#this is the exact plot of catch 22

[normaltothemax]

Stayed home sick and I feel like I should be doing something but I also feel guilty about doing stuff bc I stayed home sick

[littlewriters-posts]

Hey darling! Can I request the Damon Salvatore x Fem!Reader? So maybe where the reader is the reincarnation or rebirth of Damon's old love, and Damon meets the reader's reincarnation like Elena in season 3, episode 22?

I love this idea so much!!

I spent hours writing this last night only for it not to save, so here is another attempt.

Plot: Damon thought his first love was dead and buried, so imagine his surprise when someone turns up in Beacon Hills wearing her exact face

1864

Katherine Peirce loved her boys - more importantly she loved how she had them wrapped around her little finger. Which meant of course, she could get whatever she wanted.

The three of them were sat outside in the gardens, enjoying the sunshine in the summer weather. Kathrine, Damon and Stefan all laughing amongst themselves like old friends.

"Your friend is coming today is she not?" Stefan asked.

Kathrine nodded, looking towards the road as if expecting a carriage to pull up at any minute.

"We're grateful you could offer us both shelter," she replied simply.

"Well if she's anything like you, how could we refuse?" Damon asked, a grin forming on his face.

Kathrine smiled up at him "She's exactly like me,"

This was a lie. Although Kathrine would never admit it, she often mimicked her friend's personality to get people to like her. Y/N was softer than Kathrine was, her heart not frozen from the years of pain they had both endured.

"What did you say her name was again?" Stefan asked.

"Y/N," Kathrine responded, "And it looks like she's here,"

A black carriage was pulling up, and a footman appeared to open the door. Kathrine was quick to race towards her friend, whilst the brothers hung back to watch the scene play out.

They watched as Y/N stepped out of the carriage, adorned in a soft green dress. She embraced her friend, a wide smile on her face as she chatted excitedly. Katherine drew her to where the Salvatore brothers stood, and Y/N shrunk slightly, stepping behind Katherine ever so slightly.

"Salvatore's, this is Y/N L/N, you'll forgive her if she's a little shy," Katherine smiled down at her friend.

Damon was the first to respond, taking her hand and pulling it up to his lips. "Damon Salvatore," he said, pressing a quick kiss to her hand.

Y/N curtseyed in response "A pleasure to meet you Mr Salvatore,"

Stefan was next, offering her a small bow "Stefan Salvatore, we hope you enjoy your stay here,"

Y/N smiled, looking between the two bothers "Thank you for having me, Kathrine tells me you have been most generous hosts,"

Kathrine clicked her tongue "Forgive me Salvatore's, but I believe I will be showing her around her new home,"

The brothers gave a small wave towards the girl in green, who gave a shy smile in response.

"What do you think?" Stefan asked his brother. Damon eyed the retreating figures of the two girls with curiosity.

"Well Kathrine says she's like her, but I don't think I've ever met someone so different,"

Neither Stefan nor Damon saw much of Y/N from that moment on, she would never be teasing them the way Katherine did, nor would she seek them out. They'd catch glimpses of her reading, or writing beneath one of the trees in the garden occasionally, but neither of them even thought of saying something.

They were too captivated by Katherine.

But then came the day of the Founder's ball. Damon was in a foul mood, since Katherine had decided to attend the ball with Stefan, and found himself wandering he halls of his own home, unable to escape the nagging feeling in his chest.

So he went to where he always went too when his thoughts became too much; the library.

It was a large place, with books lining the walls like leaves on the trees. But it was cosy also, with three large chairs huddled round the grand fireplace.

To his surprise however, there was already somebody there.

"Miss Y/N," he remarked, a surprised frown on his face "I thought you'd be at the party,"

It was true, as she was adorned in a beautiful purple dress, that looked to be one of Katherine's. Her hair was done in an elegant updo, but still she sat on the chair, a heavy book in her lap.

She blinked up at him, her fingers fiddling with the pages.

"I've never been one for crowds, that was always more of Katherine's thing," she said softly.

Katherine. The name felt bitter on Damon's tongue. He wondered though, if Y/N was like Katherine in other ways, in ways that had to be kept a secret from the rest of the family.

"Mind if I join you?" Damon asked, and Y/N shook her head.

"Not at all,"

There was a brief silence between them as Damon stared at the girl. She paid him little attention, her eyes darting across the pages of the book as if feasting off the words it gave her.

"You like to read," he observed, and Y/N jumped, forgetting he was there.

"I like to write," she corrected "But reading is the next best thing if I have nothing to write in,"

There was another silence, and Damon debated saying something else, but she didn't seem like the type to want to talk much, and he felt he should be careful where he tread. But to his surprise it was her who started the next conversation.

"What brings you out of the party?" Y/N asked, closing her book and setting it to the side.

Damon sighed, he couldn't tell her the real reason, for Katherine was her friend and he was not. But similarly he couldn't think of a lie, something about her made him feel guilty for even thinking about lying to her.

Y/N grimaced slightly, taking pity on the fallen expression of the man. "I see she chose your heart to break," she said softly.

"What?" Damon asked, taken by surprise.

Y/N sighed "You think you're the first two men that Katherine has set against each other? I love her dearly, but she does like her games,"

Damon shrugged "The price I pay for falling for the act in the first place,"

"If I may," Y/N said cautiously "If you want to win her affection's you needn't show it to her so much. Katherine likes to chase,"

Damon's eyes flickered slightly 2What are you suggesting?" he asked.

"Take someone else to the next founders ball," Y/N suggested, picking up another book from the table. "You're a handsome man Mr Salvatore I'm sure you'll have little trouble finding somebody who takes an interest,"

Damon sat back a little, before glancing at the time. The founders ball still had a couple of hours before it was over.

"Why wait?" he asked, a mischievous smile on his face. "I could get a date right now,"

"That's the spirit," Y/N said, not looking up from her book.

"So Y/N, would you do me the honour of attending the founders ball with me?"

Y/N's mouth dropped open as she looked up at Damon, who was now standing with his arm outstretched towards ger.

"I - I can't!" she said with wide eyes "I'm terrible with crowds, and I don't know anybody, and god forbid they try and talk with me-"

Damon cocked his head slightly as she spoke, sensing the panic in her voice.

"I'll stay with you, and if anyone speaks to us, I will be the one to answer, if that is what you wish. So what do you say - one dance?"

Y/N hesitated, before slowing accepting his hand and letting him pull her up. "Don't make me regret this Mr Salvatore," she warned.

He laughed, guiding her hand to he crook of his arm. "Please call me Damon,"

Y/N sighed, trying desperately to swallow the nerves about walking into a room full of people she didn't know.

In the hall, Katherine and Stefan were dancing gracefully, successfully ignoring the stares of the room.

"I do hope your brother isn't too offended by my choice of Salvatore," Katherine mused, earning a chuckle from Stefan.

"I do believe he'll get over it - or he already has,"

"What?" asked Katherine, but Stefan just nodded towards the other side of the room, where Damon had just entered, Y/N on his arm.

Katherine's eyes narrowed as Damon shot a smirk her way, before leaning down to whisper in Y/N's ear.

"Just follow my lead, you'll be fine,"

Y/N tried not to shiver as his breath hit her ear, and allowed herself to be led across the dancefloor.

"I never thought you'd be the dancing type," she admitted, looking up into his blue eyes.

"And why is that?" Damon asked a slight smirk playing on his face.

"I don't know," Y/N bit her lip slightly to stop herself from smiling "You seemed much too arrogant to bore yourself with something as frivolous as a party,"

Damon's eyebrows raised as he realised her teasing tone "I never thought you'd be so cheeky, I thought that was something that belonged to Katherine,"

Y/N shook her head slightly, a laugh falling from her lips "Katherine was always so serious, even when we were children. I suppose you Salvatore's have shown her a thing or two,"

Children, they knew each other when they were children, so Y/N must at least know what Katherine was, if she wasn't one herself.

"She's staring at us," Damon commented, realising that Katherine had stopped dancing with his brother, and was shooting curious looks to the other pair.

"Told you," Y/N shrugged, her voice lowering to a whisper "Nobody Knows Katherine like I do - perhaps now would be a good time to talk to her?"

Damon hesitated, he knew that part of him wanted to but the other part -

"We're having far too much fun dancing, don't you think?"

And it was true, Damon did enjoy Y/N's company. With her shyness beginning to ease, he enjoyed the small jests she'd make at him, and thoughts of Katherine began fading away.

The pair danced, and chatted until the early hours of the morning when the founders ball finally came to an end, and the last of the guests were leaving.

Y/N let out a yawn, and Damon caught her as she stumbled slightly.

"I think it's time I retire," she said sleepily "It's been a pleasure dancing with you Mr Salv - Damon,"

Damon brought her hand up to his lips, pressing a firm kiss on the back of it. "The pleasure was all mine, goodnight Y/N,"

He watched as she left, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Careful, she'll fall in love with you," came a sly voice to the right of him. He didn't need to look to know it was Katherine. "her heart is far too soft to survive a Salvatore brother,"

"You were wrong before, she is nothing like you," Damon commented "Enjoy my brother,"

And with that he walked off, feeling triumphant that he had been able resist the urge to fall right back into Katherine's arms, but he couldn't shake the Y/N from his mind either.

The next morning, Damon found himself outside the door of Y/N's bedroom, his hand ready to knock when she opened to door herself.

She jumped slightly "Oh - Damon?" she asked her eyes wide.

His lips parted in shock slightly, the encounter catching him off guard and all the rehearsed words in his head disappearing.

"Are you alright, you look like you've seen a ghost?" she asked, frowning slightly.

Damon cleared his throat, presenting a small brown parcel with his other hand.

"A thankyou gift, for coming with me to the dance last night," he said.

Y/N blinked slightly, gingerly taking the package from his hands, and carefully untying the string.

"You didn't have to -" she began, before trailing off as she revealed the leather bound notebook he had bought for her.

"You mentioned you loved writing, I figured this would help you out a bit," he said slightly nervously "Do you like it?"

Y/N looked up at him, her eyes wide and shining with unshed tears. "Thankyou so much Damon, this - it means the world," she said sincerely, clutching the book to her chest as if it may run away.

Damon's worried expression broke into a grin. Another difference between Y/N and Katherine, Y/N was sincere, was genuine.

He didn't even see Katherine glaring at the two from behind the pillar.

Katherine watched with resentment over the next couple of weeks, watching as Damon started pining after Y/N instead of her. Of course, anyone else she would have gotten rid of immediately, but Y/N was her friend, and she didn't have many of those.

Even Stefan noticed her change in behaviour towards the other girl, but decided it was not in his best interest to question it.

But Damon was oblivious, too wrapped up in wanting the attention of the shy girl he had met, yet seemingly unable to show his affections towards her.

Y/N carried on with her life, desperately trying to ignore the flutters in her stomach whenever the older brother entered the room, concealing her blushing cheeks with her hair whenever he spoke. Nobody noticed, besides Katherine, as the girl often hid herself behind her hair when people spoke to her, but not quite in the same way.

"I see you fell in love with him too," Katherine commented, walking in unannounced to her friends bedroom.

Y/N sighed nervously, she knew that Katherine got whatever she wanted, and mostly she allowed it which is why the pair were such good friends.

Katherine stepped closer. "What do you think he'll think of you when you tell him what you are?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

Y/N shook her head "I don't need to tell him," she said hoarsely, "I'm not like you Katherine,"

Katherine chuckled "You may not be a vampire, but you can't go around pretending to be human,"

Y/N glared at her friend through the reflection of the mirror, but didn't say anything to protest and Katherine smiled.

"I'm just saving you the pain of losing him," she said, before turning on her heal and waltzing out the door, no doubt to find the Salvatore brother herself.

Y/N sighed, her had laying on the book that Damon had gotten her, piled on top of all the other books she had written in over the years. Even if she didn't like it, Katherine was correct. Though her curse wasn't quite as visible as the older girl's, it was a curse nevertheless, and all curses had consequences.

"What did she mean?"

Y/N froze, the sound of the man's voice like ice in her heart. She spun round and came face to face with Damon, who was standing in front of the door he had just closed.

He took a step closer, his eyes searching her stricken and panicked face. Another way she was different to Katherine, she wore her heard and emotions on her sleeve, there was no having to interpret or guess with her, she was an open book whether she liked it or not.

"You don't have to be scared, I didn't tell Katherine's secret and I won't tell yours," he reassured her, stepping closer to take her hand.

"I'm not a vampire," Y/N said defiantly.

Damon shook his head "You don't have to lie to me," he promised, his blue eyes searching her nervous ones.

"I'm not!" she stressed, before breaking away from Damon's grasp and sitting on the bed "It's more complicated than that,"

Damon sank to his knees before her, looking up at her with wide and trusting eyes "Then let me help you,"

"I'm cursed," Y/N said quietly after a beat. "They call it the Phoenix curse. Every time I die, I get reborn from my ashes as my old body burns, forgetting everything from my previous life."

Damon frowned "But if you forget everything, how do you know you've died before?"

Y/N smiled slightly, raising her hand to brush the hair from his eyes. "I didn't at first. But I am always reborn at the age of sixteen, and people tend to notice when you're almost an adult and have no memories to show it. Katherine found me, and she had this made for me,"

Y/N drew out a necklace that was tucked away in her bodice. It was golden, and dainty, with a red gemstone in the middle of it.

"It allows me to keep the memories even after I have been reborn,"

Damon let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

"Well that's certainly a raw deal on your behalf, at least Vampires get the added speed and strength,"

Y/N laughed, shaking her head slightly as she stood up.

"The books in your father's library say that I have wings, and that I can fly, but that remains a mystery to me, and I am immune to compulsion" she said with a smile.

Damon hesitated, a question on the tip of his tongue but unsure whether or not to ask it.

"Well it seems to me, that as long as I don't let anyone kill you, there doesn't seem to be much of a curse," he commented with a quick smile.

Y/N raised her eyebrows "Surely it is Katherine you would want to be around, speaking of which, how are you and her?" she asked

Damon shrugged "I found someone else that seemed far more appealing,"

Y/N turned to face him, her breath catching in her throat slightly as she realised just how close they actually were.

"Who?" she asked, unable to hide her blushing cheeks with her hair this time.

"You,"

Y/N's eyes widened, her brows drawing up slightly as she looked at him. Her lips parted as if wanting to say something, but no words came out, her heart pounding against her chest, the tightness of her corset making it difficult to breathe.

"Damon - Katherine," was all she could let out, but he shook his head.

"I don't want her, not since I met you. I no longer want to be chasing after a game, but I would chase after you for the rest of my life if that is what it took. I would tell a hundred jokes just to hear you laugh, and run a thousand miles to catch up to you,"

Y/N let him grab her hands in his own, but tugged away slightly "Damon you don't understand, Katherine wants you. And Katherine always gets what she wants,"

But Damon didn't relent "But I don't want Katherine, I want you," he said, the desperation leaking into his voice "But if you truly do not want me, then that is fine, but I need to hear you say it. I need to hear your say you do not want me if I am to go,"

Y/N shook her head, her gaze downwards "I can not lie to you Damon," she said quietly "I can not say I do not want you, when you are all I want,"

Damon breathed a sigh of relief, a slight laugh falling from his lips as he embraced her in a tight hug, pulling away only to cup her face in his hands, his blue eyes memorising every detail of it as if would disappear if he looked away.

"Meet me outside, near the village. You go out of the left gate at the gardens then follow the road until you meet the village square, I'll meet you there - I've got a surprise for you," he said, the smile never leaving his face.

"I will try, but I'm terrible with directions," Y/N teased "You may have to find me if I get lost."

Damon kissed her cheek, tucking her stray hair behind her ear "I will always find you," he promised.

Behind the door, Katherine watched the two lovers, a dark expression on her face. As much as she adored her, Y/N would have to go.

So as Damon waited at the village square, and the minutes ticked by, it occurred to him only too late that something terrible had happened to his new love.

That Y/N had disappeared without a trace.

2009

Y/N sighed with a heavy heart, as she lugged her suitcase behind her. She was grateful to have a suitcase, many of the children she was with in the foster home before had their stuff in plastic bin bags as they moved from house to house.

But Y/N had been adopted.

She found it odd that somebody wanted to adopt her, especially since she was three weeks away from turning eighteen, but it meant she no longer had to fend for herself once she aged out of the system, so she had to be grateful.

Rudy Hopkins

Y/N hadn't even met him, yet here he was willing to adopt the strange girl without a second thought.

That's if Y/N could find the damn house.

Mystic falls was a mystery to her, especially since she had never been there before - or so she thought.

"Y/N?" came a voice.

She spun round, and came face to face with a man she could only describe as beautiful. His eyes were wide, and blue, looking at her with a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"Er, I'm sorry do I know you?" she asked with a frown, stepping backwards nervously as the man stepped closer to her.

He froze, his eyes glinting downwards to her neck, where not one bit of jewellery rested.

"Sorry, I thought you were someone I knew - Damon Salvatore," he introduced himself, but his blue eyes were still piercing her own, scanning her as if she were an odd puzzle piece he couldn't quite place.

"Y/N L/N," she responded, a slight frown evident on her face "Are you alright, you look like you've seen a ghost,"

Damon hesitated, her words echoing in his head, the same words she had spoken to him all those years before, yet she truly had no recollection of him.

He nodded "Sorry for bothering you," he said quickly, turning to walk away.

"Wait!" she called out, grabbing her suitcase "You don't know where Rudy Hopkins lives do you? He's my adoptive parent, but he didn't show up to the meeting point, he just text that I'll meet him at home,"

Damon's eyes widened, Rudy Hopkins was the father of Bonnie Bennet, there was no way this was a coincidence.

"Follow the road back down until you - " he paused, looking at her confused and slightly panicked expression, and he felt his heart tug slightly as he remembered her all those years ago wearing exactly the same face as she was now.

"I'll take you," he reassured "Something tells me that you're not very good with directions,"

Y/N breathed a sigh of relief "You aren't going to turn out to be some serial killer are you?"

Damon snorted "Bit late to ask that isn't it? But no, I can promise I am not a serial killer,"

Y/N smiled up at him as he walked next to her, and he found himself having to concentrate on not looking at her. She was exactly the same as she was all those years before, but with no memory of him whatsoever.

He was almost sorry as he left her on her doorstep, wanting to spend every moment with her, to see if it really was her, or just some cruel trick the world was trying to play on him.

She turned to thank him, but he was was already gone.

Damon had darted back to the Salvatore household, his head and heart both reeling from the encounter.

He burst into the living room, where both Stefan and Elena was sat cozied up in-front of the fire,

"Stefan," he said urgently, causing the two others to look up sharply. Stefan frowned at his brothers expression, Damon had many emotions, anger, hatred you name them, but never vulnrable.

Not until now.

"Stefan she's here - Y/N's here,"

Part two here:

[dracul444]

LOGAN HOWLETT X HOUSEWIFE!READER ^_^

You wait for Logan to return home, but when he finally does, he's hours late without any communication.

cw - smut with plot, drunk!reader, housewife

a/n- HIIII this is my first loganfic and also my first smut so I apologise if the smut isn't as good :(

a like is appreciated

As the sun began to set, you prepared for your evening of dimming the lights, having playing softly in the back whilst cleaning the kitchen, but you couldn't help the smile that spread across your face. The thought of Logan coming home, and you two cuddling up in bed was the thought that couldn’t leave your head. Even though he’d only left a few hours ago, you missed him already. You missed the trail of soft kisses he left on your collarbone before leaving for work and the way his rough hand would linger on your waist, making me giddy with excitement. Every day, I found yourself watching the clock, waiting for the exact moment he walks through the door each day—9:22.

You truly am a fool for him. A fool who, for him, became a housewife—a life I would have never imagined for yourself. Yet here you was, dedicating yourself to preparing meals and looking beautiful for him. It was something you would have opposed just a few years ago, but now, it felt natural, even more fulfilling than climbing any corporate ladder. As much as you valued my independence, there was something about waiting for Logan to come home that you adored. It became your quiet pleasure, a ritual you looked forward to every single day. 

And he loved it, too. 

His constant praises of—“You take care of me so well” and “You look so gorgeous”—only fuelled your desire to give him more. It made me want to cook the most perfect meals for him and buy even more beautiful, daring nightgowns, ones that were just a little shorter, just for him. 

You stood in front of the mirror, applying the sparkly gloss Logan always said reminded him of a certain shade of pink and spritzing the perfume that always made Logan hold me for extra long just to smell.  Your gaze shifted back to the mirror, catching your reflection. The pink silk nightgown draped over you elegantly, hugging your figure in all the right ways. Its soft shimmer caught the dim light, adding a subtle glow to the fabric. It was delicate, beautiful, and undeniably pretty—something you knew Logan would love. The thought of his eyes lingering on you, the way his lips would curve into that familiar smile, sent a rush of warmth through you.

Lost in your thoughts, you glanced at the clock—9:21. Any minute now, you thought to myself, my heart fluttering with anticipation. 

You brought out two wine glasses, one for you and one for Logan. You poured myself a glass to keep your thirst ahold until he comes home.  Minutes turned into hours of sitting on our bed waiting for him. You glanced at your phone again — nothing. No phone calls, no messages?

You were sad, disappointed, and irritated. The more minutes that went by without Logan walking through the door, the heavier those emotions became. As those feelings grew, the only thing you could think to do was pour more wine into your glass.

By the third or fourth glass, you stopped checking the clock. It was only then you realised just how much you’d had to drink. Your vision blurry, the room tilting slightly as you flopped into bed trying to keep yourself stable. You blinked trying to clear your vision but the wine took ahold. The bedroom lights loomed down on you making your head pound. Just then a familiar noise echoed in the house. Keys. Logan was home. The sound of his footsteps which was shortly followed by the sound of his keys being tossed on the kitchen counter confirmed my questions. Your head shot toward the door of our room that swung open and large figure stepped in. His eyes met mine. His hair was disheveled, his tie hung loose around his neck. He looked a mess but the thing i 

“Sweetheart” he gently said pulling me out of my thoughts.

You huff and rolled your eyes directing your eyes off him, the bitterness flared up again.

“I’m so sorry.” he added, stepping towards me. 

You pushed yourself off the bed and started to walk to your mirror. Logan following closely behind trying to grovel his way into forgiveness. 

“please understand me baby I got held back” Logan said softly

“For 2 hours?” You questioned, clearly not buying it

“I know it sounds ridiculous but-“

You turned to face him, cutting him off, “The least you could’ve done was call me”. You whispered with a noticeable slur following your words.

“I know, I know” he said guiltily. “i’ve been all over the place recently” He paused mid sentence and he started to studying you. 

“are u drunk?”  His tone laced in amusement 

His question took me off guard. 

“What does that have to do with anything” You snap back sharper than intended.

You glared at him. “Don’t try to brush over you leaving me alone.”

“I’m not,” he replied, his tone gentle now. “I just… I didn’t expect to come home to this.” He looked at you noticing the unstableness of your movements.

“Well, what did you expect?” You shot back “You didn’t call. You didn’t text. You left me here, waiting.” Your voice cracked on the last word, and I hated myself for it, for letting the sadness creep into the edges of my anger. You turned back to the mirror to avoid letting him seeing your eyes becoming glossier.

Logan’s smile faded instantly, replaced by a look of guilt.

“I know,” he said lowly. “I should’ve called”. I stared at him. I wanted to stay mad at him but his tone 

His hands wrapped around your waist pulling my back close to his chest, both of your bodies swaying side to side. He started to kiss a trail from your temples to your collarbone “I know i messed up baby”. He said in between kisses. 

“Let me make it up to you.” He hummed after as if it was a question or a plea.

You tried to stay upset but you couldn’t his tone made it impossible.

Both of your eyes met in the mirror and you slowly nodded your head. 

once he sees this, he turns you around gently to face him and took your hand directing you to the bed.

As he sat down, my eyes fixated on the fabric of his trousers revealing bulge that started to grow between his legs. Your breath hitched, heat creeping up your body as his gaze met mine. This sparked something deep within you, a realisation of just how much you wanted him in this moment. It may’ve been the wine making you extra needy but when I stared down at him, I craved his touch and the way he would comfort me —more than anything, I needed him entirely.  He stared up at you as if he was trying to tell you to come closer to him or on top of him. You followed his silent demands and shifted onto his lap, settling yourself so that one of your legs was draped over his thigh. His hand made it to your cheek turning your face to look at him. 

You went into kiss him, this time it was desperate. His hands slipped down to your waist, pulling you even closer.

“Logan, I wan’ you” Your lips still pressed against his.

He pulled away and slightly chuckled “You’re drunk. Lets get you to bed”

“No” You insisted

Although Logan wanted to have you just as much, he thought that it was wrong to take advantage of you in this state.

Your hands slithered down his body to the touch the bulge that was under the fabric. It was hard and did not try to hide it.

“Stop. We can’t.” Logan said as his tone dancing somewhere between restraint and desire. His words contradicted the way he held me and looked at me in this moment. 

“Why not?” You whispered looking at him. “I thought you wanted to make it up to me” 

His jaw clenched and his eyes roved from your lips, to where your hand was then back to up to your eyes.  

A playful smile crept onto his face, “Have you always been this needy?”.

His leaned in for another kiss. Your lips crashed, his kiss hungry and unrelenting, as if he’d been holding back for too long. His hands roamed down your sides, pressing you closer to him, and you felt the tension was replaced by unrestrained needs. Still palming his cock in one hand Logan let out groans making the damp patch in your panties grow. 

With your lips still in-tacked, he picked you up and laid you on the bed with his frame towering over you. His hand quickly roamed underneath your nightgown reaching the fabric of your panties pulling it down. 

My nightgown now bunched at your waist and my wet cunt exposed to him. He used his middle and ring finger to move up and down the slit.

“Missed me much?” he said teasingly.

Your breathing slightly quickened as his fingers ran over my sensitive bud. My breath hitched which caused Logan to say “So sensitive”.

Your arousal created a clear coat around his fingers that he brought up to his lips and licked them clean.

“Such a slut” You say as a whisper but loud enough for him to hear and smile at your words.

Logans head started to lower going in-between your legs.

“Such a pretty pussy” Logan says. The warmth of his breath fanned against your cunt.

He pinned your thighs down with his hands gripping your thighs to restrict your movements. 

“Stay still for me, I don’t want to hurt you”

You nod your head.

His tongue licked up and down your slit.

Your breathing started to quicken followed by huffs.

Spreading your folds, he started to circle your clit with his tongue, quickening his pace.

The building of pleasure raised in your stomach only making you focus on chasing your release.

“Logan, mmmh, you always know how to make me feel s’good….fuck” you say as breathy moans followed closely with your words.

The wine mixed with pleasure made you mumbled out random words.

You could briefly hear Logan’s muffled laugh making me shy.

“Lo-Logan please” My words slurred with each other

“Tastes sooo goodd” His words dragged out 

He pulled away kissing from your abdomen to your neck.

Logan stood up on the side of the bed to start removing his belt. His belt made a dull thud when hitting the floor making you more excited. You sat on your knees reaching for the waist of his jeans pulling them down revealing the band of his underwear. You pulled the fabric down and his cock bounced up to meet his abdomen. “Take it off” He eyed at your gown. No hesitation, you crossed your arms to pull the gown over your head leaving you fully naked in-front of him. He crawled on top of you pushing your legs in apart. 

“Please lo’ I-i want you” you begged for him 

“want me to fill this pretty cunt up?” He fists his cock slapping the tip on your cunt

He says as his voice is laced in amusement making you bite your lip as your lips carve into a daring smile.

“Mhm” you hum in response, “please lo’ I wan’ you now” you begged for him

“So needy aren’t you” he says rubbing his tip in between your folds.

He pulled your body up, positioning you to straddle his hips.

He slips his cock in, making your walls tighten around him. 

You gasp at his size making your back arch. He groaned as your hole swallowed his size tightening around his cock.

Holding his shoulders you started to roll your hips into his cock. Lifting your head up from the pleasure, Logan started to kiss your neck, making small marks on your neck.

His cock rubbed against your spot as he moved faster causing your whines turn into loud moans.

“Look at you, going dumb on my cock”

His words played in your ears like a sweet hum.

The familiar feeling grew in your stomach each time his tip rubbed against your spot

“I missed yo-u so much, baby,” you whispered, your voice trembling with need as your hands touched his chest. “I know you did,” he murmured, their lips curving into a grin. His hands slid slowly up your waist, fingers pressing into your skin just enough to make your breath hitch.

Holding your waist, he grunted each time your bodied collided. 

Chasing your release, you leaned back onto the bed letting his take control

“Lo’, im so close…go faster”

Following your orders, he thrusted deeper and harder into you making your legs tremble.

Your breathing started to hitch as you came close to your release.

His thrusts becoming faster each thrust

The knot in your stomach finally released causing you to whine

Logan rode out your orgasm by slowly moving in and out of you to make sure you let go of all of your cum.

The sound of the slow panting of Logan and your breathing filled the hot air. He fell by your side as a thick off-white colour oozed out of your cunt.

“You did well baby” He hushed in your ear whilst kissing your forehead slowly yet intimately howls you tried to steady your breathing.

Your eyes grew heavy as you felt sleep tugging at the edges of your consciousness. 

“Let’s go to bed now” He laid by you turning you on your side to lay on his chest. His chest falling up and down  in a steady rhythm made you fall into a sleep quicker than expected. 

Falling asleep next to him and in his arms made you feel safe, that’s why you loved being with him.

[ssaalexblake]

Also, i've seen a couple of complaints that Snow's great dramatic plot to kill Lenore Dove was stupid and could have easily gone wrong in so many ways. Which is true, it was a plan that was mainly designed for theatrical cruelty and impact rather than common sense and could have easily gone wrong.

The place where I differ with these people is that this is not a problem narratively. It's incredibly in character for snow to be distracted by pettiness and the need for some good drama in the proceedings and to totally miss the flaws in his plans.

This is the quality that let Coin win the war in the end.

But even aside from that, he does the exact same thing in this book another time and his plot fails! Because he was so focused on getting one over on Haymitch that he didn't consider outside variables that could mess up his plan.

In the arena, he sends Haymitch a pitcher of milk in the shape of the Heavensbee's stairs (and their milk jugs). It's a catch 22 for Haymitch who Knows that milk is poisoned. His punishment for drinking the milk in that very same jug (or a replica of it) in Plutarch's house Just so Snow couldn't drink it and may die as a result was This bit of dramatic theatre.

If Haymitch doesn't give the milk to the starving girl he's allied with, the audience will turn on him for letting this girl he's pretending to care about die when he has something to give her that will save her, which will ruin all he's tried to achieve in the arena by showing the audience that they're human kids who care about each other. They'll think he was lying to win.

But if he Does give this little girl the milk, then he's knowingly killing her, and Haymitch could not ever murder this little girl. If he drinks the poison milk, then said little starving girl will be left alone in the arena with a fit and healthy career tribute years older than her and she'll be killed, and One will win.

It's the Perfect trap.

Haymitch is either left dead or totally discredited.

Except it isn't the perfect trap.

Snow forgot Silka, that One tribute still alive in the arena, and she threw a wrench in his plan. Haymitch escapes this catch 22 because she kills the little girl (wellie) herself and the milk doesn't matter anymore.

Snow repeatedly hyper focuses on ruining one person and gets tunnel vision. He got away with the flaws in his plan to kill Lenore Dove from sheer dumb luck. He did Not with milk gift plan.

This is a case of a character making choices that aren't logically sound, not an author making illogical choices.

The smart plan would have been for him to have gone through with his original threat of killing Haymitch with mutts designed to hunt him, specifically.

But that wasn't nearly as theatric, so he didn't do it.

He could have killed Lenore Dove with a fire, or a gunshot, or a noose, he didn't do these things for a reason entirely consistent with his characterisation.

[tokiro07]

Toki Reads Shonen Jump 2025, issue #22/23: Catching Feelings Week

One Piece: After capturing the Collun Hats, Gunko demands Brook become her slave and make music for her, but he insists he'd rather die than betray Luffy; the Gods Knights formally pose their ultimatum to Elbaf - burn down their institutions and swear fealty to the World Government or sacrifice the lives of their children, a choice Gaban and Robin cannot abide. / It seemed like it pained Gunko to kick her idol, could this perhaps be an early sign of a reversal of loyalties? More importantly, oooh boy, is Robin getting another fight???

Roboco: One of Roboco's old war buddies, Villa, has been slain in battle, so after reminiscing on their time together, Roboco sets out for revenge; Villa turns out to have actually survived. / Saw that coming a mile away, but I appreciate the yuri

Sakamoto: Kamihate's betrayal of the Order is not only because of Osaragi, but also because news coverage of the ensuing chaos replaced the Weather Girl segments; a new enemy, Gozu, arrives to block a fleeing Shishiba and co., but his static electricity shocks Osaragi awake long enough to allow a getaway. / I think it's a little weird to have both a magnetic and static character on the same team, but I'm sure they'll synergize well; both Kamihate and Osaragi betrayed the New Order because they prioritized what they love over a world that's better tailored for their lifestyles, I wonder if that will continue to be a theme for this arc?

EluSam: When Takauji's forces are repelled, he sends Myozuru as an envoy to negotiate, but Tadayoshi's demands that all of the Kono family be executed would be political suicide; Myozuru offers a compromise where the Kono be forced to live as monks and separated from Takauji, leaving them open to be attacked without Takauji being branded a traitor to his men, a plan that Takauji seems to readily agree to. / Without knowing the exact historic details, this feels like a trap for Tadayoshi, since it was Myozuru's plot and not his own; considering that Takauji is somehow both a divine and demonic entity, it seems odd to me that he keeps getting manipulated so easily, but I probably just don't remember how he was characterized earlier on

Witch Watch: A man who's absorbed 34 of Nico's spells appears to challenge Morihito, but all of the spells he's amassed are pretty useless; upon getting so many spells back at once, Nico shoots up to being 14, and her feelings for Morihito start to return in full force. / Finally, progress! Though I assume we're going to be at 14 for a while, so I don't know if I can use that to accurately gauge how close we are to the final conflict

Blue Box: Taiki and Chinatsu go on a date for their anniversary and discuss some plans for the future. / Just a plain cute chapter, I really feel like these kids are in for the longhaul

Akane: Akane has some trouble adjusting to Shomei's rigid performance style, but her delivery is still enough to get laughs out of the audience, giving her a solid chance at the Zuiun Prize; however, Issho places a handicap on Akane - during the competition, she cannot make the audience laugh. / When I saw Akane mimicking Shomei's performance, I thought it would be a good measuring stick for how she compares to Shomei, but I didn't quite like the idea of recycling content like that - it seems that Issho agreed, and is now forcing her to find a unique solution instead of retreading old ground; this also forces Akane even further outside of her comfort zone, which will only serve to reinforce her earlier assertion that she doesn't want to be limited to only one style

Kill Blue: As Iyori suggests doing a more comprehensive reading for Juzo, Student Council President Subaru arrives; curious what kind of man he is, Juzo challenges him to airsoft, but defeats him with ease before he can learn anything useful; the Student Council sets their sets on the Home-Ec Club, as Noren has been the center of a lot of trouble lately. / Subaru's lack of talent despite being in an exceptional role suggests that he's likely the type to only lose once and go all out in overcoming whatever weaknesses he's presented with; this will either mean that Juzo needs to become even better as a marksman, or he'll need to defeat Subaru at a different talent, most likely centered around Home-Ec

Nue: Gakuro and Nue confront Raisei, destroying his arrays and setting his plan back some number of days; unable to think of any tough dialogue, Gakuro asks Raisei if he's in love with Nue, which he admits to and fires back with an accusation that Gakuro is too; after escaping, Gakuro becomes a lot more conscious of Nue, which he tries to shake off in preparation for answering Tsujita and Shiroha's feelings, only for Kazusa to join the fray. / I always figured Nue was going to be part of the harem, but it never really seemed to me that there was any real plan for that; I honestly don't care either way so long as we get the poly ending, but this was still kind of an awkward way to introduce the concept

Kagurabachi: After the difference in their compatibility with their respective Enchanted Blades becomes clear, Hiruhiko tries to beat Samura with a Hail Mary - tearing down the entire building on top of them! However, Samura's Suzaku allows him to heal anything, including objects, and Hiruhiko once again loses both an arm and Kumeyuri. / Since this isn't the first time that Hiruhiko has lost an arm, I don't imagine he's done for just yet, even if he has to pick up Kumeyuri in his jaw again (also thematically appropriate to his first kill being with his teeth); I would assume he'll either be strongly compatible with Kumeyuri's third ability or his upcoming character growth will create the synergy he needs, even if it's not within this arc

Chojo: Chojo and Asuka pretend to be a couple to tail a suspect; though it's awkward, Chojo does show a little bit of his softer side, and Asuka gets a treasured gift. / Polimon, huh? With all of the shippy chapters lately, it seems more like Polymon...That said, I think Asuka might be best girl for me

Kiyoshi: Kurose Sata claims that the Demon World's lowest temperatures exceed what we call absolute zero, and freezes Hitsugi's arm; expending everything he has left, Hitsugi defeats Kurose Sata, collapsing with a contented smile. / That's my boy right there!!! Also, @wickedsick, no, that is NOT how temperature works; Kurose is talking about it like temperature is a show of force, but it's a measure of atomic movement within a system - I suppose atoms in the Demon World might just move differently than ours, but even if they did, our atoms wouldn't be able to move less than "not at all" as they would have no more energy to take, so at worst they'd just reach absolute zero and behave accordingly

Hima-Ten: Himari discovers that Maro, her new cat, came from her childhood friend Sumire; when she tries to thank her, Sumire acts coldly, a major blow to Himari's self-esteem; later, Sumire tails Tenichi on his way to work, mistaking him for Himari's stalker, and reveals that she's actually a Himari stan and just didn't know how to act around her. / Tomboy? Loves the main love interest? Accidentally ends up in compromising positions with the main boy? Close enough, welcome back, Tsugumi

Ichi: Bakugami smells World Hater's blood on Ichi and decides to make Gokuraku his challenger after all - which sends him into a blind rage against Ichi! / This is, ironically, the best possible outcome, as while Gokuraku is extremely strong, he's not going to simply kill himself like any other challenger would; this also gives us a great excuse to see Ichi vs Gokuraku as I predicted several chapters ago, so I get to have my cake and eat it too!

Shinobi: Squad 9 goes to the beach, but Yodaka is uncomfortable in such a public space and stays by the umbrella; Mimizuku tells Yodaka that Aoi's dad was also a ninja who protected Aoi's mom and asks Yodaka how he feels about Aoi; other ninja gather at the beach for a training session, including Hayabusa, an old friend of Aoi's. / Aoi's dad being a ninja adds credence to Kawasemi being her brother; it also brings up the question of whether Aoi might have a Kekkai and if that might be related to why she and her mother were being targeted

Syd Craft: Syd and Lulu track Zero Craft's henchmen to where the kids are being held, and meet Zero's righthand, X Craft; X escapes and sets the building on fire, forcing Syd to stay behind as Lulu and the children escape; Lulu comes back to save Syd, kissing him and vowing to steal his heart. / And Lulu comes out ahead by being the first girl to actively confess! No "it was CPR" either, that was a real, undeniable kiss! The introduction of X makes me feel less worried about cancellation since we haven't jumped straight to the final confrontation, but uh...seriously, Zero and X? Who's next, Axl? Actually, I kinda hope so, that'd be a good bit

Embers: Hikage and Inanaki scout out Kurobayashi's game and find them using possession tactics, a high-level strategy; Oshimi makes a bet with Nerima that he'll let him sit out of the game if he can score three goals in specific ways within 15 minutes, which he does with ease. / Having Nerima beat Oshimi's challenge and earn the right to not play is a great contrast to Haitani, who found a love for the game by constantly failing to beat Oshimi

Beethoven: Aigou and Sakami discuss the goal to crush Yaso at the Reiro Festival; Lexi and Marsha bump into some punks while searching for Beethoven; Yaso wanders the street through the night in a haze until Amano approaches him and reminds him of the song she asked him to play for her. / I knew that idol poster from last chapter was going to be relevant somehow, I think if they hadn't covered the A, I might have made the connection that it was Amano; I'm wildly unclear where this story is heading, but Amano is easily the most interesting character to me, so I'm excited to see where she takes this

Nice Prison: One of the Block 11 Elite Four (three weirdos and a dead guy) plots a breakout during a festival, but Mitsuboshi manages to thwart the scheme and take out a second member of the four by complete accident, leaving only one left. / One of the Elite Four already being dead is honestly a good bit, but I am so sure it's going to turn out he's alive and the joke will be ruined

Long-time readers know that I love love, so seeing Nico rediscovering her feelings for Morihito, Gakuro becoming aware of Nue as a woman and being approached by Kazusa, Asuka treasuring a gift from Chojo, Yodaka analyzing his feelings for Aoi, and Lulu accepting her feelings for Syd was all absolutely great for me!

This Week's Top 3:

Ichi the Witch for setting up Ichi vs Gokuraku

Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi for Hitsugi's victory but loses points for bad physics

Syd Craft for Lulu taking an active role in the harem

[roseyreveries]

Far Away - 22

Draco Malfoy x Fem!Muggle!Reader Previous Part <- click! Summary: You wake up inside the Harry Potter universe without any explanation as to why you're there. Disclaimer: All characters are being aged up for PLOT (1st years are 15, 7th years are 21) but characters may act immature and childish in the beginning at times to keep their character development. Not accurate to the books or movies. CW: interrogation, almost crying, anxiety Directory <- click!

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The library was dim and quiet, the warm glow of a single lantern casting soft shadows across the table where the reader sat, scribbling absentmindedly in her notebook. The castle was still, most students long gone to bed, but I often found solace in the late-night silence.

Until I wasn’t alone anymore.

“Late night?” Hermione’s voice broke the stillness, making me jump slightly. Hermione slid into the chair across from me, her expression unreadable. She didn’t have a single book with her— a rare sight for Hermione Granger.

“Yeah,” I said carefully, sitting up straighter. “Just catching up on notes.”

“Notes,” Hermione repeated, her tone thoughtful. “You must take excellent notes.”

My stomach twisted at the comment, the seemingly harmless words carrying an edge I couldn’t quite place. “I guess so,” I said lightly. “Why?”

Hermione leaned forward, folding her hands neatly on the table. Her gaze was sharp, calculating, but not unkind. “Because you always seem to know things before they happen.”

I froze, my quill hovering above the parchment. “What?”

Hermione tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowing as if she were studying a particularly puzzling equation. “Like today in Transfiguration. You knew McGonagall was going to pair us off before she even said it. Or last week in Potions, when you said the exact ingredient Snape would ask for before he opened his mouth.”

My heartbeat quickened, but I forced herself to laugh softly. “Lucky guesses, I guess.”

Hermione didn’t smile. “And what about in Charms? You warned Lila that someone was going to mess up the levitation charm. You said it before they even picked up their wand. Or all the bets you make with Malfoy, winning every single time.”

My pulse roared in my ears. “I— I don’t know. Maybe I just notice things.”

“Do you?” Hermione asked, her voice growing sharper. “Or is it something else?”

I stared at her, my hands trembling slightly. “What are you getting at, Hermione?”

Hermione sat back in her chair, studying me intently. “You’re not like the rest of us,” she said simply. “You’re different.”

“Everyone’s different,” I said quickly, trying to deflect.

“Don’t do that,” Hermione said, her voice firm but not unkind. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean.”

My mouth went dry. “I don’t—”

“You’ve never heard of magical basics,” Hermione interrupted, her tone shifting into something closer to an interrogation. “You struggled to name even the simplest spells during our first lessons, but now you know things that even upper years wouldn’t. You weren’t just raised differently. You weren’t raised in this world, were you?”

My chest tightened as Hermione’s words hit like a punch to the gut. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it?” Hermione pressed, leaning closer. “You don’t react like someone raised in the magical world. Half the things we take for granted leave you completely confused. The other half? You know too much about. Far more than you should. It doesn’t add up.”

I clenched my hands under the table, my mind racing for an excuse, a deflection, anything. But Hermione wasn’t done.

“You’re a muggle, aren’t you?” Hermione said softly, her voice almost gentle now. “Not a muggle-born. A muggle.”

The silence between us stretched unbearably long. My heart pounded in my chest as I stared at Hermione, my face pale. “I don’t—”

“You don’t have to say anything,” Hermione said quickly, holding up a hand. “But I’m right, aren’t I?”

I looked down at the table, my hands trembling. I didn’t nod. I didn’t confirm it. But the silence was enough.

Hermione let out a soft breath, leaning back in her chair. “That’s how you know, isn’t it? About what’s going to happen.”

My head snapped up, panic flooding me. “Hermione, please—”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Hermione said quickly, her voice steady but her gaze unwavering. “I swear, I won’t. But I need to know. Are you here because of Dumbledore?”

I stared at her, her chest tightening painfully. Hermione was too smart, too quick. She’d already connected the dots.

“I can’t,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I can’t tell you.”

Hermione softened slightly, her expression shifting from calculating to concerned. “Why not?”

“Because it’s not safe,” I said, my voice trembling. “For me. For you. For everyone. If anyone finds out…”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Hermione repeated firmly. “I mean it. But you don’t have to do this alone.”

I shook my head, tears pricking at my eyes. “You don’t understand. I can’t. If I say anything… if I change anything…”

Hermione leaned forward, her voice quiet but resolute. “I understand more than you think. You’re carrying something huge, something none of us could imagine. But you don’t have to carry it by yourself.”

I hesitated, my walls crumbling as Hermione’s words sank in. I looked down at my trembling hands, my throat tight. “I’m scared,” I admitted softly.

Hermione’s expression softened further, her hand reaching across the table to rest gently on mine. “It’s okay to be scared. But I promise, you can trust me.”

I sat still, my head bowed as Hermione’s words settled heavily between us. I could feel Hermione’s gaze on me, sharp yet not unkind, waiting for me to say something.

Finally, Hermione spoke again, her voice quieter this time. “So it’s true, then? You’re… a muggle?”

I hesitated, then gave the smallest nod, my hands still trembling in my lap. I didn’t look up, afraid of what I might see in Hermione’s face— judgment, fear, pity. But none of that came.

Instead, Hermione let out a soft breath, leaning back slightly. “How? How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered, my voice barely audible. “Dumbledore said it was because of a prophecy. Something about me being… important.”

Hermione’s brow furrowed, her sharp mind already racing. “But that doesn’t make sense. Muggles can’t use magic. You shouldn’t even be able to see Hogwarts, let alone study here.”

“I know,” I said, finally looking up. My eyes were glassy with unshed tears. “That’s why I can’t tell anyone. I don’t belong here.”

Hermione shook her head, her expression firm. “No. If Dumbledore brought you here, there has to be a reason. He wouldn’t do something like this without one.”

I swallowed hard, my voice trembling. “But what if the reason isn’t good? What if I’m not supposed to be here?”

Hermione fell silent, her gaze distant as she turned the problem over in her mind. “I don’t know,” she admitted after a moment. “But it makes me wonder…”

“Wonder what?” I asked, my chest tightening.

Hermione leaned forward again, her tone growing more serious. “Why would Dumbledore go to so much trouble to bring you here? Especially if you’re from… somewhere else. He must know how dangerous it is for you to be here.”

I nodded slowly, my voice soft. “He does. He told me not to interfere. Not to say anything about what I know.”

“What you know,” Hermione repeated, her eyes narrowing slightly. “You mean… the future?”

I hesitated, then nodded again. “And the past. Everything. I know what’s already happened, and I know what’s going to happen.”

Hermione leaned back, her expression caught between awe and suspicion. “That’s why you’ve been acting so strangely. You’ve been trying to avoid changing things.”

“Yes,” I admitted, my voice breaking slightly. “If I change anything, even the smallest thing, it could ruin everything.”

Hermione’s gaze softened as she watched me, her sharpness giving way to empathy. “That’s… an incredible burden,” she said softly. “No wonder you’ve been so anxious.”

I let out a shaky breath, my shoulders slumping. “It’s terrifying. And I can’t talk to anyone about it. Not even Dumbledore.”

Hermione frowned, her brows knitting together. “But why would he leave you to deal with this alone? If he brought you here, surely he should be helping you.”

I shook my head. “He said I have to figure it out on my own. That it’s part of… whatever I’m supposed to do.”

Hermione’s lips pressed into a thin line, her suspicion clear. “That’s not fair. He’s asking too much of you.”

“I don’t think I have a choice,” I said, my voice small.

Hermione was quiet for a moment, her gaze distant as she thought. Finally, she looked back at me, her expression resolute. “You’re not alone anymore,” she said firmly. “You can trust me. I’ll help you however I can.”

My chest tightened with gratitude, a small, tentative smile forming on my lips. “Thank you, Hermione.”

“But,” Hermione continued, her tone thoughtful, “I need to understand more. If you know everything… what exactly are you here to do? Why would a prophecy involve a muggle?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, my voice trembling. “Dumbledore hasn’t told me much. Just that I’m supposed to help someone.”

“Help someone?” Hermione asked, her brow furrowing. “Who?”

I hesitated, my stomach twisting. I couldn’t say it— not yet. If Hermione knew the truth about Draco, it could complicate everything. “I don’t know,” I lied.

Hermione studied me for a moment, her sharp gaze unwavering. “Alright,” she said finally. “But if you ever want to talk about it, I’m here.”

I nodded, my throat tight with emotion. “Thank you.”

Hermione’s expression softened again, a small smile tugging at her lips. “You’re braver than you think, you know. I don’t know how you’ve managed this on your own.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” I said quietly.

“Well,” Hermione said, her smile widening, “you do now.”

We sat in silence for a moment, the weight of the conversation settling between us. For the first time in a long time, I felt a flicker of relief, knowing I wasn’t entirely alone in my secret anymore.

But as Hermione glanced toward the library windows, her expression turned thoughtful once more. “I still think there’s more to this,” she said, her voice quiet. “Dumbledore’s keeping secrets. Big ones. And I intend to find out why.”

My stomach twisted with anxiety, but I didn’t argue. Hermione’s curiosity was unstoppable, and deep down, I knew Hermione was right.

Whatever Dumbledore’s reasons were, they weren’t the whole truth.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ .

Read the next part here! Join my Taglist! @ferntv @Katie_kinz @malfoy-mrsdracomalfoy @rea-the-person @strbrrylmnadee @jazzywinter

[likesunsetorange]

thought i'd share the snippet from this post! i think if I share the context of what part of the fic this scene would be from it might spoil the fic? but i also feel like we talked a lot about the plot, and the overall romcom-esque vibes of the fic make it a bit predictable overall LOL so you might honestly be able to guess what happens next tbh! but anyways, hope y'all enjoy this little snippet!

Adrenaline floods through him, his legs restless beneath him, only resulting in him further squirming on his barstool. His lips purse around a glass straw, anything to distract him for the time being; sips of a strawberry probiotic drink Mikasa forced him to buy pleasantly flood his tastebuds as he tries to ward off the energy within him. His fingers drum against the cool marble of the counter, phone in hand, staring at every single one of his unanswered text messages. 

bestieeeee it’s study day I know you missed me just a bit (we saw each other the other day) 3:08 PM

won’t be late for once I promise we’re meeting up today right? or my place ;) kidding lol, but anyways 7 sharp, whatever we decide to do lol just lmk 3:09 PM

mikasaaa 4:46 PM

? 5:46 PM

I know you told me you used to hate me and all but I thought we were at least friends now so you don’t really have to ignore me all day maybe you’re catching up on all that missed sleep or something idk but either way, I’ll call you here in a bit don’t ignore my calls 6:22 PM

wait…. is THEEEE mikasa ackerman gonna be late for the first time ever?  oh this is gonna be great so so so great 6:25 PM

It’s not often Eren is given even an inkling of a chance to feel smug about anything—Mikasa would never allow for it. With her snarky remarks, no-nonsense attitude, and little room in their schedule for mischief of any kind, Eren has never even allowed thoughts of any kind to cross his mind. But today, she’s given him more than an ample opportunity to finally cash in his bragging rights. 

Maybe she’s right that he’s a bit childish, that he takes his teasing a bit too far sometimes, and he probably is a bit aloof—a word he’d never been described before as prior to meeting Mikasa—but in this instance, he thinks he’s allowed this one indulgence of diablerie. And he knows that, in part, he does it a bit to get a rise out of her, watching the way her cheeks puff up, crimson spreading across the porcelain of her cheeks, her brows furrowing the same way every time, just before she finally rolls her eyes, huffing out an exasperated, “Eren.” 

The corner of his lip quirks up at the thought, unable to resist the chuckle that escapes him. He ponders the potential quips he can greet her with once he calls, determining which would be worthy enough of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Maybe keep it simple and be blunt— “You’re late.” Maybe even greet her with something using the millions of inside jokes they’ve acquired over the semester. Or maybe because he’s Eren, and she’s Mikasa, he’ll settle for something out of the park completely, leaving the both of them a blushing mess like always.

It's almost unbecoming of him, how, despite her (almost borderline obnoxious) penchant for color-coded schedules, ever-loving desire to boss him around, and sometimes snappy attitude, his mind is constantly consumed by her. Because despite all these seemingly disagreeable qualities about Mikasa, they’re the same exact things that transfix him about her. It’s her dedication and work ethic that made Eren notice Mikasa to begin with, and even if it manifests in… peculiar ways, it’s something that he’s always admired about her.

[jellynotbees]

hi!! 13 17 22 23 29 (and if u want 50) for the narinder ask game please! (super sorry, is that too many?)

Narinder questions

OMG don’t worry you can ask as many as you want!! I love talking about my story so don’t feel bad :D

13. Does your Narinder have any unique features?

Not really, although he is missing the claw on his left ring finger! (I keep forgetting to add that in drawings though 💀) I’ve seen a few other people do that as well though so its not unique to just him

17. How ears is he on a scale of 1-10? (This is not a typo)

Solid 6/10. Could be bigger but damn they can catch some wind. In one drawing I got a comment pointing out his ears were the size of Lamb’s head and I laughed so hard I was almost in tears, his ears have just been getting bigger the longer I’ve been drawing him.

22. How does he pass the time in exile?

I imagine he meditates a lot, anything to pass the time and try to keep himself sane. Prior to getting the twins he definitely focused more time and energy into plotting revenge (and focusing on his anger in general) just to try to keep his mind intact in isolation. Raising the twins gave him something to focus on, and despite him feeling bad for them being trapped there with him it definitely helped his mental health overall. Even with the twins though he is undeniably bored, which is part of why he takes such an interest in Lamb. He won’t say it but he definitely appreciates their company, even if he acts put off by it sometimes it’s just for show.

23. Are the kits, Aym and Baal, really his children?

No, they are not his biologically. He probably wouldn’t VERBALLY claim them as his adopted sons either but let’s be honest they are family to him.

29. What exact rebellious act got him chained in the first place?

It was mainly his invention of resurrection and it’s consequences on his sibling’s cults that led to it. There is a lot of information on this that I can’t spill yet since it is a major spoiler, but just know it wasn’t JUST a result of one major rebellious act on his part.

50. Free headcanon space!

Narinder knows how to knit!! He learned from Shamura when he was a child and picked back up the habit after being indoctrinated into the cult. It kept his mind busy and helped him get used to actually having skin/flesh on his hands again (and not just bones)

[diminished-responsibility-owos]

You know what, fuck it naw I am gonna talk a little bit more about this, I thought Hazbin Hotel was just really fucking boring and uninteresting, and to be honest the fact that it's got an idiot plot and the random details that don't make any sense aren't the main reason why. Nothing the vees do makes an ounce of sense etc. etc. the main reason I don't like it is that it doesn't take its premise seriously at all. When you're writing about Christianity one thing you have to accept is that there is no aspect of Christianity you're going to be able to think of that hasn't already been written about to death, and obviously Hazbin is no exception. The question of how it can be fair for a finite crime to be corrected by an infinite punishment has been going on for a long long time, with like two minutes of googling I was able to find Kant's response to this exact argument, and that's what I want to comment on, there are responses to this criticism. There are so so so many responses to this criticism, none that I personally agree with, mind, but there are genuine good faith attempts to respond to this argument or to communicate why it's fair that "hell is forever". The show however is either incapable or unwilling to communicate these justifications to us, none of the antagonists have anything to say for themselves. Now to stress I agree with the show, having already been familiar with the justifications of an infinite punishment I was genuinely excited to hear that a cartoon that took the question of redeeming those in hell seriously was in the works, but then to see the show get made and the two primary angelic antagonists (Sera and Adam) be either completely incapable or totally uninterested in offering any defense for their actions, any justifications or rationale why what they do is right is bad writing not just because it makes them seem like two dimensional characters that exist solely to portray heaven as weak and evil but also because it denies the protagonist character as well. Charlie doesn't have anything to say because no one ever demands an explanation of her. "If hell is forever then heaven must be a lie", is that not good enough for you? Eat shit, Sera and Adam are both present for this line, and neither say anything substantial in response. To be clear I'm not even saying you should avoid strawmanning the opposition, by all means have Adam offer Kant's defense (which, very simply put, is that some people are born bad and just deserve to suffer for eternity) it would be really funny to watch the weasel squirm having to defend that point against Charlie, who could happily point out that in that case some of those "inherently evil people" are both of his first two wives. Sera could offer that any repentance inside of hell is inherently suspect because people could just be trying to escape hell, Charlie could point out (probably not in these words) that that's a brutal catch 22 that leads to eternal suffering etc. etc. and so on and so forth. A dialogue between these ideas would be interesting and cathartic, as it stands given how everyone perceives Charlie's idea as stupid, and that at the end of the show it's revealed that those who redeem themselves just automatically go to heaven it seems to me that Adam is basically being portrayed as correct, like if anyone was deserving of not suffering in hell they would have been saved, and he's in heaven so...

[wanderingandfound]

Went with my coworkers to watch the Barbie movie. Mega spoilers below. What I can say without spoilers is that this is a movie you should watch with friends/acquaintances, but a full theater could substitute. I had fun.

The good:

I was laughing so much and so was our teen intern and a lot of other people in the theater.

The props and costumes!

Margo Robbie!!!!!

The... disappointing? The negative criticisms:

So many truths were dropped as jokes and it was funny and well-paced but for a movie that is constantly talking about how bad the patriarchy is... it doesn't grapple with it or seem to have anything to say? Which isn't surprising because I knew going into it it was basically an ad for a toyline, but I didn't expect so many explicit call outs of systemic and structural misogyny, which is why I'm left wishing there had been a point the film was trying to make. It's like everything was lampshaded and never analyzed.

The set up, given by a voice-of-god narrator, is that in Barbieland the Barbies think misogyny is solved in the real world because of them. And then the ending has the protagonist, Stereotypical Barbie, saying she wants to be one of the people shaping the ideas, not one of the dolls shaped by those ideas. It turns out Gloria had been shaping her, by dreaming up Cellulite Barbie and Constantly Thinking About Death Barbie (I forget the exact phrase the movie used) and Sad Barbie. You would think this would be the plot of the movie. This is what caused Stereotypical Barbie's malfunctioning, what ignited the call to adventure. This is what Barbie's last big decision was about. You would be wrong (we'll get there). Maybe I'm just spoiled by Discworld (and something else did this too... ugh I can't remember) but like, the interplay of belief between humans and their gods? How they both shape and form each other? That is my absolute jam and they could have done so much with it and they seemed like they were going to! And they technically did something with it but like, I dunno, to me it felt like the something they did do was deserving of a 22 minute episode in a 26 episode season, not a full theatrical movie with a star-studded cast. Oh no, in the real world the toys got weird. The plot in the toy world wasn't even caused directly by human beliefs but rather by a toy's belief.

Okay there's nothing in the movie to contradict asexual!Barbie so that's great but uh, now that it's out I don't want to keep seeing ace!Ken jokes/implications that this is actual real representation because uh...

...the plot is that Ken is an incel.

Seriously.

He has a song about how it sucks to be in the Friendzone.

He brings patriarchy to Barbieland and brainwashes all the other Barbies to be subservient to Kens because he loved that in the real world he was finally given the time of day.

For a bit I was worried that the movie would try and pull a "misandry is just as bad as misogyny" thing because he did kinda have 1 valid complaint in the beginning, but thankfully it didn't.

Anyways I know there are ace people who genuinely like kissing, but I don't think a character who makes multiple unwanted advances to the same character is like, innately representation. Even if he does lack genitalia.

On a related note, with spoilers for the very last moment pre-credits, I don't know how I feel about the only action we see Barbie take as a human rather than a doll is attending a gynecologist appointment. Like on one hand it was funny, and gynecologists are treated as women's doctors by society. On the other hand, the implication that being a Real Woman means having a vagina is bad. Like yes one of the Barbies is played by a trans actress, but I didn't catch anything in the movie to imply that she's a trans Barbie, you know? Like if I was watching this unaware of the internet hullabaloo, nothing in the movie would have clued me into the creators knowing that gender isn't something fixed and predetermined. Which I feel is relevant when they made a move all about gender, the patriarchy, and how humans imagine and conceptualize the world!

Related to the second bullet, Gloria has a proto-goth daughter (who unfortunately does get pinkafied) and it is absolutely clear said daughter gets some of her rage at the unfairness of the world from Gloria. And Gloria has been drawing all these Sad Barbies, which Sasha thinks is actually cool and dark. But when Sasha pushes Gloria to present her ideas to her boss, what comes out it Ordinary Barbie, who could or could not be a mom and could or could not be the president. Like I get that the point is that sadness, overwhelming thoughts of death, and cellulite are all normal, but the way Ordinary Barbie was pitched makes it really easy for the doll to be identical to Stereotypical Barbie as a toy.

They didn't deal with death at all! Like, they acknowledged that humans die and barbies don't but this was all undermined by having a human ghost in multiple emotional scenes! They dealt neither with actual death, nor how unfounded fears of others' death can make people scared and sad (huge root of my depression) or how fears of one's own death can make someone obsessed with legacy and leaving a mark (seems rather relevant for a Barbie movie with many explicit call backs to the entire history of Barbie, and for a movie that says it's about imagination and conceptualization).

I don't really know what the Executives were supposed to bring to the movie. Like, soon enough the pacing absolutely removed them from feeling like an actual threat. And they were.... cartoonish is the wrong word. They felt like they were from Barbieland, not from the Real World. I feel like they were useful for one joke about how lol, Barbie is about girlpower but all the people in charge are cis white men.

The movie makes gay men the butt of jokes and nothing more, and absolutely nothing indicated to me that they know gay women exist.

This should be higher up but like starting a few weeks (months?) ago the press for the movie made me worry that it was going to be too much about Ken and like, yeah, I was right. The plot isn't Barbie vs. The Real World. The plot is Barbie vs. Ken.

Well this wasn't supposed to get so long and I fell asleep while writing it but uh, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, yeah. This movie is like the opposite of Nope in the way that when I left that theater with my siblings and dad and cousins we were analyzing nonstop about what things meant and symbolized and all that, and then the next day we had even more to say. Since then I think the only other movie I've seen in theaters has been SM:AtSV with my dad and siblings and like, okay we didn't leave the theaters theorizing but we did leave talking about how good it was (and then my siblings started talking about MCU's Spider-Man and Doctor Strange and I kinda tuned out). Vs when I left the theaters with four of my coworkers, we clearly had fun but like, there wasn't much more to say.

Like I watched Nimona by myself the other week, yeah? (Well okay, my parents came home three quarters of the way through but even though my mom was in the living room she wasn't watching the movie.) And I think that was a good use of my time and I enjoyed it, as evidenced by going through the tags on Tumblr and reblogging art and analysis. But if I had watched the Barbie movie by myself, and not in a half-full theater eager to laugh with my coworkers including one making a bunch of comments to me and some guy behind me making a bunch of comments to his friend, I think I might have felt a little emoty at the end. Like, the experience was fun but I don't think I got anything from the movie. Metaphorical potato chips/sugar candy if you will, where it tastes nice in your mouth but doesn't fuel you in either the short term or the long term.

I did have fun! But if you were expecting something more than an ad and a laugh, this is not it.

[moonsanoverthinker]

tell me all your thoughts about criminal minds it has fully taken over my entire brain and i have a fat crush on the entire cast

I went into Criminal Minds knowing very little about the actual show, I knew character names and I knew there was one guy that people REALLY seemed to find hot and that was it.

I started it and that show got me in a chokehold for MONTHS (until that hyper-fixation ended towards the end of series 5 and I stopped watching)

Also fun fact I had to write two intro scenes for a crime drama for the scriptwriting portion of my media a-level and let me tell you having an intense hyperfixation on this show helped me so much and it was one of the best things I’d ever written for that class

Also hard agree on crushing on the entire cast, I personally think series 3 was the hottest series in that sense.

But here’s some thoughts on episodes and some other random things mixed in too!

(Also I 100% enjoyed more episodes than I’ve mentioned but I can’t remember the plots for a lot of them so these are the ones I remember clearly enjoying)

Series 1:

Ep 6 L.D.S.K - I recently rewatched this episode and I throughly enjoy the hospital scenes with Hotch and Reid

Ep 10 The Popular Kids - I remember being so shocked by Aaron Paul being in this episode, also lowkey he was hot in it

Ep 14 Riding The Lightning - This is one of my favourite episodes. I hated the husband so much and he made me cringe every time he opened his mouth, and the ending just made me feel sad and the wife broke my heart

Series 2:

Ep 5 The Aftermath - I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs (God I love Elle)

I definitely liked more than one episode of series 2 but I cant recall any major plot points properly. But I do remember Reid gets kidnapped and they started an addiction story with him that never went anywhere which kinda bugs me because I think that would’ve been an interesting thing to properly explore

Series 3:

Ep 5 Seven Seconds - Another one of my favourite episodes. This episode was a ride of emotions that I wasn’t expecting and I wasn’t prepared for the things that they solved outside of the ‘main’ investigation

Ep 8 Lucky - Yeah this one made me feel ill for a little while not going to lie. I mean we did get the horrible line exchange “God is in all of us” // “So is Tracy Lambert” I know it’s not funny in any way but I like to think he was just waiting to use that specific line

Series 4

Ep 7 Memoriam - Another one that just made me feel sad! Also god I love Jane Lynch so much watching her play Reid’s mother after only seeing her as the iconic Sue Sylvester in Glee was a shock

Ep 22 The Big Wheel - I just enjoyed this episode and wasn’t expecting to see the guy who played Steve in Hawaii Five-O playing a murderer (also I was obsessed with Hawaii Five-O at one point)

Ep 23 Roadkill - This is one that I couldn’t remember exact details of but I did remember how it ended and I liked the twist. Fun fact I didn’t know the guy who played Kevin was Xander from Buffy until my mum pointed it out to me when she saw him at the end of this episode. She’s only watched half of this criminal minds episodes and one other, idk why I’m saying this but I think it’s funny.

Series 5

Ep 9 100 - Poor man can’t catch a break :( also they didn’t need to go full emotional damage with Jack hiding but they did and it worked

Ep 13 Risky Business - I don’t know when this episode came out but I remember one specific internet trend that was similar to what goes on in this episode. I like the cyber space based episodes specifically the older ones I’m not fully sure why but they don’t creep me out as much as more recent cyberspace based things.

Here’s the random section

Gideon screaming help me so he can reenact the crime while Morgan looks so confused is one of my favourite moments

There’s a scene in one of Reid’s Vegas episodes and I can’t remember which one exactly but just that one scene where he wins a shit load of money and then gives it to the woman who I think was a prostitute is so silly but I just liked it

I don’t know the full happenings but I do know what happens to Reid girlfriend in series 8 and why cant the they just let him be happy for once

[fromankyra]

Across the Spiderverse and respectability politics

I wrote this a week and a bit ago, when i first watched across the spiderverse

One thing that really struck me when I was watching Across the Spiderverse yesterday was how much Gwen and Miles’ treatment by Miguel feels a lot like respectability politics.

Like, both Gwen and Miles are “weird” spiderpeople. Gwen is the only Gwen Stacy who doesn’t die, and Miles was stung by a spider from a different universe. They’re also spiderpeople who have done something “wrong”, ie, they participated in the plot of spiderverse 1, which Miguel is blaming for the multiverse falling apart.

There’s also the fact that Miles and Gwen both have very strong queer subtext to them. Gwen especially has extremely trans vibes: her colour palette (and that of her universe), the way she acts, and the fact that she’s a woman when the vast majority of people who are, kinda, “her”, are men. With Miles it’s more subtle, and it’s more just the way that coming out as spiderman is presented a lot like coming out as queer (his parents’ worry, the scrutiny over his presumed partner, and a lot of the dialogue). And then, one important aspect of this movie is that Gwen is white, while Miles is Black. 

So anyway, one of the movie’s themes is about belonging. Belonging to a group or a society, what that belonging costs you, and whether that’s worth it (or even possible). The inciting incident of the movie is that Gwen gets accepted into the spider-society, and right from the start it feels like a commentary on respectability politics. 

Gwen’s acceptance into the spider-society is conditional and begrudgingly bestowed. Unlike the tons of other spiderpeople, who seem to be given a membership simply for existing and being a spiderperson, Gwen has to prove her excellence to even get a chance at being a part of this society. We see other spiders have been around for less than a year and are allowed to know about all this, but Gwen’s supposed role in the chaos happening in the multiverse means she’s on thin ice right from the beginning. 

So Gwen has this conditional acceptance as a part of the society, and right from the start she’s told that if she doesn’t toe the line, she’ll get booted out. Not only that, but for her, getting booted out doesn’t just mean going home, it means going somewhere where her only friend died, she’s a wanted criminal, and her father rejected her. She’s constantly kept on this precipice and told that if she doesn’t behave perfectly, she’ll be thrown into the abyss. So she does. She tries so hard, to the point of abandoning and then betraying her friend just so that she gets to keep her sliver of a chance. 

And the worst thing is, it doesn’t even work. After all that, she still gets booted off, made homeless, because she isn’t “good enough”. Because Miles “causing trouble” gives Miguel the exact excuse he needs to go “your kind don’t belong here”. 

Speaking of Miles, where Gwen is caught in this catch-22 of trying to fit in with people who resent her existence, Miles never even gets the chance to try. He’s too different, he’s the “original divergence”, which means that the spider society will never let him belong. This feels a lot like a race allegory, because only a few of the spiderpeople are black (and the two I can think of actually help him escape). He’s not even told there’s a thing he’s being left out of, and the moment he learns, he’s constantly berated for not obeying rules he doesn’t even know exist. Once he learns about the spider society, there’s a token effort to try and make him belong (by letting a black man be killed), but the moment he questions the cost the spiderpeople turn violent. He’s told that he’s worthless, he doesn’t belong, and I have very little doubt that if Miguel had caught him he would have killed him. 

And that all feels a lot like respectability politics to me. If you’re marginal, but close enough to the mainstream, you might be accepted, but you’ll constantly be asked to betray yourself and your peers. Expulsion from the mainstream will be held over your head, and will happen  eventually anyway. 

Meanwhile, if you’re too marginal, and it’s acceptable to shit on you, you won’t even get that chance. You’ll just get fucked over at every turn, and berated for not fitting in, both by the people being violent towards you and your less marginal, more respectable peers. 

And that’s why solidarity is important. That’s why Hobie helps Miles break out, and immediately quits when he’s told to chase after him. If you’re not “right”, you’re an anomaly, or your canon event went wonky, or you’re queer, it’s only a matter of time before society will turn violent towards you. So you may as well look out for people who they’re being violent against already, and question the justifications that you give for that violence. 

[artbyblastweave]

BLASTWEAVE what does steven universe have in common with watchmen?

Both Steven Universe and Watchmen are groundbreaking entries in their respective genres that demonstrate a deep understanding of the appeal of the genre they’re working in, and engage with their ideas on a previously unheard-of level for the medium. That breaks ground and clears the way for what other works in the genre can get away with. 

Steven Universe showed that, well, first of all that you can make a cartoon that’s fundamentally ideologically queer beyond a few side characters, but also that you can have an emotionally intelligent and mature children's cartoon where the character nuance and depth and development are all taken very seriously. Watchmen showed that you could write serious and interesting narratives about superheroes if you were willing to roll with the crazy. (Neither of them was the first to do the things I’m ascribing to them, but I do think that they’re what made it stick for their respective fields.)

In doing so, though, both works create/created a catch 22 for all future works in their genre. Part of what made both of them so good is that they were willing to critically unpack and air out the ugly implications of their format that usually get chalked up to suspension of disbelief, and now that that’s out in the open it becomes very difficult not to think about how any other given work is or isn’t addressing those issues- even if they aren’t equipped to address those issues in the scope of the story they’re trying to tell. Watchmen asked questions about who sanctions superheroes, what qualifies you to do that work, where the line is between heroism and fascism or if there even is one, whether the agency to act means you have a right or a duty to act, whether anyone who seriously bought into the superhero thing could possibly be doing it for good reasons, and, if they somehow were, how long you can care with the intensity necessary to be an effective hero without suffering burnout (not long.) I literally can’t think of a single superhero thing worth reading that isn’t in some way in conversation with Watchmen - you now kind of have to answer those questions, explicitly or implicitly, even if your books thesis is “Alan Moore sucks eggs and being a superhero is very sustainable and fantastic.” If you just leave the question of whether your superheroes are justified completely unaddressed, there’s an uncomfortable discordance there, because we’ve seen the extreme end of that sliding scale in the form of the Comedian and if the narrative doesn’t engage with what makes the protagonist not Edward Blake, it can feel worrisome. If they try and then botch it it can feel alarming.

Steven Universe has a similar thing going on, at least for me. It’s the only unironic, non-parodic children’s series that’s really, seriously unpacked how fucked up and traumatic it would be to grow up as the archetypical All-loving Spirited Saturday Morning Cartoon Protagonist, how warped and dysfunctional a household that enabled that lifestyle could be at its worst, and what the future looks like when your whole childhood was centered on a now-ended conflict. ( a lot of cartoons flirt with that last one but don’t commit.) I’ve seen jokes and intended-as-cracky fan theories about this for years, surrounding lots of other cartoons (Ben 10, Pokemon, Powerpuff Girls) but almost never with the assumption that the creators are on the same page as them. I’ve seen stories that are post-modern reimaginings using the same general archetypes or whatever (Venture Brothers) but that’s not this! SU told an entertaining story earnestly, and then engaged with the emotional fallout of the story it told, with an unheard-of breadth and depth. A whole season of unpacking! No other show has ever been allowed to sink that much effort into closure. That’s usually what Fanfic is for.

I think it’s great, and that shows like Infinity Train and The Owl House are able to go as hard as they do largely because of Steven Universe’s precedent- but no matter how good a cartoon is, I can’t watch them without having this voice in the back of my head going “Oh, these children are going to grow up to be broken wrecks, bar an extensive and harsh healing process that kinda hurts to watch, huh.”

The issue is that not every cartoon can be Steven Universe, where the project was to thoughtfully and sensitively unpack this stuff. It’s a fair bet that we’ll probably never see a show with that exact project again (not least because of the loss of novelty value.) You’ve got your own stories you wanna tell that’ll run their own course, mostly aimed at children, there objectively isn’t narrative or financial room for most stories to unpack these assumptions if that wasn’t the goal going in. For example, Gravity Falls had pretty tight storytelling and a narrative that absolutely had room for a post-script "where-do-we-go-from-here” plot- it sped-run the “oh no, childhood’s ending” thing- and it’s pretty telling that the aftermath, healing process, interpersonal relationships and so forth are one of the things that that fandom heavily fixates on. The narrative had such a clean ending that it made people go looking for the mess. That’s not bad! It’s how most storytelling works! But now I look at any cartoon with kid heroes that’s meant to be taken even marginally seriously and go, Oh. Win the battle, lose the war. Then I feel sad. The contrast, of course, is that most superhero works actually can be, and in fact benefit from trying to be like Watchmen, because all the questions Watchmen raises about the ethics of power are also just.... like.... the most interesting storytelling hooks if you want to write a cape thing with real themes. They’re the kind of stories we’d have gotten years prior naturally if not for the CCA boondoggle. Admittedly it kinda creates a different problem where most “good” cape media is inescapably self-referential and draws on picking apart the conventions of a 60-70-year old canon that hasn’t been in wide circulation in years. But! I also think there’s a stronger obligation there to keep superhero fans in check- if your superhero thing isn’t making the reader question the ethics of violence and individual heroism in the face of systemic injustice, you wind up with people who unironically think Frank Castle is a role model to be emulated. We all know that guy. Children’s media doesn’t really produce that guy the same way, although it can draw them in from other corners. Superhero media often needs to be self-critical in a way children’s cartoons don’t always have to be.

[lesser-mook]

Gundam Seed Destiny AR (Another Rewrite)

Gundam SEED DESTINY was the Anime that showed me there was more to Anime than just Harems, High School settings, & trash Ecchis

My first mature themed Anime. 

Yet:

There’s a lot of problems with the SEED Destiny project, 

Began strongly,  but the buildup to the ending was weak. The Epilogue with the handshake was fine but everything in the middle after Episode 22 needs new context.

The flaws are mainly attributed to the characters.

How awkwardly some of the characters are written (Cagalli), LACK of emphasized characterization for others (Luna) and the unnecessary involvement/prioritization of certain plot points (Kira/Lacus) and the abandonment of others. (Better developing Shinn):

the illogical decisions made by Characters for no reason

the plot armor

the consistently annoying sanctimonious damn near invincible nature of Yamato

And how Kira makes the story suffer due to his poorly written character

Poorly choreographed major fights. (That if i directed, would play out very VERY different in pacing alone, let alone presentation of character skills)

The little battles were fine (recycled animation was noticed) but they were fine for the most part. Though seeing the exact same fight sequence recycled back to back, between 3 episodes is annoying when compared to 00 Gundam or IBO

HD Remaster did it’s job by polishing it, much appreciated.

And the criminally poor management of SHINN ASUKA towards the later part of the season.

After Episode 30, he just becomes this smug, insufferable little shit.

And i get it, he’s frustrated with how ZAFT was treating Stella; But he almost overlooks the fact that she’s been killing their people since day 1. 

(And she killed Heine) Not her fault (technically, child soldier) but she still caught bodies.

He doesn’t he even entertain that reality, while acknowledging his own opinions. 

Soon as he gives Stella to Neo, he somehow comes back with a worsened attitude towards Athrun for some reason.

And Shinn not getting punished for releasing a prisoner & assaulting medical personnel gave him this “Hehe, i’m special” attitude.

Then after 34, he claims he got revenge for Athrun “too” by shooting down Freedom which completely contradicts his dismissive attitude prior towards the same exact Athrun.

The narrative is not sure what exactly is the dynamic between these two cats. And i’m equally as confused.

So when Athrun shows up in E42 catching himself trying to appeal to the Shinn.

I’m not sure what that appeal is founded on; Cause i always sensed a brewing friendship TRYING to develop but to persuade someone not to enact genocide requires a level of respect.

 And i never sensed that from Shinn to Athrun, and what they could’ve had should’ve been what Kamille & Quatro had or Asemu & Woolf. 

Like Mu should’ve mentored Kira, Athrun should’ve mentored Asuka.

SEED always waste, waste, waste good ideas.

And how weirdly paced Luna & Shinns relationship was kills me, on my soul

She confided in Asuka WAY too fast, she wasn’t given any time to digest what happened or meditate on what the situation is.

Instead of an episode wasted recapping Kira & Lacus’ relationship (no new footage btw, just episode footage we already saw) 

instead use that entire 25 minutes building up Shinn & Luna’s entire history since Military Basic Training leading to now; Because why the fuck not????

I would’ve had homegirl avoid that man for at least 2 or 3 days before she even speaks to him again.

Because why wouldn’t she be afforded that? 

He fucked up, and at that point, she figures her baby sister was dead. 

Nah, that hallway scene, woulda played out with her walking away from him.

Then afterwards, through him coaching her on Impulse Gundam, then they can build something new. GRADUALLY.

Can’t just hop into that shit, Shinn & (in this case, especially) Lunamaria Hawke deserved better.

Binged the Anime recently (FEB-MAR 2022), 

and i can say with a clear head that the show’s highest points were definitely when Shinn, Athrun , and ZAFT Minerva’s crew were given the spotlight to shine and go on missions: 

Episodes 1-12 [Excluding 13-14]  Episodes 15-22 is peak GSD 

In that respect (in that 1-22 window) it’s a solid Military Anime.

Athruns "Big Brother?” dynamic for Shinn was excellent to see in action (not the best, but it was decent) could’ve been so much better. 

Again, mentorship, imagine what Zala could teach this kid in terms of combat.

Anything Close to Garrod and Jamil’s dynamic would’ve been awesome.

Jamil corrects Garrod, Garrod learns and evolves. Because Jamil has the experience, and Garrod benefits from learning from him.

Simple.

But since Episode 23 it all gradually went to shit since Kira Yamato burst into the picture, like a Looney Toon character.

Mainly because whenever he’s in the frame, the tension ceases because not only is he a static presence & he’s too strong, lack of rivals.

And he’s always in the right, self-righteous, a very underwhelming character. (Especially compared to Athrun or Season 1 PRE-Episode 30 Kira, before he became Jesus Yamato )

Whenever Athrun makes a point:

Kira: “I hear what you’re saying, BUT”--- (Bullshit dialogue follows)

He does this at least once or twice.

Then Murrue Ramius (Underrated character) actually validates his bad decisions after Kira contemplates the mere possibility that he’s been making dumbass decisions. (Episode 31) Bad writing is bad.

Dude isn’t allowed to be wrong no matter what.

Mainly after Episode 23 & 28 is mainly when the show went full retard, which is when they do their wannabe Celestial Being interventions. Then the downward spiral of Durandals little scheme really starts brewing.

And how Yamato was written to quickly defeat Athrun’s Savior Gundam like Zala just learned how to pilot yesterday- was a disgrace:

“b b ut Athrun was conflicted“

Save it.

Nerf is a nerf. Bad writing is bad. Period.

Even Episode 35 tried pushing some contrived narrative that not having a justification to fight will cause someone to be incapable of fighting 

Capt. Talia Gladys says this while the camera pans to Athrun. 

& Episode 26 had homeboy moping in his room lol, Subtle.

Problem, He had reason(s): 

Fighting the Alliance (which he was doing)

Joining ZAFT to be of use in the conflict (which he was, and what i really like about GSD is ZAFT was outwardly portrayed as good guys in a lot of Episodes)

Athrun wanted to be involved in what the hell was going on, thus informed vs remaining as Alex Dino & being clueless

All of which we clearly saw being built upon in the first 12 episodes

This infamous “conflict” started after Kira (our Lord & Savior) simply said 

“We (Kira/Cagalli) don’t want you fighting ORB” 

& “Cagalli is crying” (as if that justifies adding confusion to a Warzone twice)

Kira: “So all of this is the fault of ORB and Cagalli?”

YES, dumbass!! 

The Minerva was literally the persecuted in both scenarios, not ORB.

ORB is the aggressor:Due to Yuna, why? Because Cagalli wasn’t there, and when she NEEDED you in her corner during those 2 years of you sitting on your ass- KIRA, nor you nor Kisaka were there for her when she needed support dealing with Yuna and his Father.

Dumbass.

this photo perfectly illustrates their “chemistry”

Thus the genius ignores the fact that ORB/Earth Alliance is coming after Athruns Duty Stationed Ship and if he doesn’t fight, the ship goes down.

And ORB is involved at all, because Ms.Atha isn’t in office.

After Athrun said at least 4 times or more, in the same conversation:

Go back to ORB

Go back to ORB

Go back to ORB

Go back to ORB

Mind you Cagalli taking her ass back to ORB (Again) would eventually pull back ORB forces from fighting ZAFT, which was ATHRUNS point.

But Athrun can’t have a point, because Kira would be in the wrong.

And the fucked up part is, they ended up going to ORB (EP35-40) after another disastrous intervention & the Eurasia incident with DESTROY Gundam anyway which didn’t require their presence.

The Minerva would’ve handled it, people would’ve died regardless (Unfortunate as that reality is)

After the homies Todaka & Baba lost their lives, for nothing.

If Chief Rep. Cagalli just went back like Athrun said, their ORB forces wouldn’t have been slaughtered for nothing. And those 2 men would be alive.

Should’ve just listened to Athrun, but that point is never hammered in as much as “CONFLICTED Athrun”, crazy.

And the biggest casualty was SAVIOR Gundam getting basically bent over the couch by Freedom. 

Then after he loses the Savior, it’s as if his status on the Minerva drops, everyone just lowkey loses respect for him or the energy towards him shifts somehow. So painful to watch. 

Episodes 1-6 he’s highkey pulling no scopes in a Zaku, 

but because Kira says they don’t want him fighting ORB despite ORB coming AFTER the Minerva to SINK IT (I repeat):

Now  Freedom shows up, tells my guy Cagallis crying (because for the first 42 episodes that’s ALL SHE Does) & Athrun doesn’t know a Mobile Suit pedal from a Joystick. Bullshit.

Setsuna learned a monumental revelation in Season 2, so monumental it would reasonably make him question everything. He was reasonably flustered, and had a fresh bullet wound. STILL KICKED ASS, with struggle, because he was suffering, but it didn't nerf his abilities.

What’s Athruns excuse?

So what i’ve gathered, UNLESS Athrun’s goals sides with Kira and his sidekicks; Athrun isn’t allowed to be focused, have SEED, or be in his right mind.

Or else prepare for Empress Lacus to give him some pretentious speech to reveal some epiphany that he should already be keen to because we’ve DONE THIS once before already.

“of ZAFT” Mind you, this champ goes ahead and becomes Chairwoman of the same exact Military lol

I love Lacus’ confidence, and the way she commands the room when she gets serious, but where does that even come from? 

What do we even know about homegirl? Her mother? How & why she can bark orders so well? (That’s a learned skill you adjust to, it’s not something you have because your dad is a politician or because you sing some songs...)

I want to know this girls past, and how she has so many connections at 16 years old.

RELENA DARLIAN/PEACECRAFT:

Not written the best, but we gradually see this young lady, glow up from sheltered reserved Schoolgirl to Gov. Official running a country & leading conferences with seasoned Generals and world leaders.

Going by early signs of very unusual social behaviors on her part, I personally believe she’s on the spectrum (functional autism). 

Which is a good thing, it helped me see her in a new light, with an added context which makes her more interesting when you really look at her eccentric decisions & social awkwardness throughout the show.

POINT BEING:

We see her development, we see her earn the respect of various leaders, which makes her reputation in their eyes- legit because we see it form.

And no, she’s not sure of herself 100% of the time, she doubts herself about her Country’s ideals, she looks to Noin, Quatre, Pagan, and Heero for support. (Which is why Kisaka and Kira should’ve been there. Relena is Cagalli and Lacus)

She’s human, she’s a character. And like Heero, she’s a goddamn savage:

EP 11 if i’m not mistaken

Back in the day, i couldn’t stand her, but on this recent binge, whenever Relena isn’t there, i miss her. 

Biggest complain would be my confusion with her initial infatuation with Heero, maybe she sensed a kindred spirit or the fact that he hijacked an Ambulance then came back in time to threaten her life- 

Which any other girl would report but  again Relena’s different.

Besides that, she’s cool.

Can’t say the same for Lacus, Meer was interesting, but Lacus? Nah.

Lacus Clyne was underdeveloped, i love how together she is, but like her BF; She comes across as mary sue because she’s rarely checked or proven wrong on anything and whatever she says & does is the right call.

Episode 39 GSD was a situation where she was backed into a corner, i would’ve liked to see her clutch a situation but Kira comes to the rescue. Her father dies (GS Ep 40-42), she cries (Good) but we don’t get much else from that.

Too vanilla. They’re not allowed to be compromised in any way, rarely disagree or fight too.

UNLIKE Athrun and Cagalli who make mistakes, disagree, & have flaws, thus (while underwritten too) they at least resemble human beings and not self inserts.

It’s also underwhelming that the Freedom / Impulse fight was so contrived because of the same shit. Kira was “conflicted” & wasn’t sure “if he should” be “fighting ZAFT”:

Mind you 15 min earlier, he was annihilating ZAFT grunts just fine but Shinn shows up, now he’s got wiggly knees (Can’t make this shit up)

Gundam 00 once again has a similar situation, 

Setsuna is still hurting from his gunshot wound. Graham is waling on 00 Raiser, Graham says: "FORGIVE ME, FOR KILLING/DESTROYING YOU." (varies on translation)

As he proceeds to attempt to impale 00R through the GN Shield; Camera cuts to Setsuna's face, he has a look of distraught, then determination, then anger-

00 Raiser goes TRANS AM, and then they start going at it. 

One of my favorite moments in the series. Anyone who's seen the show will tell that fight was high octane, good content. (Episode 16 of Season 2)

Setsuna was bleeding out from a bullet hole,

what's Kira's excuse?

Poor writing.

With all the popularity that SEED that has, the fans are constantly robbed of what could’ve been epic fights where both parties are TRYING, and competing with all their skills on display--

With a level of energy on the same tier of battles in Gundam 00:

GUNDAM SEED (HIGHLIGHT fight ) EPISODE 30

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt

IRON BLOODED ORPHANS 

8TH MS TEAM (No they’re not zipping around in the sky. This is grounded; Weighted Mecha combat. Old School)

GUNDAM (mfing) WING

ALL of that is to say this:

We were lowkey missing out on legendary 1v1 battles in GSD (between mains mainly) because of plot induced nerfs, and awkward writing decisions.

Cause when Kira gets Strike Freedom & fights Shinn, you can barely call that a fight & more like a game of tag. Even SHINN himself points out that Kira is trolling him mid-fight. EP41

You see what happens is: The flaws in the story bleeds into the fights instead of the strengths. For better and or for majorly worse.

It’s the writing, contrivances & Direction decisions is what holds the battles back:

(Respectfully; Rest in peace to the Author)

Wrote a Prototype draft for Shinn awhile back regarding how his arc is handled in the finale.

Literally was just a passing thought, sappy redo i did at 2am out of boredom.

Unexpected thing happened: It actually resonated with some people, cool-

so i got curious and after some casual editing, i like how well it translated into a video format.

And months in after deciding the rewrite, i learn someone else has made a revision of their own: “GSD: ALTERED”

From what i read so far,

 i like the ballsy approaches they’ve made to Yamato specfically, basically sidelining him by the end of the story lmfao. No issues here.

Stella has a bigger role & alive, she gets Impulse, etc.

The kind of changes that goes way beyond fanfic, into “story upgrade” territory. 

As for Kira: My problem with Yamato isn’t him being involved, i respect the characters skill, but unless you’re Superman, Batman, or a badly written GARY STU

nobody is that fucking good, Amuro gets a pass because again: NEWTYPE MAGIC

And it’s how the story allows his presence to hijack everyone elses agenda. 

You’d think the dude was protected by the story itself, like he was a self-insert or something.

His vulnerability in SEED made me sympathize with him but as SOON as he got the X10A he just went full Superman. 

No mechanics, no OS writing (which was my favorite thing about him, his computer skills), no more struggle, no real tactics or intelligence. 

Literally untouchable, it’d be so refreshing if a random equally skilled ZAFT/ORB (Sir or Lady) pilot gave him some trouble, even if just for a quick 60 duel..

And given the fact that i don’t recall seeing a significant amount of ZAFT Lady pilots.

It’s not the numbers/ratios for me.

It’s the believable nature of that... Coordinators are essentially Super Soldiers, ZAFT has plenty of women pushing paperwork, on the Council as Leaders, but the only lady pilot of ZAFT we could name off the dome is Luna & a minor character with little to no presence in the story??? (Shiho) 

And i just binged GSD, and i don’t recall a single short sequence dedicated to her catching bodies, could be wrong tho

And most of the ZAFT grunts we see get shot down since SEED are Gents, i mean okay? I guess all the lady pilots are never in major battles lol

I think that speaks for itself as to what i’d do if i directed a 1v1 (Grunt vs MC) scenario.

They don’t need a name, just a nameless pilot in a grunt putting up some kind of a fight. 

Otherwise, he can just do it all effortlessly with no challenge & despite his bare boned tactics being so predictable, because the recycled footage shows him literally doing the same thing on repeat.

Yet nobody can seem to beat him, NOT EVEN ATHRUN....until the plot decided it was time for him to “lose” just so he can get an almost immediate upgrade. TRASH.

And when he loses X10A, he didn’t know what to do; That was the perfect opportunity to give him some depth, the exploration of a Powerless Kira. 

But NOPE by the end of the same episode he gets a shiny new Toy Gundam and is right back where he left off

AND THAT’s why X10A had to go

And i get it, all pilots have to get to a point where they’re LVL99/ And he’s ULTIMATE Coordinator (Which just means Pure bred/ ie he can turn on SEED like a light switch and the only one who can do that because he’s basically a mutant) but this guy got there way too fucking fast in SEED despite having no professional training. 

Which sums up a similar gripe i have with Banagher.

He barely gets a pass, because: NEWTYPE magic.

And Unicorn does all the fighting anyway

Kira’s issue is the same as Deku, too sheltered, given power, never ventures on his own, and never stays that way. 

Always goes back to status quo. 

And for some reason, Kira always in a Gundam, for the most part.

vs The After Colony boys who will make do in any machine they can get their hands on.

Sometimes using each others’ machines.

They travel on their own, they don’t always stay as a team, they do their own thing, INDEPENDENCE. Maintenance, computer quality assurance, stealing Air Carriers, sabotage, etc. 

POINT BEING, despite being “Gundam” pilots, everything they use isn’t always a GUNDAM yet they will fight til the end (win or lose) they will fight

And even then, their Gundams get damaged, run out of ammo, flaws, mortality, but they get shit done.

That’s a true “Gundam Meister”

And Durandal had a point, Kira had no direction, didn’t apply his skills; 

Just a zombie staring off into space, until Lacus gets pulled up on, then he jumps into Battles without an invitation. Imposing his righteousness.

In GSD Another Rewrite (if i get my way): This man will either go off on his own and get a damn job OR (per what i can do in an edit, realistically): 

This Man will join the ORB forces (Lt. or Commander) after Cagalli returns to Office, after he survives his fight with Shinn, and he puts those skills to use-

WITHOUT THE FREEDOM

jpeg source

After Episode 28, Savior & Freedom fight to a standstill and Athrun gets his point across. Kira & Friends finally take Chief Atha back to ORB:

Freedom and Impulse will eventually have their fight along the way

But they get to ORB regardless, and this time, Kira stops hiding in the bosom of the Archangel and applies himself.

ORB Union Forces: Commander Yamato

(sounds so much better)

He gives Lacus the Freedom back, going out of his way to request an upgrade (that he specifies in schematic design) due to Shinn pretty much surpassing X10A, WITHOUT switching Silhouettes.

So this is him being proactive, rising with the occasion.

All so it can be renovated into X20A, thus in this take, we know where X20A comes from. Not just showing up 39 EP in.

And during this period he’s in a humble Murasume, working with Lt.Baba, training new pilots and leading them in combat.

Learning how to be a leader, earning respect from others, caring about his Men: 

He has actual responsibilities now, like his predecessor in Zeta, & Char’s Counterattack:

The problem is the Man had nothing to do but cause trouble, be in the right, he wins every time, and show up in time for the finale to be the winner.

Too safe, give him something to do, get him in a Murasume. Give him and his sister something to do or get em out the way.

Side note: I’ve never had a problem with Destiny Gundam X42S design 

and yes i do like what people interpret as “tears”, which i always saw to be Destiny’s facial scars; Gives it a primal vibe for me personally.

From a mechanical standpoint, the placement of it’s weapons are awkward & it’s wings lacking movement because of said weapon placement are definitely a step down from how lean X10A’s design was:

But despite that, it still works given the fact that V2s thrusters also do not move.. and somehow manages to be one of the op suits.. because its hardware lore was on-point.

So Destiny’s problem is hardware application, lore, not exterior continuity.

EXAMPLE.

Mirage Colloid (GSD AR Lore):

Microscopic prism particles, (When the HYPER Deuterion-Drive is active) the particles can now emit active Electro-magnetic waves + combined with the passive Electro-magnetic properties of the Voiture Lumiere: Jamming enemy OS via the particles infiltrating enemy mobile suits thus a Quantum Communication computer virus 

Also, any enemy mobile suit within the range of any lingering particles can be forcefully drained of electrical energy, and transferred to the Destiny via a mechanism resembling the Deuterion Beam system, albeit a small amount from just one suit. (This is not an automatic function)

Therefore, the Palma Fiocina (Post UPGRADE) now possesses a POWER DRAINER function that depletes enemy energy by 5x only upon physical contact and when HDD Enhanced+Mirage Colloid Particles are dispersed

When enhanced by the HDD+The Destiny’s (while dispersing enough particles) excess pink particles possess an odd photonic disruption effect that disperses most beam weaponry fired at the Destiny. This feature where the particles are bending light (Similar to Blitz), distorting it’s direction entirely effectively serves as the Destiny’s THIRD beam shield. Omnidirectional only if enough particles surround the machine

Additionally, the excess Variable Phase Shift Energy residue discharged from the Destiny’s joints + combined with the New Particles features birth a bizarre phenomenon where the After images both have temporal mass for 3-5 seconds 

These features are only accessible via the Hyper-Deuterion Drive system, if the Palma Fiocina feature is attempted upon use, the system’s Quantum Computer will boot the system automatically.

See? Using actual lore from Cosmic Era, i just made some shit up, and the Destiny is now more so (The most terrifying suit in C.E to have to fight 1v1 or in any fight)

And It has some parallel properties of the GN Drive, F91, and Turn X. All in one.

It’s power tier/scaling just got upgraded, BIG TIME.

It’s that easy

Again, Destiny needed an internal hardware redesign (battery & overall performance issues fixed) more than a visual aesthetic overhaul. 

It needs LORE.

So none of that Arch Destiny shit in this SEED Destiny

  (No offense Wacky)

 GSD:AR (without getting the content copyright blocked) will just be some low effort shitpost videos (mainly short series of shorts), tweaking a fight or two, not a complete revise of the ENTIRE story- it's been done already & done pretty good.  Editing whole conversations is a good way to get the content blocked, thus being just waste of time.

Cause again, Episode 1-22 ( excluding 14-15 or whenever Kira/Lacus is absent for the most part and Cagalli isn't being stupid) SEED Destiny is solid, 6/10 Military Anime

- Loose example of what i'd like to do: Destiny Gundam vs Akatsuki (but because she's a veteran combatant, imagine Cagalli actually putting up a better fight this time)

Minor tweaks to  "What If?" SEED Destiny was more Shinn-centric, less KIRA Yamato & “Friends”

Nothing big, just a minor project

Gundam SEED DESTINY (AR): Another Rewrite  

[thedeviljudges]

the devil judge + the seven deadly sins

so, i made a gifset about who i thought falls under the seven deadly sins. and also shameless plug - please go reblog the gifset i made for this. took me ages to do.

but i figured i might as well make a meta post to correlate. so this is that post. it’s not everything i could discuss. i could be here for hours more, truth be told. but i hope it’s enough to chew on.

while i feel like a lot of these are going to be a no-brainer, i still want to talk it through because idk. i can, and i want to, and i feel like it, lmao.

gluttony

the elite are privileged and have an opportunity to indulge so much more than the general public, but in many different ways. this is shown throughout the show in the fact that they can indulge on luxury food, have political power, they can make a phone call or snap their fingers and everyone must follow their orders.

and the thing about gluttony is that there is always more to be had. you take a little and then realize it’s not enough and so you ask for more. case in point: in episode 11 when sunah suggests that yohan could be the new president, the current one gives her an alternative: dictatorship. because it wasn’t just enough for him to be an actor and the presiding president.

you’ll also know they turn in on themselves - the two other guys in the elite group. one who owns the company and the other dude - i really cannot remember their names and what they do, but y’all know who i’m talking about. it was so easy for them, when threatened, to fabricate documents to give to yohan about each other in order to get ahead. gluttony is only shared in the relationships we have until one realizes they can take a little extra of the pie. it’s the selfishness of having all the leftovers. gluttony cannot necessarily exist without someone else’s sacrifice.

lust

i kind of had an ah-ah moment when i was talking this over with @technitango​. i was trying to decide who was going to be lust because lust is portrayed very, very differently in this show than what most of us are used to. we, of course, know sunah who lusts after a life of indulgence and riches because she equates that with respect more than actually wanting it because it’s monetarily worth something.

but then i realized the public is lust because of their need for justice. i won’t say revenge necessarily because they’re doing as they’re told when given the judge show. but we can quickly see how that evaporates into something akin to bloodlust, for criminals and people who normally get away with shit, to have their fair taste at conviction for their misdeeds. we even see it with yohan’s fanboy club - the lust that comes from adoration and dedication.

and even more so, the public is easily swayed and so is the nature of lust. it follows in the vein of needs and wants, and as soon as new information is presented, however may false, so does the wants and desires of what people want sway. how easy was it for them to turn on yohan for a split second on two occasions - on two accounts of bribery.

envy

envy, above all, is about wanting what others have because you do not have it yourself. it may not be exactly what they have, but a form of it. some people don’t necessarily want money - they want what it can by, which is time, health and material goods.

sunah is the perfect example of this. she envies respect and recognition. she talks about bright and shiny objects, and that’s true to her kleptomania tendences, but more than anything, she wants to be seen as an equal because being poor with a vastly different upbringing means she’s looked down upon by those she thinks matters.

which also begs the question why she feels the need to seek validation from people in higher statuses to begin with when she can be the exception and not the rule - form her own understanding and environment to show others that the typical way of the elite is not actually all it’s cracked up to be - to which we see when she has no one to celebrate her victory with. it’s lonely being at the top. you get to your goal you thought you wanted but then what?

more importantly, sunah also envies family, relationships and simply put, human interaction. she wants to be cared for and treasured, and she looks for that in her position of power. because then all eyes are on you. because then that’s what people care about. what she fails to see is that those eyes are just as fruitless and just as wavering. to be a leader means people loving the idea of you but not you as a person.

“people of envious nature are sometimes stimulated to seek to emulate those who have completed some great achievements and in doing so achieve something great for themselves,” according to Understanding Philosophy.

wrath

while i realize that gaon not might entirely fit the wrath trope, he certainly has his moments, and i think he’s lived with a tampered flame since his parent’s death. he just learned to briefly put it out in the form of distractions and a false sense of righteousness and justice. it isn’t until he meets yohan that someone finally gives him the okay to feel the entirety of his emotions, that lets him breath and tells him it’s okay to feel anger and hurt. and while gaon ultimately chooses not to exact revenge, his wrath is what led him to becoming a judge and walking away from his teenage crimality.

gaon transposed his wrath into seeking justice, transformed it into livelihood, and reformed his narrative so that he was no longer angry and a teen with rash emotions. it was simply redirected and never really forgotten. yohan turned that redirection back around onto gaon’s ultimate heartache. fueled with that, it became easier to justify himself and his actions.

the most pivotal moment of turning his back on this mindset is, of course, the minister’s suicide, where he takes a good look at himself and doesn’t like what he sees. at this point, gaon’s upset isn’t necessarily at yohan but at the situation in which they got themselves into. because the thing is, gaon doesn’t absolve himself from what they did. he doesn’t turn a blind eye to that and try to dismiss it. he owns up to what happened and confesses how he feels to yohan and how he has to leave for his own good, and in some indirect way, for yohan’s, too.

with yohan, his ultimately weakness, despite never admitting to it, is family. his wrath comes in the form of anger when the ones he loves are threatened. yohan lives by a moral code of loyalty because that means you won’t be abandoned, and as a child who lived with that verdict since the day he was born, it’s an ever-pressing theme of his.

thing is, wrath comes in two particular forms for yohan. again, one is family and the second is the rose-colored glasses he’s given himself in his revenge story. he’s always had a goal to presumably make right the wrong for taking away isaac, but within that, 10 years is a long time to plot revenge, to the point where it becomes so much easier to lose yourself to that, to become enraged with it and forget the initial goal all along. we see this in his inability to form the bonding moments needed with his niece and his casual throwaway comments over people’s lives - the comment he made to gaon about moving on to the next plan, and the ultimately nail in the coffin of pushing gaon to leaving him.

his fury has also led him to convince himself his own humanity is nothing short of a lie. therefore, it’s easier to justify the means to an end because of his own self-worth and self-deprecation. it’s almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy: he even admitted to gaon’s mentor that he is an abyss. he’s referred to himself as nothing but an animal or a monster - all characteristics of despondency to survive and to justify what he’s doing. sort of like a catch 22, yohan claims he’s an animal/monster and behaves as such, but because he behaves as such, it means he’s an animal/monster.

wrath for gaon and yohan are very different yet the same. they are slow-burning, and that’s a dangerous type. it’s actually interesting when you think about the fire imagery surrounding the two of them because flames are quick to lap at anything in its wake, to destroy within a matter of minutes. and yet for the two of these men, their internal fire eats them from the inside out, painfully, until they’re almost unrecognizable to others and to themselves.

sloth

sloth was a little more difficult to pinpoint because of its characteristics. it was either the minister versus the mentor, both of which i think could work in this role. however, i chose the minister simply because she’s featured more and intertwines heavily with the plot line.

soth is a medieval translation of the Latin term acedia, meaning “without care.”

the ultimate characteristic of sloth is often identified as laziness, and while it’s easy to argue that the minister hasn’t been lazy in her ability to get where she is, she became as much when she started lying to get to her position. isn’t lying known as the easier way out? it absolves you of responsibility, of putting in the hard work, of apologizing and making things right. in the end, she had a goal and found the easiest solution to get there through her lack of responsibility for the roles she more than likely swore an oath to.

but that also translates into the other attributes of sloth: a failure to do the right thing, lack of emotions for people or of the self, and the fact that it “hinders man in his righteous undertakings and thus becomes a terrible source of man’s undoing” according to The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil.

while i think there are a lot of components of sloth that may not necessarily fit the minister, the apathy and carelessness are enough to showcase her aggression, despondency and restlessness when what little efforts she does put in do not go her way. another interesting thing to note is that many of sloth’s traits correspond with symptoms of mental illness, such as depression and anxiety. it’s an interesting thing to note given the way the minister chooses to end her life.

greed

i don’t know that jinjoo would’ve had any provocation to the limelight if it wasn’t for sunah’s direction, but she’s eager to please and wants to be useful. it’s only natural for her to want more because it’s clear she’s a career woman, loves her job and has a heart for serving the people.

but like gluttony, greed is also that little thing that plants itself and can take on a life of its own. you start looking for justifications as to why you can’t have more than what you do, and in jinjoo’s situation, she’s already overlooked through no fault of her own. and it’s not that gaon and yohan are doing it purposefully, which is what makes their neglect heartbreaking, because truthfully, they’re after the same thing jinoo is. sure, it looks different and the foundation of it is different, same with their motives. but they’re all three judges on a residing bench working to exact justice - even if all three of them have their own personal agenda. 

i don’t think jinoo fully aligns with greed, but she does want more for herself, and i think that’s only natural. you can tell she has a heart, and she’s keen not to be overlooked. this isn’t her pain point so much as it is she knows her worth and is more than ready to do what it takes to get where she wants. this, in and of itself, isn’t necessarily a bad trait, but we can see how it leads to being deceived, especially for someone who’s been left in the dark for so long.

she is enticed by the glitz and the glamour of being a head judge, but you can tell she feels some remorse and guilt for those thoughts at times. i think her sense of greed is a battle within herself more than it is extremely outwardly.

pride

soohyun’s pride comes in the form of her imbalance with right and wrong. her sense of righteousness and justice is so far leaning, even more than gaon’s. it can be chalked up to her being a cop, but we’ve seen instances of this outside of her role within that agency. her pride doesn’t let her see beyond saving gaon and getting to the bottom of every mystery that comes her way.

it also comes in the form of impulsiveness and her savior complex, putting elijah in danger, for example, instead of waiting for backup. it’s not necessarily from a belief that she can fix things all on her own, but she sees injustice and immediately jumps in. another case in point is her and gaon watching yohan wreck the minister’s son’s car. she’s ready to go stop him, but gaon pulls her back, most likely because at that point, they hadn’t been observing the situation for very long to get a read on it. also the fact that at that point, neither of them truly knew yohan and his capabilities.

but as to where her characteristics come from, we simply don’t know beyond that of gaon. it’s unfortunate because we don’t have much of her backstory, so there is no real understanding why she so firmly believes in entities of regulation beyond keeping her friend out of jail. she prides herself on her work and what she’s able to accomplish, which is why it’s devastating to her to have to protect gaon by cleaning up his bloody handprint.

aristotle is of the belief that, “pride, then, seems to be a sort of crown of the virtues; for it makes them greater, and it is not found without them. Therefore it is hard to be truly proud; for it is impossible without nobility and goodness of character,” from Nicomachean Ethics.

but pride for soohyun isn’t about honors or rewards. it’s for herself and her capabilities, her ability to protect gaon, and the virtues she’s set as the precedent for herself. because sometimes it’s not even about establishing morals and ethics upon yourself. it’s about feelings/intuition, logic and observation. and no, i don’t mean the feelings she has for gaon. there are things that humans do, both actions and words, that we inherently know are bad without someone telling us as much and without the rules of the world seared into our brains. there are some things we know, for a fact, are wrong to us as individuals.

for soohyun, she knows that gaon’s actions, and even her own, have consequences. from what we’ve seen, i think it can be argued that it’s really about not doing those actions to prevent an outcome - not necessarily from a place of being just and right. that doesn’t mean she doesn’t understand good morals/ethics, but again, we have no background of what her internal guidance actually is.

to put this in layman’s terms, we’ll use gaon wanting to stab the conman in his youth. soohyun knows it’s wrong because it will incriminate gaon and therefore she stops it. gaon’s gone to her because he sees her as a moral compass. but is her own internal navigation rooted in justice the way gaon had to find it in the judicial system, or is hers rooted in her pride of keeping gaon safe? she stops him from doing things that will get him in trouble, but is she stopping him because the action itself is wrong or because the outcome will result in undesirable consequences for the two of them?

and of course, there is a flipped argument to be had there - i’m not arguing that gaon stabbing the conman would be right or justified. but what i am saying is that for her, her worldview is the only right one, and when anyone steps out of that, even gaon, it becomes a bit of an issue: the pride she has for that is palpable.

every character indulges

truthfully, every character has at least one form of these sins rooted in their characterization. some are larger than others, but the breadth of it can be explored even further for each. and that’s what makes them more realistic and not just characters written on a page or following a linear progression of their writing deity.

the seven deadly sins are also notoriously rooted in religion. they’re also a defining feature of aristotle’s works that represent the golden mean, in which each vice is parallel to a virtue.

the devil judge is so layered, but i think at the heart of it, it’s about humanity at its core. sprinked in are the philosophies and contradictions and what it means to look in the mirror, what happens when we’re blind to seeing our true selves and most importantly, how much changes when we’re swayed by our own misgivings. it really asks us to understand nature versus nurture, that people must find a belief in something to keep them going, and how futile our hopes and desires can actually be if we’re not carefully regulating ourselves, nevermind the entities established by society to regulate us, too.

the entirety of the show genuinely begs the question as to who is truly right, who is truly wrong, and if it’s even possible to find the correct answer.

[chickenandwafflesandtv]

Death Parade Season 1

At first I had no interest in watching this show, but after hearing a little more about it, my interest was piqued!

I'm back! And no more rewatching shows! We're here this week with 2 shows that I've never seen before, but have both been on my watch list because one of my favorite voice actors, Ian Sinclair, is in both of them.

DEATH PARADE SEASON 1

I had heard of the existence of this show in passing but I didn't know anything about it. The first actual thing I learned was that it had a banging opening theme song. As someone who has a playlist over over 120 songs where I put all my favorite anime themes, I knew I had to look into it. It does go pretty hard. I also heard it had a cool plot, which intrigued me even more. Who doesn't love a cool plot?

BACKGROUND

When two people die at the exact same moment, they aren't sent straight to Heaven or Hell. They're sent to a bar in which the two souls must play a randomly selected game to determine their fate: rebirth or the void. Of course, they don't know this. They don't even know that they're dead. They appear in the bar with no memories of how they got there or what happened before. As they play the game, they slowly regain their memories while their bartenders, in the focus of the show it's a man named Decan and a girl referred to as the "black-haired woman", look through the memories and current behaviors in the bar to determines if they were "good" or "evil". Theres also a secondary plot about the black-haired woman, how she got to the bar, and why she's different.

REVIEW

This show went above and beyond. I thought the initial plot was super interesting, but I got nervous when it started to go a little deeper in the plot, I thought I would start to get disconnected from it, but this show did a great job with combining the two and keeping anything from dragging on too long. With each episode pretty much focusing on a different pair of people playing a different game, there was no chance for monotony or repetition, everything felt very eye-catching. The different ways the characters died, their reactions to it, their stories: all of these pieces melded together to create some delicious entertainment. All of the episodes were filled with awesome plot twists, which I greatly enjoyed.

SIGN OFF

Fortunately for me, they announced there's going to be a second season! Unfortunately, they announced it 6 years ago and there have been no updates since then. Will it actually be produced? Or will it end up lost in the drafts like Yuri!!! on Ice's Ice Adolescence. Who knows!

See you in a few days!

9/27/22 6:37pm