#but now that he doesn't have that his backstory ends up being barely any different from dick and jason

[ski0k]

I am oddly passionate about explaining that although dick grayson is the robin, the very first to do it and the one to cement the character’s significance, tim drake is the one who elevated it. all the character defining aspects of robin in modern comics today started off with tim's run in the 90s, and as much as I like dick as robin, I like him way more as nightwing. the same goes for jason, who I think is much better off as red hood. but tim? tim was so good as robin.

what set him apart from dick and jason, was the fact that he viewed the role of robin as a job. prior to the identity crisis comic, tim had parents. he didn't get the robin gig because he’s one of bruce's kids who took part in the family business. instead, what basically happened was he applied for the job and got hired. which is why in his standalone robin run, tim was able to become dc's equivalent of peter parker and elevate the role of robin through stories that touched more on his personal life, because he was the first robin to actually have a life outside of vigilantism.

this is why it's such a shame that dc slipped tim into irrelevancy by killing his parents off, turning him into another orphaned kid bruce adopted to become robin, and giving damian the robin mantle (plus tim's teen titans team). which don't get me wrong, I like seeing damian as robin. but passing the mantle essentially solidified tim's irrelevancy. nowadays, he only appears whenever writers need him to and it's so obvious that dc has no clue on what to do with him.

[cannibalbuffe]

hi! I've honestly been craving some qpr headcanons with Alastor as someone who's also aroace! The concept piques my curiosity so much considering most of the stuff with him is purely romantic (no offense to those writers, I just wanna see more qpr stuff! :])

Of course! But do forgive me, annon, I got so carried away with this 😅. I just really like Alastor a lot.

I ended up writing some backstory to your relationship first, but I highlighted the start of the proper qpr headcanons if you feel like skipping that.

Obligatory I'm sorry if this is ooc, I'm still getting used to writing about these characters. This is also all based on my own perception of him.

(Also, I am aware that qprs are very different from one another and there is no single mold for a qpr, I'm just going off of what I think it would be like with Alastor.)

Uhh, I also finished this at 1 AM, so forgive any mistakes. And I'm pretty sure I changed the verb conjugations(? Is this how you say that in English?) from present to past at some point. Sorry. Enough with the A/Ns now. Hope you enjoy!

Alastor queerplatonic relationship headcanons

(gender neutral reader, Alastor x reader)

‼️Trigger-warning‼️: mentions of cannibalism (not graphic), a single mention of tongue-kissing and making out (spoiler: he doesn't want either of those things in this work.) Usage of the word queer, but not as a slur. Alastor is a grandpa and you have to explain LGBTQ+ stuff to him, but he gets it.

› At first, before you were close, it's likely that he didn't see you as an equal.

› Truly, in his eyes, it seems not really is his equal. He is the most powerful overlord in hell and he knows it.

› Unless you are someone he holds in high regard (and this is mostly based on vibes, barely anything to do with power, as we can see by how he is with Lucifer of all people) before your first meeting, like Zestial, you won't be on equal footing at first.

› You only really start getting close when his perception of you shifts.

› You respect his boundaries, you are interesting, you and him share quite a few interests (or not really, but you're at least interested in hearing about his), and you're, surprisingly, pretty wise and mature.

› And caring. I personally believe he would be drawn to that in a way that he may not even understand fully- or realize it at all.

› Still, the point is. He respects you, and you respect him.

› (And not in the way some others do, where they're only "respectful" out of fear. You would act like this regardless of his power.)

› This, by the way, is important. You don't treat him like a superior, but as an equal.

› You'd think someone like him would love to be treated like a superior, and it's true. He very much does.

› But he has to admit to himself that it does feel nice whenever someone isn't shaking in their boots and can hold really good conversations with him while still not being pushy, annoying or just generally disrespectful.

› Anyways.

› Ever since you became friends (which took long), one could say, you just kept becoming closer and closer.

› You were the first one to be vulnerable with him, of course. It happened on accident, but you trusted him enough for that.

› You were also the first one to share any more intimate information with him. Something you wouldn't tell just anyone.

› Between this, your conversations, and maybe even helping each other around (honestly, he probably helps you more than you do him, but you always offer it and always in a sweet way, never condescending, and he appreciates that.)

› He eventually felt more comfortable sharing personal things with you too.

› (He may have distanced himself a bit when he realized this, but it was short-lived. You can't be without each other for so long, and you were pretty upset at his suddenly withdrawal. You may not have mentioned it to him, but he could tell, and as much as he hated to admit it, it hurt him to see you sad because of him.)

› This marks the beginning of the path toward your queerplatonic relationship.

› I mean, you didn't initially label it as such, but it definitely started there.

› Surprisingly, I feel like the first one to ever do any sort of affectionate gesture towards the other was him.

› You knew he didn't like to be touched, so you didn't.

› But! He just started getting more and more comfortable with touching you. At first it was hands on your shoulders, or putting his arm over them.

› I can even see a head pat or two, which he probably passed off as some sort of joke the first few times, but, if you liked them so much, just became a thing he does to you.

› And then one day you, completely absent-mindedly, intertwined your arm with his while walking around.

› When you noticed you had done it and he hadn't said anything, you questioned him about it.

› "Alastor, I'm sorry I didn't ask... is this alright?"

› "This?... Oh, you mean the arms? Ah, dear, don't worry, if it weren't I would have simply told you so!"

› From them on you only got more and more physically affectionate with each other. At first you would usually be the one to start it, but eventually you were both shockingly equal in doing so.

› (You still would always ask if you could touch him beforehand, but after a while he just gave you a free-pass.)

› Not a lot in public, though. Mostly just hand holding, or intertwining arms (if in public, that is.)

› Alastor also was so protective of you. You were the person he treasured most, after all.

› Well, demon.

› Even if you told him you were going to be okay, he would watch out nonetheless. He couldn't afford to lose you, not when he's never trusted and cared for a person this much.

› You two also cuddle a lot. You were the first one to ask, as usual, but now both of you feel weird sleeping alone.

› Alastor loves being the big spoon, if you're doing that.

› But he is also quite fond of occasionally being the little spoon, although he wouldn't be caught dead admitting it.

› A hobby you two do together is cooking. Cooking with Alastor is fun... especially if you're okay with cannibalism.

› But if you don't like that, he won't insist, of course.

› He's pretty good at cooking, though! If you're also good at it, then great. If not, he'll tease you about it (in a friendly way), but still teach you.

› On teasing, he teases you quite a bit, but never in a mean way. If you don't mind, of course.

› You also may tease him occasionally, but he doesn't appreciate you teasing him in public.

› The two of you also have a good amount of inside jokes that probably confuse the hell out of the others.

› Kissing... well. I don't really see Alastor as the type who would enjoy kissing on the lips too much.

› Tongue is out of question for him, as well as any sort of making out, but otherwise... if you like it, he can do that for you.

› He might actually like a peck or two. An acquired taste for him. Don't overdo it, though.

› Of course, him being from the 1930s and not very familiar with anything LGBTQ+ related, he would, at first, be somewhat confused by the request.

› You would probably have to explain to him that nothing is inherently romantic, especially not if you don't want it to be.

› "A kiss on the lips? Well... we aren't courting, Y/n."

› "We can put our own meanings to things, though. Would you like this kiss to be romantic?"

› "Definitely not!"

› "Well, me neither. So it's not!"

› "... That is very sound logic! I can't believe I've never thought of this myself."

› Kisses on the rest of the face are something else, though. He does enjoy it whenever you kiss him on the cheek. He himself might occasionally kiss you on the forehead.

› But overall I don't think he's big on kissing.

› If you want to really solidify that you're in a queerplatonic relationship you'd also have to explain what that means to him, sorry.

› Again, he's old and not up to date with things.

› Thankfully he understands things easily.

› "I see... I suppose we do have quite the queer relationship, don't we? And it is certainly platonic. I don't see why not!"

› Going back to vulnerability. It will never feel fully natural for him to just be vulnerable with you — or anyone else, for the matter.

› (In case you couldn't tell, he's using the word queer as meaning odd (and doing a little pun. You know. Because it's a. Queerplatonic relationship. Queer. Hehehehe), as it defies the norm of what a platonic relationship usually looks like, despite being one.)

› But you know him well enough at this point to recognize whenever there's something going on with him.

› And if you show concern and give him enough time he will share whatever it is with you.

› If it's not anything too big he might even reach out to you first.

› He can also read you like a book and gives surprisingly good advice, and is also pretty good at comforting you.

› You are the only person allowed at his studio while he's live on the radio. You usually read as he speaks in the background, his voice is very relaxing. He enjoys having you around.

› He's also particularly gentlemanly to you, more than to the others. When you're with him you never have to open a single door yourself, for one. If it's raining, he'll hold the umbrella for the two of you. When walking together on the sidewalk, he's always on the side closest to the street instead of you.

› You two often go out for dinner. If you also fancy some cannibalism, he will definitely show you his favorite restaurants around. If not he will just pick the best non-cannibal places (but you know those are not his favorites, haha.)

› He just cares about you a lot, even if it took him long to admit (it may have seemed fast-paced during this, but Alastor is someone who really takes long to get close to.)

› And you care about him lot too!

› (And you're probably never going to be in a life-threatening situation again, at least not at the hands of most demons. Who would ever want trouble with Alastor?)

[chaifootsteps]

idk if you've heard of him but there's a youtuber called friendly space ninja who reviews TV shows.

anyway, he did a video on The Vampire Diaries and had a section about the racism problem the writers have. it was one of those things where if it had just been one thing it would have been 'OK not great, that could be fixed' but it was this never ending list of ways in which PoC on the show were treated as second class where I don't think anyone in their right mind could deny it when you lay it all out, start to finish

that's how I feel about how female characters are treated on Hazbin but especially on Helluva.

to give an idea of scale:

took nearly two seasons for Millie to get her own episode and it's about her having to babysit Blitzo and Moxxie and gives her hangups about her class out of nowhere

episode about Millie and Moxxie having the same ex shows his backstory only, with Millie's shunted into some hypothetic future episode even though the ex is now dead and no one has any reason to care any longer

episode about going to Millie's home is a Moxxie episode where the main drama is between Moxxie and Striker and Blitzo and Striker

Unhappy Campers tries to be a Millie episode and is still a Moxxie episode

Millie complaining that they, an assassin business, shouldn't skip out on an assassin job, is framed as pregnancy hormones

Millie gets a surprise pregnancy storyline because Viv doesn't know what else to do with her (she basically admitted that on a tweet thread where she also admitted prioritising Stolas, Moxxie and Blitzo instead of just, idk, rewriting the story to make a female character have more of a dynamic with the main male lead)

Loona has two focus episodes and basically stops being a character in her own right in season two

Loona's sad orphanage backstory is used in a flashback to benefit Blitzo's emotional breakthrough. the backstory hasn't come up again since

Loona and Millie's screentime has basically been handed to Stolas, who got all the song numbers, too

Loona is supposed to be friendless /awkward but has friends over for Sinsmas? would have been nice to see that development

Loona and Millie are two main characters but they barely have a consistent dynamic with each other and certainly don't feel like friends.

Verosika goes from interesting ex who might also have contributed to the breakup with her alcoholism (some ambiguity at least) to character who exists solely to be hung up on Blitzo, explain his intimacy problems and to cheerlead for Stolas (who she doesn't know and is nothing but rude and judgemental to her)

Fails the Mako Mori test and probably also the Bechdel Test, two seasons in

Via goes from sort of well fleshed out to just a prop to make Stolas cry. Like Blitzo, the valid reasons she could criticize him are played down as much as possible and she's framed as not getting what's really going on

Stella is in an arranged marriage but the show only portrays Stolas as the victim (even though he has more money and power than her and she was forced to physically deliver an egg she didn't want, basically making her a depiction of the nightmares of being a tradwife in a society that treats her like an incubator - this likely wasn't the writer's intent but it speaks to a basic lack of empathy for the backstory they've written for Stella)

Stella having parties and socialising is used as proof of how vapid she is even though she has little else to do since she's stuck being Stolas' wife (and there's nothing wrong with liking parties? this is the exact opposite of the Mane Six in MLP who model a lot of different pursuits and ways of being female without looking down on any of them)

Stella in general is a caricature of a shrew wife who makes Lisa from The Room look subtle

why is Stella so abusive? she was born evil; no further questions.

cheating is wrong only if you're female. if you're male your wife will be rewritten to be a 2D depiction of an abuser

also if you're male cheating is fine. it's so fine that Blitzo will refuse to kill two cheating men and claim it's not that big a deal because he's projecting he and Stolas onto them

male villains are fun performance pieces. female villains are Stella and Glitz&Glam

Speaking of Glitz and Glam, they're two dimensional bitches and it's treated like it's good when they get hurt and that they'll be Mammon's new victims

both Moxxie and Blitzo's mother go unnamed in the show despite dying horrifically. they don't get a single line despite both of their fathers being named and with speaking parts - they exist to be tragic saints before being stuffed into the fridge. Blitzo's mother in particular is a major source of his angst. Moxxie's father's bodyguard, meanwhile, was given his own name despite being a bit part who matters not at all on an emotional level (and is shipped with Crimson by the fandom who is happy to flesh out his character despite his also being abusive). the closest we have to a well written mother is Lin, Millie's mother, who appeared back in - hey, season one! what are the odds?

Stolas' mother also doesn't appear to be present on this plane of existence. Paimon meanwhile gets his own introduction and a big chunk of screen time

and even this list might not cover everything!

I ask anyone who can read this and still thinks the show is fine at writing women - how can you still believe that?

and for the 'it's only halfway done!!' crowd I'll simply point out this: in order to fix even half of the issues I've laid out the show would have to have a very heavy focus on its female characters during its back half.

and as of right now we have no reason to believe that will happen. Stolas has joined IMP so he'll only get more screentime - we'll just never be rid of him. Bland as bread Vassago will probably get more screentime alongside Andrealphus, not to mention the likelihood of forcing the audience to endure a Blitzo/Stolas/Vassago love triangle because the fandom likes the idea and I could see Viv going for it too. Stolas is probably going to be given a storyline that's nominally about him learning to have empathy for the poor but in reality is just more of him not changing, bitching and moaning like always while Blitzo waits on him hand and foot.

Via is very likely about to be villainized or at least made to look even more dumb and mean for daring to cut her father off, if that storyline even lasts longer than a few episodes before Viv and Stolas give up caring about it (he'd practically thrown in the towel already in the s2 finale).

what room is there amongst the rest of this mess of garbage for any focus to be given to female characters?

the one storyline outside of Via is Millie's surprise pregnancy, which is a storyline you pull out when you have nothing else for a female character to do and let's be real, is probably just gonna end up being about Moxxie again

Uh oh...you laid it all out in plain black and white, so it's even more apparent how miserably this show treats women! You know how much the fandom hates that!

[ryin-silverfish]

I had a question about Nezha and how he might be characterized in a JttW story (specifically one that draws from Black Myth Wukong, with the common vision of Nezha being physically a perpetual child), and was directed towards you. I'll quote myself verbatim. I was thinking about how one might characterize Nezha for a story, and would appreciate any thoughts or corrections. I haven't read Investiture of the Gods yet, and probably won't for a while, but just going off what we see in JttW and some of the reading I did, this is what I came up with: When Nezha starts out there seems to be a fair bit of recklessness, carelessness, and bloodlust to his character. This ends up getting forcibly dealt with via his agreement with his father, and probably just over time a bit, but while he may become more responsible, as seems to be the case in JttW, the bloodlust and free spirited-ness are really just pushed down. Therefore, I tend to imagine him as being kind of grouchy, a bit stuck up, and a bit of a stickler for the rules, that last one mainly because he has to be, and if he has to obey that stupid oath to his father, than everyone else has to follow the rules too, damnit! But, he also has the repressed bloodlust simmering below the surface and coming out at odd moments, scaring people, which would explain why his father gets frightened of him for a moment in JttW, when Nezha rushes in front of him while he's without his pagoda. On the flip side though, Nezha is also described as a protector of children, so I like to imagine that, while he hates being treated like a child himself, at least by adults, he does like and understand children, and can do a genuinely good job interacting and taking care of them, even talking on their level if the situation demands it, and there's a real compassion and goodness of spirit there that will come out if just given the right opportunity. What do you think?

Well, JTTW Nezha's backstory is kinda barebones, but also: I think the biggest difference between FSYY Nezha and JTTW Nezha is that the latter wrecks the Dragon King's place THREE DAYS after his birth.

It's very much based on the Grand Compendium of the Three Religions' Deities (shortened as SJSSDQ) that inspired both JTTW & FSYY Nezha.

And in the SJSSDQ version, he's already a powerful immortal under the JE before he's ordered to reincarnate to rid the world of demons, thus he's able to slay a bunch of dragons 5 days after his birth.

(I honestly don't think you can apply human development trajectory to gods and immortals, especially with the whole *Property Destruction and Dragon-slaying after 3 days of birth* thing, but that's just my personal opinion.)

Oh, and his "protector of children" thing is very much a later folk religion development. In JTTW as well as FSYY, and even prior to these 2 vernacular novels, he's very much a fierce martial guardian deity known for his prowess at vanquishing demons.

Fun Fact: the Li Zhuowu illustrations of JTTW actually don't depict Nezha with his iconic twin buns (he also looks a lot more like a teenager in these illustrations):

Also, in JTTW, the pagoda isn't exactly dropped on Nezha and used to forcefully subdue him.

The Buddha just gives Li Jing the pagoda and asks Nezha to call (the Buddhas) on the pagoda as his father from now on, and it seems to be a pretty peaceful solution——though Li Jing is still terrified that Nezha will pick up the "revenge" hobby again the moment he doesn't have his pagoda on him.

I personally like the take where Nezha just, doesn't really care about Li Jing anymore, because from his POV, he barely knows Li Jing in the timespan of 3 days, not to mention having an actual father-son relationship.

His vegeneance towards Li Jing is the same as if a random stranger tries to kill you bc you are too much of a menace, and you are forced to kill yourself as a result——still a giant asshole move, but without much personal elements.

Another fun fact: after JTTW Nezha is resurrected by the Buddha, he subdues 96 caves of demons first before trying to kill Li Jing.

...My very unserious crack HC is he rushed out of Vulture Peak to throw hands with Li Jing immediately after resurrection, but lost his way bc he has a bad sense of direction, and beats up all these demons while trying to find his way back ("I'm just asking for directions! Can't they stop trying to kidnap or eat me for one damn second?")

Giant tangent aside, I think JTTW Nezha's other big potential differences in characterization are 1) he's a pretty thoughtful and clever guy, despite still having a bit of an impulsive reputation, and 2) he cares a lot more about his siblings and is probably on better terms with them than FSYY Nezha.

Like, in JTTW Chapter 33, he's the one who suggests to JE that they use Emperor Zhenwu's Dark Banner to cover up the heavenly bodies and create the illusion of the sky disappearing, instead of literally sucking up the sky into a container (which is impossible).

During the Lady Earth Flow Arc, Li Jing straight-up forgets he has an adopted mice daughter, while Nezha remembers who she is, as well as her three titles/nicknames (Golden-nosed White Mouse Spirit, Half-Guanyin, Lady Earth Flow).

Like, she's practically a stranger whose adoption is pretty much her one-sided act of gratitude (for sparing her life), instead of a decision made by Li Jing or Nezha, and the latter still remembers her.

I feel like JTTW Nezha is totally the kind of brother who'll spoil Li Zhenying, and even though Jinzha and Mucha still don't come back that often because of their work, their brotherly relationship is likely a lot stronger.

Also, their mother is still around in JTTW, as suggested by the short exchange between Mucha and Nezha in Chapter 42, where the former asks Nezha to go back and greet their mother, since he's on urgent business and doesn't have the time to pay his courtesy until after he's delivered the 36 blades.

[mono-gaming]

Deltarune Theory: Ralsei's Identity

So I haven't really posted a lot of Deltarune related things on here, but I've been replaying chapters 1+2 and watching a few theory videos while waiting for Deltarune Tomorrow(™). And I think I've come up with something that I haven't really seen much of so far, and might fill in a couple of other blanks.

So, Ralsei. He's a weird guy who knows things he shouldn't, can go places he shouldn't be able to, and doesn't seem to match any of the other Darkners theme-wise. And I think the reason why is because of the object representing him when Kris travels to a Dark World. That object? Kris's sweater. Now I know you're asking, how would Kris's sweater manifest as an Asriel lookalike? If it's actually Asriel's old sweater.

Asriel is off at college, and Kris is, buy the town's definition, a weird friendless loner. It would make sense that Kris is wearing Asriel's clothes both because they miss him, and because siblings tend to get each other's hand-me-downs as they grow. Asriel's side of the room still maintains the stripe motif he had in Undertale with his striped sheets, while Kris's side of the room is basically bare, which ties Asriel to his Undertale green-striped shirt more than Kris. It's also emphasized how many inhabitants of Hometown think little of Kris, like Monster Kid and Snowdrake. Asriel was the person Kris was closest to, and Kris has been desperately waiting for him to come home for summer vacation.

Now if the sweater is Ralsei, how does that translate to the Dark Worlds? Ralsei knows who Kris and Susie are by name the first time he meets them. Both Kris and Susie have come in contact with the sweater physically (obviously by Kris wearing it, and Susie, well...)

Ralsei being attached to the sweater would also explain how he's the only Darkner who can come and go from the different Dark Worlds without turning to stone like everyone else. If his object was something transient, that moves with a person rather than being a stationary object in a place, then that explains both how he's able to exist easily in multiple Dark Worlds and how he can appear in each Dark World whenever Kris arrives.

It would also explain Ralsei's strange time dilation issues. He says that he's waited his entire life for the heroes to appear, but the Dark Worlds had only been created recently. When Kris and Susie meet up with Ralsei again in Chapter 2, he exclaims that "it's been ever-so-long" since he's seen them and is happy they've come back, even though it's only been a day. I think that because Ralsei's object is being moved, time may work differently for him than for other Darkners, who have established backstories and histories from before their Fountains were opened. Another explanation could be that the sweater comes from Kris's home, which didn't have an established Dark World (until the end of Chapter 2 of course).

So how does Ralsei being Asriel's sweater tie into the plot we've seen so far? I think it explains Kris's motivations for opening the fountain at the end of Chapter 2. Kris sees Ralsei in the Dark World during Chapter 1, reminds them of Asriel, and then learns how to open and close a fountain. They go home that night and plug the TV in at home in preparation of opening another fountain. I think they were going to open the fountain with or without Susie there, because it's impossible to have planned Susie inviting herself over to Kris's house in advance. I think it all comes down to Kris missing Asriel, and wanting him back home. Maybe they'd even try to bring Ralsei out of the Dark World and into Hometown, which is why they opened the fountain in their own home. Kris is lonely, and Ralsei is the closest thing to the only person who seemed to really understand them.

I think that motivation would make sense even considering the Weird Route. If Kris (and/or the Player) can manipulate Noelle into a certain personality, maybe Kris can manipulate Ralsei into being more Asriel-like? Ralsei is just learning to discover who he is and what it's like to be himself, which feels like a very delicate situation that can be easily affected by outward forces, like someone else's will. Plus, we don't know the motivations for manipulating Noelle in the Weird Route besides "making her stronger". Even if Kris isn't an active part of the Weird Route, and it's the Player forcing them, I don't think that's enough to demotivate Kris from trying to "see Asriel" again.

So, let me know what you guys think! This is my first written-out theory, so I apologize if anything doesn't make sense flow-wise or comes across as rambling. I'd love for this to spark some discussion, so let me know if you like the theory, have any arguments against it, or anything else!

[deke-rivers-1957]

Double Trouble Review

Originally slated to be a Julie Christie movie, the head of MGM Robert O'Brien demanded that it would be written as an Elvis movie instead. Irwin Winkler, Christie's manager, was slated to be the producer in his first Hollywood picture. Supposedly, the inspiration for the new plot was a novel by Mark Brandel with the working title being "You're Killing Me". Given that Julie Christie is a British actress, the movie of course is set in Europe starting in London.

Meanwhile veteran Elvis director Norman Taurog was reaching an age where he couldn't direct like he used to as he was going blind. Winkler would also have another plate to juggle in the form of Annette Day, a young woman from the UK who's making her film debut. Fun fact, she was actually handpicked by the other producer for the film, Judd Bernard when he was on a vacation in London. With all the cards stacked against him was he able to salvage a last minute script overhaul, or were the odds just too much to overcome? Let's find out.

And now for something completely different. For the first part of "Double Trouble", we get b-roll that has nothing to do with Elvis. He doesn't even start singing until after the opening credits end. I will get this out of the way now, but this is a very misleading title. There's no lookalike framing Guy and it's intentionally confusing on who is out to get him. Anyway, we get a surprisingly contemporary dance scene with Guy Lambert hitting up a night club in London. I guess that makes sense since American singers have done shows in London and then throughout Europe. Given that the nature of the movie was meant to be different, I can also see why they couldn't completely scrap the whole club aesthetic.

We get introduced to Claire who is a bit too on the nose on numerous watches as a femme fatale type. Guy immediately knows that she isn't sincere about feeling jealous over Guy's 17 year old girlfriend, Jill. I'll address the obvious issue right now. Guy in this moment of time is not a creep for being with her. He can't be accused of preying on a teenaged girl if he doesn't even know she is not 18. Even if he did know she was 17, their relationship is not depicted in anyway that suggests he even so much as kissed her.

When Jill arrives, he sings "Baby, If You Give Me All Your Love" which is your typical upbeat ballad. I have no idea what this mannequin head is supposed to be. If anyone has any guesses, leave a comment down below. As for the song, I can see this being a favorite if this is somehow someone's first Elvis movie. As it stands it doesn't work pacing wise. Like he sees Jill, sings a song, then goes to talk to her about how they should probably decide if they should get serious or not in not even 2 minutes. What I really want to know is how they even met for Guy to be in this position as we never get that backstory. As in, how could Guy be this deep with Jill and still barely know anything about her? If Claire was his girlfriend, I would get that since he at least knows she is not fully open about herself.

So they get to Guy's apartment as there is absolutely nothing going on between them. She makes tea, serves "bikkies" and just doesn't stop talking. Guy has zero game with her to the point where he puts on his own record "Could I Fall In Love?" only for her to fall asleep. To be fair to Jill, the instrumental was so long that in real life anyone would fall asleep in that situation. Again, it really makes you wonder why Guy is interested in her when they just do not seem compatible at all. Even if you take out the obvious difference being her age (which again he doesn't know), they just do not appear to be on the same page. If she doesn't even kiss Guy until now, you're left with the eternal question of what they actually during their time together that would even spark this type of emotion.

Things take a wild turn when Guy sits down on the tea. That genuinely shocked me the first time around as I wasn't expecting that to happen. I know he was probably wearing heavy duty pants but in real life, Jill would have to call a cab to take Guy to the emergency room for scald wounds on his butt. Jill gets up to leave in a hurry and is just now getting Guy's phone number which again you have to wonder how they even keep in touch with each other to plan stuff. There is also the mystery of why Jill says she is interested only to leave out of nowhere.

The bombardment of L's doesn't stop as after Jill leaves, Guy opens the door and immediately gets punched in the face. Absolutely no build up and he wasn't even the right person. What makes it better and worse is that we never see this guy again. There is just no call back to him at the end where it's revealed he was part of some scheme. He really does just show up, punch Guy out and leave without any additional context as to who he even wanted to punch. Why? Was there meant to be a connection that was just cut? I have so many questions on what the full intent was behind this movie and just how much was changed to fit Elvis being the lead. I would like to think this part was added in to make you think at first that it was Guy who was being targeted but by the end it just isn't clear. Now what's honestly incredible is how Guy is completely out cold all night which in real life would absolutely be a sign of a concussion. It's made even worse when wakes up only to hit himself in the head with his own phone. Keep in mind, this all this happens in the span of about a minute.

Elvis getting hit by the phone looks like it actually hurt since it looked like a real phone. It all happens so fast that I can't even get a screenshot of the exact moment the phone hits Elvis right in the head. Even if it was a fake phone, that had to at least sting a little bit. So he gets a call from Jill's uncle Gerald asking to meet Guy. Throughout the call you just think that Guy has a concussion since his words sound slurred. It has nothing to do with the movie, but I never liked the trope where you have a character get punched out then wake up hours later like nothing happened. I know this was the mid 1960s but looking at it through a modern lens, Guy needs to go to the hospital. Anyway, when Guy and uncle Gerald meet, the movie makes it even more clear that this relationship isn't creepy. Guy immediately breaks things off once he finds out Jill's just a school girl. Uncle Gerald as her guardian would have a right as well to ensure she's safe and Guy doesn't push the matter.

If anything Jill is the one who wants the relationship to work. She takes advantage of uncle Gerald sending her away to a boarding school which makes me wonder why he didn't just do that in the first place. We do get the first sign that uncle Gerald isn't all that he seemed since he somehow knew Jill was dating Guy. I can buy that he knew Jill was sneaking out since a concerned parental figure would want to make sure of such things. But if Jill is just now getting Guy's phone number, how else would he immediately assume Guy is a legit point of concern unless he did have someone to "spy" on her. I know on the first watch you won't immediately get that, but on multiple watches things make even less sense showing that the writers when making these changes didn't have the time to make these events tie together coherently.

The boat scene is actually well done by making it so foggy you can barely see what's happening. That's not sarcasm, this is meant to be London in either spring or winter based on the weather. This smiling guy is so creepy and he will absolutely not have anything to do in this movie except play a red herring on a line to nowhere. I know they are trying to make you think that he will have something to do with at least one plot, but they won't. Meanwhile Jill meets a young man who seemingly looks interested in being with her and a pair of thieves hide stolen diamonds in Guy's luggage. Because we need at least 3 plots going on in this movie. Also fun fact, the shorter thief was also in the Beatles film Hard Days Night as their road manager. I think he is the only actor that was in both a Beatles movie and an Elvis movie. Given how the British invasion coincided with Elvis' downfall in popularity, this is very ironic to have an actor that did play in a Beatles movie as they were his biggest competition.

Guy and his band the 3 Blind Mice (long time followers will get that reference) decide to sing "Long Legged Girl (With A Short Dress On) for whatever reason on the ship's deck in studio perfect sound quality. At this point songs are just thrown in because we need to be reminded that Guy is in fact a singer and that his band the G-Men really do exist. Meanwhile, after Guy essentially breaks things off with Jill a mysterious figure drops what looks like a suitcase over a railing. Then they unhook a luggage cart. It is very obvious someone wants to kill either Guy or Jill. 3 guesses as to who it is and why. Guy is not that famous to make him a John Lennon figure. Jill meanwhile has an inheritance and only one other living relative. The methods of these attempted killings don't even make sense either. For trying to avoid being suspicious, this assassin sure picks the wrong times to do it. Of all places to do it, why do it in front of a crowd full of people. I know they want us to believe the smiling guy is behind it, but if you are trying to be mysterious why make a potential suspect "obvious"?

To make things even more confusing, this random guy in a trench coat picks up the screw. As one does almost like he's investigating what just happened. Surely he won't be suspected of being a villain when he was actually good if not completed uninvolved in the main plot the whole time right? We cut to Guy singing "City By Night" in such a smoky room I can barely see all the details in the club's set. I do appreciate the return to this jazz/swing style of music akin to Elvis' King Creole era. Jill somehow knows the exact club Guy is playing at even though she's supposed to be in Brussels. By the way, so does Claire which makes her reveal all the more obvious when you watch this movie more than once. To make things even more strange, Guy almost gets hit by a car, the guy from the boat following Guy makes another appearance and the thieves look through his apartment. Because we need all these side characters only to not even give the 3 Blind Mice names. We also want to add to the belief that it's Guy who people want assassinated even though he really isn't that famous. Granted once you know the truth this scene does feel weird since anyone driving the car would clearly see Jill was coming out of the other side of the cab.

Things become even more weird when the tables have turned and Guy is the nervous one. Like he takes Jill to his hotel room while his band is nowhere to be seen as if they don't exist. He is fully aware of how out of line Jill is acting. I have no idea why he even liked her to begin with when he just seems nothing but annoyed to be around her. This whole scene is weirdly put together since you hear the ADR in some of Elvis' and Annette's lines. You have Jill wear a frilly nightgown as Guy comments at how wrong this is. She even lies about Uncle Gerald beating her as an excuse to stick around. It just feels gross and manipulative. Just make Jill the same age as Annette was if you want the same conflict without also making Guy aware that this will be seen as creepy. It's no longer a matter of things not aging well when you have your own character point out how wrong this is. Once they leave we're treated to a good ol fashioned children's song "Old MacDonald". I wish I was making this up. I know it isn't a pure version of the song but it's still Elvis singing about farm animals on the back of a truck when we didn't need it. Like why does this song exist even in the context of their relationship? Guy is absolutely annoyed with Jill so why would he be all chummy with her like this? At this point to cope with this reality, I like to headcanon that all of this is just a coma dream Guy is having from the concussion he got in the beginning.

This next scene only adds to that theory as they end up in Antwerp and a random guy for literally no reason fakes us out by pointing a prop gun at Jill. There are actual policemen that walk by and hear Jill scream only to do absolutely nothing. You just have to wonder: why? Why do this? Of what purpose does doing this serve when we never see him again? It just doesn't make sense when you watch this movie more than once since the red herrings don't even get to do anything outside of being a cheap scare. We get more shenanigans with the thieves trying to get Guy's suitcase. I know this is meant to be a festival but the next few minutes are basically a fever dream. If anyone is Belgian please let me know if this festival is even real. Guy sings "I Love Only One Girl" which pretty much covers all the European stereotypes and even an Arabian one as a bunch of people with creepy heads dance around. I have never seen anything like it with all these demonic looking outfits, guys in lederhosen, a flamenco dancer. Just strange and is nothing but padding to an already confusing plot.

To make things even more confusing is Claire keeps following Guy, Jill is dressed like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, and some men in masks make like they're going to attack Jill only to play a joke. That man in the trench coat who was following Jill when this all goes down? Does absolutely nothing when it very easily could have been a murder. I get it's supposed to purposely confuse you but the young man from earlier takes things over the top. At least Jill is smart enough to leave her mask like a clue almost like she suspects this young man. See he turns out to be a guy uncle Gerald hired to kill her.

That was the whole point of this and we get a very horrifying scene where a 17 year old girl is about to be thrown down a hole covered by broken wood. For an Elvis movie, this is a very dark turn of events since it really does come out of nowhere. Guy of course saves her but still a 17 year girl almost died. Given the society we live and how movies are escapism this is a bit too on the nose. Especially when you consider that a lot of cases like this start off the same way in the form of a charming young man gaining trust. The death of this young man means we surprisingly get an Elvis character with a canon body count. We see that he falls through the wood and is very clearly dead.

None of this is played off for laughs. Jill is in hysterics and Guy has to throw away his jacket. I'm amazed this death doesn't have anymore attention drawn to it. That could've been the double trouble as we have Guy thinking he will wrongly get in trouble for kidnapping Jill and Guy thinking he will get in trouble for actually killing that guy. I will give the movie props for not being initially predictable as I sure had no idea who was part of uncle Gerald's scheme. It only falls apart once you see it more than once and the red herrings never actually come together. Like did we really need multiple fake outs in one scene only for them to not lead anywhere?

The next day, we get another plot where two guys want to blow up their own ship. Why? I have no idea. Sure the captain says the point is to collect insurance but like? Why? Calling it Damocles makes it even more confusing. Sure there was a prominent sense of fear between Guy and Jill but this boat has absolutely nothing to do with that. These two guys are now just showing up and don't appear to be connected to anything that we just saw. That's the problem with trying to be mysterious: if you include too many red herrings you're going to end up with a bunch of characters that are introduced as being important only to play no role in the main story. Jill is in the papers for being assumed kidnapped, and an old woman with delusions thinks Guy is her missing husband. That last bit is not at all funny and did not age well. Was this actually meant to be a joke? I have no idea since I don't see how anyone would find this funny. This is just sad.

When they get to a hotel all I can think of is, where is the Georgie with the 3 Blind Mice? I know they are not important but at the same time I have to wonder what in the world they would be thinking since we do see they travel across Europe with Guy. Guy meanwhile gets very on the nose with Elvis' real life struggle in Priscilla. It's the inevitable fact that Guy will get together with Jill by the end that makes this whole conflict pointless. Him singing "There's So Much World To See" is pointless. Especially when he says they should end up as not lovers but friends and they would eventually break up anyway. The reason why this is pointless is because even if Claire was an actual option, the movie has spent no time to indicate that they even have chemistry. But it doesn't matter anyway as we get yet another plot point with the Belgian comedic trio, Weirt Brothers taking Guy into custody for allegedly kidnapping Jill and things get even more strange when Claire picks up Jill only to not take her to the police station.

Of course, Claire is in on this plot as she grabs a very specific bottle of wine from the trunk of her car. Instead of, you know, the numerous bottles that are probably already in her house. Obviously, Jill is going to get drugged so it would be easier to kill her. Instead of just going through the easier route of poisoning her with the wine. What also drags on the non-tension is that the police are just playing cards with Guy instead of actually looking for Jill. If she was actually kidnapped and in danger, they should all be out there looking for her.

Guy of course has to be the only competent person in the room by doing his best to find Jill. Which he does and actually beats Claire up. What a movie as all the plots come together. Jill is saved from being overcome by the gas, Claire rats out Uncle Gerald so both are arrested. Guy drinks what I thought was the drugged wine and we get a turn of events where she turns 18 and spills wine on him.

In another turn of events, the mysterious man in the trench coat was really from Scotland Yard looking for the diamond thieves. I legit laughed when Guy just goes flying to tackle him to the floor thinking he was part of the scheme to murder Jill. Instead of telling Guy that he was part of a completely unrelated investigation from the start, we had to have another mystery. Grayson would be so fired as the diamond thieves are never caught.

In a complete non sequitur ending, the two men on the boat succeed in blowing up the boat, and Guy marries Jill. Just to prove a lot of plots were pointless, the diamond thieves lose the suitcase in the explosion. Guy and Jill are now stranded in the middle of the ocean with absolutely no way to get help. But that doesn't now as they kiss as if the boat they were on didn't just explode. It really does end on a kiss like the writers genuinely couldn't figure out how to end the movie. Knowing the complete lead change, I totally understand why. It's still a shame that the movie really does just end and all you go is "that's it?" akin to Patchy the Pirate from Spongebob. For Annette's film debut, she was fine I guess. She just didn't stand out. I don't know if it's the writing or her acting, but outside of the scene where she was about to be thrown down a hole, her acting is forgettable. I do appreciate that we had actual European actors to give the film some credibility and even make Jill British Unfortunately, she never took off like anyone hoped she would. Just like this movie.

Once again, the obvious decision to make Guy the victim of a lookalike framing him for some crime was right there. I have no idea why they named the movie that. The working title is also pretty bad. "You're Killing Me" is just too generic to work and overemphasizes the amount of murders there actually was. Literally just have Elvis' stunt double play a lookalike where he is the one trying to murder Jill for uncle Gerald. Interestingly enough, there is a comparison to the Beatles movie HELP! in that it's a group of people chasing the Beatles throughout Europe. You can see that influence by having the 3 Blind Mice have Beatle cuts and make Georgie British. Another movie that somewhat had the same concept but executed it better was Tickle Me. Yes it had the same problem of not developing connections with some of the characters, but at least the scale of the world worked regarding the mystery behind it. You didn't have the issue of making the main characters scared of every random person they met. Instead you had a small town where everyone legitimately could be a suspect as they would all be close to Pam in some way.

I know this was probably not what Irwin Winkler had in mind and giving the movie a European setting does make it stand out, but this movie is not good. It's a 6 out of 10. I did like the first 15-20 minutes where the little moments genuinely caught me off guard. The problem is that once it's revealed Jill is 17 and she is an heiress the general concept of where this movie will go is spoiled. You already know to some extent that she will be the victim of attempted murder, but the movie doesn't do a good job of balancing mystery with cohesion. The scenes where Jill almost does die is such a dark turn that it almost doesn't fit in with the rest of the movie. The songs are forgettable and Old MacDonald is a complete joke. When you have a situation like this where things completely change you have to simplify the story as opposed to make it a lot more complicated. That just didn't happen. The saving grace of this movie is that it makes for a great way to celebrate 4/20 without having to get intoxicated.

An: Happy 4/20 everyone. Please indulge responsibly.

Tagging: @codalysssssworld, @presleysweetheart, @smokeymountainboy, @arrolyn1114, @peaceloveelvis,

@mercsandmonsters, @eapep, @atleastpleasetelephone, @without-him, @lucy114505,

@blighted-star, @rjmartin11, @elvisbdoll, @dragonkingsdaughter, @ifyouloveweedletsgosmoke,

@ilovequeen978, @fuzzymusic94, @halieghhh, @tacozebra051, @hooked-on-elvis,

@lola-1013, @father-of-2cats, @southcarolinawoman, @elvisflowerchild, @i-r-i-n-a-a,

@jadeeloveselviss, @xanatenshi, @thelonelyheart, @vintagepresley, @iloveelvis2,

@elvisfangirl92, @angelelvis, @chihirolunvh, @epcoffeelovenotes, @jd5824,

@ahundredlifetime, @alienelvisobsession, @eptodaytommorowforever, @freudianslumber, @wanderingelvis,

@lustnhim, @lvrdollep, @georgefairbrother, @bioshockpunch, @luckydaye777,

@stitchlover0112, @your-nanas-house, @mrsdeanpresley, @leopardandstuds, @joecartwright1842

and @lett-them-eatt-cake.

[doodlegirl1998]

Hi, reading a fic (shig x hawks hear me out I was bored and want to see different charactizations of Mr. Sexy man) and in one scene as shig talks about his past...

It hits me once again how Izu doesn't have a mc trait.

Not saying he should be an orphan or anything like that.

But think this way: shig is the grandson of Nana. He is a Shimura.

Izu has nothing. I do like how he is from no important family...but he has no mc trope. He is an extra in his own show.

His traumatic past is BK abusing him but that doesn't count, ofc, and what else Izu has in his storyline? He wants to be a hero (everyone does) he is good with quirks sure and good with lil kids but....what else?

To be clear, don't think shig is better written or developed at all...and his reveal as SHIMURA was weak sauce and no one gave a shit.

But like there SMTH.

When you think about it....Shig had a better childhood than Izu...and yes, Kotaro was abusive. Yes, not denying that but like...he has monchan, friends and a mom who cared for him.

Izu has nothing but bk...forever.

Hi @mikeellee 👋

I'm not going to judge, read whatever interests you, but Hawks / Shig isn't a ship I like.

You are right when you say that Izuku doesn't have any traditional MC traits.

Now, it could be argued that OFA / "the chosen one" trope is used with Izuku being the final user. However, that, quite frankly, is bullshit because this ended up meaning nothing narratively, and Izuku lost OFA anyway. And an OFA user didn't end AFO - Bakugou (a no-name bastard) outside this passed down legacy of OFA did.

Izuku came from a no-name civilian family in MHA, no DFO, no other secret important linnege (unlike Shig and Dabi) - Inko is barely explored and Hisashi is mentioned in name only.

Unlike other MCs with tragic backstories (i.e Naruto and Tanjiro) Izuku's traumatic past abuse at the hands of Bakugou is undermined at every turn to make Bakugou look better instead of being treated with the respect it deserves.

To make matters worse, Bakugou is the reason Izuku suffered so much. No such abuse of the quirkless is seen LITERALLY ANYWHERE ELSE in canon. In canon, there is no Quirkless Discrimination seen in society (perhaps because there are so few of them). All of Izuku’s suffering is down to Bakugou being a bastard because he liked to be and couldn't handle being helped out of a river once.

Izuku is stuck with this literal narrative parasite until the very end and accepting pity payments from him so he can get his very own 'big boy' Hero Iron Suit after 6-8 years. I am disgusted by this ending.

[yukidragon]

Sunny Day Jack - Cat AU

Okay, so, two particular pieces of beautifully drawn fan art have collided together in my head to create a light and fluffy self-indulgent image that I just had to share with you all.

@okamiliqueur's heartbreaking picture of Jack's lonely and forgotten box from the new demo made me think of cats abandoned in boxes, "free to a good home." Only in the case of the game's story, he was left out in the rain to rot, the owner having given up giving him a good home.

@jazzylovetodraw's picture of Jack as a cat has been buzzing in my mind for quite a while. I just love how precious he looks in both forms, and when I was thinking of Jack being like those abandoned kittens in cardboard boxes... well, the combination was obvious.

I know that Jack's fursona is a snake, and I know being a cat is Shaun's thing, but I'm a sucker for kitties. I'm as biased towards cats as I am for dragons, if my avatar and username didn't offer enough of a hint. ;3 I'd love to see all the characters as kitties honestly.

Tempting though it may be to go with Fruits Basket rules for kitty Jack, like I toyed with over on twitter, I think I'm going to play with a different and simpler set of rules. In this universe, Jack is stuck as a cat until his sunshine's love allows him to become human again.

Admittedly, it's kind of hard to imagine Jack being alone for very long when he looks so adorable. Who wouldn't fall in love with that precious kitty face instantly? Most everyone would be putty in his paws.

Content Warning: I wind up touching on a couple explicit headcanon details near the end. I mean, I did say this is a pretty self-indulgent image with my OTP.

Maybe Jack was stuck as a cat via a curse ala Hocus Pocus and is guarding the box/tape/etc. Maybe he was stuck as a cat instead of in the tape and no one could see him until MC came along. Maybe he's got a tragic backstory like the cat from Fruits Basket.

Since this AU is more about the vibes, I'm just going to leave the how and why parts of the lore up in the air. All that matters is that Jack is stuck as a cat and left out in the rain in a cardboard box until MC decides to take him home.

I'm just going to switch over to Alice and what she would do in this scenario. Poor lonely Alice is out on the town, when she comes across the box out in the rain and sees an equally lonely kitten. Poor little thing, all wet and sad... She just has to take him home with her.

Alice cleans Jack up, gets him wrapped up all nice and warm in a blanket, and even gives him some chicken she bought for her own dinner that night. She'll have to get cat food and other things for her new furry companion tomorrow, though she should probably look for his owner and take him to a vet.

At first, Jack isn't sure what to do about the situation, though he is grateful. No one has even acknowledged his existence until Alice came along. She's so soft and warm. He loves it when she holds him. She's so kind too.

Alice does find it surprising Jack doesn't put up a fuss when being given a bath. Jack didn't exactly like the feeling of being all grimy, and don't get him started on fleas and other gross things cats have to deal with on the streets!

The vet isn't as fun, though Jack is well behaved, though very clingy to Alice throughout the appointment. He can't help but fear that she'll abandon him too. He'll keep up the helpless and adorably needy kitty act if it means she'll stay with him.

There's no ID chip, no tag, and no missing notice for any cat that looks like Jack. It's clear that the poor guy is a stray.

Alice is hesitant initially. She's wanted to get a pet cat for a long time now, but she has barely been able to take care of herself. How can she handle taking care of an innocent life that needs her when she's struggling so much with her own life?

That hesitation doesn't last long. Jack loves on Alice so much, constantly purring and snuggling up to her. He curls up with her when she sleeps or relaxes. He was hesitant at first, and she assumed that was because he was wary of her, when in reality, he just didn't want to cross any of her boundaries. He didn't want to do anything that might upset her and make her get rid of him. When she started petting and cuddling him, he wholeheartedly returned the affection, absolutely starved for it.

The first thing Alice thought when she saw Jack was that he was lonely, just like her. He's so sweet and can't stand to be apart from her. How can she just get rid of him when he makes her feel loved and needed?

Of course, a cat's life isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Cat food is a step down from people food, and a litterbox is anything but sanitary. Jack just skips that nonsense and goes straight to using the toilet despite the awkwardness, which shocks the heck out of Alice. He also snubs all cat food in favor of human food.

Yes, I could go with Jack being a ghost(?) cat that doesn't need food or to use the toilet, but then he wouldn't have gone through the indignities of a vet visit.

Then again... it would be funny if Alice brought Jack to the vet, only for them to think she's crazy, since to them all she's carrying is empty air.

Hmm... yeah, I think I'll go that route. As hilarious as vet hijinks and typical cat care with Jack while he possesses a human mind and identity might be, this would be a more interesting and tragic route. No one else can see Jack but Alice. He's lived for who knows how long in a world full of people that don't see him at all, unable to even be human anymore. It'd be a different type of hell than the one in the video tape, similar to what I talked about in my previous ramble.

Imagine if the 1984 incident Jack died and became a ghost(?) cat because he was secretly a cat shape shifter or something. Or maybe something more supernatural happened during the incident. Either way, cat ghost(?) Jack is very, very lonely.

Man, I just realized, it would be even more tragic (and complicated) if I go with the reincarnation route for this AU. Ghost(?) cat Jack probably had to watch Mary die slowly in the hospital after the incident, unable to help her or let her know that it's him. He couldn't even offer her comfort in her final days. It would've been so traumatizing.

For now, let's just play with this AU without the reincarnation angle, since this is supposed to be mostly light and fluffy feline fun with the OTP.

Jack, even as a cat, tries to do his best to help Alice out. If he can make himself useful, make her need him, then he won't ever lose her. He sneaks out when she goes to work to keep her company even though she initially tried to get him to stay home. No one sees him, so it won't matter. Besides, petting an invisible kitty is a good stress relief when dealing with awful customers, and certainly beats regular stimming.

The more Alice cares for Jack, the more powers he gets back, starting with the ability to talk. It's a huge shock for Alice of course, but Jack makes it clear that it's because of her love for him that made her stronger.

Of course, that love is platonic, at least at the start, which Jack knows full well, but he'll work on shifting things to a romantic love... especially after he gets the power to shift back into a form that has hands.

Like in typical canon, Jack answers Alice's questions as best he can. He probably lost his sense of identity like in game canon, so he references CloudyTown and stuff "he" did there, mixing up the show's lore with his own past. It's also intermingled with his many years spent wandering the streets being ignored and going crazy from the loneliness.

Jack does let Alice know that he used to be able to change from a cat to human. He just... can't anymore. He thinks it was because he was forgotten. He doesn't know why no one can see him until Alice came along.

It's so sad and tragic that Alice can't be unmoved by his plight. Sure, it makes things a bit awkward knowing that Jack is sentient and used to have a human form, but she feels for him. It also makes sense now why Jack always turned away whenever she changed.

Yes, Jack could have peeked. He could have even watched Alice while she was bathing, but he didn't. He refuses to do anything she won't allow. Cuddling her and sleeping in her bed is innocent, but the thoughts he'd have about her when she was undressing were anything but. He loves her too much to take advantage of her innocent trust in him. He needs her to want him to see her in that vulnerable state... even if it drives him crazy lusting over her. Poor pitiful kitty can't even have a good wank off session with his paws.

Still, despite knowing that Jack was human and is sentient, it's hard for Alice not to fall for his feline charms and not think too deeply about that fact. She still winds up cuddling him and petting him.

Of course, when it first hits Alice that she's treating a human like a pet, she stops and apologizes, but Jack insists that it's fine. He enjoys their cuddle time. He gives her the big, pleading kitty eyes as he begs her not to stop, and she can't help but give in.

Awkwardness soon fades and settles into a strange new normal. Alice does wonder if Jack really is real or if she was just so lonely she imagined something this crazy... but his presence is comforting. He keeps her company almost all the time. She doesn't feel alone anymore thanks to him.

Also... now that Jack can talk, he says such sweet things. It's weird to have a "pet" take care of her, but he reminds her of when it's time to brush her teeth, wakes her up for work, helps her get chores done despite how awkward it is with his paws and small size... It's so endearing.

The encouragement and assistance Jack gives Alice is wonderful, and his jokes are so fun and silly, but it's the praise that leaves her feeling flustered. If she didn't know any better, she could swear that he's almost flirting with her sometimes. She's in denial that's what it is, but it feels nice to be told that she's cute, and Jack is so sincere about it... and how can she not melt when he says sweet things with such a sweet face?

It's one morning that things change drastically. Alice's bond with Jack strengthened over time to the point that Jack finally can change back into a mostly human form, though he does have cat ears, a fluffy tail, and whisker markings.

It was a big surprise to them both really, as Jack transformed in his sleep. Alice had gotten used to cuddling up to a talking cat during the night, so it was a shock to wake up in a pair of big muscular arms. Jack was so happy when waking her that morning, giddy to show her his (mostly) human side, that it slipped his mind what a shock it would be.

Naturally, Alice bolted back against the wall away from the stranger in her bed. Jack quickly started reassuring her of who he was and that she wasn't in danger. He stooped down to her level, pretty much wilting really, with ears folded back, as he apologized for scaring her. He was just so happy that he wasn't thinking about how it must look from her side...

Seeing Jack so pitiful and sad, Alice feels her heart go out to him. Once things calm down, she can't help but be amazed by how he looks. Unthinkingly, she reaches up to pet his ears and feel how they attach to his skull. She only fully realizes how forward she's being when Jack starts purring.

Flustered, Alice immediately pulls back, only for Jack to whine at the loss of her touch. He didn't mind it at all. He always loves it when she cuddles with him.

It's a complicated feeling for Alice. On the one hand they've been very close for so long. On the other, Jack is definitely a human, so it feels different now.

Yet, Jack is so sweet. He's mindful of her hesitation, even if he's disappointed. It's harder for him to hide his feelings with such expressive ears. Alice can't help but want to reach out to him, especially after they've already spent so much time together, getting to know one another. He's chased away the loneliness that had been haunting her for so, so long.

Of course, now that Jack has a human form, Alice finds her feelings slipping into "dangerous" territory. He makes her feel so good, so loved, and she feels for him too. She doesn't want to dare assume he might feel anything more for her than just a friend, but she can't help but notice the way he looks at her, the way he clearly longs to be near her. He's so tender and gentle... and they've already been so cuddly.

It's easier for Alice to find herself cuddling up to Jack, letting him and taking guilty pleasure from his gentle warmth. He pets her hair too in return, and it feels surprisingly good... a bit too good at times.

The line between friend or something more blurs with all the cuddles and petting. Alice feels guilty about it, but Jack keeps encouraging her until, finally, something has to give and their relationship changes. Both of them feel relieved when it does, as they couldn't help but worry that their feelings might not be reciprocated.

In a lot of ways, it's pretty close to the normal continuity, just with some fuzzy ears on top. Jack can change into a cat at will now. As he gets stronger, people can start to see him, perhaps as a feline silhouette, or maybe with some unsettling shadows not from a cat. He's certainly going to be a bit territorial and not be afraid to hiss and use his claws if absolutely necessary.

Still, this kitty is pretty content thanks to Alice. Jack loves it when Alice carries him around as a teeny kitty, warm and snuggly against her chest, even in the cleavage of her shirt at times. Naturally, he returns the favor, carrying her around the apartment as often as possible. It's only fair after all~!

Naturally, Jack wants to get intimate with Alice as soon as she lets him. He's so pent up. Even with hands to take care of himself, all the cuddling and now kisses just make him ache for her even more. He longs to be inside her, biting her gently and growling in pleasure as he takes her.

A bonus with Jack being part cat is that he gets to have some vibrating action when he purrs. It adds a whole new dimension to their lovemaking, whether he's using his mouth on her sensitive parts, or thrusting himself deep inside.

Oh, I'm reminded of the cat-like features I mentioned in the Omegaverse AU. I guess Jack, having feline features, would have a dick that's ribbed for her pleasure too. Tongue too. Neither would be sharp because rule of sexy, but it would add a very pleasurable texture that a clever man like Jack is going to take full advantage of~

Of course, Alice can take advantage of those feline features too. The base of Jack's tail and ears are quite sensitive, and she quickly learns what spots get his motor running. Of course, getting Jack excited will lead to him pouncing on her and getting rather frisky, but Alice would certainly be expecting that result~

I can imagine Jack could make himself look fully human without any feline features, but he knows Alice finds his cat side to be adorable. She has a hard time resisting petting him when his ears and tail are out, and he certainly wants to encourage her to pet him as much as possible. He also wants to encourage her to let him pet her as much as possible.

Of course, if Jack can become powerful enough that other people can see him, he'll have to stick with only cat or human form when out in public. Still, even when other people can see and hear him, he prefers to be in Alice's company. Cats have their preferred human, and Alice is Jack's.

Naturally, Jack would have to be sneaky about showing Alice love when in public if there's a chance of getting caught. Good thing he has that perfectly innocent little kitty form to hide in. I can imagine it would lead to some interesting interactions where someone shows up only to find Alice incredibly flustered with a slightly disheveled appearance, while her "pet" Jack is just casually looking smug, as all cats do.

Person: Whoa, what happened to you?

Alice, not looking them in the eye: Uh... Jack, m-my cat just... ah, got a bit excited.

Person: Heh. Cats, am I right?

Alice: Haha... right.

Jack: :3c

Hmm... I wonder then if the other love interests should have cat transformations in this AU too. It'd be a crime if Shaun doesn't have that ability but Jack does. Jack already gets together with Alice, so I don't want to be extra cruel to Shaun.

Admittedly, I don't have too many ideas for other characters with cat modes. Well, aside from an image of Shaun taking care of his baby MoonPie by carrying her around by the scruff. This post was mostly just indulging in sweet moments with my OTP with a bit of feline flavor sprinkled on top. Maybe I'll revisit the idea again if I get more ideas than just a bit of fluff.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this silly romp with Alice and Jack having some feline fun times!

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur @kurokrisps

[decadeofjoy-au]

Good tidings! I offer two toony terrors for the soul (deadzonedenizen is not responsible for any loss or damages to life or property caused by either of the following toys)

Human name: Finn Ridley

Age (when experimented on): 11

Toy name: Max McShake

Type: Milkshake Narwhal

Height: 8'5

Role: Cook(?? Idk he's more of a waiter)

Personality: Absolute show-off. Is the embodiment of 'playing with your food'. The bane of Picky's existence. He'd skate around and juggle plates full of food before perfectly landing it all on the kids' tables...Most of the time. Other times, it's him still perfectly serving the food...but getting himself hurt in the process. The only reason why he's being slightly more careful is because Medic's threatening to stop helping him with his injuries if he keeps being so reckless.

He is the anxiety-inducer of both the kitchen staff and the medical staff. He tends to do things such as fill a glass to the absolute brim that it's on the brink of spilling, perform stunts whenever he's serving the food, all that stuff. He used to be a caretaker, but was eventually deemed a bad influence after some of the kids start trying to copy him and his stunts.

Backstory: Finn was an orphan who was notorious for getting into very avoidable accidents that should've killed him, but didn't. He was just straight up built different from the get-go. Whenever an orphan gets admitted to Playcare's clinic, the pediatricians already know that there's an eighty percent chance it's him. And no matter how many times he ends up hurting himself just because he wanted to impress the other kids with his stunts, he straight up never learned.

Some game station results and a trip to the operating table later, and Finn, or Max at this point, spent most of his pre-HOJ life being locked up in a cell like most toys. It especially broke his sense of identity since he genuinely has a near-identical personality to the actual Max from the cartoon, giving him severe impostor syndrome.

If he wasn't in his cell, he was being forced to test his unremovable skates during many of Dr. Leroy Gallop's experiments. He still retains many cracks and bandages from when he was still getting used to having wheels stuck to his soles. He hates the other scientists too, but Dr. Gallops is a special breed of bastard to him.

Max was probably one of the toys that hesitated the most during the HOJ. He barely remembered anything that happened at the time, only that he was too overstimulated from everything happening and ended up fainting in the process. Even after, he still sometimes beats himself up for not doing more. (Especially about Zack and Maggie's dads)

Weaknesses: His recklessness, queasiness around injuries on toys (does not like being reminded of the whole 'being experimented on' thing), bit more on the fragile side

Strengths: Speed, absolute luck, no seriously his luck stats are maxed out (pun intended), he and Maria would get along (maybe, not really, Maria probably doesn't like him lmao)

Human name: Suzie Acres

Toy name: Carmen Apple

Type: Caramel Apple Caterpillar

Age (when experimented on): 13

Height: 8'7

Role: Multiple roles (A snack vendor for the Theater area, and a janitor)

Personality: Constantly tired, Carmen is the silent type who would let others take the spotlight while she just does her job and go unnoticed. Anytime she does get noticed, it's usually because she ends up slipping on her own mop puddle, just to give up with standing and just sleep there. Lack of sleep is usually due to insomnia (claiming she could heard the bugs scurrying in the walls), and making sure there's absolutely no tripping hazards as she cleans.

Carmen is an incredibly jaded individual, having distanced herself from her fellow toys just to do her own thing (Though she'd still help around if it means making herself feel useful). Once upon a time, she was a kid who wanted everyone's approval. Now, she's just content with whatever. While cleaning, she sometimes accidentally end up hearing conversations from others who don't even end up noticing her, though she doesn't bother doing much about it.

Backstory: Suzie was an orphan who was a severe people pleaser who was also a bit of a klutz (Understatement of the year). Whereas Max gets himself hurt because of his own recklessness, Suzie gets herself hurt unintentionally. Max basically stole all of her luck points, and now she's a hazard to herself 24/7. It was a miracle that she even scored high on the game station tests. Well- it really isn't, but not the point 💀

Being experimented on didn't really help, as one can imagine. Already having severe klutz syndrome and being shoved into a completely unfamiliar body made it extremely hard for her to function. This was a problem to the scientists, since the actual Carmen from the cartoon is supposed to be the responsible, level-headed, reliable figure...which BBI Carmen didn't exactly display. It came to the point that the scientists had to extend her adjustment period, just so she could take more time to finally get used to things.

One thing about Carmen is that like the actual toy being sold in the Playtime Co. brand, BBI Carmen's caramel hair is actually made to smell like caramel, and even feels sticky when touched. One of the scientists' methods to get her to behave is to lock her in a room full of insects and bugs who would mistake her for an actual caramel apple. She was even forced in a room full of feral critters who thought the same, resulting in the bitemarks on her hair.

Post-HOJ, Carmen tends to just stay in the background instead of getting attention, and would rather just sell snacks or mop the floors and hope that she doesn't slip in the process. The closest to an actual friend she currently has is Riley, with them sometimes bumping into each other. Sometimes though, being a janitor can be a difficult job...

Especially if you're moping off blood and viscera.

Weaknesses: Fear of bugs (ironically while being a caterpillar toy), scent attracting said bugs, klutz energy

Strengths: Ability to walk on walls (soles on shoes have the same sticky material as her hair, stealth, good at cleaning up evidence

🪽Oh, I love these two! Nice to see another cook! Would definitely freak out Colby :D added to the list!

[emilythedog661-tf2]

My TF2 Kid AU

This is a TF2 Alternate Universe where everyone is kids between the ages of 4 to 12 and everything is different so i hope you like it and i have done other alternate universes like a fantasy one, a cowboy one, wild animals one, a bug one and other things, anyway, let's get to the universe

Backstory - In a town called Fortress Town lived 12 kids who come together and mess around together and have fun together, the kids lived in a col de sac called teufort street and it's one of the oldest streets in america, the oldest kids who live in the col de sac were the twin mann brothers, redmond and blutarch and helen, redmond and blutarch are 13 years old being teenagers so the kids don't see them much but helen who is 12 sees them all the time and she kinda of the manager of the col de sac while the mann brothers are the bosses of the col de sac, helen likes to boss and she controls on what happens in the col de sac and what the kids are allowed to do when the mann brothers aren't around, the other kids don't really mind her as she barely has any strict rules but she can be a princess sometimes which is why the other kids minus one don't really want to mess with her, when the mann brothers are around, helen sticks to them like glue and the brothers use the other kids to pull pranks on each other as they have a love-hate relationship.

Now for the kids

Scout - Scout who is 4 is one of 8 brothers with him being the youngest, all his brothers are half brothers and they are all older then him with 5 of his brothers already moved out to start their own lives while the other 3 still live at him, he has a single mother who spoils her boy equally while working a very strict job which she likes as she's a workaholic, Scout likes playing with the other kids but they don't really want him around as he's young and they don't want to be responsible if he gets into trouble or has a accident, the ones Scout likes to hang out with the most is Pyro as they get each other and Heavy who he sees like a older brother and Heavy doesn't mind him.

Soldier - Soldier who is 7 is a foster kid, he was abandoned as a baby at a orphanage and he been living in his current foster home since he was 3, his foster parents are fine but it's his foster siblings that he doesn't like as they are all boys and they all bully him as they are older being over 13, but Soldier has learnt to stand up for himself since he was 5 but more in a violent way as he ends up biting, scratching, punching, kicking and smacking his foster brothers if they bully him, his parents don't know what to do with him half the time so they put him in time out while they punish the foster brothers for bullying him making then really good and responsible parents, when Soldier is allowed out, he mainly hangs out with Engineer and he likes hanging around with him as he is calm, intelligent and patient, the pair met when soldier were 3 at kindergarten and the pair have been inseparable since.

Pyro - Pyro who is around 4-6 is a strange child, he adores fire even though he knows he shouldn't mess or play around with it, he's very artistic, he acts like a girl sometimes and he lives in a house outside the col de sac that looks run down and burnt down, when the others ask about his parents, pyro would always say that they have gone out but the kids have never seen them but they don't care as long as pyro is happy and well fed with the kids bringing him food sometimes which he is, he also for some reason sees Soldier and Engineer as his substitute parents as they always seem to care for him like parents do and they protect him sometimes too, lastly, he likes to hang around with Scout a lot as he sees him like a brother he never had and he feels safe around scout.

Demoman - Demo who is 5 is one of the kids who moved into the col de sac from a different country with him being from scotland, his a friendly kid but his parents always want him to have a job so he always gets sent around to the other houses in or out of the col de sac to ask the adults if they can let him do a job, the adults always let him either mow the lawn, clean the gutters, water the plants, clean the car and he always end up getting a good amount of money for it, also demo hasn't lost his eye yet so he has both eyes but he will end up loosing it when he is 8 to a wild animal attack.

Heavy - Heavy is the oldest kid of the 9 friends being 10 years old and he is a big guy but a teddy bear at heart, he is the second kid being from a different country being from russia and he lives with his single mom and his 3 sisters, one is 4, one is 2 and the third one is on the way with his mom being 6 months pregnant, Heavy likes to protect his family as he's the only male in the house and his dad died during the war so it felt like it was his job to protect his pregnant mom and almost 3 sisters, Heavy likes to hang out with the others kids with the ones he sticks to the most is Scout and Pyro as he has a instinct to protect the pair and Medic as he sees him like a younger brother as they get on really well.

Engineer - Engineer who is 7 lives with his dad and grandad and he comes from a line of engineers with his dad being a mechanical engineer and his grandad being a steam train engineer, Engineer hopes to be like then when he grows up so he has been working hard learning about engineering and has even built some really good inventions which both his dad and grandad were really proud of, the other kids were proud of what he could do as well so they made him the group's mechanic and they always ask him to make stuff that could help with the pranks ageist redmond and blutarch, Engineer likes to hang out with Soldier the most as he feels happy and safe when Soldier is with him, he is also the only one who can calm Soldier down if he goes into his outrage mode which what Engineer calls it when Soldier attacks someone mainly his foster brothers, he also gets Pyro hanging around with him and Soldier sometimes and Pyro can be cute when he wants to be.

Medic - Medic who is 8 moved into the col de sac from germany when he was 2, he's a single child to his parents who are both doctors and he's usually home alone due to his parents being so busy, he's learn to look after himself though and he hopes when he gets older, he wants be a doctor like his parents and he has learnt some doctor things from his parents where he's become the group's doctor, medic can be a little over the top sometimes but he loves birds mainly doves, he even has his own pet dove named archimedes who is dumb but very happy, Medic likes to hang around with Sniper the most as they have a common ground with animals and they like to lightly tease each other, Medic also likes to hang out with Heavy sometimes both having a brotherly bond and they talk about many different things with Sniper joining in sometimes.

Sniper - Sniper who is 6 moved into the col de sac from australia with his parents, his parents are older parents being in their late 40s so this makes sniper a single child due to that reason, Sniper is a introvert kid but he has really good eye sight and he is very good at climbing trees, he's also really good with a slingshot and very good at skipping rocks across the lake, Sniper also has a pet owl called Sir Hootsalot that he rescued and restored back to health when he was 4 after it had its wing almost broken as a chick, the owl has since stuck by Sniper and it's his him and Medic started to get along, He goes along with Medic the most but he also gets along with the others as he is a good listener.

Spy - Spy who is 9 moved to the col de sac from france when he was a year old, he moved here with his parents and much older brother who was 16 at the time, Spy's brother is now 25 and moved back to france to live with his grandparents which are Spy's mom's parents and the reason is that it turns out, Spy is Scout's uncle after Spy's brother had a one night stand with Scout's mother when Spy was 5 so now Spy has to hang around with his nephew half the time and he with his parents are the only ones who know about the one night stand and Scout, Spy is very sneaky and he is very good at helping out with the mann brother's pranks, he also gets on well with the others but he hangs around with Fiona Pauling the most as she has connections to helen.

Miss.Pauling - Miss.Pauling who is named Fiona and who is 5 years old is Helen's right hand assistant, she follows Helen everywhere and Helen uses her a lot but Fiona doesn't mind as she admires Helen like a big sister, Helen uses Fiona as a messenger for the other kids, a planner, a door mat and a slave and Fiona will do what Helen tells her too, Fiona is also the younger adopted sister to Helen after Helen's parents adopted Fiona as a day old baby after her mom abandoned her at the hospital, Helen was 7 when her parents brought Fiona home and at first, she didn't care about her but after she saw that Fiona admired her, she decided to use it to her advantage so since Fiona was 2 years old, she has always been in Helen's shadow and she doesn't mind.

That's all for now, i hope you like this AU and i'll see you all later 😋 also if you have any other Alternate universe ideas i should do, let me know as i have a feeling i'm starting to run out of au ideas 😁

[acheronist]

woah it seems like i missed the first eleven words of your post but in spite of that would it be okay if i asked about what you think thomas armitage and henry peglar spent four years doing while they were sailing around the equator on the gannet together

LET THE RECORD SHOW THAT IT IS THE YEAR IS 1834. it's also early april. cool and crisp but sunny one could assume. we are boarding the hms gannet (an 18 gun brig-sloop), and we are signed on for four years, sailing across the atlantic and then working in service of the british navy in north america + the west indies. henry peter peglar was born in 1812 and is at this point twenty two years of age. thomas middlename armitage is born in 1805 . much less information about thomas is readily available to me so we're really entering crazygirl speculation, but we know he's at least 28 but probably closer to 29. i love it when the least problematic thing about a couple is their age difference.

i don't know what thomas was up to, besides allegedly being married for eight years and having some kids and then fucking off to the navy instead of being a father (closeted deadbeat dad backstory? married young just to appease family backstory? lavender marriage backstory?) but in the last few year before this henry had: worked under a captain who was notorious for lashing his men, said Yikes this guy sucks i don't want to be lashed, wrote for a discharge, got on a new boat. new boat was captained by the same crazed captain as before, so he bailed again, and ended up on a ship he'd previously been on before, and then got lashed for being drunk and mutinous under the old-new captain anyways. my poor boy. the takeaway from this is when he's getting onto the gannet as captain of the foretop, his shoulders are covered in barely healed over scars.

good news is tho he got a promotion!!!! a few, technically!! henry's captain of the foretop, now, and likely spends his days up in the ropes and rigging, climbing around and fixing the sails. he's good at this and does an excellent job. this is also his first time as a senior petty officer aboard a ship, plus he was acting as coxswain AND working gunner crew when necessary. (shoutout to his childhood in his dad's gunsmithing workshop)

thomas armitage is rated as an AB right now iirc, and with only so many men aboard, surely their paths must begin to cross. thomas has got a pretty good coverstory of Marriage, but henry's never had any romantic affairs recorded thus far and has been pretty career focused for most of his life so far as far as i can tell. oh you've been in the navy since puberty? mm. mhm. okay.

well anyways no one would blink twice at some fellow crewmates who run in the same social circles sharing a meal every now and then. lots of people do that. and henry likes to write, has always liked to write and keep a journal! the atlantic is clear and beautiful but to make good pace, henry doesn't get the time to write until late into the evenings. men aboard see him writing constantly in his spare time, and he gets a reputation for it. once, maybe during a meal, the ships boys nervously ask him if he'd mind helping them with their letters. he laughs and says his spellings not very good, he's not much of a teacher, always been a sailor, but he'll help of course, if they'd like that. thomas can't help but overhear and remembers how it felt to sign his marriage certificate to cecelia with an X, not even able to scratch his own name out across the line. maybe that was better though, he hadn't really signed anything, and it felt like he wasn't truly tied to her, not in a way that was real. marriage consummated, sure, but he didn't know his children. wasn't in their lives. much preferred the company of his fellow sailors, the ease and routine of a crowded ship. sent most of his money home, of course, and never saw them. couldn't send any letters home, couldn't read any letters that managed to reach him, either.

still, if someone aboard was offering to teach, maybe it'd be worthwhile to speak to him more. try and learn. so he strikes up a friendship with mr. peglar. easy easy easy. he's funny, he's clever. gets silly after too much drink, freckles easily under the clear sunlight, works hard and his company is pleasant. he's strong and competent and good at his job-- jobs-- and there's not much to dislike about him. lots of men like him, but even on the hottest days as they sail south, when men strip down to their skins, henry still walks about the decks with his shirt buttoned all the way up. it's a nice thing to see-- thomas has always appreciated it when a shirt is well worn. when a uniform is respected and kept in order. you understand, of course.

so maybe, on a quiet night, one where henry's lingering up in the crow's nest with his pages again, tom gets the nerve to climb up. scares the hell of out henry on accident, and they both laugh it off. make room for each other in the cramped space. talk about the view, the waves and how they stretch out to the horizon, clear and gorgeous. tom hadn't realized the height would make such a difference. henry agrees, explains its part of why he likes to hide up in the heights of the ropes so often. they talk, and talk, and talk until the stars come out. tom doesn't even remember that he crawled up the ropes in the first place to ask henry if he could teach him to write, not until theyre both down on deck and henry's folded his pencil and papers away.

anyways... henry's often busy-- working. always working. its hard to pin him down but thomas begins to seek him out. gets scant minutes of each day to grip his shoulder, friendly-- NORMAL-- and smile. talk. nothing salacious-- of course not, one has to be careful aboard ships lest he wants rumors to start. but still. when henry begins seeking him out as well, it's a good feeling. sometimes the sun shines so bright and thomas gets to crane his neck up, picking out henry's dark silhouette against the blue sky and gets a few seconds to watch him work in the rigging.

and finally the ship gets a land break. a short one, mind, but a break nonetheless. the ship's docked in trinidad, henry practically begs thomas to join him off to a party. friends of someone on board throwing the whole thing over on the beachfront. spoke awful loud about it that morning, so it's not quite an open invitation, but seems informal enough that if they arrive at the right time, no one will notice they hadn't been properly invited. thomas wasn't expected to get drunk under the table like this, but apparently henry's much better at handling his alcohol, and its late-- or very early, depending-- when they finally stumble back out to the beach. its cooler out here and its lovely-- dark and salty and sweet and exotic. thomas hadn't ever been to a party like this. he has to twist his fingers into henry's shirt collar to keep upright, and maybe that's the first time he properly notices the lines of scars peeking out from below the collar. wouldn't ever see them if he hadn't pulled henry's shirt out of sorts while they stumbled over the sand-- giggling like boys and splashing barefoot along the shoreline before they returned to the gannet. and thomas wouldn't bring it up no no no that's far too forward especially because it wasn't something he was meant to see anyways but he keeps it in mind. he keeps it sooo in mind he kind of begins to suck at his job once daylight and the hangover hit him because all he can focus on is wondering how far down henry's back the scars go. what he could have possibly done to be lashed in the first place.

so he doesn't ask. he doesn't ask and he doesn't think about it, just struggles through the alphabet that henry has him copying down and thomas kind of hates himself but he copies his shaky letters down and does his job and keeps a nice distance but still... if he takes every meal with henry across the table then that's fine. they have to go over thomas's terrible alphabet practices and have a billion other things to talk about .

and the gannet moves along, so does thomas. so does henry. and its all well until the ships docks again-- cumana this time, and some men get permission to leave the ship. they'll be back on the sea again for a long while after this so the officers aboard allow it and henry just wants to walk so thomas is fine to walk with him. and it wasn't like they'd planned to find a party again, this just seems to be a joyful part of the world. and it's hosted by some americans this time, so they don't even need to struggle with the language barrier too badly! and thomas tries not to drink so much, wants to be there to take care of henry this time. and stays in the back a bit-- watches henry become best of friends with these strangers and he sings and dances alongside them, and isn't it nice how his face lights up when he spots thomas still there against the wall, so unabashedly pleased that he'd not disappeared while henry hadn't been paying attention!! and well maybe henry stumbles out of the crowd and pulls thomas into the thick of it, his hands all warm from the weather here and calloused from work and a bit sticky from spilled drinks, and brings thomas into the crowd to dance. and gets thomas to sing too because when everyone else is loud, no one really notices them specifically, and its okayyy its okay! its okay. theyre nobody here, it barely matters. just come dance. and thomas does follow after him and he does sing and he does dance. and they rent a room for a few hours before anyone notices they've not made it back to the gannet yet, and thomas gets to peel henry out of his clothes and do up every single button again after, like they'd never been undone in the first place. glances around the room one last time, and couldn't believe henry nearly left his wallet on the bureau top-- tucked it back into henry's pockets himself before they left minutes apart to avoid suspicion. but they got away with it which is THRILLING. and they keep on like this-- a cycle of working with their heads down and indulging away from the ship when they could manage it. halfheartedly teaching thomas his letters, which never quite sticks but that's alright, and seeing the sights and wonders every day, side by side, seeing the turtles swim slowly by and basking together in the heat and excitement of a new place with a strong sense of anonymity.

and its two and a half more years of this, of catching each other's eye between the ropes and Knowing it'll never last, things like this never do, but isn't it nice to have it now? and it's two and a half more years of this, and thomas does get to see the long, gnarled scars that trace down over henry's shoulders and spine, once, twice, three times, more and more until he begins to lose track. and its two and a half more years of secreting affections away up in the crows nest at strange hours when no one would notice. and its two and a half more days until they both get their discharges and the gannet docks again at sheerness and they hadn't talked about it, about what's next, because isn't it obvious? there's nothing next. this wasn't more than an affair, but it was a lovely one. it might even be one that hurts forever.

and it's february 1838 when they meet up at a pub in kent-- thomas kissed cecelia's cheek before he'd and said he was off for a pint with a friend-- and it's in a crowded pub when henry has to lean in across the table to tell him he's signed onto hms temeraire, just because he can't bear to stay in one spot. not anymore, loves the sea far too much to be on shore for very long. and thomas has to tell him that's good-- that's best for him. has to tell him to be careful in the ropes, he won't be there to watch out for him this time. and henry knows better than to ask if there's an address he could write to-- thomas wouldn't give that, and thomas wouldn't be able to write back either way. he'd still never gotten the hang of making his letters blend together gracefully into words, not in the way that henry always could. so they shake hands, fingers digging in a little bit too tightly, until they let go and that's all. thomas armitage and henry peglar go on their separate ways, resigned to the fact that they'll likely never see each other again.

and its seven years until they DO see each other again, running into each other, completely unexpected. isn't it so odd? isn't it so funny how things work out like that? do you think fate's real? well it must be, surely the navy's bigger than this to just be happenstance. they both needed jobs again at the same time, is all. heard the same rumors about john franklin's arctic expedition, whispers of optimism trickling down to even the most common gossiping circles of sailors. both couldn't resist the idea of it. both walked the chatham dockyard with their things in tow, keeping an eye out for hms terror, talking again as if no time had passed, about what to expect from the sandwich islands, if it'd be at all like the west indies... and well, they might be, once they make it that far.

who can really say, though. they're older this time. it'd be different, surely. maybe it'd just be best to be pleased for a friendship-- a more steady, meaningful companionship as they got through the passage. who can say. who could know.

[jaydenix]

W.I.T.C.H Fucking Sucked, change my mind

Oh look, another Winx Club fan who hates W.I.T.C.H, as if the world hasn't seen enough of those

But seriously, I saw absolutely nothing in this show that was really worthwhile. It's very boring and I enjoyed almost none of it. Honestly surprised I was able to finish all 52 episodes but I was very glad to be done in any case.

So like, let's talk about the main cast, the W.I.T.C.H in W.I.T.C.H if you will, and so if you will, let's talk about Will and co. (I am such poetry): Honestly the main five don't feel compelling at all, I take almost no interest in any of them as individuals. All it seems this show is focussed on is showing what they do as Guardians for the most part. Like, we never really see any emotional development with them, how being a Guardian affects their life or the pressure of trying to keep their identities hidden or prevent the bad guys from winning. We don't see of any of that and this just makes them such uninteresting characters. To be honest, they barely even have different personalities. I don't think I can point to a single thing that makes Irma much different from Hay Lin for instance, like they just all feel the same with only minor differences. Cornelia is the one exception as the blonde brat type similar to Stella (Winx) and Sasha (Amphibia), and she's probably my favourite just because of that, but that's not good grounds for a favourite character, it's just winning by default because of low competition.

The episodes also feel very intentionally separated and on their own. I get it's an episodical show but sometimes the characters can be so sporadic it feels like every episode was written by a different person with no synchronisation, characters feel so weirdly different from episode to episode sometimes, and the show regularly has arguments will happen for the dumbest reasons and I just argghh I hate it. This show sucks.

A few other characters that exist: -Blunk is like moderately funny at times -Caleb is... okay I guess he exists -Phobos is an alright villain but he just kinda sits around and waits and doesn't do anything, doesn't really come off as very threatening but there's not too much to hate about him per se -Nerissa is definitely a pretty threatening villain and learning about her backstory and plans and stuff was one of the more fun parts of the show for sure -Most of the characters in the rebellion don't feel very interesting tbh

Also the amount of times this show does stuff like very obviously in public view despite the fact it's still a secret just feels really weird, they've done so much that so many would've spotted them by now it made no sense.

Oh also the opening song is pretty banger I'll give the show that. "WE ARE, WE ARE, WE ARE W.I.T.C.H" it goes so hard

OKAY SPOILER TERRITORY NOW SKIP TO THE END IF YOU DON'T WANNA BE SPOILT:

Now it's time to talk about probably my biggest issue with this show, and that is Elyon, I hate everything about her. In the first half of season 1 we barely see her at all, which is insane because what happens next with her is easily the most important thing to happen at that point in the show. She goes onto join Phobos and it's discovered that she is actually his sister, which I think was pretty obvious throughout most of the first half of season 1. In any case, HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS NEEDED MORE TIME LIKE WHAT THE FUCK. Elyon's departure felt so one-sided and rushed on two major fronts. The first was her grievances over being left out by W.I.T.C.H. This one is annoying because we only see a few instances of this happening, when Elyon was clearly way more important than that in the grand scheme of things, she should've been obviously left out way more and become more frustrated without answers. We see a little bit of this but not enough, like there should've been a lot more moments of W.I.T.C.H (and especially Cornelia) having to cover up why they didn't show up for things or had to leave and she knows they're lying but doesn't know the full story, it's a common trope but it would work. Additionally, being distrustful of her parents, when they appear IN THE SAME EPISODE SHE FUCKS OFF TO MERIDIAN, like we're just expected to accept that? Not like see what they've done to raise her slowly but surely and eventually decide to take matters into her own hands especially when her friends are unreliable but no she instead runs away with the creepy librarian who has gaslit her into distrusting anyone else??? Fuck off, this whole plot of Elyon in the first half of S1 is just so poorly planned, it needed WAY more attention that the show could have afforded if it chose to focus on what was actually important but of course not. And it only gets worse from here.

Elyon after this becomes so obnoxious in the way she speaks and acts. She talks like she's in some fucking play of sorts with this grandiose way of speech and it's so frustrating, and also she acts so annoyingly loyal to the sleazy guy who apparently is her brother with basically no hesitation. I probably wouldn't mind this as much if her departure felt actually justified and fleshed out but of course that's not the world we live in. God I hate Elyon so much.

Otherwise I will say I did not see Caleb being Nerissa's son at all. Nerissa being a former Guardian and trying to recruit her old friends is pretty cool. Also when she kidnaps Matt and transforms him into that guy was a bold move, I like when villains get personal like this it makes them feel very threatening, Nerissa is definitely makes season 2 better for sure, though that doesn't mean it's that good.

The ending of the show was kinda strange with them bringing back Phobos thinking that would go swimmingly and then he gets eaten by his green monster friend and then everything happens it was a very odd ending that I felt extremely neutral on. Like it's just kinda there, what you see is what you get. But I was glad about one thing that this show was over, I didn't want to watch it anymore lol, I didn't really feel excited that the characters overcame something because it just didn't feel like there was anything to care about, I wish this show didn't suck so bad.

END OF SPOILERS

So yeah, this show is not that good, it has some okay moments but most of the show is boring, uneventful, and poorly written. I do know about the comics and I haven't actually read them I've only watched the show, maybe those are better and I know only a small amount of them got adapted for TV. But from what the show gives me, it's not great

I give season 1 like a 4/10 and season 2 like a 5/10 so 4.5/10 is my personal rating for W.I.T.C.H.

I've been very negative about this show but to be totally honest I didn't want to be, I was genuinely excited going in knowing it was similar to Winx Club, hoping to remind me of what made me like that show so much in the first place, but I was quickly hit with the reality this show was just not great, though since then I rewatched Winx Club S1 and I can say I definitely don't like it as much as I did before, Winx S1 had always been my favourite season but pending my rewatch of the others I think there's a good chance that could change. It seems since I last was into Winx I've learnt how media analysis works, I can take that. Anyway, that's my opinion of W.I.T.C.H.

P.S: Pls don't hate me this is just my opinion if you like this show and I know plenty of people do it's totally okay we can all like what we like and dislike what we dislike and I just happen to not like W.I.T.C.H very much OKAY? Have a good day.

[au-sonic-smackdown]

AU Sonic Smackdown - Round 1, Right Side

Click to see full size image

Dark Gaia Sonic AU belongs to @cattyanon

Starhog AU belongs to @perry-88

Read more about them under the cut!

Dark Gaia Sonic AU-

Personality: Mostly the same as normal Sonic but there's some quirks due to the reason for his unsightly transformation. He's more… grim. Not nearly as peppy. Dark humor actually gets a laugh out of him now too.

Backstory: During the time where Dark Gaia takes back it's energy to form itself, including from Sonic, Sonic fights to keep it- He doesn't want Dark Gaia to get any stronger and he'd just come to accept his new werehog form! But something very unexpected happens during this game of tug o war. While trying to take back the energy that Dark Gaia was attempting to steal, Sonic accidentally ends up taking back more energy than he started with. Too much energy. Almost all of it, in fact.

Assuming Dark Gaia had been defeated some how, Chip goes back into the earth with what little of Dark Gaia's original form is left and uses his powers to send Sonic back to where they first met.

Unfortunately it doesn't take long for the consequences of Sonic's (albeit unintentional) actions to unfold in the form of a grueling transformation…

Abilities: Same as the werehog and Dark Gaia.

Etc: There's a constant war in his mind for control of the body, with Sonic just always barely ahead. Because of this he talks in chunks. "Which basically… means he talks… like this…" He's also prone to spacing out because of this too- although this mostly happens during the night since that's when Dark Gaia is at it's strongest. And although this is probably obvious when you think about it, but just as confirmation he is in fact immortal. He also loathes being the way he is now. At least as the werehog he could still run and go places more or less normally. But now? Now he's 147 meters tall… And there's a LOT more downsides to that fact. Namely things he can't really do now. One of the other most devastating beings that, due to them being so small now, he can't taste chilli dogs. Somebody would have to make a REALLY big chili dog for him to taste anything. Or maybe a lot? Either way it'd be a giant (no pun intended, but welcomed) effort to go through.

Starhog AU-

He's basically the Shadow of this AU, instead of shadow and Maria, it's sonic and Elise, he's the youngest of 3 "ultimate lifeforms". (different animals) After Elise sudden death, sonic went dark for the first time, radiating a Chaos blast killing almost everyone in the area. (His 2 siblings were in escape pods.) He became very weak after the blast, he doesn't remember anything between him fatigued of the chaos energy, and crash landing to south Island.

Since he's a part of ristar's species (think of it like, if the black arms were living with the humans for thousands of years) he can stretch his arms but they do have a limit. His paws are like a geckos and he can stick to things.

Tangle is his friend in this AU. He is very protective of her. He'll protect her if she's in danger.

Ivo didn't really know Sonics dangerousness until a fight with metal came and he absolutely demolished him. Ivo had to rebuild metal for 1&1/2 weeks.

Shooting stars (ristar species) were kinda wary of Sonics existence, most are now glad that tangle is with him.

Sonic is (technically) 30 in contrast to shadow being (technically) 50.

[zo3y-bunnylov3r]

I think the problem with bad and lukey's relationship is that lukey will always be to normal for bad and lukey can't accept that water clocked bads entire personality in minutes and lukey still can't even fathom the complexity of who bad is and or what he is and how complex his past is and that unless you've stuck around with bad forever then you still wouldn't know details that make bad, well bad.

Also if you don't know how to understand bad then you just won't be able to understand his thinking on some things like why he does what he does or his experiences with loss or just him in general. I like lukey I do but he doesn't have the mental capacity to be able to listen to bad or to trust bad after hearing things he has done in his past, and if bad hasn't showed lukey the real him already then he needs water instead of lukey. now i don't think that one is a better friend that the other or they're better.

Now i want to talk about how lukey may be needed in one situation but water is better in another

Water:

Water could tell everything about bad right away because they are alike (something lukey will never be able to bond over with bad or have in common)Water is kind to bad he is someone who is just like bad but without the loss of everyone he cares about, and other than that they feel like the same person. Being the same person never works out because just like in real life when you get older you end up just like your parents and that's why you've always disliked them if you did because no one can stand themselves for to long and that's the problem bad and water have is that they feel like the same person just with differnt backstories that make them a bit differnt just like with your parents. The only person that bad has been able to stand (barely) that feels so similar to him is foolish.

I just want to add a quick section about bad and foolish compared to water or lukey.

Foolish:

Foolish just like bad has seen his loved ones die knowing that he couldn't save them, but there is one small difference that makes bad and foolish enough alike to tolerate each other bit not to much alike that they will fall out. bad and foolish have very different personalities. Foolish is more of the loving kind the one who goes"hanging around mortels can't do any harm"compared to bad who's more like "if i hang around more people who i have a chance to lose i'll lose it myself"and that's the core difference is how they handle the same situation.

Lukey:

Lukey is good for bad he's nice to bad but lukey will never be able to understand bad no matter how hard he tries because they have nothing alike human and godlike immortal demon. Water is closer to this but will never reach anything close enough to fully understand every bit of bad that he can dissect, but everything comes down to one thing about friends for bad. "will they leave me"

This is why everyone ships landduo because they know that even though foolish will never try to understand bad unlike everyone else in the surver he already knows who he is and why he is there are so many options for better friends for bad that could try to understand him if they really tried like amisy she takes apart everything bad says not trying to get the information for something. they got lore out of bad that even water couldn't get and yes it did take time but it's not like this was the point from the beginning it wasn't unlike water he just wants more treasure to hoard. lukey just wants to be his friend thinking he knows what's good for bad (he doesn't he just thinks he does) Foolish will never be so similar but so differnt from bad like someone else's shadow that knows you but will never be for you. Amsiy wants to understand him just not fully be his friend.

In conclusion: Bad will never find the right friend even if he looks for another million years

[wilrtdroses]

theotherwoman.

𝜗𝜚 Ch. 2: To New Beginnings

𝜗𝜚 Series Masterlist

𝜗𝜚 Fandom: L&O SVU // Pairing: Elliot Stabler x Fem!OC

𝜗𝜚 "She was running from her past. He was still tied to his own. Neither of them expected their lives to become entwined."

𝜗𝜚 WC: 1436

⤿ 💌A/N: This is chapter two of my series, "theotherwoman." originally published on wattpad!

𝜗𝜚 I merely own Sylvia Conway and her backstory, as well as any other OCs that may be mentioned throughout this story. All other rights and reserves go to Wolf Entertainment, Universal Television, and NBC.

──────────୨ৎ──────────

──────────୨ৎ────────── ❝The SVU didn't believe in slowly easing new detectives in.

Promptly following Sylvia's intriguing encounter with Detective Stabler, she was met with the overwhelming feeling that one gets when all the eyes in the room have drifted to them, she found herself almost feeling embarrassed by the sudden attention — similar to how a child feels when asked to present the project that they forgot to complete before the class period began.

Despite the several glances that she received upon her entrance, they all soon returned to their original focus — well, almost all of them. Even as she held her posture in a half-attempt to appear unbothered, Sylvia still felt as though she was being watched. After a moment, she finally decided to cast a glance at who had been observing her, as soon as she looked up, she was met with a piercing domineering stare. She found that the intense gaze belonged to the eyes of a stunning brunette woman.

Sylvia's thoughts are soon interrupted by her new captain, Don Cragen, who had approached her at her desk, taking a moment to analyze the young woman before offering her a polite yet firm handshake. "Welcome to the team, Detective Conway. I've read over your file — three years in Narcotics, two undercover. Good instincts, solid casework. That's why I signed off on this transfer. But you will need to understand that the SVU is different from any cases you have previously worked with. It's personal in a way that takes getting used to. You'll be dealing with victims whose trauma doesn't end just because we make an arrest."

Sylvia nodded, taking in her new captain's words. "I understand, Captain."

"Good." He replied before turning towards another detective — no not just any detective, but the same gorgeous brunette that Sylvia had noticed eyeing her earlier — only now she could see those cut sharp brown eyes up close as the woman began approaching her desk. "This is Detective Olivia Benson."

Olivia extended her hand out to Sylvia, "Nice to meet you."

Their captain briefly excused himself before stepping away to return to his office. Sylvia accepted the firm handshake, taking a moment to analyze Olivia the same way that Olivia had been analyzing her. She was well familiar with the detective's name — She and Stabler were practically legends in the SVU. Sylvia couldn't find it in her to be bothered by the professional distance Olivia appeared to be upholding, her and Stabler have been partners for over a decade, and now she would be the one stepping between that partnership.

"Likewise," she said, after realizing she had yet to respond.

There was a brief pause between the two detectives, not long enough to be noticeable by the other members of their team but certainly not short enough to be played off as nothing, Olivia then pulled her hand away from the younger woman with a short nod before turning to return to her desk.

Sylvia could only imagine how long that tension would last.

Sylvia barely had time to ponder on that thought before she heard Captain Cragens, now familiar, voice calling her to join him and Elliot in his office.

As she began to stride towards the office, she could make out the silhouette of Elliots firm back in the dimmed lighting. His posture remained rigid yet somehow comfortable, almost as if he had spent years standing in front of that desk. Sylvia stepped into the unfamiliar room, moving to stand beside her new partner, straightening her back as she moved to adjust her hands into a clasped position behind her back.

Almost as soon as she settled into this stance, the captain turned to face the now partners. "I'm sure Fin already filled you in on how things work around here, but let's make this official. You have been reassigned to take Bensons position as Stabler's partner." His gaze flickered toward Elliot; the next comment directed towards him. "As we discussed earlier."

She didn't miss the way Elliot's jaw tightened, nor did she miss the way Cragen's words implied that there was more to this reassignment than just a standard shuffle.

After a beat, the captain returned his attention back to the younger detective, "Now I know we briefly discussed this earlier; however, I just would like to be sure that you have prepared yourself for the cases you will be faced with being in this unit."

Sylvia nodded, "I have, Captain."

Elliot shifted beside her, arms crossing. "She'll be fine."

Cragen shot him a look. "Well, that's up to the both of you." He leaned forward slightly, placing his hands on his desk, as if he was trying to emphasize his words through the change of position, while also dropping his previously used formalities. "I'm trusting you to make this work, Elliot. You and Olivia decided your partnership was too close, and I've respected your mutual decision. But this squad doesn't function if partners don't trust each other. Now is that understood?"

Elliot gave a single, firm nod. "Understood."

Cragen turned to Sylvia. "Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." He grabbed a file from the top of the seemingly never-ending stack that had been piling in the corner his desk, giving it a quick once-over before placing it in Elliot's now awaiting hands. "Then you've officially got your first case together. The victim's waiting to talk at her apartment. Get a move on."

Without another word, Elliot turned on his heel and walked out. Sylvia followed, not missing the way Olivia's gaze followed after them. She couldn't find any hostility in Olivia's expression — just something unreadable, almost wary even. Sylvia didn't need to investigate anything to notice the obvious reason; Twelve years as partners didn't just fade overnight.

The two detectives continue on their way to the exit but before they can reach the elevator, they are halted by the sound of a dry voice approaching them from behind.

"So, you're the new kid."

Sylvia turned to see a tall, lanky man watching her over the rim of his darkened glasses. The suit he donned looked as if it had seen better days, and the expression on his face carried the kind of skepticism that came from years of seeing the unimaginable.

Sylvia did not need to make any inquiries of the man's identity; she had recognized him almost immediately. Detective John Munch.

"Detective Conway," she informed him, offering him her hand. "And you must be the squad's conspiracy theorist."

Munch simply smirked as he accepted the womans outreached hand. "Guilty. And you're the ex-Narcotics hotshot."

Sylvia found herself raising an eyebrow at the detective's words, "Oh is that what they're calling me now?"

Fin appeared behind Munch, arms crossed, leaning on the wall beside the two, a flicker of amusement showing in his face. "I told him to go easy, but you know how he is."

Munch waved him off with his hand, "Just getting a read on our newest recruit. You were undercover for two years — that means that you're either an impeccable liar or you got tired of pretending to be someone else."

Sylvia tilted her head slightly at the older detectives' words, lips working their way into the beginning of a smile. "Guess you'll just have to stick around and find out."

Munch let out a low chuckle at the woman's response, nodding his head in Fins direction. "I like her."

Elliot, who had been waiting impatiently by the elevator, sharply let out an exaggerated exhale —  Sylvia was sure that it was the first of many that she would be hearing throughout their partnership. "Are you done yet, Munch? We've got a case."

Munch shrugged, "Don't let me stop you. And maybe try not to scare her off too fast, Stabler."

Sylvia smirked at the detectives' words before turning to step into the elevator, briefly looking over her shoulder at her new colleagues. "I don't scare easily."

Munch watched as the elevator doors finally shut before looking over at Fin, "She might just survive."❞

[redphlox]

Did you expect more to happen between Hawks and Dabi in the final arc? Or what are you thoughts on Hawks in what happened to conclude his character?

It’s interesting how Hawks was sort of inserted into the Todoroki’s plot, connecting with their son in a way in order to further E in a way and how HK made parallel art of the two… Unless they were just characters who fooled each other?

I did expect more between them. They were foils. They had Endeavor in common as their origins. They were using each other. Both had to come to a realization regarding Endeavor and their places in society and their own power to change things.

IMO HK didn't allow Hawks to grow. He stayed stagnant... blind hero worship, upholding the overall status quo, etc. This is an example of what I mean when I say the writing/story didn't have conviction. You could argue both sides on every question: Was he regretful of killing Twice? Yeah, I can argue that. Does he think he still did the right thing to kill Twice? Yeah, I can argue that. Does he embody the story's message about giving people a second chance? Yeah, he did offer Twice assistance and still supports Endeavor despite the latter's (kinda) disgraced status. But on a systemic level what is Hawks doing to prevent more Twices now that he is president of the PSC? Idk, you as the reader can imagine something I guess.

Basically, this is the middle ground HK settled for, and it ultimately did a disservice to all his characters... you can argue for any resolution in the end of the manga, and you'd go right back at the beginning because you didn't go anywhere, lol. There's nothing tangible. I know people argue that "it's open ended so we can keep imagining" but damn the whole ending was that way...

Honestly I think Lady Nagant's backstory was supposed to be Hawks' plotline, but HK scrapped it because he was afraid to upset Hawks fans who loved him as a hero.

In regards to Dabi, the two's interactions seem unfinished. Dabi most likely revealed to Hawks that he was Touya, and we didn't get any introspection or speculation on Hawks' part about WHY the hero's son would turn to villainy. I understand being steadfastly dedicated to optimism, but think, please... it leads to growth. Doesn't mean you can't stay optimistic. Instead we got that "even if what Touya says is true, the situation is probably different now" and eavesdropping on the Todoroki family to come up with his own conclusion instead of reading the room: Natsuo is angry for a reason, Rei was institutionalized for a reason, Rei threw boiling hot water on Shouto for a reason... listen to the victims, please.

It's frustrating.

Anyway those are my two cents. Hk didn't finish his thought on these two's storyline. I mean he barely finished the story, so...