven’t read any of PDs other books, so I don’t know how they compare.

Beyond that,

I swear, will grayson does not deserve emory scott, but thats my unpopularopinion.

Maybe if you were to poll everyone who has ever read the series, that would be an unpopular opinion, but I think if you look back about six months on this blog, you’ll probably find a dozen or so messages almost exactly like this. So, around these parts, it’s not such an unpopular opinion. I think most people who message me probably feel the exact same way.

But I’ve already written essays of poorly done character analysis to defend Will, Emory, their relationship, and his relationship with others. There’s not much for me to add to that without just restating myself. I share some of the same opinions as you, and some different ones. I don’t think your thoughts and feelings are very unpopular at all.

If you have any book recs thathave amazing female relationship between women, please do share, i need some cleansing from all these stupid male chars

Unfortunately, I haven’t had a lot of time to read lately, so all of my recommendations would be old. When I do have the time, I’ve been rereading stuff.

I also don’t have KU, so I’m not familiar with the catalog. I had it at one point, specifically to read Nightfall, and afterward I started a lot of different series, but there wasn’t a lot that caught my attention. I’m sure there are a lot of KU readers with blogs around that would be able to offer you a rec.

I have recently reread the English version of Hana Yori Dango, or Boys Over Flowers. One thing I noted was how amazing the female relationships are. They’re so positive, even when the girls are conflicted. It’s a manga, 37 volumes long, so of course it would take a diagram or a PowerPoint to break down how this is, but it was something I really appreciated on this read through. The girls are all very different, too, without feeling like they're cardboard cut-outs. If you’re at all interested in manga, and I know not everyone is so no worries, I highly recommend it. It’s honestly a superior take on the “4 rich boys who cause trouble” and their romances.

I’ve also been rereading Sempre, which I mentioned before. That’s sort of a mafia romance, but I would categorize it as dark. I’ve been noting how supportive the female relationships are there as well. I’ve really been enjoying that this time around.

And that brings me to a TV show, actually. I’ve mentioned it and reblogged a lot of Leverage stuff, but it truly is a comfort show for me. Parker sits very close to Emory in my heart, and I had hoped that Emory would have some of the same opportunities to develop relationships that Parker had. Parker’s relationship with Sophie is so interesting and nice to watch unfold.

In fact, something I haven’t said before because I don’t think anyone would understand it, is that I had hoped that Alex would become more like a Terra-type character. For anyone interested, here’s an episode. You’d need Amazon to watch it, but it’s probably free somewhere anyway.

Anyway, that’s all I got right now. I truly am sorry that it was such a bad experience for you. You’re welcome to stick around, but I’m sure since you hated so much, you’re ready to move on after unloading like that. But it’s all good either way. I hope you’re on to better and better things.

Take care of yourself!

With love and appreciation,

-KO

[fumblingmusings]

does Evelyn or any of your female characters ever struggle with their appearance? especially with the ever-changing beauty standards, "ideal weight", etc.

Ohhhh! That's such a good question! I never really thought about it before, but you are right! See I'm the loser who's like 'everyone is beautiful in their own way~' which I know can be distinctively unhelpful at times in the real world...

But it's interesting for nations, because I love discussions about if they are actually beautiful, or if some genuinely are butt ugly (but in what way if you catch my drift, because then it risks crossing over into tying moral purity with beauty, which is such a lazy trope and a dangerous one too I think). There will also be instances of those with chronic illnesses or injuries which will affect their opinion of themselves, and society's view of them too. I think gender again comes in here. Especially in nations, where female nations are rarer. Gender and beauty standards are sort of inextricably entangled.

I think most nations are, at the very least, interesting to look at. If such a thing is possible without leering like a creep. Plus, as you say, with the changing attitudes to beauty, someone like a female England would be considered somewhat unattractive for most of her history, except for certain periods like the late Victorian/early Edwardian, the 20s (minus the bob), the 60s (mod fashion) and 90s (the horridly names heroin chic comes to mind).

It's tricky though, right? Are they so old that human standards no longer affect them? Or are they so painfully human in this regard where the need to be physically attractive is still something they want? To be wanted? Or is that too vulnerable? Maybe it's more pragmatic, that to be considered beautiful allows them to buy into Beauty = Goodness and therefore give them some kind of leverage since, as female nations, they will lack political power that most of their male counterparts have without a second thought etc etc...

The trap of a misogynistic and patriarchal system is you either play by the rules (and get punished for it), or you reject the rules and go your own path... and get punished for it. So the girls cannot win. I can imagine they all, after so long start to develop really twisted views of their own bodies.

To run through each girl, New Zealand's is twisted up in colonial white understandings of beauty which is juxtaposed with the Māori, so then how do you marry those two up? Should she? Then in South East Asia I can imagine Vietnam worked super hard at this. To train herself out of worrying about the tone of her skin, and how her hair should behave, or if she has too many muscles and isn't 'soft' enough. She will rock up in a t-shirt and shorts, and that's enough. She's more than enough. Moving further north, Taiwan elects to go with being cute over being beautiful because those are parameters that she can control. Cute could be considered a female driven standard. I may be mis-remembering, but there's several trends in East Asian fashion (the Japanese Lolita comes to mind) which are born around being as visually unappealing to men, but as visually appealing to women as possible. I think Taiwan may take that approach.

Zipping over to Europe...

The fact the Belgium is literally described as being plain by Hima (which... okay) means to me she that, if she doesn't stand out against a crowd, she learned how to be the centre of attention through her personality and charm. She dresses practically and plainly maybe because she is not interested in being the centre of attention. She believes her personality and her relations will carry her through. Czechia slams right into tomboyishness, perhaps thinking of how she is surrounded by boys, ergo, she has to be one of the boys to get through it. And maybe she's totally fine with that? Maybe her gender and perception of self is really fluid and she is whatever she fancies being at that moment. But not to the point where being called cute by Slovakia doesn't completely throws her for a loop still. Though that may be just from never being on the receiving end of a compliment rather than it jarring with her presentation and perception of self... could be both?

And of course Hungary has her own gender and self perception journey and I can imagine she had a wild time of it when the realisation of what was going on actually hit. I don't know what I think a cis character realising they're cis and being totally fine about it at the end of the day would look like but... well that's Hungary. She seems very content with herself. I like to think it was not just a simple conversation and all is well. I like to think there was a lot of conversations and thinking and testing the waters until she got where she is today.

For a long time, the European standard was high forehead, long neck, small shoulders, small waist but noticeable stomach and hips. Pear shaped? Them birthing hips. Then, in addition, the 'usual' for Western Northern Europe (which is still in effect in many places) is blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. Red hair is bad, freckles are bad. All the Atlantic Archipelago nations have freckles. But I think maybe say Ireland gets the body shape but England gets the colouration (until she starts to turn grey - English Roses require pink noses cheeks and ears and she's half blue at points so...) but neither sister checks each box in turn.

Evelyn has always been small - short and skinny even in her "good" years, but she, for most of the fic, is positively skeletal. Sunken big eyes, small mouth, and a sharp nose and ears. I had a comment telling me I missed the bird comparisons (Eva Avis) but yeah, she's a small robin bird. Territorial to boot. Like, Arthur has increasingly over the years been depicted as incredibly fey and scrawny. I was lazy and did the same with the female!

In the fic, Evelyn is desperate to be wanted. If she can't be a romantic partner for someone, if she can't be desired in that way, she'll take the other route, that of motherhood, which is a role that doesn't take your worth from your appearance. I didn't really talk about how she views herself - if she thinks she is pretty or beautiful or if she's ugly or if it never really crosses her mind at all - but I think maybe it's her lack of health that is what eats at her. So she sticks to what she knows. She wears beautiful dresses when she needs to because she likes beautiful things, but also restricts in what materials she goes for to prove a point to no-one except herself. Otherwise loose and comfy is what she goes for. She doesn't like people touching her hair, and she never cuts it for reasons that I have not yet decided on. She likes to wear pearls because they're a metaphor for empire in the fic and the fact that to have a pearl is to murder the creature that gave you such beauty and the reason she never wears them around Ludwig is because she can't hold leverage over him no wait

Anyway. I think maybe most nations, as time passes, as they grow slowly, as they retain wounds and scars from damage to their land and bodies... health is what becomes the most important. For most of history, flushed cheeks and ears, bright eyes, shining hair and clean teeth are signs of beauty. Health, I think matters most. Which is why when nations are struggling, especially the female ones, it can get quite difficult for them. As I said at the start, it is an easy but lazy trope to tie health with value and beauty, especially in the centuries where a person's value was determined by their usefulness, but that doesn't stop people for believing it over the millennia. You have to take a cleaver to it, separate them into distinct spheres.

[the-firebird69]

We have some big things to do today and our son is sitting here doing nothing and you kind of says it my back is killing me and he can't carry things in the backpack. And he needs to supplement what he has it's not an emergency but it would be nice so we are thinking about what to do and it's not really that great but he can do it a little bit so that's how it's going to happen apparently we have a few more things to talk about but he says it's too heavy for that system it really is too heavy so he needs the other bike.

We're going to get moving on some stuff here

We have more announcements coming up later but in Charlotte County there's going to be big changes coming very soon people are going to court too today and tomorrow and they're getting arrested and pulled in the neighborhood is weakening they're like 30 houses with one person no they're about 12 and there are 20 with two people and we don't expect them to last much longer there are some that relocate and we think it's a good idea Tommy has control of this area to a degree and you're going to sit through a battle it's really a war so they're thinking of it and that's happening right now too couple more things

-you have your hands out like you're getting something from us when you're doing despicable things here we're not giving you stuff for we're telling you to go to hell and to know in certain terms and you end up going to hell we're tired of you doing it and tired of you saying it

-with that said they're going to be five arrests today four of them from this construction crew because of their asinine attitude towards our son which they've had the whole time and there will be one more which is Jack and they're hunting them down right now and they told people here not to come back I'll be arrested and they don't believe them and it's going to happen and it's not just one group doing it you guys are mean and threaten people and do illegal stuff right here and threatening people with equipment and you're not following the rules and laws regarding highway projects your barrier is illegal that's in the road you're a bunch of stupid s**** and you're taking forever on purpose which is illegal and they're charging you with it now and arresting you

-Terry C is going to go to court soon he doesn't know it Stan knows he's going to be evicted he's not here and he's not paying rent and says you can't use it or go in it and that's the apartment and it's been almost 2 months really it's 2 months with non-payment that's really why and it's coming down to both of them saying they're threatening our son and our son is saying by law I have to have a contract and you can go to jail and he's saying I cannot and I said yeah you can I'm forcing myself to stay here out of your mind how you going to prove that stupid s*** pictures of you following me around and how did you get those pictures you're a dumb as hell and he's sitting there saying yeah okay and he says I don't have any evidence and it's true and he would get defeated in court and he says what do I do I said nothing just I need to leverage and he's saying boy that's bad and so what and all the sudden he says I'll raise the rent you raise the rent I'm going to search for real and on purpose so now he's in trouble with his boss and he's saying you're this goddamn video that doesn't get that so I'm sure the guy in front helps him out with the math I mean you guys are a pile of idiots he's going to meet up with his own I know but he's going to get it and that stan but he's going to take over these sweets first. And he will be pitted against Billy z if he doesn't do something he's going to lose everything and Billy z makes a point of saying it and Dave Dan is attacking and Jason so he starts attacking Billy z as he can't control it anymore without having power over people it says our son will pay and stuff like that so just hand it over and shut up it's just laughing and says yeah probably true so while this is going on and he is going to start fighting Tommy f the guy is saying all sorts of s*** about our son court and things like that he says you have an illegal employee John remillard and he's saying oh yeah yeah I know about that so now he's trying to threaten him and the court knows who I am so I'm I was a juror and I got excused because of people like you and he's mad and he says all such a s*** cuz you want to fight I said if you want to fight step outside stan if you don't you'll pay for your arrogance. Today and right now so we think you won't go outside and we're going to make him pay for the challenge just like we did Jack and he paid pretty heavy he got shot and arrested several times so far and he'll have to stan wi'll have to be put down like a dog too.

-my son and daughter say they can't do anything against this empire for the most part and we noticed we are ramping it up and we do see what you're saying we need nights away satin we need to start doing that and pretty quickly Mac proper can't prove it at all

-other things are happening this is huge Stan is going to evict the little baby Terry C coming up we believe at the first of the month because he would have not paid for May and June and we think April 2 and you only need to not pay one month and with his threat and he wants to move in there and be in two places and try and kick bja out but when he's next door he can take over the fleet so what people say. Now we're going to print

Thor Freya

Olympus

This is huge news and very important and Stan is a big thorn in my side soon to be removed after a procedure or two

Hera

Zues

[proofwhisky]

THOMAS ISN'T SURE WHAT EXACTLY HE had been expecting Ariadne to do. He's known her for the majority of his life, and he has watched her be stubborn as a bull for every single second. She's spent as much time resisting any semblance of the loss of her own authority over herself as Tommy has ( that is to say, a fucking exorbitant amount of time ). He usually finds it to be endearing at the best of times, a mild annoyance at worst. But now, here, he finds it to be completely and totally neutral.

He has no control over anything. Not really.

Part of him tries to protest at himself, to spur himself into action, but there is no point. Why should she take his orders, anyway? There's no time to explain, and if there was, it would be wasted.

He realizes that he's missing a glass on the table for her, and turns around to look at her once more after having paused for what seemed like far too long with his back to her. When he turns and looks at her the fear in his eyes has died entirely, instead replaced with such a cold pool of apathy that it's almost worse to witness than the terror had been. He doesn't say anything, doesn't sigh, doesn't protest, just gestures to the clean glasses lined up next to the sink behind the bar.

"Then hurry. Bring yourself a glass and sit next to me," he says.

He absently reaches to the firearm tucked in a holster beneath his shoulder like it's his security blanket. Technically, it is, though it doesn't offer much warmth. He remembers he's given it to Grace when he does not find its reassuring weight there, and cannot bring himself to react.

When Ari meets him at the table he takes a seat alongside her, and turns one final time to meet her eyes.

"Don't say a word. Let me speak for myself."

Thomas knows the futility in trying to control anyone else with nothing but words, least of all her, but he has to say it out loud to let it be known, otherwise he wouldn't be able to justify his hurt if she does decide to ignore him again. He can't explain to her that it's as much ( if not more ) about her own safety and wellbeing than his own, that his chilly exterior and harsh words to Grace had come from a place of deep fear borne from affection, that the last thing he wants in the world is for her to lose her career, reputation, and quality of life just to be reduced to a casualty of the Shelby narrative.

The unlocked double doors to the Garrison rattle open and Tommy drops Ariadne's gaze, hands balled into tense fists on his lap as two men enter the pub and give pause when they notice the woman sitting to Tommy's right. They look to one another and then chuckle lowly, sounding more like starving dogs than men.

Tommy clears his throat. "My partner," he says firmly, gesturing to Ari but not looking at her. He's afraid that if he takes his eyes off of the Irishmen for a single second that they might somehow vaporize and transpose themselves, leaving him even more powerless than he already is.

The two men seem to get the message, shrugging after another moment and then sauntering lazily over to join Tommy and his partner at the small round table.

Tommy sets the four empty glasses in front of the two visitors, Ari, and himself, pouring some whisky into three glasses and then water into the fourth, to make a point that he remembers their drink orders from their random visit weeks ago, in a desperate attempt to gain leverage of some kind.

The men stare at their drinks and don't touch them. Eventually the one on the right shakes his head with a mean smile and asks, "Do you have what we came for?"

Tommy reaches into his breast pocket and produces a folded piece of paper, holding it up for them to see. "Do you have the cash?"

The man on the left reaches into his own pocket and tosses a thick envelope of cash onto the table between them.

Tommy in turn tosses his map onto the table and doesn't move to pick up the money. "You're going to need a shovel," he says, an air of knowing sarcasm about him.

The two men look to each other and break into those wild grins once more, the man on the left producing a pistol from his pocket and pointing it at Tommy's head. "You thick fucking tinker," he says, cocking the weapon.

Tommy takes an imperceptible breath and reaches for his glass of whisky, raising it in the air in a toast. "To barmaids who don't count."

It's difficult to process what happens next, so unbelievably unlucky as it is. There is such a fury that Thomas has to feel bubble to the surface only for it to vanish instantly when he sees that the man on the left, who had been pointing a gun at his head, is now slumped over the table, and the man on the right is producing his own pistol to point at Ariadne. Grace floats somewhere behind him, also with a loaded gun, and Tommy is grateful that he does not have time to acknowledge his own foolishness, having put any amount of trust into anyone outside of himself.

In a knee-jerk reaction, almost, Thomas blindly grabs the barrel of the pistol and yanks it towards himself, then downwards, the movement so quick that the Irishman doesn't even reactively squeeze the trigger until the muzzle is pointed at the wooden floorboards. Tommy uses the recoil produced by the misfire to bring the butt of the gun and the man's fist into his own face, taking advantage of his disorientation to all but dive into him, bringing them both down onto the floor and sending the gun sliding far into the back corner of the pub and out of reach.

He has no idea how much time passes while he and the Irishman fight for the upper hand on the floor like dogs, both of them clearly ready and able to snuff out the other's life at the first chance they find; unfortunately for Thomas, the Irishman finds his chance first.

The crushing weight on his trachea, a bag over his head, acrid with the stench of gunpowder and sweat, send him instantly back to somewhere dark and damp, deep underground, where he'd had to slowly drain the life of a young Prussian boy with green eyes. It had taken so much longer than he'd anticipated, his arms aching with lactic acid, trembling with effort before his victim finally went limp. He'd watched the blood vessels in his eyes pop one by one, watched his tongue swell and droop, watched his skin darken to a sickly violet...

Tommy feels his own tongue, heavy in his mouth, and tries to fight the ring of blackness that slowly begins encroaching at the edges of his vision, thrashing as hard as he can with what little precious oxygen is left in his blood, wasting it.

Then suddenly the crushing weight is gone, along with the warmth of the man behind him, and all he can do for several seconds is cough and scramble to yank the bag from over his head to get his bearings, fighting for consciousness and trying to ignore the pounding in his head. Finally he wrenches the bag from over his head and gulps down air, looking around at wholly unfamiliar surroundings until his brain finally has sufficient oxygen once more.

Ariadne hits the ground hard.

The Irishman stomps down hard on her ribcage, her stomach, her shoulder, and then there is the sound of hollow metal against bone and his presence is gone from her altogether. The horrible sound continues like a drumbeat, getting wetter and more irregular as time passes, until finally Tommy can only hear his own panicked breathing and tosses the spittoon aside like it's burning his hands. It might as well have been melted to them seconds ago, for all his inability to control the horrible outburst of violence brought on by a deeply specific trigger and the consequences of his foolish trust in an incompetent ally.

Tommy doesn't let himself actually look at the unrecognizable mass of bone and flesh that used to be the Irishman's face, forcing himself back to his feet and swaying a moment before he is forced into action again, carefully picking Ariadne up and laying her onto a booth in the back, hastily removing his bloodied jacket to drape over her. He is grateful for the dark shadows, knowing that if he could see the state of her he might snap. Again.

"I'll be back," he whispers shakily. "Hold on."

the opposing facets of ariadne's life had always attempted to house a strange kind of separation, though in equal measure had always been magnets attracted to each other, pulled by some invisible force of inevitability. her mother had always maintained a distance from the family she'd married into aside from kadir-- had always encouraged her father to find his base further and further into the light than the shadows. for awhile, he had, and the heavens knew he wasn't as involved in uncle nik's operations as he could have been. and yet, he still was involved; sometimes ariadne wondered if that and her fathers' continued absence was her fault on some level.

would he have been as involved if she hadn't nagged him so many times when he had actually been present to take her on a trip two hours outside of london?

would he still have been as involved if these trips hadn't allowed for an ulterior motive for him to go hence?

the short answer is, her father had always been the person he was and regardless to her irrational wonderments, he was always going to be on the path he'd chosen decades ago.

ariadne thinks, maybe, that was her parents problem before all the other shit came into play. her mother had attempted to change him, to turn him into someone he wasn't without accepting all of him. his choices hadn't made him a bad man, just.. complicated. he'd held his own reasons and perhaps some of those same reasons, even if he hadn't always been as present in her life as others, were what had governed her ability to accept elements of life others would find much more difficulty within. but ariadne understood, perhaps better than most these days, that there was a difference between seeking to bring and inspire light into someone's life and seeking to change them into someone they weren't. and that maybe, just maybe, even as people evolved, it was merely watering the seeds which had always been part of them.

maybe her parents were doomed even had things played out differently.

it's strange how she thinks about that often these days even when ariadne hasn't spoken to her father in sixty-seven days. and there inlaid how ariadne's life stood upon a precipice of magnetic forces attempting to collide so often. maybe in some other world she could maintain the distance. she couldn't imagine her life in any scenario being fully black or white-- family, loyalty.. it was too integral to who she was as a human being. yet she wondered if in another life a boy named tommy hadn't entered her world what that would have looked like because sometimes she considers those strange early mornings years ago when she came to help polly and now with her presence in brimingham so regular despite working with the coppers in london, that from the moment tommy shelby blasted into her life there was an inevitability within; cosmic forces determined to intermingle in the same way like called to like for her father, him always having a foothold in nik's world.

and yet, how strange it was that ariadne could walk these streets and feel at home among people her coworkers never would. people that perhaps most people wouldn't. their worlds to outsiders shouldn't make sense together. but for children that hadn't mattered. it did, but it didn't. she liked tommy because he was tommy and she thinks he liked her the same. perhaps in ariadne's mind there was a kind of separation of some things, an ability to accept both sides of the coin of life. being connected to the shelby family didn't correlate to an inability for her to help the coppers bring justice to a murder victim. they were all facets of her life and she was okay with that in a way her mother never had been able to be with her father. in a way her mother had never been with ariadne's relationship with the shelbys either-- but she hadn't been around enough to prevent it and perhaps, even as a child, araidne had held enough sense when her mother or grandparents were around to not push in the same ways she did with others she knew would accept such dynamics in her life.

again, strange, the fashion in which her mind makes these parallels.

tommy shelby was.. her friend for nearly as long as she can remember. even if the weight he brought upon her heart these days was nearly unbearable. even if sometimes she wanted to hate him for the words he let come out of his mouth since his return and the harsh tone to her own at times. 'i didn't come here to see you. john called me.' she'd said once, a few weeks ago after the disaster of his words toward her the visit before. but had she meant it? in her heart? perhaps not and she thinks he knew that. didn't that make it all the worse? that even when they were so distant, when he was pushing her away from him over and over again she was positive he still knew her? understood her? could read her? it was infuriating. it'd have been so much easier if she could have hated him. but in what world could ariadne ever do that? in what world would she not see the weight of sadness, of trauma in his eyes? the confliction he always attempted to hide from her?

there was more too this. more to everything. she knows it in every cell within her body even if she doesn't understand the specifics. she knows him more than she thinks he wants to accept. maybe it's why she keeps showing up. sure she'd usually come there for polly or arthur or john or even others but there was something more. like calling to like, even if she hadn't fully come to realize just how true such was. furthermore, ariadne had never given up on anything that mattered within her life and she certainly wasn't willing to give up on tommy fucking shelby even if half the time he made her want to push him into the canal. and yet, perhaps, this was at the forefront of a strength within her that her mother never held. ariadne, even in her lack of true understanding of the details which governed so many people within her life, had never sought to change those people. she'd accepted them in the same fashion they had accepted her.

loyalty, understanding, respect. it's something that strikes her lacks when she's there at the garrison, watching interactions between people and the blonde women behind the bar. she's not entirely sure why she notices, except she'd seen the woman, grace, and tommy talking and perhaps that'd caused her to pay attention. she rarely allows herself to allow her thoughts to wonder upon it. but it was these concepts, respect at the forefront, which were why uncle nik was so proud when she went into forensics, even when she'd gotten her placement when by all accounts it should horrify a crime boss because she wasn't on the take. she was in the work because she cared. because she believed in it. it was also why ariadne had been able to walk into the garrison for years and feel safe that any of patrons saw her as simply ariadne and not as some narc or enemy. because she'd never judged them. they lived the lives they'd chosen and she did the job she'd chosen. it didn't have to be opposing, it just had to not be related to each other in a professional manner. maybe she was naïve for that mentality but it was who she'd always been and ariadne saw it as a strength and her mother's lack of an ability to adapt as a weakness. life had never been black and white. wasn't in any world or scenario. there was little benefit in attempting to force it to be. perhaps that was unkind to her mother's memory but it was the truth.

it was reality.

an inevitability in the same way that ariadne's destination now, on this cold night, was inevitable. because she didn't know who this random woman who'd shown up one day was really. she was willing to allow her the benefit of the doubt, to see the good in people, but grace was asking questions. too many questions and ariadne wanted to understand why. tommy shelby was being a god awful human being to her lately, but she was going to be damned if she wasn't going to show up when something felt.. unsettling about this woman's interest. maybe grace likes him, she'd considered with a kind of shift of her mood she'd managed to ignore. that'd have been an innocent enough thing and one perhaps she allows to be at the forefront of her mind because she wants to trust people even if she's faced half-truths so often in the past. but the fact remained. grace was asking about tommy and ariadne needed to know why. she could push tommy shelby into the canal tomorrow for being a dick. tonight, she was going to make sure he was.. what? protected? as if she held any real power in his world?

still, ariadne had always liked a challenge.

there's something in the air tonight, as if the wind has agendas of it's own-- a wraith in the night. unsettling... dreaded. ariadne feels the weight of it in her bones, the chill as she'd walked upon old streets.. echoes. echoes of a time when blood seeped into layers underfoot. down deep into the ground, through eras buried by time. perhaps blood still seeped, the reaper taking. she reads the news, the settings upon her phone tending to cause notifications to steer toward the places she frequents. (and when was the last time she hadn't frequented this city? even in tommy's absence-- especially because of tommy's absence. she still remembers those weekends when she'd helped polly with a young child and a group of kids reeling from loss and then tommy wasn't there. he wasn't there and she hadn't fully known why.) troubles found this place, then, now, in the moments it takes her trainers to crunch the ground of an area of turned up stone.

why is she there?

she'd asked herself when she'd entered some time ago now. of course, ariadne had known why she was in brimingham again-- john this time, polly last time. yet was it not truly because of thomas shelby in the end? hadn't it always come back to the boy who'd taught her to throw her first punch? there's little talk at first, a strange kind of awkwardness in the stifling air of the bar. ariadne allows it, doesn't push first, waits, wants to see where grace begins. the women's lips part and then the door rattles nearly off it's hinges. at least that's what it feels like and it sets ariadne on edge. makes her heart jump because it's unexpected. because she remembers a door, a shaking door that her mother had been trying to open when she'd run away from her and then the silence which had followed. it takes her a moment, held breath released as grace moves away from the bar and toward the door. ariadne watches, regaining control of her senses as tommy enters and she knows, gods she knows before he even speaks that something is terribly wrong.

she almost speaks, wants to ask what's happened before he even sees her there and yet grace speaks first, trying to tell him the place is god damned closed. who the fuck tells thomas shelby the garrison is closed? can't she see the creases in his features? can't she see the built up tension radiating off him? maybe she can't. because grace doesn't see him in the same way she does. danger. danger. they mean to kill him. her breath begins to catch again when he sees her, when she watches the way panic starts to rise in him and maybe, maybe in some strange way there's a truth in his anger and the way he points at her. there isn't indifference toward her. he's scared because she's there and there's people coming to kill him. he's scared because he cares. there's more to it. she remembers her own thoughts. all the swirling questions she's had since he'd gone and since he'd come back. yet none of it mattered now when there were men coming to kill him in moments.

grace fumbles for answers. ariadne gives her none.

then there's a gun and edicts given and it should shake ariadne more than it does. the whole of this situation. yes, there's fear rising within her. there's a kind of panic that's making her palms sweaty and her skin to turn a shade lighter. yet she's forcing her breaths in and out, forcing herself to remain in the moment because there was danger and people were coming to kill tommy and ariadne couldn't imagine a world where he wasn't in it. she'd known what it was like to lose him, but this was different. absence wasn't death. she watches grace take the gun. she sees tommy's fear so clearly laid before her that she takes a step forward because she wants to reach out but there's no time. there's no time. there's no time. and then comes the anger, building within her as he speaks of back doors and upstairs. she's shaking her head without even realizing it. as if her body is physically revolted at the notion.

why would she leave him? how could she leave him? she should. it was the safer option. it's what the panic and fear within her was telling her to do.

he steps closer and she can feel him even without touching. the way their energies sparked with fear of loss. he speaks in her native tongue and it takes her the infinity of a second to understand his meaning. cops would come. cops. she worked with cops but these cops... the were on the take. it didn't matter. it did, but it didn't now. no. he's worried about her, about perceptions. about implications even when he's about to stare death in the fucking face and it makes her want to shove him for his stupidity. for the ridiculousness of it. she'd maintained a separation in her life for so long but what the fuck did it matter if a cop saw her now, in this moment? what the fuck did it matter when tommy was staring at her with such fear in his eyes that she could literally feel it?

and then he's moving. out of her space. time is moving again, too fast. she feels the weight of years of loss and she's scared. what she should do and what she does are contradictory. her voice rebels against her body. against her fears. because even if her life's conclusion was within the infinity of a few moments, perhaps especially because of it, she refused to allow fear to take over. ariadne had never had any issues saying no to tommy before. not like other people did. she'd also never abandoned him before. she wasn't about to start now.

"no." she replies, simply, as if it's the easiest and most sure answer she's ever given him. she speaks it in the language he taught her and then she moves. let him be angry. let him hate her even if it's the last thing they'd share. but neither of them would be alone. maybe that mattered more. she pulls out the chair and sits next to him forcing her facial features to appear less terrified than she is. she's digging her nails into her thigh so hard that it's bound to leave marks. because she is terrified. she's terrified of so many things and she has no idea what the fuck she's doing. this wasn't her world. it wasn't her world. it wasn't. and yet, maybe it had been, a part of it, all along. a part she'd been sheltered from, but still a part of it all the same. she didn't know what to do what that. but it didn't matter. it didn't matter. because all that mattered was that when those entered the bar she was sitting at a table next to the first boy that'd she'd ever felt truly comfortable with. the first boy that she'd loved in the the most pure and innocent way. he'd been her first true friend and... simply, because he was him and she was her. and, well, he had taught her how to throw a pretty epic punch.

[blackdragoness]

⛓️ IF YOU WERE A GANGSTER, WHAT WOULD YOUR GANG ROLE BE? ⛓️

If you were GANGSTA, what kind of GANGSTA would you be? This PICK-A-PILE is for you

Pile 1

Pile 2

Pile 3

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Pile 1: The Messenjah

The Messenger - 8 of Wands

- highly observant and aware of surroundings

-knows the intell about everything and everyone

-if a message needs to be delivered, you are the one to count on.

-can go anywhere undetected and unnoticed. Often used as a Trojan horse going undercover into enemy territory to gain information to be used for leverage

-calculated risk taker but highly stealthy and skilled

-courageous and usually on the front lines for war

-brotherhood/sisterhood mentality

-loyal gang member and team player

You are the Messenjah! The messenger is the most trusted member of the gang. Because of your inviting nature, it is easy for people to open up to you and reveal their darkest secrets and emotions. You are like an enormous cauldron of space. You've learned how to expand the space within that cauldron and share it with others so they can express themselves fully and freely. You are highly trusted because people trust your judgement of character. If you stop trusting someone, the whole gang stops trusting them. If you are willing to give someone a shot, the whole gang would be on board with your instinct. You move in silence which makes you the best investigator. You carry yourself in a way that commands the utmost respect even from those in a publicized "alpha" position.

You are the gang member that shows up unexpectedly but always at the right time, in the right place with the right things to say. In a way, you are a part of the gang yet you wonder alone often. People question your loyalty because of your independent nature, but those who really know you, knows wassup. You can't be tied down because you operate best when you feel free. You have a great poker face so you would be the gang member trusted to handle the debates and negotiations. You are able to create a win win situation for everyone because you are usually the only one who sees the perspectives from every angle. You are the gang member that cannot be controlled but the gang member that they cannot lose either. You may be described as someone of little words but with many things to say. You operate as an individual but by doing so, you make the gang stronger.

You are the gang member that no longer uses a sword to fight. You use your intellect, and outsmart your opponents. You are always ten steps ahead of your enemies. Untouchable. Unstoppable. Undeniably great.

Channelled Song: "When You Say Nothing At All" - Allison Krauss

Pile 2: The God Father

The God Father - 7 of Pentacles

- final decision maker

- leader of the pack

- head honcho

- the "brain" of the gang

- the intimidation factor of the gang

- "when I move, you move....just like that"

- the wolf of wall street

You are The God Father of the gang. You naturally have a very regal and leadership like aura to you. The way you walk, talk, daydream, etc. Everything about you screams, "Follow me". You might naturally be very popular and well liked amongst your community. You tend to find yourself in leadership positions by accident because you were placed there by those who admire you. You are a very loyal person so in turn, people naturally become very loyal to you. People want to always be on your good side. When you win big, you make sure everyone connected to you wins big too. People feel safe and secure around you. Many people want to be connected to you to feel that same safety and security that you provide. You never seek attention and that's why you naturally get it. You never seek recognition but you are always being bombarded by fans who are inspired by your life.

You may be slow to react to things which makes you very intimidating. You move slow. You act slow. You take your time in everything you do. You are so slow to react and calculated in all that you do that it becomes very intimidating to those in power. They cannot pinpoint your next move. They cannot read you or your body language. Very emotionally controlled and stable. I'm getting very much Batman vibes from this pile. Very stoic, immovable, emotionless but has the biggest heart and is a mastermind genius. Not many people are able to break down to your walls or your boundaries. You know many people, but not many people truly know you and you like to keep things that way. If people knew the real you, I don't think they would be able to handle the weight of that responsibility. You are okay with wearing a mask and it never comes down for hardly anybody. But this is what keeps you great and this is what keeps you unstoppable.

Channelled Song: Unstoppable by Sia

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Pile 3: The Grim Reaper

The Grim Reaper - The Sun

- the demon slayer

- walk the talk and gets shit done

- the hulk of the gang

- BEAST MODE ON STERIOIDS

- titanium

- warriorlike - undefeated

- fearless

-blunt

-outspoken & out of pocket 🤣

Whoever chose this pile, gahhh dayummm dawg, yall is brutal AF 🤣🤣 not just with your fists but with your words!!!!

"Didnt they tell you that I was a SAVAGE." -Rihanna

You can turn someone's whole world upside down with your words. You can make a happy family situation go completely sour. You are the devil's child. The Bringer of Karma. A Man Eater. Yoooooo, y'all's fucking energy is explosive right now, imma need y'all to tone it down a notch 🤣 ZAYUMMMM.

You are the gang member that is first to the scene handling business straight on. Y'all really don't bullshit or beat around the bush. It is straight to the point with you folks. You may be known as someone to be feared. You are the type to hunt someone down if they cross you and you do not stop until you have found them 🤣🤣 bitchhhhh, what the fuqqqqq LOL y'all ain't afraid of nobody and y'all never back down. #TeamNeverFold, PERIODT. Might be a lil on the blood thirsty side. You might be a little aggressive and hot tempered but it's fine. The gang loves that about you. You are a very necessary part of the gang. You may be the one everyone loves having on their team until they are on the receiving end of your wrath. You are very passionate and feel very deeply. You are driven by a cause and the greater good of mankind. You are the BEAST of the gang. It's giving very much Naruto vibes. Innocent and naive but is nurturing his Nine tailed fox beast from within. If shits about to go down, you are ten toes down and all in. A true ride or die member of the gang. The one that will be most remembered of the gang even after you've passed because you never broke character. A walking contradiction. An angel but a demon.

Channelled Song: Sweet but Psycho by Ava Max

[quirkless-accident]

Honesty is the Worst Policy

Let's hear it for drabble #50! I've been super excited for this one. Words cannot describe how much I appreciate all of you. Your support and enthusiasm makes writing these much more fun, and I'm happy that you all are as excited about these as I am!

-----------

The day had started off normal. Great, even. But he should have known to wait for the other shoe to drop.

It happened during lunch. He had gotten a stain on his blazer, and, well, his parents already didn't like buying him things, and it's not like he could afford another. So he was doing His Best™.

He had been chatting actively with Tucker, Sam, and another one of Sam's new gen ed friends, who had reached over him to slap Tucker, and had used his arm as leverage.

But he hadn't noticed. Nobody had. Not until he had gotten slammed into a wall by Bakugou and his dumb explosions during Foundational Heroics.

"Are you okay?" Uraraka had asked, hands hovering over him.

Yeah, I'm good, is what he had tried to say. What had come out was, "No. My head hurts, I'm tired and I'm pretty sure at least one rib is broken."

That had been more than enough for him to get his ass sent to Recovery Girl. And like always, as the end of the session she asked the same question.

"Anything else, Dearie?"

And he tried to respond with his usual, "Not today! Maybe tomorrow I'll have a concussion for you!"

And then she would swat him with her cane and send him on his way. What came out, however, was nothing like that.

"Not anything you can fix. I'm kind of a biological anomaly that can't be fixed."

He fled before she could ask him questions. She would probably tell Aizawa about it later, but that honestly sounded like a future-Danny problem. Present-Danny was currently trying to get a hold of Sam.

"Aren't you at training?" She asked him.

"Bakugou broke my ribs and I had to get them fixed," he says, and he can't tell if it was against his will or not. "But something is wrong. I can't-the words that I want to say aren't coming out. I just told Recovery Girl I was essentially a freak of nature. And I didn't want to."

"Sounds like Shinjistsu accidentally activated her quirk," Sam replied. She sounds far to calm about this for Danny's liking.

"Okay. Where is she so I can turn it off?" He'll apologize for his snappiness later. Right now he needs to get his brain fixed so he doesn't accidentally spill anything terrible.

"You can't. It has to wear off on it's own. I think she said it lasted a week? Maybe a month? I'll have to double check with her. I think part of it is answering all questions directed towards you, too. Honestly, obviously."

Danny wanted to scream out in frustration, but instead of doing that, he forced himself to take deep breaths. "I'll have to give you my phone, then, just in case," he said. "And I have to tell Aizawa. Maybe if I'm lucky he'll excuse me from class until it wears off."

"Why don't you just tell him the truth?" Sam asked. "I mean, if anybody is going to believe you-and help you-it's gonna be the guy who got totaled by a Nomu for you."

"Because he might tell my parents and they already don't like me. And you know how they feel about Inviso-Bill. I don't really wanna be strapped down to a table and experimented on, Sam."

"Ugh. Right. Listen-I'm super sorry but I have to go. But talk to Aizawa, I'm sure he'll help you out."

-------

Sam is a big fat liar.

He had turned over his phone to her after telling Aizawa who told him he still had to attend class.

"Whatever petty teenager bullshit you have going on isn't important enough to have you skip out on class," he had said.

It wasn't too bad at first. For the first two days he wasn't asked too many questions. Not any that he wouldn't have answered honestly anyway. And when they got back to the dorms, he would hide away in his room and work on homework to avoid a mental breakdown.

Aizawa had notified all of the teachers, but none of his classmates, per Danny's request. The less questions he got, the better. And man, were they good at asking needlessly invasive questions sometimes.

It was on the third day when everything went to shit.

He was walking into class, debating on whether or not he wanted to invest in some kind of muzzle when he was hit with a question by his least favorite person.

"Danny-what bra size is your sister?" Mineta asked him from across the room. His voice carried, and nearly everybody went quiet, but Danny saw red.

"I don't know. I don't care. But if you ask me anything like that ever again," he let his eyes flash a dangerous green, "then I'll punt you into the fucking sun."

"Geez, no need so be so sensitive. Why is your quirk so creepy like that, anyway?"

"Because I'm dead."

The words had left his mouth before he could even properly process Mineta's question. And it was said with such a finality, such a certainty, that even if he hadn't been under the effects of a truth quirk, he's pretty sure a couple of them would have believed him.

"He, yeah, right," Mineta said. Danny could practically feel Mr. Aizawa's gaze on the back of his neck despite the fact that he was hiding behind his desk in his sleeping bag. "Tell us the truth."

"I am."

He's starting to think that maybe he should have let Aizawa tell the class he was under the effects of a truth quirk.

"Oh yeah?" Kaminari asked. "How'd you die?"

"I got electrocuted with millions of volts of ectoplasmic electricity and it bonded to my DNA."

There was a bark of laughter and a couple of applauds from his friends for committing to what was obviously a very hilarious bit. But the more he spoke, the more he could feel Aizawa's gaze boring into him.

But thankfully, he was saved by the bell.

---------

"Class dismissed," Aizawa drawled, but his sharp eyes were sitting firmly on Danny, who didn't move an inch. "Fenton, stay behind."

He wanted to punt Mineta into the sun. It hadn't been a threat when he said it earlier. It had been a promise.

The class cleared out quickly enough. His friends only lingered for a couple of moments before being dragged away by other classmates. The entire time, Danny stared at his desk, unable to look up and face his teacher.

Because Aizawa knew he had been telling the truth. Had known that he couldn't lie. And now he knew he was a freak and he was going to tell his parents, and when they found out they were going to strap him to the table in the basement and-

"Danny, breathe," Aizawa told him, stepping into his vision. Danny squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.

"I don't need to," he said against his will. "Fuck."

If Aizawa had a problem with his swearing, he didn't show it. Instead, he sat down in the chair in front of Danny's desk and placed a warm hands over his cold, trembling ones.

"Are you okay with answering a few questions?" He asked. And, wow. Danny hadn't been expecting that. He had been expecting a full-tilt investigation into his weird tragic backstory. But Danny could see it. It was the illusion of choice, whether Aizawa saw it like that or not. He could answer yes, and spill his guts. Or he could answer no, and be pestered about it later, and with his terrible luck, he wasn't going to count on that being a time where he was vulnerable.

So he nodded his head yes.

"What did you mean by you being dead?" He asked. Danny just shrugged.

"Exactly what it sounds like," he says. "Sort of. I'm half dead."

"How did-how did you survive?" Danny didn't miss the hesitation in his voice. The uncertainty of the words coming out of his own mouth. And Danny couldn't blame him, not really. If he was Aizawa, even with a truth quirk playing a part in all of this he wouldn't believe a word he said either.

"My parents are ghost hunters and they experiment a lot with ectoplasm. I think a lifelong exposure is the only thing that saved me. Er-well, half of me, anyway."

"So your other half-your Phantom form...That's your ghost form?"

"Yeah. My superpower is dying on command."

"That's not funny."

"I'm not trying to be."

A tense silence fell between them. Danny met dark eyes, but the only thing he could see in them was genuine concern. And...And maybe Sam was right, he thinks. Because the only thing Aizawa has ever done for him is help. Whether it be from a panic attack or a walk to Recovery Girl or giving him harder course work because everything else was just to easy. He helped Danny in any way he could.

Could he help here?

Danny averted his gaze to his shoes.

They were bright red with black laces, and more bulky than the average shoe. There was only one brand that sold half-decent shoes that fit the feet of quirkless people, and they only came in one color. It was a constant reminder that he was different. Even with the power that he had now, he was still different. Because he had things that he didn't need, like an appendix, wisdom teeth, an extra toe joint.

He's seen Midoriya with the exact same pair. There was an understanding between the two, though they hadn't talked about it. Maybe after all this was over he would spill his guts to him. But right now, he needed to spill his guts to Aizawa.

Because if anybody was going to help him it was him.

-------

Aizawa wanted to throttle the people who hurt his kid student. From the beginning Danny's been a twitchy, anxious mess, just like Midoriya, but he had passed it off as social anxiety because he wasn't the one breaking his bones every day.

And he wasn't stupid. He noticed the shoes. He and Midoriya had the same ones. As an Underground hero he's seen more than his fair share of quirkless murders or suicides. Always young. Always powerless.

But these kids have power. Almost too much, if he was being honest. He figured that maybe they just had abnormally wide feet, and needed the extra space. But after hearing Danny's confession-about his parents, about his death, he was cursing his past self for being so ignorant. He should have looked at the signs and connected the dots a lot sooner than this.

And the worst part was that he was telling the truth. There's no way he could tell a lie.

"Why...Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Aizawa had asked him.

"Because I didn't want you telling my parents," Danny answered.

"Are you safe at home?" Fuck, was this kid abused? It happened often with quirkless kids. And he could see it being a super awkward conversation with his parents that he was just a late bloomer. A late bloomer with a quirk directly tied to their profession.

"I don't know," Danny answered. "Probably not. They're not good parents."

The words seemed to slip from him without consent, and Danny's eyes widened, as if he was just realizing this for the first time. It was a possibility-it's not uncommon for the abuser to make their victim completely rely on them, or to make them think nothing was wrong.

"If you elaborate-depending on what you say-I can get you out of their custody by the end of the week."

"Including my sister?" Danny asked. His voice was quiet, and he was suddenly met with wide, blue eyes. They looked absolutely desperate for help.

"Including your sister. So...Do you want to elaborate?"

"Yes."

"Are you okay if I record this conversation? It can be used as evidence later."

"Yes."

"Okay," Aizawa said, starting a recording on his phone. "What makes you feel unsafe in your home, Danny?"

------

They had talked for hours. Long past the normal time for a teacher and a student to be speaking. Maybe he could just pass it off as a tutoring session. It was no mistake that Danny was working on more advanced math and science classes. Growing up in a lab gave you a leg up on some things, he supposes.

He was drained, and all he wanted to do was eat and go to bed. Maybe he could skip the shower and just take one in the morning. He hadn't gotten to gross from training.

He held a hand over his mouth as he let out a large yawn, while his other opened the door to the dorms. It was around dinner time, so the common room was in full swing with students milling about here and there. Danny genuinely enjoyed his time with all of them, but tonight he just didn't have the energy. Maybe he could sneak upstairs and just have a big breakfast. That could work, right?

"Hey, Danny!" Uraraka greeted. "Did your talk with Mr. Aizawa go okay? You were gone for a long time."

"Yeah, it went...Really good, actually. But I'm really tired so-"

"-What did you guys talk about?" Kaminari asked him.

"About how my abusive neglectful parents inadvertently caused my death."

"Wh...Bro, are you okay?" Several others were starring at him now, and-oh, that's right. They didn't know he was under the influence of a truth quirk.

"Not currently, no. I had a really emotionally draining conversation with Aizawa and I'm tired of being so open and vulnerable with everybody."

"Then why don't you just shut up?" Bakugou barked. He got a couple of glares from his friends for his trouble.

"Because I got hit with a truth quirk and now I'm forced to tell the truth. It'll last for another...four days? That's what Sam said, anyway."

"So if we ask you questions you have to answer truthfully?" Sero asked.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"So...You're actually...Dead?" Ashido asked him. She looked like she was about to cry.

This was going to be a long night.

"Half dead," he corrected. "It's why I have so many powers that aren't linked together."

It was strange, hearing these words coming from his own mouth. It wasn't hard to talk about with Sam and Tucker since they were there when it happened, but telling his classmates was a completely different experience. He wasn't stressed necessarily. It was just odd that his normal anxieties about being caught were overridden by the quirk.

And, maybe, there might be a small part of him that was tired of hiding. He trusted his friends. Everyone in this room, with the exception of a tiny purple menace, he trusted with his afterlife. If anybody was going to hurt him over this, it wouldn't be these guys.

"What was your quirk before you died, kero?" Tsu asked.

"I didn't have one," Danny answered automatically, and okay. Maybe things would change now. Because he definitely didn't want people knowing that.

He noticed the way Midoriya and Bakugou flinched, but it was missed by everybody else, who's attention were all laser focused on him.

The class was stunned into silence. The only sounds they could hear was Danny's rapid, panicked breathing. He didn't want this. He didn't want to talk about his quirklessness. It had caused so many problems for him his entire life. Why was talking about his death easier than that?

He would have to answer that question later. Because now, he was too distracted by Midoriya standing up. He slowly walked over, and when he got to be arms length, he held them out.

His arms were littered in self-inflicted scars from his bones breaking over and over, but with his sleeves riding up, he could see the edges of starburst scars and permanent red handprints.

Danny opened his own arms out, and Midoriya crashed into him. His ribs were thankfully fully healed. otherwise the hug would have been painful with how tightly Midoriya was squeezing him.

He's not sure how long they stood there for. It could have been seconds or minutes, but he didn't care. The only thing he cared about was finding comfort with the one other person in this entire school who could understand him.

Because being quirkless in a world full of superheroes was a fate worth than death.

It was abusive parents. It was being berated every day by peers. It was hard fists and brutal kicks in back alleys. It was the threat of death looming over their heads every time they were out and about. It was the ache in their chests when they read an article about another quirkless death. It was the silent mourning as peers mocked the dead the next day and pretending that it didn't bother you. It was starring over the edge of a roof and thinking, maybe today's the day. And, unless your last name was Fenton or Midoriya, it was unescapable.

At least with death, he had been, in a way, set free. Because now, he knew where he was going when he finally passed. The illusion of peace was broken right alongside him when he activated that dumb portal.

Eventually he and Midoriya let go. Unsurprisingly, Midoriya has tears in his eyes, but he's got a small, watery smile, and Danny thinks that, yeah, with someone who understand by his side, this will be easier.

------

The rest of the week is a little rough. The class did not take his death as lightly as he thought they would. Thankfully they had banned Mineta from even being in the room. And they had promised not to tell anybody outside of the class.

And though things were a little weird, it wasn't all bad. Aizawa, as promised, had gotten custody of him and Jazz. Over breaks and some weekends, they would be staying with him. And Hagakure, who's been pestering him about his nonexistent love life since the start of school, finally got him to confess about his crush. Danny avoided her for the rest of the week, and prayed to whoever was in the sky that she didn't spill the beans.

Todoroki was, oddly enough, a silent comfort. Whenever things were getting to be too much he would ask Danny to help him out with something random. In the end, they would just sit in one of their rooms and sit in a comfortable silence, or sometimes they would invite Izuku-because that's who he was to Danny now-and they would talk about shitty fathers with unrealistic expectations.

Danny found the whole ordeal oddly freeing. It was like he could breath properly again for the first time since he got his powers. He hadn't realized how much those secrets sat in the back of his mind, taunting him about his peer's reactions. But now that it was out in the open, there wasn't anything to fear. Not really. The people who knew all cared about him, in their own ways, and he trusted that they would protect his secret.

After all his dirty laundry was aired out, the rest of the week wasn't super terrible. But the best part was when how he found out the quirk wore off.

It was a bright Saturday, filled with a warm breeze and laughing classmates as they all hung out in their various friend groups. The girls were having a picnic, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Sero were actively trying to piss Bakugou off, and Midoriya and Uraraka were laughing at something Ida had said-and judging by the boy's face, he had no idea what was so funny, which sent his friends into another round of hysterics.

Sam, Tucker, Shinsou, and Shinjitsu, who had apologized profusely, sat with him under the shade of a tree. He was half-asleep next to Shinsou, laying in the soft grass and being lulled to sleep by the sounds of Sam talking and Tucker tinkering.

Hagakure, Jirou, and Momo walk up to them, all looking a little too smug.

"So, we Danny, we were talking about what you said to Mineta a few days ago," Jirou says, and wow, she's not trying to hide her mirth at all.

"Which part?" Danny asked, still half asleep.

"When you said you would punt him into the sun," Hagakure said excitedly. "You were under the truth quirk. Does that mean you can really do that?"

"No, I was just talking out of my ass," Danny said. The sarcasm was more of a reflex than anything, but it was enough for him to jolt upright a moment later.

"Hagakure, gimme a lie."

"Uh, you can't punt Mineta into the sun?"

"I can't pun Mineta into the sun," Danny repeated. He couldn't keep the grin off of his face as he jumped up. Without warning he picked up Hagakure excitedly. He repeated the phrase, growing louder every time he said it. The attention of his classmates were on him again, more confused than anything.

"I don't see why you're cheering about that," Uraraka tells him. Danny sets Hagakure down and runs over.

"It means I can lie again! I'm more than capable of punting him into the sun but now I can say I can't!"

In all his excitement, he wound up in a jumping circle with all of the girls, save for Jirou and Momo, who had a finger on her chin in deep though.

And after, Danny will be pestered about how he can go to space, unharmed. About how, yes, he doesn't need to breath in his ghost form, he's dead, so he can last long enough to get to the sun. And Aizawa will give him a half-concerned raised eyebrow and makes him promise to not actually commit to such an act.

And later he will also have to go to court against his parents and admit to them that he is no longer fully human. He will have Aizawa and Jazz by his side, as well as Nezu. And he will fight great, wonderful battles that bring the rest of them to their knees, but Danny has always been stubborn, so he refuses to go down. And when the ash will settle, he will stand tall as a glowing beacon of hope.

But that's for future Danny to worry about.

Right now, Present Danny is just excited that he can punt Mineta into the sun.