#((I mean they from the same time they would have things in common uwu))

[echantedtoon]

Ocean Deep Ch14 Mers And Ladies

(Warnings: Mentioning of killing/blood/murder/wounds/drowning/bloodloss, Y/n does have a stab wound but it's NOT serious and doesn't really affect her too much. Mentioning of yn being stabbed with a knife.

NOW SOME IMPORTANT INFO FOR THIS CHAPTER!! I have three things to announce.

Firstly just a quick recap of mer Tengen's design-

Tengen would be a white butterfly koi fish mer and would look like the linked post below except less eel and more butterfly koi also below.

Merman Tengen( minus the eel like features)

his tail would be more like this instead

Secondly the QnA from last chapter. If any questions are lumped together then it's because the same person asked more than one question.

*Is Y/n still alive?

Obviously yes. And she's ok.

*Do mers have jobs or just chill in the ocean? Is there a mer equivalent to the demon slayer corps? Is there a reason why the wives chose to go by Tengen's last names and not Rengoku's? Why does Rengoku still go  by his own last name? Is polygamy more common among mers?

They just chill. No not really. Usually only the lady mers change their last names but this isn't always the case, but they love Tengen very much. Rengoku is still attached to his family name. Not really. Some mers are poly some aren't.

*How many chapters are left?

Im not sure. I already have the plot in mind, it's just a matter of writing it out. 

*Was Tengen's parts near the end a flashback or happening in the moment?

In the moment. No flashbacks that chapter.

Thanks to everyone who asked questions! Now that's over with-

Thirdly, I made a small side story for Ocean Deep containing Mer Douma x Reader. The link for anyone who wants to read it is below I also read you can replace a pint of blood after donating it within 24 hours if this is inaccurate I apologize.

taglist: @six-eyed-samurai @lavenderdrxp @jjamsbangtan @camilo-uwu @hopefulworld1

@shadyd3ar @amypop122 @azuredragonstrike

@mimisweetz @chaoticoperatorduckhairdo @staarflowerr @aleee-386

Remember if you want to be added to the tag list lemme know.

"Leave her on the beach! Someone will find her or she'll wake up and go home herself!"

A voice..Male. Deeper. Different. Unfamiliar.

"We can't just abandon her! She's wounded! LOOK FOR YOURSELF!"

Pain. Numbness. Cold black closing in. 

"....."

"Tengen, please."

"....Press down on the wound tightly. It's a long trip and if she's going to make it then she'll need all the blood she can keep in her body."

Where are you?

.. Everything is so dark. 

What happened?

Why isn't there anything here?

We're you dead? Did you finally die? Is this what being dead was? Nothing but black abyss where you couldn't feel anything? ...It was ..oddly peaceful despite being so eerie.

"-likeliness to survive is guaranteed I'd say."

Huh? What was that? It sounded like the second half of a sentence you only just now noticed. Was there other spirits here with you?

"That's a relief. I was worried about the stab to her shoulder there. I do hope she's not too hurt."

"Don't worry yourself too much, Koyuki. It was a rather small blade and it only stabbed some fat and muscle. A few stitches and some rest will have her healed up within a few months!"

A small sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness. I'm sure everyone will be relieved to hear that."

"How about you? How are you feeling today? That sudden fever came out of nowhere."

"I feel much better but Shinobu says I should stay in bed today."

"That's good. Did she wake up while we were gone?"

"No but she did move in her sleep."

"Ah. Good. That means she might wake up soon. I'll just take your temperature and leave you two to rest for a little while."

There was the sounds of retreating footsteps and maybe a door squeaking shut. Did the afterlife even have doors? You didn't get a chance before the world fell into unconscious again- The next time you regained consciousness, you opened your eyes only to blink suddenly as a harsh light beamed down on you. Was that the fabled tunnel? We're you going to heaven?! A few blinks more had the harsh light evening out into other less harsh colors of browns and beige. You didn't know heaven had an oak ceiling-...

Wait. Ceiling?

F/c eyes blinked and eyebrows scrunched in confusion as your vision ever so slowly unblurred and you found yourself staring at an oakwood ceiling. There was silence as you continued to stare at it for the longest time.. before your head tilted to the right. The light source was discovered in the form of an open window. The sight of a calm blue sky and fluffy white clouds greeted you and a nice warm breeze bringing the smell of the salty ocean came through...Wait. This wasn't the beach. Could it be-??

Your eyes shifted down to your body and you only now felt the soft warmth hugging your body. Clean sheets covered your body as you lied upon your futon and a nice thick and warm blue blanket covered you from your feet to your neck. You were..in bed?? Could it be that this entire thing was just a dream? Only a silly dream about mermaids and jewelry and Akira that felt like it lasted for months but was really only a night or two? 

Slowly you willed your arm to move. Your right arm pushed up, up, up. You felt heavy, sluggish, and every movement was a pins and needles tingling feeling. The blue blanket fell away partially as your hand extended to the ceiling and wriggled all five fingers. Your other hand went to do the same thing-

UNTIL A WHITE HOT PAIN SHOT FROM YOUR SHOULDER AND DOWN YOUR SPINE-!!!

"AH!!"

You couldn't help but cry out from the sudden throbbing pain that shot from your shoulder and throughout your body. It was a burning throbbing pain that pulsed out from just behind your left shoulder. Your teeth gritted as you hissed, body contorting in pain and then there was a sharp gasp-

...Wait. That wasn't from you. 

Your head turned to the left in the direction of the sound and froze as two pairs of eyes met. A pair of pretty cherry blossom pink eyes and equally shaped pretty white flower shaped pupils stared down at your confused orbs. For a moment there was nothing but silence as your brain processed the other person in the room looking at you- Before she jumped as your body moved quickly.

Pink eyes blinked watching the other woman quickly flip onto her right side and struggle to push herself up onto numb arms and legs. "W-Wait! Don't do that! You'll hurt yourself!"

The other paid no mind to her warnings as she proceeded to crawl like a rapid animal desperate to get away from here. Falling onto her face after getting entangled in the sheets and letting out a yelp of pain. A rush of adrenaline shot up into your veins as you forced yourself back up and, although probably looking ridiculous, you crawled desperately for the door despite the emense pain in your shoulder and how tingly and weak your limbs were.

"Please stop! You're making it worse!"

Ignored. A desperate churning voice pounded at your skull. Run! Run! Run! Get out! Get away! It shouted that over and over, and like a scared injured rabbit you obeyed that. Legs unready for walking were forced up- only for you to fall back onto them with a thud. 

"Shinobu! Kanae! Somebody help!"

More people?! SCREW THIS!! In some adrenaline fueled strength, somehow your foggy mind was able to get up onto your legs shaking uncontrollably like you were a bare in a blizzard! You ran! Throwing yourself at the door and throwing it open with a slide! A loud thudding sound reverberated throughout the hall and room as you threw yourself out- Only to collide almost collide into someone carrying a bowl.  The pink haired girl squealed as you knocked into her, knocking the bowl of soup outta her hands. The distant sounds of spilling liquids filled the air behind you as your body collided with a wall so wobbly and unstable that you fell over onto your stomach. If your head wasn't blank from the pain, you might've heard the thud of the bowl and the clattering of a spoon somewhere behind you. Scrambling, clawing at the floorboards, and crawling like a desperate animal just turned free you carried on. Looking like a crazy person. Freedom! Freedom! To freedom you nearly were-

Until hands grabbed you.

You squealed out as two pairs of hands grabbed you by the arms on either side of your body and pulled you backwards and away from the door with a window in the middle showing the outside world and your near freedom. 

"Fast one aren't you?"

"LET ME GO!," you shrieked kicking out weakly no avail. 

Whoever it was was physically stronger as you were dragged across the floor back towards the room, and you were too physically weak to fight them off. Your shoulder still throbbed in pain but that didn't stop whoever they were from pulling you back into the room past the pink haired girl who tilted her head and looked worried with a hand to her face. You cursed pushing and pulling until you were plopped down onto something soft and you were finally released, falling backwards onto the soft bed- Your body said screw it and pushed yourself back up to snarl at your captors-...Only to be taken aback by what..Or better yet WHO who saw surrounding you.

LADIES!!

There was five other women in here staring at you. And all of them were fairly beautiful.  There was the girl still sitting in the futon a few feet away from you, her long black hair flowing around her nightgown and an open book she had presumably been reading open wide on her lap. A second figure was worriedly shifting from one foot to the other looking the most worried and had long pink braids that faded to a lime green at the ends. But the two you REALLY noticed was the two looming over you. The one to the right was the most beautiful. Pretty pink eyes, tall, and long black hair that swayed when she tilted her smile at you. The second one was more around your height, and just as pretty with black hair with purple ends pinned up and lavender orbs gazing down at you. She also wore a smile but it looked more..blank than the first one. And then finally you caught a fifth person's gaze. Young. So young that she could've been your little sister if your parents had anyone children. She peeked around the doorframe curiously with pink eyes a similar shade to the tall girl but in design more to the purple eyed one. All three having a similar facial structure. 

You stared at everyone around you bewildered before scowling. "Look- Just take what you want!" You held up a hand. "I don't have anything valuable on me anyways! Just let me go and I promise you I won't tell anyone!" The two smiling people exchanged looks above you. "I'm not worth the trouble anyways!"

There was a moment of silence still before Ms. Tall-With-Pink-Eyes chuckled holding a hand to her face. "I think she's mixing up the situation as something else."

"Well can you blame her with what she went through last night?," Ms. Lavender Eyes answered back before they both looked at you again. "I think we got off om the wrong foot." You jumped as with without warning she grabbed your eye forcing it more open as she peered at you. "Her eyes aren't clouded so that must mean she's completely lucid. Are you feeling light headed or anything similar?"

"Ow. " You pulled away from her shaking your head and scowling. "Just who are you people!? Where am I?!" Obviously you weren't home and you weren't on any beach. So where was this place?

"Forgive us. You must be very confused." Ms. Tall-With-Pink-Eyes spoke again before Ms. Lavender Eyes moved beside you. "I'm Kanae and that's my sister." She gestured to said sister who picked up your wrist to feel for a pulse as you were distracted. "You're here because you were hurt. Do you remember anything about what happened last night?"

"Last..night?"

She nodded as her sister went to your back. "Don't push yourself if you can't but can you tell us if you do remember what happened?"

Your eyes blinked. Mind going off in thought. What did happen last night? ..You remembered arriving at the beach- "I..remember the beach. It was so big and full of wreckage." Just thinking about all of those broken ships, some being where the men of your village spent their last living moments, sent chills down your spine. "And it was just turning sunset." You remembered how beautiful it was. You've never seen the sun make water sparkle like that. "Then I-" You opened your mouth but quickly stopped and closed it.

YOU COULDN'T TELL THEM YOU WERE HELPING MERMAIDS!! They might think you were crazy or having bad hallucinations! Or they might turn on you for helping nonhuman creatures!

"I was...releasing some fish back into the ocean I didn't want," you settled on. Technically it was the truth. Mermaids were part fish after all. "And then-"

You fell silent once more. A rock settling in your stomach. Akira. Knife. Stabbing. Everything going black!

"Akira!" The women jumped as you looked around wildly. Fear etched into your features. But there was no man amongst the women still amongst you. "Where is he?! H-He was on the docks with me when I passed out!"

"The man who stabbed you?" You flinched at Ms. Lavender Eye's blunt tone but she waved you off pulling the back of your collar to peek at your back. "..Hmm. The bandages are still clean and tied. I don't think she tore any stitches from her earlier stunt."

Your head craned behind you to raise a brow at her. "Stitches?"

She nodded. "You're extremely lucky! Your wound isn't very large or deep despite requiring stitches. You should be fully healed in two maybe three months. Obviously whoever tried to harm you was stupid in his selection of weapons!"

....You didn't know whether she was being serious or sarcastic with the bluntness of her words but you did frown. "Well thank goodness for that. I was worried about the size of knife that nearly killed me! Thank goodness for stupidity." Your eyes rolled. "But that still doesn't answer my questions. Who are you people and where am I?"

"Forgive us." Kanae(why does that name sound familiar?) smiled wider at you. Maybe to try to comfort you? "You're on an island a few miles off the coast you described. You were brought here by a few friends to have your wounds treated." She held up her hands. "But don't worry. As long as you take it easy, your wound shall heal in the timeframe my sister described." Well that's a relief. "However you lost some blood."

The blood drained from your face. "How..much?"

"About a pint I'd say. Don't worry. Usually the human body replaces that amount within twenty four hours but I want you to rest for at least two or three days before you try walking just in case."

"Oh...Will I be able to walk normally then?"

"Certainly."

You gave a sigh of relief. "Good. Then I can finally be able to go home." Kanae lost her smile for a moment giving a glance at her sister. "Then who are the rest of you?" You gave another look around the room. The other girl in bed was dressed a similar way to you in white nightgowns. We're you in a hospital? "Is she a patient too?"

"Oh. How rude of me. That's Koyuki. She's just running a fever. She's Shinobu, Mitsuri, and that is our younger sister in the doorway." Kanae pointed at each person as she told you their names with a smile. Mitsuri? Shinobu? Kanae? Koyuki? Why did all of their names sound familiar to you? You blinked as the blue blanket was pulled back up your body by Kanae. "Your body needs rest. Try to get comfortable and we'll bring you some food. You'll be needing lots of liquids and try to relax. Ok?"

You didn't know what to think really as you were made to lay back down and watched as they left. Where were you? Where was Akira? Where were your friends? We're they ok?....Your brain answered two of the four questions. Your friends are back in the ocean now safe and sound at last where they should be. By now they were probably already far away from here reuniting with Tengen(whoever he was) and they'd all be happy again.

...

A tiny smile formed on your face at the thought. It didn't matter if you were hurt. Your mission was successful and over with. Your friends were safe and home at last, you were no longer baring any burdens, and you were alive. Even if your current state was less than ideal, you didn't have to worry about anything else. Finally after so many months, the best kind of relief filled your body and you allowed yourself to relax. There was still the matter of Akira ..and Niko's horse but you'd happily deal with both of those later. With any luck the ships will be spared now and things could go back to the ways they were. Maybe people could even move back to town!

Oh how fate loved to throw boulders at you.

The Mitsuri girl had stayed to clean up the soup you made her spill (oops) and then two of the three sisters returned carrying trays of more soup. Kanae and her younger pinked eyed sister. The young girl couldn't have been older than fifteen or sixteen years tops. Both you and Koyuki had been given this crab soup and something dawned on you. The spoon lifted to your face but never touched your face as you froze up staring wide eyed. Footsteps softly thudded towards the doorway on their way ou-

"Kanae Kocho."

The footsteps stopped just shy of the doorway, back to the f/c eyes that now looked at her in familiarity.

"You're Kanae Kocho aren't you?! And your sisters are the same ones that disappeared last year!" 

The realization had finally struck you. THESE REALLY ARE THE KOCHO SISTERS!! They'd disappeared last year and vanished without a trace! You weren't particularly close to the Kocho family but being in the same town you'd see them walking around from time to time. It just took you a while to recognize them! 

"And you got kidnapped the year before that!," you accused pointing at Mitsuri who only blinked, "And you're the girl that was rumored to have drowned two years ago!" Koyuki blinked at the pointing hand. "What are you all doing here?! Don't you know your families are worried sick about you all?! What gives?! How did you escape that Naga?! Did you all just fake your deaths or something?!"

You couldn't help the rapid firing of questions that left your mouth under the mountain of realizations. These girls were apparently alive, not dead, and seemed in your point of view to be doing so well for themselves. What the hell gives?! No one answered. Giving you wide eyed silent stares until Kanae turned to you still with that smile which had now turned sad. 

"Get some rest. Everything will be answered in time."

You were left just like that. Left with the weird sea food tasting soup to eat and with more questions than answers. 

...

WHAT THE ACTUALLY HELL WAS GOING ON HERE?!

First all these girls disappear, then a couple merman destroy your town and way of life, then a merman shows up, then you get wrapped up in kidnapped mermaid drama, then you get stabbed while releasing said mermaids, and now the girls that are supposed to be dead... Aren't dead??? Just what the world did you get yourself into!? It was like just when you got yourself out of one mystery you fall into another! You tried talking to the other two remaining girls but Koyuki didn't say anything and Mitsuri squeaked out some excuse to leave quickly. It almost felt like you were back to square one... Y'know what? It's fine. If they ran away from home then that wasn't any of your business but you'd send some anonymous letters to the families (if you could find them) and let them sort this out. You didn't think they deserved to believe their daughters were dead.

You had enough things to worry about without getting involved into anymore drama. 

Like getting back home and getting your life back in order. So you didn't mention anything about disappearing or mermaids for the rest of that day, and the next day either. Shinobu had shown up to look over yourself again and you only remained polite and short.

"Do you feel better today?", she asked you.

"Yes. Thank you ..And sorry about yesterday."

"Don't worry about it. I'd act the same way if I was you. Any pain or numbness?"

"Only in my shoulder."

That was it. Only a few sentences before she left again and you were left in bed to rest with nothing but more of that fish tasting soup to eat. You get that they wanted you to have more liquids but couldn't they at least give you better tasting soup? 

You couldn't take it the third day. You awoke pretty early in the morning, in fact the sun was barely even up when you woke. Taking a moment you stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before glancing over to Koyuki. She was fast asleep softly snoring and turned away from you.. Everyone else was probably most likely still asleep this early as well.

NOW WAS YOUR CHANCE! 

Slowly the blankets was peeled off your body and in the same manner as two days ago, you rolled onto your unhurt side to push up onto your hands and knees. Biting your tongue to not groan  in pain that still lingered. Hurt or not you were leaving. You had done your duties, now you could just move on and never look back! Ever so slowly you pushed yourself to your feet which were still a bit wobbly but not as bad as it was two days ago. You should be able to walk now though if you went by what Kanae said. Tip toeing your way over, you slowly slid the door open only looking behind you once to make sure Koyuki was still fast asleep before popping your head into the hallway. It was quiet and no one else was around. 

AND THE DOOR TO FREEDOM WAS STILL THERE DOWN THE HALL.

You slowly stepped out into the hall closing the door back behind you quietly. You still couldn't run with your wobbly legs so you instead wobble walked down the hall quietly and made for the door. You had a head start! If you hurried then you'd be able to get away without anyone noticing that you were missing. The front door was upon you. It slid open. You stepped out and quickly slid it back shut. You turned around-

AND THEN YOU WERE MET WITH THE OCEAN!

You stopped stunned by the long stretch of sandy beach only stopping when it collided with lazy waves rolling over the soft sand and wetting any shells under it. The silence was only broken by said waves and the soft footfalls of your feet taking a few steps in the squishy sand. The wind blew send stands of your messy hair flowing about and the hem of your long nightgown flowing. A few seagulls cried out in the distance excited to have some food and leaving you to stare.

"...Where am I?"

F/c orbs scanned the horizon where the sunrise was rising from the horizon. Nothing but blue water was in every direction you looked in. Not a sign of other land anywhere!...You were probably taking further down the beach! There wasn't any wreckage so that must mean you were taken further away from the docks. So if you just started walking then you'd soon come back to the graveyard of ships! Perfect! You hoped the horse was still windering where you left it. With a breath you began walking along the sandy shore and away from the house to get away before they could wake you up and drag you back to the room again. 

So you walked. Wobbly along but you walked. And walked. And walked. 

YOU DIDN'T SEE THE RED EYES WATCHING YOUR EVERY MOVE OR THE WHITE MASS UNDER THE WAVES FOLLOWING YOU. 

Slowly the sun rose higher and higher in the sky making it warmer and brighter. Huh. You knew the coast was really big by the stories the fishermen told but you wondered how far up the beach they took you. Your right side was nothing but beach and ocean. Your left tropical forest you didn't want to go explore. The house was out of sight now, but you couldn't tell exactly how far away you were from it. 

"I'm starting to get beat."

Your body still might've not have been fully recovered because you were quickly getting tired with the want to rest. You usually could go on for longer but you were in condition to fight your body's limits. So you stopped and looked around. There wasn't anywhere in sight that could be a suitable place to sit down and rest, until you spotted a large flat rock leading off the shore and into the water a little bit. The waves sloshing on the sides but not wetting the top. Seemed like a good of a place as any to sit down that wasn't in danger of sharp seashells or whatever dangerous animals might be in the unknown woods behind you. But it was smack dab in sight for all to see.

"..Ten minutes," you told yourself tiredly wobbling towards it, "It's only for just ten minutes. Then I'm leaving."

The squishy sand laced with sharp shells scraped under your tired legs soon replaced by warm but smooth rock as you stepped onto the flat stone and sighed. It felt nice. Magenta eyes watched the way you smiled beautifully at your feet and stepped further to the edge of the rock. Drifting closer the eyes came as she slowly lowered until she sat down submerging her legs to the knees and sighing in the relief the cool water gave her sore body. The bottom of her nightgown bunched up just above her kneecaps. A giggle escaping her as the waves rolled over her skin. She looked pretty.

You sighed in the relief your legs were currently getting hugged by the water. "This feels nice. It's too bad my shoulder is killing me." 

Bubbles streaming to the surface got closer and closer to you as a white mass got closer and closer until a webbed hand silently reached out to grab the ledge of the rock behind you-

"Ah!" You hissed and gently reached a hand behind you to gentle rub your shoulder with a wince.

"Back pain? I hate that." 

"Tell me about it. So annoying."

"I know right?"

"Yes."

"......"

"......"

A GLASS SHATTERING SOUND WENT OFF IN YOUR MIND.

Your eyes comically went wide as an owl's as you froze. ...And then you slowly turned around. A man with red wine eyes and white hair was staring at you from the Water's edge.

"Hey."

You squealed leaning back- S P LA S H!! 

"SHIT!"

 He cried out when her form disappeared under the waves and a second later he dove right back under after her. Silence claimed the area once more before you broke the surface of the Water gasping and clawing at the stone for dear life like a drowning cat desperately pulling yourself up with help from two large hands pushing you up by the waist. Scrambling and crawling onto the once nice dry rock spitting out nasty too salty water before coughing and hacking. 

"'Eeehhh. Not really the flashy introduction I was hoping for."

You looked back up and yelped as a head was poking out of the water right in front of you. "Don't fall in again!" It- He shouted with an annoyed frown. "That's how you weak humans drown!"

"Wh-Who the hell are you?!" You leaned back leaning an arm up in case you had to defend yourself.

"You don't recognize me! I literally saved you like three days ago! Do humans really have that bad of a memory or what?!", he barked.

....Now you scowled. "Now see here you overgrown sea mule!" The man whoever he was blinked once taken aback by the sudden scowl and bite you gave him. "I'm too dam tired to be talked to like a brainless rock! I've been drained, stressed out my dam mind, attacked, and nearly drowned TWICE now! The last thing I need right now is the ocean equivalent of a donkey shit talking me! If you want to bother someone, go find a shark to antagonize!"

The man blinked once. Twice. Before he slowly hummed looking you up and down all drenched like a wet cat. "Well...The weren't wrong when they said you were certainly different."

"They? Just who are you?" 

He hummed again crossing his arms over the rock's edge. "I thought you already knew...but then again you never met me personally and when we did you were already passed out." A giant smile of ABSOLUTELY LARGE FANGS made you give pause and gulp. "Allow me to actually give you a flashy introduction worthy of my status!"

Two clawed hands dug themselves into the rock and your jaw dropped in fear as an absolutely massive body hauled itself out of the water and onto the rock. A large shadow loomed over you. 

He was-..massive!

Even larger than freaking KYOJURO!! And Kyo was bigger than Akira! A body beautiful sculpted by rippling muscles and scars sat itself upon the rock. Scattered purple scales glistening with water droplets aligned in a strange pattern you've never seen on any other mer  across the torso and around the waist where his human half blended into a absolutely BEAUTIFUL shimmering white koi tail similar to Makio's only BIGGER and SHINIER! A rainbow pearlescent effect it had has the light bounced off his large koi tail. The fins large and flowing in the water like the fabric of beautiful silk in the wind. But that wasn't all. 

A small jingling noise arose with him. The source being from the hoops dangling from his wrists. However you didn't notice that. Only the strange Mitch match of green and red sharp claws sticking out from hands large enough to crush you. Larger golden bands were tightly wrapped around his upper forearms as he flexed them out to you. But the thing was-

HE WAS ABSOLUTELY ADORNED IN JEWELS!!

A series of golden earrings were embedded into his ears, a similar piercing on his bottom lip. Across his forehead was some kind of large silver headband with three beautiful glimmering large diamonds in the front. Remember how Kyojuro's hands had a few rings? Well this guy had LOTS of rings! Some fingers having more than one on them. A long strand of shiny silver rocks clinked together and dangled from his headband. At least three different necklaces were wrapped around his neck with different valuable stones. Down his sculpted figure was a few various chains with a thick single silver one wrapped around his middle with a few polished seashells dangling from it's heavy bulk. But what really stood out was the large red and dark pink polished gems and stones pushed into his scales and embedded permanently into himself. The piercing wine red eyes crinkled up half lidded in a wide fanged smile at you- Holy shit! THOSE FANGS WERE LARGER THAN KYOJURO'S! His pure white hair falling down framing his face and for some reason a strange red birthmark over his right eye.

"I am Lord Tengen Uzui of the Western Isles! But you can call me Lord Tengen! And you have the honor of being in the presence of the God of Ocean's Deep!," he loudly announced out. Bold, assertive, and powerful enough to be feared by all who see him!

You only stared at him wide eyed. Holy shit...HE WAS BEAUTIFUL-!!

You immediately shook your head chasing away any of those thoughts. "...I don't believe it."

"Heh. Having a moment processing my flamboyant stature are you?"

"No. I can't believe the person responsible for half of my suffering is an over dressed full of himself watered down peacock."

"WHAT?!," he shouted turning towards your deadpanned face. "I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I'M THE MOST FLASHY AND STRONGEST MER THIS SIDE OF THE WEST COAST!!" He shouted in your face pointing a sharp red nail at your face, the bracelets around his wrists jingling with his movements.

".....I still don't see it. How'd you manage to beach all those ships? Flex and blind the captains with your over dressed scales?"

"HAVE SOME RESPECT FOR ME, GIRLIE!! I SAVED YOUR LIFE!! 

"Right.." You glanced at the claw pointed at you, and then his large fangs as he gritted his teeth together annoyed. ..And just remembered how much bigger he was than you. On second thought it probably wasn't a good idea to argue with the guy that caused so much damage single handedly. You sighed with a breath. "Right. ..You did do that. Thanks for that." He huffed a sound. "No. I mean it. Thank you. And I'm sorry for being rude earlier. I'm just really on edge lately. A lot of bad stuff has happened recently."

"I've been told." He still looked and sounded annoyed but leaned back up from where he was sitting and recrossed his arms making his biceps and arms flex automatically. ".... You're going to live?"

It was a statement but the way he said it sounded like a question so you nodded. "Yes. I was told my shoulder isn't serious and it'll heal within a few months. I can live with that."

He hummed again. "I guess it's a good thing I got to you when I did then."

"Yes. Yes...So.. You're the famous Tengen Uzui I've heard so much about?" You took a moment to glance over this mountain of a man again. If he was human you estimated he'd he OVER six feet tall. "You're certainly a lot taller than I expected."

..That smile from before was back. "In the flashy flesh!" He winked and shot a one handed finger gun at you which in turn made you giggle. "And you must be Y/n. My wives' told me all about you."

"Ah. You mean Hinatsuru?"

"And Makio and Suma. And apparently Kyojuro.." His gaze peered off for a second. "He told me that you saved him after he stopped breathing. Is that true? Did he stop.. living?"

He was asking you about this now? You tilted his gaze to try to see his eyes but they were firmly set to where his tail met the water. "No. He never stopped living really." The eyes looked back to you. "He just needed a helping hand is all. So did everyone apparently...Are they alright now?"

He slowly nodded. "Yeah. Yeah they're fine." Both arms raised to hold the behind of his head. "They're all still asleep or just waking up by now. I know Suma is probably still sleeping in." He chuckled at nothing dryly. "It's so surreal to have them all back."

"I'm just glad they're alright. I can't imagine what you all went through was anything but terrifying."

"Tell me about it. You have no idea what it's like having every person you love tipped away from you with there being nothing you can do to prevent it. Never knowing what's happening to them or where they are." ... His eyes narrowed down at nothing. "Knowing if they were dead or alive."

"... You're right."

Tengen paused. Blinking. "What?" He looked at you arms falling to his sides. "What did you say?"

"I said-.. You're right." F/c eyes looked away guiltily from him. "You're right. I don't know what it's like to lose family, at least not in the way you did and Kyojuro did. ..My parents died when I was really young but there's a big difference between loosing someone to natural causes and loosing someone to someone's else's own selfish intentions. If my loved ones were kidnapped by someone and taken somewhere I could never get to-...I would have probably felt the same unbridled anger and fear you must've had." ...You looked up at him after he remained silent and found him staring at you with an absolutely shocked expression. "Um..Did I say something wrong?"

Tengen slowly shook his head no. "I-..N-No. it's not that. I-I-...Well to be perfectly honest with you I was actually waiting for you to start cursing me and tearing me apart with what happened to your life."

You blinked. "Oh. I guess they really did tell you everything about me huh?"

He nodded. "Yep. Completely everything. We're very honest with one another. I don't believe in keeping secrets from one another."

Oh gods. If they told him about the effects his actions had on your town and everyone's livelihoods- Then did that mean they literally told him about them kissing you?! And Kyojuro proposing?! And- Oh god. You hoped Kyojuro didn't tell him that-

"So.." A cheeky smirk crossed his face. Leaning closer to your reddening face. "Do all women have this magical power of medical kissing?~" 

"UUUUUUGGGHHH!!" You shouted into the open air making him burst into loud laughter as you raised your hands and loudly facepalmed. "FOR THE LAST TIME!  IT! WASN'T! A! KISS!! IT'S C! P! R! IT'S A MEDICAL TECHNIQUE EVERYONE IN MY TOWN WAS TAUGHT!"

"Ooh.~ A secret excuse for kissing your neighbors. How flashy.~"

Your madly blushing face snapped to him. "ONE MORE JOKE AND I'LL TURN YOU INTO FISH BAIT!!" 

"HAHAHAHAHA!!" His loud laugh and large smile made the seemingly narcissistic personality and the scary persona before that seemed non existent. Melting to a joyful painting that had tears forming at the corners of his eyes. "I wouldn't expect anything less! You certainly exceeded my expectations of you."

"Well..Who did you expect me to be?" You changed the topic feeling your face burning up. 

He shrugged still chuckling and shoulders shaking. "Well..I know I wasn't expecting an innocent angel, not with your attitude. But I also wasn't expecting you to literally agree with what I had done so easily."

"I don't agree with what you did." He blinked as you held up a hand. "Not fully. I said I understand why you did what you did and I can sympathize with everyone of you, but I can't forget the damage it caused everyone who wasn't responsible for what you all went through. I DON'T!!" You quickly held up a hand when he opened his mouth. "Blame you. I really don't. But I can say what you did didn't just affect me either."

.. Tengen slowly closed his mouth letting a sigh through his nose. "You-..Have that right, and I can't deny you're right. But you sound almost guilty."

You blinked surprised. "You can tell?"

"I have very good hearing. Sounds and tones tell me a lot. It's how I heard you leaving the house you were in." Ah. That explained the sudden appearance. "Is there a reason to that?"

"I-..*sigh* I dunno. I guess I feel guilty because I did kinda blame you for a lot of what happened for a while but-..I don't know." Your hand held your head again. "A lot of things have been complicated for a long time."

"I- Yeah. I know that feeling."

Silence followed. Nothing but the soft waves sloshing on the shore and a few seagulls cawing in the distance. 

"...So why did you follow me?" You peered at him from the corner of your eyes. "You said you followed me from that house."

He shrugged. "Curious about ya I guess. And if I'm being a bit honest, I wanted to be sure they weren't being tricked by anyone. No offense."

"With what you went through it's understandable. I'd do that to if I was you."

"There was another reason why I followed you though. Well two reasons really."

Oh? You turned raising a brow. "Really? And what are those reasons?"

"Well Firstly I wanted to see if you were ok or not. I was told you were fine by those girls-" Wait. Tengen knew Kanae and the others? "-but I had to see for myself. The second reason was to thank you."

"Huh? Thank me? For what?"

"Everything. You willingly put yourself in danger for someone who wasn't even the same species. Do you know how many humans would literally do that willingly? Humans are selfish creatures who-"  He paused as your brow rose higher. "Uh- *AHEM!* I mean the bad humans are selfish creatures."

"Nice save."

"I'm serious though. Every human I encountered would've never done something like that. So..Why did you get involved?"

You took a moment to pause. "..I don't really know. I guess it's because it was wrong? Maybe because I would've felt guilty if I didn't do anything? I don't know for sure but in the end it was the right choice wasn't it? I mean-" You gestured to him. "You're all back together and alright. That's what matters."

"Right, right. ...But what happened to you-"

"Wasn't your fault. Sure what you did had an effect on my life but none of this would've happened at all if those people didn't kidnap your wives. You were just trying to get them back. Maybe not the way I'd go about it but again I'm not you."

"Right. So is this the part where I apologize for everything or do humans do the whole emotional talking first?"

You snorted. A smile on your face before you turned to him again. "How about we both just forgive each other and call it even?"

He smiled wider. "Thank Posidon. I thought I'd have to spill every emotion I feel before we get here." You chuckled more. "Seriously however. I am grateful for what you did. Don't think I can repay you for that."

"Actually you can." His head tilted interested. "Don't sink anymore ships and we'll call it even. Alright?"

..Tengen smiled widely. "You got it. I don't think I have any more reason for that anyways."

Relief filled you. At least that was over with..You blinked at something the two of you hadn't noticed. Tengen blinked as you slowly got up and a hand gently grabbed the side of his face so gently. A second later a wet sleeve ran over the underside of his eyes. 

"You're crying. Here. You'll be fine now..Sorry if it's not dry. Water will do that to you."

He didn't say anything. Only staring wide eyed at nothing until you backed away from him..and a hand slowly touched his cheek where your hand had previously been.

"Now then." You placed your hands on your hips and looked around. You've been walking for at least an hour now and there was still no sign of where you first started out from. "Can you tell me how far it is back to the docks?" 

Tengen stared wide eyed at your form-

"Tengen."

"Huh? W-What?"

"I asked how much farther do I have to walk before I reach the docks again. I've been walking for at least an hour now."

He blinked again before looking confused. "Docks? You're not on the west coast anymore."

You stared at him. "...Beg pardon?"

"You're in my territory. This island here." A hand patted the rock you both stood on. "This is mine. So are the other two islands off the coast and the coast I claimed during my skirmish there."

You stared at him wide eyed. "Wait..Are you saying that Im actually stuck on a deserted island?"

"It's not deserted! Everyone's mates live up in the house there. That's why you were brought here. It has everything you need to stay."

You continued to stare at him. "...WHAT?!"

[scary-lasagna]

Hi since everyone wants to act like they know me I'm the anon who is tired of people making the pastas as pussies who don't murder for a living! ☺️ every time I scroll through Creepypasta tags on tumbler or legit ANYWHERE You guys always paint them as Uwu guys and the girls aren't any better they all act the same. I'd rather have “boring” cannon pasta than the way y'all are writing them and for everybody saying I should try writing I actually do! I'm working on a fic right for my friend and I'm not being mean I'm being honest have a fantastic day everybody 💫

I suggest you aren't looking hard enough. @eyeless-cunt writes fantastic 'realistic' creep fanfiction/headcanons. Although I will say, I have not seen one blog where a creep doesn't murder for a living. Especially on mine, they all have a designated career path that will either involve killing or some sort of torture.

This is not a space to complain about what you do and don't like about this community. Perhaps if it was in a more civilized manner, that would be different scenario.

I mentioned in my previous reply to your ask, fanfiction usually comes from a need a support. The support is romance in most blogs, because that's the premise of fanfiction. I'm not quite sure why you're on my blog if you don't enjoy the concept of my writing. It takes less effort and energy to find another blog, or even just ask around to see if there's any blog recommendations that people have for more gruesome creepypastas. Even just typing Creepypasta tw gore or tw death into the Tumblr search will get you where you need to go.

All in all, it doesn't matter what fandom you're in, this is a common concept to romanticize things. If you want realistic-type fictional killers to swoon over, the slasher fandom might be where you want to head toward.

If you'd like a realistic/gruesome take, I'd happy to write it for you. Otherwise, I wish you luck on your fic, and I'd love to see how realistic you've made the creeps out to be.

[crusherthedoctor]

Hey all, hope everyone's doing good. Thought I should give an update on my current perspective on things around here, as it's shifted for reasons I'll get into.

In a nutshell, I'm feeling better than before... but I also think it's time for me to semi-check out of current Sonic discussion.

By now, you all know that with the exception of Superstars and Dream Team - and Jimbotnik, because of course - I've not been enthusiastic about much of the current stuff. Whether that be the likelihood that they'll continue with a Frontiers direction, the SA2 milking that has made me more sick to death of its influence than I thought was possible, the Year of Shadow in general not being all that enticing if your top ten does not include him, IDW still causing the same repetitive back-and-forths with its characteristically terrible decisions and disproportionate praise from fans who don't actually buy the comic, various other bits and pieces that plant further Eggdad seeds into people's heads, a bunch of other stuff that I'm just apathetic about while everyone else goes crazy over them... it's not been a great time for me. I'm the Garfield, and the current direction is the Monday.

That would all be one thing, but as you may expect, it's the fandom that really irks me. I don't like how it's considered necessary to make every post a bestseller in order for your opinion to be seen as valid and insightful. I don't like how you're expected to not criticise something just because it's popular or "iconic". I don't like how everyone dedicates themselves to the same old lengthy discourse that will continue to not change anyone's minds either way, since the only people listening are the ones who already agreed with them. I don't like how you have Flynn/Archie/IDW stans on one side, and an increasingly common "Japan only, no one else should ever touch the series, also the Japanese fandom is the only one with good people in it, I was born in the wrong country uwu" mentality on the other side.

And... I don't like that I've brought these concerns up so many times before when I know it'll always fall on deaf ears. Why do I do this? Why do I bother? For the fandom, I guess. But if the fandom doesn't even respect me, if my words are always doomed to ring in an empty hallway, why should I bother?

While all this has been going on, the Paper Mario Thousand-Year Door remake has been on my mind quite a bit, as it has been for a lot of folk. As someone who has always loved TTYD, as well as the original N64 Paper Mario, I'm happy to report that I absolutely adore the remake, and quickly considered it a gold standard as far as faithful remakes go. :) There's a lot of reasons for that, but that's best for another time. Anyway, after a certain point, it occurred to me... hasn't it been a while since I've been able to just relax and join in on the hype for something? Hasn't it been a while since my opinion lined up with that of the majority? Hasn't it been a while since, regardless of not actually posting, I felt like I belonged somewhere, and wasn't being made to constantly feel like I'm worthless because I'm not an artist, animator, etc?

I think this is something I've been needing for a long time now. The irony of it coming from the bing bing wahoo man is not lost on me.

After how the past few years in the Sonic fandom have felt like a classroom more than anything, watching everyone repeat the same Why ___ Is Secretly Good/Bad three hour manifestos over and over, and flogging themselves for being Not-Japanese, can you see why the simple pleasures of "hehe Vivian :3" would appeal to me? Can you see why I'd prefer to unwind? I made a valiant effort, but now, I can't force myself to keep up with shit that I'm not passionate about for the sake of a community that doesn't care about what I have to say anyway. I need to find myself a place on here that I can be at ease with.

So what does this mean for my blog? Well, nothing too jarring, just that my focus may shift a little for the time being. Despite what all of the above may imply, I'm not turning in my Sonic badge. I still love the franchise, even if I'm not so fond of its overall current direction. And obviously, I still love Eggman, that'll never change. I'll still answer asks about the series, talk about things I like, reblog stuff I like, work on Stellar, spread Egg Propaganda, and so on. But unless I'm asked about them in certain contexts (ie: "how would you improve this character"?), I refuse to talk about IDW, Frontiers, or anything else whose contents and fandom circles cause me migraines.

Not because toxic positivity, but because after the joy of gushing over Vivian TTYD, and remembering the feeling of belonging, I can't do this again. I can't change Tails calling himself Wildly Inconsistent. I can't change The End being a nothingburger. I can't change Lanolin being an arsehole. I can't change Surge's shilling. I can't change how unprofessional the IDW crew is. I can't change what they're doing with Eggman, and various other characters. I can't change any of these things, no matter how much I or anyone else rants about them, and half the time, no one is seriously listening anyway. So many words for so little results. So I need to move on, stop wasting my time, and turn my attention on things that actually make me happy instead of just... deflated. Maybe if I do that, I can belong again. Maybe when the direction inevitably changes again in the future, it'll feel like it came faster.

So yeah. That's where I'm at now. I hope you guys can understand.

[justeliiijah]

1:25 Siffrin!

submitted by @sammusbird my beloved <3

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

HOOO boy okay a lot of characters with anxiety, PTSD, and depression in media are shown as uwu soft or evil with NO in between and siffrin has a LOT OF NUANCE TO HIM. there was a lot of care and love put into how they react to the hopelessness of their situation and by god do i adore it.

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

dude is so fuCKING shape. also SUCH fun nonbinary rep??? give more queers knives. i know a lot of us have them but more. more should have them. me. give ME a knife.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

how do i draw him in color he looks Wrong

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

ace attorney bc i think it wld be funny. they wld get framed for a murder that they did commit somehow i can Feel it

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

dont kill me bc this is kind of hilarious but the song is called Time Travel by Never Shout Never it's linked lol. u can extrapolate abt who's talkin to who in the song but i imagine it's loop and siffrin

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

[thousand yard stare] hot and transmasc next question

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

fuck that lad up yall ur doing great

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

as king of angst every time i see siffrin unburdened with trauma i lose ten years off my life span (i don't have any real pet peeves and am not super active in the fandom!)

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

i can't even be roommates with my roommates, man

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

unfortunately i am a bit of an asshole and i also have ptsd i think we wld kill each other with our eyes immediately

11. Would you date this character?

we are the same type of fucked up so that is a solid dear god no

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

ftm (i am projecting ok). they are canon nb i believe but i don't know if. like. there's a canon depiction of them w top scars or some shit but it wld fuck!!!

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

feel free to assume what i mean from this bc i'm not adding context

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

i am not a fashion bitch but i think someone shld give him a choker

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

surprisingly canon for once! isafrin <3

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

mira or odile w siff. those mfs are his besties stop trying to make them kiss. also mira is aroace

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

loopfrin. ironically my bf @codacheetah is extremely abnormal abt this one lol

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

mira and siffrin's relationship makes me fuckign emotional literally dont look at me???? but siffrin and odile too bc like. they share that lack of ability to Know where they come from (if only partially on odile's part). and bonn-- okay i think. i think all of their relationships are insanely complex and important ok

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

not applicable tbh. i do think that he shld kick the king in the wiener tho

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

mira my beloevd <333

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

i havent posted fic since like. 2017

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

i love the introspection abt the recovery i've seen!!! like, ppl showing how they think siffrin copes after the fact.

as for dislike,,, hm. i don't love the Other People Loop aus despite how intriguing they are because,,, well. there's a Reason to me that it was siffrin, a reason that their desperation to stay was so powerful. they are singularly capable of that level of need, i think.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

man its gotta be

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

ur gonna laugh but. like s4 jon sims. i think they wld get along but jon is far more of a loser

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

honestly i think i thought they were a very malleable char? like, that he wld change w the player's decisions. and i wasn't wrong entirely, because that's. how story driven gaming works, but siffrin has a much stronger personality and identity than i thought. i also thought they were in space for some reason i did NOT listen to coda's rants

26. FREEBIE QUESTION!!

hes a cutie :3

[ametistacollinsworld]

✦ Lizzy x Reader x Doll Cuddles hcs ✦

My 11 request! Hope you like!

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

Let's see what we have here-

✿ Lizzy:

I think Lizzy would be an unwitting hugger, not that she doesn't like to hug you or anything! She's just very comfortable with you and does it without realizing it sometimes! (Cute-)

Lizzy would definitely be the type of girl to pull you into her lap and hug your waist, just a common thing to her.

Constantly hugging your waist side, why not? (Like- are you just standing here? I have to hug you-)

Spinning Hugs! Did Lizzy see you from afar? She will run towards you and catch you in a tight hug calling out your name as she happily spins you around. (That girl is so strong-)

If you give her a back hug while she's in the middle of a conversation with someone, she'll just gently place one of her hands in yours, continuing the conversation as normal like:

" Yeah yeah- It's just (Y/n)- Yeah- aren't they the cutest?"

✘ Doll:

I see Doll being a drone more reserved for public hugging, enjoying hugging you when you're alone. (Cutie-)

Unlike Lizzy, Doll would love to sit on your lap and get hugs from you around her waist.

Doll would love to fall asleep hugging you, finding being in your arms a very comforting and warm feeling.

If you knew about Doll's powers, I can see that she would definitely use them to pull you into hugs when you're alone. (Excuse me! I want an express hug!)

Doll would love to rest her forehead on yours every time you guys hug, looking into her eyes closely with wonder + kisses on the forehead. (She is so cute-)

Dance to slow songs hugging this drone! She'll be so embarrassed every time you look her in the eyes- (But in the end she'll still love to dance with you!)

If you give her a back hug while she's in the middle of a conversation with someone, she'll hold your hands with her hands while blushing softly and whispering softly looking at you:

" (Т/и) Не сейчас… Я с кем-то разговариваю…

[ (Y/n) Not now…I'm talking to someone…] "

♡ Lizzy and Doll:

These two would never fight over who would hug you first, instead they just agreed that whenever they're together with you, they would hug you at the same time- ( They don't have time to fight! They have to hug you- lmao-)

Normally when they go to hug you, Lizzy would always want to hug your waist and rest her head on top of you, while Doll would like to lie on your shoulder hugging one of your arms.

If you're sleeping together in the same bed, Lizzy and Doll like to lean against your chest while you gently stroke their hair until they fall asleep. (They're like cats here-)

If Lizzy is having a bad day, you and Doll would plan a sleepover at her house! With the right to comedy movies, games and lots of hugs! (+ little kisses to make her happy)

If Doll is having a bad day, you and Lizzy would plan a little guessing game night for her, with you and Lizzy being the ones to imitate, making Doll burst out laughing here and there at your bad imitations, in the end she would thank you two with a tight hug. (UwU)

Now- If you're the one having a bad day- Oh boy- these girls would plan so many things- Like playing board games, gossiping about girls and boys at school, drawing, or just watching something while hugging you- they just want you to feel better- (And you always do in the end..)

The Best Mean Girls duo + YOU! The best :)

[fantasyinvader]

I was thinking about it some more, and the idea that Edelgard isn't merely some tyrant makes sense. There's one thing that puts Edelgard apart.

Remember how the Japanese script outright says that Edelgard is using an information campaign? That's what Seteth is alluding to. Imperial soldiers fight to the bitter end for her because they've bought into what she's been telling them. They believe that they're the good guys, but they don't think deeper on it. And this is what Edelgard does across Houses and Hopes.

She has made the commoners believe that she's fighting for them, but at the same time will also put her ideals ahead of those commoners. If her reforms don't benefit them, it's their fault. But we also get Ferdinand's paralogue, revealing that the Imperial troops were also conscripted and those who resisted were executed. Likewise, it's shown that part of the unrest in the Empire is due to Edelgard starving the civilians in order to feed her army, while Hopes outright says that the reforms Edelgard put in place largely favor the nobility and oppress the commoners. Meanwhile, Edelgard is also going around saying that any nobility who submit to her get to keep their positions. She has the Agarthans believing she's dancing to her tune, and goes around saying she's not attacking the faith. Meanwhile, Edelgard is also shown to keep her own allies in the dark, withhold information while at the same time blaming people for things they didn't do while taking credit for Byleth's leadership to make herself look good. Hopes has her going around saving the nobles who pledge themselves to her, despite how this conflicts with her ideals, simply because doing so make her look good.

Edelgard is still a tyrant, but she can convince people to join her by saying whatever she needs to. But this is where the Fodlan games misstep. Follow me on this: Part of Verdant Wind's message is the importance of getting to know people and clearing up any misconceptions you may have about them. In Claude's case, it's him realizing that the Church isn't the big bad he thought they would be and in fact would help him achieve his own goals. Hell, he'd probably cry tears of happiness over Seteth's solo ending and would be pissed at Treehouse trying to make Seteth look bad in their translation of it (they turned “Seteth became less strict” as “Seteth stopped being intolerant” before going into Seteth working to make Fodlan more accepting of other faiths). So with that in mind, look at what happens when we spend time with Edelgard.

We support Edelgard over Rhea, and Edelgard just keeps lying for the rest of the game, with the Japanese text having the information campaign and her manipulating TWSITD. At the end, it's telling us that Edelgard knows more than she's letting on, and to be worried about what she's keeping from people. She's depicted as a liar who then goes on to centralize power on herself and push ideals on Fodlan that run counter to her supposed hero speech while killing Rhea. And to top it all off, the devs confirmed that Edelgard being the villain seeking conquest was meant to be a twist, meaning the cute anime girl in White Clouds was the misconception of her character and all the negative shit we see later on is meant to clear that up.

So the game is trying to make me feel bad because I'm fighting someone who tried to manipulate me into ignoring the horrible shit she's been a party to and then who goes on to do horrible shit herself and spread a toxic ideology. You're trying to make me feel bad for fighting someone who will turn herself into a literal monster in her attempt to rule the world. That's not sad, that's tone-deaf and no amount of “uwu she wanted to walk with you and was even reconsidering her path” can excuse that because at the end of the day she choose to be a dickbag. And this ignores all of her victims, both current and would-be.

It basically reminds me of Miyazaki talking about how otaku ruined the anime industry. How they don't like looking at real people, they like looking at anime characters and go on to make more anime characters rather than realistic ones.

[aclowntiny]

Hi! I'm here 'cause i love your work so much, you really got my attention UwU

I wonder if you could do how ateez or svt act with an s/o with the same heigth or taller than them. That is my insecurity around boys tbh. Thank you if you read this, ily 🥺 💖 (English isn't my first language, sorry for the grammar)

AHHH OMG YOU’RE SO SWEET!!! I love *you* 🫶🏻 we stan a tall queen, I know 2 lovely 6ft gals, one married a 6’6 guy & the other is in a very committed relationship to a 5’5 (woozi height 😌) short king 👑 we love to see it! I’m sure any short average or tall guy would be lucky to have you 🥰

Ateez With a Tall S/O

Hongjoong

Ok, you know this man is gonna want to dress you up. You just have a great frame for modeling no matter what your style, because of course Hongjoong respects that. Whether you prefer more masculine or feminine looks, both look great on a tall person! If you’re taller than him, he’ll probably be a bit shy about it especially if you’re a tall queen! Don’t tease him and call him short though he doesn’t like it >:( he lowkey wishes he were taller so he can do more protective-looking things, but his personality definitely still shines through without the necessity of height. If you’re his height or really close to it, get ready for the most intense eye contact of your life and the best pictures of you two looking into each other’s eyes!

Seonghwa

In awe of you honestly. You know that look he gets of complete wonder, stars sparkling in his eyes as he smiles? That’s all for you, baby! Especially if you show off, totally work an outfit, or perform some dance moves he’s just like whooooaaaaa even if it was a small thing. Seonghwa’s favorite is to hold you close at his side and having you so near smooch distance is a big bonus! Your height doesn’t make him feel insecure at all, if anything he is reassuring you all the time how unique and amazing you are, whether it’s that or all the other things he loves about you. Having a taller significant other makes cuddling that much better to Seonghwa so he can hold you facing him that much more easily!

Yunho

He probably feels like you guys have natural common ground because both of you are tall. May make jokes or conversation about it to bond with you unless you really hate that. If you hate your height, he’ll just nod and get really understanding because while he’s at peace with being tall, Yunho can understand that it gets you attention. Just because it doesn’t bother him doesn’t mean he can’t empathize! Honestly, having a taller significant other that’s his height or near it is great in Yunho’s mind because it makes it easier to dance with you, which is one of his favorite things to do as a couple. It’s less awkward than if he’s towering over you or moving you too forcefully because he’s so much larger…not to mention the eye contact is very romantic!!!

Yeosang

Is surprised if you’re taller than him, if you’re just close to his height it’s probably not enough to register in his mind. Like ok cool, yeah you’re near eye level, that’s nice. But if you stand above him he will loom at you like :o . He sort of likes the idea of being the taller one in the relationship, but such a small thing would never be a deal breaker! Plus it ends up coming in handy and he sees it differently when you guys basically end up as that meme of Kevin Hart and the lady lol. You protect Yeosang, not that he can’t do it himself but you stand up for your innocent boyfriend and the way his heart beats has him forgetting why he ever wanted to be the tall one in the first place. He’ll definitely want to protect you in turn, pulling you to the half of the sidewalk away from the road and doing as many little things as possible for you!

San

Listens to you vent so well, so if you ever tell him you hate being tall he’ll nod so intently, eyes getting sad as you talk before taking both of your hands in his when you finish. He’ll tell you he thinks you’re beautiful and amazing just how you are and not to listen to those people no matter how hard it is to tune them out. Instead of focusing on your height he’ll compliment every single other thing he loves, like your face when you see your favorite things or how he felt when he met you. Conversely, if you love being tall, he’ll hype you up to oblivion about it, cheering you on and telling you how you’re working it even if you’re wearing the plainest outfit hehe. San’s your little spoon and your big spoon, the one you pulls you into his chest even if you’re taller and he’ll love it if you do the same. Basically he’s used to being the taller/same height one, so he’ll want to try every cuddle and hugging position possible with you!

Mingi

Lowkey loves that you’re tall too because he’s a big baby and it’s less overpowering when he falls on top of you laughing or cuddling, lol! Honestly, Mingi is another one that just thinks you’re so cool for being tall, probably oohing and ahhing at small things you do like reaching things or if you’re strong, too. Having a tall significant other feels like having a playmate to him, but he also loves that you’re that much closer to yank in for a kiss or just the feeling of you pressed up against him, your head close to his- it’s cute but can also be kinda hot. He teases you for being tall as if he isn’t too, unless of course you don’t like hearing commenting about your height! Endearing as heck forehead bonks ensue while Mingi’s either thinking really hard or in zero thoughts head empty mode. He jokes about absorbing your thoughts when he does it!

Wooyoung

Immediately puts his foot in his mouth and goes “Whoa how tall are you?” lmao but he really doesn’t mean it badly he’s just very social and teasing. So if you’re a fair bit taller than him he may make jokes like ‘what’s it like up there’ type of stuff… unless you tell him please don’t, of course. It’s not at all a bad thing to Wooyoung though, in fact he finds someone who can tower over him very appealing honestly! Also will probably ask if you can pick him up just for funsies hehe~ Because he loves to cuddle so much, Wooyoung will want you to be big spoon a lot of the time, probably an alternating spoon schedule lol. He would absolutely adore it if you guys danced and you dipped him, like man would be S W O O N I N G so please do it!!! You’ll get to see him grin for the next hour plus. Have fun in general tall queen/king/monarch because now you have Wooyoung as a backpack for life, good luck getting him to let go of you.

Jongho

Another one who, if you asked him, would prefer to be the taller one, but again not a deal breaker because he’s not that shallow. He’ll be extra proud to be able to lift you up if you’re a lot taller than him, hoisting you onto his shoulders with the most triumphant look! Jongho also really enjoys resting his head on your shoulder, whether your height difference is big enough for him to do it while you’re standing or he just does it while you’re sitting. It’s a small affectionate gesture he enjoys, same with loose hugs from behind, which again he might prefer from you if you’re tall enough! If not, that’s his job congrats. He isn’t much of a cheek kisser, but will do it sometimes because your cheek is so close, it’s just right there!!!

[llawlieta]

What’s your most unpopular DN opinion? (It can be about canon, fanon the fandom)

This is a hard to answer question for me because I don't know that I have many unpopular opinions, or any at all?! So I'm just going to ramble a little bit at you. I hope this is the quality content you were looking for.

I am FAR from confident that my own characterization of Light and L is right, but I sometimes feel like my view of them is an unpopular one because I see different sides of fandom taking certain traits and pulling in totally different directions - Light is either dramatic with a hair-trigger temperament and ready for Violence OR he is very soft and fluffy. (Or, he is either constantly openly and shamelessly putting women down or actually a #feminist.) Same thing with L. L is very soft and gentle and full of angsty feelings, or (and I think the following is a view that some people have adopted as a rejection to the Uwu L ™ characterization that was king in the early days of the fandom, sjsksjd) he is a confident asshole with almost no consideration towards other people beyond what is useful to him to be able to solve a case.

But then of course I know this is a bit like saying nothing because all fandoms will do this to their blorbos, and all characters are more complex than you'd think from a cursory search through their Tumblr tag. I was discussing this with a beloved friend and she illuminated me by mentioning that fandom... just loves Drama and Heightened Feelings... People consume the source material and want more Feels out of it (especially media like Death Note, I'd imagine, which really doesn't spend more time than necessary dwelling on anyone's feelings) and so they take... Light having a yelling fit and make it a very prominent trait of his personality. Or L having a soft moment and fill him with soft feelings that are coming out all the time. Which is a reasonable instinct to have! even though I think the interesting part of those moments in canon is precisely the fact that they are extraordinary in some way.

So I AM saying nothing and this does happen in every fandom, and contrary to what that cursory search through any fandom tag would tell you, a lot of people certainly treat the characters with subtlety and pay careful attention to all of their dimensions. I mean, evidently, most people do it much better than I could ever hope to do!! (In my defense I have to say that if I stress myself out with writing Light and L properly in-character I will drive myself insane, so not doing it is Self Care for me). But, ah! hopefully this is still some sort of answer, anon!

The L thing bothers me more, because he is my beloved boy and because I think people insist a bit too much on the view of him as confident asshole who doesn't give a fuck. Cleverer people than me have discussed this, particularly in the Lawlight server in which I am, but L does in fact Give Some Fucks. I'm noticing it more now that I'm rereading the manga! A lot of soft little L moments are making me sort of understand why people back in the early fandom days really ran with that Soft Uwu L interpretation haha. It's not remotely accurate to reduce him to those traits! but it's not accurate either to reduce him to the opposite ones?

And I feel like the same phenomenon happens with Lawlight, My Beloved Ship. Sometimes it feels like, if people don't portray them as a very soft and fluffy couple, they can portray them as a couple that would be so toxic and unhealthy that they couldn't have a normal, loving relationship without mind games and manipulation always running through the undercurrent of it. Idk we all know these boys are crazy insane but I don't think they'd be quite THAT toxic!!

Rereading the manga has made me have the realization once again that (I think) L and Light honestly just fit together very well, and don't hate each other with nearly as much venom and intensity as one might think, and there's a lot of common interests and genuine mutual appreciation and fun in their relationship. Particularly in a no notebook AU where there'd be no need for 70% of their mind games of course lol, but it's also there just, like, canonically.

↑ they discuss the news and buy groceries together and read different books silently on the couch actually.

[songofthesibyl]

On “Does Tamlin Deserve A Redemption Arc?”

One of the most common “I need to increase engagement and start flame wars in the comments” things to post on social media is the topic of Tamlin getting a redemption arc. (Yes I’m aware I’m posting about it too, so don’t bother pointing that out.) I don’t want to debate, but to voice my frustrations with this, particularly the wording of it.

No character can “deserve” a narrative arc. Tamlin can’t leave the page and ask Sarah J Maas to please, please write him one, he’s so sad, please let him be happy. What I think people tend to mean when they say this (I’ve seen it phrased this way in other fandoms, so I get it’s just the common wording for it), is that the character deserves to be seen as good, to be forgiven, and then, ultimately, be happy. So if someone says he “deserves” a redemption arc, they are saying he is a good person at the start of the arc, who deserves happiness. That is not what a redemption arc is. A redemption arc is, according to jerryjenkins.com (the first googled result):

“What exactly is a Redemption Arc? It's a type of character development in which your protagonist starts bad and becomes good in the end, often culminating in a heroic act that atones for their past.”

A key part of the arc is that they start bad. They start bad. They are not uwu poor babies that are victims and nothing more. No one feels bad for Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. The people he hurts “deserve” happiness more than him. He’s a miserable old man who only cares for himself, abuses his employee, and has ruined any chance of happiness he has ever had. He had plenty of chances. Who would want to read a story about him learning and evolving as a person? Yet it was incredibly popular at the time it was published, and still is. 

Think of any number of characters in the television series Once Upon a Time. They have tortured, murdered, raped, tyrannized, yet nearly all of them—if not all of them—get some sort of redemption, if not a happy ending. And people did not protest the show, it was not boycotted, there weren’t riots in the streets, even though some of these characters would be in jail for the rest of their lives in the real world. 

And it isn’t the real world. These are not real people. Tamlin is not Harvey Weinstein. He is not your ex-boyfriend. He is a fictional character that can be written in any way the author wants. Will he be killed off like Papa Archeron? Given a Theon Greyjoy-esque arc? Probably. But he does not “deserve” a redemption arc because he is sad, because depression makes it ok that he hurt other people. Depression does not make it ok to hurt other people. It does not make you a good person or a bad person, the same as any disorder, disability, or disease. His “guilt and grief” as Azriel put it in ACOSF merely leaves the door open for SJM to write him a redemption arc in the future where he can sacrifice himself to save Elain and Lucien. It does not validate or invalidate anything, it doesn’t erase anything he does, it does not give him Feyre back, it does not mean it’s ok he hurt her and she has to forgive him, it’s not his chapter 54. He doesn’t receive redemption from the IC for being sad, he earns it for himself from his actions. It is a common and popular arc for a fictional character that the author hasn’t written out of the series yet, that people can see happening because of how his scenes in ACOFAS are reminiscent of how Beast, near the end of Beauty and the Beast, is waiting for the mob to come for him. That’s all.

[eisforeidolon]

I remember Goob using several mental gymnastics to prove that Dean was actually thinking about Castiel instead of Sam in Red Meat. According to his logic, the line ''with different outcomes'' means that Dean was thinking about Castiel because 'outcomes' was plural so it was not just about Sam / or that it was about Castiel because of the line ''in his own way'', because 'in his own way' line could be about Dean losing Castiel to possession.

Never mind that Castiel does not even appear in the episode at all, that his name does not even get mentioned in the Red Meat script, and the only name Dean thinks of is 'Sam'. Plus the fact that he says he ''just went through the same thing'', so the line directly refers to Sam because he literally just watched Sam die in the same episode and he promised he'd come back to get Sam. Castiel's name is not even written in the script and clearly Dean does/did not think about him at that moment.

I swear to God, Goob pulls so much bullshit that it is actually hilarious but also sad considering how many people can fall into his crap and believe his claims.

This was also the case with the Siren episode. I remember Hellers making analyses on the episode and saying the Siren was actually Castiel because he was dressed like Castiel, so Siren (supposedly) appeared as Castiel to Dean in the episode instead of as Sam. When the literal script, again, disproves this and even the show itself makes it clear that the Siren was basically posing as Sam to trick Dean. He literally spells it out for us that he did pose as Sam, as the 'little brother' Dean wanted because he wanted Sam to trust him.

They also deny that Sam and Dean are canonical soulmates. I've seen so many contrived logic and analyses on this too just so they can dismiss the canon narrative.

It is funny that they do not and cannot understand what they see on their screen or that they choose to willfully ignore the canon to prove their ship. But how can someone just go and make up multiple mental gymnastics to ignore the written scripts is beyond me honestly.

Just ... yeah, that's hilariously stupid. As is most of what Goob spouts, tbh. Like, if there's a bad take to be had, Goob will find it. Even if there isn't, Goob will make it up. Anyone who can't see the pattern of him being dead wrong time after time pretty much deserves to be fooled at this point. Even a heller or a newbie should be able to figure out his reputation in pretty short order if they bother to look.

Again, we're not talking about highbrow literature in deep academia here, we're talking about a fantasy horror show on the CW - what you see is what you get. The show is written to a general audience that the writers honestly don't have that much faith in the intelligence or memory of - you could tell by the previouslies and occasional ponderous exposition. People like Goob want to believe instead that the writers were actually scattering hidden clues throughout to a secret REAL story for special chosen ones smart enough to find it - like them! At heart, they're nothing more than obsessed conspiracy theorists who want to believe they're superior because they figured out The Truth™ that's hidden from the common rubes. They did all the work to find out what was really going on, why won't reality validate them?!?

The thing is, even if in the show Dean had stabbed Castiel in the face while saying, "I fucking hate you, you backstabbing weasel!"? They would write several thousand words of meta about how it was aCtuAlLy Dean expressing his hidden sexual desires through rage out of shame because he's incapable of accessing his other emotions because of John's homophobic abuse uwu. Twue Lurve! So no, it's not surprising they try to twist script notes that literally mention Sam into being about Castiel, try to ignore the siren literally saying he's trying to take the place of a little brother, insist Ash can't possibly know what he's talking about when he brings up soulmates, and on and on because [frothing batshit nonsense]. In their wacky mixed up world, there is no SPN, only D/C. They need the validation of it being real.

[wawawawawawawawawawawawawa]

hiiiiiiii we havent sent you any asks for some time. mostly because kanra didnt front much

[idk if you can recognize us after all the url changes]

ereyesterday our their of pissed suggested getting into an outpatient psychward and told us to think about it. and silver[headmate] made a post on the tumbler saying that this could be a bad idea because somewhat recently i made a hole in a wall and less than a week ago Lyra messed up a cupboard. as if we're the only ones who on occasion damage stuff when angered. this is literally so mean for no reason.

also. a few months ago shinra had an accident with a knife. and we got a fun new 1 inch long scar and possibly a little bit of nerve damage or something. and we were supposed to get some reminder tetanus shot around a month after that since i had no idea when was my previous tetanus shot. and i uhhhhhhh didn't get it since i'm scared of doctors, and it would probably seem quite weird if i went to a doctor about this now

also im sorta balding but. scared of doctors so cant do anything about that

last sunday i was in some social studies class or some other shit. and the teacher said something about how lgbt people were never oppressed in this country. which is a very bold thing to say as someone living in a country in which like a quarter of the area declared itself a "lgbt free zone" and only calmed down a little when the european onion told them that that's probably illegal. and i decided to argue with the teacher a bit. one of the things she said was that sometimes there's dudes in pup masks on pride parades, which invokes disgust and thus should be banned, and. idk why but i kinda expected teachers to have a bit more common sense than 14 year old twitter users. also i came to school wearing a spiked dog collar on a regular basis. [for reasons unrelated to kink.]

well. good thing i'm failing every single one of my classes lmao. at least i won't be invoking disgust in fragile old ladies

also. i just met a doggy and he was very niceys. very soft and friendly. and polite also.

- toby

HOW COULD I NOT RECOGNIZE U MY BESTIE IN CHRIST <3 u changed ur url a binch of times but ur icon remained the same sdlfndnfkjsnsdf so i was able to keep track!

i however do not understand a single word of that first paragraph. if u want my advice, DO NOT. FUCKING GO. TO A PSYCH WARD!!!!! idfc Who it helped, it hurts a lot more than it helps, theres NO WAY to tell which psych wards are good and which are shit. no really let me go thru them all rn:

REFERRALS: most professionals that work in different offices do not know each other on a personal level and may never hear of their bad stories. a doctor that was the chillest coolest doctor id ever met referred me to a psychiatrist that sucked fucking ass shit. there is no way to know for sure

GOOGLE REVIEWS: im gonna b real i dont trust some of those mfs. you seen the guys that go into psych wards? a lot of mentally ill people r internalizers and just accept whatever happens to them, and even if they arent, society looks down on the mentally ill SO MUCH that they could b told "you deserve this bc ur crazy" and due to all this societal gaslighting, theyd agree

REVIEWS ON OTHER WEBSITES: same thing lol

why is this so important? because you cannot Fucking leave a psych ward. an outpatient ward yeah you can leave, but ive been to both in and outpatient and they excert the same level of bullshit control over their patients. in outpatient, one of the therapist told me "you are not mentally ill" and made me cry lol. she MEANT to mean it in a "you're not mentally ill, you're ~suffering from a mental illness~ uwu dont let ur disorder define you" kinda way, but that concept was introduced in therapy..... two days after she told me this. like hello? and then she tried to spin it as like, it was a problem with Me i.e. My PTSD Was Triggered and not She Is Dog Shit At Timing The Explaining Of Concepts.

this place also invited my abuser into group therapy even after me incessantly telling them "this is my abuser, she will use all this against me" and yeah guess what she did immidiatley after lol

dont go to wards.

WRT THE KNIFE: damn :0 thats insane dude, hopefully the nerve damage will heal but from experience its gonna take like, a few years at minimum lmao. i had a Knife Incident involving my pinky and the nerve damage was so bad that i couldnt hold scissors w my pinky in the scissor loop thing but evenchually it got better but it took like 4 years. if the knife was clean and not rusty ur risk of tetanus is pretty low i THINK, do not quote me on this. if ur scared of doctors, look into if ur pharmacy offers tetanus shots! some pharmacies have vaccinations other than flu and covid (which i need 2 get lol rip) so u might be able to get one THERE and not see A Doctor about it!

u dont need a doctor for the balding. minoxidil my dear boy, its at walmart, its the stuff thats in rogaine. you want "minoxidil 5%" thats whats in rogaine, theres "minoxidil 3%" thats For Girls but idk ive never heard of anyone having a problem w it. IT IS TOXIC TO CATS THOUGH IT IS VERY VERY TOXIC TO CATS IF YOU HAVE A CAT DO NOT LET THEM FUCKING TOUCH YOU OR RUB ON YOU UNTIL IT DRIES ok? :) id google more if i were u but boom. problem solved. i am the doctor now

"dog masks invoke disgust and should be banned" babygirl disgust is subjective and like, someone could use that logic to ban whatever YOU like, or Are. maybe someone is really disgusted by lil old ladies bc the wrinkles look gross as fuck to them. should we quarrantine the grandmas?

also lol at the dig against 14 year old internet puritans and then surprise surprise guess what happened on This Very Blog while this ask was sitting n collecting dust!! i gotta b on my best behavior bc theres a nonzero chance that The Feds will be looking at this blog (did u know u dont report cybercrime to local police and instead theres a form on the fbi's website? Well Now You Know!) and that goes 4 all of u too. bart please be good..... for the love of GOD please be good....... please tell me yall know that simpsons scene

also also yay doggy!! was it a regular dog or a dude in a pup mask? either way very fun n cool!!!

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Your answer to the byzantine uwu is quite wrong I fear, why are you mixing ancient Greek and Roman polytheism relationships with the Christians? I understand anon was wrong but your answer fell into a pot pf stereotypes and vague generalization that is not accurate. im saying it friendly because I like ur blog a lot but this answer felt not good at all. also situation for Roman women was different from the Greek ones and even so archaeological recent studies have discarded the idea of women locked at homes doing nothing.

Hi! This answer was indeed full of generalizations and there is greater nuance to be found in the relationships between men and women, as well as women's presence when it comes to what was acceptable for the Polytheistic Roman religion and what really happened.

I need to note that while women were not locked at home, I was mostly referring to the social ideal of women having the home as their domain (which doesn't mean "sitting at home and doing nothing"). This ideal became less prominent as Christianity came along. Of course Christianity came with its own restrictions but the Christian belief that everyone - rich, poor, slave, women, children, men - being equals in the eyes of God, changed "the place of women" in a positive way.

One last detail the people forget: Greeks were Romans. After the Greek lands became part of the Empire, Greeks were officially Romans - and also called themselves Romans until the 19th century. So Greek women WERE "Roman women".

Polytheism differed a bit in the Greek and Italian peninsula but people in Greece, as in all the other parts of the Roman empire, were obliged to follow the Roman state religion "Religio Romana" which was a mix of different Polytheistic practices. So there would be many similarities between the two peninsulas regarding "the place of women".

To be clear, I received this ask at 6:00 in the morning and frankly, I couldn't be bothered to make a very detailed answer, especially when the ask itself was so condescending and very absolute. That's why some things were not phrased that clearly and they didn't express my full intent.

I aimed to explain why there was such intense enmity between the Polytheists and Christians at the time, and to demonstrate that you cannot point fingers at one group while the group you support did the exact same thing. If the ask was phrased like "Don't you think it's terrible that the Byzantines killed Polytheists?" my answer would be different.

I would say that, first of all, it wasn't acceptable or legal to kill people on the basis of their religion even though the Polytheistic faith was suppressed with other means. I don't doubt that some Polytheists were killed because of their faith (because extremists exist everywhere) but it was not acceptable or common in the Empire after Christianity became the official religion. It was illegal to kill any person, including Polytheists.

Even the rumors about a Christian secret constitution where Polytheists were tortured and killed (sorry, I cannot recall the name now) have been refuted by historians. Of course, I am very sad about the deaths of Polytheists as I am about the deaths of Christians.

I want to be as detailed and nuanced as possible in my answers but I am always trying to balance my time and the fact that it's a tumblr post that should be readable to the average user, and not a wikipedia entry or a scientific paper, and I am not giving professional advice here. I am just a random person doing my best to keep a chill and somewhat informed salty content. But I would need a proper scientific paper to answer exactly how I should. So that's why even in this answer which is 10 paragraphs long there are still generalizations 😅

[macbethz]

1, 10, and 15 for the choose violence ask game :)

THIS IS A LONG ONE SORRY. I guess I had violence in my heart.

1. The character everyone gets wrong

Ok im aware this is like the most predictable answer for me but its true. CLARA!!! People don't get her at all and it absolutely infuriates me, because she's pretty much the only companion in nuwho who is hated to this extent (ie, people saying mean shit about her on my posts ABOUT HER) Oh does she annoy you by having the exact same traits as the doctor? Do you not like her egotistical and controlling behavior? I wonder why. Perhaps there is a point there.

Sidenote - it annoys me when people will call her a mary sue and simultaneously get mad at her being an asshole and yk, having character flaws, as if those terms aren't mutually exclusive & her hyper-competence that gets read as "mary sue" isn't an intentional choice by the narrative and a result of her being DEEPLY unwell in other aspects of her life.

I feel like a lot of people judge her based on the second half of s7 which, to be fair, is awful and I don't think they knew what they were doing with her yet. But in the context of her whole run she is genuinely one of the most evocative characters to come out of doctor who for me, especially in the way she serves as a kind of commentary and subversion of companions as a whole. I genuinely could talk about clara forever but yeah I do feel like a lot of the hate comes from the fact that people Don't Get Her.

And then among fans who do there's always a risk that they see her as this blank slate twee girl to self-project onto which again, to be fair, is how she was written in season 7. But so many things from supposed fans of her as well that I'll read and be like she would not fucking say that. she does not have the emotional awareness to say that. and/or she is not like a uwu quirky shy girl she would fucking speak her mind about that. She is deranged and I love her. I have to shut up abt clara or this will be the whole post.

10. Worst part of fanon

I honestly cant get TOO annoyed with doctor who fanon because i am a comics fan AND a danny phantom fan and its surprisingly common practice for people in both those fandoms to be a "fan" of something they have not consumed the media for in any form, resulting in this horrible mess of fanon with no connection to what makes the original compelling. + doctor who is such a mess of canon anyway basically everything has been canon at some point even if its shit.

But I think in the end the worst part of DW fanon is, like all fanon, the flattening of really compelling characters to fit trope archetypes. I see this especially with tenrose, where they're just turned into this kind of generic ship that you can plug n play into any situation with little connection to the interesting ways they actually behave in canon.

As a kind of interesting reversal, though, fanon will often expand out dw's most generic characters (ie most chibnal companions. sorry), but only for the purposes of shipping and not in ways I myself find particularly interesting. Like imo Yaz is probably the least developed chibnal companion but pretty much the only one I see expanded on in this way because of the shipping potential.

15. that one thing you see in fanart all the time

im probably gonna get slaughtered for this but i think maybe weve had enough crowley in doctor who outfits or 10 meeting crowley fanart. maybe im bitter because i dont really care about the GO show and I feel like it fills up the dw tag to the brim these days

[materassassino]

8, 13

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

I claw my eyes out every fucking time I see the "Uncle Owen was abusive!" take because WHERE??? TEXTUALLY, WHERE??? The idea that a gruff farmer who encourages his nephew to both be responsible (chores before Tosche Station) and is also TRYING TO KEEP HIM SAFE FROM THE MURDEROUS EMPIRE is automatically physically or emotionally abusive is just... You People Do No Know How Farms Work.

Also uwu soft boy Din Djarin. Man kills people constantly. He only, canonically, gives a shit about his son, and that's it.

13. worst blorboficiation

Here's a question: does this mean the same as woobification? I genuinely don't know.

Anyway, both Jin Guangyao and Jiang Cheng. But especially Jiang Cheng. JGY people completely ignore the fact he has, absolutely, done some heinous things (including killing his own son or at least having him killed - I've seen people justify it). JC people have the world's biggest hateboner for WWX, they literally think he should have died of starvation on the streets as a child because then at least JC would have his father's attention. They act as if the story is JC's and WWX is stealing his spotlight, and WWX should grovel more at Madam Yu's feet (which, like... fuck Madam Yu but that's for another day).

Also Ahsoka Tano. She was cool in TCW but man Dave Filoni blorboified his own OC into a borderline Mary Sue. Her constant presence in everything and perfect perfectness is grating on me.

🔥choose violence ask game🔥

[andromedaexists]

Love Me Now || R.M. Virtues

★★★★☆½

TW: EXPLICIT SEX, ROUGH SEX, ALCOHOL/DRUG USE, VIOLENCE, MURDER/ON-PAGE DEATH, KIDNAPPING, ABUSE, TRANSPHOBIA

There are more TWs at the start of this book. R.M. is really good about listing all possible TW's, but that means the list is rather long. Please read it and pay attention to it.

Before I start this, I do want to say that I received an ARC (advanced reader copy) of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Another thing I would like to start off with. I know I've said it before, but I really think that some stories are not meant for certain people even if you love other stories by the same author. This series is a great example of that. I read book one (Drag Me Up) and Did Not Like It. That is okay! I also ended up reading just a few chapters each of books 2 (Keep Me Close) and 3 (Let Me In) before DNF'ing them. They were not stories for me.

HOWEVER, I ended up LOVING this book!

So let's get into it!

I actually do have a few things I didn't like here that brought my rating down to a 4.5 from a 5 star, so let's get those out of the way first:

The weird hyphen thing I mentioned with Drag Me Up is still present. It is not as common, but there were a few moments where I was drawn out of the atmosphere of the book because of the forced cadence

RM really loves ending these books with a sex scene. He really does. Which, in itself, isn't a bad thing but like the final chapters of both Drag Me Up and Love Me Now are sad or somber in tone. I just, I don't think it's appropriate for then to be going at it during these scenes (especially LMN, seeing as Patroclus is literally recovering from an autistic meltdown)

The therapy talk! OMG the therapy talk returns. Again, it's not as present or common as in Drag Me Up, but like I didn't come here for two very clearly unhinged characters to be teaching me morals about rage, y'know? (this book was tolerable, book 1 was not)

All of the trans characters (that we see the genitalia of) have all had bottom surgery. This isn't a bad thing, I just would have loved to see a character that didn't "fully" medically transition (I talked more on this in the review for DMU) like Sisyphus

Speaking of Sisyphus, RM made me like Sisyphus?? that should automatically dump this down to a 2 star read honestly I am Not A Fan of him in mythology. Book Sisyphus can stay tho. I like him.

But that's really all the qualms I had with the book! So let's talk about what I loved:

GAY AUTISTIC TRANS PATROCLUS FTW I love him so very much. A lot of me reading this book was just screaming about Patroclus and how much I love him omgggg

I also love that the contents of the prior books are summed up at the start of this book. Like, I am glad that I read Drag Me Up so that I have an idea of the world, but books 2 and 3 didn't feel like a necessity for me while reading this one.

I genuinely love the dynamic between Achilles and Patroclus. When I tell you I SCREAMED at my kindle every single time the two denied feelings for each other OMG. And then, AND THEN Achilles has the GALL to be soft and loving and adorable and accommodating to Patroclus' autism??? I need me a man like Achilles fr

When I tell you I screamed at the fact that Achilles knows Patroclus is sensitive to sound and he does everything in his power to accommodate that, INCLUDING covering his ears before he has to raise his voice?? I swooned omg

Speaking of Patroclus' autism, the way his autistic rage is portrayed. This is the closest I have come to seeing myself on page. The way that Patroclus processes everything is through the lens of rage, even if he seems calm and collected on the outside. I love that, like genuinely. This book does not shy away from showing the ugly side of neurodivergency. We need more of that in the world, we aren't all uwu pretty boys.

SPEAKING OF Achilles does not infantilize Patroclus AT ALL, not even when he's going through a meltdown! That's HUGE!! Especially for a love interest!! I love it sososo much!

There are honestly so many things I love about this book, a lot of the issues I had with the first book were resolved by the time this book came around. Like, the pacing was great, the characters were fleshed out, they were more than just their sex scenes, over all the vibes were just more put together.

I am so very glad I had the chance to read this book. I will be purchasing a physical copy of it and putting it on my recommendation shelf.

Some quotes I love:

He would follow this man anywhere. All the way to ruin.

It was anger. It had to be anger. It could be nothing else.

Fates, do not let me lose him here.

He put all his feelings in a blender until it all looked like wrath or apathy.

Oh, he would protect this man with his life. He invited the Fates themselves to challenge that.

He made Achilles soft. He made Achilles mortal.

No, as long as there was breath in his lungs, there would be hope.

Honestly there are so many more quotes I pulled out from this book, but I don't want to share too many since it doesn't officially release until the 30th! (I say, already nervous that the scope of this review might bee to in depth to release before pub day)

I would also like to throw in the chat that got to see my live reactions to the book here:

[wrinkled-sheets-and-sunlight]

@not-bcring moved for the new editor uwu (X)

What the two of them had, it was nothing like Nicky thought his life would turn out to be. A relationship wasn't even close to being on his radar, the young goalie so often told that such a thing would only get in the way of greatness by his parents, as if they hadn't gotten together and had him towards the peak of their careers. They meant well, the words not being said in an unsupportive way, but one that was meant to encourage the fact that Nicky just plain didn't seem interested in being with anyone. Having a partner hadn't even crossed his mind until Kichiro, and even then it took his teammates making comments about them in the locker room after practices where they would watch to really bring to light that what he was feeling...wasn't just the desire to protect a friend. The thought of any of them with Kichiro, it made him...well, it made him feel an emotion he couldn't seem to place. It wasn't that most of them weren't good guys, it was just...

The thought of someone else holding Kichiro's hand, calling them sweet little names, holding them close, kissing them, it made him almost angry to imagine, a feeling he wasn't very fond of having.

Later on he would learn the name for such an emotion thanks to Pavel: jealousy. Nicky wanted to be the one to call the smaller man his, and that was why the idea of anyone else with them made him upset. That being said, had Kichiro not felt the same way, Nicky would have understood. As much as they wanted to be with Kichiro, their happiness was held above all else. If all they would ever get was a meaningful friendship while they went on to date someone else? It would have been enough.

Luckily, fate had been kind to them for once, and now here Nicky was, several months past his first anxiety ridden day at Hope's Peak where he had first bumped into Kichi literally, it a terrifying meeting that somehow ended up with them getting together. He had never been happier than he was with Kichiro, every kiss and touch and honeyed word making the moose of a man feel soft in ways he never could even imagine before meeting them. Though as time went on, there were other feelings to be had as well, something that once again Pavel had to shed light upon for the...socially troubled goalie.

Nicky wanted more than just fleeting touches and lingering kisses shared between them, he just didn't know how to get it.

Well...when in doubt, ask, right? Maybe this would help clear his head for the game later, the thoughts of more having been near nonstop for quite some time now. Or end in horrible rejection, his anxious mind so helpfully tried to add, something that he tried to ignore, the soft, genuine words from his partner helping with that more than he could say.

Nick hadn't realized he had been spacing out until Kichiro had called out that little pet name he so loved, the goalie too caught up in the pure happiness on the face of his smaller partner. "Yeah...yeah it is...real nice..." Though genuine, it was clear Nicky was a bit distracted, a furrow pulling at his brow as his hockey gear was set to the side. "Hey, uh...c-can you come here for a sec, bun? There's um...there's something I've been meaning t' ask you..." He wouldn't continue until Kichiro moved closer, the smaller man being pulled into Nicky's lap with the usual ease, a common occurrence when he was feeling anxious and needed a little support.

"We...we've been datin' a while now, a-and I...I wanted to- If you're interested, that is- I-I never...I've never wanted to in the first place, but-" Based on the current rate of conversation and the blush that had taken over the entirety of his face? This wasn't going to get very far without help...