#every new character and hint to the future has me like !!!

[gregmarriage]

been waiting all season for oz and ed to properly meet and it did not disappoint. they were IMMEDIATELY faggy and bitchy to each other and i’m obsessed <3

[deliciousangelfestival]

The Imperfect Couple - 6

Character: politician!Bucky x ex-wife!reader

Summary: A separated couple must pretend to be happily married while the husband runs for Vice President, dealing with old issues and political pressures during his election campaign.

Warning: The couple's arguments could be triggering.

Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 , Chapter 4 , Chapter 5 , Chapter 6 , Chapter 7 , Chapter 8 , Chapter 9 , Chapter 10 , Chapter 11 , Chapter 12 , Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist || If you enjoy my work, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-fi 🙏🏻

By the way, I publish my book Arrogant Ex-Husband and Dad, I Can't Let You Go by Alina C. Bing on Kindle.

Thank you to everyone who has read this chapter. Leave a comment and Reblog, please. I'd love to hear your thoughts. ❤️

“How long have you known him?” Bucky’s voice was calm, but his eyes were sharp, watching every reaction.

“Five years,” you answered, keeping your tone steady. You didn’t want him to pick up on any hint of tension.

Bucky frowned, a strange sense of familiarity tugging at him. Ian seemed like a typical journalist, but something else about him gnawed at Bucky's instincts.

He rarely interacted with foreign reporters, so why did Ian’s presence feel… off? He was sure he'd figure out why this feeling wouldn't leave him.

Before either of you could say more, Greg appeared, clipboard in hand, and gave you both a pointed look. “Alright, you two, time to get ready. The event’s about to start. Let’s make sure everything runs smoothly.”

You nodded, feeling the butterflies in your stomach begin to stir. You’d been on stages before, but not like this. Not with Bucky, not under the gaze of an entire country.

Bucky noticed your hesitation and moved closer, placing a firm hand on your lower back. “It’s going to be fine,” he whispered, his voice low and reassuring. “I’ve got you.”

You looked up at him, trying to read his eyes. Was he just saying that for the cameras? Or was there something deeper there? It was getting harder to tell. You nodded anyway, more for yourself than for him, and straightened up. You had to play your part, just as you always did.

At the Convention

The large venue buzzed with excitement, lights shining down on the stage like spotlights in an arena. When Steve Rogers walked up to the podium, the room went silent, all eyes on him. He was the golden candidate—charismatic, confident, the embodiment of what the people wanted.

The room buzzed with anticipation as Steve Rogers approached the podium, every eye in the venue locked onto him. He stood tall, his presence commanding, radiating the quiet strength he was known for. After a brief moment, he began speaking, his voice steady but filled with passion.

"Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Americans," Steve’s voice echoed with gravitas, "Today, we stand at the threshold of a new era. We face challenges that require not just strong leadership, but leadership rooted in integrity, honor, and the unyielding belief in the power of the people."

The crowd quieted further, hanging on his every word.

"For too long, we’ve watched division grow. But I believe in the strength of unity, the strength of standing together—one nation, bound by a shared responsibility to protect our freedom, our families, and our future. And I pledge to lead with the same unwavering commitment that I’ve given to this country my entire life."

He took a brief pause, allowing his words to sink in, then continued, his tone growing more impassioned.

"I am not just here as a candidate, but as a father, a husband, and a son," he said, gesturing toward his wife, Peggy, and their children standing nearby, his parents behind them. "I want a better world for my family—just as I want a better world for yours. A world where opportunity isn’t reserved for the few but shared by the many. A world where every child grows up in safety, with access to education, health, and the opportunity to pursue their dreams."

The applause began to rise, but Steve held his hand up gently, signaling for quiet once more.

"This is not just my campaign. This is our campaign. Together, we will fight for a future that respects the dignity of every individual. We will build an America where justice is not selective but a right for all. Where leadership is about service—not power."

His voice crescendoed, igniting the room.

"Because I believe in us. I believe in the promise of America, and I believe in the strength of the American people. Together, we will rise to meet the challenges of today, and together, we will create a brighter, fairer, and stronger tomorrow."

The room erupted into thunderous applause as Steve’s words settled over the crowd. He stepped back, waving, as Peggy and their children joined him at the front of the stage, a living testament to the family values he championed.

With that, Steve Rogers sealed the moment—an electrifying speech that echoed far beyond the walls of the convention hall.

The crowd erupted into applause as Steve stepped aside, making way for Bucky.

Now it was his turn.

You watched as Bucky walked to the podium with the practiced ease of a man who was born for this. His dark suit was perfectly tailored, the overhead lights catching the sharp angles of his face. As soon as he began speaking, the room hushed again.

“I want to thank everyone for being here today,” Bucky started, his voice strong, yet warm. “Serving alongside Steve has been the honor of my life, and I am proud to stand here as the candidate for Vice President. My family—my parents Julius and Caroline, my siblings Shawn and Hazel, my nephew Nate, and my brother-in-law Tim—are with me today.” He motioned to the side, where they all stood. Caroline’s expression was as rigid as ever, while Julius offered a rare smile.

Then Bucky’s eyes found you.

“And of course, my wife. She’s been my rock. She’s stood by me through the hardest times, and I can’t imagine being here without her.” His voice softened, but the sincerity in his words cut through the noise in your head.

You smiled on cue, the kind of smile you’d perfected over years of practice. But inside, everything felt muddled. Bucky spoke as though you were his whole world, but you knew the truth. This was a performance. A calculated move to protect his image.

The applause was thunderous, but it sounded far away as you fought the emotions swirling inside you. Bucky looked the part—strong, dependable, built for this kind of role. He was doing everything right.

But you? You were pretending. The smile you wore for the cameras wasn’t for him; it was for the part of you that wanted to see Caroline suffer, to see her envy every look Bucky gave you on that stage. But underneath the spite, you felt something deeper, something far more complicated.

'Can I really keep doing this?' The question lodged itself in your mind as the applause rang out again.

You watched Bucky continue his speech, looking every bit the man of the moment. He thrived in this atmosphere, while you felt like you were drowning in a sea of lies. Every glance from the audience, every flash from the cameras, reminded you that none of this was real.

When he finished, the room erupted in applause again. Bucky turned to you, offering his hand. The warmth of his palm against yours was meant to be reassuring, but it only deepened your confusion.

As you both exited the stage, his grip tightened slightly, just enough for you to notice. He leaned down, voice low in your ear. “You did great,” he whispered. His words were laced with a strange tenderness that made your stomach flip.

You nodded, but deep down, the weight of this act was crushing you.

🌸🌸🌸🌸

As the convention wrapped up and the crowd began to disperse, you and Bucky maneuvered Tim’s wheelchair carefully. The excitement of the day was still buzzing in the air, but you could sense the underlying tension between Bucky and Ian as Ian approached you and Tim.

Ian greeted you with a friendly smile. “Hey, I’m working on a piece about the election from the perspective of the candidates’ families. What’s it like for you and your family during all this?”

Bucky, standing beside you, made a subtle move to place himself between you and Ian, a protective gesture that didn't go unnoticed. “I’m not sure if that’s appropriate,” Bucky began, but Tim cut him off.

“Of course! I’ve never been interviewed before. It’ll be good to share my side,” Tim said eagerly, his eyes bright with enthusiasm.

Bucky looked at Tim, then at you, his frustration evident in the tightness of his jaw. He sighed and stepped aside, unable to argue with Tim’s excitement or your reluctance to refuse a friend’s request.

Ian turned to you, his expression curious. “You never mentioned your brother before. It’s clear you two have a strong bond.”

“She’s a private person,” Tim interjected with a hint of pride.

Ian raised an eyebrow, glancing back at you. “You really seem to know her well.”

“We may not always show it, but we’re very close. She’s been like a second mother to me, especially after I lost my leg,” Tim said, his voice carrying an unusual warmth.

You felt a blush rise to your cheeks at the unexpected praise from your brother. It was rare to hear him speak so openly about his feelings.

Ian smiled as he jotted down notes. “This story is going to resonate with a lot of people.”

After a while, Tim excused himself, leaving you and Ian alone. Ian’s demeanor shifted subtly, becoming more serious.

“Thanks for giving him the chance to speak,” you said with a slight edge. “You know, it feels like you just handed him a chance to embarrass me.”

Ian chuckled softly, his eyes glinting with a hint of mischief. “Isn’t that what siblings do? Cherish these moments of difference before it’s too late.”

You raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean,-?”

Before you could ask, Ian pulled you aside, his face set with determination. “I heard there’s a divorce in your marriage.”

You stiffened, your eyes widening in surprise. “How did you find out?”

Ian’s smirk was almost smug. “Don’t underestimate my skills. You vanished, then reappeared, acting like everything’s perfect. I pieced it together from the campaign.”

He leaned closer, his frustration evident. “Not once did you mention him. And now, suddenly, you’re playing the loving wife. It’s irritating.”

You crossed your arms, feeling a wave of anger and discomfort. “Are you planning to use this information?”

Ian’s expression softened, though his eyes were intense. “I don’t know yet. But a few people already know.”

You flinched at his words, a shiver running down your spine.

Ian’s voice dropped to a reassuring whisper. “Don’t worry. They’ve only heard rumors. No one has solid evidence. I could protect you. Because you deserve someone better.”

You gulped, unable to speak. Ian’s concern seemed genuine, but you couldn’t shake off the pain from your marriage with Bucky. Your emotions were still tangled, and you didn’t want to get involved with Ian’s feelings, especially now.

You glanced up and saw Bucky watching you from across the room. His eyes were locked on you, his gaze sharp and intense. It felt like he was assessing every movement, every word. The tension in his stare made your heart race, and you could almost feel his frustration and jealousy from afar.

🌸🌸🌸🌸

As the car sped through the night, the backseat felt increasingly cramped, the air thick with unspoken tension. You stared out the window, trying to avoid Bucky’s piercing gaze. The city lights flickered past, a blur of neon and shadows, as you stewed over the conversation with Ian and the unresolved questions it left.

Bucky's silence was more oppressive than any words. His jaw was set tight, and the muscles in his neck were rigid. When he finally spoke, his voice was cold, laced with an edge of command. “Don’t meet Ian anymore.”

You continued to look out the window, your reflection a ghostly image against the darkened glass. “He knew about the divorce,” you said, your voice barely above a whisper.

Bucky’s breath hitched, his grip on the seat tightening. He was silent for a moment, the weight of your revelation settling in. Then, unexpectedly, he chuckled, a dark, humorless sound. “Well, that means I’m on the right track. Every politician has skeletons in their closet.”

You turned your head sharply to face him, eyes narrowing. “You’re not afraid if the rumor leaks out?”

Bucky’s gaze remained steady, but his jaw tightened slightly. “I’m not gonna lie, I am afraid. But I’m more worried about how it’ll affect you.” He paused “But look at the bright side. It narrows down the list of people who knew about our marriage.”

You turned to him, eyes narrowing in frustration. “You’re playing with fire, Bucky.”

He leaned closer, the space between you shrinking rapidly. His expression softened into a smirk, but his eyes held a dangerous glint. “I’ll win this for you. I still remember that moment when you wished me to win, just to spite my mother. I need that brave Y/N.”

You could feel the heat from his body, his breath mingling with yours as he drew nearer. The car’s dim lighting accentuated the intensity in his eyes, a smoldering gaze that made your pulse quicken. “Don’t make this about me,” you said, trying to keep your voice steady.

Bucky’s smirk deepened, and he moved even closer, his face inches from yours. “But babe, this is all for you,” he murmured, his voice a low, seductive growl.

His proximity was overwhelming, and you could feel the heat radiating from his body. You swallowed hard, the line between anger and something else entirely blurring as his lips almost brushed against yours.

Your breath hitched, and for a moment, you were caught between the anger at his manipulation and the undeniable pull of the unresolved feelings you still harbored for him. The confined space of the car seemed to shrink around you, the air charged with a mix of frustration and unspoken desire.

Bucky’s gaze locked onto yours, his smirk fading into an expression of intense focus. His hand reached out, fingertips grazing your cheek in a feather-light touch that made your skin tingle. “I need you to trust me,” he said softly, his voice carrying an almost desperate edge.

You hated him for the pain he’d caused, but his touch betrayed your emotions, making it hard to stay firm. And he knew it. You wanted to wipe that smug look off his face.only the charged, almost unbearable closeness between you.

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[holoska]

after debating for weeks whether to stay very far away from the deltarune soriel discourse or let myself ramble about my faves like I want to, the latter has finally won out

I've had time to properly absorb the weight of all that happens at the end of chapter 4, and obviously I do feel for both kris and susie. that is The Point of the scenes being from their perspectives; after everything they just went through and all the worry they had for toriel's safety (for the second time in 24 hours!), the scene they come home to is maybe the most uncomfortable slap in the face possible. it sticks out to me that the last thing susie talks about before the dark fountain is sealed is her wanting tomorrow to be the same as yesterday and for everything to always be able to go back to how it was, and that's what greets them - a blatant, obnoxious sign that things are changing. even though the scene has a lighthearted side, its overall tone adds to the downcast feeling the chapter ends on.

having said that, as someone who has spent the past 9 and a half years being normal about sans and toriel, I'm still very very happy that this is a canon scene we got 💜

the fandom may be largely not considering their perspectives in the slightest (or worse, only viewing their perspectives from the most bad faith angles possible), but I for one love this for them!! as other very good posts have pointed out, toriel has been sorely in need of someone who's there for her - an awful lot of people in town saw the divorce play out and have something to say about it, the holiday family are closer to asgore than toriel, kris is her child and stuck in the middle of their parents' issues, and while she's friends with alphys, them being coworkers and alphys being kris' teacher likely puts a distance of sorts between them. but sans is new in town, someone she immediately connects with, who has no pre-existing opinions about her family and has seen firsthand what toriel has to put up with from asgore. in every universe, sans is exactly the kind of person toriel needs in her life.

there's less to work with from sans' perspective given how little we know about him, and I'm not all-in on sans being from deltarune just yet (more specifically I do love the theory, I'm just giving myself room to not be too disappointed if it doesn't happen), but the new version of it's raining somewhere else being named 'the place where it rained' emotionally destroys me forever. either way it drives home just how happy toriel makes sans in both worlds and I love that so so much :']

to be clear I'm not saying they did nothing wrong, their choices negatively impacted kris and susie and they were objectively disruptive and inconsiderate after kris went to bed. but I like that they're being messy and flawed, because it means this isn't just "my faves are getting closer in the background yippee" but that their relationship is potentially an actual part of the story, and that's how you get The Good Stuff!! we wouldn't have had meaningful character moments like noelle finally standing up to queen if queen hadn't tried to control noelle and just listened to her from the start, or susie comforting ralsei with her bloodied hand if he'd told her and kris every detail of the full prophecy the moment he met them and never kept any secrets. if all the hints towards a flower shop dark world turn out to be true then it's pretty clear the story is building things up to make those future character moments hit, and considering we still don't know what happened with the dreemurr divorce at this point, chapter 5 seems like a perfect opportunity to dive into all of that.

plus, as sweet as susie's bond with toriel is, I honestly think susie seeing this side of toriel needed to happen. a lot of the fandom's complaints about toriel right now boil down to her not being the "perfect mother" they thought she was, and what bothers me about that is toriel was never meant to be that kind of character. toby has said that she's not the classic video game protagonist's mother who sees you off on your journey and you can come home and visit any time, and nothing changes and she never has any substantial character of her own. in undertale she literally handholds frisk through the tutorial, she becomes the first boss in her attempt to protect them when every other human left her care, and once they leave she won't let them come back or even call her phone because she can't face seeing them knowing they'll leave again and likely be killed. she's more than just the mother figure of the game, she's her own person with likes and dislikes, hobbies and flaws, and a past and trauma she can't overcome until the best ending.

we've only seen the tip of the iceberg of her history in deltarune, but that same principle holds true: she isn't the perfect parent you return to after each day's adventure, who gives you butterscotch pancakes every morning and never has any real part in the story because that isn't the intent behind her character. she mentioned her loneliness back in chapter 1, kris has secrets and problems they aren't letting her in on, asgore is being relentlessly inconsiderate of her boundaries, and for all susie's praise of toriel being a good mother, I think that house of cards was going to fall eventually. my hope is that, like her blowing up at ralsei ultimately bringing them closer, susie being able to see toriel as the imperfect adult she is but one who does genuinely care might help them build a stronger bond in the end too.

I think I always knew that if soriel ever inched closer to being canon there'd be discourse about it, and toriel slander is unfortunately nothing new. people are just being annoying about it currently and it sucks when I genuinely love what's being built up here!!

anyway crossing my fingers for a scene where toriel invites sans to the festival before she gets thrown in the bunker/he gets sent to undertale/the roaring happens/all of the above 🤞

[tfewondergottenau]

Wøndergotten: The Føol's escape 1 Year anniversary ✧

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

New cover for the AU

I do like to thank you so much for everyone that has supported me ❤️‍🔥‼️ all of my followers and every friend!! I don't know if this AU would come this far..

Although, the 1 year anniversary is actually 19 May, but since it's tomorrow, and also today is an open ask box week. I do like to celebrate it now and make a little event ✨🎉

! Q&A Week ! ;

More information below ▼

This week, you can still send a normal ask to the characters and in universe stuff, but now you can also send a ask directly to me! You can ask more about the AU, for example; the inspiration, symbolism, how I view the character and portrait them, even some of the lore that's happening before the story begins! I may even drop a hint too.

A little disclaimer: I may not always reply to the question that's not for the characters in the form of draw if not necessary, usually being in the form of text reply. This is because my school is open and I have more stuff to manage. Thank you for understanding.

Rules ↷

- I'll not reply to the stuff that's asking about my personal life or about my identity, this is for my safety.

- I won't spoil you about the future lore/story of Wøndergotten. However, I can drop a hint.

Anyway, tysm for reading this. I hope you're enjoying the event and future of this AU! I'll keep making good work for you all ✨🎉

[everythingisamazing]

"How Viktors story overshadows the tragedy of Jayce" or "Why disliking Jayce means you don't understand him (yet)." Disclaimer: This is a long one. Since starting to post my (mostly) Jayvik thoughts, I've discovered layers to Jayces character that I feel don't get talked about enough. I disliked him in S1 - he grew on me in S2, but what makes him so compelling to me NOW is how the show replicates the central tragedy of his character with the viewers. Let's start with the assumptions the show encourages us to make about him: Good looking, smart, a little naive, selfish, overachiever, golden boy. These are then strengthened by comparisons to Viktor, caused by their shared screen time and narrative connection. And since V is the one being "framed" with the tragic story (escaping an inescapable death), the tragedy of Jayce, that is happening simultaneously (more on that later), gets obscured. Truth is: If Jayces life looks like success to us, that's mostly because he has to make it look like that. Let me explain: Jayce, as a boy, almost dies on his way to Piltover. As tragedy would have it, he gets saved by and falls in love with what's forbidden in his new home - magic. So he researches the thing he is basically destined to create in secret, only to get found out in the worst way possible. Cue the trial scene. I think the reason why we don't empathize with him enough here (especially not on the first watch) is because it happens so early in the show and we are still busy getting situated in the universe of Arcane. But if you look at it from Jayces perspective, it's pretty traumatizing: He is the heir of his house and having apparently lost his father early, responsibility rests heavy on his shoulders. A house, comparably low on wealth and influence. And you could say it's arrogance, that makes him blurt out "I was trying to create magic." but if you consider his behavior throughout the whole show, I'd actually call it impulsivity and not being able to hide his emotions (I hc Jayce as having ADHD). What we get next, is him wanting to throw himself off a building - which can get misread as "wow, this guy was so obsessed with his vanity project, he'd off himself", when his moms words at the trial ("My son is not well") point to him struggling with something for a while and this being the final straw. And I mean, just think about that - You have a character that starts off at rock bottom, but because we didn't see the journey of how he got there, we fail to empathize with him going forward. If you put yourself in Jayces shoes, would you not feel like you had to do everything it takes, to never get to that point again? Can you imagine the fear, having almost lost your future because a mistake you made escalated to the point where they wanted to exile you? Wouldn't you feel like becoming everyones "golden boy" to make good on that, is something you had to do? THAT'S what I mean, when I say the show replicates the central tragedy of his character with the viewers. We see his story (until a certain point) as the story of someone who wants to go up, up up, but miss, that from his pov, the alternative means going all the way down. I want to end this by giving an example, how Viktors presence plays into that: There is one time, where Jayce actually voices his feelings regarding this matter, when he says "I never asked for this!" And isn't that true in more ways than one (hint hint). But because Viktor is the one who died and is (understandably) upset in this scene, revived and changed against his will, it seems selfish, that Jayce would even bring that up. But is it? Or is he rightfully pointing out, how every single thing he did (and I will give examples in future posts), after Viktor essentially stopped HIM from dying (another amazing parallel) in the very beginning was trying to make the best out of the circumstances he was given? Circumstances, that, quite frankly, ANY character in that show would have severely struggled with?

[ethicaltreatmentofcowplants]

prev | next

Likewise an iconic character. Let me tell you that the man was smooth. Even at the start when everyone had no CHARISMA skill due to my rules, he still managed enough rizz to catch Lilac's attention in an extremely chaotic household (linked are only a few of their greatest hits), and to emerge a surprising contender.

Hell, there were times when even this demisexual and dead inside Watcher was fanning herself and going "...Sir" 🤭

During the second round he rocked a cowboy get-up, weathered insults from guest star Leonardo Harper with aplomb and class, and solidified his strong position by finishing in second. After his third round date, he started this round in fourth place and thus with a really good shot of making it to the final three.

While on paper I think that he and Lilac had more summertime romance/"hot fling to get her back on her feet and believing in herself again after a bad breakup" vibes, it was potentially the method acting bug that did the most damage. The CLAIM TO BE CRIMINAL MASTERMIND interactions were seriously something else. And while the other pixels reacted negatively, he never actually lost relationship points due to it - although Delphine did develop a FESTERING GRUDGE.

However, if he was doing that and LYING ABOUT CRIMINAL CAREER with what felt like every other sentence (I swear that I am not exaggerating), he obviously had less opportunities to make his case to Lilac. I really did try, @igglemouse. I swear to the Old Watchers and the New 😅. I removed MISCHIEF as a liked activity. I added DECEPTION to his disliked conversational topics. I cheated down his MISCHIEF skill but the man was clearly going for that future role of his - and we have to respect the dedication (or something).

Of course, were this regular gameplay and he were my pixel, I would have just cancelled all those interactions and queued up a bunch of conversational topics not involving him proclaiming himself to be Michael Corleone. But before I started this challenge, I promised myself that I would not interfere with the game and dictate either the contestants or Lilac too much, otherwise it would be me choosing the winner and not her/the pixels themselves etc.

And so we fare the man, the myth, the legend (and the 'stache) well. But not before Lilac gets her revenge on all those MISCHIEF interactions.

So long, pardner.

@igglemouse, thank you so much for sending me such an unique concept of a character - and someone who was just so much fun (but perhaps hinting at some depth at the same time?). I swear that my recaps for his household days pretty much wrote themselves - there was never a dull moment with him about. Lilac and I both look forward to his future ventures, and wish him all our best.

For Mister's build, I kicked out Vanessa Jeong (listen, it's not my fault that Del Sol Valley has hardly any lots with which to work) and revamped what was clearly a build before EA started outsourcing them to creators. What's left is this bachelor pad.

Not really worthy of a large picture because the outside isn't very impressive. But the inside (or the back deck) is where the party happens.

I figure that at one point in its life, this was a modest family home before whoever's renting it to Mister (or even the man himself) knocked out the master bedroom and converted it to a home cinema, courtesy of that Don Lothario kit.

Also what was likely the second bedroom is now an ensuite and a gym. Even if Mister hadn't picked up the ACTIVE trait while in my save, you gotta maintain the six (or even eight?) pack.

But the kitchen is likely the original and is probably my favourite that I've built in a while.

since i knew that @igglemouse was incorporating mister into another save (and that she would be spoiled for the build gifts through jerrod's and forest's posts), i've already sent this to her. but i figured that i may as well show it off a little 😊

[velvet4510]

What The Sequel(s) to X-Men: Days of Future Past Should Have Looked Like

I haven’t even seen X-Men: Apocalypse or X-Men: Dark Phoenix start to finish but thanks to this app i know practically the entire plots of both films and i’m just so utterly appalled by them. Not just with the way they mess up the timeline (Jean & Scott as teenagers and Warren as a young adult in 1983?? Excuse me?? No way Logan’s time shenanigans altered people’s birth dates, what??) But also with the way they just butcher every character arc - Charles being selfish? Erik settling down with a human instead of continuing to fight for his cause and make up for his 10 years of inactivity? Giving Erik an OC daughter JUST to kill her 2 seconds later rather than focus on his fatherhood story with Peter? Erik and Ororo siding with Apocalypse to destroy the whole world? Hank turning on Charles when he alone stood by Charles post-beach divorce all those years? Raven being ungrateful to Charles for creating a better world for mutants? Trying to convince us that Charles was somehow in love with Moira and Erik was somehow in love with Raven? The X-Men throwing Charles out of his own house?? WHAT IS THIS?????

Frankly I don’t get why the writers tried (and failed) to give us more Jean and Scott and Ororo when we got plenty of them in the other movies and we know thanks to the end of X-Men: Days of Future Past that Charles will still eventually recruit them. Jean and Scott’s very presence at the end of that film shows that the sight of Logan’s memories of Jean’s original fate prompted Charles to NOT repeat his other self’s mistakes and instead use a better approach to help Jean that enabled her to keep the Phoenix under control and not hurt Scott. That’s all we need to know about them in the new timeline. We don’t need to see Charles messing up yet again when it comes to Jean when that ruins a huge layer of the meaning and impact of DOFP’s ending.

James McAvoy himself pointed out how unnecessary it felt to recycle characters from the original trilogy when the X-Men in the comics are full of plenty of other characters that could’ve been introduced in a DOFP sequel instead. He’s absolutely right.

But here’s what I really think: if any sequels to DOFP just HAD to be made, they shouldn’t have tried to stuff in even more characters. If they HAD to include another old character we’d seen before, it should’ve been Kurt Wagner and Kurt Wagner only. Why? Because he’s Raven & Azazel’s son. And this would only add to the parenthood theme already present through Erik & Peter, and Charles & his students; add a new dimension to Raven as a character as we explore how she feels about being a mother, and what happened that caused her to be separated from her child; and add a new dimension to Hank as we explore how he feels about potentially being a parental figure to Kurt as a result of following his heart toward Raven.

The sequel(s) should’ve focused on developing the relationships that actually had been established/hinted at, and those that would naturally branch as a result:

Erik & Peter as father and son

Raven & Kurt as mother and son

Charles’ parental relationship with his young students

Charles & Erik getting back together

Hank & Raven getting back together

Hank dealing with being Kurt’s possible stepfather

Charles & Raven reconciling as siblings once again

Charles & Peter as stepfather and stepson

Charles & Kurt as uncle and nephew

Alex seeing all of this and being reminded of his bad relationship with his own parents that led him to get locked up before Charles and Erik found him, emphasizing Charles’ place in his life as his true “father,” and foreshadowing Scott by revealing he’s not in touch with his family (meaning he doesn’t know he has a much-younger brother)

Erik bonding with Kurt and making Kurt comfortable through being the only other native German speaker in the group

Erik & Hank dealing with their rocky post-DOFP relationship; Hank giving Erik a proper calling out for sending Charles into such a depression for a decade and for trying to kill Raven

Erik bonding with Charles’ other students and slowly realizing there is a place for him at the school

(Logan may or may not work as a character in such a sequel. But whether he has a big or small role, it must be acknowledged that Raven, not Stryker, saved him from the Potomac at the end of DOFP. So now he is on a different path, and is NOT Weapon X. Either he’s still at the mansion or went his own way with the open possibility of returning; I think the latter makes more sense since he’s such a loner and considering he wouldn’t remember the events of DOFP, he’d be pretty overwhelmed. Plus his explained absence would allow space for the film(s) to focus more on the other characters.)

Regardless, any villain(s) of those hypothetical sequels should’ve been the kind of antagonist(s) whose threat inevitably brought those aforementioned characters together and, in the process, fleshed out those relationships.

Also, no stupid 10-year time jumps between every movie. Keep it to 5-7 years after DOFP, at the most.

Think of the emotional impact that would bring:

Charles & Raven dealing with the fact that she chose not to come to him for help when she became pregnant

Hank & Raven discussing Raven’s history with Azazel and both of them admitting they went to great lengths to try to get over each other but nothing worked

Raven exploring motherhood and her feelings about either having abandoned Kurt as a baby or accidentally losing him, and Hank supporting her in this

Erik exploring his newfound fatherhood, and Charles supporting him in this

Peter’s feelings toward his dad for being absent from his life for so long and also for being a terrorist

Kurt’s feelings toward his mom for being absent for so long, and possibly for intentionally leaving him

Peter & Kurt becoming besties and bonding over being super-fast travelers who have spent too many years not knowing one or both parents

Hank wishing things had been different with Raven and that Kurt could’ve been his son and thinking about stepping into a stepfather role for Kurt

Erik & Peter perhaps getting stranded/separated from the rest of the group and forced to bond while trying to find their way back

Erik saving Peter’s life in battle, cementing their new bond

Hank fully embracing his Beast form (mutant and proud) in battle while protecting Raven and Kurt

Raven, Hank & Kurt as a badass blue family

Erik finally deflecting a bullet successfully to save Charles

Charles & Erik fighting side by side once again and realizing they’re better together than apart

Erik & Hank managing to find some common ground as they both have been unexpectedly thrown into fatherhood (see, no need for female fridging!)

Erik coming up with Quicksilver as Peter’s superhero name, at least getting the chance to name his son in this way

Basically the whole group becoming a big family

Perhaps closing with a flash forward a few years: Erik & Raven are now teachers at the school; young Scott arrives at the school and meets Alex for the first time; Charles & Erik hear about young Jean and head out to meet her; Hank & Raven manage to discover Logan’s location and head out to bring him back to the mansion - tying into the finale of DOFP

Those are just a few things that could’ve, and should’ve, been prioritized in a sequel to DOFP.

[daisies-and-domming]

Boxing Day (SFW)

Thank you to @glassofapplejuicee for beta reading saving this work! Love you so much babes, don't know what I would do without you <3

Happy Merry Boxing Day, everyone! I’ve been a little quiet as of late (oops), but I figured a fluffy little set of headcanons about our favorite boys would get me writing again. Lo and behold, it totally worked - so Happy Holidays everyone, and enjoy!

Summary: You and your partner had a Merry Christmas, but now it’s time for you to move on to the new year! How long does it take for you to take down all of your Christmas decorations, and what challenges do you run into along the way? 

Warnings: light swearing, petnames (Gojo is a menace, Nanami calls you darling, Sukuna calls you brat, Toji calls you doll, Shoko calls you lovely), minor injuries in Toji’s

Features Gojo, Geto, Nanami, Sukuna, Fushiguro (Toji), Ieiri, Higuruma

Let me know if you think I missed anything!!

All characters are over 18 :)

– – –

Gojo Satoru

If anyone is over the top, it’s Gojo. Definitely takes Christmas decorations too far, and is not past putting vulgar things on the tree. Tried to decorate it with Polaroids of you in…compromising positions, much to your chagrin. You shut that one down pretty quickly.

One of those rich assholes who hires people to put up/take down the lights outside. Before you, he definitely had only the boring white lights and maybe one of those sad wire light-up reindeers (like this, for example). Just one of them, all alone - he thinks it’s symbolic and deep because he was all alone at the time but it really just makes his huge yard look extra empty.

With you, however, he wants to do it himself. He thinks there’s something magical about putting up decorations together, with people you love. 

(It’s sweet, really, until he sucks at it and cries because he has no actual idea how to do it - why is it so hard to hang the lights straight?? Or at all, for that matter?? You’ll probably end up having to do all the work)

Once Christmas comes and goes, he does NOT want to take stuff down. You put it up “together” (you put it up), he wants to leave it up forever! A memory of the Christmas you spent together. 

Plus, his big house feels a lot less empty with all the lights and garlands and various other decorations he spent too much money on. Please, let him leave it up?

You probably let him get away with leaving up the tree until the beginning of January. He, of course, bought a huge, very much real, tree. The needles are a mess, and when it reaches the point where there are barely any needles left on the tree, you put your foot down.

He’s whining the whole time you two are taking it down. He tries to sneak out and drag it back inside, but you catch him every time.

Don’t even get him started on taking down the lights…

– – –

“But baaaaaaaabe!!”

“Gojo Satoru.”

“Full government name? You wound me, baby! Just like you’re wounding our beautiful Christmas memories!”

You groan, rolling your eyes at your boyfriend’s whines. “Satoru, you’re the one who wanted a real tree. I told you it was too much responsibility and cleaning, but you-”

“Baby,” he said, eyes watery and lips pulled downward in a pout. “Why’re you so mean to me, huh? Just want to keep all of our Christmas memories safe, is all.”

You soften at this. Satoru didn’t really get a chance to celebrate Christmas often, before you. You know there’s no way in hell his family celebrated with him, and you’re sure that once he lost his best friend (on Christmas Eve, no less), he and Shoko didn’t truly celebrate again. This was the first real Christmas he’s had in a while.

“Toru,” you murmur, pulling him to you. “We have plenty of years in the future to make new Christmas memories, hm? We’ll get to put up Christmas decorations all over again.”

His eyes find yours, and you wonder briefly if the glow in his eyes is the lights he refuses to take down, or the jujutsu endlessly flowing through him.. There’s a hint of something melancholy hidden in them, mixed with something else you can’t quite put your finger on. He doesn’t say anything, just looks, almost studying you - you’d be freaked out if you didn’t know him so well. Know that your words and your kindness were unfamiliar to him. In a world where he’s expected to be the strongest, he doesn’t know what to do when someone expects him to just be himself. You want every piece of him, the good and the bad, the strong and the weak, and you try to convey that as much as you can with your eyes. 

You let him stare until the silence becomes too thick, too heavy with something inexplicably sad that leaves a lump in your throat and a weight on your chest. You pull your hand away from his, running a gentle thumb over his cheek. Your eyes can’t seem to leave his, as much as it hurts.

“I’m not going anywhere,” you say, with such finality that he can’t help the smile that stretches across his face. It’s still full of grief, but there’s a glimmer of hope in it, too. “You know that Toru. I’m here. I’ll always be here, okay? Don’t you forget it.”

“I won’t.” he says, devoid of his usual humor. “You promise me?”

“I promise, Toru.” you say. You barely get it out before he’s smashing his lips to yours. It’s messy, it’s frantic, and it’s full of all the words he can’t say. He knows it’s selfish of him. To want you, to love you. His life is full of danger and death around every corner, and he knows that by bringing you into his life he’s brought you into that, too. But he can’t help himself. Gojo Satoru gets what he wants, he always has, and there’s nothing he wants more than you.

So he holds you close, and hopes that you keep wanting him forever, too.

Geto Suguru

He’s been going all out for Christmas since he found Nanako and Mimiko. It was clear that the two had never really had a proper family, and he wanted to give them that as much as he could.

He went all out when they were little - fake reindeer hoofprints in the yard, piles of presents under the tree, half eaten cookies left on the plate labelled “for Santa”. The girls are his whole world, and he’d pluck the moon from the sky if they asked him to.

The girls love you, too, once you become part of their Christmas traditions (even though Suguru made you tell them that Santa’s not real because he couldn’t do it himself). You’ve helped give them a family that they never had, and they welcome you with open arms.

Nanako and Mimiko become menaces when you even mention that it’s about time you all take the Christmas decorations down. They love the way the house feels brighter with all the decorations up. Expect a bit of a fight (and no help from your boyfriend, who seemingly can’t tell his girls “no”).

– – –

“Absolutely not.”

“You want to do what?!”

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t your best idea to suggest taking down the tree, after all. You figured it’d be a good thing to do together - a touch of family time that you don’t always get with the girls - but they seemed to be appalled that you had even suggested such a thing.

“Nana, Mimi, it’s not Christmas anymore.” you say, laughing a bit nervously. “We can’t leave the tree up forever, can we?”

“We certainly can,” Nanako starts with a frown, “What’s stopping us? The pressure from society to conform to its trends?”

You barely manage to stop your eyes from rolling. You loved that Suguru was honest and open with the girls about what he does and who he is, but Nanako was definitely picking up some preconceived notions from hanging around Suguru’s literal cult all the time. Perhaps you’d have to talk to your boyfriend about it.

“Nana, sweetie, I love you-”

“Clearly you don’t if you won’t let me keep the tree up!”

“What’s going on in here?”

A smooth, deep voice cuts through your conversation (argument?) with Nanako and Mimiko, and you feel a wave of relief crash over you. Surely, your lovely boyfriend would talk some sense into the girls (primarily Nanako).

“Suguru! The girls and I were just discussing taking the Christmas decorations down.”

Oblivious to Nanako’s scowl, he smiles softly at you. “What a good idea! We can do it as a family, hm? I could use a family day after the meetings I just had.”

“We’re not taking it down,” Mimiko mutters, eyes flickering between you and Suguru. “It’s too early.”

“Yeah, it’s way too early! We need to leave them up waaaaay longer. We did so much work to put them up, we can’t just take them down now!” Nanako whines out, doing her best puppy dog eyes at her father.

“You two,” you sigh, massaging your brow. “We can do it all again next year, but we seriously need to start taking these down, it’s getting a little late to still have our decorations up-”

“We can leave them up.”

Your head snaps to look at your boyfriend, mouth agape. “What?”

“I mean…” he says, looking anywhere but your face. “They seem really excited about it, you know? It can’t hurt to keep them up a bit longer…”

You should’ve known he would succumb to their puppy dog eyes, the bastard. “Suguru Geto, it’s the middle of January. We absolutely cannot keep them up much longer, the neighbors are starting to give me weird looks-”

“Who cares what the neighbors think?” he says, pulling you towards the couch. “C’mon, how about family movie night instead? We can take the tree down another day, hm?”

You know you shouldn’t let the girls win this one. You know it, and yet you let yourself get led to the couch anyways. Some 1980’s chick flick is put on, and you all settle in, curled into each other. You think you catch Meg Ryan out of the corner of your eye, but you’re more busy looking at your family, all together at this moment. 

The tree can stay up another day, you decide. You could handle a couple of judgy stares from the neighbors - because you wouldn’t trade moments like these for the world.

Nanami Kento

Nanami didn’t necessarily celebrate Christmas when he was on his own. It felt like a lot of work to put up a tree and decorate it if he was barely going to be home anyways.

After his return to jujutsu, Gojo tries endlessly to try and drag him to the yearly Christmas work party to no avail. Especially after you enter the picture. Gojo wants nothing more than to tell you embarrassing stories about your lover. 

But now he has you, and the little pink-haired menace that is Itadori Yuuji. You two had inserted yourselves into his life when he thought he needed solitude the most, and he couldn’t be more grateful.

Christmas, which had once come and gone, became something tangible. It meant endless hours of baking and decorating cookies, and time spent together, as a family. Yuuji wasn’t technically his son, but he was certainly a part of your little family (the gifts under the tree for him spoke for themselves). 

Like Gojo, he’s oddly hesitant to take down the decorations. The memories of putting them up and celebrating Christmas with the people he treasured around them are very dear to him.

Unlike Gojo, he can picture a future with you and Yuuji. Not quite on boxing day, but before December ends, the three of you are taking down decorations together, as a family, knowing that you’ll get the chance to put them up again next year.

– – –

Despite the date being not-quite-Christmas, you had insisted on playing Christmas music as you all took Christmas decorations down. Something about it being your “last chance to listen to Christmas music!” and you needing “one last dose” of Christmas before it was gone. And any level of time spent together with you and Nanami had Yuuji bouncing off the walls, so of course he was down for Christmas music after Christmas.

Despite his slight distaste for the music, Kento couldn’t help but smile at you and Yuuji. You’re rolling the lights neatly as Yuuji unwinds them, laughing and joking as you do. He remembers when you had asked Yuuji to come over to decorate for Christmas with the two of you. He had seen the boy excited before, but there was something special about the joy he radiated as he happily agreed to come over. You’d offered him the spare room many times, and even though he “can’t” stay, his clothes soon filled the drawers and his toiletries lived in your bathroom. While there’s not necessarily a “break” from the life of being a sorcerer, Fushiguro had gone home to Gojo’s, and Kugisaki had gone home to her family for the holidays. But, with nowhere to go, Yuuji had been planning to stay at the dorms, alone. Normally Nanami would’ve asked you first, but the second he heard he invited the boy to stay - lots of empty excuses about needing more company for Christmas and not wanting to eat all of the Christmas goods yourselves. But when Yuuji came bouncing in, you already knew, giving your husband a knowing smile. 

Now he was certain the house was going to feel empty, once Yuuji was gone. Ever respectful, he insisted he would be out of your hair the second the holidays were over.

“Ken, c’mere!” you call, beckoning him over. “Help Yuuji with the tree, won’t you?”

“I’ve totally got this, I’ll be fine!” Yuuji exclaims, trying to pick up the plastic tree without even taking it apart. “See?? Totally got it-”

Famous last words, of course, as he slips and thuds to the floor, the Christmas tree atop him. You and Kento both fly in, working to roll the tree off of him as quickly as possible. Of course, once he’s free, Yuuji is laughing, already re-telling the story of his “epic fall” (“it landed on me like whoosh! and I slammed against the carpet like kapow! Did you see that??”).

You sigh, glad he’s okay. “Could thank Nanami for helping you out from under it, you know.”

He flushes, stopping mid-story. “Oops, sorry! Thanks for the save, dad!”

He grins toothily before he catches his mistake, but by then, Nanami’s already tearing up. You are, too. Yuuji lost his family a long time ago. To feel safe enough, to call your husband dad? This was the best Christmas you’ve ever had, you’re certain.

And if you all end up crying? That’s nobody’s business but yours.

Sukuna Ryomen

He’s aware of the human tradition of “Christmas”, but if you think even for a second he considered celebrating it before you, you’re sorely mistaken. He’s the King of Curses, he doesn’t have time for nonsense like Christmas.

When you insert your annoying self into his life, he’s unsure on how to approach the holiday. His estate was not a place for “joy” or “being merry” (two very important things to Christmas, you had informed him), but with you here, perhaps it could be.

Very against decorations across the estate. In the privacy of certain spaces, he may allow it, but there will be no outdoor decorations or house-wide decorations. He does not want his servants to think he is getting soft for the human he’s been toting around. He will cede to some decorations, but he does not care about you and your silly human traditions.

(they already know he’s going soft for you. Any servant can see the way he looks at you, and how delicate his hands are with you. They’d be stupid not to know at this point the affection he holds for you)

He, at first, refuses to let you put up anything yourself in the approved rooms. He has servants, and he has made it very clear that they are yours to command. Why do you insist on doing it yourself?

You explain the importance of doing it yourself, even have the gall to ask him to do it with you, and he scoffs at this. He’s the King of Curses, he doesn’t have the time to 

Later, you will find him reading on Christmas traditions and decorations. When you catch him, he will refuse to acknowledge it, but the way he won’t quite make eye contact with you says all you need to know.

Once Christmas is over, decorations are down and boxed immediately. He instructs the servants the night before to take them down, and by the time you wake, the decorations are gone. 

With all of this Christmas decorating and celebrating, Sukuna has barely had a proper moment alone with you. Now that it’s over, expect him to be the closest to “clingy” that you will ever see him.

– – –

It’s early morning, December 26th, and Sukuna could not be more glad that this “Christmas” thing was over. You had become consumed by it, and despite finding some sort of amusement in the way you bounced around all excited and glowy, he was sick of it. You talked on and on about what he had to do with you, and while he indulged you on some of them, he was not fond of being bossed around. You had also mentioned another man, whom you referred to as “Santa” - you had assured Sukuna he wasn’t real, but Sukuna didn’t like the way another man’s name was so easily rolling off your tongue - who brought gifts to children in their homes. You had made an attempt to put up a little “Santa” figurine on the mantle, but found him in pieces (and in the trash) hours later. Sukuna would not allow another man you spoke so highly of to taint his space. 

You shift slightly, and he looks down at your sleeping face where it lay against him. You looked utterly ridiculous - your face was smushed against him, your hair was tousled, and you were lightly snoring - but for some reason Sukuna couldn’t tear his eyes from your form. He could hear the servants shuffling around in the other rooms on the estate, taking down the eyesores that you had put up all over the house. While he had instructed them to take everything Christmas-related down across the estate, they also had very specific instructions to never enter his chambers without explicit permission from him. This meant that his chambers were still a little Christmas bubble, the tree you had put up in the corner still standing tall.

When you first tried to get him to put a tree up in his chambers, he had refused. You could put a tree in the approved rooms, he had reminded you, and his chambers were very explicitly off limits. You had frowned, saying something about needing a “personal” tree that you could decorate yourself and keep presents “safe” under it. He informed you that anything you left under the other trees would also be safe, as this was his estate, and no one would touch anything without his permission, but you had just thrown your hands up.

“It’s about the principle, Ryo!”

“Brat, be grateful I’m letting you put up any trees at all. I could call off this whole ‘Christmas’ nonsense whenever I want, so watch your mouth.”

He sighed. He doesn’t know how you managed, but you had eventually wore him down. A sparkling tree sits in the corner of his chambers now, glowing softly. Once you had risen and started to go about your day he was going to take it down, he resolved. Whatever weird feelings were bubbling in his chest were the fault of this Christmas rampage you had gone on, and nothing else. Once his estate was cleaned of the Christmas blight you had cast upon it, his chest would return to normal, he was certain.

But for now, as the Christmas lights shining from the tree glowed behind your sleeping form, the feelings would remain. He felt himself melt into you, and ran a gentle hand through your hair. His eyes flick to the ceiling before drifting closed again. He sighs, and pulls you a little further into him. Softly, so softly that even the wind barely catches it, he murmurs to you.

“Merry Christmas, brat.”

Fushiguro Toji (ft. Tsumiki and Megumi)

You think this man has ever owned a house? Jokes on you honey, he’s never had that kind of money (or that good of credit).

Subsequently, there’s nowhere to decorate outside, really. Other than the apartment door, but that's too much work for Toji, so any Christmas decorations he might have are inside the walls of his apartment.

He’s boring, but surprisingly your biggest opp in Christmas decoration is little Megumi. Tsumiki is an angel as always and goes along with whatever Christmas shenanigans, but Megumi doesn’t want even a hint of Christmas in the house.

The most you get is a Christmas tree in the corner of the living room, which was all Toji was willing to do before you, anyways. As much as he pretends he doesn’t, he’s always loved his kids, and keeps a plastic tree and a small box of ornaments (which is mostly comprised of the ones Tsumiki and Megumi has to make at school) shoved in the corner of his closet for this time of year. He may have been a shitty father, but he cared, in his own way.

When Megumi is little, that tree is down on December 26th, shoved back in the corner of Toji’s closet. Christmas is dumb, and so is anything that reminds him of it.

But now, with warmer memories surrounding it, the tree might take a couple more days to find itself back in the closet. It’s definitely down within the week (Megumi can only handle being sappy for so long), but maybe Christmas isn’t so bad with you around.

And (even though he won’t say it), Toji feels the same way - you see it in the mistletoe that now hangs in the entryway between the kitchen and living room, in the way his eyes find yours as you all decorate gingerbread houses together, in the way he’s just a little sweeter when Christmas comes around. You’re the best present he’s ever gotten, and the only one he needs, this Christmas and every Christmas in the future.

The actual act of taking stuff down, though? With four (mostly) grown bodies shoving around in a tiny apartment, it’s a lot more hectic than you’d like it to be. Someone always ends up minorly hurt every year in the clean-up process. It’s inevitable, and you’re considering making a Christmas scrapbook of all the injuries you all have gotten over the years.

(your personal favorite will always be when Toji yanked on the lights impatiently and the whole tree came down on him. You can still see Tsumiki’s wide eyes and hear little toddler Megumi’s laughter as Toji grumbled about “stupid tree” this and “damn lights” that. He was fine, but his ego was not)

– – –

“Shit-”

You spin around at the gruff swear from your husband, about to scold him for swearing in front of the kids, when you’re met with a facefull of Toji. His chest slams into your face, and you both go down. He barely manages to catch himself over you (if he hadn’t, you’re certain you would’ve been flattened under his weight). Your head smacks into the carpet and you groan, squeezing your eyes shut to battle the throbbing pain in your head.

“Dad, what the hell-”

“Are you two okay??”

Two overlapping voices come from above you, but you don’t think you can open your eyes. You haphazardly throw up a thumbs up, just to blindly whack your husband in the face.

“Ow, doll, Jesus Christ. Watch your hand, won’t you?” Toji gruffs out, but one of his hands is already moving to cradle your head, gently touching around it. He doesn’t feel any blood, and he lets out a sigh of relief. He didn’t really feel like making a trip to the emergency room a couple days after Christmas, especially for something this embarrassing. He’s sure they’ve had enough Christmas-related injuries from the idiots who go out and party, anyways. 

“Get off of them, you oaf.” Megumi says, shoving his father off of you. Toji rolls off of you, letting Megumi shove him aside. That kid always liked you more than him, even if you weren’t related by blood. 

He lets the kids fuss over you and goes into the kitchen to grab you an ice pack for your head. At worst it’s a concussion, but he’s hoping it’ll just be a bump. Not his fault that Tsumiki got distracted midway through taking the lights of the tree and left them hanging haphazardly. And yeah, maybe it was his fault that he wasn’t looking where he was going and got his feet tangled in the lights. But Megumi was complaining about them still having all of the ornaments he made as a kid, and Toji had to make sure that brat wasn’t throwing any of them away. So yeah, maybe his eyes weren’t on the floor. But in his defense, the lights were only supposed to be in two places - the box, or on the tree.

Grumbling, he makes his way back to the living room, where you’re now situated on the couch. Christmas teardown long forgotten, Tsumiki is asking you questions and holding fingers in front of your face. Megumi is standing broodily to the side. His arms crossed, as if he doesn’t care, but his eyes are watching you with rapt attention. 

“For your head, doll.” Toji says, passing you the ice pack. You accept it gratefully, cradling it to where your head smacked into the floor. Your bleary eyes meet his, and you can see the glow of worry hiding behind them. You offer him a weak smile, hoping it’ll ease at least some of his worries.

“I knew I was gorgeous, but you didn’t have to literally fall for me, you know,” you joke, eyes sparkling. There’s a distinct “Ew!” from Megumi as Toji leans down to plant a kiss on your lips, rolling his eyes at your nonsense. 

“Merry Christmas, doll.”

“Merry Christmas, Toji.”

And if the half-taken down tree stays up for a day or so more, Megumi doesn’t say a word.

Ieiri Shoko

Shoko has no intention of owning a house, ever. Her apartment has always been more than enough space for her, and being the only sorcerer with her abilities, she works crazy hours, anyways. She wouldn’t have the time to take care of a whole house.

Even with you in her life, she’s still home at odd hours. She tries harder now, to be home more often, but there’s only so much that’s in her control. You’ve woken up many nights to her crawling out of bed and throwing on her coat to get to Jujutsu Tech.

It sucks and she knows it, but both of you know it’s always going to be her reality unless she leaves jujutsu. And both of you know that, at this point, she isn’t going anywhere.

Your Christmas decorations are very sparing. A wreath on the outside of your door, a small tree in the corner of the living room, and perhaps a wintry candle burning. Your apartment isn’t really well-lived in, but you two try to make it as cozy as possible.

Christmas decorations could stay up year round, honestly. She barely cares to put them up, taking them down is way more work than she wants to go through. The wreath is notoriously on the door until mid-February. It’s a miracle if it’s gone by Valentine’s Day.

Things get taken down, piece by piece, until all of it is gone. Unlike most people, it’s not a day that you two do it, but over the course of the rest of December and January. 

(The door wreath always gets forgotten because by the time post-Christmas rolls around you’re both used to it and forget it’s even there)

By the first of the new year, the lights and ornaments are off the tree, and all of the Christmas cookies (that you stole from Gojo’s stash) are eaten. At some point, the tree goes down. Eventually, the candle’s been burnt to the end of the wick, and it’s replaced with something more flowery. Any sign of Christmas and the holidays slowly fades away.

Until one of you remembers the wreath, of course!

– – –

A gentle buzzing shakes Shoko from her lunch. She’s rarely aware of what time of day it is in the hellscape that is the basement of Jujutsu Tech; but Gojo, in a rare moment of kindness, had visited her with lunch in his hands. He was blabbering on and on about something nonsensical, as always, but she was grateful for the break. As much as he acted like an idiot, Gojo was anything but - he knew the conversation he was holding was one-sided. He’d act all offended later, she was sure (what a headache), but her little noncommittal “yeah”s and “mhm”s would do for now. 

“Ooooh, who’s calling you?” Gojo asks, wiggling his eyebrows at her. She rolls her eyes, looking down at the caller ID. Your name lights up the screen, a goofy picture of you flashing behind it. You had thrown the Christmas lights for the tree in the air over your head in excitement, and had ended up all tangled up in them. Despite being somewhat wrapped  up in Christmas lights, you had a big smile on your face, laughing at your own predicament. It’s perhaps one of her favorite pictures of you.

Before she can answer it herself, Gojo snatches her phone from her hand, and answers it himself. “Helloooo, Ms. Shoko Ieiri speaking. How may I be of doctor-ly assistance to you?”

She can hear you snort on the other end of the phone, clearly amused. 

“Hi, Gojo. How’re you?”

He gasps dramatically. “Gojo?? How dare you confuse me with that no good idiot-”

“Gojo,” Shoko starts, extending her hand, “give me my phone back.”

He sticks out his tongue, handing her the phone. “Boo, you two are no fun!”

She sighs, running a hand through her hair. “Hey, lovely.”

“Hey, Sho!”

“What’s up, hm? Need something?”

“Oh, nothing urgent,” you say with a laugh. “Just found something I thought you might find funny.”

“Yeah?” she says, smiling. “And what’s that?”

“Do you know what the date is?” you ask, and she hears a bit of shuffling on the other end of the phone. You’re clearly on the move as you call her.

“Uhm…” her eyes drift to the childish cat calendar Gojo had hung in her office. He had insisted it would “boost morale”, but mostly it had been an eyesore. “February something-th, I’m sure.”

“Yeah!” you exclaim. “It’s February, Sho.”

“I know that,” she says, though there was no real bite in her tone. “I literally just said that.”

“Oh shut up,” you say, a bit muffled on the other end of the phone. “I’m just saying it’s February. Getting awful close to being March, even.”

“February’s short, lovely, that’s not much of a feat.”

“Shhh, let me talk!! Anyways, you know what I found?”

She racks her brain, but there’s nothing that you would find in the house that would make you react like this that she could think of. “No idea, lovely. Would you like to tell me?”

“The wreath, Sho!”

“The wreath…?” she says, before recognition sweeps across her face. “Oh my god-”

“We left the wreath up!” you’re laughing so hard she’s sure you’re crying. “I- how do we forget every year-”

“We got it down by January last year!”

“Mid-January, Sho, not by January-”

“Maybe we should stop putting it up.”

“Noooo! I love having this conversation every year. Don’t you?”

She’s laughing too, even if she doesn’t want to. “Mhm, of course, lovely.”

“Anyways, you’re probably busy, so I’ll leave you be, but Merry Christmas, Sho!”

She laughs, rolling her eyes at your antics. “Merry Christmas, lovely.”

Higuruma Hiromi

Another busy fellow. Being a lawyer and a sorcerer does that to a man.

But it also means he can afford a nice house in a nice area. You’ve got decent land, and a nice big house to decorate for Christmas.

He’s a total sap, and definitely makes time to decorate the house with you. Your tree will look more like a scrapbook than a Christmas tree - covered in picture frame ornaments of the two of you and dinky little ornaments he saw that he was out that reminded him of you.

Expect Christmas/winter dates with him, too - he may be busy, but he’s bending his schedule as much as possible to take you ice skating or to decorate gingerbread houses with you.

When December 26th rolls around, he’s in the office. He overloads himself in November to clear as much of December as he can, but it’s inevitable that he ends back in the office before the month ends. He’s just glad he got to spend Christmas with you.

The decorations stay up perhaps a little too long, but you’d both rather take things down together. You don’t always get the chance to be domestic with Hiromi, so you wait. The rare moments that you do are always worth the wait.

– – –

You can hear Hiromi across the room faintly humming some Christmas tune as you gently lift the garland from the mantle. After some sort of miracle (and a little bit of string pulling), Hiromi had finally managed to land himself a day off post-Christmas. Things always get busy after Christmas - drunk idiots making post-party mistakes, kids misusing their new toys, marriages that barely manage to scrape through Christmas day at all - and he’s been on back to back cases for a couple weeks now. His eyebags have been cutting deeper into his face by the day, and you’re glad to see something like joy in his step as he weaves the lights off the Christmas tree. Once the sun reaches its peak in the sky, the two of you would bundle up and head outside to get the lights and the wreath, but for now, you could enjoy the warmth of the house for a little longer. 

You drop the bundle of garland into one of the many boxes. You knew in your heart that the you of next year would look at the messy pile of garland and be incredibly pissed, but you didn’t have it in yourself to care right now. Sounded like a problem for next year you, not a problem for the you of the present. You had other decorations to take down, and boyfriends to mess with.

You take a peek at said boyfriend as you move the other Christmas knick knacks off the mantle and into the box. He’s still humming something or other, but it’s definitely a new song. He’s dancing to it, a bit, as he gently places your ornaments back in the box. He pauses, sometimes, to look more intently at the little picture frames. A picture of the two of you, at the beach a couple of summers ago. A snapshot of your trip to Paris. A polaroid of you laughing, covered in flour, that barely fits in the frame he bought for it. That one was from this year - he had insisted that you two make Christmas sugar cookies and decorate them, but when you had pulled the flour from the top shelf, it had exploded right out the bottom. It’s what you get for buying the cheap flour, perhaps, but you remember how you couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled from your throat in the moment. You don’t even remember Hiromi grabbing the camera - just the snap it made as it framed your mishap forever. You shake yourself out of your stupor and look around. You’ve cleared the mantle and the side table, all that’s left in this room minus the tree was…the mistletoe. It hung neatly between the living room and the kitchen, a little glint of green and red against the horrendous light yellow of the kitchen (the old owners had been so pleased with the color that you couldn’t bring yourself to repaint it). You went to grab it down, but even with a stretch to your tippy toes, you couldn’t quite get a grasp on it. 

“Hiromi,” you call out, and he makes a noncommittal sound. “Romi, honey.”

He flicks his head over to you, huffing softly at your pout. “What is it, honey?”

You point up at the offending party, its green and red staring back at you mockingly. “Can’t get the little bastard down. Any chance you’d be willing to help me out?”

“Of course, honey,” he says, striding over to you. You expect him to pluck it off its hook himself, and squeal when his arms wrap around your waist and he lifts. You know he’s strong - hell, you’d have to be strong to do his job - but he lifted you with an ease you didn’t know was possible.

“Are you going to get that down, or do I have to hold you here forever?” he says, a teasing grin making its way to his face.

You jokingly contemplate, putting your finger to your lips to ‘think’ about it. “Hmm, I don’t know, feeling pretty comfy in your arms. Might just have to stay here forever, I fear.”

He snorts, gently bringing you back down. He reaches up and unhooks the mistletoe himself, though he hesitates to bring his arm back down.

“What is it?” you ask gently.

“One last kiss? For Christmas’ sake?”

You laugh breathlessly, knowing damn well that it’s late enough into January that this kiss isn’t for anything but him. But, as he dangles the mistletoe above your heads, you can’t help but lean in to kiss him. And if you two don’t stop, even when the mistletoe is long forgotten? Well, that’s nobody’s business but yours.

[frenchtantan]

(Maybe) unpopular opinion: I am not a fan of the ending of Clair Obscur: Expédition 33

BIG SPOILERS DOWN BELOW, OBVIOUSLY!

Okay, so before anything, I must warn you that any variation of the "it was not real" trope is something I deeply dislike. It always makes me cringe, because it usually means nothing mattered from the get go. In my opinion, the only ways to make it work is either to leave it ambiguous (Inception did this, and the Lego Movie to an extend) or to make it clear from the get go so you understand the stakes.

As I arrived at the end of act 2 of Clair Obscur, I thought they were about to show me a third option.

I was wrong.

67 years. 67 FUCKING years of expedition after expedition trying to stop their own from getting erased every years. 67 years of their motto being "Tomorrow comes". 67 years of strong, albeit wavering hope that somehow, someone will make it so that they survive. Then, during the entire game, interesting characters, whose stories, personnalities, motivations and trauma you learn from talking to them. You see traces of former expeditions, laying the trail for those to come, making your progression easier, understanding their other motto "when one falls, we continue". Hell, "We continue" is even what's written at the end of a fight instead of just "Continue".

The first act and a half has this atmosphere of desperate but hopeful "last ditch effort" to save humanity, to give it a future. Lune, Sciel, Gustave, Maelle (before she remembers) and even Monoco play a huge part in setting this ambiance. You want Lune to find answers, Gustave to make sure his apprentices grow old, Sciel to find hope, and Maelle to find out somewhere she belongs. You want Monoco to get the chance to reconnect with Noco once he is reincarnated. And even though you get the feeling that there is more to this, you want Verso to finally get to see an expedition through, after all these years of seeing every single one die. You will save these people, you will give them back the time they were robbed of. You fight the Nevrons, those monsters who are trying to kill humans and absorb their chroma, and every fight makes you stronger, more hopeful.

But then you reach the Paintress. Hints have been spread from the very beginning that this might not be her fault, that she is trapped also, but you defeat her nonetheless. And you can feel something is wrong. Celebrations follow, but there is this... hint of eerieness. This is confirmed as literally everyone is Gommaged on the spot and then... Alicia.

You learn who she is, you learn about her dead brother Verso, wait what do you mean "dead"? And her father is Renoir, but not the one you just fought, and he is fighting her mother Aline, to get her out of a... Canvas? Apparently it's Verso's Canvas, and she's been in there way too long. Clea, Alicia's sister, has been tipping the balance in Renoir's favor, which allowed him to slowly erase Aline's... oldest creations? Wait, the monolith, the number!

Everything makes sense now, this was a World-Canvas created by a family of Painters, humans with the power to create realities in their paintings, and then that world was shattered by their grief.

This is where my instinct went off a bit. It very much looked like the trope I dislike. But then I though, no, the people in this Canvas are still real, their lives matter. This is not just a painting. Maelle, who now fully remembers both her lives but embraces her new name, aims to stop the Canvas from being destroyed. The third act starts and the objective is clear: Defeat Renoir, bring everyone back. Great! It might be a pocket universe of sorts, but their lives matter, you should still save them!

And then the endings. Either you do save them by siding with Maelle, but she becomes corrupted, puppeteering an unwilling version of Verso so that she can live in her perfect world, or you side with Canvas-Verso and the canvas gets erased, along with everyone in it. Turns out the only thing holding it together was the last bit of the real Verso's soul, painting forever. The "good" ending is to set him free and let the world you spend nearly an entire game in just... fade away.

So yeah. An entire world you cared about destroyed because a family can't go to therapy to get over their grief, and the game saying at the last minute that it's the right decision because it's held together by a tired soul. And I just think it sucks. No word about how the will to survive of the people of Lumière is literally what allowed Renoir to prevail. Their lives either become Maelle's fantasy world, or they are sacrificed, and I think it just... sucks. In the end, the lives of those people you grew to love is nothing more than a plot device. They matter little in the grand scheme of things, which as it turns out is ONE family of French metahumans.

I can't help but feel like there was something else that could be done. I mean, EVERYONE in Lumière is used to grief. Literally Lucien at the beginning is cheerful despite the loss of what must be hundreds of people hours prior, because it happens every year anyway. Nearly everyone in that city could help the Dessendre overcome their grief, as thei had to themselves... And you're telling me the only way to get this family of essentially gods to move on is to destroy a world the one they grieve created so that they aren't tempted to get in it? C'mon... It just sucks that the same gief that shaped the lives of the people in the Canvas for so long needs them to be erased to be overcome.

[narcjsistx]

𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄! | itoshi rin x fem reader

part seventeen: podium || BAND AU, A BIT AGED UP

plot: after your band's last concert, a few days after Rin's, an online competition arises about who is the best bassist. A whole new challenge is created by the new fandom who loves you, but people don't know that you and the bassist of Blue Lock haven't spoken in about 3 years since you broke up, when you were sixteen

02: PAST, YESTERDAY

characters presentation here ; all the parts here

"It's embarrassing" the boy says, but you shake your head "It's not true. Aren't you embarrassed to play in front of so many people but spending time like this with your girlfriend?" you tease him, but he snorts, tightening his grip "Shut up"

You giggle, staring straight ahead. Afternoons like this, just you, him and the sea, are becoming rare lately. Since that night, now a year ago, the band has achieved a lot of goals, playing in other cities, even further away and some closer. This means a lot of time spent in the rehearsal room, and above all even less time spent together as a couple. You are so happy that Blue Lock, your creation, is experiencing now. But you also miss the times when it was just you and Rin playing together

In a few weeks, he'll be on a small first tour of the entire prefecture that will take him away for a few weeks. You'll follow them as a manager for a few dates, but only for those in the cities closest to home. You're happy, but at the same time, there's something wrong, something you can't understand but which causes you so much pain

"Are you sleepy? You're quiet. I mean, more than usual" he says, and you force a smile "I'm just a little tired. Tough days with school and... stuff" you say almost in a sigh, but Rin before being your boyfriend was a good friend of yours for a long time, so he knows when something is bothering you "Stuff? Something happened at school? Or with me?" he asks, his hand loosening a little. You shake your head "Don’t worry. I just have a lot on my mind" you say, placing your hand on his, but even though you're not seeing his face directly since you're leaning against his chest, you know Rin isn't convinced "You should tell me what's on your mind" he says, and you look down, focusing on the sand beneath you "This is stupid"

Today was another tough day, especially because for the umpteenth time you were in danger of not seeing each other because of band practice. It's not something that happens rarely anymore, you're used to it, but Rin insisted that he wouldn't mind coming to the beach with you anyway, just to spend time with his girlfriend. The beach is deserted at this hour, as the sun sets to make room for the moon: his hands are holding your waist, as he sits behind you, his legs lazily holding you close to him. It's stupid how you're making a fuss over your boyfriend's success

"I don't care if it's stupid or not. I want to know, it's not normal for me to see you like this" he says in a cold tone, which however hides a hint of concern. You tilt your head, noticing how the sun has almost disappeared by now "I don't even know how to explain it to you. It's just... lately I think I'm always the one who's left behind" you say in a tense tone, but your heart hurts "What?" he asks, and you sigh again "Every time I do something for someone, I end up falling behind, while the other one rises to the top. I was the one who made Sae play the first time, and now he's in another country to improve his talent. The band I created is fine, but I'm not in the band's future plans. It hurts me to think that for all that I try I never get a result that is completely about me, because then I also feel like a bitch for suffering from the success of the people I love. It's just that for once I would like to be the one who gets to the top, and not the one who makes others get there"

It's the first time you've really thought about this, and consequently also the first time you've said it out loud. For a few minutes the only noise you can hear is that of the waves of the sea, and you think you've ruined everything. Maybe you seriously need to learn to be quiet, Sae often told you when you asked your music teacher about the wrong notes. Maybe your best friend was right all along, who for the umpteenth time, you brought to the maximum and left you with the minimum

Rin shouldn't even be here, but at her house after a day of rehearsals. You ruined the only moment he gave you. Maybe you're a bad girlfriend

"I never thought about this point of view of yours" says the boy after the silence, maintaining the calm tone that distinguishes him "But I always thought I could never thank you enough. I don't have the material things to express my gratitude" he says softly, lowering his head just to whisper in your ear. Your eyes widen in surprise, but you barely have the courage to turn around “You look so amazing. You are amazing. I still wonder how I got the chance to meet you all those years ago, maybe it was like a gift from Sae. Something like that" he says, and you chuckle softly at his comment, feeling the air around you thin out “I mean, I’ve never actually thanked you for this. Maybe i did after our… first kiss” he says, and you laugh “You did. Twice” you laugh, but he shrugs “Shut up. I know. I don’t regret it” he says seriously, but you recognize his rare emotion

"It's just that I often think that maybe I'm wrong, in being a bitch for not being completely happy. Or in thinking that maybe I deserve it too" you say honestly, and he nods "I understand" he says, and you nod "I don't know... like..."

"I love you. Thank you for everything you've done and are doing now. I can't tell you how proud I am to be your boyfriend" he says, taking your hands and playing with your fingers "Because you're perfect. You really are, from the way you play the bass to the way you ask me for my sweatshirts. You're simply the only person I know for sure I truly love, above my family" he says it all in one breath. You are almost shocked by his words, turning to meet your boyfriend's downcast gaze, which is however betrayed by his red ears and cheeks "Do you have a fever?" you ask worriedly

Rin speaks very little, and above all he always keeps his emotions bottled up inside himself. It's something he's done since he was a child and by now you're used to it, but every time he lets himself go it always gives you a sense of surprise

"I don't have a fever. It's just... you do so much for me, for the band, and if I can't even make an effort to show you how much you mean to me, maybe I'm a bad boyfriend. But I don't want to be" he says looking up, hoping you don't pay too much attention to his physical reactions visible on his face. You purse your lips, letting out a sigh and then smiling sweetly at him "Thank you for telling me. It's nice sometimes... to be told you're loved" you say honestly, reaching out to caress his face. Rin leans against your palm, leaving little kisses on it and on your fingers "Remind me to tell you, sometimes. I think about it every day but subconsciously forget to say it" he admits patiently, and you nod "I'll try" you say, relaxing your muscles. Rin leans down to kiss your head, but as your neck bends, his lips meet yours in a tender kiss: neither of you moves, as you enjoy each other's warmth mixed with that of the sand, still warm even though it's dark now

Maybe you're not a bad girlfriend, but you just need to feel loved. When that happens, you feel like you're the one at the top and the others at the bottom, they're at the bottom of the podium while you're at the top. Rin wants you to always feel that way, at the top

TAGLIST: @x3nafix ; @kittenish0 ; @littlejapanesesightseeingtrip ; @pan-kojiwa ; @pookalicious-hq ; @kaz-0e ; @sof888a ; @chugging-bleach ; @matchablossomsss ; @lovelymeguru ; @thebestsetter ; @yamsverse ; @princesssae ; @yuukigyatgyat ; @azharyy ; @rwbie ; @bubybubsters ; @swagkittybear ; @syarc0re ; @rink1sser ; @frogsrules ; @hwaassaa ; @chuuyalvover ; @poemzcheng ; @poisonedst4r ; @s4-mmy ; @gojosfiance ; @justtkari ; @xl-pr ; @yumiixiu ; @hyomadarlings

[rowanwithaz]

The perfect end is near?

MHA 424 spoilers

Those new leaks were literally fucking perfect,like??? Not just for shipping (I'll get to that) but just for a conclusion of the series.

Simple ending?

(First of all,I personally wanted Hori to kinda send the kids back to school,y'know,to see how they'd be after the fact how this war really changed their mindsets,but to also give them so time to just be a class. Those kids deserve to be kids just for a little bit).

To me this just proves even more so how Hori loves and enjoys his characters,he loves the world he's built for them,I think he wants to explore this further,and all the power to him! I know we want stories that are mind blowing every step of the way,but that's just not realistic and that's not really fun.

Hori,in my opinion,has made a heartbreaking and inspiring story,but I appreciate that he can dile it back a notch. I appreciate stories that can just roll with the simplicity. I feel people have this negative connotation of simplicity,that simple is automatically bad,which isn't true in the slightest.

I am a big fan of deep and meaningful stories,but I think one of the deepest turns you can take is to simplicity. These kids have been fighting non-stop and have been experiencing tragedy after tragedy,I want to see them recover. I want to see them comfort one another.

Let's not forget Hori has given us plot twits,death,war,grief...so if MHA goes back to how it was in the beginning,by being a little more simple,then I'm in full support for that.

(Just making this argument before the dudebros start talking shit! As for Shigaraki and AFO's ending,and the war,I've already done a pretty long analysis for those two,so I kinda see no point in repeating something since my feelings on it haven't changed)

The gay ending???

ALRIGHT. Let's get to the shipping portion of this post.

(Izuku trying to reassure him is so fucking sweet,oh my fucking God, he's like, "Oh,Kacchan don't cry everything's okay :D" whilst trying not to cry himself,and Izuku being shocked to see him cry? Like,bitch,this man has cried to you like two times before this,but at the same time he's never openly sobbed I guess)

Guys,we're going to get the quirkless hand hold. GUYS,WE'RE GOING TO GET THE QUIRKLESS HAND HOLD.

And Katsuki being vulnerable with Izuku once again? Honestly this whole chapter hasn't been some dkbk/bkdk crumbs,it's been a full-course dinner.

Now let's get to the most important part...

THIS. This is so telling of the future in a sense.

Katsuki and Izuku being brought together by All Might's words once again,which Hori fucking HINTED at,

Something tells me he was super excited to do this whole scene. With All Might,once again,bringing these two together,it makes me think of Togachako,especially with Ochako at the end here.

If Ochako is the one holding her stomach at the end,then we can assume that's where Toga stabbed her and she's thinking of her,while dkbk/bkdk are having their moment. This is extremely important.

I've said Izuku is kinda like Togachako's All Might,and I stand by that. Throughout this series,Ochako has been growing to become a hero,her own hero. And,Izuku has been one of her biggest inspirations,so much so,she feel in love with him. But,as things change,and Izuku has grown away from her,she's grown away from him.

What I'm saying is: Ochako has fallen out of love with Izuku. I've said this a million times,but I cannot stress it enough. Izuku has brought Ochako and Toga together though,that's for sure.

I mean,if we really take a look at their recent romantic moments,who has Ochako been thinking of?

and the rooftop scene?

people please stop trying to make this about Izuku. This is about Ochako finally realizing what kind of hero she wants to be,and that's why she falls out of love with Izuku.

Ochako wanted to save the heroes (Izuku) but in the process she found out she wants to save the villains (Toga). This is her story of becoming a hero,and falling out of love with Izuku. Izuku brought them together,their shared feelings for him made them realize their feelings for each other. Sound familiar?

Izuku's and Katsuki's shared feelings for All Might caused their feelings for each other to bloom,then their conflicting ideals made it to where they couldn't be together. Sound familiar?

(And let's not forget they had two fights,each one of them.)

And,Katsuki said something this chapter that made me think: "Oh,Togachako vibes!"

Remember when Ochako says she wants to give Toga her blood for the rest of her life?

Or the lyrics in the mha season 2 ending theme about Izuku's feelings for Kacchan?

Dudes,these mfs just wanna be together.

Those are just some of my thoughts one the ending,dkbk/bkdk,Togachako,and all that. I'm super fucking excited for the rest of this series though!

(Let's cross our fingers for a Deku Vs Kacchan part 3 but it ends with them making out???)

[potted-shrub-of-ridicule]

MARIE KANKER STYLE ANALYSIS

Welcome to my second Ed, Edd n Eddy Fashion Analysis! First, we looked at May, and now we’re going to look at her edgelord sister, Marie Kanker. It’s no secret that Marie’s character isn’t the most well-defined, but she gets some very stylish outfits that are full of personality. Her clothes give an interesting peek into the growing pains of her character throughout the series.

Marie’s primary outfit is simple, yet effective, like her design as a whole. It’s just a black cropped tank top, black shoes, and green pants (they kinda look like cargo pants to me.) The way Marie accessorizes really adds to the look. Her standard-issue pink Kanker belt is a given, since each of them wear one, but that dark green arm band is unique to her. In the first three seasons, Marie is the only Kanker sister who has red painted nails. I love that they eventually all got matching nail polish. Those little shared traits that visually tie the Kankers together are so cute, and from a writing perspective, these three seem like they’d all be into little beauty treatments like a home manicure. You may have noticed that they use house paint and a big house paintbrush on their nails. Sounds like a horrible idea. Anyways, I think Marie’s outfit is great. It’s punk-adjacent without actually committing to that style. She doesn’t seem passionate enough to belong to a subculture, but she’s just edgy enough that I can see why she’s drawn to somewhat rebellious clothing.

As I did with May, I’ll be looking at each of Marie’s alternate outfits. The first one is… this thing… from “Nagged to Ed.” I believe this was only the fourth episode produced, so the artists understandably didn’t have Marie’s aesthetic carved out. Hell, I’d argue none of the Kankers in this episode have very nice formalwear, but Marie’s is certainly the worst. She has a white flower in her hair, which I like; a white sweater that is inoffensive on its own; these weird baggy pink pants that look like ill-fitted leggings; and the pièce de résistance, a yellow ribbon tied low around her waist in a bow. The sweater is fine enough, if a bit un-Marie-like. Everything from the waist down is just ugly and incoherent. What even is that bow-belt-sash thing? It’s not only ugly, it’s nothing like the Marie we will come to know. The colours are the most telling in that regard. She almost never wears this much white, pink, or yellow again. In-universe, I could charitably chalk this one up to the Kanker family’s low clothing budget. Then again, May and Lee’s “fancy” outfits, while not much to look at, are telling of their personalities and the kind of fashion that they will continue to wear in future episodes. Marie wearing pants here indicates her interest in more casual and masculine styles, but aside from that there is close to nothing here that continues to describe Marie. In my estimation, this is her worst outfit in every way. The good news is that means we will only go up from here.

Next, it’s the season 2 classic “Homecooked Eds.” Marie’s first new look in this episode is her vacation ensemble. She’s wearing a brown button-up with a tan and green box pattern, blue-grey shorts with a black belt, and her usual black shoes with white socks. Marie has accessorized with a purple fedora with a red feather tucked into the band. A bold choice. She is also still wearing that band on her left arm. As previously mentioned, Marie’s character isn’t well defined, but it’s not like they do nothing fun with her. Her gloriously stupid hat clashes with the rest of the outfit and hints at Marie having some weird idiosyncrasies. Speaking of which, I adore the way she carries that video camera around in this episode (even if Lee isn’t pleased having that camera in her face). It comes back in “Ed Overboard” when she films some of May and Ed’s innocent romantic moments together. Point is, the hat is a charming addition to a cool and inspired outfit. In the best way possible, it looks like something someone’s dad would wear on vacation, down to the fedora. Marie’s wardrobe has a masculine streak that feels very authentic. When May dips her toes into masculine fashion, it looks like she’s wearing girls’ clothes with a tomboyish aesthetic, whereas I wouldn’t be surprised if Marie’s masc clothes came from the men’s section. Maybe she has some pieces that belonged to her dad(s).

Later on in “Homecooked,” we get Marie’s swimsuit. She’s wearing a yellow bikini with purple polkadots and scalloped trim. The pattern is kind of tacky and the trim is frilly. These are traits we don’t usually see in what Marie wears, making this a standout piece in herd wardrobe. She’s not exempt from a bit of gaudiness; she is a Kanker, after all. That being said, I like this bikini. It’s cohesive and purposeful, with a defined aesthetic, meanwhile the “Nagged” outfit is straightforwardly messy. I think my only issue here is that this might be too sunny for Marie, what with the warm yellow colour and scalloped hems. I suppose if they’re going to go for that vibe, a swimsuit is the most appropriate instance. Marie’s swimsuit is alright. By the way, did you notice she’s still wearing that wristband? (It is missing in a couple shots but she's supposed to be wearing it.)

When Marie gets “married” to Edd in “Honour Thy Ed,” she’s wearing one of my favourite outfits worn by any character in the show. It’s so stylish and spunky! May and Lee made an effort to wear something in the realm of bridal attire, but Marie, remembering the travesty that was the last time she wore white, opted for this little number. It appears to be her usual black tank top layered under a loose, low-cut tank top and midi skirt, both of which are a washed-out burgundy colour. According to my research, her skirt has an inverted scallop hem, or spider web hem (I love that term!) It looks like the points of her hems are in little ball/teardrop shapes. My favourite part of this outfit is her leg warmers. Big, chunky leg warmers like these automatically improve any outfit for me. They are white with one horizontal lilac stripe in the centre. It looks like she’s wearing her usual shoes again, too, except the soles are wavy on the bottom when they are supposed to be flat. The artists probably gave Marie plain black shoes so often because they go with everything. If it ain’t broke, I suppose. Anyways, I love this outfit because it’s both very pretty and remarkably unique. The silhouette is unconventional, very cartoonish—yet I can picture it looking good on somebody in real life. Plus, it’s an offbeat choice of formalwear in that it isn’t especially formal. Marie appears to be a big fan of comfortable, casual clothing. This is such a good look, I can't get enough of it!

Next is season 4’s Run For Your Ed, where we see the Kanker sisters’ sleepwear. Marie’s pyjamas are quite down-to-earth compared to what the other two are wearing. May and Lee are wearing capital-p Pyjamas made to be slept in, whereas Marie looks like she just threw on some old clothes. She’s wearing a very short-cropped jade green t-shirt. There appears to be a little Venus symbol on it (how Betty DeVille of her). The shoulders are so wide that it looks like it could’ve been cut from a bigger shirt. Maybe this belonged to the Kankers’ mom. With that in mind, the Venus symbol is even funnier given what’s implied about Mama Kanker’s relationships with men. Her bottoms are light bluish boxers with polkadots. Marie doesn’t have any fancy nighttime accessories like her sisters with their respective bonnet and slippers. However, she is still wearing her wristband. If I remember correctly, she even wears it in the bath. I love how attached she seems to be to that thing, not unlike Edd with his hat. (Tangent: Ed, Edd n Eddy scholar Kevin Lordi pointed out that in “Ed Overboard,” you can see Marie lick her fist in anticipation of punching someone. What a fucking weirdo. Marie deserves more credit for her weird little neuroses. She really is like Edd in a lot of ways! Tangent over.) I dig what she’s wearing here. The top and bottom don’t exactly go together, but they’re meant to be some old things she just threw on, and she does look very cool in them.

Fun fact, these pyjamas are involved in one of my favourite animation errors in the series! See how it cuts from Marie in her regular clothes to her barefoot and pj-clad? Classic.

Marie’s gym clothes from “Hanky Panky Hullabaloo” are another example of Marie repurposing and/or DIYing what looks like men’s clothing. Her top and shorts appear to be altered pieces that are too big for her; the shirt has a wide neck hole while her pants are held up with a rope belt, which feels so authentically Kanker-y to me. Marie’s shirt is a grey tee with torn-off sleeves and white line art of a snake on it. Her bottoms are cargo pants sporting giant pockets that were cut off jaggedly at the knee to make them shorts. They’re a similar shade of green to her usual pants, this one closer to a genuine army green. Marie also has on blue high-tops that look like Converse. Due to this being a digitally animated episode, the artists were getting more bold with the details they put on the characters outfits, hence the snake graphic and more realistically-styled footwear. This one’s a solid outfit.

In “Boo Haw Haw” we get our first look at Marie’s autumn ensemble. They gave her a long-sleeve black shirt under a muted red tee sporting a white ring around the collar and what looks like the Target logo on the front. The bottom half of the outfit is identical to what she wears in summer. In this special, Marie has on a grey checkered hat that’s very similar to one she wears in Big Picture Show. While her BPS hat is orange, here in the firelight, this one looks like it’s the same colour as Marie’s t-shirt. Marie’s fondness for hats is another endearing yet barely-present quality. I wonder if they did that because of Edd’s hat. IRL I love to wear a short sleeve shirt over long sleeves. I’m a regular Sheldon Cooper in that way (also because I am autistic lol can you tell?) Even ignoring my bias for layered shirts, this combo is nice. These shades of red and green look pretty and autumnal together. It’s a neat outfit. It’s also the first time since she wore that sweater in “Nagged” that we’ve see Marie not wearing her armband due to her long sleeves. I bet she’s still wearing it under her sleeve.

Marie’s teacher costume in “Out With the Old, In With the Ed” beats the other Kankers’ outfits in this scene by a country mile. Lee and May both look like they went rooting through their mom’s closet, grabbing items at random, while Marie has a cohesive look going on. It paints Marie as a more put-together character, yet another similarity between her and Edd. The ensemble appears to be built around her black tank top, paired with a green pleated skirt. Overtop her shirt is a red cropped blazer (maybe it’s a cardigan?) with pink lapels and a beige and green plaid tie. Unfortunately, Marie’s shoes are the same ones she always wears. I’m lowkey jonesing for her to get more new shoes. Some little Mary Janes would be so cute with this look! Then again, this kind of works as a subtle indicator of the Kankers’ low economical status. Perhaps she’s forced to choose between the same old shoes, or something that clashes. Marie does have some nice knee-high grey socks with a couple green stripes. Ignoring the colour of her blazer/sweater, this ensemble looks like it belongs to someone’s Slytherin OC. I wanna see her on dark academia mood boards. Marie looks good here, though I must admit that she looks more like a student than a teacher. At least it looks more scholastic than whatever the fuck May is wearing. 

Sadly, I think her picture day outfit in “Smile For the Ed” is Marie’s second worst outfit. It isn’t that bad, but next to her other apparel, this is a little lacklustre. I’ll admit that it’s hard to see the details of the outfit in this episode, and I couldn’t find the model sheet. I’m giving it my best go. Marie is wearing a white tank top, tan shorts with purple splatters and ripped hems, plus a choker, and her classic pink belt and wristband—no longer covered by long sleeves. Marie is wearing a new pair of shoes: little brown boots reminiscent of Timberlands. They’re just alright, but I’m excited to see any variety in her shoe selection. Really, this whole outfit is fine enough; the main problem is the context. It’s far too casual for picture day. Look at what the other kids wore, and then look at Marie. Her top looks like an undershirt, and her pants appear to be splotched by paint. Actually, wait—are they supposed to be camo pants? If that’s what they were aiming for, it does not translate. I understand that Marie is a more casual dresser than her sisters, however this leans a bit too far in that direction and feels out of place in the scene.

Marie wears a cute outfit to the dance in “May I Have This Ed.” She has on a black and grey striped t-shirt, brown plaid skirt secured by her pink belt (now with a round buckle… how odd), fishnet stockings, and black sneakers. In addition to her ever-present wristband, Marie has accessorized her hair for the first time since season 1. She’s clipped in a little clothespin! Household objects as accessories—my favourite recurring Kanker trope. I adore this look on Marie. Like her picture day outfit, it’s more casual than what her sisters have on; however, it works for me this time because these clothes are stylish enough for the occasion. A t-shirt and skirt with tights are far more presentable than an undershirt with torn, messily-patterned cargo pants. This is a noticeably more punk-rock look for Marie than most of what we’ve gotten before. Like May’s fashionable halter dress in this same episode, I think the artists were exhibiting evolved fashion sensibilities. I found May’s stylish new look a little bit far-fetched given how dowdy her earlier outfits could be, while I think Marie’s shift was smoother. She’d already been rocking a gradually edgier vibe, so going the extra mile with fishnets and plaid wasn’t out of left field. If anything, it makes a lot of sense. I think the aesthetic matches up with the Kankers’ working-class background very well. A clothespin hair clip could pass for a real punk accessory. It fits right in with the ripped-up clothes she started wearing in the digitally animated episodes. This is one of my favourite Marie looks.

We’ve reached Marie’s final outfit. Her laundry day clothes in Ed, Edd n Eddy’s Big Picture Show are really similar to her regular clothes, only with more colour and added details. Let’s start with that hat, which we haven’t seen since “Boo Haw Haw.” Like I’d previously mentioned, it’s a bit different-looking this time. The front panel is orange with a little oval label. Marie has taken a cue from Kevin and is wearing her cap backwards. As for the rest of the outfit, Marie’s top is black with a ribbed yellow ring around the neck and a matching lightning bolt on the chest. The sleeves have been ripped off, a classic Marie touch. The classic pink belt is back, rectangular buckle and all, making Marie the only Kanker still wearing it on laundry day. Her pants are jagged cutoff shorts that seem to be made from a pair of Marie’s regular green pants. There’s a red patch with white polkadots sewn onto the front. Marie is wearing her black shoes with white socks. I wonder if she always wears those socks and we just don’t seem them, sort of like my musing about the armband when it’s covered by her sleeves. Speaking of that band, it’s missing! Must be in the wash. Now that I’ve noticed it, she looks a bit naked without it. Perhaps we can assume that, unlike Edd with his multiple hats, Marie only has one wristband and is not afraid to be seen without it. Good to know that she’s not that neurotic, nor is she hiding something under there. I think this ensemble is good, although I have to dock a few points for it being a redux of Marie’s basic outfit. 

That’s a wrap on Marie’s closet. What have we learned? First, I thought going into this that Marie would have my favourite wardrobe of the Kankers. While she does have some awesome looks, I was a bit disappointed upon further examination. Three of her outfits have the same silhouette—a ripped cropped tank top and shorts—and those outfits are all in the digital era of the series, which makes me think that once they found a rhythm with Marie, they had trouble coming up with new things for her to wear. Her laundry day clothes are literally her basic outfit with extra details. However, I cannot stress enough, this is a MAJOR nitpick from me. It really does not matter that the designers of Marie Kanker’s alternate outfits were not quite as inventive as I, some guy online, would have liked. Making a show is hard. They did a damn good job! That doesn’t mean my criticism isn’t valid, but it doesmean it’s unimportant. I think her wardrobe is good.

Marie’s colour palette mainly consists of black, army green, and brown, with purple and muted red showing up fairly often as well. I think those colours look pretty alongside the bright indigo-blue of her hair, arguably her true signature colour. Speaking of her hair, I wish they gave Marie some different styles. Her regular hairdo has a wonderfully identifiable shape, and it’s short and spiky to the point that you might not think it could be drawn in different styles. But look at Nazz. She practically has a bowl cut, yet they managed to give her a ponytail, pigtails, a braid, etc. Marie only gets some hair accessories and hats. As much as I love her hats, they are not a replacement for new hairstyles. If they could figure out how to do so much with the Eds’ literal strings of hair, they could have tied Marie’s into pigtails or something. 

Many fans have gotten attached to the idea of Marie as a punk/emo. Before writing this, I thought that was kind of a reach predicated on her short blue hair, but I think this analysis has proved that it’s not a baseless reading. She has some edgy outfits, particularly in the later seasons. I like that Marie dresses in a way that’s unconventional and rough around the edges. It feels very authentic to her character. To expand on what I said near the beginning of the post, I don’t think Marie is a proper punk, but she is an edgy little shit who likes to look cool. Looking cool is a good explanation for why she DIYs her clothing by tearing it and coordinates outfits more carefully than her sisters. I think that with Marie, and the other Kankers to a lesser extent, the devil is in the details. If the details of Marie’s personality weren’t buried so deep in subtext, maybe people wouldn’t always complain about her being boring. To be clear, I don’t think this subtle approach to characterization was bad, especially considering that the Eds’ point of view doesn’t give us much insight into the Kankers as people. In fact, all the characters in EEnE are developed in a similarly subtle way, which I staunchly believe is the best way to tell a story. The problem is Marie gets so few opportunities to show off who she is that the audience has to read between the lines a bit just to get a read on her. I can’t help wishing that it didn’t take quite this much reading into the show for most viewers to understand Marie.

I don’t want to end this on a low note. Let me be clear when I say that I think Marie rocks. She might have the best design of the whole cast, and her voice is perfect (shoutout to Kathleen Barr—she brought so much charm to voicing Marie and Kevin, as well as several other cartoon characters that altered my brain chemistry). I adore Marie and everything she brings to the show. Plus, as we saw today, she has a killer sense of fashion.

Thank you for reading! Next time we’ll be analyzing the bossy ginger menace herself—no, not Sarah—Lee Kanker. Also stick around to see my drawings of what future Marie might wear.

[sole-production-ut]

Who is condemned to hunt

Hollow!Sans – his nickname speaks for himself. His soul is always empty and unable to give magic or feelings. Hollow is doomed to absorb the souls of others to make up for his own shortcomings. He is similar to Ink!Sans, but is his most horrible reflection. 

His story

He came from an alternate branch of Undertale, where Chara and Asriel didn't dare to come to the surface. This changed history and in the future, Sans became an ambitious royal guardian while his father Gaster conducted an experiment to create the perfect living weapon, which was to be humanity's deterrent to conclude a complete world. And that weapon by all tests became Sans himself. Sans' soul had to absorb the power of the CORE to make Sans the strongest monster in the world. But something went wrong. The CORE began to overload Sans's soul too quickly and subsequently collapsed and exploded.

The entire universe was wiped out and only Sans was left alive. Or rather, the skeleton that was Sans. When he woke up, the only thing that was with him was his soul. Empty, without a hint of anything left. And just as his soul itself was empty, Sans' entire personality and memories were also empty. No magic, no feelings. Nothing. Over time, this led to powerful psychological symptoms and dissociative identity disorder.

It would have gone on like that if a wanderer - another Sans - hadn't arrived in his world. He tried to help the poor man, but he was concerned about what was in front of his eyes - the soul. Without thinking, he pounced on his savior like a wild, ravenous beast and devoured his soul. Eventually he managed to feel alive for the first time in an unknown amount of time. Emotions, memories, magic. It all flowed through Hollow's body. And seeing through the portal of the murdered Sans a whole universe filled with souls, it was not hard to understand what had become of this universe. He later realized that he too had powers that could help him go anywhere in the multiverse he wanted. All he needed was his blood. So, Hollow absorbed souls from one world after another. Hollow began to learn his new powers, abilities, and slowly mimicked intelligent beings until he eventually resembled a гusual monster himself. Hollow began to perfectly mimic all the feelings that humans and monsters have. He gained an incredible amount of knowledge. He became practically normal. But behind this mask of normalcy still lives a predator that has only one goal - to eat souls, because Hollow is a Soul Eater.

His personality

His character is extremely difficult to define. Initially there are no feelings or emotions in him, only a thirst to devour. However, when he is not hungry, he can be described as neutral as possible. Whereas the colors create chaos in Ink's character, Hollow remains neutral after eating souls. It's just that he gets the opportunity to impersonate others. He smiles, he's sad, he's angry, but all of these emotions are just copied from the souls. That can often be revealed by his eyes if you look closely. It's hard for me to explain how his emotional spectrum works, but if he was a character in a D&D game, he'd definitely have the Unaligned characteristic.

As mentioned earlier, he may have a psychological attack causing dissociative identity disorder. But this only happens when Hollow is hungry, so he doesn't drive himself to such a state.

His abilities

Absorbing souls

Hollow's key ability. You can visually see it on his face: lines running down his cheeks from his mouth. It's the separation between his lower and upper jaw. In normal conversation, he keeps them connected. 

When Hollow eats another's soul, it begins to digest in him and turns into a liquid that is extremely blood-like. Over time, this fluid disappears from Hollow's body, so souls are his constant diet. 

This power also includes the ability to see directly the soul of every human and monster, as well as grabbing it and ripping it out of the body without too much difficulty. 

It's worth keeping in mind that each soul has a different fill percentage. Hollow has a limit of 1500%. If he goes over it, Hollow, like Ink, will vomit. The fill percentage also affects the eyes and appearance of Hollow's soul. 

Blood portals

From his liquid, if Hollow spills it and thinks about where he wants to go, a portal to the desired place will open in front of him for a while. 

Copying

Naturally, if Hollow eats some soul, he can temporarily copy all of its abilities. However, the longer he uses magic, the faster Hollow gets hungry again, so he tries to conserve his powers. 

Multiverses dreams

Hollow's unique power. Allows him to find himself inside the body of another version of himself while sleeping. He will not control it, only watch it, which is comparable to a first-person dream. But this is not a dream, but an opportunity to behold another's Multiverse and its events. In each dream, he sees a random multiverse. 

Rarely does he get to see dreams where he sees snippets of the soul owners' memories.

Additional information

Hollow has a personal list of multiverses that he keeps in his head that other versions of him know about;

It follows that Hollow's memory is incredibly phenomenal and is photographic;

Of his belongings, he carries a dark brown side bag in which he keeps: a clerical knife, bandages, a marker, and soul vials that he stole from the Science!Sans universe;

Hollow's blood portals can't lead to someone. Only to somewhere.

Instead of teleportation, Hollow more often uses Undyne's spears as a means of transportation, standing on them as if on a surfboard or skateboard;

Keeps a tally of the universes it has devastated under the Papyrus glove;

Hollow is the most unusable vessel for the Fresh Parasite;

Hollow's birthday coincides with World Food Day (16 October);

Under no circumstances will Hollow eat the souls of Dream, Nightmare and Error. For that reason, he tries to stay away from all of them;

His offical tags: #HollowSans, #Hollow_Sans, #Hollow!Sans;

You can read all the information about him in this Russian article.

[panlight]

The first Twilight book ending with so much genuinely intriguing information about Alice that is immediately ignored is so crazy to me that it’s honestly funny.

The other vampires don’t necessarily remember their human lives well compared to their vampire ones but they do clearly have a lot of memories that inform who they are as people. And then we find out that Alice remembers almost nothing about being human and is the only vampire we meet who basically had her entire personality be created from only her vampire life. And the idea of who someone would be if they had only ever been a super powered future seeing non human is interesting, and it would have been especially interesting to see how it makes her act different from the others and perceive the world differently because she wouldn’t in any way identify with humanity or being human and any human experiences.

And then she just is exactly like everyone else and no it didn’t actually affect a single thing about her personality. And the fact that as both a human and vampire she has never experienced time in a linear fashion is way less impactful on her character than one would think beyond that she used future sight as a helpful tool.

Smeyer is so wild for creating genuinely really cool character and world building ideas and then immediately ignoring them and not considering that they would in any way correlate to how that character acts

Oh for sure! There are so many fascinating little character details that just . . . don't . . . go . . . anywhere. Really Alice waking up as a vampire with no memory of anything else is SO interesting and could be such a contrast to the others, but it's only sort of hinted at and doesn't end up really mattering at all. There's Edward's line about how if she hadn't had her ability to see the future and saw Jasper and Carlisle and where her life would end up, she'd probably have turned out to be a feral monster or something and how no one could understand how she could be abandoned like that. SM pays lips service to the idea that Alice doesn't remember being human but she mostly uses that to like, push her into being obsessed with human rites of passage for Bella that she can sort of live vicariously through rather than a deeper, more meaningful exploration of what it would be like to be in Alice's shoes.

Genuinely, I'm fascinated by every single one of the Cullens' stories as newborns except Bella's, because it's just the most boring one. She doesn't give up or lose anything, she doesn't wake up to a world she didn't know existed. She's about as well-informed as a human could be and she wants to be a vampire and is instantly good at it so it's all just so . . . blah. Alice waking up with no memory and superpowers and insatiable thirst is about 1000 times more interesting. Just imagine how disorientating and confusing and frightening that would be! Carlisle lived out his own horror movie as a newborn, being bitten on a vampire hunting raid gone wrong, hiding during his transformation out of fear his father would burn him alive, realizing what he had become and trying to destroy himself before he hurt anyone ending with him starving himself in the woods for months. Jasper, too, had a whole horror movie where he was the nightmarish monster, to humans as well as other vampires. And the other Cullens died and 'woke' up to a new life they had no idea about and had to lean on strangers they either barely knew or didn't know at all. That's the interesting stuff. That's what I like about vampire stories. But these experiences barely matter to how they act in the present day. Jasper's poor self control matters in some scenes and doesn't matter at all in others. Rosalie's baby obsession is a big feature of Breaking Dawn, but Esme, who actually had and lost a baby, might as well be wallpaper in that book. Edward's going on about how could he ever love this thing if it kills Bella, meanwhile Carlisle's mother literally DID die giving birth to him and it never enters the conversation.

And for SM, Alice's whole "doesn't remember being human" ends up being focused entirely on like, shopping and parties and clothes, so she can live vicariously through Bella. And on one hand there's something interesting in there, something pathetic (in the pathos sense) with Alice trying to understand humanity in this sort of superficial way because she doesn't have the experience or memories to go any deeper, but it's mostly portrayed as just wheee isn't Alice fun! I wish I had a sister/best friend like Alice! It's just blatantly obvious that it's less about who Alice is than what she can do for Bella.

Even in New Moon where we find out that Alice has been researching her own history, found her own grave and asylum admission papers, and it goes nowhere! It doesn't change how Alice behaves at all, it doesn't change her relationship with Bella, Bella just kind of goes "huh interesting" and we never hear about it again. I mean Alice goes through it in these books and you wouldn't even know! She finds out that James had hunted her when she was human and this other vampire turned her to save her and died defending her. She finds out she was put in an asylum by her father and he told everyone she was dead. And even though she's the 4th most prominent character after Bella, Edward and Jacob, there's still no room in the Bella-centric narrative for Alice to have the space to actually deal with any of this. She's too busy fulfilling her role as Bella's fairy godmother sister.

[eebibly]

I don’t reaaaally like the stardresses

But not for the same reason I’ve seen others dislike them? The biggest argument I see against Lucy’s stardresses is that it’s too much like Erza’s requip. I don’t disagree with that specifically. The thing is, in a roundabout way, I would argue that the issue with Lucy’s dresses is actually more of a reflection of the issue with Erza’s power (which I may or may not make a post about). What I mean is, if Erza’s magic was better developed, Lucy’s magic would seem more original.

Much like almost every other magic in this lazy-ass written universe, I don’t like the ‘rules’ (or lack thereof) for summoning them. The power scaling in FT is infamously terrible, so I’m basically preaching to the choir, but brain rot takes over my typey fingees sometimes.

So I’ve been reading the manga because the anime recently upset me, therefore I’d now rather quickly read through FT: 100YQ than invest a lot of emotional energy in an adaptation that really slows the pacing of its printed counterpart. That being said:

Part 1: Aquarius

First of all, I don’t agree with the fact that Lucy can still use Aquarius’s stardress. I understand that it was gifted to her by the Celestial King during Tartaros, but that only should have lasted as long as that war. I think it undermines Aquarius’s sacrifice and I also believe it would have benefited Lucy and her goals as a character for 100YQ. Giving Lucy Aquarius’s stardress could have represented the end of an era but the start of a new one. And it does, ostensibly. Aquarius is basically Lucy’s first spirit, someone who has both a strong connection with Lucy and with her mother. It’s a difficult bond to break, but a testament to Lucy letting go of a piece of her past to protect her present bonds. As a reward for such a sacrifice, the Celestial King gives her one last chance to fight for her future with an old friend’s power. It’s a beautiful moment that acts as closure for Aquarius’s “loss”, but also a hint at the new possibilities for Lucy’s new abilities. And that’s all it needed to be.

However, despite the fact that her contract with Aquarius is, for that time being, null and void, Lucy now overuses ‘Aqua Metria’ at every turn instead of bothering to actually summon the spirits with whom she currently has contracts (and seriously, is there no reason she can’t use Regulus Impact? I feel like it accomplishes the same… impact). This paragraph is just me venting, I find it quite annoying… Not to mention that not having the dress until she gets the key back could be something else to look forward to! Also Aquarius’s dress is probably my least favourite… so boring and just another excuse for Mashima to draw as little clothes on Lucy as often as possible.

Part 2: Borrowed power

Or at least, I feel that her stardresses should be considered borrowing a part of her spirits’ powers. Celestial magic is unique in that the wizard doesn’t just need to understand the mechanics of it, or how the magic flows within oneself. It also requires an extra level of bond and trust for it to function at its fullest. It’s actually a really beautiful power, one that I really admire. Which is why I’m so sad that it’s so misrepresented by its own creator. This is my opinion, but considering that summoning spirits is the main facet of her magic, I strongly feel that summoning a stardress should cost more power than opening a gate as well as be less powerful than the spirit whose dress it belongs to. That way, it’s still more worth it to summon the spirit, but is also a testament to the wizard’s magic power and their bond with their spirit since they are willing to expend even more power just to be able to fight alongside them. Not only that, but it feels to me like the dresses should be the spirits sharing their power with Lucy. However, it feels more like Lucy is summoning an entirely different entity that scales purely on her own magic power. Doesn’t that make her spirits obsolete? She barely ever summons them anymore because it seems that choosing to summon a stardress and skipping the spirit is not only more cost effective, but also makes her combat more efficient. If she fights better by herself than with her spirits, why even have spirits?

Considering how poorly written the spirits are, I’d almost argue that the stardresses, and only the stardresses, should’ve been Lucy’s power from the start. If you can’t do it right, then don’t do it at all.

On that topic:

Part 3: Is he bored of them?

I’m genuinely wondering if Mashima grew tired of his own concept. And by that I mean, the spirits specifically. Because he clearly loves the moral behind them. You love and respect them even if they’re not human. A moral developed really well, at least as far as I’ve seen in the anime, in Edens Zero. I won’t spoil it because this is a post about Fairy Tail, but I really like how that moral is done in that story. But he made 2 major mistakes in Fairy Tail. 1) Celestial wizards are rare. How can you fight for a cause if there is no cause to fight for? He tries to make up for this by Lucy starting to connect with other characters in the way the other protagonists just can’t, like Eclair from Phoenix Priestess and Athena from 100YQ. Great, point for Lucy’s character, really well done. Why can’t she extend that to her spirits on-screen? 2) he seems to have decided that because the spirits aren’t human, they must be one-note?? And only one spirit can have depth at a time. When he needed Aquarius to matter, Loke devolved into the thats-my-wife-guy. Meanwhile Aquarius evolved from raging PMS b*tch to ‘well maybe I do love Lucy after all -3-’.

He has written so so so many characters into his canon, but the celestial spirits, nooo that’s too much to keep track of. Despite how much he hammers home that they matter as much as everybody else. Worst of all, most of the time that they’re summoned, Lucy just seems annoyed or disturbed. So which is it???

Part 4: Help

I wish I could let go, someone help.

If you got this far, thanks for reading ✌️

[sunstone-smiles]

Flying Types Lift the Spirits

Original request: "For tickletober this year, could i suggest lee!larry for day 25 (new discovery?) and for the scenario perchance he’s feeling stressed from work, and at home one evening his pokemon try to comfort him, so one of them nuzzles him or something and he reacts weird and they realize he’s ticklish and use that to cheer him up?"

Author’s note: Larryyyyy! I still have fun saying his name like that every time, Lol. Here’s Day 25 of Tickletober: “New Discovery” from August’s Tickletober List! I hope you enjoy!

Series: Pokemon

Characters: Larry, Staraptor, Altaria, Oricorio, Tropius, Flamigo 

Word count: 1,156

Summary: Larry is feeling a little stressed from work, so his team of flying type pokemon take it upon themselves to lift up Larry’s spirits with a newfound method thanks to Staraptor’s discovery.

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All Larry wants to do is to sit down and rest, but it’s hard to do that when his chest is aching and his mind is filled with scenarios of the near future—tomorrow to be precise. His boss requested… No, more so told Larry that he was scheduled for a meeting in the morning, three Elite Four battles, and two gym battles; all to be done back-to-back.

He can do it, but it’s going to be tight. Any slip up, any delay, and he could be a minute late to any of his appointments. And if he’s late, he could get an earful from the boss, or worse—a penalty to his paycheck.

He pauses his TV show and places the remote by his side, next to Tropius’s head that’s curled up and sleeping behind him like a pillow. Larry’s too distracted to even pay attention to the program. He wipes a hand across his tired face. One of his other Pokemon by his side takes notice; Staraptor tilts his head from his perch on the back of the sofa. 

“Chir…?” the large bird quietly chirps.

Larry turns to look at him. “Oh, it’s fine. Staraptor. I’m fine. Everything’s… normal,” he moves his gaze away from the bird’s.

Staraptor ruffles his feathers like he was huffing. Being a pokemon that’s on Larry’s normal type and flying type teams, Staraptor has spent the most time with him. He easily knows when Larry’s not telling the truth.

Larry lets out a soft chuckle. “Okay, you got me,” he admits. He pauses before speaking again, figuring out what to say. “I'm just thinking about a lot of things. A little stress, that’s all.”

The brief conversation between Larry and Staraptor has slowly roused the rest of his flying type party from their slumber. Altara is perched on the back cushions with Staraptor, Flamigo is standing near the arm of the couch, and Oricorio is cuddled up on the cushions by Larry’s side opposite of where Tropius is lifting his sleepy head.

“It seems like everyone heard that. Sorry for waking you all.” Larry pats Oricorio and Tropius’s heads. “It’s alright. I just have to keep telling myself that.”

Tropius lets out a soft rumble like a purr; Oricorio lets out a quiet chirp. To comfort him, Tropius nuzzles his head into Larry’s side.

Staraptor, Flamingo, and Altaria turn to one another with a worried gaze. Altaria also has a concerned look in her eyes, like a mother wanting to care for their child. The three bird pokemon silently communicate to each other: There must be a way to help.

Suddenly, Larry abruptly shifts in his spot with a quiet huff releasing at the same time.

“Tropius,” Larry says. There’s remnants of a slight chuckle in his voice. Tropius tilts his head.

Staraptor, Altaria, and Flamigo glance at one another again, this time confused. That was strange. What made Larry jolt like that?

Seeing Tropius try to help, the electric bird chirps and energetically cuddles up to Larry’s side. The dual-type trainer flinches away. 

“Oricorio,” a similar hint of a chuckle is a bit louder the second time. The little cheerleader bird pulls away. She leans her head to the side.

A sudden realization hits Staraptor. His trainer didn’t just chuckle, he laughed. It was quiet, but a laugh nonetheless. There’s only one thing Staraptor knows that would cause a jumpy, laughter-producing reaction like that.

Staraptor informs the other flying types of their new discovery—which to Larry sounds like a bunch of chirps, squeaks, and squawks.

Larry’s brow lifts in confusion as he watches them all converse. Once their chirps and chatters die down, there’s an unsettling sense of mischief in the air. Although most of the party are flying type Pokemon, there’s one normal type move that they know of that will be super effective against their trainer: Tickle.

Tropius wraps his long neck around Larry’s torso, like the safety bar of a roller coaster ride. 

“Tropius? What are you–?”

Staraptor flaps his wings and squawks. With the signal, the rest of the flying types attack.

Tropius nuzzles his head into Larry’s ribs; Oricorio hops to the opposite side and flutters her feathered pom-poms into his tummy. Staraptor and Altaria lean down their heads and cuddle up against his neck. Flamigo assists Oricorio by using his beak to nuzzle into Larry’s side.

“Wha-ha! Hehehehey!” is all Larry is able to manage before giggles overrun his words and his body surges with tickly energy from all of his pokemon. He curls in on himself, scrunching his shoulders to his neck and squeezing his arms to his sides. His pokemon easily slip through his defenses though, gently scratching and scribbling into the spots that are getting giggly reactions from their trainer. After all, the move Tickle does lower defense.

“Hehehe! Is thihihihis what all of the chirping wahahas abohohout?” Larry tries to look at his pokemon while he wiggles in his spot, arms wrapped around his giggling chest. Another effective scribble from Flamigo to Larry’s side causes him to twist towards Altaria. With half of his back now facing Staraptor, the large bird takes the opportunity to nuzzle his beak into the back of Larry’s ribs. 

“Aha!” the trainer jolts with an exclamation of more giggles and turns to gently push Staraptor’s feathery head away with the palm of his hand. “Staraptohohor! Thihihis is your dohohoing, isn’t it?”

“Chirrr!” Staraptor chirps. Guilty as charged. 

“I shohohould have knohohown!” Larry laughs before he suddenly yelps and drops his hands to wrap around himself again when Oricorio flutters her wings near his side while still also at tummy. He kicks out his legs and leans back into the cushions as laughter consumes his entire form; invisible weights that were pressing into his chest appear to lift from the bubbly giggles billowing from his person. 

Larry calls out to his flock of pokemon, “Ohohokay, everyone! I’ve gohohohot the message! Nohoho more tickles! Plehehehease!”

Listening to their trainer, all the pokemon immediately stop. His giggles carry over as the trainer is given a moment to breathe. 

After a moment, his laughter begins to subside and his breathing steadies. Staraptor kneels his head to Larry’s shoulder and nudges him. The large bird looks at Larry with big, sincere eyes.

Larry scratches the side of Staraptor’s head to reassure him. “No, I’m not mad at you. I appreciate you all for looking out for me.”

The rest of his pokemon chirp and cuddle up beside him. A soft smile remains on his features. Larry drapes his arms around the creatures in a hug.

No matter how tough some days might be, he forgets that doesn’t have to tackle them alone. He has his pokemon by his side, and company like that, who cares enough to carry some of the burden, makes it better.

“We’ll get through tomorrow,” he says to them, thinking of optimism. “I know we will.”