#thanks for reading!

[thefantastician]

the thousand year door comics!!

[wigglesdtuff]

I think I saw you say that Robin’s post-TS hairstyle was part of her character development reflected in her design (if that wasn’t you, my bad!) and I’d love to hear your expanded thoughts on it, and how that ties in with her Elbaf haircut now! After my friend said that her post-ts was just Croc’s ‘do but longer I haven’t been able to unsee it lol

That almost definitely was me because I feel very strongly about Robin's design journey and how Oda landed on the design he did and the way misinterpretations of her character because people want her to be nothing more than a hottie baddie femme fatale and *takes a deep breath* I know it's not that serious, but it means a lot to me!

Disclaimer: This is my personal interpretation, and I'm very passionate about it so take it all with a grain of salt!

So! Without further ado!

We can infer a lot about her haircut when she's introduced. Her face is covered/often in shadow from the hat which is intended to lend to the mystery of just who this woman is. We then see her first bounty poster. She's been wanted since she was 8. That's really fucking strange! Not only that but her haircut is nearly identical.

When she joins, she explains that she's more or less been on her own since she was 8, so you can infer that she's been cutting her hair like this herself. She's holding onto that moment where she had one friend she could rely on. She's literally stuck in the past. It looks almost choppy too, which to me tells me it's a quick utilitarian thing. It does not go past her shoulders.

Until she's been with the crew!

You can tell as early as Skypiea and through Thriller Bark, but it's super noticable in Sabaody just how long it grows to me. It's gotten super long!! She's letting them in by this point, she's found her home!

So when she comes back after being separated...

That change has fully taken hold! She's no longer covering her face either with a hat or her hair! She's more relaxed, she's almost always smiling unless something requires her full attention and even then she's Most Likely to Giggle and Verbally Heart Emoji. Her face is more open, it's softer. She's. Happy. She's changed in every meaning of the word! And she did it for her friends and for herself.

It's the most apparent to me in Zou. Like look at that face. That's the embodiment of joy. She's comfortable, she's relaxed. She's not hiding anything!

Then we hit Wano!

Miss Demonio dons the same old bangs and embodies the moniker her pursuers gave her. It is. Quite literally. The best of her and the worst of her. It is what she will do for the people she loves and who she has accepted love her. That is. Incredibly complex and beautiful to me.

Then we get some huge news...

Saul is not dead. The person who saved her and gave her hope and gave her the chance to get to where she is now, safe and happy and chasing the dream she picked up from the people of Ohara, so close she can almost taste it. He didn't die. He didn't die saving her.

She has

Come full circle. She has accepted her past and she is healing! Her bangs are the same, but her hair is still different! It's still longer, but it has a connection to that little girl who was lost and lonely. She also let someone else cut it, and not just anyone, but BROOK. The man who has kept his afro safe for 52 years so HIS friend could recognize him. To me, her hair in Elbaf is incredible. I take issues with the notion that "she's back" as if she ever left. This is new, this is different, and this is beautiful.

Thank you for reading my mini essay about her hair, but I really do think that character design means something. I don't think she's supposed to be a cold, badass. That was always an act. She just wants to love and be loved and she always has, and I think that her journey is portrayed beautifully by her hairstyles throughout the years.

[holyhadesimweird]

the butterfly effect

photo from rorokonaa on twitter

captain curly x reader

trigger warnings : mentions of attempted sa/abuse (not really specified) and jimmy

summary : a butterfly effect in which curly steps up the moment he can after finding out something happened to you, causing the events of the game to never happen.

note : i have not written fanfic in many years, i'm so sorry and this is warning my writing may be dogass still or even worse than it was before. anyways, enjoy!

the moment anya speaks your name when informing him something happened to one of the crew mates, he runs. his heart has never beat so fast in his life, curly thinks he may die if he doesn't reach you.

as he runs to the cockpit, curly's mind races to an image of what anya's face looked like when she told him something happened to you. that bruise on her face scared the shit out of him.

was jimmy a bad man this entire time? after knowing him for so many years curly wants to doubt it, but the image of anya and knowing you were in danger because of jimmy doesn't allow him to even doubt that jimmy is a horrible man.

as he runs, daisuke and sawnsea see him and decide to run after him. neither of them are fast enough to keep up with curly's desperate running and are left behind.

curly can hear jimmy yelling and your sobs as he approaches the cockpit, making him push forward and into the cockpit when the door opens.

"what did you do to her?!" curly yells as he pushes jimmy away from your curled up frame in the corner of the room.

"nothing at all captain, i came to check on her-" jimmy is cut off as curly's fist makes contact with his jaw.

"bull-fucking-shit you liar. anya came directly to me after you hit her and i could hear you yelling at her. if you move, i will kick your teeth in." curly threatened.

it was at this moment daisuke and swansea's footsteps could be heard approaching the cockpit. as they reached the doorway, anya' lighter footsteps could be heard as well.

"what in the fuck is happening?" swansea questions.

"swansea, pick him up and take him to the kitchen. do not let him out of your sight until i come see you. daisuke, stay with him and watch too." curly orders.

"but curly-" jimmy tries.

"no, we're gonna talk about what you did. there will be a punishment." curly states as swansea grabs jimmy, not saying a word as him and daisuke take him to the kitchen.

"thank you for helping. i- i- didn't know what else to do." anya says quietly, kneeling down beside you. your sobs have quieted down but it broke curly's heart seeing you like this.

"thank you so much curly, i owe you so much. he- he kept trying to do things to me but i kept fighting and he hit me again right before you came in. i think he-" you rambled.

"listen to me, you don't owe me anything. i'll kick his teeth in before he goes near you again. i'm so sorry he-." curly kneels. he takes your hand and anya quietly gets up to leave for you two to have a moment alone.

"i was so scared i was going to lose you. i'm so sorry this happened and i wish i could go back in time to protect you. i'm here now and i won't let anything else happen to you. you're the most important thing to me and i can't bear losing you." curly rushes and stands up. "i'm going to make things right."

anya is stood outside of the room and makes her way inside to stay with you as curly marches towards the kitchen.

once he arrives in the kitchen he can see that swansea and daisuke have tied up jimmy who is yelling and trashing against the ropes. making his way to where they all are, curly decided on what to do.

"shut up and listen to me jimmy. you do not deserve to be free after this. you will be locked, barricaded, i don't care, in your room until this job is finished. it does not matter that pony express is kicking the can, because you'll be rotting right along with them in prison when we get back on earth. i'll make sure of it." curly spits out to jimmy.

"you don't deserve to be captain, i was going to be the hero in this story and you ruined it! i had a plan!" jimmy exclaims. "i was going to-" jimmy was cut off as swansea stands up from where he was sitting.

"you're insane. daisuke, come help me." swansea says eerily calmly.

when curly finally finds you after locking jimmy up in his room and leaving daisuke and swansea to guard. you're in your quarters, on your bed sleeping with anya sitting next to you, clearly on edge as she jumps when curly enters your room.

"thank you anya, for everything." curly says, offering her a smile and a hug.

"she's my friend and you both mean the world to me. when i realized i wouldn't be able to fight him off and help her, i knew i had to get help. i wish i could've done more." she says.

"you did your best and did the right thing. without you, who knows what could've happened. i'm just extremely sorry i didn't believe you at first when you tried warning me about him." he thanks and apologizes.

"i'll leave you two alone. goodnight captain."

curly takes a seat where anya was sitting and takes your hand.

.:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:.

"curly? curly!"

curly swears he hears someone call his name and blinks awake. the sight in front of him is other worldly and he wants to bask in it forever. you look beautiful despite everything that happened recently and he's happy to see you smiling at him.

"hey big man. thank you for protecting me, i don't know how to thank you. anya told me what you did with..... him. thank you." you thank him.

"it's the least i could do. you're important to me and i would do anything for you." he says sincerely. "...listen, i don't want to ruin this, but i have to go check on something in the cockpit. i'll be right back."

"of course, i can join you for the walk. but i might have to stay behind a little bit." you say.

"that is perfectly fine. we can go at your pace. i have to keep an eye on the controls for the next day, autopilot detected a possibility of needing course correction. let's go make sure we don't crash."

grabbing your hand, you and curly slowly but surely make your way to the cockpit to contact the company and to correct the autopilot route.

.:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:..:.:.:.

it takes time, but by the end of the tulpar's journey, you are able to navigate the entirety of the ship without being scared.

you and curly become closer and he attempts to have a romantic dinner with you to ask you to be his significant other, but it doesn't go according to plan. however, you two love joking and talking about how the night you became an official couple.

having jimmy on the ship is hard for the entire crew for the rest of the journey, but when landing on earth and seeing law enforcement ready to take jimmy away, it feels like a weight has been lifted from the entire crew.

[creampuffqueen]

Air Nomads gettin' freaky? It's more likely than you think!

Okay I couldn’t resist a fun catchy title for this, I had to. 

However, fun catchy title aside, there’s a certain… interpretation, I guess, of Air Nomad culture that seems rather pervasive in the fandom at large, and I feel the need to address it. Not only address it, but dispute it too, with research gathered from canon material and other cultural information.

In the fandom, I often see this idea touted in regards to the Air Nomads. Namely, that they don’t believe in things like romance, relationships, marriage, etc., due to their desire to avoid earthly attachments. I’ve even seen some people taking it all the way to saying that Air Nomads were entirely celibate, or even claiming that Aang went against his culture as an Air Nomad by getting married and having children.

This simply isn’t true, for multiple reasons. I mean, obviously, how could the Air Nomad culture continue if nobody was having kids? But it’s more than that. I want to talk about where this specific interpretation and belief comes from, and the things within the material itself that disprove it.

Not only were the Air Nomads not anti-relationship or anti-sex, I have a strong argument that they were the most sex-positive nation within the entire universe.

A few disclaimers: No, this isn’t me saying that every single Air Nomad was out there like, having orgies every single night. Nor is it me saying that every Air Nomad was allosexual, or even saying that no Air Nomad ever took any kind of vow of celibacy. Different preferences certainly would have existed within the community. What I am saying is that we as a fandom need to stop acting like the entire Air Nomad population were sex-repulsed prudes when there is nothing at all in canon to establish that. If anything, canon establishes the opposite.

Lastly, although discussions of sex are the main point of this essay, the discussion is about attitudes and beliefs surrounding sex, both in the fandom and within the A:TLA universe. There are no explicit descriptions of any kind, just general discussion.

Word count: 3880

Before I get into the specific points I want to address, let’s talk a bit about what Air Nomad culture actually is, and how it differs to the cultures we see in the other nations.

Before the Hundred Year War, the Air Nomads were an ethnoreligious group within the world of A:TLA. What this means is that their ethnicity and religion were highly related, and you typically didn’t get one without the other.

Essentially, all Air Nomads follow the same belief system, and that belief system is linked to their ethnicity as Air Nomads. 

We actually see this addressed in canon, after Harmonic Convergence creates new airbenders. The Krew attempt to convince a new airbender to train with them, and are given this response:

“I may be an airbender now, but I’m no Air Nomad. I’m no monk!”

Before the Hundred Year War, you didn’t get airbenders that weren’t also Air Nomads. Again, their culture and belief system were intrinsically linked to their ethnicity. After the war, we start to see some separation between the two.

This makes being an airbender much more like being a bender from any other nation. Within the other three nations, we see a large diversity of cultures and beliefs, even among people who can bend the same element or belong to the same nation. The culture of people living in Ba Sing Se is vastly different to the culture of the Sandbender people, despite both populations having earthbenders and living within the Earth Kingdom.

This isn’t the case for the pre-war Air Nomads. All Air Nomads share the same belief system and overall culture. Some diversity exists between the different temples, but again, the overall beliefs stay consistent. 

For example, all Air Nomads practice pacifism. All Air Nomads practice vegetarianism. All Air Nomads believe in non-violence. 

There are also many ways, seen in canon, that further establish how being an Air Nomad was directly linked to having the ability to airbend. Airbenders are the only type of bender that can bond with Sky Bison. The Air Temples are only accessible with the use of airbending. Within the temples themselves, there are even certain areas that are physically blocked off to those without airbending. Airbending itself is intrinsic to being an Air Nomad. 

Prior to the war, being an airbender meant you were an Air Nomad, and vice versa. It’s after the war we start to see this splitting up, in a similar way to other ethnoreligious groups in real life.

For example, a well known ethnoreligious group within the real world are the Jewish people, who practice Judaism. People can convert to Judaism without being ethnically Jewish, and people who are ethnically Jewish don’t always believe or practice Judaism. 

In the same manner, the post-war airbenders are similar. There are airbenders who do not follow Air Nomad beliefs (Harmonic Convergence airbenders) and people who follow the Air Nomad beliefs without being airbenders themselves (the Air Acolytes). The only way a person can truly be considered an Air Nomad is if they have both – the ability to airbend and a dedication to the Air Nomad belief system.

Alright, we’ve established the Air Nomads as an ethnoreligious group. What on earth does this have to do with their attitudes surrounding sex?

A lot, actually! With the Air Nomads being an ethnoreligious group, we can talk specifically about Air Nomad culture and beliefs, and understand these things are shared by the entire Air Nomad population. This is how they live. These are things they all learn.

Now, we can start shifting to my overall point.

I believe the main thing that causes this idea within the fandom is the fact that the Air Nomads are often referred to as being “monks” and “nuns”. The majority of A:TLA fans live in the global North, with many areas having Christianity as the most prominent religion. So when they hear the word “monk” or “nun”, they automatically associate it with the Christian version of both of those roles.

Yeah, that needs to stop. 

Monks and nuns exist all over the world, in many different religions. The Air Nomads specifically are based off Tibetan Buddhist monks (though I feel it is important to also note that the Air Nomads are neither actually Tibetan nor actually Buddhist; their culture and beliefs are not a one-to-one representation). In Tibetan Buddhism, most, but not all monks practice celibacy. In fact, from my research, it seems Tibetan Buddhism has some of the least strict rules on monastic celibacy compared to other sects of Buddhism. 

Again, monks and nuns can be found in many different religions aside from Christianity. The word “monk” just refers to someone who lives a monastic lifestyle. Monasticism just means devoting your life to your religion. It does not automatically equal celibacy as a requirement.

Which brings me back to the Air Nomads being an ethnoreligious group. See, I told you it had a point!

All male Air Nomads are monks. All female Air Nomads are nuns. If anything, monk and nun are just another way they refer to male and female. They are all monks and nuns because they all devote their lives to their religion, which in this case is the set of beliefs that all Air Nomads follow, as discussed before.

As well, if all monks and nuns were celibate… there wouldn’t even be an Air Nomad culture. You gotta have sex to make babies, sorry to be the one to tell y’all. 

Okay, so Air Nomads aren’t automatically celibate just because they’re called monks and nuns. Doesn’t mean they’re having lots of sex, right? Surely they believe sex is just for procreation, right?

(I swear I am not making a strawman argument these are genuinely things I have seen people say.) 

And… also wrong! The Air Nomads were a highly sex positive culture who had no negative views on sex, romance, relationships, or anything of the sort. Here’s how I know:

To start off, there is never any indication of any of these views in the original show. Obviously they weren’t going to discuss cultural views of sex with it being a childrens’ show, but A:TLA definitely discussed romance. 

Never once, in the show or in any supplemental material, did Aang mention anything about romance and relationships being discouraged in Air Nomad culture. If that were the case, don’t you think it would be, I don’t know, a major plot point?

But it’s not. Aang has explicitly romantic feelings towards Katara, and never once does this specifically conflict with his views or beliefs as an Air Nomad. He doesn’t feel guilt. He doesn't feel uncertainty, or like he’s doing something wrong when he has feelings for Katara. It’s totally normal to him. You can’t argue that he wouldn’t have known that aspect of his culture yet because… look how much he already knows! I promise you, if there was a cultural belief against romance within the Air Nomads, Aang would have known about it at age twelve. 

As for Aang’s requirement to detach himself in order to access the Avatar State, while Katara is used as a representation of this concept, Aang was not detaching himself from his romantic feelings towards her. Rather, he was detaching himself from the way his romantic feelings for Katara were taking importance over everything else in his life. He still begins and maintains a romantic, and eventually sexual relationship with Katara, while having full access and control over the Avatar State.

While Air Nomad culture and unlocking the Avatar State are different things, their concepts of detachment are ultimately quite similar. 

Air Nomad culture isn’t about breaking ties with all personal relationships to achieve enlightenment. It’s about detaching oneself from worldly affairs, such as money and politics. If a certain relationship is taking more importance than anything else in your life it may ultimately be a problem for your spirituality, but many respected and accomplished Air Nomads were able to maintain both personal relationships and their spirituality. 

Furthermore, why is it only romantic and sexual relationships people assume the Air Nomads would be against in order to achieve their desire of detachment? Why not friends, family, mentors, mentees? These relationships are just as deep and impactful as romantic/sexual ones, so why would they be acceptable to maintain, but not romantic/sexual relationships? We see countless examples within the universe of Air Nomads having meaningful, non-sexual or romantic relationships with others that are never stated to affect their spirituality or personal convictions of upholding their culture (ex. Tenzin & Korra, Gyatso & Aang, Kelsang & Kyoshi, etc.).

This could turn into a whole other essay about how fandoms (and people in real life, too!) emphasize romantic relationships over all others, but this one is already going to be long enough. To put it simply, if having deep, long-lasting friendships is acceptable within Air Nomad culture despite their desire for “detachment”, there is no reason to assume that romantic or sexual relationships wouldn’t be.

Another important aspect of my argument is how the Air Nomads view gender. Many people seem to assume they have strict views on it, considering the temples are gender segregated, but that isn’t the case either.

Air Nomads are not held captive at their temple. Air Nomad children, young Air Nomad children, travel around the world on relief missions and other expeditions. By twelve years old, Aang had already traveled enough to have close friends in other nations. Air Nomads get around! I mean, the Nomad part of the name didn’t come from nowhere…

The Air Nomad temples are simply home bases. It’s where children grow up and are trained. Again, they are allowed to travel and do so often. The temples frequently have visitors, and they don’t restrict visitors to being the same gender as the temple inhabitants. There are even instances of temples hosting long-term visitors of the opposite gender of their temple. Air Nomad children absolutely grow up with plenty of exposure to people of other genders.

What’s more, as we learn in the Roku novel, Air Nomads can change their home temple if their understanding of their own gender changes. All gender identities are accepted within their culture. 

This explains the seeming lack of specific gender roles in their society. Pretty much all the male characters in A:TLA say or do something sexist, even without meaning to. Aang, the Air Nomad, does not. 

(Sure, there’s the moment during TEIP, but Aang isn’t upset at being portrayed as a girl because he’s sexist. He’s upset at the portrayal because the play is making fun of him, trying to insinuate he’s dumb and weak. The Fire Nation, which absolutely holds some sexist ideals, does this insinuation by making his character a girl.)

Outside of that, Aang does not really do anything to suggest he views women as lesser. He isn’t offended at being beaten by girls on Kyoshi Island. He is just as appalled as Katara to learn about the sexism in the Northern Water Tribe, and even does what he can to try and circumvent it because he knows that Katara is just as capable of a waterbender as any man. Although Aang acts childish at times when it comes to chores, we never see him trying to insinuate that things like cooking and cleaning are “womens’ work”. 

To me, at least, it’s pretty clear that Aang wasn’t raised to believe there was any difference in strength or capability between men and women. He doesn’t believe that there are specific jobs women “should” do, or that women are “just better” at. As well, he is certainly not the ideal of masculinity in the world, but this is never something that seems to bother him. He isn’t insulted by being called “not manly” or fear he can’t do or wear something because it’s “a girl thing”. 

These are views and beliefs that Aang already had at the start of the show. He doesn’t need to learn them or grow into them, they are already part of his character. And the only way that makes sense is if that’s how he was raised by the Air Nomads. 

Continuing in that same vein, the Air Nomads are canonically accepting of all gender identities, sexualities, and relationships. We see this during the comic Turf Wars, where Aang’s daughter, Kya, talks about the other nations’ views on same-sex relationships. She happily recalls how accepting Aang was when she came out to him, and mentions that all sexualities were accepted by the Air Nomads. 

This is a major piece of evidence that Air Nomads were extremely sex-positive. If Air Nomads truly believed that sex was for procreation and procreation only, they would never be accepting of same sex relationships, because these relationships cannot create children. 

And yet, they are. Meaning that within their culture, sex is not viewed as something that is only done to make a baby. In order to be accepting of these kinds of relationships, there has to be an understanding and acknowledgement that people have sex for pleasure. 

Romance and marriage are also topics I’ve seen hotly debated. As previously stated, there was never any indication of the Air Nomads having a negative view of romance within the show. In the novels, this continues to be confirmed when Gyatso shares he has a sister – a full sister. Meaning their parents were together long enough to have not just one, but two children. The nature of their parents’ actual relationship still could be debated to be romantic, but at the very least they tolerated each other enough to have multiple kids together. 

And while we don’t hear of any specific instances of marriage within Air Nomad culture, that doesn’t mean it didn’t exist or that it was actively discouraged. Likely, living in a transient, spiritual community where children are raised by the community rather than parents, many couples simply wouldn’t see the need to formalize their relationship. While in our modern world we usually see marriage as a symbol of love and commitment, ultimately marriage is, at its core, a contract made between two people that gives some sort of legal obligation to share resources such as money (something Air Nomads don’t use) and provide for any children produced (something Air Nomads wouldn’t require as they don’t raise their own children).

With the main reasons for marriage being unneeded within their culture, a wedding ceremony would only be a symbol, one that many Air Nomad couples would likely see no reason to participate in.

This can explain why Aang and Katara, and later Tenzin and Pema, are actually married. Both married someone outside of their culture, with Katara being Water Tribe and Pema, although an Air Acolyte, ultimately from the Earth Kingdom. In the absence of other Air Nomads, both couples had to raise their own children together. Not to say that love didn’t play a role in this decision as well, but this is a situation in which being married would provide more security and protection to all parties involved.

Moving on from marriage, there is yet more evidence of Air Nomad culture having no issue with sexuality. 

From other information seen in the novels, we see that Air Nomads don’t carry a sense of embarrassment about their own bodies. This is a bit of a culture shock for Roku, who finds it strange that Air Nomads don’t particularly care about modesty (which he states is a contrast to the Fire Nation). When Sister Disha strips down to her underwear for a quick swim without a second thought, Roku thinks about how he isn’t used to people acting like that, clearly showing that this isn’t just a Disha thing – it’s an Air Nomad thing.

Another example of this lack of embarrassment can be seen with Yangchen. During one scene she’s described as removing her outer robes for sleep, and when she’s woken up by a maid, she wraps a sheet around herself for cover. The sheet, however, is entirely for the maid’s benefit. Yangchen never shows any signs of discomfort about taking off her clothes, even though she wasn’t alone in the room. Her covering herself is so others won’t be uncomfortable, as well as to properly sell the ruse she’s creating.

The ruse itself just furthers my conviction about this topic. Yangchen, who is both the Avatar and an Air Nomad, largely considered to be one of the most powerful and holy people to walk the earth, creates a ruse in order to make people believe she’s been having sex with her companion. 

And how is this ruse taken? How do people react when they’re convinced she’s been having casual sex?

Absolutely neutrally. People care far about her being the Avatar than they do about her being an Air Nomad. A couple quips here and there, some lighthearted jokes, but if having sex was some kind of Big Bad Air Nomad Taboo… wouldn’t their reactions be different? Wouldn’t Yangchen’s thought process behind it be different? We see the times she goes against Air Nomad beliefs in her novels, and the way it causes her so much shame and distress. For this, however, she has no holdups or hesitation at all. 

Bringing this point back around to the Air Nomads’ concept of modesty and how that ties in: cultures that hold a negative view of sex often also hold a negative view of the body. Conversely, cultures that view the human body neutrally are often more sex-positive in nature. 

Tying this in even further with my point on the cultural Christianity within this fandom. It isn’t necessarily unexpected; A:TLA is an American show written by American authors and consumed by a largely American fanbase. The U.S. is very culturally Christian and very weird about human bodies in comparison to other places worldwide. Have you ever seen how stigmatized it is to breastfeed your baby in public here?

So it isn’t entirely surprising that this fanbase would fall into the idea that the Air Nomads had a sex-negative culture. 

However, while not surprising, it is becoming increasingly frustrating to see as a fan who cares deeply about the cultural worldbuilding of A:TLA. It is frustrating not only to see how many people consistently ascribe culturally Christian views to the show, but also to see how many people genuinely believe these certain takes, despite ample evidence (as provided above) to the contrary.

(And to cover my bases, just in case someone tries to accuse me of being anti-Christian or something ridiculous: I am literally a cradle Catholic who is still practicing Catholicism. The difference is that I believe my religion is my own personal business AND I have done and continue to do a ton of work to deconstruct the harmful aspects of the beliefs I was raised with. Something that is becoming increasingly obvious to me that other people do not do.)

This is how we get people who wonder where Air Nomad babies come from if they’re all monks and nuns. This is how we get people saying Aang went against his beliefs and his culture by getting married. This is how we get people saying that sexualizing Air Nomad characters is the same thing as sexualizing real-life Christian nuns. 

Personal beliefs on sexualizing nuns aside, as that is not a topic I do not want to get into, I feel it should be obvious that none of these things apply to the Air Nomads. Why?

Because Air Nomads are. Not. Christian.

Furthermore, why does it seem like so many people are genuinely resistant to the idea (and evidence!) that the Air Nomads not only had sex, but had sex just for the fun and pleasure of it? What is so wrong, so unappealing, about this concept?

All of the thoughts that I’ve both pondered and encountered lead back to the same basic beliefs, beliefs influenced by the cultural Christianity seen not only in this specific fandom, but fandom as a whole. That somehow sex, a natural human desire and experience, is not acceptable to want or have outside of extremely specific constraints. Even when viewing a fictional culture within a fictional universe, this attitude frequently remains.

Air Nomad culture has many aspects, thoroughly presented within canon, that we know constitute a sex-positive society. There are little to no gender roles. Bodies are treated neutrally, not shamefully. All sexual orientations and identities are accepted. It is not a leap, but rather a simple step forward to the conclusion that Air Nomads could have sexual relationships in whatever way they wanted: exclusive, casual, lots of sex, no sex at all, and everything in between. 

The Air Nomads having casual sex does not make them dirty. It does not make them less spiritual, less holy, less good. It does not make them gross or perverted or unable to understand “true” romance. It does not somehow make them a worse nation or culture. It certainly does not erase their dedication to their beliefs.

After all, freedom is one of the core tenants of Air Nomad beliefs. Why wouldn’t it extend to this as well?

[dceasesd]

why juni ba’s the boy wonder has my favorite jason characterization of any contemporary comic run: a needlessly in-depth analysis (pt.3)

go check out part 1 and part 2 if you'd like! this is a long one, sorry guys.

if you haven't already i'd recommend you check out pt. 1 & pt. 2 (linked above), but if you haven't checked them out i've been going over some of the main things people have been criticizing ba's characterization for: 1. the typical boiling down of jason's character to "the angry one" 2. his lack of strategy going into the fight with the demon is out-of-character 3. the neighbor's kid interaction

alright, so this last point is purely based off of one page of the entire comic: the one where the child of one of jason's neighbors is dragged inside his home when his mother see's jason coming.

first off, i love this page. it might be my favorite page in the entire issue. everything about it is great. just thought i needed to say that.

anyway, there's some people who are seeing this page and reading it as "jason protects kids! that's one of his big things! why are they scared of him?"

here's the thing, though: the kid isn't scared of jason, the mom is. the kid is literally playing dress up as the red hood-- he's not scared of jason, if anything he's trying to replicate him. little kids dress up as their heroes all the time; why is this kid any different? it doesn't really make sense for the kid to dress up of something he's scared of (not everyone is as weird bruce wayne), especially a real person that could be a real threat rather than a concept. i doubt you see many kids in gotham dressing up as the joker or something, because that's just asking for trouble.

the dress-up honestly seems like a ploy for attention to me. the kid clearly knows that red hood lives in his building (which is honestly so funny. take off the mask jason you're giving you're position away (actually this is a really good instance for analysis but i'm determined to not go on a tangent)). if the kid knows red hood lives in his building, what better way to get his attention that dressing up as him and playing pretend? if the kid was scared of him, he wouldn't want to draw that sort of attention to himself. if he had a sort of hero-worshippy thing going on like i suspect, then he would want to get jason's attention. to sum it up,

it's the mom who pulls him away when jason nears, because she either a) perceives him as a threat, b) doesn't want her kid to try and replicate him even more, or, the most likely option, both! the kid isn't scared of him, but the mother believes they should be.

once again, we come back to the whole perception vs. reality theme i talked about in part one! we've come full circle, everyone!

when looking at the neighborhood's perspective of the red hood, ba gives us a few contradictory examples. there's the kid and the mother, obviously, but there's also a slew of other citizens who interact with him at the beginning of the issue, both in fear and camaraderie.

the unhoused man and the people outside of his building clearly have a familiarity and are comfortable with him, while the shopkeeper is terrified and literally has a banned poster on his wall featuring jason (i am so curious what he did to deserve that, if he even did anything at all). from this, it appears that jason's reputation teeters between fearful and familiar-- a sentiment that also colors jason's relationship with his family.

furthermore, this concept underscores just how lonely jason is-- one of the only good relationships he had in his current life was his fucking landlord, for gods sake, and he's dead.

i think it's important to note that jason doesn't respond to the friendly greetings from the men-- he could attempt to build camaraderie, the roots are there, but he chooses not to. he could work to try and show the mother that her son is safe with him, but he chooses not to. why? jason is obviously lonely (as ba states in the panel below) and he caves pretty easily when damian asks him for help (both of them are so desperate for human interaction its tragic). so why does he distant himself from the community?

obviously it is in part due to the vigilante lifestyle, but it is also jason's perception of himself and how he believes others perceive him, especially in regards to his family (ba is literally hitting readers in the head with that theme baseball bat).

he doesn't see that the kid with the mask looks up to him, all he sees is the mother pulling him away. he sees the banned poster in the store. and, as ba narrates, "he was sure he'd been forgotten about" by his family. utrh is jason's twisted way of attempting to reach out and connect with bruce, and obviously that doesn't work-- so he chooses loneliness over rejection.

like in part one, though, damian refutes this idea by describing bruce's perspective, showing how what jason believes differs from actuality. bruce hasn't forgotten about him and doesn't hate him, as he suspected, but instead harbors guilt over the situation and desires to make it better, which jason must come to understand to be able to open the locked door and begin to move past his trauma.

so, that's what the little kid in the red hood outfit looks like to me. i actually have a lot more i'd like to say about the boy wonder, especially in regards to the whole "door to my past life" thing and what ba does with lighting and blocking in his artwork, so i may do a little post on that as well! i was gonna try and shove it into this one, but i've run out of room! i hope you guys liked my analysis, if you'd like to chat about the boy wonder or any other comics, my dms, asks, and reblogs are happily open! thanks for reading! :)) <3

pt. 1 / pt. 2

[baguettenjoyer]

Matchmaker Caine

CHAPTER SIX: Funny…Symbolism

Summary:

Kinger’s words stuck with Jax, it’s time for action. Meanwhile, Caine desperately tries to get closer to Zooble.

———————————————————————————

Caine appeared floating above Zooble like a parade balloon no one asked for.

 

“ZOOBLE!” he beamed. “MY DEAR PUZZLE-PIECED PUNK, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT DAY IT IS?”

 

Zooble didn’t look up from their book. “Tuesday?”

 

“IT’S MATCH SUPPORT DAY!” He threw confetti.

 

“…No, thanks,” they said flatly.

 

“I THOUGHT WE COULD BOND!” he declared. “YOU KNOW, EXPLORE THE MAGIC OF ROMANCE TOGETHER. DON’T YOU JUST LOVE LOVE? AREN’T YOU JUST THRILLED ABOUT POMNI AND JAX’S TOTALLY-ORGANIC-AND-NOT-STAGED COURTSHIP?”

 

“No,” they said.

 

Caine paused. His smile did not. 

 

“I hate their little relationship.”

 

Caine gasped.

 

“They’re annoying. You’re annoying. I don’t support this.”

 

A full beat passed. Caine blinked once. “OKAY,” he said, too chipper. “TELL ME MORE ABOUT THAT.” He sat down next to them on the couch, attentive. 

 

“I hate it,” Zooble said. “They’re weird now, and the way you keep trying to manufacture chemistry between people who probably don’t even like each other is…creepy.”

 

Caine produced a clipboard and tapped a pen to his teeth. He stared at it for a moment.

 

“WELL!” he declared. “IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU NEED SOME GOOD OLD-FASHIONED EMPATHY ALIGNMENT THERAPY!”

 

“Don’t you dare—”

 

But it was too late.

 

SNAP

 

Zooble blinked.

 

Then stood, eyes smiling. 

 

“I sure do think Jax and Pomni are meant to be,” they said blankly, voice a bit too high. “What a natural relationship. Warms my heart.”

 

Caine clapped. “OH, WONDERFUL! SEE? ALREADY FEELING BETTER!”

 

That whole day, Zooble was off, and everyone noticed. “They just have something special,” they had told Gangle. 

 

Pomni asked at lunch, “Zooble…are you feeling alright?”

 

“Never better, Pomni. May love triumph!” They said, one eye twitching. 

 

Jax stared. “Uh. Did you hit your head, or are you on that stupid sauce?” 

 

He whispered to Pomni, “I think they’ve been body-snatched. It’s kind of disturbing.” 

 

When Caine swooped over to the table, they leaned into each other and flashed loving smiles. He seemed to be enjoying it so much, he forgot to throw his characters into an adventure. 

 

——

 

It was just paper. That’s what Jax kept telling himself.

 

Just paper.

 

A flat, quiet, rectangular thing with no opinions, no personality, no judgment. A thing that, unlike Pomni, would not stare at him with those big, anxious eyes and ask things like “what are we doing?” or “why are you ripping up your seventh attempt at an origami bunny in a row?”

 

He creased the corner. Wow. Immediately wrong. He crumpled it and tossed it into the growing pile of failed attempts. 

 

What was Kinger’s exact phrasing again? Something like “if you want to be kind to someone, you find a way to show them.”

 

Which was a ridiculous thing to say. And yet.

 

Jax picked up another sheet. Stared at it like it was evil.

 

The fold was crooked again. Of course it was. He cursed under his breath.

 

This wasn’t for Pomni. It wasn’t. It was a stupid game. A gag. Maybe even a distraction from his thoughts.

 

He kept replaying what Kinger said to him. The old man was right—he had to admit—but why did it matter?

 

“Treat her gently, son.”

 

He wasn’t anyone’s son.

 

Focus. 

 

He folded again. The ear came out too stubby. He tried to fix it. It ripped.

 

“Great,” he muttered. “Symbolism.”

 

He groaned into both hands, letting the paper drop to the floor.

 

This wasn’t supposed to feel like this. It was supposed to be fun. Funny. Flirty nonsense. He messed with people, that was what he did. He definitely didn’t sit in his room folding ugly rabbits out of insecurity and… whatever this was.

 

He tried again. This time slower. Cleaner.

 

The folds still weren’t perfect, but at least they weren’t mocking him. Nope, they were mocking him. He shaped the ears as best he could and stared at the little thing in his hands. It was pathetic.

 

And still, for some reason, his heart squeezed.

 

“I hate you,” he whispered to the paper and crumpled it. 

 

——

 

Jax didn’t knock.

 

He never did, really.

 

Pomni barely looked up when he flopped face-down onto her bed, sprawling his limbs.

 

She blinked. “…What’s wrong?”

 

“Nothin’,” he mumbled into the mattress. “Just bored.”

 

Pomni rolled her eyes. “You’re always bored.”

 

“Yeah, but this is like, extra bored,” he said, muffled. “So bored, I might ask Caine to take us on an adventure.”

 

She got up and nudged him her leg. “If you’re gonna be here, at least sit up. You’re hogging my whole—”

 

“Our whole room?” he cut in innocently, propping himself up on one elbow. “C’mon, sweetheart, we’re in love, remember?”

 

Pomni huffed. “You’re the worst.”

 

“I know,” he said, with too much pride. “But I’m your worst.”

 

She flopped next to him on the bed, grinning now. “That was so cringe.” 

 

Jax leaned in just slightly. “Hey.”

 

“What.”

 

He reached over and plucked her left eyebrow clean off her face.

 

Pomni blinked. “…What the heck?”

 

“Just borrowing this,” he said, twirling it like a cigar. “Need it for something.”

 

“You can’t just take my eyebrow!”

 

“Sure I can.” He plastered it onto his own face. “See? Looks good on me.”

 

“You look like you’re about to file my taxes.”

 

“And you look like you’re related to Zooble.”

 

Pomni lunged at him. He held her back with one hand to her face.

 

“I will end you,” she declared, reaching up to pinch his cheek.

 

Jax laughed—and that was her mistake.

 

Because the second she saw his ears twitch, she reached up and touched one.

 

Jax froze.

 

“Don’t—” he warned.

 

She nudged the other one.

 

“Pomni—”

 

She cupped one of his ears with both hands and gave it a playful wiggle.

 

And that was it.

 

Jax flinched, tried to escape, and she lost it—laughing so hard her whole body shook.

 

“You’re so twitchy!” she gasped.

 

“I told you not to—!”

 

She giggled harder, doubling over. Jax tried to shove her off, but they were both laughing now—shoving and flailing and tangled up in each other and—

 

THUD

She slipped and fell right on top of him. Her eyes widened, hands on his chest. His arms had instinctively caught her waist. 

 

It was like the time Caine had switched their outfits, except this time Pomni was the one on top.

 

And this time the redness of their faces wasn’t from laughing too hard. 

 

She scrambled off of him like the bed was on fire and fell flat on the floor.

 

He sat up, his grin coming back. “You’re really clumsy, y’know that?” 

 

Pomni stayed on the floor, lying there like it was safe. “You still have my eyebrow,” she mumbled. 

 

He tossed it back at her. 

 

——

 

Pomni dragged her feet into the kitchen, eyes half-lidded. Her brain was still fuzzy from whatever nonsense had just happened with Jax.

 

She needed a snack.

 

“Hi Pomni!” Bubble chirped, bobbing in front of the fridge.

 

“Oh—hey,” Pomni mumbled.

 

“Fun fact,” Bubble said brightly. “Pomni is in love with Jax!”

 

Pop

 

She frowned at where Bubble had just been. Not a fun fact. Not even a fact.

 

Pomni froze when she saw Ragatha at the counter, holding a kettle and wearing an unreadable expression. “Oh. Hi, Ragatha.”

 

“Hey,” Ragatha said, too casually. “Didn’t hear you come in.” She did, in fact, hear her when she came in.

 

“Just wanted something to eat.”

 

A pause. Pomni was aware of how heavy the air felt.

 

“Tea?” Ragatha offered.

 

“Sure.”

 

They didn’t say much else.

 

Pomni accepted the mug with both hands and slid onto a stool. Ragatha leaned across from her, smiling.

 

Pomni took a sip.

 

It was way too sweet.

 

They sat in silence, the kind that used to be somewhat comfortable. Now it felt like holding your breath.

 

“I’ll… let you get back to it,” Pomni finally said, standing.

 

Ragatha nodded. “Good night.”

 

“Good night,” she echoed.

 

She left the mug on the counter.

 

Neither of them finished the tea.

 

——

 

At the end of the day, Zooble had officially snapped.

 

Literally.

 

“CAINE!” they roared. 

 

Caine materialized within seconds. “ZOOB—“

 

“You need to stop,” they said through teeth gritted and one eye twitching. If they had teeth, that is.

 

Caine tilted his head like he actually was clueless. “STOP WHAT, ZOOBLE?”

 

Zooble jabbed a claw into his chest. “Stop writing me. Stop putting me in little boxes because it’s easier for you than actually getting to know me. I. Am not. Your puppet.

 

“You want to bond so badly with me? Stop making everything about your interests, especially when I don’t share them with you! I am a person with interests and passions, yet you don’t want to know them. So how do you expect us to get along, huh?”

 

Zooble didn’t wait for an answer. They spun around and stormed into their room, leaving Caine alone in the hallway to process. He could not.

———————————————————————————

I can’t believe we’re on chapter six man. 15 chapters to go lol

More about this fanfic:

Jax/Pomni (platonic), Jax/Pomni (romantic), Ragatha/Pomni (one-sided crush), Ragatha/Pomni (platonic), Caine/Zooble (platonic), Caine/Moon (romantic), Jax/Kinger (son-father relationship), Gangle/Jax (platonic), Kinger/Queenie (romantic), fake dating trope, jealous Ragatha, protective Jax, soft Jax, slow burn, wholesome, fluff, light angst, good vibes, character development

Matchmaker Caine Masterpost

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First | Previous | Next

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

(The conclusion) Chapter 22: Aftershocks (end.)

Aaaaa This is it! The last chapter of Wobbly Hearts! You know when I started working on this I never thought it would get as long as it did but I’ve loved writing every word.

Enjoy the chapter! Signing off for the last time, this has been

[loganslowdown4]

‘I thought I was your hero’

‘You are!’

Incoming Long Roman Theory…

❤️🤍❤️🤍❤️🤍

Rewatching POF and Roman’s struggle with questioning what cThomas really believes based on what Janus implied made me realize something about how we look at the word ‘HERO’ in Roman’s vocabulary. I don’t think Roman has ever meant ‘hero’ in the swashbuckling, saving people, fighting villains, heroic sense (even though he acts like it and I’m sure casts himself that way in the imagination). WHAT HE ACTUALLY MEANS when Roman asked if he is a HERO, is if he is still the FACE or embodiment of how Thomas presents himself as a ‘hero’ in real life: aka a morally upstanding person.

In POF, Patton and Roman discuss why we have morals and how we use them to do good in the world. It is important to note that this episode was mainly a discussion between Patton and Roman for a reason: because if Patton is the moral BRAIN behind all Thomas’ decisions, then Roman is the FACE of all the moral decisions Patton makes. He follows Patton’s lead and acts as the ‘hero’ (and this is what the ego really does). So as the ‘FACE’ of Thomas, any actions taken means Roman is the one getting all the praise first hand, but is also taking the brunt of the criticisms too. For example, when Thomas went to that musical audition and forgot the words to the music, Roman hid. He was a ‘bruised ego’, getting the brunt of the criticism (or what he thought was worse than actually was). Roman has called himself a knight, a warrior, and a big reason why is that he faces all ‘battles’ of Thomas’ head on. It’s not just for the charming fairytale fanciful aesthetic (maybe it started that way). But I believe Roman’s character has developed into this complexity.

Roman’s role is to protect Thomas not only from objective criticisms, but also from failures of a moral decision. It explains why it was Roman who ultimately made the call to go to the wedding and not the callback. Even though Patton lost that debate in the courtroom, Roman knew that the morally correct decision was always to go support Thomas’ friends. He stood up and was the hero Patton and Thomas needed, despite any other disagreements or backlash. He knew that there was risk in this decision either way and it took a lot of strength to make that choice.

Here, Roman, saying that it was his fault for making the decision difficult to go to the wedding or callback, shows his willingness to take the brunt of any criticism, ultimately being the hero. He’s a drama king for real, but Thomas knew it wasn’t Roman’s fault for making the decision hard or even making the decision in the first place, and said so. Still, Roman tries because if it helps makes Thomas feel better, he’s willing to do it.

Another thing I need to point out: Roman getting upset when Patton said when doing anything charitable or morally correct, you can’t take ANYTHING away from it, including self-satisfaction or PRIDE. Roman is literally Thomas’ PRIDE and EGO. Denying Roman his pride, when he is constantly working to keep all of them safe from criticism, means he’s not allowed to be at all satified by the GOOD MORAL WORK he does do. It’s no wonder it felt unfair to him.

Finally, when Janus criticized the moral standard that Patton and Roman are trying to have Thomas live up to, Roman was personally offended. He has been doing his best to show the world that Thomas is a good person (which he is).

Here, when Roman is questioning how selfish Thomas will be before he feels ‘satisfied’ he says ‘you’ll have us believe that that time will never come’ which means that doing ANYTHING morally good, even the bare minimum, will deserve a reward, self-satifaction and more selfish time spent. This change in moral trajectory goes against what Roman has worked so hard for, following Patton’s lead and making those sacrifices. At the end, Patton’s main goal was changed to keep Thomas happy, which looked like he basically gave up and switched allegiance to Janus’ new plan. Does this mean Janus is the new ‘face’ of how Thomas presents himself and not Roman? THIS is why Roman left like he did; it felt like a betrayal.

There’s a lot unresolved and a lot that Thomas has to work out with Roman. But ultimately, Roman will always be a hero. He’ll be Thomas’ hero. Because he’s the one that makes Thomas a hero to everyone else. Time will tell and we shall see!

[seirindono]

Hello! I only *just* discovered your incredible comic for The Missing Scarf and just binged the entirety of it within a couple hours (I have a voracious appetite for the "good soup", don't judge!). I was wondering, the absolutely stunning page from the Interlude on page/part 25, do you happen to have a version of it without the text? Gaster is my all-time favorite UT character and that art you made of him is just beyond incredible! <3

Oooh, a new reader, welcome! ( ´ ▿ ` )

That's a lot to read in a few hours ahah, I hope you enjoyed it! You've got great timing too, Gaster only “recently” appeared in TMS, so not all readers had the chance to see him on their first read <<

I don't usually post pages without text, but let's make an exception just this once, since I'm a big fan of the goop man as well...

[katcoin]

Festival of the Lost

Ch. 1 Festival of the lost. 

(TW: stealing,)

A child walked through the streets of Itahlis, the city of the Gods. Your [favorite color] jacket rubbed up against peoples arms as you walked by. Smoothly after rubbing up against someone's shoulder, you took his wallet from his pocket and walked like nothing happened. You opened the wallet and started to count the money, only a measly twenty bucks. Yeah sure it was money non the less but it won’t pay for anything nowadays. Not even a small pitcher of water at the pipes. You stuffed the money into your backpack and threw the wallet in a random direction. You stomped through the mod with your boots splashing some water onto other people. You didn’t care if people scowled at you and told you to slow down in the streets! You had places to be! And you didn’t care if that man you stole the wallet from was his last money. It was a dog eat dog world! Be the predator or be prey whatever you want to say. But it wasn’t your fault, well the act of stealing was but Ithalis being like this is because of them. The Gods…

“Hey [name]!” You heard a lady call out. You turned your head over and saw Mrs. Trun, the local fisher. First she saw your hair poking out of your hood then your face half hidden in a turtle neck making it look like you were wearing a scarf at all times. You ran over to her with a cheeky smile on your face. 

“Mrs. Trun!” You put your hands on the desk of her stall. “My best buddy, pal, friend, the best fisher in the world!” You started twirling your finger on the desk, giving her puppy dog eyes trying to coax her to give you some fish scraps to eat. “You got, I don’t know… Anything free? To eat? Probably now?” You gave her one of your signature bright wide smiles to sell it even more. 

“Oh you cheeky little thing, here.” She gave you two fish in a paper bag and beer, fried fish filet and some fries. “If you weren’t such a cheeky little thing I would haven’t given you anything to take it.” Mrs.Trun faced away from you and started to chop a head off a fish. 

“Thanks Mrs. Trun! I promise to pay you back one day! Gods’ blessings” You ran off waving to her.

“Yeah yeah go off before a cop catches you stealing again! And tell Howland I said hello!” She shouts towards you. You laughed, another perk of stealing, you met friends you thought you would ever have. You happily started to munch on the fish fillet like a hungry animal, well probably because you were one. You walked past an alley and saw a little girl around five curling into herself, she was dressed in rags and looked worse than most of the slums you see down in the depths of Ithalis. You frowned and finished the first fish fillet and placed the rest of the fish and fries down towards her. You still held the fish in the bag in your arms and spoke. 

“I am only giving you this because I pity you. We kids have it rough down here you know,” You spoke, the girl looked up to you and smiled, some of her teeth were missing and you couldn’t see her eyes from under her hair, but she looked as happy as the God’s would have been if they found Areti. She took the food and started to eat. “Kids down here can get themselves killed, go to the Mr.Truns fish stall, say that [name] sent you, you will be able to get some more food…” The girl said nothing but you knew you she took your word. You turned on your heel and left the alley. Yeah sure you were a classified stealer having your own wanted posters and everything, but you weren’t that heartless. 

You took the rest of your walk dodging local soldier stations in the streets of Itahlis like you have done thousands of times. Like on autopilot you crossed over the abandoned railroad tracks, walked past the slightly better part of Itahlis (it's better because the shops actually have buildings and less graffiti) year sure it was still dirty and you have found both dead and alive rats but it was still better. But nothing could be better than Itahlis’ topside. Or as we all know the heavenly court. Bright lights that made the night look like day, extravagant shops with even more fancy wear, and finally even more delicious food. Your mouth just watered thinking of it. But you snapped out of it from a gust of wind passing you. It was a speeding car. 

“HEY--!” You stopped before you could get another word out, yeah black fancy car. One of the Gods goons. You didn’t want them on your tail again. Never again… Finally you reached Starfall bridge. It was still half built and the once lake that swept under the bridge now swept a few miles away to the water reserve for Itahlis. So now Starfall bridge is just a bridge, over a bare patch of dirt. You walked under the bridge and grabbed a stick with a bell on it. You pounded the stick on the floor, the bell ringing out. You didn’t care if it was loud or not, the only people who come out to the outskirts of this part of the City are only dealers or people who poke the Gods’ goons a little too much for their liking. A quiet but silky voice spoke out. 

“A child who ran to be remembered, gone over the hills and far away…” It was a man’s voice, it was calm and soothing, one you almost heard each day. 

“Just let me in Howland!” You whined, placing back against the bridge wall. “It’s [Name]! Come on! I don’t want some dealer driving by and seeing me here!!” 

“I said finish the verse child…” Howland's voice went annoyed. And you stomped your feet and sighed. 

“Shall rise again to be heard! Now can you-- WOWOWAHHHHHH!!” The trapped door under your feet mid sentence making your free fall. Luckily it was an abandoned sewer so, it was just a tunnel you ended up screaming your head off and sliding down. You finally make it to the end of the tunnel rowling in. You sat up brushing the dirt off of your sweater and stood up. “Next time warn me… I felt like I was about to die…” 

“Take off your boots little one, you will muddy the floor.” Howland sat in the middle of grounds. Yes both of you lived in the sewers, atleast you two weren’t some turtles in hiding or something. The bottom of the sewers were illuminated by candles and the walls were adorned with talismans, books, and scriptures scattered around. “Welcome home [name] I missed you, did Mrs. trun give you some fish?” he turned over to from where he was sitting. Howland was holding different scriptures in his hands looking through them. You walked over to him and opened up the bag of fish. He smiled and pointed over the small pot and stove on the ground. You nodded and placed the bag next the the two pillows used as chairs near the stove and went over the Howland. “Help me stand child,” Howland lifted up his lifted arm for you to put over your shoulder. You raised him up, you saw his missing left leg, you wished that you sometimes didn’t steal. You know what they say, eye for and eye, a leg for a leg. 

“What do you want to make today Howland?” You helped him sit down on one of the pillows and sat on the one adjacent to him. 

“Just grilled fish like always” Howland leaned over and opened up the bag of fish and removed the pot just leaving the spot for the fire. Howland took the flint and steel and started the fire, he placed the fish on top of the fire and let it cook. 

“Howland,” You said, getting comfortable on the pillow. “Tell me another story?” 

“Of course, how about the hare and the star again?” Howland moved some of his white hair away from his scarf tucking it behind his ear. 

“No, how about a new one?” You looked down at the fish cooking, it made a satisfying crackling noise once in a while. 

“How about I tell you the story on how I found you?” Howland reached forward and flipped over both fish, letting the other side cook evenly. You nodded your head and he laughed. “Once upon a time, long ago, maybe 10-14 years in the past,” He blew the smoke  away from the both of you with his fan grabbing some salt near him and sprinkling some on the fish. “A man, me, walked along the path back to the sewers after a festival of the lost and telling stories for all to hear.” He took a breath then looked at you. “He then heard a cry, a baby's cry, the man walked over to the little one’s wails and pleaded for food and saw a little baby [name] wrapped in cloth.” You giggled hearing your name. “Yes, the man picked up the baby, he was panicking thinking, “a child in the middle of Ithalis all alone? What should I do? Where are their parents? But after a bit of searching, the man found out that the baby was abandoned and forgotten.” Howland took the two fishes and put them on sticks, handing one to you and having one for himself. “So being the nice man he is, he took the little babe in and raised them as his own, growing up strong, beautiful, and more amazing than he could ever dream of.” After Howland said this you giggled from his complement. 

“Aww, Howland! You complained to me too much!” You bit into the fish instantly jolting back forgetting it was straight off the fire. “Ow, ow! Hot!” Howland then laughed to himself.

“[name] can you please grab the water for us?” You nodded, placing the flush down on the fire to keep it warm and grabbing a small jug of water and two cups, giving one to him and holding another one for you. He poured himself a cup and then you. “To the Gods, and may they bless our family for years to come.” He raised his glass over the fire. You put your glass against his making a small clink sound. 

“To the Gods…” You took a sip from your drink, and so did howland both of you enjoying your dinner. 

.

.

Both of you just finished your dinner, you helping Howland get to his bed and you putting out the fire. After, you removed your coat and layed down in your bed right next to Howland. 

“You must know that the festival of the Lost is tomorrow, yes [name]?” Howland turned over to you, he covered himself in quilts and pillows. “I was invited to tell another one of my fables to the children…” You turned over to him holding your sleeping pillow close to your  chest getting a little sleepy. “You know I can’t drive anymore, and the festival is too far away, please drive me over.” He looked at you sympathetically. 

“Howland…” You took a deep breath and sighed. “I don’t even know how to drive.” You were trying to hold back a smile, it was like asking a newborn to run after coming out of the womb. 

“You know how to ride a bike, I-I have a motorcycle, please [name]? For me?” he looked at you and gave you puppy eyes, dang you can no to that.

“Isn’t it illegal to drive at my age?” You looked at him mockingly of course it was. 

“[name] you steal for us to get by, driving a motorcycle won’t be a problem for you. After a small bit of awkward silence, both of you burst out laughing. “Than--AHAH! Then it’s settled then!” Howland snorted which caused you to laugh harder. “You are going to bring me to the festival of the lost!” You nodded as both of you quieted down and went to sleep.

Now looking back you wish that you never agreed. 

.

.

.

Howland held onto the staff that you used to open the sewer, it was actually his walking cane. He wore his story telling robe meant only for special occasions. It was really fancy too. “Now child you press your foot onto the pedal and--” You slammed your foot onto the pedal making you jolt forward on the bike scaring the living ghost out of you. “[NAME]! Slow down! Ok press it slowly, slowly…” Howland slowly walked towards you as you were done. The bike went at a normal speed, surprisingly, you were learning fast! Unlike the cooking incident. (we don’t talk about the poor chicken you destroyed that day.) 

“I’m getting it!” You drove in a circle around him, it was just like he said, driving a bike. More dangerous, might be able to explode your bike!

“I knew you can do it little one, now come on, let's go,” He handed you a helmet which squished your cheeks a bit, and Howland didn’t wear one since both of you didn’t have a second. Howland climbed onto the bike sitting right behind you hugging you for support. “Now, to the festival of the lost!” He commanded, causing you to drive at full speed, making him yelp, almost dropping his cane which he held while hugging you. But you had your own reason for coming, to steal. Yes it was pathetic that all you can think of is stealing, but not just from anyone, Not someone’s wallet. Not someone's purse. Not some child’s candy, no. You were going to steal from the top. Steal from the harbinger’s crown. And get away with it!  It won’t only just be for your gain, for all the people that suffer under his boot. Ms.Trun with her fish selling going down by the year, the little girl in the streets that you gave food too, for Howland who had to live in the sewers so that the harbinger’s goons won’t steal his other leg, and for all of the people of Italhis who suffers because of the Gods. 

Little do you know they will be the one stealing you. 

.

.

You pressed the brake button on the motorcycle coming to a full stop, you parked right in front of the little theatre that Howland was supposed to perform at. “See you later Howland! I’m going to explore!” You were about to skip off (Steal some old ladies pearls) before Howland called out to you. 

“You sure [name]?” He looked to you all worried. “The last thing I want for you is to get thrown in jail, or worse, hurt…” Howland walked over to you and hugged you once more. “Don’t forget to come back before 7 a’clock ok? (19 o'clock military time)” You nodded as he squeezed you once more. “I love you, my child,” He patted your head as you laughed.

“Come on! It’s not like I’m going to be snatched right? I’ll come back.” You were about to skip off until…

“Wait!” Howland called out once more. 

“What about this time?!” You turned around your hands in your pockets.

“Do you have the offering for the procession?” 

“Yeah duh!” You stuck your tongue out as you pulled a singular sugar cube out of your pocket and held it up like it was a priceless gem. 

“Good, now don’t get lost.” Howland waved goodbye as he walked into the theatre. Making you go off onto your stealing mission once more. 

You finally arrived at where the procession of the Gods was supposed to be, it was heavily guarded with royal personnel everywhere. Of course it was! Everyone who lived toward the center of Itahlis got more and more richer, until you reached the heavenly court. The closer you got, the more people who worked for, or were related to the Gods themselves. A guard with a golden helmet and trident walked up to you towering over. “Offering for submission?” The man held out his free hand towards you unmoving. You smirked and handed him the sugar cube. The guard looked at you and scoffed, until he realized you were being serious. “Y-you may pass…” He opened the gate and let you in. As you walked into the procession, it was well what you expected, extravagant. Performers, food venders, pop up shops, and finally the crowd of people for the procession. You could practically feel your mouth drooling with all the beautiful things around you. All of the Beautiful things you can steal. You looked at the floats carefully, each one designed with such detail and accuracy, each one can be its own piece of art, and the subject in the middle, the corresponding god. No, it wasn’t some little actor impersonating them, it was the real deal.

You pushed yourself to the front of the crowd to check where the harbinger’s float was. Exactly where you thought it was, all the way at the end, dang idiot always wanted to make an entrance huh? He was lazing around on his throne, being fed grapes by a servant and another coming his long dark blue hair, and you mean long. Floor touching long. You looked around and found a building with a ladder. You rushed over bumping into a few people and scrambling up to the roof. “Ok, [name] jumping off a roof won’t be that hard! It’s just like falling down a sewer’s hole, just like falling down a sewer's hole…” You gulped as you saw Anris’ float just past by, crowds were hurling her name as she waved kindly to all the children she spotted in the crowd. Finally saw the Harbinger’s float right under your roof it was time. You walked backwards a bit and leaped off at full speed. If you weren’t terrified for your life, it would have felt like flying. You landed right behind the giant fan looking thing on his float, you didn’t care what it was, just how much you were going to take. You stood up seeing you had landed perfectly ok. It seems that you landed at a weird backstage part that no one cared to look at, good. You peeked your head out to see where the float was going, you had to be fast. 

You skillfully climbed to the top of the float making sure not to be seen sitting right above the Harbinger’s throne. You reached over your hand, slightly touching his crown. It was a beautiful black material with silver engraving carved into it. It wrapped around his head like a headband. You started to slightly nudge it. This technique always worked on people you stole hats from. It will work on him, right? Inch by inch, one little touch by the minute. You got the crown off. You held the Harbinger’s crown in your hands. The symbol of all of Ithalis was in your hands. 

“So you were the child who offered the sugar cube at the offerings.” You heard a deep rough voice speak. You went pale, you could feel the blood retreat from your body and your eyes met with the Harbinger’s. You were shaking all over as he stared at you. Well, answer me!” He stood up fully making you fall off from where you were sitting scrambling over to be behind his throne. He scoffed and grabbed you by the scruff bringing you to the center of the float. “Answer for your crimes child or–” 

“I-I didn’t mean to I!” You tried to plead to be let go, but suddenly a splitting headache burst into your mind, it felt like someone was trying to rip your head open and crush it at the same time. These memories started flashing. 

“You’re useless Areti!” flash. 

“Why do I even consider you my child, get out of my sight!” flash. 

“I can’t stay here much longer…” You saw through the eyes of someone who wasn’t you. You saw your hands? No one's hands packing something. But before you can register what was going on, flash. 

“Areti–” flash. “RUN AND NEVER LOOK BACK!” flash. “MY CHILD!” Flash. “ARETI!” flash. It was like your whole life was playing in front of you. Was it even your life anymore? Before you can grab another thought. You opened your eyes. You weren’t at the festival anymore. You were in space, a weird pocket dimension or something. You were laying down water covering you besides your face. You sat up panicking, breathing shallowly. What is going on?! Stars were in the water like they were coconuts and planets were looming over your head, until you heard a voice. 

“[Name] of iIhalis!” You spin your head around frightened. A person around your age floated above you, they had fluffy unruly hair with a poncho with no sleeves covering them like a blanket. And finally holding a staff with a dark star encased inside its curve. They were literally glowing as they landed bare feet onto the water, their feet faded from an inky black to a pearly white, and their hands were detached from their body making them look outlandish by the second. “Do you know who I am?” You shook your head scrambling to your feet. Both of you were the exact same height too. The kid in front of you also had a four cornered star over their right eye. Wait, you knew that star face before. Areti. The kid standing in front of you was Areti deity of the lost, wanderers, and children. 

“A-Areti?” You blinked in disbelief. 

“Ba-ba-ba-BINGO! AHAHA!” Areti flew up into the sky and celebrated, the planets and stars around you lit up or span reacting at the same time as Areti. “I knew I chose the right one!” They floated down towards you, their bare feet landing on your shoulders making you stumble around. “You see, I need a successor!” 

“What?! NOw?!” You voiced cracked as you finally balanced your weight with Areti’s. 

“Yep! And you're perfect for the job!” They floated off of you taking their staff planting it on water below both of you and balancing on it like it was a tightrope. “You stole from the Harbinger! My dad! The ruler of Heaven!” They finally landed on the floor right in front of you. You looked closely, they look almost like you, same face shape, smile, hair type (well more messy) everything! Well besides the star shape over their eye. “I didn’t even have the guts to do that!” Then Areti’s face became serious. “As you know, I jumped down from heaven and ran away blah blah blah blah! But in the process I gave up my immortal power. I still had it with me, just I couldn’t tap into it anymore…” They took their staff and placed it in front of you pointing to the star balancing in it. That star was their power. “I know dumb decision! But, that is where your story begins!” They circled around the water making small ripples. “If you didn’t know already, you are the reincarnation, yours truly, Me!” 

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN REINCARNATION?!” You were terrified, surprised, appalled, flabbergasted, any word you can use to describe this moment, it will work. Who were you anymore? Were you [name]? Or Areti? You started to breathe shallowly again.  What is going on?!

“Well of course you weren’t the only one!” Areti laid back floating in the air. “There were many before you, many!” They started to count on their fingers. “Samantha, James, Liam, Quincy, and the list goes on!” they then flopped over putting their hands on your shoulders. “But they never knew! Just lived, died, and never knew that they were a reincarnation of a literal deity! But you know! So I have to ask you something…” Areti grabbed the star from their staff ripping it out, the cosmos around you faded until both of you were just standing in a black void. “Stop all of this madness, please, for my-- our, Our people.” 

“I-I can’t, I’m just a kid! Why couldn’t you wait until I was an adult?!” You pushed the star away from you Areti stood back. 

“It’s your choice in the end, I can take it back, you don’t have to if you don’t want to be a kid… It’s a dumb Idea anyways… Just gotta wait until the next reincarnation you know?” Areti placed the star back into their staff making the space scenery come back. 

“Wait!” If this means that you will be able to save everyone else from God's reign, then so be it. If this means everything will be better for everyone, for you, Howland, for the rest of the humans in Ithalis so be it! “I-I’ll do it.” You held out your hand for the star, Areti, smiled and pulled out the star. 

Areti pushed the star onto your face giving you the same mark that they had the same star shape over your eye. “Go on kid, do what I didn’t have the guts to do…” The ground started to warp under you pulling you down into the abyss. 

“WILL I EVER SEE YOU AGAIN?!” You grasped at the pit’s walk, they felt like fine silk. 

“MAYBE! GOOD LUCK LITTLE SUGAR CUBE!! AHAHA!” Areti waved to you goodbye as you were pulled into darkness once more. 

.

.

You woke up floating in the air, the whole crowd had their eyes on you. You hated it, it was like every since you had been enhanced. The mark on your face made it felt like your face was burning off. Your ears were bombarded with murmurs and whispers but one name was repeated over and over again. Areti… A bright light was behind you making you look. Behind you was a giant silhouette of Areti, they were glowing white they stood stern face unmoving as if three sets of floating arms were just sitting there, one pair held their staff, another was holding a wake ure you stay floated, and another set was caressing their cheeks. Behind them, was their sigil, each god had one. Their eyes that met yours, then it vanished making you fall to the ground. 

“A-Areti?” You whipped your head up again seeing the Harbinger’s. He ran over to you about to hug you. 

“What just happened?! What did you do?!” The whole experience happened because of the Harbinger’s touch, right? Instead of hugging you, he gently brought you up onto your feet. 

“You have their mark…” The Harbinger stroked your cheek making the mark sting, which made you hiss. He didn’t care though, his child, his baby was home. He spun you around the face of the crowd, everyone was silent at this point. You were at the end of the procession seeing that all of the floats were in a circle. Even the Gods were silent, some in the middle of an action stood still. A servant who was fixing the God of war, Adamis hair was stuck frozen in place, while Adamis himself jaw was agave. The harbinger held your hand up high like you won a fight and announced.  “CITIZENS OF ITHALIS!” Everyone was still silent. “ARETI! MY CHILD HAS COME HOME!” A weird awkward silence rang out until the crowd burst into cheers and claps making you jolt back a little. The harbinger bent down to you and picked you up like how you would with a baby. “You’re finally home my sweet, everyone is so happy… I’m sorry for making you run away…” He buried his head into your hair trying to stifle back a sob. He placed you down on the ground again wiping his tears and placing his hand on your back. You looked up at the crowd seeing all the other people cheer. You really hope that Areti chose the right person to give their power to… 

Note: So even if there wasn't anything really yandere until it's hinted towards the end, this is slightly going to be a slow burn thing where it will occur throughout the story instead of all at once! thank you for reading and bear with me!! I am free for questions about the story so my asks are always open!

[21martyrs]

[llamaisllama777]

I... I think I know what's going on.

Theory: Nexus ain't dead. We're all still playing Dark Sun's game!

(Nexus fans, you're gonna love this. I know I am)

Okay, so, in today's episode, we see Moon travels to another dimension cause of a dimensional anomaly and sees a Sun bashing his Moon's skull in. Moon is obviously startled and horrified by this, and after a little investigation, Moon finds out something is wrong in the multiverse, apparently in 36% of the multiverse a bunch of Suns have started to kill their Moons.

Why? How? What caused this? What triggered it? Suns just don't start randomly murdering Moons...

I think we may have an answer...

Nexus isn't really gone. Dark Sun is still pulling the strings.

Okay, so, remember this episode?

In this episode, Dark Sun asks Nexus' permission and full trust to do something. Now we never found out what this something was until now, I think.

Dark Sun also mentioned in this episode or a different one he says that Nexus wouldn't have the same body forever. I thought he meant like he'd make Nexus a new body to contain his negative star power, but no. He just meant Nexus wouldn't have the same body... he never said he'd make him a new one.

In this episode...

Dark Sun briefly mentions to Sun that whoever he chooses to kill, he will exsponge the data of them so they couldn't come back... this means Dark Sun has access to Moon and Nexus' code... he has their code. Hmmmm....

Plus, Dark Sun did have access to Ruin a.k.a, a guy who had been exposed and probably knows how to make the Ruin virus...

Nexus isn't gone. He's just not in our world anymore. He's in EVERY WORLD NOW!

When Sun killed Nexus, that's what Dark Sun wanted. He didn't want Moon to die. That wouldn't benefit him. He needed Nexus to die to complete his plan. Dark Sun has access to Nexus' code and Ruin, a guy who knows an awful lot about the Ruin virus he probably knows how to make it, too.

Dark Sun wanted Sun to kill Nexus, so Nexus would die and become pure code, Dark Sun could then spread Nexus around the multiverse like a virus and cause other Moon's to go rouge and become Nexuses which would cause other Suns to kill their Moons and become like Dark Sun in a sense.

Dark Sun did say he did all this for Sun and probably every other Sun.

Dark Sun is trying to prove to all Suns that all Moons are bad and that they're better off without them. But of course, in the grand scheme of the multiverse, not EVERY Moon can be bad, so Dark Sun and Nexus MADE them bad.

Dark Sun is trying to create more hims cause he does view himself as the Superior Sun, the Sun that grew up, the Sun that grew a spine, the Sun that fought back!

Dark Sun views himself as a sort of savior of Suns, and in his twisted mind, he's trying to save the other Suns from being used and abused by their Moons. He's trying to prove his point that all Moons are bad, but since not every Moon is bad, he had to make them bad to prove his point. (Which kind of defeats his point, but I digress)

Dark Sun is trying to do this to save the other Suns! By ruining the other Moons!

Tl;Dr Nexus isn't dead and is now pure code, and Dark Sun is having him go around the multiverse, turning all Moon's into Nexuses to prove his point that all Moons are bad and make more Suns like himself.

But hey, that's just a theory...

A TSAMS THEORY!

[anicream]

[starkidmunson]

glitter & crimson

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

Time passes in ways Eddie doesn’t fully understand, in the aftermath of Steve’s injury.

A few days are spent lounging around the hotel room with Steve drifting in and out of sleep, for the most part. Then they graduate to small day trips. Squeeze in some touristy shit; museums and landmarks not too far from the hotel, in case Steve gets a migraine or starts feeling nauseous. 

Day 6 features a follow-up at the hospital, where Steve is told the bandage is no longer necessary to cover the worst of the injury, surgery won’t be necessary, and he’s clear to fly home or wherever else he wants to go. Which means Eddie is also free to leave LA, but he’s already stuck it out this long, so he decides to continue to follow Steve’s lead and spend another day.

He gets a call from Steve before he leaves his hotel room on Day 7, informing him that Max is leading a trip to the beach before they leave California again. Steve insists it’s the least he can do since Lucas flew out to spend the last few days with her, so she could stick around until Steve was clear to travel again.

And that’s how Eddie finds himself wearing lavender board shorts from the surf shop that looked the least like a tourist trap, dousing himself with an entire bottle of the highest SPF he can find before stepping out of the store. His black ripped jeans and the Judas Priest shirt he’d worn, not anticipating a trip to the beach, are folded into the bottom of a large tote Robin is carrying with ease, as she picks out towels for everyone to lounge on. She catches sight of him and raises an eyebrow, but he holds his hand up to stop any commentary.

“Black is just going to make me burn even more than I’m already going to burn, and the blue pair I liked were the wrong size, so lavender it is.” He defends, but she just shrugs at him, keeps smiling and walks over to pay for the towels and her bathing suit.

Behind Eddie, Lucas clears his throat. He spins to find Steve, blushing and glaring at Lucas, who’s grinning. 

“What? Don’t tell me I need to defend the trunks to you guys, too. I thought you’d be on my side.” He whines.

“Oh, I don’t think Steve has any issue with your shorts. Or lack of a top.” Lucas teases, then laughs as Steve swings a soft punch into his shoulder.

“I just…” Steve trails off, turning his attention back to Eddie and Eddie can see the heat rise from Steve’s cheeks up to the tips of his ears, coloring him a soft shade of pink. “I didn’t realize how many tattoos you actually have, I guess.” He eventually settles on, before immediately occupying himself with finding sunscreen.

Eddie lets it slide, and they all pay for what they need, before crossing the street and trekking toward the water. Max is the first to toss her shorts and sandals into a pile, running toward the ocean and diving into the first wave she encounters. Lucas is just a step behind her, and he’s quick to catch her waist and throw the two of them back into the water just as she’s resurfacing.

Robin shoves a rented umbrella into the sand and Eddie helps expand it, as Steve lays out his towel so his face is covered by the umbrella’s shade, but his torso down is exposed to the sun. Eddie, on the other hand, huddles up so most of his body is concealed by the umbrella.

“Oh shit, dude, I didn’t even think to ask. Are you worried about getting seen out here or something?” Steve asks, and Eddie frowns. It takes a moment before he realizes it probably seems like he’s hiding from any potential paparazzi.

“I get bothered so little by media that I hadn’t even thought about that if I’m being honest.” Eddie shakes his head but smiles at how thoughtful Steve is. “I’m just a little too pasty to trust the sun on a cloudy day, so direct exposure like this always makes me nervous. But I like laying in the sand and I’m happy you wanted me to tag along. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” he assures Steve, who smiles at him until Robin mocks a gagging noise and makes them both blush and look away from one another.

The salt air and crescendo of waves and bellowing laughter kick up a surprising amount of inspiration for Eddie, and he fishes his phone out of Robin’s bag, typing away while she and Steve sunbathe. 

He’s so caught up in the piece he’s working out that he doesn’t realize anyone has spoken to him until Steve’s pressing a hand to his knee, looking a little concerned. 

“What? Sorry, I got an idea and I had to get it out before I forgot about it.” He mumbles, typing out his final thoughts before giving Steve his full attention.

“We’re going to return the umbrella and grab food before heading back to the hotel to pack up, if you’re hungry?” Steve asks, smiling at Eddie. He looks back at his phone to realize their hour with the rented umbrella is nearly up, so he nods and helps clean up the space they’d taken over, before they find a beachfront restaurant that doesn’t mind that none of the guys are wearing shirts, or that Max’s hair is still dripping wet, leaving a trail behind her as they move to their seats.

Once they’ve eaten, they go back to the hotel. Eddie asks if he can shower to get the sand out of his hair before he changes back into the clothes he’d had on pre-trip to the beach. When he re-enters the room, almost everything is packed up and Robin is on the balcony, talking on the phone.

“Nancy called,” Steve explains from the sofa, as Eddie flops beside him, towel-drying his hair gently. He hadn’t bothered to put his shirt on yet, not wanting his hair to make it all wet while it air dries. “Did they hurt?”

“Hm?” Eddie’s confused instantly, looking at Steve before realizing he’s eyeing the tattoos across his chest. “Some of ‘em more than others, yeah. But it’s a good kind of hurt.”  Eddie explains, and Steve frowns, but that’s okay because Eddie knows not everyone gets what he means whenever he explains the tattooing experience like that. “It’s… kinda like if you have itchy sunburn and you accidentally scratch it? It feels good to have scratched it, but it also hurts.” When Steve still looks confused, it’s Eddie’s turn to frown. He looks over Steve’s exposed arms and takes in the soft golden color they’ve turned and his eyes narrow. “Do not tell me you’re one of those genetic anomalies that doesn’t sunburn and always has a perfect tan, Stevie.”

Now Steve is grinning, throwing a shrug in Eddie’s direction. “Blame it on the 8 years of swim club during the summer off-season.” Steve laughs as an explanation, and Eddie instantly wants to know more about everything Steve has ever done in his life, but doesn’t know where to draw the line at how much is too much to ask to know, so he ultimately doesn’t ask for any further information. Which is fine, because Steve is leaning closer and taking hold of his left forearm, twisting it and tracing a finger along a snake that wraps around his skin. “Do they have meanings?”

“Some of them, yeah. Some of them I just got because I liked how they look.” Eddie admits, watching Steve’s fingers trace along the delicate lines of the snake. “That one’s got its mouth open like it’s hissing and about to bite.” Eddie considers what comes next, and decides to just lay it all out on the table. Steve had been open and honest with him, Eddie could return the favor. “Snakes are supposed to be a symbol of inner strength and perseverance, and they look sick. I got it after my first stint in rehab.”

Steve doesn’t falter, doesn’t even blink, and if Eddie didn’t know better, he would think Steve had already known about his trips to rehab before he’d said anything. Instead, he moves on to trace a blackout band around Eddie’s bicep. “Do any of them have stories you want to share? You don’t have to if it’s too personal.”

He’s stunned to silence for a moment, something that doesn’t often happen to Eddie. But he’s so used to everyone pressing to hear more about rehab and addiction and recovery that his brain physically needs a moment to catch up to Steve. “Oh. Uh. I mean, the one you’re touching doesn’t have a meaning or story, I just liked how it looks.” Eddie thinks for a moment, then, before he holds out the inside of his right forearm. “This one is a puppet master. Master of Puppets is my favorite Metallica song, and when I learned to play it is when I realized that music could actually be a career path for me.” They run through a few other tattoos; the Wyvern, the spider, the “you bow to no one” in elvish down his spine. While still working up the courage to tell Steve more, he switches his approach. “Do you have any tattoos? Or have you ever wanted any?”

“I’ve never thought about it in a serious way, because I’m not sure I’d like having something on me permanently like that.” Steve shrugs, flipping his arm over to point at his right wrist. “The few times I’ve thought about it, it’s been like. A robin, here. The Roman numerals for 94 somewhere. That kind of stuff.”

Eddie smiles softly, nods. “It’s adorable that you’d want one for Robin.” He teases and lets the moment breathe for a moment before he circles back to the tattoo of the snake. “I’m not ashamed of my story, or my history, but we hadn’t really talked about, you know. That aspect of things, yet. But, I mean. I made terrible choices when I was younger, and I got in over my head with drugs harder than I realized. And it’s happened more than once. And I’m not naive enough to think I’m magically cured because drugs haven’t raised an issue for me over the last few years. But I’ve been mostly sober for almost 4 years.”

“Mostly?” Steve asks, concern clear in how softly he speaks, and Eddie can’t help but grin and shrug a little.

“Still some weed sometimes. Still drink beer sometimes. Both in moderation, not anything out of control. It, uh, probably sounds weird but those weren’t substances I had issues with, so I don’t… I don’t really think about drinking or smoking as cheating, but I know some programs would call it that way.” He shrugs, and Steve nods, processing the information.

“Well, thanks for sharing that with me. I know it’s probably not easy to talk about, but. I learned a few new things about you today.” He offers with a little smile, and Eddie nods back. They slip back into silence, until Robin slips back into the room, looking between the two of them expectantly.

“Did you ask him?” She asks, and when Eddie turns his attention to Steve, he flushes.

“No, I uh…” He trails off, picking at a fingernail before looking up at Eddie, then back down at his hands. “We’re flying back to Chicago tomorrow, and we were wondering if you had your plans set for heading back to Nashville?”

“Oh, yeah. When you guys initially said you’d be leaving tomorrow, I booked a flight home for tomorrow afternoon.” He says and watches Steve’s lack of reaction. Wonders if he should have asked about joining them in Chicago until Steve gives an awkward smile. 

“Right, that makes sense.” He nods. “Well, we can all head to the airport together, at least?”

“Yeah, sure.” Eddie agrees, turning to look at Robin in the hopes of finding an explanation, but she turns away to take her turn in the shower, leaving Steve and Eddie together on the sofa.

~~~

Gareth picks Eddie up from the airport once he’s touched down in Nashville, and they head back to his house. Eddie throws himself into the comfort of his sofa, huddling up to a pillow with the intention of taking a nap, but his phone buzzes in his pocket. When he fishes it out, he smiles.

Stevie: Dustin has taken over the apartment, but we’re home. Hope you got home safe, too.

“Why are you smiling?” Gareth asks as Eddie is typing out his response.

“I’m not smiling,” Eddie responds instantly, schooling his expression and shoving his phone back in his pocket.

“Oh, so Steve texted you,” Gareth says, matter-of-factly, before scrolling on his own phone. “Want to order food? I’m hungry and you don’t have anything edible.”

“Why do you assume Steve texted me?” Eddie asks, frowning and sitting up straighter.

Gareth raises his eyebrow and glances over his phone at Eddie before he sighs. “Because you were making that face you’ve been making for the last month every time you text him, and you just got home from a week with him, so obviously he’s texting you again. Your turn to answer; food?”

Eddie stares at Gareth for a moment, watches as he turns his phone around to face Eddie, showing off the Uber Eats screen, before he scoffs and takes the phone to place his order. Before he hands it back to Gareth, though, he holds it just out of his reach. “What face am I making?”

“C’mon, Eddie, don’t play dumb.” Gareth laughs, but Eddie frowns deeper. Gareth frowns back, then. “You really haven’t put it together?”

“Put what together?” Eddie asks, finally handing Gareth his phone back. Gareth takes it, but doesn’t look away from Eddie until he answers.

“Dude, you’re in love with him.” He says, like it’s obvious, before going about placing his own order.

Eddie thinks for a moment. He knows he has feelings for Steve; finds him attractive and interesting and definitely wants to see if something is there. But to know that his friends can see through him puts him on edge, makes him defensive. “I’m not in love with him, we’re just friends.”

“Eddie,” Gareth laughs before he sees the serious look on Eddie’s face and he sighs. “Look, man. I’m not trying to start a fight or make you spiral or anything. I’m just saying. You leaned into a TikTok trend for him, voluntarily learned about the sport he plays, helped nurse him back to health after he got hurt and spent an extra week in LA to be with him longer. And now you’re texting him, again, like you did after we left Chicago. There’s something there, whether you want to admit it or not. Maybe it’s not love yet, but that’s where it’s heading.”

Silence settles over them, just the sound of Gareth’s short nails tapping against the screen of his phone, for a long moment. Eddie processes what he’s said, thinks it over, before flipping back to the text messages from Steve. He reads the words over and over before he decides on an answer.

Eddie: Glad you’re home safe. Miss you already.

He doesn’t have to wait long for a response, as Steve answers no more than two minutes later.

Steve: I miss you already, too, Eds.

Eddie considers responding but decides to tuck the phone back into his pocket instead. He drums his fingers against his knee, settling into a melody before he nudges Gareth’s leg with his foot. 

“Wanna help me set up the studio downstairs while we wait for the food?”

Gareth meets his look, raising an eyebrow. “Inspiration strikes over Steve Harrington?”

“I’ve got, like, four different ideas I started fleshing out in LA without instruments,” Eddie answers instead and ignores the smug look on Gareth’s face as they stand and make their way to the basement Eddie converted into a recording studio to get it ready while their food is delivered.

[corfidbizna]

KHIII Final Chapter (Eng): https://www.mediafire.com/file/zyu4h1h9ajyoky7/KH3_Ch40.zip/file Chapter List

The finale, after all this time. No Re:Mind, but we got a little bit of secret video in here. >: ) Thank you for reading~