#there's other ways to prevent selfing ofc

[eradami]

Plants can evolve between monoecious and dioecious fairly quickly. I think the main application of being dioecious is that it prevents the plant from self-fertilizing, so whether mono- or dioecious is better mostly depends on whether selfing is useful in the current environment.

And sometimes it's kind of a wash, and you get strawberries experimenting with their gender.

dichotomous plants are so weird man. like they’re not even weird it’s the becoming the dichotomous that’s weird. i went to a talk once about a population of strawberries that were accidentally slowly becoming dichotomous and they didn’t even have sex chromosomes, like they had like a bunch of genes across a bunch of chromosomes that did a little bit of sex but not a lot and it added up to one whole sex kind of but not enough that they had all collectively decided to be one sex or the other, so there was still like, a sizable chunk of the population that was producing flowers of both sexes. like they were microdosing it. taking the sex genes for a spin in the strawberry patch

[windupaidoneus]

dare i say. hildegarde getting jealous easier than emet is a bit of a moe factor

[maxinesgun]

taste of you ୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

shane mccutcheon x fem!reader

nsfw, fingering (r!receiving), oral (r!receiving), edging, overstim, dirty talk, established relationship, cursing, slightly mean!shane, reader is a corporate girl. wc 1.4k ᡣ𐭩

a/n: this took me wayy too long to finish, but i've been in a bit of a slump so ofc i had to write a short n sweet shane smut!! need her to edge me and mock me abt it tbh ugh

“I’m sorry, did you want something?” Shane asked in mock-innocence, her brows drawn together in a question as she gazed down at you.

You were sprawled against the pillows of the couch beneath her, your hands knotted in the front of her shirt, preventing her from getting off of you. A whiny, frustrated sound left you, and you hated how desperate you sounded, how helpless.

Shane, however, was enjoying it. She loved seeing the flush on your cheeks, the way you dissolved into a needy mess for her beneath her touch. She was settled between your spread thighs, her hand buried beneath the hem of your skirt as she traced slow, teasing circles over your aching clit. It was cruel, was what it was—giving you just enough to stir the heat coiling in your stomach, but holding back what you really needed.

“Don’t be like this,” you half-whined, half-panted, looking up at her with a pout. “You’re driving me crazy.” You tried to give her a pleading look through your lashes, but got distracted by the way her lips pulled up in a slow grin, and now you were staring at her mouth, picturing it doing other things.

“Mm. Should’ve thought about that this morning,” she admonished in a low voice, still with that mocking edge. “When you decided to be such a tease.” Her fingers dipped down into your slick heat, teasing your entrance briefly before moving back up to your clit. You were so wet that it was audible.

“You enjoyed that, didn’t you? Knew I’d be thinking about this pretty cunt all day.” Her fingers pressed into you a bit harder, her movements speeding up. You arched into it, a soft moan falling from your lips involuntarily as you lapped up the increased stimulation. “And then you had to go and wear this fucking skirt,” she groaned, glancing down at the black pencil skirt that was pushed up around your thighs. “Not cool.”

“I told you,” you breathed, pushing your hips into her hand, “I was going to be late. I had an important… mmph… meeting.” It was getting difficult to focus on words with the way she was working you. Already, that coil of heat was growing stronger, making your breaths falter. With the amount of time Shane had been inching you closer to the brink just to bring you down from it again, it didn’t take much.

She hummed low in her throat, nodding. The expression on her face was one of pure sarcasm. “Well, you know, I think I actually have somewhere to be…”

You let out a breathless laugh mixed with a groan as you panted for breath, your grip on her tshirt tightening just in case. “Not funny,” you moaned shakily.

“I’m not laughing,” she said simply, her fingers working you harder, faster. The wall of heat was building quickly now, its intensity so delicious that you were letting out all of the little sounds that Shane loved, your eyes shut in pleasure. You didn’t have enough of a grip on yourself to hold them back—with each expert stroke she drew out another breathy moan from your lips, no longer hushed but rising in volume.

When your eyes fluttered open for a moment, you saw the amusement on her face, a self-satisfied smirk on her lips as she watched you unravel. “Aw, does that feel good, baby?” Her voice was soft, coaxing, the sound of it only driving you higher as you let out a whimper. “Are you gonna come for me?”

Your head was tilting back, your hips beginning to jerk erratically as that wave rose higher, higher… “Yes, yes, fuck, yes—” you gasped. So close. So, so close—

—and suddenly her touch was gone.

“Shane,” you practically cried out in frustration, the high slipping out of your reach yet again. Your hips tried to thrust forward, seeking the friction that had been jerked away from you, but her own thighs were pinning yours in place, keeping them from moving.

She leaned in closer until your faces were inches apart. Her eyes drifted down to your mouth, lingering there for a few moments before lifting back up to your eyes. “Anything you want to say?”

“I’m sorry,” you panted, voice tight with need. You were almost tempted to reach a hand down to finish yourself off, but you knew Shane wouldn’t allow it. “It was bad. Mph… very, very bad.”

A slow grin curled over her lips, and she placed a few small kisses along the corner of your jaw, her teeth nipping at your skin. “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” she mumbled by your ear. As her hands hovered around your waist, taking their time bunching your skirt up higher, she drew back slightly, so close but still just out of reach. “What do you want?” she asked, her voice still a low rumble.

“Your mouth—fuck, please,” you breathed, far too desperate and wound up to play at your usual coyness.

She let out a low snicker, pleased by your eagerness as she began tugging your tights down your thighs. “Oh, yeah? You’re lucky I’m feeling generous.”

After what felt like an eternity, Shane had pushed your tights down around your calves, just enough to give her full access to you as she kneeled before your open thighs. She kissed a slow trail along the inside of your thigh, making you shudder with anticipation before her lips finally reached your aching heat, pressing an open-mouthed kiss there.

You gasped, a bolt of pleasure shooting through your core as her tongue brushed against your sensitive clit. Instinctively, your hands went to bury themselves in her hair, using her for purchase as she began lapping at you expertly, her tongue running along your slit. Shane glanced up at you through her lashes with a wicked smirk, watching you with darkened eyes as she worked you with her mouth. You could only imagine what you looked like right now—face flushed, chest heaving, one leg hooked over the back of the couch, splayed open for her—and found that the mental image was just as much of a turn on for you as it was for her.

Well, maybe not quite as much.

You breathed a curse, your mouth dropped open in ecstasy as she licked and sucked at you eagerly, relentlessly, as if making up for all the torturous teasing she’d put you through. She held your thighs open, keeping your hips from thrusting forward into her face as they trembled in her grasp, the heat within you mounting. The pleasure almost became unbearable when her lips moved directly over your clit, wrenching a louder moan out of you.

“Oh my god,” you whined, eyes squeezing shut. “Fuck, like that.” Her lips were closed around your bud, the pressure of her sucking and her tongue stroking it in quick motions almost overstimulating. Your hands moved to grip the couch cushions beneath you as you drew closer.

Shane hummed against you, and the sound vibrated against your core in a way that made your toes curl. Your body was tensing with the rising pleasure tugging at your abdomen, and as if she sensed it, she suddenly slid two fingers inside you, pumping them into you and curling them against your walls rapidly as she continued her relentless ministrations to your clit.

It was all so good, too good, and you weren’t even aware of the words you were crying out moments before you came. The next moment, you were coming undone, your hips jerking and your voice rising to a breathy cry as an almost explosive wave of pleasure crashed over you.

When the height of it had subsided, you slumped back into the pillows, your body going limp with a heavy relaxation. Exhaustion stole over you, and you drew in a deep breath as your breathing began to slow.

Shane was leaning back, watching you as she wiped her glistening mouth with the back of her hand. She looked like the cat who’d got the cream. And you supposed she had… literally.

“Don’t look at me like that,” you said a bit breathlessly, a grin tugging at your lips despite yourself. Your head dropped back against the pillow, your lids feeling heavy. It would be at least an hour before you moved from this spot.

Shane stood, bracing a knee against the couch as she leaned over you again. She tugged your tights back up your legs and pulled your skirt back down around your thighs haphazardly. The smile she shot you was both amused and fond. “Now we’re even.”

[dontevenpmodarlin]

Ada’s idea of love is tied to power, validation and stability, rather than real genuine connections. And with that I don’t mean that she cannot love normally or anything, but that her idea of love is heavily influenced by rather specific experiences she has had in life before she even meet Thomas

She fixates on powerful men bcus they represent an ideal of power, strength, control or/and protection.

Her constant shifting in personality- as in acting posh to fit in with lee’s and around Prospero- and then more chill when in Montrio may suggest she doesn’t have a strong sense of self (Ik it’s Will’s thing but she kinda gives that vibe)

We know her self esteem is at an all times low with how she speaks of herself when rejected by Prospero. We already knew that her pretending to be all posh and better than others was one of those simple and hardly rare in life methods for her to feel better about herself, to fit in, and try to push the image of who’d she’d like to be seen as onto others.

Whatever grants validation, kinda.

At core, what Ada wants the most is truly just what anyone in life wants, love, understanding, and validation. Whatever has had happened in her life must’ve make her believe that she doesn’t deserve any of it, we saw how when she broke down she called herself stupid and ugly but in that sad way of asking “why?”

None of these things make her stupid or silly.

She’s build her entire identity around being desirable. Accepting that her approach to love isn’t right would destroy her.

Her manifesting was caused by Prospero’s harsh rejection in which ‘I could never love someone like you’ is what shatters her fully.

And when it switches to Tommy flashback, and we see her being betrayed, she asks why, and he answers that it’s because she gave him no choice, putting all the blame onto her. And in the latest flashbacks we see what kind of self centered and egoistical twat he is.

What she screams in her banshee form is “Do you think I’m stupid?” Which are her self doubts and projections.

The interesting thing is that a part of her abilities is ‘Fear itself’ which we see in how she uses it against Prospero and Annabel and later on Monty, where she makes them see their worst fears. The fact that she possesses such an ability is genius. Throwing people in a trance where they spiral paranoid into their worst fears?

And what breaks her out of it? Annabel uses her fear against her to instead force Ada into her self loathing circle, forcing her to leave Annabel alone and out of her fears. She forced Ada into her fears. Because when Ada falls into them they’re like a trance.

“A wounded little girl, throwing a fit, because she didn’t get what she wanted.”

She’s putting the blame on her (I’m not saying she isn’t to blame, but this is said harshly in ways to trivialize Ada’s feelings, reducing her emotions to something meaningless, twisting the blame onto her and making her question her reality. Smart of Annie to say, but very hurtful.)

“And I pity you, Ada.”

Which no one wants to be, that’s opposite of respect.

“No one will take you seriously again.”

Whilst Annabel has a right to these words (we ain’t hating on her, she’s smart, kinda stupid as well in her own beliefs, cruel but smart)

“Unless you cease this hideous display at once.”

Giving her an ultimatum, calling what she truly is (their forms do lowkey reflect on who they r after all) hideous.

What it took to break Ada out from her spectre? What does she fear the most after not being lovable? Stuff that prevent her from being loved ofc. That her feelings are invalid, she’s just throwing a fit, she’s hideous and ugly and no one will ever respect her or take her seriously.

“H-hideous” Moss babe says, looking at her hand.

She has built a fragile illusion around herself that keeps her from falling apart. The stuff that let her feel on the surface that’s she’s beautiful, desirable and worthy of love are dependent on outside forces: such as men🙄 (lmao, bbg let me treat you better on the wlw side-🧑🏻‍🦰) ((Morella stfu)) and since it’s dependent on other people, which are moving and changing forces, it’s fragile.

Y’all shocked she gets with Montresor when they both depend on people on the outside for self validation. If she and William were to make out aggressively when Monty dies in episode 184, y’all still would be shocked.

Anyway, self doubt starts to creep, and what she always feared- that’s she’s hideous, unworthy of love, unlovable over all- that all men who used her, treated her like nothing, were right. As Thomas said, she gave him no choice.

She breaks down apologizing and crying and telling everyone she didn’t mean it and promising that she’s a real lady, a proper lady- since that is what makes her worthy and lovable in her head.

It’s no wonder that she rejects Morella when she tries to help her. She’s self loathing rn, accepting that someone may care about her just for how he is, and even in this state, is unacceptable to her, because she herself cannot love herself in this state. So others must be simply lying.

She lashes out because she can’t bear to let anyone see her like this, raw and exposed. The shame, the fear, and the realization that maybe she’s been fooling herself all along, it’s too much. So she pushes everyone away before they can confirm what she dreads the most

Beautiful thing here is the rhythm of her words, her hitting herself, and Montresor taking steps down the stairs all fitting into one scene that is delightful to imagine. The visual aspect of her hitting herself and the devil nearing, his steps closing in with every self hating comment she makes, and with her guard being lowered down to hopelessness, is mastery in writing and drawing so props for that besties.

Ada at core has beliefs of being stupid, mean and ugly.

Stupid as in not posh-manipulating-lying smart and fitting in I’d guess. Idk what she sees as smart.

Mean, as in rejecting Morella, or being mean to people to impress others even tho she knows it’s wrong - cut to the “Pissing all by thy self, handsome?” Scene-

BRAND NEW NEWS, ADA IS NOT STUPID CONFIRMED THREE YEARS AGO.

Be a darling and try to focus on how Ada is self aware, knows why she acted the way she did, but even if she knew that it was wrong of her when she did it, she had no self control then. She needs someone, she needs to matter the most to anyone in any way.

No shock she doesn’t react well to

“Nothing you say will make you good enough.” -Prospero.

She feels silly, she apologizes, she explains how she felt and apologizes fr for being cruel for ‘no reason’ Girl woke up in a life death game and found out her roomie has a crazy goth bestie that is willing to cause drama and public embarrassment to make sure Ada’s roomie is ok. Duh girl felt vulnerable n left out.

So when Monty appears with “I think you’re pretty.” It’s no shock she says “That’s not funny.”

But then he pulls his face card and a serious voice seeing honest asf telling her that he wasn’t trying to be funny.

He, opposite to Morella, finds her when she’s not in anger any more but in hopelessness and in pieces. He feeds her delusions rather than simply offering what Morella wanted to give. Since Ada can’t allow herself to be loved unconditionally (even if that’s what she wishes the most, girlie doesn’t realize she puts conditions in her head herself on when and in what form she’d be allowed to be loved in such way, making it impossible for others to love her in that way) She would rather accept someone loving her like this.

And how does a Montresor ‘love’ her? Surprise of the day is that the things he says to her don’t even necessarily have to be lies in any sort of way. He is a meddling guy, people that are the most dangerous in life, (very much the same way the most dangerous beliefs we can have) are the ones who mix truth with lies in order to shift perception of the reality.

He can appreciate stuff about her, the lacing she gave Prospero and him being fortunate to be above the snakes.

Him telling her that it was beautiful, and that she’s beautiful doesn’t have to be a lie in any way. He doesn’t need to think of her ugly, he just needs to see what she wants to be seen as the most, and no matter if he thinks that she’s hot for nearly killing the prettiest boy in school, he is going to let her know that, because that lets him manipulate her.

Y’all shocked and thinking she’s silly for falling into this, or stupid. Well, good morning to you too, imagine your worst fears being let out under from all the illusions you keep daily, and some hot blond guy comes and tells you say your lowest that hey babe we can totally keep those illusions up, I’ll lie whenever dw abt that you won’t even know, you’ll feel worthy and will be able to avoid all your GREATEST fears (pls remember that everyone now days avoid what they fear the most, and that in mf 1930’s you wouldn’t hold up anyone to a standard of facing their worst fears cuz it’s ‘healthy’ for em) and also feel all the things you want to feel the most.

He offers her a quick escape of her own hell, back into the world that she has built and wants to live in. He is the boulder her self worth is propped on, he knows how this works because he himself most probably has lived through such things when young, and sees it as the way of being. You’re either strong and decide or weak and serve others. He needs a cute squad to survive this game, so he needs a hello kitty pants girl to his cat boi if he wants to be the true alpha daddy.

Episode 113 I cite

“I did something stupid…. I’m stupid~.” - Ada dying.

“My hero! I knew you’d come back for me. You make me so happy… Honey.”

“O-oh sorry I got mixed up. I remember now. You said No. I’m not… good enough… for you.”

This either proves that it doesn’t specifically matter in her head who is it that loves her, but that there’s a figure that does, and she just mixes it up as in thinking that Prospero is taking up the role of being that. Or she thought it was Yeehaw. Or god knows, maybe Twatmas.

Anyway she needs someone to fulfill that role for her to feel stable and to be able to act, the way everyone in life needs some sort of stability, but most of the thing- well I’m optimistic- we find it in ourselves, not in the outer world on which we have oh so little power over, compared to the amount of control we can manage to maintain without ourselves.

What emotion was it that triggered her flashbacks whilst doin’ rodeo on the stag? I’d guess holding on, the way she tried to hold onto Thomas, emotionally or physically- whatever.

Anyway what I wanted to say with all of this, is that Ada is not stupid, silly, or anything. It’s normal to see her actions and facepalm because we feel the sting of ‘oh no darling, this isn’t the way’ cuz we all hate going in circles and we know how annoying it is to realize you’re in one, and seeing other ppl or characters be in such can either throw you into a fit of empathy or annoyance, depending on how you feel about yourself when you notice yourself living in such ways and experiencing such things.

Her behavior may be driven by unresolved childhood trauma or repression.

Her ID aka primal desires crave love, security, and validation. She throws herself at powerful divas cuz they represent control and protection.

Her super ego aka moral conscience shaped by social expectations, tells her that she must be desirable an perfect to be loved “a proper lady” she suppresses any feelings of insecurity by kinda forcing herself to believe in her beauty and worth ig?

Her ego aka the balancing force, struggles to reconcile these forces, so she builds a false self, a persona, to attract love and hide her deepest fears. Which as usually in life just brings her closer to her fears and makes everyone see who she is.

Because unlike Montresor who is good at lying, Ada isn’t. She is closer to finding who she is because of that, whilst he is closer to doom.

By Freud (don’t grill me) he’d call this repetition trauma I think, repetition compulsion.

She keeps pursuing Divas who reject or use her, she’s unconsciously recreating past traumas hoping to “fix” them, perhaps?

She uses denial & defense mechanism. She uses denial to avoid confrontation with her self hatred. Her reaction to rejection is to outwardly act confident to suppress the deep belief that she’s hideous. Aka Reaction formation (“Reaction Formation happens when an individual exhibits behaviors opposite to their actual feelings” - google)

Her outbursts with “STOPP lookin at me Jason! 🥺” are projections, she pushes people away because she believes that they see her the way she secretly sees herself.

Also why she pushed Morella away, right after Annabel told her that she pitied her?. Maybe in her mind that’s what Morella did, pitied her. After all she accuses her of lying.

Ada doesn’t love those all random guys perhaps, but the idea of them and what they provide for her, which Ik ive said like three times alr but protection, power, security and validation. She chases an ideal, not a real connection.

She projects her desire for love onto men mistaking their coldness for strength and indifference for being mysterious.

She needs to reach a point where she will be forced to face herself, and idk when that will happen, maybe soon since she is dissolving into atoms. Anyway Lenada when?

[car-o-line]

hi can I request tbhk characters finding out about their s/o's self destructive tendencies? Only if you're comfortable with it ofc!

You’re so kind!!☺️ okay hopefully I’m correct but I’m pretty sure this is about s/h or smth, and I'm happy to does these kinds of requests so no need to worry💕

WARNING: Self harm(reader)/suicidal tendencies(reader)

TBHK characters when they find out their s/o has harmful tendencies

Yashiro Nene:

You know hurting yourself was a bad thing, but it just was almost addicting.

You weren’t happy, but you were too scared to die so this was the next best thing.

Slapping yourself, all over done towards your once skin.

Nene, didn’t actually notice it for a while because she’s kinda oblivious.

But one fateful day, where she was going to hang out with her precious s/o,

She walked into the classroom after school just to she you scratching yourself til you bled.

She was immediately horrified, and so were you, you never intended her to see you in such a broken state.

Her eyes watered right on the spot, especially with pitiful look on your face.

She ran over towards you gushing on how wrong and awful this was.

“N/n-chan this is horrible! What makes you do this, are you sad, I can help you, do you need a hug, I’ll give you millions of hugs til you feel better!!!”

After that she would always be worried leaving you alone with your thoughts.

Told your parents to put you in therapy.

Hanako-kun:

You know how he has a knife to kill apparitions with?

Well you have a knife of your own.

A small pocket knife you keep inside your backpack.

Pain was one of your ways to cope, and you knew that all too well.

So sometimes when you’re about to lose your shit you somewhere alone and mark small or large cuts onto your hand.

At least you wear gloves, and it was also winter, so no one would question it.

You were cleaning the bathroom while Hanako was talking about something random when you accidentally got one of your gloves wet with the mop.

You shrugged it off and continued mopping when Hanako asked why you didn’t take your gloves off.

“Oh, I just don’t mind it.”

That’s all you thought to say when,

“I’ll just take those!”

He took your glove off.

You were frozen, there was no point to hide the cuts so why bother.

That was the first time you’ve ever seen Hanako with a negative emotion on his face.

As observant as he was he always thought your hands were just cold.

He reached his hand out and grabbed onto you bruised and injured hand while also removing the other glove.

Sadly it was the same result.

He knew what it was like to hurt, and he didn’t want you to go down the same path he did.

Quietly and somberly, he sat you down and got some gauze to wrap your hands.

He swore after that he’d make you have a happy life.

He checks on you more often even if it means hanging off your shoulder(which he’d do for free)

He adores you dearly and it hurts to see you so sad.

Minamoto Kou:

You didn’t like the thought of living, not when living itself was as bad as it is.

But you were horrified at the thought of death, so you decided to let out the pain another way.

Your father had cigarettes, literally everywhere. So it wasn’t too hard to just..grab one, light it, then press it onto your legs.

You had to cover them up though, so you wore pants/a long skirt to hide them.

He’s..not the most observant person so it’s just natural he wouldn’t notice til he saw it for himself.

It was a surprise, he was just going into the closet for some baking items when he saw you, on the ground , a small lighter and a cigarette in hand.

He literally thought you were smoking.

But when he took a closer look, that sorrow look in your eyes, the small burns on your leg, it seemed like something else.

“Hey! What are you doing to yourself!?”

He never really thought about the fact that you’ve acted odd lately, he wished he’d payed more attention to you, maybe that’d prevent this whole thing.

He felt a burning sensation in his eyes but he managed to help you and bring you to the nurses office.

He stayed with you the whole time, trying to make you feel comfortable.

He also took your lighter and cigarettes away. No more hurting your legs for you anymore.

But he also suggests(insists) for you to sleep over!

He’s worried sick if you’re alone by yourself, maybe making dangerous decisions.

Sousuke Mitsuba:

Your day suck really really bad, but you still didn’t understand what you were doing.

You didn’t know what you were doing, but every few seconds your head banged against the wall. Even with the pain almost being unbearable.

It didn’t take long for him to notice, surprisingly.

When he found you(looking for you to complain about stuff) he immediately covered his mouth to keep him from screaming.

Your head was bloodied, not all, but small strokes of blood went down your head.

He yelled at you to stop, but when you didn’t, he tried coaxing you into stopping.

Like an owner telling their dog to come back inside when they run away.

Eventually you did after realizing the gravity of what you were doing.

He grabbed your arm firmly but not hurting firm, then took you to Sakura.

He probably started to cry.

After all of that he made sure to check on you a bit more, instead of talking about his experiences all the time.

He also makes sure that someone is always in the same room as you, just for supervision.

Nanamine Sakura:

She’s observant so she’s probably figure it out rather quickly.

You liked shoving your arms or limbs into dangerous or slim areas. Even with going through said consequences.

Going through the squeezing of the two surfaces pressed against your limps just felt so nice.

Were you a masochist? Maybe, maybe not. Was it just adrenaline? Not sure.

You were one day pushing your arm into a tight space when you heard the broadcasting club door open.

When she found you her composure almost dropped but she swiftly grabbed your arm and pulled you over to a couch.

After that she watched you like a hawk.

You’re going to a fence? She’s going with you to make sure you don’t put your arms in the crevices.

Overall just a very worried mom-like gf

Yugi Tsukasa:

It’s honestly a miracle how you’ve managed to his this from him.

He’s up in your business 24/7 so there’s very little time to hide this from him.

Though when you do get a chance alone it’s horrible, you don’t know what to think, you wanted to live, but you think the pain is therapeutic.

So you coax yourself by scratching, hoping that you’ll pass by scratching your arms, legs, hands, really anywhere available.

It was easy to hide, you’ve always wore clothes to cover them up, until one day,

“Y/nnnnn what’s with the blood??? Did you play with a Mokke without me??”

You looked at your leg and saw a dry blood, your reaction didn’t set right with him so he waddled on over and squatted down to look at it.

Once he found out that you were doing this to yourself he honestly wasn’t that surprised. As energetic as he is, he’s still not stupid, like why are your clothes always so long? That’s weird.

He wasn’t sure what to think about your habit, he knew it wasn’t healthy, but at least no one’s making you do this. If they were, pray for them.

Though in the end he just told Sakura about it and she was petrified, why didn’t he tell her sooner????

Soon your marks faded and you didn’t add any new ones, he was happy because he knew it must’ve hurt.

[angel-fruitcake]

do u not like top cas for some reason? just curious not tryign to be rude or anything. i prefer top cas bottom dean tbh

although i've talked about this before, i'm always more than happy to continue talking about it! 🤩

it's not that i don't like top!cas/bottom!dean. i do love that dynamic, like genuinely! it fits them very well on so many different levels. dean has spent his whole life trying to take care of others, to protect them, to give them what they need; it's instinct. dean is a caregiver, and for that reason, his guard is always up. i think the one person with which dean can ever truly let go of all control, drop his shields and simply allow himself to be taken care of for a change is castiel. it's my hc that cas is the only person dean can be vulnerable enough with to bottom for; i don't think he could do it for anyone else. and ofc cas takes immense pleasure in getting to take care of dean this way, to worship dean in the way he's always longed to do, and to be the only one permitted to do it. it's for that reason i actually think cas would canonically top more than bottom.

however! just bc dean enjoys being taken care of by cas does Not mean he wouldn't thrill in the opportunity to do the same for his angel. we also mustn't forget that dean and cas are 2 sides of the same coin, and both of them have very deeply rooted self-worth issues that prevent them from easily accepting love and care for themselves. much like with dean, it's no small feat for castiel to allow himself to be taken care of when all his long life he's only ever seen himself as a soldier, a weapon, something to be used and then discarded. he's an angel, it's not in his nature to show vulnerability or to accept care from another. so for cas to open up and let himself be truly loved and worshipped and adored by dean through bottoming— that's an ultimate display of love, trust and devotion. it's that aspect of top!dean/bottom!cas that is just as compelling to me.

tbh it's not really even about the actual physical positions they're in; it's more about the emotions involved, about giving and receiving. and this isn't always true, but typically it's easier for the character that's topping to be the one assuming the giving role.

all that being said, the main reasons i tend to specifically enjoy cas being in the bottom position are: 1) castiel is my favorite character (only very slightly above dean) and as such, i want to see him showered in so much love that he's overwhelmed and shaking with it, and 2) this specific dynamic is in extremely short supply! 💔

it's a bountiful harvest for incredible top!cas/bottom!dean fics out there, which is wonderful! i love it! i'm fed, i'm fulfilled!! however, there is a stunning and dreadful lack of top!dean/bottom!cas fics in general, and the ones that do exist are often very ooc!! (not all of them ofc, but there's a pattern unfortunately 😔)

i think a lot of people have been turned off by the idea of top!dean/bottom!cas bc they've read so many fics where dean and cas have been terribly mischaracterized in those positions. i made a post complaining about this yesterday, but many top!dean/bottom!cas fics inaccurately portray dean in a kind of toxic and heteronormative manner as the top and cas in a weak and helpless manner as the bottom, and i'm sorry but those just aren't correct representations of these characters or their relationship with each other at all.

contrary to popular belief, top/bottom ≠ dom/sub. but not only that! i think many people are under the assumption that if one character is submissive, then the other has to be dominant, but that's just not true. these rules aren't set in stone, they can be bent and played with! it doesn't always have to be traditional dom/sub— sometimes there can be nontraditional roles, like sub/not sub.

i know many people think of dean as primarily submissive in bed, and i agree! i don't think that man could ever be truly dominant in bed even if he tried. not with anyone, let alone with castiel. but! just bc cas might be in a submissive role doesn't mean dean has to be in a dominant one. he could absolutely render that angel a trembling, whimpering, quivering mess with nothing but sweet, soft and tender loving, not even a speck of dominance to be found. and even though i do believe cas would top more often, i think he deserves to lay back and let dean take the reins every so often. sometimes my ancient eldritch horror and deadly warrior of heaven deserves to be spoiled and pampered by the human man he fell in love with, as a treat 💕

^^ that particular dynamic is what we're starving for in this fandom. it's my personal favorite flavor of destiel, yet i'm always searching and almost never finding it 😭 i'm trying to start a movement here: justice for loved and cherished in-character bottom!cas 😤

[urautismdiagnosis-wistie]

Pokes u

Do you have Barnacles Headcanons to share with his wife (aka me)

YES also sorry for the late response lol uhhh this is mostly just stuff from my au lol and its got different world building than the show does

Ok first off some context, in my au the reasons for PEOPLE species to have different traits is more based on environmental factors and conflicts between other groups of people. 👌

There are definitely some wild species that aren't even intelligent enough to have nearly any sapience (in simple terms its self awareness) that would probably end up being food or wtv, but like going based off of irl stuff polar bears mostly need high fat diets and unless there are a TON extra of high fat food fish thatd make the arctic pretty hard to survive

Unless ofc 👀 well they are PEOPLE people so u can convince me they'd have somehow domesticated either musk or (hoofed arctic animal) or bred some other kind of milk producing animal as a source of food

All I'm saying is that he could and would and has eaten an entire wheel of cheese before

And he absolutely has a secret stash of high fat snacks because I think he might be a liiiiittttle bit self conscious about it

Because he realized that arctic animals and non arctic animals have HUGE differences in social norms and apparently most animals don't have at least 3 inches of fat minimum on their entire body???

And its not cuz hes embarrassed of the fat, its normal and healthy, he just doesn't want to go from Trustworthy and Reliable Captain of thr Octonauts to "oh my god i need like an entire cheesecake rn to feel normal" in front of everyone cuz like 😭 he is a bit of a comfort eater. Like ah yes our strong and level headed captain is eating an entire box of oreos at 2 am because he misses his sister again 😭

Ofc the others do find out but there isn't any judgement if anything kwazii would probably join him, bro has a history of having weird food habits (hm wonder why... surely nothing related to being shipwrecked on an island and having to survive) and its nice

He does like, have THE best snacks tho and he might be hoarding them just a tiny bit-

he also can feel a bit worried about coming off as too large or intimidating so thats why he's always got his hands on his hips- and his head lowered down a bit

its not that he seems like physically scary but a larger presence can be intimidating for a lot of people

Teeth and claws aren't usually seen as intimidating in most scenarios in this world because its so common and is just like a feature of the species the same way hearing or smell can be btw

so yeah someone threatening to scratch ya can be scary but so can someone being able to find you because they can hear ur heartbeat 💀🙏

Back to the main point, like all the other octonauts aren't even like medium sized animals (like wolves and whatever), there ALL very small species. So hes like way in the upper range, the highest and tallest possible species while everyone else are all smaller ones specifically

So if barnacles is Actually Mad (💀 the scenario to make him genuinely mad has to be BAD) then he will go to his FULL HEIGHT

Cuz irl polar bears got very tall strong necks and etc so I think him standing at Full Serious Height would be very startling

Also about polar bears sense of smell!

Circling back to the adaptations being related to survival pressures and social ones

Polar bears in this world, use their sense of smell for something very important in the arctic: navigation, above and below water

It prevents things like getting lost in the wintery white world, which is so so easy for others. It can help find others than might be lost, and it can tell u if they r injured or not and I think thats precious

there is one problem tho, while their sense of smell is VERY strong, stronger than bloodhounds and etc, its made for being able to detect things very far away in freezing temperatures... so they're extremely sensitive

Which wouldn't be that much of an issue if barnacles wasn't in all sorts of more tropical environments...

In thr artic all u can smell is other people, animals, and which was is home

But if he's not in the octopod or under the water,but somewhere where there's THOUSANDS of insects,hundreds of pollinating plants, and tons and tons of different creatures all at once-

I think thats be overwhelming and he's probably be allergic to sooooooo many plants poor guy 🥺

Also even tho he like trims and thins out his thick coat, and even has a little cooling pack vest sort of thing under his uniform he can still overheat pretty easily

Cuz yk, the several inches of brown fat or blubber? Someone might say "hey just adjust ur diet and whatever to lose it" but that would be VERY UNHEALTHY for him... mess with the balance of his bodys systems yk? so its really not an option;^;

So yeah he still tends to overheat and thats why having his room canoncially set to actual arctic temperatures every night helps him sleep better and feel better

Usually alot of octonauts missions happen under water or in gups or maybe they'll spend some time on an island and it'll be hot

But with extended time spent in warmer climates he has to take alot more breaks and it can be alot harder for him

Also I think that he had a period in his early 20s college years where he was like kinda lowkey depressed because he was learning more about global warming and capitalism

, it didn't last too long fortunately because yk he met professor inkling who was already developing his idea for the octonauts

and they actuslly became really good friends and it really came together as a realistic thing when tweak got wind of em

On a more depressing note global warming for polar bears in a world where they're actual people with a unique culture and heritage means some totally different stuff

Like its not even the fact they can't even engage in their own cultural traditions (cough traveling in that one arctic global warming special where they were all exhausted cuz all the melted sea ice cough)

Its also the loss of genuine homes (in my au they're kinda like ice hobbit houses 🥰since polar bears irl will dig out shallow resting spots or mama bears will have dens with a toasty 30 degrees farenheit), architectural collapses, traditional jobs that can only be done in the arctic being lost, and being forced into more southern grounds because more and more just can't rely living there anymore

And I think that'd be super depressing to see in real time, its a cultural death

Heck even irl there's so many grizzlies going north and polar going south that they've actually started to mix and start having hybrids (grolar bears). And the thing is they're so genetically compatible that their species can actually develope into their own separate identity that might totally replace most if not all polar bears sense they're just more adapt to the changing climate and have more range,with benefits from both species

And while that sounds great on paper and makes sense and is obviously fine for them to have easier lives, I think in thr context of this world it would leave barnacles with some conflicted feelings

Because the thing is there used to be concerns about polar bears having to leave their homes to live is societies and communities that just... that their jobs wouldn't fit to. That would be physically harder for them to be healthy in. That they'd have to give up so many thousands of years of traditions thatd be impossible to carry over in.

Idk its late and I've got one braincell and idk if this makes sense and im sorry if it got depressing 😭

But yeah, so there's more and more of these younger people grolar bears, that just... will never have that full connection to their heritage. And idk I think its sad and maybe I'm projecting

Also I think that if barnacles was ever sad he'd just cope by playing the accordian lol,like the one meme of the girl playing "its a mental breakdown ✨" on a kazoo 😭

Let's end this on a happier note tho, circling back to barnacles being several feet taller than his entire crew, like-

We all already know this guy emotionally adopts every living being in sight

And well, his ENTIRE CREW literally, and I mean very literally and physically, looks up to him-

Like they all gotta turn their heads up and loon at him with big hopeful eyes ready for whatever he has to say

And im gonna be honest his composure is alot stronger than mine cux I would CRY because of how adorable that is

Like he knows its probably so unprofessional and might be seen as condescending BUT DAMN IT HE CANT HELP THR CUTENESS AGRESSION!!! HE WANTS TO SQUISH THEIR TINY FACES!!!

so sometimes hell have a very Serious and Leadership-like Captain Conversation, and then thr SECOND hes out of their sight (and hopefully hearing) HE JUST HAS TO STOP HIMSELF FROM JUST CRYING-

Cuz the second hes out of sight he will LOSE ALL COMPOSURE and need a minute because he loves them so much AND THEYRE SO FCKING SMALL-

Its kinda funny tho cuz ur captain barnacles is a pretty tiny guy, wonder howd that work for u XD

Anyways gn or whatever time it is for u 🐻‍❄️✨✨✨

Also he and Bianca call at least every week for an hour and frequently send eachother updates about what they're up to

He could talk to her about anything and she's good at talking sense into him

He makes sure that natquick gets plenty of social interaction too, that man is like his father figure

(Kinda sad but I headcanon barnacles dad died when he was really young cuz of an accident where ice collapsed, probably did not help how he felt when he got stuck in an icy hole as a kid 💀🙏)

ALSO

Barnacles looking up at u vvv

Barnaclea being his lil theater kid self^

Wait~ they don't love you ✨like I love you ✨🥰

Barnacles half awake at a late night mission when everything is done and they're just driving the gup a back home

Barnacles and Bianca on a video call

[hesbianspock]

ok francis rawdon moira crozier post: everyone’s always (rightly) repeating the “irish and middle born” line but i really don’t see talk about it beyond that — except maybe having him spit some irish gaelic while he fucks fitzjames in a fic, and i guarantee you that man would not have been a fluent irish speaker (see: efforts from both the english and from irish communities to prevent people from speaking irish). and as part of that i’d like to see more discussion of francis’ betrayal of who he is and where he comes from.

he is irish. the famine has just begun. he spends his life attempting to rise through the ranks of, to be a successful arm of, the empire that has ensured his status as a second class citizen, his inability to speak his ancestral language, the genocide of his countrymen. francis has his assertive personality and his vocal objections and his challenges, but ultimately he’s betrayed the very essence of who he is and only does it further upon destroying himself with alcohol — because to the empire, what else would an irishman do?

and he has so little genuine self awareness about it. deep inside himself, in his subconscious, i’m sure he knows. but he could never begin to Truly know it within the conscious or to actually vocalize it. bc how do you even begin to acknowledge or make sense of this about your ENTIRE LIFE?

and ofc this parallels with james and with hickey. pretending to be something you’re not, betraying the very essence of what you are. hiding. he doesn’t know it but THAT is the basis of his initial resentment of those two: they’re betraying themselves.

because to him, at first, hickey is an irishman who has so fully committed to the betrayal he won’t even speak in a way that implies his origin. hickey thinks this double deception makes them comrades, but in reality, would francis really have had hickey punished As A Boy if not for their first exchange? would hickey have mocked francis’ irishness from the gallows if not for the failure of that disguise, this betrayal of a perceived countryman?

the full extent of james’ betrayal is hidden to francis until the cairn but he still sees it, and he sees himself in it. the obedience, the obsequience, the ambition, the admiration, (the queerness,)

so when james confesses his bastardry, his non englishness, his deception, even if francis did not now love him, how could he ever hold it against him? he’s done worse.

and, perhaps most significantly, paralleling that with silna. francis helping the empire to colonize and imperialize other places as ireland was. silna avoiding and almost rejecting her duty for nearly the entirety of the show, seeking shelter with and in some cases allying with the interlopers she despises and who have ruined her life. Tuunbaq Is Dead.

[hanaybuns]

wow oh my gosh i didn't expect so many people to see that last post, thank you so so much!! and i loved reading everyone's thoughts too, thank you guys so much for taking the time to read my "analysis" (yaps) and taking the time to leave your own responses!!

here's part 2:

alright so after covering the past exenstively, lets go back to the present, where karamatsu hides his true feelings about things to avoid creating or being involved in conflict (and sometimes to avoid doing something that's inconvenient, like helping choromatsu lmao). karamatsu is so funny to me because unlike the others, he's so passive about everything. i have so many examples of this:

he always waits for girls to hit on him, he just poses and waits for the ladies to flock to him lmao. such a diva

he usually isn't the one to ever begin a conversation with the bros as a group, he'll mostly jump in once the conversation is happening

if he does strike up a conversation, it's usually one on one (and it's usually either with choromatsu, osomatsu, and occasionally jyushimatsu, who are the bros he has the least amount of conflict with)

he mostly doesn't start fights, he'll almost always get wrapped into them

ofc, he almost never fights back when it comes to being insulted by any of his brothers

he usually only insults osomatsu (or indirectly choromatsu, but that feels more like teasing than anything)

that being said, he does have his moments of proactiveness. i believe it's really in those moments when you get a sense of who he really is and you get a peek into his true feelings

so these were the ones i knew off the top of my head, but most of these scenes (save for pizza) are him trying to be a good older brother. either that, or trying to take control of the situation for his brother's sake.

(here is where i got a lot of the screenshots above from btw)

but also don't get me wrong, he does have his moments of proactive awfulness. sometimes accidental, sometimes not.

see, in my eyes, his passivity is a form of self preservation. i think on a subconscious level, he doesn't really take an active role in his own life (and his brother's) because the last time he asserted himself and truly tried to take control, he ended up causing his brothers to fight.

but to go even deeper, on an emotional level, he does it to avoid the feelings of rejection and failure he experienced after the fight. it's a way to protect himself from the possibility that he'll end up hurt again (and secondarily, the possibility that he'll make things worse for his brothers again).

this is also why i think he doesn't really listen to people. it's the same principle. karamatsu would rather live in his own bubble of self-aggrandizing delusion than truly face himself and others. he lives in this insulated echo chamber of his own thoughts and feelings, and since karamatsu is a dummy, this makes him ultimately blind to his own shortcomings. this also prevents him from having genuine and vulnerable relationships with his brothers. not only does he refuse to tell them how he really feels, he also refuses to truly listen to them and take their words to heart (as hurtful as they may be). but you know who he does listen to? you know who he does actually tell his true feelings to? you guessed it:

(and honestly? you know who else too? maybe not as deep as choukei but)

in full transparency, this is me being very lazy. but i wrote about this a while back when discussing the amazing doujin: Karamatsu's Brand New World.

(which I highly recommend everyone should read please please please).

karamatsu is a passionate, exclusive, caring, selfish, self-aggrandizing, delusional, stupid, kind, sensitive, cowardly, selfless, petty, lazy, cringey, blunt, lovable guy

he's ultimately a very flawed character and i can truly understand his popularity both here and in japan. but i think a lot of people interpret him as this perfect, selfless guy. no no, he sucks. they all do. and he's really stupid, he may be the dumbest out of the 6, though not by much. but all of his flaws and strong points make him a such great character. i hope i did him justice.

i'm really really excited for the fourth season, i hope we get more karamatsu exploration this season as well! if we don't, then i'll take every crumb i can get and talk endlessly about it anyways.

[backfromtwitterforw]

The question of "is tr!bad manipulating tr!ros" is very interesting because it can be summed up in what do you call "manipulation".

E.g are your friends manipulating you when they try to prevent you from going back with your ex? Or when they encourage you to pursue a goal they think would benefit you? And is that manipulation if they try to show you why something you did is bad in their eyes? Or if they push you in what they think is the right way for you? Where do you draw the line between advice and manipulation?

On one side, tr!Bad did encourage tr!Ros to kill and/or let the violent part of herself out more. And yes, he emphasised her insecurities, trying to make her think about how The Kingdom has been treating her. That can legitimately be seen as tr!Bad trying to manipulate tr!Ros.

On the other side, even without tr!Bad's intervention, she would've still have a violent side in her (as everyone does I believe). She did feel underappreciated and believe herself less worthy than other Kingdom's member. Her insecurities and her will to change things were really her own from the start.

!Bad lived for so long and had his heart broken so many times that he reached the conclusion that he should now do his own thing, rely on himslef only and keep everyone at arm's reach. When facing an unhappy tr!Ros who only see value through other's eyes, he jumps to the conclusion that what she needs is what worked for him: find self value and self happiness regardless of what others want. So that is what he tells her when she came to him for advice, to get motivation from herself. And all tr!Bad said was "what do YOU want".

Ofc, tr!Bad has his own agenda that we don't know much of yet, but after tr!Ros vague answer that she wants to protect the Kingdom and make everyone happy, tr!Bad just encourage her in that way.

And then, you have tr!Aimsey and Kingdom's members. They see tr!Ros who appeared calm getting more and more into combat training, trap building and revenge scheme. They don't understand why she still crave validation when they do their best to make her feel appreciated and that she belongs. So they try to make her realise that the path she's taking isn't what they consider the right one, that the feeling she has may be just that, a feeling with no evidence to support it.

So, who is manipulating tr!Ros here? Is tr!Bad the villain for validating her feelings and pushing her to be more self centered? Is tr!Aimsey and the Kindgom's members bad for trying to talk her out of a way they think dangerous?

My answer would be that none of them are actively manipulative. Each have their own view on life, friendship, loyalty and happiness. Each genuinely give the best advice they can with the biaised view they have. And it's up to tr!Ros to decide who she wants to listen to.

[randomness-is-my-order]

jiang cheng time travel au but make it return by death (re:zero) style (time loop with a set checkpoint) wherein he is killed five years after wei wuxian’s death after one of the demonic cultivators he tortures to death curses him in return and he dies and goes all the way back to when wei wuxian rescued the wen remnants and has just started living in the burial mounds. but jiang cheng is extremely hateful towards wei wuxian, still too lost in his grief from his previous life and has undergone zero development and healing and so he pounces at this opportunity to prevent zixuan and yanli’s deaths by doubling down on his opposition of wei wuxian, projecting his five-plus years of boiling resentment into this already sensitive situation from canon. he pushes wei wuxian harder, is even more prejudiced against the wens, is even more rigid in his opinions. still just as easily manipulated by the sect leaders and incapable of viewing things rationally. this results in an even bigger fallout between him and wei wuxian and this time jiang cheng pushes the sects to rally against wei wuxian even faster before the qiongqi path ambush can take place. the siege is pushed up, wei wuxian and the wens are caught off-guard, jiang yanli and zixuan are horrified at what’s going on, lan wangji stands up for wei wuxian like in canon but this time it’s even less effective because jiang cheng, the only person to have seen the people occupying the burial mounds, is relentless in his efforts to persecute them and wei wuxian. this time, a fight of a much greater magnitude takes place in the burial mounds (the nightless city massacre doesn’t happen) and wei wuxian fights with all he’s got but in the end, he and the wens all die and guess what? jiang cheng dies with them–caught in the collateral.

he wakes up, back to the same checkpoint as before. wei wuxian is in the burial mounds with the wens and now, he has to figure out a way to kill wei wuxian and the wens without him dying along. he goes through some more iterations of this, trying to get rid of wwx before the “main” tragedies can happen and by the fifth or sixth trial, he’s so fucking exhausted with himself. he can’t understand what he’s doing wrong, where he’s lacking. so, this time, he decides to simply convince wei wuxian to give up the wens once more. this is back his canon actions, just with added hatred for wwx which is still carried over–just worn out now. wei wuxian refuses, reminds him of his debts to the wens, and it’s back to square one. he’s missing something, he doesn’t know what, but brute forcing his way didn’t work, massacring people didn’t work and now he needs to do something different. he goes to yanli and asks her how he can convince wei wuxian and yanli, ofc, tells him that that is impossible. wei wuxian won’t budge. the wens’ lives are important to him. he’s doing the right thing.

and at this point, jiang cheng needs to reckon with the fact that his violence hasn’t solved one issue, has only caused more problems, has only exacerbated the wounds. if there is something that needs to be fixed, it has to start with his own self. all these lives of hatred that dictated his actions have to catch up to him, there has to be some guilt that is finally sparking after each life he spent betraying wei wuxian from the get-go, spearheading the siege without ever listening to wei wuxian or his opinions and forcing his will to make things better, the way he saw fit.

after this, his focus would shift to making wei wuxian give up the “demonic” path instead of making him give up the wens. it would take some more tries but i see jiang cheng actually learning something from all the lives he wasted and somehow learning about the golden core after going through the grating process of actually talking to wei wuxian without being a massive prick. in some lives, he gets to talk to yanli some more, in some others, wen qing rips him a new one and collectively, he begins to have a slow shift in perspective. and wei wuxian, being wei wuxian, is even able to offer him some empathy for all the memories he carries from his past lives.

idk how this would end. if jiang cheng would earnestly apologise and come to realise all of his wrongdoings and finally provide political support to wei wuxian–by speaking up when lan wangji and mianmian do (which would still not solve the issue, but it would be a start). or if return by death ends at some point and he is reverted back to his original circumstances, just this time with the full understanding of why he messed up and that he can’t live on with such a resentful mindset anymore.

see, i’m not against a jiang cheng redemption fic but it needs to feel very very earned and the impetus has to be about jiang cheng taking accountability in a major way. and i also LOVE time travel au in other fandoms but in mdzs i think sometimes it can come across as... oh, wei wuxian could have just done this one thing and everything would be fine, he wasn’t smart/strong/capable enough and that doesn’t work for me. so for jiang cheng to realise just how difficult it is to save two people and to realise the lengths wei wuxian would go to protect the wens and to have him take all these lives to finally gets some semblance of a better result than canon–and only when he can respect wei wuxian’s cause and join him in finding a solution rather than singlehandedly wandwaving the complex net of issues away–is very very appealing.

[wasureukiyo]

Hi! So i posted all this on twitter and was kind of a hit so i thought i might update it here. I’m currently writing a tfo megop fic (haven’t posted it yet, hopefully this week) and i’ve been making threads with tidbits of the story and character lore. So i thought to make a master post here with the same info! (i’ll add the link to the fic once i post it to ao3)

The fic’s name is

Love has a different meaning from what you’re used to

And the main plot is this:

“Concubine Optimus who is Sentinel’s favorite but Sentinel doesn’t love him, he’s just addicted to him. But Optimus yearns and yearns for some semblance of love that he lets Sentinel use and abuse him, until guards are changed and since he’s the main star in Sentinel’s berth he’s assigned the toughest guard. A former soldier named Megatron who’s known for being incredibly ruthless. Optimus finds him attractive in a way he hadn’t felt with Sentinel before. Megatron keeps guard, he’s outside the door every time Sentinel has his way with Optimus. Their optics meet whenever Sentinel walks out the door and Optimus is so ashamed with himself, even if he knows it’s his duty to give himself to Sentinel and hopefully conceive a sparkling (what Sentinel does not know is that Optimus prevents it every time through external means). And Sentinel is not a considerate lover, he overloads and leaves to perhaps frag any other concubine. He tells Optimus he’s the one he loves the most even if it’s a lie they both know about. Optimus’ self servicing sessions afterwards begin featuring thoughts of Megatron and Optimus knows, that he’s behind that door. He’s loud on purpose, he calls his designation to let him know that it is him who Optimus truly wants. One night, unbidden the door opens and Megatron is there, venting hard and tense while Optimus’ digits are deep within his valve. Restraint breaks and they frag. It becomes a habit, Sentinel will leave and Megatron will finish what sentinel never could. They don’t talk about it at first, Megatron just presses his dermas to Optimus’ helm and returns to his post. Little by little though, conversation ensues. They frag more passionately, and the buds of love, real love, begin to grow. Optimus finally gives in and lets Megatron breach his gestation chamber, he hopes each time that it results in a sparkling, even if he’s deeply terrified in what Sentinel will do to them if he finds out. When it does happen, Megatron promises that he’ll fight his way for Optimus’ freedom, that they’ll leave far away and raise that family both desperately dream of. It is a promise, and for a while it’s enough, they are enough”

About Optimus:

Optimus isn’t just a random mech Sentinel thought was pretty and took in. Optimus was the prince of a small cybertronian colony in another galaxy. He was well educated on politics and excellent on combat, he ruled along a council. Now Sentinel is the leader of cybertron itself AND annexed colonies so usually, smaller colonies flock to him for protection. Given the size of his empire, whatever Sentinel asks in return he shall receive. Armies, land, resources, pretty mechs. And if the colony refused then Sentinel would make sure to reduce them to nothing. Optimus’ colony had been struggling against quintesson invasion for quite some time until they finally called Sentinel for help and protection. Optimus and the council were fully prepared to offer the leader either an army or resources, what they did not expect was Sentinel taking a liking to Optimus himself. During negotiations, Sentinel agreed for protection of their colony in exchange of taking Optimus as a “partner”. The council debated amongst themselves with all except for Alpha Trion (who did not trust Sentinel) to agree to his terms. Optimus was excluded from this decision and then told once they reached agreement. Ofc Optimus wasn’t exactly too thrilled, but he was convinced under the guise that he would be Sentinel’s equal in diplomatic matters. In his eyes, being an equal to the greatest leader in cybertron while also having his colony protected was enough of a deal. So Optimus leaves, he thinks life with Sentinel won’t be too bad, and he’d get to show all his diplomatic and combat prowess. The illusion soon shatters, and Optimus learns that he is not the sole “partner” to Sentinel, but rather one of the many concubines that have to give themselves to him. Ofc he is not too thrilled at first, he resists and argues but Sentinel is a cruel mech. He finds great pleasure in breaking strong mechs into the husks of what they were. And oh how much Optimus loves to fight him and how beautiful he is. He immediately becomes Sentinel’s favorite. Little by little the fight drains from Optimus as he realizes that if he becomes submissive he gets granted more benefits, until the current point in the story where he’s just Sentinels favorite toy. Does he mourn his old life? Of course, he had much potential, but he’s deluded himself into compliance bc as long as Sentinel doesn’t get bored of him, his people will be protected.

About Sentinel:

So far, i've mentioned that Sentinel is the leader of cybertron itself and annexed colonies right? Well it wasn’t always that way. Sentinel was actually, the conjux of the previous cybertronian leader! aka Zeta Prime (don’t ask abt the others i’m still working on that) but yeah. Sentinel did have his whirlwind romance. The way it works, the moment you marry the current prime, you become a prime yourself (we’ll discuss about the matrix later). Ofc things happened and Zeta died. The weight of leadership fell onto Sentinel. It was hard at first, he wasn’t too thrilled about primacy, but as he learned to manage it he also got quite power hungry. He soon began noticing the flaws in Zeta’s old leadership. He ended up casting aside his past and strived to create a “better cybertron” which meant controlling as much as he could. Now, Sentinel isn’t exactly the sole ruler. He has a council of “advisors” who after Zeta’s death and cycles of being alone urged Sentinel to remarry, granted he and Zeta never had sparklings. Sentinel refused at first, but as time went on he began loosening up to the idea. The first mech he took, he could not bear the idea of sharing the primacy. Yes, he was given the chance for it but how could he make sure the mech he chose would not rise against him with the power. Hence why he started “collecting” concubines. It became an addiction, and a habit. the council ofc was not too happy with the arrangement, but as long as one of the many concubines could bear a sparkling, they’d look the other way. So far none have, but in their eyes, Optimus is by far the best candidate. And yeah! Sentinel’s lore is very very stc but this is the current outline, as for why none of the concubines have been sparked? Hmm who knows. He’s a dick tho and a very very selfish mech

About Elita-1:

So Elita is actually one of Sentinel’s guards, quite high ranking too, sitting just below Airachnid. While Airachnid oversees Sentinel’s personal guards (the ones who go everywhere with him) Elita is in charge of overseeing the tower’s guards, which also include the ones assigned to the concubines. She plans their schedule and personally chooses them for each concubine. While on the outside she may look terrifying, she actually holds a soft spot for each of the concubines bc of their situation. She holds a very particular one for Optimus and often bends the rules and sneaks him stuff. Datapads, news from the outside world, letters, she even sneaked him out for training once. She isn’t a fan of Sentinel’s government and thinks someone else is way more fit to do the job but she doesn’t quit for several reasons:

1) She’s made it her mission to make the concubines’ lives a bit easier despite still being at Sentinel’s mercy and

2) she believes the best way to take down Sentinel is from within. After all, an insider is needed to know what goes on

She’s also incredibly skilled! One of the top combatants. She and Megs know each other from their time in Sentinel’s army. Although she got promoted to guard fairly quick and she’s also the one who picks Megs as Optimus’ personal guard later on, for several reasons. Sentinel trusts her a lot even if Airachnid is suspicious of her. And yeah! A badass through and through <3

And so! I’ll keep updating this post with more character lore and such as it gets written 😋 hope ya’ll look forward to it! (And feel free to drop asks abt this AU!)

[snakewithawitchhat]

Sm♡t Alphabet

Featuring Macaque

I promised I'd make this after the Wukong one, didn't I?

This includes smut. Ofc

Aftercare— Like Wukong, Macaque is also good at aftercare. He'll bandage any wounds, kiss any bruises, apologize if he was too rough, and comfort you until you fall asleep or calm down. He also likes to shower with you after.

Body Part— His favorite body parts are your hips and sides. He loves the way you shudder when he trails his fingers over the sensitive skin in those areas.

Cum— Almost always outside. Sure, he loves the idea of stuffing you fuller than a chocolate eclair, but he also loves seeing you covered in his own mess.

Dirty Secret— He absolutely loves your praise. Unlike Wukong, he'd do anything to be called a good boy. He can't help it. Your voice is so perfect. He also likes the idea of being tied up, but he'd never tell you that.

Experience— Much like Wukong, Macaque has plenty of experience. He hadn't done it for a while until he met you, but he has a general idea of it.

Favorite Position— Doggy or spooning. Or any other position where he can see your face. He loves seeing the way your eyes roll back into your head. The way you look while he fucks you dumb is so adorable.

Goofy— He tries to be serious, he really does, but if you or even he says something dumb while drunk with pleasure, he'll burst into laughter.

Hair— Like Sun, he's very well groomed. He showers before and after the deed unless to prevent him. Although, if he's in a real needy situation, he doesn't care what state he's in.

Intimacy— He sucks at being romantic. He does set up some romantic scenes for you both to enjoy, but most of the time he just likes pounding into you at random hours of the day

Jack off— He rarely does this. He never did before you came along, and now that you are here, whenever he needs to be taken care of, he has you.

Kink— Oh, he has PLENTY. Breeding (ofc), you or him being tied up, primal play, spanking, sadism, bruises, marking, etc…

Location— Whether it's in the privacy of your or his room or against the wall in a secluded alleyway, he's enjoying himself.

Motivation/turn on— Whenever you dress yourself up (tux or dress), he's obsessed. Especially if it's for him. Compliments get him going, too. Or sometimes his mind wanders when he looks at you, and he just can't help the tent in his pants.

No/turn off— If anyone walks in on you, or watches, he's stopping. You can try to convince him about this, but he doesn't like the idea of someone else getting off on your private time. Not unless he's proving a point that you're his.

Oral (giving/receiving)— He loves giving. He loves burying his face between your thighs and kissing his way up and down your body. He'll hold out until you cum first. If you try to give him pleasure, he'll be all like "What about youu?"

Pace— He can go at any pace. He has more self-control than Monkey King, that's for sure. His favorite pace is slow but rough, though. Slowly pulling away just to slam back. He enjoys the little noises of surprise you make.

Quickie— He's fine with them. Sure, he enjoys going for hours on end, but he also likes seeing how fast he can make you finish.

Risk— He loves trying out new stuff. If you suggest it, he won't hesitate to try. New position? Sure! A gag? Hell yes!

Stamina— What do you think? He can go for hours! Hours and hours and even more! Still, he prefers to give you a break between every few orgasms if you go for so long.

Toy— Oh, toys… he loves these, too. Dildos, vibrators, beads, flesh lights… all of them. If you like it, he loves it. Most of them, he likes using on you, though…

Unfair— He hates teasing you! He wants you to finish as soon and as much as possible. He does like it if you tease him, though. The way you get all cocky turns him on all the more.

Volume— He's surprisingly quiet. He only really lets out the occasional grunt or barely audible whine. Most of the sounds he makes are just pants and huffs.

Wild Card— He absolutely loves eating you out (males and gals alike). The way your walls hug so tightly around his tongue when you squeak and whine is just so perfect.

X-Ray— 9 inches and very thick. Good luck with that lol

Yearning— He's always needy and begs for intercourse. If you say no, he'll leave you alone, but still … you will be fucked into oblivion at his next chance

Zzz— After you're done, he's done. He'll cuddle up with you and make sure you're fast asleep and not waking up anytime soon before passing out himself.

[bonefall]

What did Sagewhisker do? All I remember was that she was Yellowfang's mentor, and I used to love YS. (I was a lot younger at the time, though.)

oH Lord, a lot of people who read YS when they were younger kinda don't pick up on how shitty Sagewhisker is. It goes over their heads that she is the one who's actually responsible for Yellowfang being forced to be distant from Brokenkit

From a young age, Sagewhisker is pressuring Yellowpaw to be a medcat, when she doesn't want to

Yellow LIKES the satisfaction of healing itself, but LOVES being a warrior more.

She's a fantastic hunter, has always wanted a family, and is just genuinely filled with a lot of self-satisfaction when she gets to do her warrior duties.

(They also had to retcon the stupidest magic power, super-empathy, into Yellowfang so that she nonsensically wouldn't like fighting. Yellowfang. The cat whose first appearance in TPB is attacking Firepaw and didn't hesitate to blind Brokenstar. THAT Yellowfang.)

In contrast, when she starts healing, she's constantly filled with shame or horror. She also gets bullied viciously by several cats, while others do that Thing that an older family member does when they don't like what you're doing. You know;

"Ohhh that's so good, for you. If it makes you happy it's good!! I mean, but, wouldn't you rather do Other Thing? I mean no, I understand, you like This thing, but Other thing would... no no it's okay, nevermind. I'm happy for you."

This while she's already courting Raggedpelt, and planning a future with him.

So to begin with, she has a lot of negative feelings when Sagewhisker tries to pressure her into this role, especially as Sage insists she "Wants HER" and "It's your destiny." But that's not all;

When Cloudpaw (later Cloudpelt) gets viciously mauled and might not survive, Sagewhisker takes one look and says, "It might be kinder to let StarClan take him now."

Yellowfang is FURIOUS at how quickly Sagewhisker gave up, and Sage just waves this away with "oh I won't stop you but be prepared for heartbreak lol"

Sage continues to tell her shit like "You can't save every cat" after Cloudpaw's mother sees her son all cheese-grated up.

So... either Sagewhisker was going to just leave Cloudpaw there to bleed out or die of infection, OR she was implying euthanasia.

And it's probably euthanasia, because when Yellowfang is pregnant later, she says,

Sooooo... considering how WEIRD WC generally is about abortion, acting like it's not even an option and giving Clear Sky some Angel Fetus Children in DOTC...

Sagewhisker was probably implying that Yellowfang would smother infants. Or do whatever Sagewhisker was planning to do with Cloudpaw.

I don't even know if pressuring Yellowfang into an abortion would have been better... honestly this exchange is uncomfortable no matter how you slice it.

It gets worse ofc. Yellowfang gets this warning from StarClan about how “Only one thing can stop the tide of hatred this birth cursed cat will bring: the courage of a mother to know her destiny.” Silverflame also suggests just being his friend, if she can't be his mother.

Forget that though, because Sagewhisker continues to snap at Yellowfang and remind her that she can't look at him for too long, else people will get suspicious or something.

"It's a woman's responsibility to have children for our glorious war society, Yellowfang, unless they have A RARE GIFT THAT MUST NOT BE WASTED."

In the same conversation she's then like, "Also don't go into the nursery, the child I forced you to give up needs a chance to bond with the abusive foster who hates his little guts."

In general Sagewhisker also prevents Yellowfang from standing up for herself or her position in a way that is absolutely infuriating. Foxheart comes in and starts bellowing about "HOW DARE YOU HAVE APPRENTICES RUN ERRANDS FOR YOU?" and Sage is just like, "Turn the other cheek uwu"

Yellowfang is punished constantly for the sin of being Yellowfang. She is not allowed to be snarky at all. It fucking sucks. This book is MISERABLE

SO basically, Sagewhisker forces her into a role she isn't very happy in, stops her from standing up for herself ever, guilts Yellowfang over "wasting her special gift," gives up on cases that are too hard for her, suggests killing kits, says some wildly misogynistic stuff, prevents Yellowfang from doing anything about Brokenkit, and then dies.

She's the worst and no one ever talks about how fucked up this character is. and I really mean AS A CHARACTER

Because her PURPOSE in the story is to do all of these things and be hailed as a good mentor in the end. But the fandom is REALLY bad at analyzing characters as narrative tools.

She's right to pressure Yellowfang into her role, with the ending comic even trying to have Sagewhisker apologize for pressuring her and Yellow going "d'aww dwai you didn't force me into anything 8) ignore the entire fucking book before this point"

Giving up on a battered teenager is supposed to show Yellowfang's talent and resolve, not reflect poorly on Sagewhisker.

WC fully believes that "wisdom" she espouses about Lizardfang. Lizardfang is a bad woman because she doesn't accept her place as a queen. This kind of guilt and blame is reserved exclusively for mothers in WC, not fathers, note how Mudclaw doesn't help at all but no one gives a shit.

Killing the baby would have been the best option because, again, Brokenkit is BORN. EVIL.

I'm pretty convinced that "Courage of a mother to KNOW HER DESTINY" refers to the fact she is supposed to be a medcat, who kills her child. What FINALLY ends Brokenstar's reign of terror is being poisoned-- not the kindness she was finally able to show him in TPB while he was prisoner.

So Sagewhisker guilt-tripping Yellowfang into a position she doesn't like, keeping her away from her child, suggesting murdering the baby... that's all good, actually. That's something that is framed as correct.

And I think people really sleep on it. Sagewhisker is like this perfect little encapsulation of how shitty clan culture is in WC, an enforcer of the series' misogyny while being a woman herself, someone who makes Yellowfang's wife HELL.

But because she didn't do it violently, no one notices it.

[ghouldtime]

I need more neighbor König getting protective over his little neighbor.

I do believe he can get very possessive, though I'm not sure that's the word I'm looking for. But he's lost so much, so many people in his unit and people he had once considered friends. He won't even visit his own mother because he's scared for her safety. Maybe an enemy finds out some way some how about her and takes her as leverage. Now she gets to see colonel konig with his gear and mask and barking orders and not the sweet man she's come to know. How would he react or feel?

Ofc when she realizes it's just him and throws her arms around him

I'm sorry but I'm answering this because this doesn't fall under my characterization of him 😭 I can do the last part maybe one day when I'm not sick and have planned everything out in my mind THOROUGHLY

I know you meant no harm by this either!! This is just a bit of a rambly tangent to describe WHO my König is and why he's that way.

(Also stating that reader in neighbor isn't explicitly a she nor are they little in the same way. I write gender neutral for a reason! They're a grown adult)

Like I know it's just an imagine and possible scenario but for me I just don't really see it happening unless quite literally EVERYTHING went wrong. He's got plan A, plan B, plan C, D, and E. Always be prepared.

But it strikes me as unlikely in happening at all as he is a VERY cautious man and does what he can to remove his identity as König from his residential life. He keeps his gear under lock and key, he doesn't tell personal details of his work, he doesn't want to track ANY of that back. His field life isn't his personal life and he's intent on keeping that separated. Anything that could be used to identify him, he doesn't keep around or its hidden so NO ONE would suspect it.

It would take some absolute major intel and someone working within KorTac itself to follow him like that - even then, dude is a bit paranoid. He's got a security system for a reason, he doesn't wear his mask in public, his body is covered up usually by the long clothes he wears, he's not out socializing - he's just blending in. He's watching cars that pass, he usually keeps curtains drawn or has privacy film, he knows who drives what car and their schedules - so if it's off, he's picking it up.

The way he's protective is in his actions - that's WHY he won't tell details of his work, that's WHY he works hard to ensure personal life doesn't meddle with what his job is, that's WHY he has backup plans. That's WHY he makes sure they get a security system too, if they haven't had one already. That's why he makes sure they're trained in self defense and have at least some form of weapon at the ready, even though they ARE in a safe area. He's protective in the sense of "I'm doing what I can to prevent that aspect of my life from coming into yours" , he's protective in the sense of "I've seen what people are capable of, I've protected myself so I'm protecting you too as much as I can because you matter to me". He's protective in the sense he's caring, he's going out of his way to make sure you're safe.

But he's not going to be protective in the sense of "let me be with you constantly" or "who were you talking to???" or "Why didn't you invite me". Reader is a grown, independent adult and he's aware of that. He's respectful of that and knows they're capable of caring for themselves too. Being IN their life doesn't mean he IS their life. They both operate in their own lives and have their own interests and both, as such, need alone time and time to spend with others too. That's just how to have healthy relationships.

He's very independent himself and having another person around as his friend has taken a significant adjustment period. Honestly, it takes a long time for him to even register that he can go do things with them. He's so used to being on his own that it has to catch up.

And I'm going to say that my König is NEVER possessive towards people. Never. Possessive implies treating them like an object or piece of property, like they're something that's his alone. Possessive means great insecurity in his sense of relationships to the extent where he's manipulating them and monopolizing their lives for his gain.

He's not, because he's a well adjusted adult who has been to therapy throughout his life to manage his own insecurities, especially involving interpersonal relationships. Hell, when he STARTED to even get feelings for neighbor, he brought it up to said therapist just to be sure he's going down the right path. He's built a set of healthy behaviors to cope with unhealthy feelings that may arise.

He gets jealous, especially initially, but once again - he's a grown adult and is capable of handling his own insecurities in a productive way. Everyone is allowed to have more than one person in their lives and a healthy network of relationships matters.

Protective? Yes. Possessive? Absolutely not. He respects independence as he himself is that way. He wants to spend as much time as possible with his neighbor but he realizes that he too needs his own space and time to recharge, and he can't be singularly focused on one person alone. His primary concern is their safety, no matter what they do.

He's lost many comrades and brothers in arms but that's also bound to happen in his line of work. This might sound brutal, but he's desensitized to it to a degree. Losing someone is never easy, but it's expected. The blow will always hurt but when it's always a possibility, it never wanes. He's wary of it and aware of it, and losing any friends he made happened earlier on in the army before his private contracting days. It numbed him too it and set the precedent for his relationships with anyone and is why he's so guarded.

After then, he's not really had many friends. Not that he had many to begin with but he doesn't go out of his way to get close to others. Acquaintances and work buddies? Yes. But friends are a rarity as he's really rather unapproachable. He's there to do his job, he's there to take people down and get paid, he's wary of getting close to ANYONE knowing they can be taken at any moment. He'll work with them, he'll know them, he'll be proud of them - but making friends and forming personal relationships like that in a private military contracting company is a bad idea, when they can easily swap over to the other side if they're offered more pay. He's seen it happen, he knows it's a real possibility.

That's why he picks any personal relationships closely and takes eons to warm up. His social anxiety, as well managed as it is, doesn't make it any easier. He knows what can happen, so he prepares as best as he can. Which INCLUDES being protective and prepared, and planning accordingly. If he's letting anyone into his life, he's already got a game plan for what he'll do.

And no, he DOES visit his mother, as I've stated! As much as his work allows and as much as possible, he does visit. He just doesn't live with or near her. He can easily visit throughout the year when his schedule allows and its sporadic, with no rhyme or reason. He doesn't take repeating cars, he doesn't do anything in a pattern that can be tracked. He's also made sure she's secure in her home too so it's unlikely things will happen, but he won't flat out not communicate with her and not see her at all. He's just smart and careful about it! He can't bare to never see her again.

I'm sorry but my König just doesn't fall under how most people portray him or see him. He's just a guy with his own personal issues. And like the proper guy that he is, he manages them and knows its his responsibility to do such. He's extensively gone to therapy, he's worked on himself, he knows where he stands.

Sure, he's still prone to jealousy and a touch of paranoia, but that doesn't mean he lacks the skills to work through them. He communicates like an adult with whatever he's feeling. Expressing it can be hard but he DOES get it out there and he also heavily respects reader's own autonomy. They're an adult, so is he. He'll protect them and do what he can, he'll care about them, but he will never seek to control them or treat them like something for only HIM to have. He's not and will never be a "they're MINE and NO ONE touches what's mine" - that's just not him to me. I don't write him as a big, broody dommy guy who is growling every sentence or can't handle others talking to someone he likes.

To me, he's just a dude. An introverted guy who likes to sew ridiculous pillows and tend to his garden who is happy in the home he made for himself. He's comfortable with who he is and where he stands. He can communicate properly, knows how to respect boundaries, and likes seeing others who matter to him happy in their lives as they establish a supportive network. Just because he isn't always with them or going with them doesn't mean they can't take care of themselves or he HAS to be there. He's not some ultra possessive dude because he has healthy understandings of boundaries and knows the world doesn't revolve around him and his wants (also he wouldn't WANT them to depend on him and him alone when its very possible he too will die on the field one day). He's not always going to look over your shoulder or instantly treat any other person as a threat.

He's seasoned with the things he's seen and is wary enough to be protective and to do what he knows to prevent what he's seen happen. He's cautious, he's considerate, he's caring - and he's not a cunt about it. Really, he's just perceptive and accepts what can happen so he tries to set up anyone in his life for success to avoid what he's seen and to keep them from harm. He can't always be there, he knows he can't, so ensuring that those around him who he DOES care about have a proper, healthy network of friends around for support and have a game plan for if shit hits the fan (as well as a system to enact it) is his way of showing he cares and can always be with them and help, even if he's long gone or buried six feet under.

[24hrsoda]

adding on to this AU again

It’s Cass who discovers Ra’s is not that scary.

Bruce is already in hot water with Ra’s for not following orders and severely interfering with the way things were supposed to go on his last mission. Unnecessary casualties came about and he’s angry that Ra’s wouldn’t hear him out when he tries to explain he was only trying to prevent them from happening. He gets benched ofc and he’s extra broody when he returns.

And tiny Cass (who likes to sneak around) overhears Talia attempting to comfort Bruce about it, and decides she should give Ra’s a piece of her tiny mind for upsetting Bruce.

She’s super quiet and manages to sneak away from Bruce and the others and slink around the palace until she comes across Ra’s meditating quietly out in a courtyard. He immediately senses her watching him, but doesn’t do anything about it, cause she’s not actually a threat. He’s also curious as to what she wants.

She toddles up to him and squares up ready to fight, and he opens his eyes, looks down at her, and then just bursts out laughing. She’s tiny and adorable despite glaring him down, he can’t help but laugh. A full deep belly laugh that startles her and has her stepping back.

And once he’s done laughing, he’s like, “I commend your bravery, little one. But your form is not quite right.”

And he guides her to adjust her fighting stance so she’s better prepared. He’s curious to see how Bruce has been training the children, and it more or less turns in to him having her practice her kicks and punches against his hands and coaching her through perfecting her moves. (For self defense purposes, he’s not inducting her in to the league or anything.)

Bruce realizes she’s missing and panics. He immediately goes looking for her and nearly looses his mind when he finds her with Ra’s. They’re meditating side by side—well, Ra’s has returned to meditating after Cass tired herself out, and Cass is just trying to mirror him, pose and everything, very determined to look as big and strong as he does.) Bruce is already in trouble and doesn’t want things to get worse for him, now he’s over-apologetic , promising he’ll do better to keep the kids out of Ra’s’ way and whatnot.

Ra’s doesn’t mind, though, and waves him off. Cass was curious and determined, and reminds him a lot of Bruce. He was happy to help her with some minimal training, she was smiling by the end of it and seemed to enjoy his company, anyways.

Bruce apologizes again and scoops her up, carrying her off, and she pokes her little head up to look at Ra’s over his shoulder as they leave. Ra’s just gives her a knowing smile, and she smiles to herself smugly. She learned new things today, and Ra’s told her she was brave.

Next time her brothers are whispering about how mean and scary Ra’s seems, she will just smile to herself. She will know he’s not that scary.