#(it is another headcanon that 'two part' names are kind of. common)

[arseniccattails]

Stupid Blurr headcanon: his full name is actually Blueshift.

[writerblue275]

Hii may I request heartsteel lads and how first kisses goes?? :3

First kisses with Heartsteel!

Hi hi hi lovely anon, of course you can!! Thank you for requesting, this is such a cute idea! I’ll keep this to just first kisses, but I’ll definitely make a general kisses headcanon at some point.

Inspiration: Love a good first kiss moment.

Genre: Headcanon

Type: Fluff

Gender: Gender Neutral Reader!

TW: Swearing. Slight discussion of rebellious activities (lmao guess for which member).

Extra: Some of these I felt like I could keep completely in bullet form, but some others I felt required more set up, so there’s some prose interspersed.

Aphelios

Definitely happens further down the line when things are really getting serious. Aphelios just gives me the “takes it slow but he’s in it for the long haul” vibes (love it! You go king). It takes a while for him to let someone in, but once he does, you know you’re extremely important to him.

So you’ve been dating him maybe two-three months now. And while he hasn’t kissed you yet, there have been other kinds of physical moments (like hand holding, cheek kisses, slight cuddling, some pet names, that sort of thing) that have progressed that shows things are moving well in the right direction.

Not to mention the subtle things. Like the way he thumb lingers a little on the corner of your lips as he wipes away some ice cream your napkin missed. Or how he has to look away when you bite your lip. (Because he wants to be the one to do so. 😝) Just other subtle things that seem to signal Aphelios is ready to take that next physical step with you. You just have to figure out how to ask him in a way that won’t spook him.

One of the things you two do together? Well he’s teaching you sign language. Or at least the basics. He fully doesn’t expect you to sign all the time, hell he doesn’t even do that. But since he has to be careful to protect what remains of his voice, he does use sign language as one way of communication.

And you being the kind, wonderful partner that you are, you want to learn to sign too. Communication with your partner is so important and of course you want to be able to communicate with Aphelios as effectively as possible, so you asked him for help. (He’s so touched that you’re taking the time/making the effort to do that for him btw. Learning any new language is extremely difficult.)

So one night, after a date, when you two are just vibing together on the couch in his studio, you and Aphelios decide to play a little game that has become common for the two of you. You sign something and he grades your signing, telling/showing you what, if anything, you can do better. And for the most part it’s just been fairly basic signs and phrases.

But little does he know, you’ve been practicing more than just simple phrases at home.

Can I practice signing some questions?, you ask.

Yes, he signs. Of course! What do you have for me tonight, cutie?

You smile brightly and blush at the pet name, making him smile in response.

You start off with some basics. What is your name? How are you doing? Where are you from? Those sorts of questions. And you watch carefully as Aphelios helps you make any adjustments to clarify your signing.

“Phel, can I try and ask something more….personal? I-I want to make sure I have it down” You ask, your voice getting a little shy. You know you’re taking a risk, but you really like him and you just want to confirm he’s on the same page as you. That the connection you’ve felt isn’t just one-sided.

His eyebrows go up in surprise but he nods. Of course, he signs. What is it? You’ve really peaked his curiosity now. Especially with how shy you got.

So you take a deep breath to settle your nerves….and another one…before finally blushing deeply and signing, Will you kiss me? (You sign it flawlessly btw. You practiced for DAYS as you gathered the courage to ask him.)

His eyes widen and he blinks at you for a few moments, giving you a good clue that you did ask what you intended to.

As the silence drags on for a few moments longer and you see Aphelios try to process what you just asked, you fear you’ve made a terrible mistake of things and you start to just completely panic.

“Sh-shit Phel I’m so sorry! Oh god, I made you uncomfortable, didn’t I…Please forget I asked. Please forget I said anything! Oh I ruined everything…I’m so so so sorry. I’ll go. Please can we pretend like this didn’t happ-mm?”

You’re so frazzled and upset with yourself you didn’t even notice Phel sign absolutely yes before leaning over and kissing you slowly, his fingers threading in your hair, completely cutting off your panicked rambling.

And when he pulls away? This time you’re the one left staring at him in surprise, blinking rapidly for a few moments before smiling widely as he signs back to you, There. Now will you kiss me, please? And of course you’re more than happy to oblige. He said please, after all.

Ezreal

I think Ezreal would kiss earlier on in a relationship. His love language (giving) is physical touch and kisses are included in that. And of course with him, your first kiss is going to be fun and sweet because those are the vibes Ez gives off like 95% of the time.

In this instance the two of you are at an arcade for a date. You’ve noticed he’s been giving more and more signs that he wants to kiss you. Subtle (he thinks) glances down to your lips when the two of you are talking or the way his lips linger when he kisses you on the cheek after walking you to your door post-date. And well…you want to kiss him too. In fact you have a little plan to help move things along.

You asked Alune, who introduced the two of you, what Ezreal’s favorite arcade machine is before-hand and she immediately responded ski-ball. She told you he’s a god at ski-ball and how no one in Heartsteel will play with him anymore because he always wins. Always. His aim is just unmatched. (Though Phel is certainly practicing hard to beat him.)

So what do you do? You challenge Ezreal in ski-ball of course! But the stakes have to be raised. What’s the fun without some flirty competition?

Him: “And if I win? What do I get? Your tickets? Dinner? A kiss?” *Said with a little cocky smirk* (Of course.)

You: *grin widely at him* “Yeah sure, I’ll kiss you. Deal.”

Him: *His eyes wide and he’s very alert now* “Wait, actually??”

You: *smirks* “I mean what I say, Ezreal. You know that. Besides, I’m sure I’ll win, so why does it matter? You know how competitive I get.” (Muahaha, clever you. You got him hook, line, and sinker.)

Oh now it’s ON. He’s fully tuned in. You can tell his competitive nature made him play right into your plan. He wants that kiss.

And he’s absolutely going to get it. Ez is rolling a perfect game. Like it doesn’t take long for winning to be completely out of reach for you. So you pause to watch him, eventually starting to laugh before just going for it, leaning over and kissing him deeply (of course it’s just as he sinks the shot to break the high score record on the machine).

And once he gets over the initial surprise, he very eagerly kisses you back, one of his hands cupping your cheek. And the kiss lasts for a lovely few moments before you gently pull back and smile widely at him.

“If you wanted to kiss me to badly,” you let out on a giggle, “you could have just asked, you know. Hopefully I won’t have to knowingly embarrass myself at ski-ball again to get another kiss from you.”

Ezreal laughs shyly and kisses you again, letting his arms wrap around you. “Of course not. Happy to kiss yo- wait a second did you say ‘knowingly?’ What do you mean? How’d you even know I love ski-ball? I didn’t tell you that.”

You grin. “How do you think? Alune told me! I asked her what your favorite arcade machine was. It was clear I needed to take matters into my own hands since though I could tell you wanted to kiss me, you’re such a gentleman,” you tease playfully before kissing his cheek.

Somewhere else in the city, Alune starts laughing loudly, surprising a gaming Aphelios, as she receives a text message from Ezreal:

Ezreal: Name anything you want. Dead serious. I don’t care what, it’s yours. You’re the BEST. THANK YOU!!!

Alune: 😂 Holding you to that. Glad (Y/N)’s plan worked!

Ezreal: 👍👍

Kayn

Something tells me that Kayn would kiss earlier on in a relationship. Not that it’s a bad thing! I definitely don’t think it is. And he wouldn’t do so unless he thought you returned his feelings. He’s a rebel, not an asshole. He’d never force himself on someone.

All that aside, there is something to be said for Kayn’s recklessness playing into his first kiss with you.

I don’t think it would happen on a planned date. Kayn strikes me as more of a “go with the flow” sort of guy, at least until things are getting serious. Then he’d actually plan out dates. Otherwise spending time with him early on in your relationship consists of him calling or texting you and saying, “Hey, I’m doing ______ tonight or tomorrow. Want to come with? Food’s on me?”

And these “things” can range from errands (he just like being in your presence, ok?) to actual events like concerts or other things like that.

And ok, like 90% of what Kayn calls you for are things that are law-abiding. But there is that 10%. That piece of him who still loves to rebel and do things for the adrenaline. Don’t worry though, when you do those sorts of things with him, he won’t let you get in trouble. He’s a pro.

In this case, the two of you are sitting on a random roof in the city after going around and doing things you definitely shouldn’t be doing. (On a completely unrelated note: A couple city cop cars have some lovely new colorful decorations on them.)

And the two of you are just quietly laughing together and watching the moon, the adrenaline from the shenanigans you two participated in still going through your veins.

And Kayn looks over at you, admiring how attractive you look and how happy you make him. And he can’t help it as he reaches over and takes your hand. When you don’t pull away, he just quietly says “Ah fuck it…” and goes for it. He leans over, gently tangling his free hand in your hair, and kisses you absolutely breathless.

Kayn can’t help but chuckle once he pulls away as he sees the slightly dazed (but very happy) expression on your face.

And once you finally get your wits back about you and go to return the favor, he’s so relieved you feel the same way as him.

K’Sante

Not the earliest member to have a first kiss with their partner, but definitely not the latest. K'Sante is for sure somewhere in the middle.

And with K'Sante? Your first kiss with him is almost a little...accidental? Not in a bad way, but the circumstances surrounding just were slightly unexpected.

But the chemistry between the two of you is undeniable. You can definitely feel a lovely sort of tension building in your mundane acts of physical affection. But neither of you have taken the final step to kiss the other person yet.

But that’s about to change. K'Sante is taking you out on the town for the night. The evening starts with a really delicious dinner at a really really nice restaurant (where of course he made a reservation because this man PLANS).

This is then followed up by getting ice cream and him driving the two of you to a secluded point that overlooks the city. You two can just enjoy each other's company (as well as the yummy ice cream) while he also plays some music from a little bluetooth speaker he brought that connects to his phone and relaxing on a lovely picnic blanket he has in his trunk. (1000000/10 vibes like oh my god?)

Now something that K'Sante does, he uses his phone as little as possible on dates with you. He wants to be fully present in the moment and enjoy what moments he can when he's with you.

So that's why he's so surprised when he turns on his phone to play music (since he had it off during dinner and the drive with you) to find 7 missed calls from Alune.

"Shit," he murmurs.

“Everything ok, K’Sante?” You ask, feeling concerned as you take in his furrowed brow.

“Looks like I have a bunch of missed calls from our manager. Normally she doesn’t call me unless something is wrong….”

“Uh oh…and since she called so many times….Call her back. I don’t mind,” You tell him.

“You sure? I don’t want to be disrespectful,” he says.

This makes you smile. “K’Sante, you are one of the most respectful people I know. Checking to see if there’s an emergency isn’t disrespecting me,” you reassure him.

And after another minute or two of warring with himself, he does. He realizes he wouldn’t be able to stop worrying about what’s going on if he didn’t, and that’s not fair to you. He puts the phone on speaker. Since it’s affecting your date, he figures you might as well get to learn what’s going on too.

As Alune picks up the call, you hear her groan. “Finally, K’Sante! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for hours! Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”

“Alune, I told you I had a date with (Y/N) tonight. I’m still on the date, actually, and you’re on speaker,” he chuckles.

“Hi!” You shyly say.

You hear Alune sigh. “Hi, (Y/N)! I apologize. I didn’t mean to interrupt your date. I just have really exciting news for K’Sante and I wanted to tell him as soon as possible.”

“And you couldn’t leave a message??” K’Sante asks.

“And miss your live reaction to this? Or at least your audible reaction? Absolutely not! (Y/N), would you like to hear it too? It’s actually better that you’re with him so he has someone to celebrate with!”

You perk up and smile at K’Sante, relieved nothing is wrong and beyond curious what the news is. “Sure!! I won’t tell anyone either so don’t worry about that.”

K’Sante drums his fingers on the ground impatiently. “Alright Alune, spit it out. What am I celebrating?”

“K’Sante, they accepted your design for the up-and-coming designer show during Spring/Summer Fashion Week! And not only that, but they want YOU to walk in it! You get to model your own design!”

You gasp and squeeze his hand as she reveals the amazing news, your eyes locked on his expression. “K’Sante!!! Holy shit that’s amazing!! They’re so lucky to have you in their show!” As you talk, you can see just the biggest flurry of emotions playing over his features as he’s stunned silent, his eyes locked on yours.

You laugh softly, “Alune, I think you might have broken him. He’s just staring at me.” You smile widely back at him and go to hug him.

As you get closer, it’s like he’s finally back in his own body, and his expression lands on pure joy as he leans over and cups your cheeks, kissing you deeply for a moment before pulling you into a tight hug and starting to laugh happily.

And your brain is now short circuiting in the best way possible because omg YES FINALLY. And as you pull back from the hug, you gently brush your lips over his and whisper happily, “Congratulations, K’Sante. You deserve this.”

“I know you mean the Fashion Week stuff, but can that sentiment also apply to your kisses? Because I’ll be honest that was pretty great too,” he says as he quickly hangs up on Alune.

You just laugh and nod before kissing him again as your answer.

Sett

While I don’t think Sett would kiss super early on in a relationship, I also don’t think he’d take the longest either. Like maybe a few dates in? Whenever he feels things starting to really get serious with you. And this would be after some earlier physical things like hand holding or kisses on the cheek, etc, and he’s letting you dictate the pace of anything physical. (Once again repeat after me: “Ma didn’t raise a jackass.”)

But anyway, as you’ve gotten to know Sett better, he’s shown you different facets of himself. Like for example, you know he’s fit as fuck (I mean you see the evidence right in front of you lmao) but one of the things you might not have known initially is that he is an excellent boxer. (A/N: We know this because base lore and the MV and shit but think from the perspective of a new partner.)

And while he doesn’t fight other people super often anymore due to his profession, he occasionally accepts a challenge from someone. (Much to Alune’s chagrin. Makeup can only hide so many injuries.)

So let’s say Sett accepts a challenge and he invites you to watch the fight with the rest of Heartsteel. (He absolutely wants to show off for you.)

And at his invitation, you go and visit him in his locker room before the fight, just to show him you made it ok and to wish him luck. “Not that I think you’ll need it, Sett. You’ll kick his ass, I’m sure.”

That makes him laugh and banishes away any lingering doubts/nervousness in his mind. “Well of course I’ll kick his ass. He’s fighting “The Boss” after all. There’s a reason I have that nickname. Besides, you’re here. Like I told you, you’re my good luck charm. With you cheering me on he doesn’t stand a chance.”

As Sett is talking you see his eyes flash briefly down to your lips a couple times. But he doesn’t say anything further. So you take the initiative. It’s not like you don’t want to kiss him. You absolutely do.

“Hey Sett?” you ask, feeling bold. “Would you…like a kiss for good luck? You know…so I can make sure my good luck charm potential is fully maximized?”

And you can tell by his smile and happy eyes that yes. Yes he would like a kiss for good luck actually. (Though his eager nodding definitely gives it away the most 😂.) So you give him one. And it’s sweet and happy and leaves both of you smiling and giggling/chuckling a bit once you pull away.

Oh Sett’s opponent doesn’t stand a fucking chance now. (Not that he did before but still.)

Yone

I definitely see Yone as one of, if not the most reserved member of Heartsteel (it's a race between him and Aphelios), so it’d take the longest to get to the point of a first kiss with him.

Not that he doesn’t want to kiss you earlier on. He absolutely does. But the very last thing he wants to do is to come on too strong or go too fast and scare you away. He really really likes you, after all.

A lot of what goes into Yone’s decision of finally going for it has to do with your body language. He’s looking for a sign that clearly says “ok yes, this person likes me back, I’m not crazy.”

As for the first kiss itself, it happens after a couple months with him, when he’s driving you home.

You can tell Yone wants to take that step and kiss you. You’ve noticed his gaze occasionally linger on your lips when he’s talking with you. Or the slight swallow he does whenever you bite your bottom lip while thinking. (Not to mention the slight twinge of pink that goes to his cheeks. Only you can get that reaction out of him.)

And suddenly you realize, he hasn’t kissed you yet not because he doesn’t want to, but because he’s such a damn gentleman and doesn’t want to come on too strong and make you uncomfortable. He wants a sign that you’re ok with him kissing you.

So once he parks the car in front of your building, you lean over, lace your fingers with his, and gently kiss his cheek, letting your lips linger for just a moment longer than what might be considered purely friendly/platonic. Then you whisper in his ear, loathe to break the comforting silence in his car, “You’re not as subtle as you think, Yone. I know you want to kiss me. I also want to kiss you so-”

You don’t even get to finish your thought before Yone’s hands are cupping your jaw and he’s leaned across the center console, kissing you breathless. And my god is it lovely. Sweet but still filled with a surprising amount of passion for a man who presents such a stoic facade to the world. You can’t help but grin like a happy fool once he gently pulls away.

He chuckles at your reaction, but internally his heart is racing. Kissing you was even better than he thought it would be (and his expectations were high).

He clears his throat and looks away shyly for a second as he regains his composure. “Forgive me for interrupting you…but would it be alright if I did that again in the future?”

His question makes you laugh and you lean back over to him and peck his lips. “Yone, you are more than welcome to do that anytime you’d like…you’ll hear no complaints from me.”

Thanks for reading! I absolutely loved getting this request and I hope I did it justice, anon! Got to play into some fun ideas here. 💙

[your-local-crypt1d]

Here's a bunch of Wither Rose Alliance headcanons I've had rattling around in my brain

I love the idea that fWhip is still a vampire on Empires it's just either common knowledge and not brought up or it's never mentioned because no one knows.

More specifically, though, Gem and fWhip are dhampirs, which are the offspring of a vampire parent and a human parent.

Dhampirs are on a spectrum between human and Vampiric, fWhip sits on the very far end of the vampire side (the only thing distinguishing him from other Vampires being his tan skin and blue eyes), meanwhile Gem sits very close to the human side of the spectrum, the only hint that she's not human being pointed ears and little fangs.

fWhip is also allergic to sunlight like most other Vampires, the difference between them and him, though, is his sister is the headmistress at the Crystal Cliffs Academy. Gem enchanted a Redstone pendant (another kind of conduit for magic) with mild fire resistance, so when fWhip walks in the sun he won't automatically burst into flames.

To me, Sausage is their brother but adopted and Pearl is a family friend that's basically their older sister just not by blood either.

Sausage came from a formerly noble family that fWhip and Gems parents were close with, but they quickly adopted Sausage after it was found out his parents were abusive. That's where the formerly part comes in, the twins' parents stripped Sausages' parents of all their titles as part of their punishment.

As mentioned, Pearl was never adopted but fWhips mother was her godmother, as her and Pearls parents were close. Pearls mother was also a head guard stationed in mythland, so by nature of her job she knew there might be a day where she won't return home.

Pearls mother was named Opaline, Moon is their surname. That's who Pearl gets her fighting prowess from.

For some political headcanons, Mythland, the Grimlands, Gilded Helanthia, and the Crystal Cliffs used to be one massive united empire known as the Wither Rose Dynasty. The Grimlands and Mythland were the two original kingdoms in the Dynasty, then the Grimlands set up a colony of sorts in the mountain range nearby as there was a high concentration of magic up in the Cliffs thanks to all the amethyst, making it much easier for people to learn magic, so the Academy was established.

It eventually grew to be a colony and then its own separate governed nation because the students who graduated from the academy would most often stay just below the academy in a lower part of the mountain, using magic to construct their own homes and harnessing the power from the amethyst geodes.

I liked the ideas in this post for Gilded Helanthia and I want to give credit where it's due on that, my only expansion would be that Gilded Helanthia in their first decades of independence were part of the Wither Rose Dynasty for protection against the Overgrown, and so technically the Emperor could step in on political issues if he so chose, but he was pretty hands-off and allowed them to govern as they wanted.

That Emperor was fWhip and Gems father, AltairMay. It's a tradition in high Grimland society to name your firstborn after a constellation, and while fWhip and Gem are twins, she's technically older by a few minutes. The name "FailWhip" is more or less a poor translation between Mythic and Common (aka English), in Mythic it's meant to mean someone who keeps getting back up after being knocked down, taking blows and always prevailing.

fWhip and Gems mother, MelodyRose, passed away in childbirth. AltairMay was a vampire and he'd been Emperor of the Dynasty for hundreds of years, and watched his loved ones pass away, but the death of his wife left an irreparable hole in his heart. It's believed by historians that her death was the first domino that would lead to the fall (split) of the Wither Rose Dynasty.

20 years later, said event occurred. AltairMay was too exhausted to run four separate kingdoms and decided to split the empires up between his children, Pearl to be coronated as Queen (chosen by her people in a vote) a month after the split, Sausage to become king of Mythland, the headmaster of the Crystal Cliffs academy to also take over as head of state (again a voted thing), and for him to simply just be the "Count" of the Grimlands from then on. He Intended for Gem and fWhip to start taking on some of his responsibilities to lessen the work load, then for Gem to take over as countess when he died, but that's not how things worked out of course.

Gem ran away to study at the Crystal Cliffs academy, leaving fWhip behind to take over as count. I haven't really decided why Gem ran away yet so if any of y'all have any ideas please share.

I do like the idea of Gem meeting Scott through Xornoth during her time at the academy, the elven princes becoming her closest friends at the time when she basically had no one else.

One final headcanon to finish this post off, Bubbles is an eldritch horror who plays dog and you cannot change my mind

[triptychgardener]

what are your thoughts on the idea of transmasc roxy in general

I have to say I've grown much less fond of the concept as time progresses. I think transmasc Roxy as it appears in postcanon feels like one of many moves made in the epilogues to specifically jab at certain parts of fandom, but in such an odd way that feels kind of hostile. Roxy being headcanoned as a trans girl goes so far back that it was a common heacanon in 2012! It's mentioned in a premier Homestuck history and backreading podcast (Homestuck Made This World). The XY in Roxy's name is literally referred to as CHROMOSOMAL in her intro! She refers to herself as a girl more than any other character in the comic! Hussie's earlier notes say that same-letter chumhandles (GG, TT) are girls, where the hetero-lettered chumhandles are boys (EB, TG). And then along come Roxy and Dirk, who have TT and TG as their own chumhandles! They're even noted as having their personalities be so much more like their opposite-gendered ancestors! So it feels like a. VERY distinctly odd choice to make Roxy in particular, of all characters, transmasculine. I don't want to say it's intentional, but it's odd. It also speaks to two trends I dislike about fandom trans headcanons specifically when it comes to Homestuck, but also elsewhere. 1. The idea that all characters are cis by default, and none of them could have been trans before the game. Saying that when Vriska Serket and Kanaya Maryam exist is essentially factually incorrect. It's disappointing ESPECIALLY because some of the best Homestuck fanon (and canon!) thrives on the voids between what is said, the implications that get turned on their head. and 2. The denial of the fact that trans women can, in fact, have complicated relationships with femininity and womanhood! This is far too much for me to go into on a work night on my Homestuck blog, but especially with the Lalondes, who have Things about femininity (Roxy being the "cool girl" ultra-accomodating, never making a fuss out of her problems, and Rose's Whole Deal with her mother and her mind games) that ring Very True to me as a trans woman. Obviously, headcanon is not erasure, but at this point I can't say I care too much for transmasc Roxy. Also, essentially making Roxy into another Strider just sucks as a character arc. Dave should be more of a Lalonde not the other way around.

[ramenrescue]

do you any headcanons/aus/thoughts on usao/ousa ? loved your analysis of ogata/asirpa

Oh boy, I might have too many thoughts about Usami and Ogata so this may have to come in parts, especially the AUs. I have started writing a modern day reincarnation fic for them because I am just very feral about these two at the moment, so if I ever finish that and feel compelled to put it out to the world I'll let you know. The thing about writing fic or manga is like -- I can write little snippets but to piece them together into one coherent story is very difficult.

Anyway, your ask came at such a prompt time because I managed to buy the Japanese volumes on Bookwalker for almost 50% off and I specifically reread the main parts with Usami, so they are quite fresh in my mind. I think I agree with other analyses I have read about Usami in that he is a direct foil to Ogata. And this can be seen in their superficial traits: Ogata has many square-shaped, angular, sharp motifs on his face, like his square-shaped eyes, square shaped iris, squared eyebrows, square jawline, square hairline, while Usami has rounded tips on his eyelashes, round moles on his cheeks, rounded lips (cupid's bow), concentric circles for his pupil/iris, and rounded brows. Usami excels at close-range combat, while Ogata excels at long-range combat. Usami grew up amongst a large family with many siblings, while Ogata grew up practically an only child.

But here's the weird part -- I actually don't think they are complete opposites -- I think they have some things in common. <- more on this later.

It is interesting how in Usami's backstory (Chapter 227), Tsurumi (in conversation with the dojo owner) refers to Usami as a "dog among sheep" and a "born soldier who is highly loyal, combative, and is able to kill without remorse or regret". Then, it cuts to Usami in present day saying he predicts the serial killer in Sapporo will return to the scene of the crime and masturbate while reminiscing of their crimes because he understands that sentiment on a personal level. Usami here appears to show understanding that he possesses an innate capacity for violence.

Ogata was always wondering about the whole nature vs nurture question -- like whether lacking remorse for the act of killing is something one is born with or a product of one's environment (ex. bad childhood, war). Usami is a shining example that humans can in fact kill without remorse, and everyone except Ogata knows Usami is an exception to the rule. Usami is well aware this is what makes him special and this is one of the reasons why Tsurumi values him so much as a subordinate.

The problem with Ogata is that because he appears to have very little personal connections outside of Usami during the war (which is... kind of cute in a pitiable way?), he misconstrues that people like Usami are the majority. Usami agrees with all of Ogata's skewed interpretations and analyses that "all (majority of) people do not feel remorse in the act of killing" and in doing that, he is straight up lying. Usami knows people like himself are in the minority -- and because his analysis of Ogata's character was so spot on -- I'll go as far to say Usami knows Ogata is "normal" -- because if Ogata were truly a "born soldier" like Usami, he would not be ruminating about the philosophy of guilt and killing and questioning himself and bouncing his ideas off of another person -- he would just simply, be. Usami receives further confirmation that Ogata is simply, "just a guy", when he overhears Ogata calling Yusaku's name in his sleep. Usami also calls Ogata a snot-nosed brat quite a number of times, and I think that is alluding to Usami knowing that Ogata is just a sheep wearing wolf's skin.

It's interesting that Ogata entrusted the inner workings of his mind to Usami. I thought about this and I came to the conclusion that maybe he saw his own mother in Usami -- which I know, it's kind of insane, but I'm going somewhere with this! In Chapter 304, when Ogata is reminiscing about his mother, it appears she has a prominent cupid's bow -- a physical characteristic possessed by Usami. His mother likely called Ogata by his first name, and Usami is shown to be THE only person in present day who calls Ogata by his first name. Ogata's mom was head over heels over a man in a position of power with a wife who never returned the same level of love, while Usami is head over heels over a "promiscuous" man in a position of power who will likely never return the same level of affection that he's outputting. Another interesting side note: Usami chides Ogata for being the illegitimate son of an escort* and back in the Edo period, women in the business would chop off their pinkie as a sign of loyalty to their patron. Although Ogata likely did not have a good vantage point (nor did he care) to observe Usami's final moments, I think it's still worth mentioning that Usami getting his pinkie chomped off by Tsurumi resembles an escort chopping off her finger as a sign of ultimate devotion to her customer, lol. Anyway, I think because Ogata drew parallels between Yusaku and Asirpa, it is not so far fetched that he saw his mother in Usami -- and ultimately his projection made him trust Usami more than one ever should. There is one more important evidence that Ogata saw his mother in Usami -- in that he killed both of them with similar intent. He killed his mom not out of hatred, but because he wanted to put her out of her misery -- and he thought that if his father came to her funeral, she would be happy. Before he shoots Usami, he says something like "if you're so worried about being Tsurumi's cheapest pawn, why don't you see what his face looks like at your funeral," and in a way, he is putting Usami out of his miserable state of feeling inadequate. Ogata killed his mother with conviction that the positive outcome would happen, while he kills Usami with more of a neutral outlook -- and interestingly, Ogata, by killing Usami, gave Usami the thing he wanted most in life -- a reaffirmation from Tsurumi that he was his one and only (which, whether Tsurumi was telling the truth or not is dubious from a reader's POV, but alas, we are happy for Usami).

So here we return to my earlier point -- that they are crafted to be very different from each other, but they do possess similarities. One obvious one is that they both yearn for affection from Tsurumi -- which highlights another difference in that, yes they both yearn for love, but the love they seek are different. Usami yearns for love from one person and one person only, while Ogata is more agnostic and yearns for love from pretty much anyone who is willing to give him attention. But here's the thing -- I think Ogata's yearning for affection is a product of his environment -- and I think Usami's yearning to be someone's one and only, is also a product of his environment! I think that because he grew up in a large family, the love from his parents was dispersed amongst all of their children***, fostering an environment ripe for someone like Tsurumi to sweep him off his feet and pour "love" into this near-empty vessel. Usami felt intoxicated by the notion of being someone's one and only, that his jealousy-filled-rage led him to murder. I'd argue that without the addition of Tsurumi, there would be no Usami. Tsurumi compared Usami not to a wolf or a bear -- but a domesticated dog -- which is not, by itself, likely to commit acts of violence**. A soldier becomes a soldier only when commanded -- STEERED in the right direction, much like a dog will become violent when raised to do so. Therefore, a version of Usami who never met a sweet-talker like Tsurumi in his formative years, would likely not grow up to be an ultra-loyal killing-machine. To sum, I believe Usami's capacity for violence is an innate quality that can only be harnessed by the right environment.

Thank you for the question! One thing I still haven't quite wrapped my mind around is how after Ogata shoots Usami, he says "thank you, Usami, your death has completed me as a sniper." Okay??? What does he mean by that! I don't know! So if you or anyone reading this has any thoughts I'd love to know!

--

*=note that 商売女can include prostitutes and geisha, and the lines between geisha and prostitution was a lot blurrier back then so I'm just calling them an "escort" although Ogata's mom is officially known to be a former geisha

**=note that this is a sweeping generalization and I am aware different dog breeds do display varying levels of unpredictable, aggressive behavior

***=I just want to point out that Usami's parents are portrayed as being in love with each other, so they may have had that many kids as a result of lack of contraception. There's a scene in Vagabond with a couple who are having sex despite their many children crying out of hunger, and it kind of reminds me of that...

[azullumi]

Hi! Happy new year! C: Can I request something similar to your Al Haitham pining headcanon post, but with Cyno? And if it isn't too specific, could the reader also work in the Akademiya, maybe as a judge for trials? So they're a lil stressed, flooded with work, but is kind and cares deeply for the people of Sumeru? Sorryifthat'stoospecific- I hope you have a good day! Thank you! ❤️

summary — he yearns for you in a way he can't explain and he loves you in the way he only knows. you were the poison in his heart that he will always choose to consume every time and even at the hands of death— he will know you for your name will be the last to slip past his lips.

pairing — cyno/gender-neutral reader

tags — fluff, secret pining; headcanons

word count — 800+

a/n — i really enjoyed writing this and got carried away while doing so as i ended up writing past my limit 🧍‍♀️ anyways, you don't have to apologize for it being too specific! i really prefer it that way since its really helpful and nice :)) so here it is! i hope you like it, happy new year and i also hope you'll have a good dayy!!

Unnecessary feelings that will only be a hindrance to his work, is what he first thought. He could never find the time to even think of his self-interest less in the matters of love that just seem not needed. His dedication in upholding the Akademiya's rules and laws makes it so he hasn't even thought of wanting something or someone more than the way he's interested in the in and out of justice itself.

A person who operates on his ideas of "justice" and the desire to preserve the law and a person who presides over trials and maintains order, giving judgment to people who are brought to the court. Maybe it was the fact that you two shared something similar, something common. Maybe not in the beliefs but in the line of work so he excuses his actions— often watching you from afar, looking after you, and thinking of you— as that. He reasons his approach to you and finding ways to get close to you as merely a small interest because of his work.

It's not because he refuses to accept that he has fallen for you but because he just doesn't know how to explain nor tell what he was truly feeling. You make him experience things that he can't explain, feelings that he doesn't know how to put into words properly. You're the type of person who he can sit in silence with, the type of person who he can enjoy himself with without having to do anything, the type of person who he will always seek out when it feels like his mind is way too loud on some days.

Oh, my dear, whatever you say and whatever you think, he will desire and be the one you wish for him to be. Not in a way that he'll willingly lose himself, not in a way he'll remove and replace parts of him and become someone else who he's not but in a way so he could perfectly fit himself in the puzzles of your mind— he will indulge himself in your interests so that the two of you could have something to talk about the next time he meets you and he will learn of the things that you like so he knows what to give.

It was yet another exhausting day for you. A routine, a normal occurrence in your everyday life, after presiding over a few trials and taking care of documents, you walk back to your home completely tired. It feels like a cycle but it’s not like you hate it, you find your work quite fulfilling especially when you’re doing it for the good of the people of Sumeru. Your care for them goes a deep way down to your heart after all. "(Name)! Good timing, I have the item that you were looking for yesterday. It costs quite a lot but I’ll give it to you for a cheap price!” A vendor called out to you and grabbed your attention. “Oh, you’re really the best but are you sure about giving it to me at such a cheap price? I can pay it just fine.” “It’s okay really, it’s my way of thanking you for always being kind and caring.” A ticklish feeling was felt in your heart, emitting a soft and short laugh out of your throat, just agreeing to what the vendor had said. Then eventually, upon hearing and seeing you, children came and gathered around you with an excited gleam in their eyes and wide grins on their faces, greeting and bombarding you with questions, their voices enthusiastic and cheerful. “(Name), (Name)! How was work? Did you judge those bad guys again?” “I’m sure (Name) did! (Name) is amazing, after all!” “Do you have a hammer during court? If not, can you use the ones blacksmiths use?” You chuckle, feeling your stress and worries wash away upon seeing the bright look on the children’s face. You crouched down to their line of sight and entertained their questions, answering them with the same enthusiastic tone and a smile on your face and you thought how you wouldn’t mind going home a little bit later if it’s for the kids. Amidst all of this, due to the commotion that you were in, you never noticed the pair of eyes that looked at you from afar— Cyno watches, he watches as you interact with your surroundings, as you talk with the merchants, and as you play with the children that you pass by even when you're already so exhausted from the work that you have done the whole day. He watches, his gaze, unknowingly, soft and warm every time he looks at you, there is so much to see, so much to admire but your kind heart was the best part of it all.

He wonders how you are able to be so nice and forgiving, so sweet and loveable, so genuine and honest and he wonders how it feels to be kissed by the same kindness you give to others, to be held and drowned by your gentleness, to feel the tenderness of your gaze, not by your eyes but your heart.

Every time he's together with you, even just simply basking in one another's presence, he often finds himself being fairly relaxed and no, it's not because he's out of his akademiya duties, but because there is something about you that just makes him feel that way. Your voice, your gaze, your existence strips himself bare and empty and he's left with just his own self, not the infamous General Mahamatra but Cyno, the man who cracks jokes and goes through lengthy explanations so the other party could understand what he said, the man who is an avid fan of a card game, and the man who is fond of taking night strolls at the desert to help him relax after a stressful day. With you, he's nothing but just a man who is named Cyno.

Oh, darling, you will never know the words he whispers to himself at the thought of you. Because all of those are soft confessions that he could never tell you, ones he will always swallow and vomit when he's alone. To think that a brave and courageous man like him grows weak under the small graze of your gaze.

Being with you never felt like a dream at this point but a prayer, a prayer from his soul who wishes, who desires, who yearns to get a touch of yours.

— navigation | masterlist

[feralferretxp]

Headcanon: Bang is from a rich household/had a noble upbringing

Alright, I know this post is quite long compared to what I normally post. Just kinda went off with it, heh. I've had this post idea for a loooooong time but finally got around to this, so let's go!

So I don't know how many people also think this, but I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar that Bang is from a wealthy family and had some sort of noble upbringing. Like kinda Similar to Shaggy from Scooby Doo (these two actually have a lot in common the more I think about it) But anyway, I'm gonna give some evidence to support this headcannon.

First off is his full name: Bangford Bipplebop III. I mean, come on, that's one fancy sounding name. Plus, this means he's part of a lineage of some sort.

Now for clips:

In the 1st clip, Bro's legit using gold as a napkin while eating chocolate. He loves that bar of chocolate more than a bar of gold, which is saying something. Either he has no worries about wealth or just that he's a big foodie. Could be both ngl

The 2nd one is just him showing off his money. I mean, nothing really to add here. I know it could just be for a gag, but still.

So Bang doesn't show concern about wealth. Plus, look at Bing's reactions of concern and shock in both clips, which would be a typical person's reaction to seeing these things, but Bang just rolls with it, I guess.

I could also go off about the whole "Stocks" episode in Answer Time S2, where Bang basically gets dragged into starting a multi-billion dollar business that he didn't even want to start at all. He just wanted to learn what stocks are for a question. When the company's stocks plummeted, he wasn't as sad or devastated as Sue, the investor who helped start the business. He was never in it for the money or cared about having it.

Another point is that he's shown to have proper etiquette and manners, despite being depicted as laid-back dude who's very relaxed.

The 3rd clip is when 341B was talking to Lady Eleanor III, a royal architect for the Queen. While the other members chatter and greet her casually, Bang merely waves politely and even puts his hands behind his back as a sign of respect. What a distinguished little gentleman

And the 4th one is when they said hello to a kid named "King" and Bang does a kneel/bow gesture. Bing also does this, but I think he does it in a more silly/less serious way because you would think then that this is a group gag for all of them to bow, yet Bo doesn't. Bang does it more formally.

So yeah, Bang knows proper etiquette when dealing with noble people, so he must've learned this somewhere. Perhaps when growing up.

I just also like this headcanon in general since even if he had a wealthy upbringing, he's very humble and kind. He's not snooty or upright, which not saying all rich people are like that, but just showing how he made his own choice at one point in his life to just be loose and down to earth. He doesn't care about having wealth, but rather values friendships and the simple pleasures of life. Plus with him being super coded as a hippie type, I imagine he went that route despite what his parents wanted or expected of him, with Bang also being part of a lineage and such.

I do wonder if we will ever get to see his or the rest of 341B's families and what they're like. I'm just really curious and love learning about the worldbuilding of the storybot world and seeing glimpses of 341B's lives outside of work. I love seeing stuff like that in stories.

But yeah, let me know what you guys think or want to add to this theory/headcanon! I don't personally think this is something hard to get behind, I mean, just his name alone gives off some sort of impression that he's not just some average joe off the street.

[angelanimedesaray]

🍄🍓🎲

AAAH!!! HELLO!!! I always see you in my feed, I wasn't expecting you in my inbox, but I'm happy to see you here XD

Sooo, the questions. Yes. I am so sorry these are so long, I can't be short and sweet and to the point for anything, I swear, it's always just word vomit and -- I'm rambling again, let's get to it hahaha XD

🍄 A Headcanon for one of my favorite ships/Pairings. Sooooo I don't have a favorite ship/pairing, not really, for the AOT fandom, I'm just kind of vibing over here with most of them XD I'll enjoy Erwin/Levi Content one second, scroll two more posts down and oogle over a Hange/Levi, and then gasp and jealously drink in an OC/Levi art the next second while scribbling down the artist for future reference for the day I can finally afford to request some Levi and my OCs art (I have an OC in mind for every Levi x Reader Fic I've written that I imagine while I write). So it's more like a Levi x Anyone kind of headcanon:

I have always been a sucker for the thought that when Levi get's really comfortable with whoever he's with, and he's letting his guard down more and is cuddling regularly with his SO, that this is a common and favorite position:

Just, the hand running gently through his hair at the nape of his neck, arms wrapped tightly around one another, head pillowed on n their chest, it looks so comfy and warm and comforting for him and uuugggghhhhh I'm a sucker for it, it's my comfort soft thought/headcanon and I love it.

🍓 How did I get into fanfic. Soooo I was already known IRL for loving writing, mostly poetry at the time, and being a huuuuge star wars fan (I was usually the one people went to if they had a character or event question cause I KNEW MY STUFF). And a friend of mine came up to me one day at summer camp and asked for some help with a star wars fanfic she was writing since i knew character and canon/EU stuff so well, and she explained WHAT fanfic was to me, and after talking for a while we wrote it together, though we kind of parted due to creative differences/complete opposite styles, but I'd created a fanficnet profile putting the original character names from the story together with plans to post the fanfic we were writing, and I decided to just keep it and start writing my own stories, and that's how I started writing fanfic--and also how I got the penname AngelDesaray, two OCs that didn't really see the light of day. Well, Desaray got revamped into Zelina for my Star Wars fanfiction baby I still work on slowly to this day, but that's besides the point, heh.

🎲What stops me from writing more in my free time? I usually get in my own way a lot. My attention span has been really shot since college, it's hard for me to focus on one thing for a long time--it's part of why I started having multiple things going on at once, it helps me to focus if I have a video running or music playing, and three or four word documents and a social media website I can easily jump away from again open, because then there's enough going on that I oddly enough can focus (I used to get teased all the time by my parents for having my laptop open on my lap, texting someone on my phone, playing a NintendoDS Game, and watching a show all at once). Another issue is that I think I haven't 100% bounced back from my college burnout, but I really really miss my writing and stories, which puts me in this weird catch 22 where I'm just mentally tired and don't want to do anything, but i've been daydreaming of my story for literal hours and really want to get something on paper. Also sometimes I'm cursed with wanting to write plot heavy stuff but I'm in the middle of relationship building, or wanting to write action but I'm doing dialogue heavy chapters, or wanting to write relationship steamy stuff but there's a lot of plot stuff going on--etc etc. Its usually me and my attention span getting in the way, pretty much. Doesn't mean i don't want to really really bad or that I'm not thinking about it 24/7, cause I usually am, it's just hard for me to FOCUS these days once I have the white sheet in front of me.

Ask Game Here

[cdragons]

Druig x Hecate!Eternal Reader (AKA Kaetlyn) Headcanons Part 1

Note: Hecate!Eternal’s name is Kaetlyn (it’s still a Reader x Druig au, but it’s just easier for me to give her a name). Her powers are that of manipulating shadows and darkness. For the sake of easier writing, Kaetlyn is ENFP and Druig is INTJ. The MBTIs of the characters don’t really matter that much, but they do help me out when figuring out scenes and writing headcanons. Also, these headcanons are really Part 1 of many.

Also, because these are Druig x Reader headcanons, the reader will be referred as “You”.

In the simplest of terms, your two’s ship dynamic is very… cool & stoic on the outside, but soft on the inside (Druig) x Chaotic Dumbass Sunshine who hides their crippling anxiety (You)

You are clingy…like VERYYYYY clingy

But Druig LIVES for the fact that you love his attention so much, and genuinely thinks that you are the most adorable creature in the whole f*cking universe

Druig is constantly pissed off at everyone on the team except the following: You, Makkari, Sephia, and Thena (he drinks his respect women juice every damn day without fail)

Phastos and Gilgamesh are cool, but Gilgamesh is low-key kind of hyper for him (so are you, but at least you have the excuse of being the light of his life); also, he mostly just teases Phastos for his inventions

He also gets along with Sersi, but he low-key thinks she’s too much of a follower with how well she gets along with Ikaris and reveres Ajak

He assumed the same of you when you all first arrived on Earth, given how you and Kingo were pretty close to one another (very chaotic sibling-like antics)

But then he saw you throw a sandal at Ikaris’ face when he commented that you were too “menacing” to wear any of the human clothing gifted to you from the village women for all the childbirths you aided (leaving a VERY red imprint that resulted in a broken nose with how hard you threw it)

And then you basically converted your room at the Domo into a secret laboratory to sneak in all the Deviants you killed to study their anatomy & physiology, and just slept in Sephia’s room – all without Ajak’s permission!

You got in a HUGE amount of trouble, but you were stubborn in your belief that the deviants had to have shared some common anatomical features to target; and by studying them, this information would make killing them so much easier

It pissed Ikaris so much when Ajak ended up approving of your research (lol, what a loser), and it made you sooooo happy

To say he was intrigued – and little turned on – from that point on was a severe understatement

You, on the other hand, were fond of Druig pretty much from the beginning you laid eyes on him

Despite your stubbornness and hyperactive attitude, you were extremely observant and intuitive of those around you (you had to be, you were literally a shadow assassin), so when your gut told you that there was more than meets the eye when it came to someone – you listened

And you were not disappointed when it came to Druig

You adored how he wasn’t super showy in his kindness and affection towards humans, and you could see in the huge amount of love he had for them in his eyes

You would always try to make conversation with him, and try to get to know him so that you two could at least be friends

So, when HE was the first to approach you for conversation, you were over the moon – and it didn’t help how hypnotic you found his blue eyes to be, along with how soft his voice would get in teasing you, not to mention how soft his lips looked whenever he talked!

Makkari and Sephia both knew about your crush, and they (mostly Makkari) loved to tease you over it (but they were your #1 shippers); so did Kingo, but he thought something was wrong with you (your shadow slapped his head for that)

Druig was skeptical at first, and rebuffed your multiple attempts to befriend him – until Makkari literally smacked his head at learning this, and told him how nice you were and you honestly admired him

He decided to make amends to you by approaching you first for once – only to be sucker punched in the gut at your earnest warmth and affection towards him, and all those guarded walls came crashing down

He was NOT prepared to experience so much wholesomeness in someone who was LITERALLY the master of shadows and darkness, and he was even LESS prepared to discover how introspective you actually were compared to how you present yourself to others

He starts noticing things about you that just make him feel so warm and fuzzy, and it’s freaking him out; like how you will always have your arms open for those who civilization called “monsters” and “cursed”; always treating their wounds, making them laugh with your shadows, hiding them from real monsters (their abusers), etc.

When he asked you why you preferred their company, you explained to him that you knew what it was like to be judged by everyone around you – even going into detail of how insecure you were of your powers because some people (Ikaris & Sprite) liked to call you a monster

You then went on to tell him that you always seemed so happy and bubbly as a way for others not to see you as an enemy – and that you were so grateful for friends like Sephia and Makkari because they didn’t use your powers as an excuse to avoid you, and openly accepted you as a friend

You also go into detail that you didn’t like to use your powers that much, because you didn’t want to be seen as someone who takes pleasure in controlling others; that’s why you wanted to learn how to make medicine, so that you would be seen as helpful and not like a monster

Druig was blown away by how similar the two of you actually were to one another – he used his aloofness as a way to rebuff the others’ assumptions, while you used a mask of sunshine and happiness to avoid being excluded, but the two of you both understood the fear of rejection

And when he learned that you intended to use your skills in studying anatomy & physiology to hopefully study humans to help them (especially the women who go through childbirth and diseases) develop medicines and healing practices with Sephia (who you convinced to develop medicinal herbs and fruits)

You fell first, but he fell FAR HARDER

But you two wouldn’t get together for a couple of centuries because the two of you are convinced that the other is too good for someone like them, and so the mutual pining would continue for AGES (driving Makkari absolutely INSANE because her OTP is not getting together, like whyyyyyyy?????)

Makkari and Sersi totally have ranting sessions about how their dumbass friends aren’t getting together like they want them to

Also, your room is both a secret zoo and a mad surgeon’s laboratory

When it comes to animals (especially magical and strange ones), you have ZERO self-control, and Druig only encourages it

You found a newborn Doberman puppy with a little white spot on his belly so you named him Cerberus (Cerby for short), and when you were learning magic under Agamotto, your magic went a tiny bit haywire so then the baby pup got three heads instead of one

He typically only is shown with one head, but when he gets REALLY MAD, he will grow HUGE and with the 3 heads

Cerby’s favorites (after you) are the following: Druig, Sephia, Makkari, Thena, and Gilgamesh (bc Cerby will always be baby to them); but he gets along with everyone

Except Ikaris because he doesn’t like how the blue man is mean to his magic shadow mommy

Druig questions everything, and you want to know EVERYTHING…so naturally you are perfect for one another and NO ONE is surprised when the two of you finally get together

As always, please remain respectful and kind! If you liked these headcanons, please like/comment/reblog for more!

Taglist: @valeskafics, @its-actually-minicika, @spacetalbot, @siempre-bucky, @ethereal-athalia, and anyone else who think they might enjoy this!

[boizandgurlzinthehouse]

pls i really NEED a hyunju fic (from bloodhounds) idk about what maybe trope like “enemies to lovers” or something like this 😭😭 i want a y/n who self-confident, strong, aggressive, but caring and sometimes kind (only with hyunju lmao) 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

𝐒𝐇𝐄'𝐒 𝐌𝐘 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃, 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐀 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 𝐁𝐀𝐃 𝐁*𝐓𝐂𝐇

hyeon-ju x fem!reader

summary: love trope with hyeon-ju, trough thick and thin (yes, it will contain the REALLY sad sad parts too)

a/n: i wrote this headcanon based on this song. i know hyeon-ju and you are not just best friends, but i totally thought about this song while looking at this req

i'd imagine that the two of you meet by accident –and by nature of the two of you, let's say, that your relationship begins with a fight. not that big fight, just a small one, when you snap at the other by clashing on the street by accident. "hey, look where you going!" hyeon-ju yelled, making you turn. what did this gyal said? "watch out for yourself too!" you snap back, making you roll your eyes, then walking towards on the street, tapping on your phone to your friend. i think the next time you two would meet when you are attacked by some creep on an empty street after coming out from a party alone, hyeon-ju noticing you while sitting on her motorbike, stalking yang jae-myeong, and although neither of you were friendly with the other, and she got more important things to do, she remembered you. and how could she let some assholes harass an innocent girl? okay, not so innocent, but still.

after getting you safe, the two of you walk along the street. "thanks for today. and sorry for being a real bitch when we clashed." you say, making hyeon-ju look at you. "you remembered me?" she asks, you nod. "of course. want to grab something to drink or eat?"

wiping the blood from her nose, she doesn't want to admit it even to herself, but you made her blush. but that's a secret, and she won't gonna tell you ever, not even when the two of you are dating.

long ride bikes at the dead of the night –either of you had bad dreams or confusing thought on your mind, one of you text the other something like "wanna ride?", in the most non-sexual way neither of you'd mind if it became real when the two of you aren't dating yet). you are the only one who she lets riding her bike, behind her. she likes the feeling when you hug her from behind, and when she sees in the rear-view mirror as the air catches your hair, she thinks that her life could be no more perfect.

not to mention that you always ride to one place, your common place. beside the highway to another city in south korea, on a higher hill. that was the place were you first kissed her.

speaking about kisses and more, hyeon-ju is naturally shy and the kind who keeps to herself, that's why you need to be the one to initiative one. she's secretly amazed when you do something to her, and she's really, really trying to be better at pda.

the two of you are the same protective to each other. when gun-woo and woo-jin began to work with/(for?) her, you are really suspicious about them. when she's away and you're the one who's in the bookstore and they come, you call hyeon-ju (i bet your name is the only one that's normally written in her phone, maybe with a cute emoji beside it), and when she picks up, you say "those weirdos are here again". sitting with them, woo-jin tries to talk to you. "so... you and hyeon-ju... are best friends? like really, really good friends?" "we are dating, if that's what you wanna say." you answer simply, making gun-woo and woo-jin look at each other. "yeah... that's what i actually meant." he answered.

you always want to help hyeon-ju on her missions, despite you're getting easily angry and snap, and having no knowledge about fight or defending yourself at all. patching up her scars after bringing the money from the bookstore, you look at her worried, but saying nothing. when the two of you lay down (you are always the little spoon, and that's a fact), she breathes into your neck, and you grip her hands as she hugs you. "please be careful next time. or don't do this again. i am so scared anytime you are away." you whisper into the dead of the room, making her kiss you hair. "i'll be careful, don't you ever worry." and although you know that she can get in danger the most easily way, you are a little relieved that she thinks about you when being on a mission.

sir choi loves you. that's it, if he sees that his nephew is happy with someone, even if it's a girl, then so be it. on the last night, the two of you stay awake for the longest. as you come back from smoking with doo-young, you began to collect the glasses and empty bottles, but sir choi signed you to stop it and sit down. "hyeon-ju is the happiest beside you. ever since she met you, she seems much more lively and lovely. sure, because i am an old, traditional man, i had dobuts about your relationship, but if it's you who she's happy with, then so be it. you are a good girl, a good person, y/n, and i trust you with caring about hyeon-ju when i'm not gonna be here anymore. people can't buy happiness, and that was my biggest fear, that she'll never find a person who she's happy beside. i can only thank you for being beside her, and protecting her. she doesn't listen to me, but you... you really changed her for the better. and when all of this is over, i'm gonna buy a house the two of you want. to live your life together, to grow old together." as he said these, you began to cry, muttering "thank you" again. but not because you were glad for getting a house for free, but because of the love of your life's family accepting you.

after her grandfather's death, and the injury of woo-jin, as gun-woo gives blood, you sit with her in the hospital, hugging her and burying her face into your shoulder. "it's okay, it's gonna be okay." "how could this be okay?? nothing's gonna be ever alright, for damn's sake!" she yelled, her tears commingling with her sweat. "i know it seems bad now... i'm so sorry, ju..." you whisper, trying not to cry. you never seen her so sad, and that scares you. sadness can do horrible things with people, but you gonna be beside her, at any rate.

when you go to the bathroom and come back, you see her nowhere. searching and asking after her, when you go out in front of the hospital, you see her motorbike drifting away. running after her to the end of the parking lot, you shout her name, but she doesn't stop. grabbing your phone, you try to call her, but when you tap on the screen, you see a message from her. only two sentences. i love you, y/n. i'm sorry. standing in the parking lot, alone, with only your phone in your hand, you don't understand. she doesn't want you in her lowest point? or what? why did she do that? and why didn't she tell you about this? what is she going to do? go away? fly away? move away? is she going to ever come back? when? you could cry, but the confusion is bigger in the moment. you just don't understand. and by her short messages, you probably never gonna get an answer.

however, after two years, when all of the kim yeong-gil business is done, you sit with gun-woo at the end of the kindergarten. "do you still miss her?" he asks, and you nod. "never a day i spent with not thinking about her. i guess for now, that i'm gonna remember her forever." you answer, holding the golden array in your hand. this worth nothing without her. "i'm sorry." "me too." you say, leaning your head on his shoulder. then, behind the two of you, someone approximates you. it's her. somehow, you sense her closeness, and turn around. like a lightning struck you, you jumped up. you can't believe your eyes, you thought you see a mirage.

getting close to her, you don't know what to do, but then she kisses you, not caring about gun-woo or anybody else. with all the leaving behind, all the sadness, all the atonement and all the love. you gasp when the two of you break away, holding her cheeks in your hand. "you came back." you whisper, with tears in your eyes. she nods, kissing your hand. "i came back to build a live with the person who i love the most. i'm sorry for staying away from you, and i know that i can't make up for the last two years, but... can you forgive me?"

how could you not?

hope you liked it girlie

(ask for requests in comments or here!!)

[infestedguest]

I like ABBA as much as the next guy, but I kind of hate how in the Stranger Things fandom it’s become the go-to example of era-appropriate preppy pop music . They were huge in the 70s yeah, but their last major hit One Of Us came out in 1981 (a full two years before season one), and they became seen as incredibly uncool for the rest of the decade. According to an interview with The Guardian in 2021, they were so disliked by 1982 that Björn Ulvaeus thought they’d never get the group back together. It wouldnt be that weird to headcanon one of the older characters liking them, but headcanoning the younger ones enjoying them unironically and without shame, especially the ones characterized as being "hip" or up to date with whats cool (which is why it`s so odd that Steve of all characters is the one most often subjected to this phenomena).

I have literally never seen anyone in this fandom mention The Go-Gos. Ever. That is an actual crime. You are all going to jail. The closest I’ve heard y’all get is mentions of Belinda Carlisle’s Heaven Is A Place On Earth, which came out in 1987, a year off from season 4 and definitely way too late for the first three seasons. The Go-Gos were literally the most popular all female rock band of all time. Head Over Heels is the U.S. national anthem and anyone who says otherwise is a liar. That second part was a joke but the first one is true. Personally I’d headcanon Steve and El in particular liking them. Steve because I’m pretty sure the only artist we see him listening to in canon is Pat Benatar, so him liking another, albeit much peppier, female lead rock act doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch. El because she deserves to have fun. If you want some song recommendations, my favorites from them are Head Over Heels, Turn To You, and Can’t Stop The World. Especially Turn To You, that song goes so goddamn hard.

Another band that I like and was popular at the time that I never see any mention of in this fandom is The Cars. I will admit though that that may be partially because the name “The Cars” is really hard to search for since both words in it are incredibly common. I also headcanon Steve liking them, he just seems like a The Cars kinda guy. Maybe Max as well (though I was a bit more confident in this headcanon before season 4). My song recommendations for them are Just What I Needed, Bye Bye Love, Let’s Go, and It’s All I Can Do (just note that these particular songs are actually from 1978-79, just because I happen to prefer their earlier work. It would probably still be considered pretty relevant, since there`s a world of difference between older songs by a band that is currently popular and older songs by a band that currently publicly disliked, but I thought I should address it anyway, since a lot of my argument hinges on relevancy. A couple songs that are more apropos are Drive and You Might Think, which are both from 1984).

I like a lot of other songs an artists from this time period and general genre, but these were the two that I thought were the most egregiously overlooked in the very, very specific context of the Stranger Things fandom, as well as being two of my favorites.

Sorry if this post came off as aggressive, you can headcanon literally anything you want (that’s kind of the point of headcanons lol), even in the face of historical inaccuracy, it’s just the ubiquity of that misconception in this fandom that bothers me a little, especially since it typically means overlooking other period and genre appropriate bands, especially ones I happen to like. Again, there’s nothing at all wrong with ABBA, or headcanoning ST characters liking ABBA. I especially liked WriterRose‘s (@wannabe-cartoonist on here I think) depiction of Steve liking ABBA in “Bah humbug” where the kids find one of their records in the player at his house and he tries to convince them it’s his mom’s. The music references in that entire fic series are great actually, you should go read it if you haven’t.

[anghraine]

Darcy & Wickham backstory headcanon (2/?)

PART TWO, in which Lady Anne also meant well, sort of

Summation of Part One: As Wickham alleges in P&P and Darcy possibly implies, the late Mr Darcy (who I refer to as “Mr Darcy” for convenience while his son is just “Darcy”) did prefer child Wickham to child Darcy, but I headcanon that he also felt bad about it and over-compensated by indulging Darcy too much. At this point, Wickham and Darcy are around eight years old; still very young, still pretty nice, but old enough for Wickham to see that Darcy gets special treatment as the heir and for Darcy to realize that Wickham is the actual favorite. Meanwhile, there’s another figure who plays a major part in all this: Darcy’s mother, Lady Anne.

So what was Lady Anne up to?

Well, probably political shenanigans like a good Fitzwilliam, along with having multiple pregnancies that at this point all ended in miscarriages. But that doesn’t mean she had no time for her living son or didn’t eventually notice what was going on.

Backing up: I used to read a lot of P&P fic, and Lady Anne was typically characterized as this ideal (dead) maternal figure—sweet, affectionate, charming, lively, lovely, a perfect mother and a perfect lady who married beneath her station for love (of course!) and was nothing like her awful sister or even her own flawed son, and had nothing to do with the plan for Darcy to marry her niece.

Even as a teenager, I couldn’t ever really buy this.

For one, said awful sister also married a rich commoner from a very old family, and I don’t think anyone has ever assumed Lady Catherine married for love because of it. Both sisters marrying into the same sorts of rich, influential, very old, but commoner families does not lead me to assume that either sister was swept off her feet, but rather, that these kinds of marriages served the Fitzwilliams’ interests at the time.

Additionally, from the moment of his birth, Darcy is the nephew Lady Catherine wanted for Anne (who, as the well-born sole heiress of a large estate, is potentially extremely valuable in marriage). This also suggests to me that the benefits of the Darcy-Fitzwilliam alliance were not all going to the Darcys, and that Lady Catherine and Lady Anne thought they’d done quite well for themselves and wanted to reinforce the alliances they had made. One of Lady Catherine’s main objections to Elizabeth, in fact, is that she is unallied to them.

So the Lady Anne fanon has never worked for me. But what do we actually know about her from P&P?

Not a lot. As I said in the previous post, Wickham mentions her name and her relationship to Darcy and Lady Catherine, but not much else beyond saying Darcy is expected to marry Miss de Bourgh. Mrs Gardiner has been to Pemberley before and shares reminiscences with Wickham about it and about old Mr Darcy’s spectacular reputation, but neither says anything about Lady Anne.

Lady Catherine is the only person who seems that invested in her; she mentions her several times. Her announcement that men never care about their daughters may suggest that she and Lady Anne felt that their father, the old earl, didn’t care much about either of them. She named her only child for Lady Anne (though it would be more usual and seem more characteristic for her to name the child after herself). She claims that she and Lady Anne planned the union of their husbands’ estates through the marriage of their children when Darcy and Anne were babies, right after Darcy’s birth (Elizabeth, at least, doesn’t appear to doubt that this actually happened, she just doesn’t think it’s binding).

Mrs Reynolds refers to Mr Darcy a few times, but never mentions Lady Anne.

Darcy himself talks about his parents’ mistakes while insisting that they were both good people, and his father in particular was very amiable and benevolent, with the implication that his mother was less so. Darcy says he was allowed and encouraged (“almost taught”) to be selfish and overbearing and to think himself better than others, and associates this with his parents spoiling him, but phrases it in such a careful way that he never refers to his mother individually or blames her specifically for anything.

This allows for a number of possible interpretations, but this is mine:

Lady Anne was a better and probably more intelligent person than Lady Catherine, but they were not anywhere near so different as fandom likes to treat them. Both were very proud of their family and committed to its interests. At the same time, their father was largely disinterested in them except as vehicles for alliances with other families of similar politics and consequence, and the sisters at once resented and internalized this. They didn’t feel like anyone else, except maybe their brother to a limited extent, actually cared about their welfare, certainly not as much as they cared about each other and themselves.

Given how little of an impression Lady Anne seems to have left, even a negative one that would have served Wickham’s interests to mention, I suspect she was less forceful and obnoxious than Lady Catherine, and her pride looked more like aloofness than micro-management. Partly this came from actually being a better person, but I imagine part of it is just that she was quieter and more reserved than either her sister or her husband. But she was haughty and she was 100% onboard with arranged marriages for financial and political advantage, like the ones she and her sister had made.

Additionally, one of the difficulties with Darcy’s description of his parents is that his father was so incredibly pleasant and so beloved by everyone, and to go by his approach to raising Wickham with his own child and possibly even preferring him to his own child, doesn’t seem to have been snobbish at all. Would he really have encouraged his son to be?

Even when Darcy is trying to explain how his parents messed him up, he stops to clarify that his father was actually really, really nice and benevolent and then just doesn’t say anything about his mother. Hmm.

The kind of obvious way to read this is to conclude that the real blame should go to his mother, not his father, and that the only reason he doesn’t say so outright is filial respect.

That’s possible, but given Mr Darcy’s heavy involvement with Darcy’s and Wickham’s educations and where that led, and Darcy’s assertion that both his parents were good people, even if his father was better, I think a more complex reading is possible. There is enough blame to go around!

So my take is not that Lady Anne was uncomplicatedly awful and Darcy doesn’t actually feel affection for her. Rather, I think that by the end of P&P, Darcy is pretty ambivalent about Lady Anne’s personality and choices—ambivalent, not purely negative. This is partly because he’s so critical of himself and his previous conduct by then, and for all of his pride in his father, he has been very much Lady Anne’s son through most of P&P. He knows he’s been acting like her and that she encouraged him to do so. But she was still essentially a good person. And she was his mother—his mother, who “died untimely” in Tolkien’s phrase, who he loved.

Lady Catherine makes this easier, I suspect, because a) she’s worse, b) she’s alive, c) she’s not his mother, but d) she’s the nearest thing to one he’s got and she was genuinely very closely associated with his mother. So he can be angry at Lady Catherine where he’s not allowed and won’t allow himself to be angry at Lady Anne. He can work through it and under Elizabeth’s influence, ultimately back down and reach out to her in a way he will never be able to do with Lady Anne.

So: this has been an incredibly long tangent, but we are getting back to the main “plot.” Darcy and Wickham are now about eight years old. Wickham knows that Darcy is getting special treatment and indulgence as the heir. Darcy knows that his father prefers Wickham to Darcy himself, his only child. But they’re also friends and close companions, and the wedge between them is still fairly slight.

Meanwhile, Lady Anne—proud, snobbish, aloof, disregarded by her father, married off for a convenient alliance, going through miscarriage after miscarriage as she tries to give her husband heirs, managing to deliver one miracle baby, and a son, at that, a son who is kind and good and beautiful and clever, now sees her husband pretty openly favoring the child of a servant over his own son. Her son.

We don’t have any idea what she originally thought of Wickham’s place in the household. She doesn’t seem to have been openly antagonistic in a way that Wickham is carrying grudges about, and he’s a champion grudge-holder, so if she did have objections to Mr Darcy raising Wickham in the first place, she probably voiced them when he was too young to remember or she was very discreet. But at this point, Mr Darcy’s preference has become evident even to Darcy and Lady Anne, who are not super observant about this kind of thing

I imagine Darcy is troubled in a quiet, internalize-internalize-internalize way. Lady Anne, though, is livid. Still, she prides herself on her dignity, elegance, and sense. She isn’t going to quarrel pointlessly with her husband about his little charity case. She’s cool and distant towards the Wickhams, but not hostile; her real priority is her son.

At some point, I imagine Darcy betrays some small envy of Wickham or some sense of injury that tells her this is affecting him. And that is not acceptable to her. Maybe she frames it in a scolding way, maybe in a reassuring way, maybe both or neither, but what she ends up telling him in different ways, over and over, is that he does not need to be jealous of Wickham. They can play together, but they’re different. Darcy is Mr Darcy’s only child, the heir to Pemberley, the last of a great and ancient family, the grandson of an earl, and great-nephew of a judge. Nothing can change those things and they can never be taken from him. Wickham is nobody.

Darcy is already conscious of his position as heir and has been over-indulged by his father, if for complicated reasons. So the groundwork has been (unintentionally) laid. Though he’s still pretty sweet, he is receptive to the idea that he’s better than other people and special, and especially that he is better and more special than Wickham. At heart, though, what he really wants is to believe that he’s better because of who he is as a person—and in particular, because of his intelligence and individual worth.

After all, Wickham gets into trouble more than Darcy. He doesn’t think before he acts. He snaps at the servants when he’s annoyed. He’s careless. He’s not that good at lessons. Darcy likes him, they’re friends, but he doesn’t understand. So what his mother tells him is not exactly what he wants to hear—that he’s a more worthwhile person because of his actual qualities and that his father understands this—but it’s something. It’s nice. He really is special and important and better, even if there’s something not quite satisfying about the reasons for it.

Darcy says in P&P that he had become proud and overbearing etc etc by age eight, which is why I used that as the rough time of this development. He probably pinpoints that age because of the parallelism with his current age of 28, and isn’t thinking of a specific event, but it does seem about right when we consider the sweetness of four-year-old Darcy according to Mrs Reynolds.

That said, I don’t think his and Mrs Reynolds’s accounts of himself as a child are actually compatible, but for the simple reason that both are exaggerating (Mrs Reynolds out of affection, Darcy out of shame, much as Elizabeth overstates the severity of her wrongdoing after reading his letter). I think he was actually a very nice child in general, but that he had started to internalize a certain amount of elitism and classism that would mostly come to the forefront later, and that even when part of him was not entirely sure, he wanted to believe in his superiority so much that he bought in to a lot of it despite finding it ultimately dissatisfying.

The question of what he actually believed vs what he wanted to believe is interesting. He says in P&P that he was encouraged

to think meanly of all the rest of the world [than his family circle]; to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own

As a sidenote, he also says that when he gave Wickham money to study the law, that he “rather wished than believed him to be sincere.” I think he’s someone who is very intelligent and as Elizabeth eventually concludes, has good basic judgment, but he’s also someone who is not always self-aware enough to realize when he’s acting on what he wants to believe and when he’s acting on proper judgment.

My interpretation is that this disparity between what he wants to think and what he truly believes is what leads him to befriend Bingley, the son of a tradesman, and even hope Bingley will marry Georgiana, who could aim much higher by classist logic, but not much safer. Also, Darcy is deeply irritated by flattery based on his social position, but values respect for his actual abilities and morals, which Elizabeth claims was a sign of his underlying good character. He falls in love with Elizabeth, a minor country squire’s daughter whose only connections are also to people in trade, he worries about “family obstacles” to their marriage, but proposes (badly) anyway. At the same time, he hangs onto a bunch of very classist and elitist assumptions about the value of people and his obligations towards them when not explicitly defined.

That is, he understands it’s important to be kind and considerate towards his servants, towards the people who rent his land, towards the Derbyshire shopkeepers Wickham racks up debts with, towards actual poor people, towards Georgiana and their family and friends, but everyone else? They’re just a bunch of annoying, stupid, tacky randos who don’t understand him, anyway. He’s usually civil towards them in the strictest sense—his typical demeanor is well-bred but “not inviting”—but no more, and he doesn’t care that much about their feelings.

So even at eight, even as a generally sweet kid who likes his friend Wickham, all this stuff is going on in his head, and it’s ... messy.

But we’re not done, because there is yet another wrinkle in this dynamic. More on that next time!

[squalodinoappreciationsquad]

Headcanons: Dino Cavallone’s entire family tree - Pt. 4

And this time we are going on with the generations, hopefully you will enjoy the process as much as I do!

UNDER CUT, proceeding from here: CLICKETY CLICK!

The very short life of Cavallone Quinto and the sixth generation

We left the fourth generation with two very competent and clever leaders, who made once again the family's fortune in spite of the whole difficult political and economical situation Italy was going through, but that would be a very short happy period.

As mentioned, Duke Giorgio Cavallone lavender married Giulia Ferrari. He was never interested in either women or kids, so he ended up childless.

On the other hand Duke Renato Cavallone married Anita Reggiani and made the decision of having only one child. Which definitely was a choice considering the time, and he had a boy named Stefano.

And whilst Renato's father had been much more interested in lovers than kids, REnato, on the other hand, became what we would call in modern times a helicopter parent. Always shielding Stefano, always saving him from something, whilst also promising him he would be the boss and having him trained by the best teachers.

This resulted in a very spoiled brat - a very competent one if someone convinced him in taking a task, but very spoiled and lazy and all "I can do what I want, my father will sort this for me"...

... As you all guessed, this created a very huge mess.

Duke Giorgio Cavallone eventually died - he got a bad case of Spanish fever, which ended his life quite abruptly. His wife, now widow, retired in the countryside with her part of inheritance and never put foot again near the Cavallone mansion.

Duke Renato Cavallone died too quite abruptly - chronicles say that he was killed after a treaty gone wrong. His wife now widow hoped that young Stefano would be up to the task now that his father was dead, but whilst deep down he was a clever boy, he had been used to not stand up for himself - his mother tried to undo the damage by forcing him into sticky situations where he had to find a way by himself.

After all no one had showed signs of legitimacy at all and everyone3 was anxiously looking at Stefano to become the Duke.

And he did, for a total of three years.

He did step up at the beginning following the kidnapping of his mother by the Anarchists, he did show signs of legitimacy, but after that he kind of sat comfortably on the boss chair, until his own men rioted and killed him.

This of course left another void.

Duke Stefano Cavallone was the only one, HOWEVER. Do you remember when I said the Cavallone was integrating bastard children inside their ranks, right?

And the fourth generation had been particularly full of bastard children.

Among them the most relevant ones were to be Mariano Cavallone's twin daughters, Perla and Gemma.

Mariano had been Duke Amedeo's third child out of wedlock and by this point in time he had been the one sponsoring art salons and exhibitions and he himself had now settled in the quiet life of a countryside painter, which was fine for him, because he was quite the introverted man. He had eventually married a gentle lady called Lidia Montanari and together they had had two beautiful daughters, who were very gentle, but also very firm in their decisions.

And something weird happened.

It was during a fair - Mariano's family had settled in the countryside, so they were mostly not aware of what the main family was doing, but at that fair it happened that a young man who had been rejected by Perla decided to do the very common thing of kidnapping the girl, force himself onto her, pay the defensa tax* when caught and marry her anyway, however Perla, as the local newspapers reported, screamed at the top of her lungs, then was suddenly engulfed in flames which burned off the man's hand that was holding her and right after this Perla's sister, Gemma, came in with a wet towel and started beating this man, also whilst engulfed in flames.

When everything ended of course the man was arrested and brought to justice, but Mariano wanted to check on her daughters because, you know, they just beat someone and more importantly they had showed signs of legitimacy...

... And it was weird. After that moment Perla would never be able to manifest any flame, but her left arm was marked with the flame tattoo. Gemma, on the other hand, whilst she had no marks or tattoos, produced the flame and all its power without breaking a sweat.

This was brought to the attention of the main family, who now lay in total shambles - cue the Cavallone army running through the mansion, Anita Reggiani's head on a pike, etc.

Everyone stopped.

A month later Mariano Cavallone, his wife Lidia Montanari and their two daughters Perla and Gemma were introduced to the main Cavallone mansion.

What was left of the family recognized the young Gemma and Perla as their new Duchesses. THe family had had enough of incompetency, spoiled brats and blood spilled, so they had no qualms in recognizing the two girls as Duchesses.

Mariano and his wife settled in a quiet area and Mariano kept being a painter.

Perla and Gemma took in all of the training that was to be imparted on them. After Perla's assault, the two sisters swore to each other that they would never be so weak and that they would never be at the mercy of any man. Also, should the time come when the two would fall in love, they would be making sure that their husbands would be respecting them.

And overall the two sisters always worked together, always looking after each other and their parents.

About the Duchesses.

Duchess Perla Cavallone was the most poised of the two, the one who would always think twice before deciding. She had a predilection for pastel colours and would be seen writing poems in her spare time.

Duchess Gemma Cavallone was a little bit more coquettish, but a very sharp observer. She had a predilection for bright colors and ducks and she would take interest in embroidering in her spare time.

Of the two Duchesses only Gemma ended up getting married - it was said that probably Perla never recovered from the assault she suffered in her youth, but she became a wonderful and doting aunt to Gemma and her husband's four children.

Gemma married a gentleman called Raffaele Pasini, who agreed on taking the Cavallone surname.

They had four children: Emanuele, Francesco, Marino e Norma.

Of these three the one inheriting both flames and tattoo and will would be Francesco, aka Dino's great-grandfather.

We are now roughly at the beginning of 1900 aqnd World War I is looming in the corner.

--------

*The Defensa Tax was a despicable tax indicted by King Frederick II to "thank" the nobles for supporting him against the Pope.

The tax boiled down to: if a noble man forced himself on a girl or woman and was caught in the act, all he needed to do was a. raise up his arms, b. lay 70 denari (i.e. the current equivalent of like 1 € or 1 $ or 1 £) on the girl's body and c. shout "Viva l'imperatore grazie a dio!" (Hurrah for the Emperor thank god!). From that moment on whoever touched that noble was to be executed on the spot and in the worst cases the girl was forced to marry her rapist. Because girls and women were just seen as property.

Laws eventually dropped the Defensa tax, but we need to arrive to the 1960s with Franca Viola's case to see a rapist being punished. Wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franca_Viola

And we need to arribe to 1975 before women can finally say fuck you to the patriarchy in Italy with the full approval of the divorce and 1978 when abortion was declared legal in Italy.

It is still a long way to go, women in Italy are still subjected to this kind of violence anyway, because old habits are hard to break. I don't have the capacity to make a full post about this here, on a fandom post, but I maybe will on my personal tumblr, once the trigger anxiety has gone :')

[krueger4eva]

Random Darkwing Duck Headcanon

First off, this headcanon is kind of a two-parter, so let me start with part one.

I do not think Drake and Morgana were a healthy couple on the original show.

Even though they love each other and have put their lives on the line for the other countless times, they also constantly argue over their interests and priorities.

While Morgana would get easily offended by Drake being creeped out by her macabre activities, he would usually be doubtful of her skills as a sorceress. I think it would be best for them if, after one too many fights, they decided to break up on good terms. It would be heavy on both of their hearts for a while, but it would be the right decision for them.

Now, onto part two.

There is another character on the show that I believe would be a better match for Drake.

And her name is…Talaya! You probably don’t remember her, do you?

Ok, recap.

In the episode, “Battle of the Brainteasers”, a group of hat-like aliens from the planet Fez invade Earth to conquer the planet.

Flarg

Barada

and Nikto

This species has the power to attach themselves to the head of a host to control their bodies, which they use to possess several of the main characters. Fortunately, their plans are thwarted by Honker Muddlefoot, who has become a hero on planet Fez and a mortal enemy to the diabolical trio.

This was followed by a sequel episode titled “The Revenge of the Return of the Brainteasers, Too”, where Flarg and his henchmen break out of prison to take revenge on Honker. Although, this time, they have a new member: Talaya. She is Flarg’s “Harley Quinn” to his “Joker” and the one who assists in their escape. Once again, they possess the heroes in order to frame Honker for crimes of destruction across the universe. Naturally, the Brainteasers’ plans were foiled, and they get arrested again.

This episode was the first and only appearance of Talaya in any Darkwing Duck media, including the comics. Now, I wish this character would show up again because I believe she and Drake could become good friends.

They both have a lot in common: they’re both egotistical, theatrical, and have a tendency of being unintentionally silly when trying to act intimidating.

For most of the episode, Talaya uses Drake, in his Darkwing Duck costume, as her host, and she adores the way he looks. She even loves his outfit, which she demonstrates by posing and waving his cape around in front of Flarg. Even Flarg thinks Darkwing Duck looks like a knockout! Plus, for someone who has been accused of having terrible fashion sense, this would be a huge boost for Drake’s ego. (Or it could be because some of the aliens on Fez see their hosts, no matter what gender or species they are, as a fashion accessory to show off).

Plus, it would be hilarious to see Talaya explain this memory to Drake about the day they first met!...

Thus, brings me to another point on Talaya’s redemption. She needs to acknowledge that she has done horrible things and hurt people, especially Honker. No one, including Drake, is going to justify her past actions for the sake of the narrative. In fact, Drake never tries to pressure any of his family or friends to immediately warm up to her just because they're friends now. Yet, for this to be a genuine atonement, Talaya’s choice to make amends must not rely solely on her relationship with Drake. Somewhere down the line, she needs to have a moment of self-reflection on the choices she made and what she might’ve done if no one had stopped her in time.

Understandably, Honker will not forgive Talaya so easily, but Talaya will accept that.

Most importantly, Talaya must fall in love with Drake Mallard first, not Darkwing Duck.

When Morgana and Drake first met, she first fell in love with him as his superhero alter ego, which sort of rubs me the wrong way.

For their relationship to have a healthy start, Talaya needs to be friends with Drake’s civilian side before eventually falling in love with him. Then, when she has truly gained his trust, Drake will reveal his secret identity to her.

Whether she and Drake become friends, lovers, or just allies, I would be fine if Talaya came back, redeemed and develops from a one-dimensional villain's mistress to something more.

[oh-cramity-its-amity]

Hello!!!

For the TOH ask game: 5, 8, 11, 16 ✨

(Here is the ask game for those who want to follow and ask!)

Omg thank you!!

5.) Favorite platonic relationship?

I think personally it comes down to three, but I'll choose Collector and King for now. I just feel like there's this sibling energy that makes me feel warm inside seeing them be around one another in the aftermath before timeskip. I know we don't see as much of Collector as we did of King through the show, but those two definitely have some kind of bond that just hits different for me. Lilith and Hooty are tied though for that. I love both of their dynamic (King & Collector and Lilith & Hooty's)

8.) Any headcanons? If so, which are your favorite?

Oh that's kinda tough because I do have a lot of thoughts but on the spot its hard to list. I'll give a few, perhaps off the top of my head.

Willow can heal Hunter with plant magic

I definitely think the curse in some way that affects Eda and Lilith is connected to The Titan. Harpy forms. Their eyes are like his, not saying that they ARE Titans but there's got to be some adjacent thing. Wtf is with those eyes.

Somehow like Amity's nickname "Mittens" Luz gets coined with the name "Gloves" because she has a habit of misplacing them when it's cold.

Darius's pailsman is his hair goop.

Amity is allergic to human realm cats.

Vee and Masha met at camp when Vee was "Luz" however while at camp Masha suffered with insomnia and would frequent sneak out. Vee however would also find herself in this situation and in that meet up, she'd be the form we see her as in s3 and not in the fake Luz. Her keeping that a secret in a sense that Masha only finds Vee at night when they sneak out, but they can never find her in the daytime because she's imitating Luz. Does that make sense? Idk. Masha knew Vee at camp, not just as Luz. They can't remember correctly because it was dark and sleep deprivation.

I also think there could be a version of a Caleb's diary at the historical society

11.) Any songs from the soundtrack that stick out to you?

The ending theme. Both the timeskip outro and the main ending theme. I have the ep end theme as my ringtone to my phone, but the finale's ending dude... That made me cry. All the feelings.

16.) Common theory that you disagree with?

I don't really have an answer for this. I've thought about this hard, but I think if anything it'd be the whole "TOH needs to be rebooted right now!!" or "Disney should do something with the IP"

I don't think so. I heavily disagree with everything having to do with Disney carrying the brand forward and pray that they don't. I think TOH ended fine, and as much as I'd love for a continuation or spin off-- I do not want it if Dana is not a part of the process. If she and the other lovely creators aren't apart of that process, then I literally do not care. It's Dana or nothing for me. TOH ended in a spot that was fine, and I wish it had a full season, but I don't want anything more from it if Dana isn't on the team. Including the fact that I still do have so many questions for the story. There IS a lot still to be done if she wants it, and I think if anything Disney should just give her the ip (damn laws!!) but if Dana isn't creating it then its meh. It's not TOH.

[kai-ninjago]

MORE HEADCANONS!!!

Part two to this post

Picrew by Naylissah

Age headcanon post

OKAY LETS GET STARTED also I DONT CARE that my oc is literally just me but cooler if anyone insults me over this I’ll cry

Day Torres (he/him, gay trans male)

(Picrew shows how he looks in the pilots and after that when he cuts his hair and grows up more)

5’3”

Mixed Latino/white

Has autism, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and PTSD (from ninja stuff)

Had top surgery a year before he was recruited to the team and starts testosterone a few months into season one

He’s best friends with all the ninja, but is BESTIE besties with Jay— they have a lot in common

He likes to borrow clothes from the rest of the team

His pet dragon from season one was named Briar

His elemental power is “life”, and his signature color is yellow

Power explanation: at minimum power (before he begins training) he can help grow and control plants that are already there, once he trains more and gets more powerful he can create plants and stuff from out of nowhere, once he’s reached his full potential he can do the same with animals, and at FULL full strength (like after Lloyd becomes the gold ninja and doesn’t need to feed off the rest of the team’s strength) with practice he can control living humans— he can also heal injuries

His hair gets darker as he ages, it’s not dyed

Was stealth until he got outed by a mean snake :( he was so scared his friends wouldn’t accept him, so realizing that he was still loved unconditionally was the push that helped him reach his full potential

(He also didn’t know that the rest of his team is queer too, which I’m sure would have made things less stressful)

A lot of his friends go to him for advice because he’s easy to talk to— for example, Day was the first person Jay told when she was questioning her gender

In between seasons three and four, he didn’t do much— he went home and lived with his family. He was very depressed after losing Zane— ai may have dumped him, but they were still good friends

Cole told Day he loved him when they were all trapped on the asteroid in season three, but didn’t pressure him for an answer. Day was too shocked and stressed out to think about it too much, and after that everything happened too fast and all the sudden he was back home and hadn’t spoken to Cole since Zane’s funeral

He thought about it a lot— Cole had always been a great friend, and he treated Day so kindly and with such attentive care (something Zane had admittedly been kind of bad at) but Day wasn’t really ready to be in a relationship so soon after Zane’s death.

Years later, after Zane came back (and later began a relationship with Pixal) and they had all worked as a team to save Ninjago yet again, and then had some time to relax a little… maybe then Day could consider it

Then he and Cole start dating a little bit before the start of season five, and stay together till the end <3

Okay in the original fanfic, Day only has one sibling but I decided I want him to be even more like me so instead he has three siblings now :P

He has a few tattoos, but I haven’t decided specifically what they’ll be

Lloyd Garmadon (they/them, unlabeled, nonbinary)

(I did three for Lloyd— one for when they’re a kid, one for once they’ve grown up because of the magic tea, and another one for the later seasons)

5’8” (eventually)

I’m keeping the idea that they’re not completely human (what they are I’m not sure, and neither is anyone else) but misako is human so Lloyd is at least half Japanese

Has body dysmorphic disorder from growing up nearly overnight (that gets slightly better with time), autism, and PTSD

Very tall and thin— they’re definitely strong, but not big

They bleach their hair, which is naturally dark brown— it usually has darker roots, but the picrew didn’t have that option lol

Has really dry skin and is always dehydrated

Feels a lot of gender dysphoria and always wears clothes way too big for them

Lloyd thinks all the bad things that happen are their fault

Cries really easily

They can’t even look in the mirror without feeling sick— all their scars remind them of fights they’ve lost

They hate being viewed as weak or a burden, so they always push themself too hard and end up burning out

They have a lot of nightmares and sleep way too little

Sometimes when they have a meltdown they go nonverbal and can’t speak for up to hours or days at a time

They’re not accepted by either of their parents for being nonbinary— they say that they’re “too young” to know what they’re talking about

Now they consider their teammates and Sensei wu to be closer family

Their best friends are Day, Nya, and Kai

“Runs away” a lot— sometimes they come back, sometimes they stay out until someone has to come find them.

It goes without saying that they don’t like Morro very much. They’re afraid of her.

When they were the golden ninja, they used to glow in the dark.

They get a lot of gender envy from Zane

Morro Wu (she/it, transfem demigirl, aroace)

(Picrews are morro when she was younger, and when she had died and was a ghost)

5’2”

Japanese

Has PTSD

It may have been in charge of the gang of ghosts in season five, but none of them respected her— they were transphobic :(

She managed to survive in the woods for a whole year before dying

Was 14 when she died, but now her consciousness is around 150 years old (yes that means Sensei wu is a few hundred years old)

She loves Day and really looks up to him, but Day doesn’t really like her that much— she almost killed Lloyd, after all

It’s best friend is Skylor— it has a job at Skylor’s restaurant, so they spend a lot of time there

She mostly avoids Lloyd, and feels really guilty for going so far as to legitimately almost kill them

Pixal Borg (no pronouns)

(This is Pixal when Pixal worked at Borg industries, and then a year or so after Pixal started living with Ronin)

5’2”

Pixal isn’t modeled after any human being; Pixal is just an android

Pixal, having been revived by Zane’s power source, also has a few “human” brain things like ai— Pixal has amnesia, sensory processing disorder, and depression

Pixal also uses arm crutches to get around because Pixal’s wiring is still a little damaged because Ronin accidentally messed up the wiring that helps Pixal balance (this is kind of similar to a human experiencing vertigo/dizziness after their eardrum gets damaged)

Pixal also has chronic pain that comes and goes from day to day, that sometimes makes it hard to walk (like nerve damage in the spine)

Despite being relatively petite, Pixal is very strong. This is because Pixal was built mostly to help Borg after his wife passed away; so Pixal would lift him into bed as well as carry heavy things like scraps of metal he used to build inventions

Pixal is the robot equivalent of afab (assigned female at… building?) but has never identified with that. Pixal only learns to accept this fact after Pixal joins Ronin and is given the freedom to dress however Pixal wants

(Oh yeah, in my canon instead of delivering Pixal to Chen, Ronin decides to rescue Pixal and let Pixal live with him in Stiix. They become a good team and Ronin teaches Pixal how to be a good criminal)

Pixal meets up with the ninja again in season five when they come to get the scroll of airjitzu from Ronin. Pixal decides not to go with them, but they keep in contact and visit often.

Pixal and Zane are in a queerplatonic relationship. They understand each other because they are both androids, and have a unique perspective.

Though Zane feels somewhat connected to ais identity living as a human, Pixal is completely nonhuman and does not experience gender or love in a way humans can comprehend

Pixal really hates the cold— it reminds Pixal of Zane, and for a good two years after ais death Pixal had a lot of grief that never really got dealt with

Skylor Chen (she/her, bisexual polyamorous trans woman)

Just one picrew because she isn’t around in the beginning of the series

6’0”

Blasian (specifically Chinese)

She has no power of her own, so her dad didn’t view her as “valuable” or “special” before she was useful in the tournament

After season four, she starts managing the chain restaurant business

Since she was only like 23 at the time, it quickly became overwhelming�� good thing she had some family to help!

She has two older half siblings who she hadn’t had contact with for most of her life, after they left home. They were able to get back in contact with her when she moved to ninjago city

She now works at the main location in ninjago city, and her older siblings manage most of the more difficult things

Her eyes are red as kind of a leftover effect of the serpentine transformation spell— she also has pointed teeth and a forked tongue, but those weren’t options in the picrew lol

She still has all the powers that she absorbed from the other elemental masters

Her hair isn’t dyed, she uses her Shapeshifting power to make it look red

During the tournament, she made friends with Tox and Chamille, and they still chat online

She and Kai dated for only a few months before breaking up lol

She is dating Chamille now

She currently also has a crush on Pixal, but as a droid, Pixal isn’t really interested in humans

She’s friends with Ronin, but really hates Dareth

Okay that’s all I have room for, but I think I’ll do another headcanon post with the other elemental masters, as well as Ronin.