#But I guess none of that is CANON text. It’s just also not NOT canon. It’s not an AU au because it like

[lionblaze03-2]

personally I don’t hate gray wing nearly as much as everyone else because he’s a great example of having rose colored glasses just because ‘well, he’s family’, and not realizing until far too late that that essentially ruined his life and made him amount to almost nothing. Because clear sky is his brother, he wants to assume the best of him. Surely, my brother would never. Surely he didn’t mean it like that. Surely he’ll do better next time. He’s my brother. He COULDN’T be a bad guy. So he keeps giving him chances, over and over and over again, until it’s completely destroyed him. Until he can no longer breathe, his lungs full of toxic smoke that clear sky abandoned him to breathe in, until he is under his claws, nearly killed under the moonlight, until his people are battered again and again, until borders become inevitable. But he never, ever realizes, because- it’s his brother. Surely, his brother will do better next time. Surely, he didn’t mean it. Surely, he will change.

And believing that is the death of him.

[inbarfink]

So when I wrote down that Big Undertale Meta Post about how Sans probably doesn’t remember RESETs at all and why that’s cool - I got a lot of responses to the tune of ‘that’s probably canon but I’m still gonna enjoy Sans Remember fics because of the angst’. And, well... first I want to emphasize that those are very good and correct responses! Like ‘I acknowledge might or might not be in the text but I am also gonna explore alternative ideas Because I Enjoy Them’ is a Good Damn Position to have! Transformative Fandom is Transformative on purpose! Engage with the text and it’s various analyses but don’t let it chain your creativity or fun!

It’s just that… all of the people saying that they prefer Sans Remembering ‘for the Angst’ make me think that maybe folks are kinda ignoring the incredible angst potential of Sans NOT remembering.

My original post focused on how cool it is that Sans manages to be so on-top-of-things even though he doesn’t remember anything - but let’s not ignore the fact that this situation is also grim as shit.

Through some mysterious super-science or whatever, Sans has managed to discover that his timeline is being RESET and altered constantly (before the Player came along, Flowey had already managed to basically 100% the entire Underground) and he has no memory of what's going on and what exactly is being altered. 

He knows he might’ve gone through the same day over and over and over again thousand times but he’s simply not aware of it. It’s all the helplessness and lack of forward momentum of a classic timeloop and none of the benefits of memorizing occurrences or acquiring extra information. That’s exactly the thing that drove him into his depressive spiral.

That line always strikes me. It’s like… Sans suspects that without the meddling of capricious immortal time gods, he’d be a much happier and motivated person. But he doesn’t know for sure, because he can’t remember how he was in some distant ‘original timeline’. He is essentially fighting to avenge a version of himself that might not even be real.

Like, yes, it is very impressive and badass how well Sans trained himself to notice every tiny little hint that might indicate that a RESET happened - but it’s impressive because the deck is stacked so heavily against him. And it is very impressive and badass how Sans managed to turn his weaknesses into strengths during his Boss Battle - but it’s impressive because these are usually huge weaknesses. Trying to work to solve a timeloop that you can only infer is going on through context clues is quite a hopeless and desperate mission!

Another bit in the Sans fight that I often think about is his unique reaction if you kill him and then RESET to Fight him again.

With how skilled he is at reading expressions, Sans probably knows what that ‘weird expression’ means, he knows the Player killed him once before and is here to try again. And yet he still goes along with the same attack plan he has, the one he knows killed him in that previous timeline. Why? Because he doesn’t know where the flaw in his plan was exactly, he can’t even begin to guess. So he has no choice but to go along with the plan he knows did kill him, because that’s the only thing he has. 

You know, the thing about Sans, is that he always plays his cards very close to his chest. It’s very hard to tell what exactly he’s thinking. That’s probably why so many people do believe he remembers RESET. If any non-Flowey character remembered RESETs, only Sans would be remotely able to hide it so well. But for me? It makes me wonder how much of his Troll who Knows Too Much persona is a bit of an act as well. 

You know, Sans’ deduction requires some keen observational skills - does he ever second-guess his conclusions? Living on constant high-alert that something has been reversed or that someone knows something they shouldn’t requires fostering a lot of paranoia, and that can’t be healthy for him. Is he ever overcome with doubt on whatever something was really an indication of a timeline RESET or not? How does he feel when he realizes something horrible happened on a previous timeline (for example, his brother dying) but he doesn’t know about the context to feel sure that he can stop it from happening again? 

I also think about it in terms of his relationship to Papyrus in general. Sans tends to hide so many things from Papyrus, especially in timelines where the Player is particularly kill-happy...

In part it’s about his perception that Papyrus’ kindness and pacifism is born from naïveté and thus the only way to preserve it is to hide the cruelty and harshness of the world from him (Undyne also does that). But also, with the paranoia and helplessness Sans lives in every day - is it any wonder that he might believe that ignorance is bliss?

I do truly think it’s beautiful how fandom can experiment with cool non-canon ideas! There are probably so many great emotional angsty ideas tied up to Sans remembering RESETs! I just feel it’ll be a shame if people ignore just how dire and depressing Sans’ canon situation also is!

[factual-fantasy]

(post in question) @elegysonnet

Thank you! None of my ideas are really solid yet.. but I can explain the reasoning behind their designs and tell you a bit of the back stories that I've got so far! :}} (prepare for a WALL of text-YOU ASKED FOR IT--)

First, Jevil. I pictured my Jevil being locked away in a cell for many many years. Like I think canon Jevil was. The wear and tear you see on his clothes is just wear that developed overtime from being in that cell. I might update his old outfit later.. but so far the torn gloves, missing bell and worn shoe are from the years of being locked away. Now eventually he is able to break out of his cell and escape into the multiverse. I'm not sure how, but thinking its gonna have to do with mirrors. He probably wanted to go back to his AU, but if he did he'd just wind up right back in that cell. So he.. left. And just kind'a roams the multiverse now, looking for a new home I guess.

Now during his travels he was able to find bits of clothing to replace/repair his old outfit. Replacing his shirt, finding a new cape, cutting out a corner to patch his new shirt- Finding a cheap Christmas bell to replace his old one. Using standard bandages to patch his shoe- cutting a square out of the overalls to fit his tail and patch his torn hat- <XDD stuff like that.

Now turning to Grillby.. My Grillby's AU was suddenly destroyed. And Jevil saved him from being destroyed along with it. But Grillby isn't exactly grateful.. rather he's overcome with grief over the loss of his world and family, and is actually angry with Jevil for having saved him. He would have rather just been extinguished along side his wife and daughter..

Because of this emotional turmoil, Grillby tuned blue and stayed blue. (See this post for my Grillby color headcanons-) I drew him in his bartender outfit but that wont stick. He ends up wearing what ever trash clothes he can find. His uniform is the last existing thing from his AU. And he dare not let his emotional instability burn it up. So he keeps it folded up neatly in his backpack and just tosses the backpack aside when he gets upset enough to start burning things uncontrollably..

Now for the creepy one, Spamton! He comes from an AU where things function a bit differently then our usual Deltarune. One of the big differences is the acid in the queens castle is blue instead of green. And yes! I did go with the acid lake theory :00-- but instead shrinking when falling into the acid.. my Spamton just kind'a.. fell apart. Its like the structural integrity of his body just collapsed. He kind'a got Gastered- The outer layer of his face and hands got so dry that huge splits formed all over his face and knuckles. His teeth got stuck together and became one big glob of hard mass. His hair melted together, his pants and shirt became part of him.. Its pretty yucky. He was in so much pain and he didn't know what to do.. Well, that's when Jevil showed up.

I'm thinking that taking Spamton outside of his AU didn't eliminate his pain.. rather.. being away from his world effected his body and.. changed his pain. Changed how it hurts or where it hurts. In a way, Spamton is in "less pain" when he's outside of his AU, because the pain is different and more.. tolerable..? Somewhat.?? So he chose to leave his AU and stay with Jevil. Its not like he was leaving anything behind.. the people in his AU treated him horribly. As they traveled, they got a cloak and some goggles/glasses for him. Spamton also struggled with motor function in his hands. like Gaster.. So Jevil wrapped them in bandages to keep them together and help them move more coherently.

Also Grillby kind'a envy's Spamton for having an AU to freely return to. And thinks that despite the pain and struggles, he should return. He still has the opportunity to make a life for himself there. But you cant really blame Spamton for following the only person who has ever shown him kindness and changed his blinding pain into something else..

Then there's Goner kid. I'm thinking that she is from an AU where she fell into the core perhaps? But she's not a part of Gaster. She doesn't have anything that ties herself to him. She's just, out there. All alone..

Jevil finds her and feels sorry for her.. so he helps her to get back to her AU. Only to discover that another version of her already exists and took her place. In order to bring her back to her world, you would have to destroy her other self.. But her other self is a person too.. someone who can love, who can think, its a person. Jevil wont kill her and Goner kid doesn't want him too. But she's still heart broken.

Her entire identity was stolen. She has nothing left to her name.. not ever her name. Its not hers anymore. So to cheer her up Jevil gives her a new name. One completely unique to her. Goner kid smiles, and decides to follow Jevil where ever he goes. She cant have her old life or name back, but she can live a new life, with her new name and new best friend. (I might reveal that name in a future comic👀👀)

Eventually during their travels they come across an AU where Alphys made robot arms for Monster Kid. Now MK is like a teenager in this AU so he doesn't need the other arm models that Alphys built for him. So she simply gives a pair of little arms to Goner kid! The pink bow was also a gift from Jevil so there's that XD-

Now River person.. I haven't really been able to flesh her out too much actually. But I'm thinking that River person is in a similar situation to Goner kid and Grillby. She cant go back to her AU for some reason and is heart broken. Maybe it was destroyed like Grillby's was? I imagine that she's not mad at Jevil for saving her though. And I don't think she'd be grieving her life like Grillby is. More of.. she's grieving for.. everyone else's life?? She would take people on trips down the river and hear about their life and stories. Their hopes and dreams.. Hear about what the children wanted to be when they grew up. Only to have all that snuffed out. Gone. Yet she remains? Why her? She feels that compared to the others from her world.. She was simple. Was of less value then those that she spoke to. She feels like someone, anyone should have been saved in her place. Maybe survivors guilt would be a good way to put it?

But she's not angry with Jevil for saving her. Just.. hollow. Conflicted.. appreciative..? But still conflicted-

ANYWAYS, wall of text over XDD I hope you enjoyed reading all of that and I answered all of your burning questions. :}} Feel free to send more!

[nalooksthrough]

Pe-Az Canon Analysis

I think before I start making headcanons about the Pe-Az. I should do an analysis on what the show has already told and/or shown us. I'm writing it out because writing helps me form more structured thoughts.

Be warned this is a rather long post.

General

Going to start off with their ship. It's in the shape of a pod because 'peas in a pod' and all that, very goofy. It also glows a bright green leaving behind a small green trail when they travel. Speaking of travel, they don't move in a straight line, they pilot in a zig zag pattern.

They also fly their ship backwards which is a weird choice but okay you do you.

They refer to themselves as an intergalactic peace negotiating team called the Pe-Az. So yeah, Pe-Az isn't the name of their race, it's their team name. Their team consists of a Statistical Leader (top), an Optimism Captain (middle) and a member simply known as The Closer (bottom). Who remains mute until they exhausted all other options. Basically he's their trump card. They are also call each other brother so that's sweet. Siblings working in a intergalactic peace team together.

They say that they have been setting human disputes for centuries (with pictures to prove it) and they personally have helped with 293 negotiations before the events of "Peace of Pizza". And yet somehow out of 293 disrupts they never once came across a person whose lactose intolerant or has an allergy to dairy. In fact they don't even seem to know that it's a thing.

Now I'm not sure if they mean they as in the team or they as in they themselves have been helping settle human disputes over the centuries. The three of them could possibly be centuries old.

Also want to point out that fairies are only present in the 1950 burger fry treaty which makes me think that they have only just recently started to work with them.

They also seem to be overly confident in their belief that pizza is like the key to all negotiations, that it's the universal incentive and that everyone loves Pizza. Which okay sure, good luck trying that with the Yugopotamians.

They are so confident in this fact that they even made an on/off switch for it. Their technology must to insane if they create a device to turn the concept of pizza off (and remove Italy from existence) like that's scary man.

Also they just carry around different types of pizza with them in briefcases, which might just be disguised pizza boxes. Even for non-existing pizzas like ice-cream pizza. Wonder how many other types of pizza they have hidden away?

And I guess if they are being this non descript and vague about what a pizza is than it very well could be the universal incentive.

Their written language has a lot of arrows, lines and dots. Also that's a lot of repeating characters for such a short text. They must not have a big alphabet.

They have rules when it comes to their negotiations! The only one we know of so far is that if someone manages to out negotiate them, they have to go on their side. Even is they don't want to and it ends with the removal of all pizza in the world. They have no choice.

This isn't totally related to my analysis but think it's sweet that even though they are clearly uncomfortable. They were still willing to play video games with Dev or maybe it was just out fear. Dev was the first person to ever out negotiate them. The lactose intolerant child scares them.

Apparently they are monsters and eat their pizza crust first.

They also not only managed to sneak into the Galax institute completely undetected but also none of these parasciencist are even questioning their green colouring at all? What are they even doing there anyway? Are they trying to keep tabs on what the humans know about alien life?

Abilities

Going to start with the one they use the most. Their ability to Assimilate. They can seemly sprout humanoid forms from their sphere bodies and are relatively good at mimicking the human form with only minimal hiccups. And given they are intergalactic peace keepers this most likely extends to other non-human forms as well.

But they can't seem to change their colouration which you think would be a problem but no. No one seems to question them about it, no one even seems to even question where they came from or how they got here. Which makes me think they also have a way to mentally assimilate, not just physically.

I like how even in these forms, they will naturally assume their normal stack positions. They even do it in their proper order (Stat top, Opt middle, Close bottom). They can't help it!

The next ability I'm gonna talk about is their screen projection. Which they can not only use to display written text but also screenshots of what may be their memories but I'm not sure.

At first I thought it was just Opt who could do this. But Stat also does it, so it must be something they can all do.

Another ability which might not even be an ability is their ability to teleport objects. This might just be done with tech since they don't really do this often. But it also has a similar effect to when they display another ability that I will soon mention so I can't fully rule it out.

They can also seemly float/float objects but they can seemly only do this when they are in their true form. Their assimilated forms must take energy for them to keep up or something.

And finally their weirdest and most disturbing ability. The ability to turn living beings into pizza. Which brings to mind the horrifying question of "is this where they get all their pizza from?"

This also shows that while they promote peace, they are willing to use more forceful methods if pushed. So they're not fully pacifistic.

Hello? Sir? What are going to do with that pizza slice? 😥

[spheciform]

Sad she only got one album out before everything went to shit, but what's a girl to do?

This is a fake album cover for my dnd character, Helvia, and her fake band THREAT DISPLAY!!! Context for this piece and Helvia as a whole under the cut because once I start I can't stop talking about her <3

SO the campaign hasn't started yet, but Helvia is my character for a science fiction campaign. She's robot!!! Well I guess that's obvious now. BUT the basic gist: Helvia was manufactured as an industry-controlled and maintained electronic "punk" singer. When the project ended up making no money, everything related to it (including her), was abandoned. Three years later, she wakes up out of stasis with no clue what happened, an insane debt, and a failing memory. You will look at her !! Her full name is Helvia Cardinalis. This is just a genus of mantis it doesn't have any special meaning I just like bugs <3

-she has generated "background" memories of an entire life, but there's no telling which of those are real. I don't actually know which of them are real. My dm does!!! We'll be finding out together!!

-sometimes she uh. Doesn't know basic information. Whenever something she should reasonably know gets brought up I get to roll a flat d20 to do a "memory check", the checks getting harder the older the memory is. When she fails, she gets to lie or change the topic etc because she would rather DIE than admit anything is wrong with her.

-the album cover is kind of an intentionally really poor introduction of her character. She's more silly than anything? The entire project was meticulously micromanaged by the company that made her. The "novelty" and aesthetic of having a construct as their lead took forefront in its advertisement. There were two other members of THREAT DISPLAY!!! But she has no memory of them because they were considered comparatively SO unimportant to advertising and to her that they have gone... forgotten.

-Helvia herself is. A real character alright!!! Based entirely in what a corporation thinks a "cool alternative girl" is, she's impulsive, selfish, and just. So fucking stupid. She's firmly a "might makes right" type of person who was designed to appear counterculture but still ultimately serve and be fine with the status quo as long as it benefits her. She's going to do anything that grants her immediate satisfaction, and is obsessed with maintaining her image as "cool and above it all", even as her body is actively breaking down. She easily falls for flattery.

Notes about the piece: yeah I downloaded and used splatoon fonts for the nonsense text. I think I typed gay sex like twice I'll be real none of it translates to relevant information. I think there's something in there about how I hope it came across as an adequate parody of machine girl album covers (my main inspiration). The composition of the piece itself is meant to feel kind of skeevy and exploitative because well. It is!! It's drawing the fine line between 'wow this is so cool and counterculture of us wow!!!' and fetishistic? Etc etc missing the chestpiece as an analog for putting a woman topless on the cover. There's actually a separate sketch I did as a canonical "mock up" for the design that originally included the other members, treating them like props because they're so unimportant, before they were scrapped from the final design because they were That Unimportant.

Notes on Helvia's design: I pulled from a few sources for this!! Notably I looked at so many pictures of that band Tramp Stamps. Remember Tramp Stamps? I don't. They're like the direct analog I think to her. I also pulled from vocaloid designs!! Impractical, cool, kind of "anime" feel. This comes across most in her hair I think which is just so beautifully impractical. The yellow gloves are so stupid important to me actually they're kind of ugly but it's the only way her name ended up being important: helvia cardinalis (mantis) is Bright Yellow and raises its 'arms' in its threat display, which I wanted to pull from for potential posing of her!! So. Bright stupid yellow gloves <3 they're an easy way to tell her character apart too & mean I don't have to worry about drawing all the nonsense on her arms. The translucent skirt also comes from the mantis, sort of pulled from its wings!! Original concepts for her included synthetic skin rotting away but her design was already more complicated than I normally go for and we ultimately ended up realizing her being openly and visibly a construct was important for her image in her music career so it worked out well! She is at least missing an eyeball :] doesn't affect vision since the mechanics are still in place but I guess she just gets that fun sans glow socket <3 her outfit is meant to look simultaneously cool, vaguely expensive, but also super super cheap?? Overall I'm happy with the fact that she looks both cool and really stupidly impractical in that classic 2000s deviantart oc way <3 it's important to me! Ultimately:

[neversetyoufree]

Just recently found your blog and i love it!!! do have any theories for vanitas' original name? My guess is Abraham, for all it doesn't really fit him, after Abraham van hellsing, who is both a doctor and vampire expert, which I think matches mochijuns naming conventions. Doesn't hurt that it matches with Noe (noah) religiously.

Thank you!! Welcome to the party ;D

Traditionally, I've always said I don't have any strong theories on Vanitas's name—at least none that I actually expect to come true. I think(?) I've talked about this before, but that's not really the kind of theorizing I do? Since right now any name theory is wild guessing and speculation, not elaborating from the text.

That said, I do now have one pet theory that I'm partial to (one I didn't have the last time someone asked me this). I don't actually think this is going to be the case in canon, but for now, I really enjoy the concept of Vanitas's real name being Byron. This is mostly because I think it would be funny, but there are some actual connections too.

Long context short, Lord Byron wrote an unfinished draft of what would have been the first modern vampire story, and then his personal doctor (John William Polidori) took the same idea and fleshed it out into The Vampyre—the actual generally recognized first modern vampire story. But! Polidori's version of the vampire (the version that established a lot of our vampire tropes) was partly inspired by Byron himself. So Byron is sort of this almost-but-not-quite vampire author, writing but also inspiring the tropes of vampirism, which reflects interestingly on Vanitas's relationship to actual vampirism. He's not a vampire, but he's much closer to one than any other human, and in demeanor, he acts more stereotypically vampiric than Noé and many other vampire characters.

Also, Byron is the namesake of the Byronic hero, which Vanitas is a perfect example of. He's brooding, cynical, arrogant, and intelligent, but despite his gloom and self-destructiveness, he has a sort of lonely magnetism about him. Once again, the concept of the Byronic hero is inspired by/named after both Byron himself and the characters he wrote.

As I said, I don't think I'm going to be right about this, as there's a million other theories that could fit just as well, but in the meantime, the concept does tickle me. Polidori's Byron-based vampire even has an especially strong connection to the moon :D.

Anyway, I really like your theory as well. I've noted before that it's interesting that there's no Van Hellsing reference in VnC (or any direct Dracula references at all, save poor dead Mina). It's almost surprising given Dracula is the iconic vampire story. I never even considered that there could be a Dracula reference hidden right there in Vani and waiting to be discovered, but it does make sense. The doctor/vampire expert connection is really fun and fitting! Though I'm afraid I don't know enough about the biblical Abraham to say anything interesting about that aspect beyond what you pointed out there.

[ar3s-r4t-qu33n]

Johnny's Bluffing

CW for discussion of potential sexual assault, toxic/unhealthy relationships, stalking, obsession, and, of course, murder and cannibalism. Nothing like, too crazy I think? But especially this one section on sexual assault, it's brief but separated out so it's quite easy to skip if that makes folks uncomfortable.

Hi I am currently in a really bad insomnia cycle and as such haven't slept so I'm sure I'm gonna have missed something that immediately prove me wrong, but here we go:

I don't think that certain members of the Family know that Maria is alive, and especially Nancy. This theory sort of delves into a lot of different stuff, I wrote and rewrote this a fair bit and idk, this is what I ended up with. It's a lot of my personal interpretation of both the written text and the way lines are delivered, as well as my own analyses on characters and how I personally think the timeline of events went (Danny and Virginia dying before the gang even show up in Newt, Maria being the 'Definitive Final Girl' and surviving to the very end, but never getting to escape the Slaughters/Johnny. That isn't to say that she dies, but Sally is the first and only person to escape until Stretch if she is canon to this timeline now that Choptop is on his way) so idk, I hope you like what I've been thinking about I guess?

Nancy and Drayton both have several voice lines that refer to Maria being in the past tense. So does Johnny, but my theory here is that he is playing into this line of thought so they don’t realise that he is still keeping her.

I will source my way of hearing all of the voice lines at the end.

Starting with Nancy, she has several;

‘It didn’t have to be this way, you know? You just had to come looking for that floosy of yours, didn’t you?’

‘Your little friend had it coming. Looking at my Johnny that way- he’s a sweet boy!’

‘You ever hear the saying murder starts in the heart? … I think my Johnny liked that girl…’

The first two are obviously extremely defensive over Johnny and are meant to taunt the other Victims over Maria’s ‘death’. The last one, however, feels almost like a realisation. This line has confused me for a long time, because it sounds like two different once spliced together, but they are, in fact, connected. This is the only time that Nancy ever speaks about Maria in any other way than pure disgust and defensiveness. Another interesting thing about Nancy is that she does not hate her husbands. She murdered all three of them, none of them were able to give her a baby of her own, and yet she defends them from Sissy, she keeps them all in her basement man cave, and even when talking to Hands, she’s apologetic about Harold to him. She still holds a fondness for them, it seems, and I feel like maybe this is what makes her finally realise that Johnny actually, truly loves Maria. For Nancy, she loves people to death, and that type of love extends to Johnny, too. Sure, he’s still alive, and could easily kill her now, but she permanently scarred his face when he tried to leave her. I don’t believe that Nancy isn’t above murdering Johnny to keep him with her, and I think this admittance leads to her realising that Johnny actually did love Maria. Of course, she can’t say ‘love’, that’s a bit too far, but at the very least, she will acknowledge that he likes her, and these days, Johnny doesn’t seem to like anyone, not even her. It’s also interesting to note that she says this after losing sight of a victim she was chasing. She says herself that she hasn’t hunted like this in a while, it seems as if physically chasing people down to kill them is making her reminisce on her feelings about murder and love in a way.

But all of that to say, she believes Maria is dead. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, she’s dead now, and maybe she plans to talk to Johnny about it later, maybe not apologise, but try and make it easier on him now that she’s realised just how much she meant to him.

Then we’ve got Cookie.

‘Look, I’m sorry about your friend… but… I’m afraid you done landed square dab in the shithouse!’

‘We didn’t have much choice! Couldn’t let Johnny spring no lovechild around here. It ain’t personal! Now get back here!’

There is obviously a lot less here, the former being Cook or Drayton’s more humble, car salesman type approach to everything, apologising sincerely that their friend had to die… but now so do they, so how sorry can he be, really?

The second is far more interesting. I’m still sort of working out the kinks with what I think on all this, but it implies not only that the whole family knew about Johnny’s feelings for Maria, but that there was a worry about something more than just his feelings. A genuine attachment, the possibility for a child.

Now, one thing I wanna throw in real quick is that a lot of people think Johnny assaulted Maria once he kidnapped her. And I personally don’t think that that is true. And it’s more than just ‘noooo not my pookie he would never!’, I feel as though Johnny’s feelings for Maria are beyond sexual, or beyond purely sexual. I’m not gonna get super into it because I wanna make a whole post about just their relationship, but in short, Johnny knows he’s hot shit. He knows women love him and men do too, and he uses that all the time to lure people to their deaths. Maybe he fucks them first, then kills them, who knows. But this is a man who is used to being sexualised and uses it to his advantage, like a reverse femme fatale, almost. A lot of his lines are sexually charged and he speaks seductively low at times, even flirting on the odd occasion. However, Maria is in love with Danny and is a sweet girl in the seventies. There is no way she’s heading off to knock boots with the pretty boy at the bar no matter how charming, persistent, helpful… always somehow exactly where she needs him to be… is. She’s kind, she’s sweet, she brings out the best in people, we know this about her. And when there’s no sex, when it’s not about fucking them and killing them… Johnny has no choice but to fall completely head over heels for her. It’s no surprise that the day she’s heading out of town, maybe to go back to see her boyfriend, that is when her car breaks down. Johnny’s oil stained gloves, the fact that he’s designed to look like he helps at a gas station, his friendship with Uncle Hands, the fact he lives in a junk yard? This man knows mechanics. He knows cars. And he is definitely not above tampering with an already busted old car to ensure it stops before she can get away from him. It’s just his luck that she happens to break down by his family’s land. All this to say, I don’t think Johnny assaults Maria once he has her. Not only because that would be a lot, like, in general, for this game to go from goofy cannibals to sexual assault by one of the game’s most beloved characters to one of the game’s most beloved characters, but because I don’t think Johnny is the type. He’s pretty and charming enough that people want him, he doesn’t have to take it, he earns it. And he wants Maria to give it to him, for him to earn it because she wants him. He likely spends his time down there with her trying to get her to fall for him and forget about Danny. He wants her to want him. Or at least, this is my personal interpretation.

Maybe she does begin to fall or maybe Drayton’s complete lack of any and all sexual knowledge just makes him think they’re already going to pound town, but he was worried about a baby. That’s something I wanna explore in the future, why he’s so worried about Johnny and Maria having a baby, but moving on; again, Drayton is seemingly fully convinced that Maria is dead.

For Johnny I wanna take his lines one at a time, but it is important to note that I think some of these lines are referring to someone else and not Maria, but also some of these are in present tense, he either slips up or sometimes on purpose mentions things that could hint to her being alive to the Victims.

‘You wanna know how your friend died!? … I can show you!’

‘Your little friend put up a better fight than this… come on! Make it interesting, will you!?”

Pure just bluffing to get them angry and scared. It could also be referring to Danny but more on that a different time.

‘That’s what I get for taking it easy on them. Time for them to join that little friend of theirs…’

‘You’re gonna look real nice next to that friend of yours…’

Again, if my belief that Danny not only went to Nancy’s a lot earlier than the others is true and that he has been dead for a good few days before the gang shows up, then this is absolutely about him, not Maria.

‘You kinda remind me of your little friend’

To Ana about Maria, obviously, and comes across as quite flirtatious. He’s figured out that not only does Maria have a sister (if she never told him), but that Ana has no intentions of leaving there without her. I interpret this as Johnny taunting her, making her his new priority to get rid of. I said he loved Maria, I never said he loved her in a healthy way, alight? This is The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, not the Notebook (never seen that movie)

‘You should have never came here looking for that girl!’

I don’t need to explain. Pure possessive Johnny in his raw form.

And finally, the infamous;

‘You know… I was actually kinda fond of that girl, I-I didn’t really wanna hurt her… but… family first, you know?’

Johnny is an agitator. Almost all of his lines are trying to fuck with the victims, playing with his food. Egging them on to hit him, teasing them about being too slow, the way he calls after them as he hunts them down, he wants to see them upset and charged, he wants a good fight, he wants to feel something. The main part of this line is just that, I think; he wants them to believe that even though he cared about Maria, he fucking killed her. He wants them to be angry, to fight him, to hurt him. The end is guilty. Incredibly guilty sounding, and I don’t think that’s out of a guilt for killing her, since… well, Maria is alive and kicking. But more a guilt about his family in general. ‘Family first, you know?’ he’s almost saying it so himself, as if that’s what he should think, what he should be doing. But he is actively betraying them and knows that once everything blows over, he’s going to keep on betraying them for every day he keeps Maria alive. And he also knows that even if he feels all of this guilt, he will do it anyway because he loves her, and he can’t let his family have her. She is the only person who is truly his, who represents what life could have given him. I have another analysis I made on TikTok that I’ll repost here soon, but it essentially goes like this; Johnny and Danny really aren’t too different. Scrappy orphans who are good with mechanics. Except Danny got to go to college, travel freely, meet the girl of his dreams, and Johnny is forced to be someone he doesn’t want to be. He isn’t not a killer, but he also could have not been a killer. Maria is everything he has not been allowed to have; naivety, kindness, softness. And now that he has her, and once everyone else is out of the way, he has no intentions of letting that go.

So he is pretending that she is dead. And for now, it is working. I have a feeling in the canon story of the game, the victims stumble upon her somewhere once they’ve already caused enough trouble for the family, and then all bets are off. Once they find out she’s still alive, it’s a new game for Johnny, a choice; does he kill her, make his mother proud and live the only life he knows because even if he leaves, he knows he can’t be any better? Or does he take her away and try, try to be a different man in the softness of her love?

Rush Week could be the result of either of those. Either he kills her, and becomes an even worse, even colder killer, now able to handle a situation like in the game completely on his own, or he takes her away to start a new life and just couldn’t stop the urges; the Bad Man needs to feed. He stays late after work or pretends he has a night shift and gets his fill on blood and chaos before stumbling home, washing it all off, and returning to Maria’s (definitely traumatised at this point from seeing her friends and sister murdered (don’t worry about Danny I’ve got thoughts on him shhh) in front of her and ‘rescued’ by Johnny) arms.

That was a lot... Please tell me what y'all think on this, again, a lot of my personal interpretation on a lot of things, but isn't that what art is for?

Sources for the voice lines:

Texas Chain Saw Massacre Game - Johnny All Voice Lines (youtube.com)

Texas Chain Saw Massacre Game - Black Nancy All Voice Lines - YouTube

Texas Chain Saw Massacre Game - Johnny All Voice Lines (youtube.com)

Promised I'd tag @bloodfeeder when I finished this so here ya go!! :)

[theminecraftbee]

okay i know solving counting sheep is an evo fic first and foremost but i'm super curious how the hermits end up dealing with three. it sounds like this is the kind of hermitcraft thats already a sanctuary for weirdos, but i feel like someone whos skin is feathers and wears a mask they can't see out of is a new level of strange. also, would pearl canonically still join the hermits after a few seasons in that universe? sorry to bombard you with questions when you already have a lot queued up LMAO

okay so this is like, a BIG QUESTION, and another one i've talked about with @strifetxt. we've noodled around a lot so off the top of my head, here's a few answers to "things we think three might do on hermitcraft"! (with the note: none of this is CANON. just because i'm saying it, word of god style, doesn't mean that's actually what HAPPENS, you can have your own story and headcanon for this in your head.)

three joins in season seven, not six, in my head. i'm not even going to try to pretend to guess what a season six without grian looks like just know that apparently happens.

three gets like, SUPER into the head games, because its a way to use its combat skills to HELP SOMEONE why wouldn't it get super into that? this is the first real introduction most of the hermits have to three. the hermits are like "okay mumbo where on earth did you find someone this good at murder". mumbo is like "who knows".

we were definitely joking that outside of hermits who know how to recognize a watcher (iskall, probably xisuma, i'd say also maybe like... doc or ren), the hermits just kind of assume three is autistic and roll with it from there because the idea the hermits, on being told three's actual circumstances, go "why would we guess that mumbo you said you met it hiding in a bar from overstimulation with you" is VERY FUNNY TO ME.

we were debating if election still happens; three is less likely to set up events on its own but IS likely to accidentally do something a little overboard.

our hack for if we wanted three to do the election is as follows: mumbo makes a joke with like, scar, about wanting to be mayor, three takes this completely literally, three and false end up in a cold war of "who is the scarier person NOT to vote for as mayor". meanwhile scar is vibing and a sith lord backing stress is very concerned.

grumbot does not happen. i don't think there's a world where three does grumbot.

three DOES befriend etho, at first to learn how to do interiors better, since etho is doing the all-interiors base, but later because etho's brand of tomfoolery actually works well with three. TWO weird dorks in masks now.

i think three would LOVE free glass. it and etho would make the world's Most pranks i think, all of which are technically what they were asked for. three helps work for shade-e-e's.

there's definitely more stuff we've talked about that i've missed and ALSO these aren't necessarily canon! you may have your own COMPLETELY DIFFERENT IDEA of what happens post-scs, which is fine! this was us waffling around about what would be fun to have happen, haha.

as for pearl... i like to think she does eventually still join hermitcraft, after a few years of texting back and forth with three and a bit more healing. she deserves it.

[gabrielsbubblegumbitch]

Adding to the “Velvette is the glue of the Vees” convo (and possible slightly out of character interpretation)

I feel like Vox and Valentino definitely need somebody to confide in other than a fuck-buddy y’know?

Like just a (somewhat) stable friend or business partner no sex involved

…Who they’ll sometimes cuddle on the couch with and bitch about their day to each other

I hc Velvette in all her independent girlboss glory can grow clingy towards those she’s attached herself to - that being Vox and Valentino

Say Vox and Val have an argument Velvette wasn’t around for, so they’re both pissed at each other - Velvette comes to their little shared common space, completely drained from work and drapes herself over whoever is there

Valentino; will immediately start bitching to her but also scoop her up and plop on the couch, maybe get some snacks and drinks as they both recharge

Vox; stays quiet - doesn’t like talking after an argument but will do something similar, maybe go into his office instead to stalk someone while having Velvette in his lap. Velvette is just there doom scrolling on her phone or taking a nap while Vox rubs her back

Whoever Velvette runs into first - she can sense the argument happened. So once she’s recharged and taken care of herself - she’ll text them something stupid like “Can’t sleep. Come here. Now.” without telling Vox or Valentino that the other one will be there - both of them go in her room and are - pissed lol

(Think of that Spongebob episode where Squidward tries to make Patrick and SpongeBob be friends again 💀)

But yeah uhmmm Velvette’s gonna 1. Address the issue directly 2. Force both Vox and Valentino to sleep with her bc she’s too tired to deal with them but will force them into the awkward situation cause she wants the entertainment

If scenario 2 happens Velvette is obviously sandwiched in between Vox and Valentino while they stare at each other angrily. Whoever speaks way too loud first gets punched by Velvette (happens multiple times) so they’re forced to quietly “discuss their issues” while Velvette is playing dumb and pretending to sleep - eventually things do work out and they all fall asleep

I don’t even know where I was going with this it’s incredibly disorganized I just like ranting about the Vees help - love silly Velvette headcanons where she’s the one who’s in control I guess lol

I totally agree with like half of what you've written - with the part taht Vox and Valentino both need someone to confide with. None of them has a lot of opportunities to be just comfortable with another person. Sure they have each other but romantic relatisohips are often more "loaded" than frienships and while they can grant deeper connection, they also generate greater tension. That's why lifelong frienships are way more common than lifelong romances.

But I don't find the idea of Velvette's infantilization appealing, sorry. She strikes me as a person who craves to be feared and respected, to the level that it feels almost like overcompesating for her young age (compared to other Overlords) and non-threatening form. I don't see why would she allow anyone, even her friends to treat her like a plushie. Especially when those friends are power hungry maniacs who nutoriously prey on people they see as weaker.

That doesn't mean I think your headcanon is wrong or bad. It just doesn't allign with my own interpretation. Which is perfectly fine, they can't even be compared in their accuracy in relation to canon because we barely have any canon. So please, don't take it personally - I love you have fun with your ideas, that's the most important part of fandom <3

[slitheringghost]

Can you go more into the text implying that Voldemort sees Harry as a member of the Gaunt family? I don’t think i’ve heard that before and am highly intrigued.

So, to clarify, this absolutely isn't a "Harry is Lord Slytherin Peverell Gaunt" take (I don’t think the Gaunts being descended from Slytherin or the Peverells is a real thing anyway). I think this is a highly bloodlines obsessed way for Voldemort to define family, but imo it’s clear he is defining it that way with Harry, and that's a hugely important part of analyzing both their dynamic and Voldemort's character in general.

1.0 Voldemort does believe in found family

Firstly, blood family is obviously not all Voldemort cares about.

Voldemort has many significant relationships in canon, and none of them are his blood family - his original friends like Abraxas, Bellatrix, Snape, Barty Crouch Jr., even Ginny. And of course him calling his followers his true family. They are people who he entrusted pieces of his soul with. Clearly he also believes in found family.

But coming into a bloodlines obsessed culture where your blood family defines you in every way has evidently influenced him deeply. Some metas I recommend reading on this topic: here, here, here, and here.

2.0 Voldemort thinks of Harry as his long lost blood family

Firstly, why does Voldemort think Harry is a descendant of the Gaunts? Because Harry is a Parselmouth, which is a genetic ability, and we know that these abilities can skip generations.

This author goes into it as well, and they explain why Voldemort sees it that way, that Parseltongue isn’t that rare an ability, there are many Parselmouths in Spain, Eastern Europe, India, etc. It’s just that it’s rare specifically in Britain and the Gaunts are the only family known for it in Britain, and so the first Parselmouth to pop up in the magical British community is the one Tom thinks may be related to the Gaunts. It's not like Voldemort was expecting or waiting for a Parselmouth to appear, but when one did, his obsession with his blood family was still intense enough that he chose to believe Harry was a Gaunt.

A note - If you take canon as it is, then Harry’s Parseltongue isn’t even real; I prefer to read it as real and Dumbledore as unreliable - he’s just taking a guess there anyways, and the idea that Harry inexplicably got one single ability from the horcrux is weird, and I also dislike how that frames Parseltongue as inherently evil. But that doesn’t mean they’re related, Harry could have inherited it from anywhere or, as that fic says, could be the first in the bloodline.

Even if you go with an interpretation where they’re related and his Parseltongue is inherited through the Gaunt line somehow, they’d only be related as closely as any other pureblood to other purebloods, because as Sirius says, all purebloods are related to each other. Family is how you define it - the important thing is Voldemort is defining it that way. (Voldemort also thinks a thousand year old ancestor is his family, who is obviously considerably more distantly related to him than Harry would be, to say the least).

How does the text imply Voldemort believes this? Well, it doesn’t come out and explicitly state it, as it doesn’t for many things, and of course, he doesn't exactly ask Harry to take a blood test, but it’s implied in the language and the parallels the text makes (similarly something like Lily as implied Master of Death or the true meaning of the Slytherin locket cave also only becomes clear using parallels).

This is first set up in is PS, where Harry encounters Voldemort in front of the Mirror of Erised, then in CoS where there’s an explicit parallel of Diary!Tom looking at Harry the same way Harry looks at the Mirror of Erised - like he's looking at his family. You can read the specific parallels in this post, though there are even more than the ones I quoted.

You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father’s name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother’s side?" “Because there are strange likenesses between us, Harry Potter. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike..."

The fact that Tom says they look alike is especially telling, as it alludes to inherited looks from blood family.

There's also the fact that Salazar Slytherin's statue in the Chamber, uh, looks very like Marvolo Gaunt in the exact memory Tom Riddle would've seen in his uncle's head:

Harry had to crane his neck to look up into the giant face above: It was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard’s sweeping stone robes, where two enormous gray feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor. (CoS) An elderly man had come hurrying out of the cottage, banging the door behind him so that the dead snake swung pathetically. This man was shorter than the first, and oddly proportioned; his shoulders were very broad and his arms overlong, which, with his bright brown eyes, short scrubby hair, and wrinkled face, gave him the look of a powerful, aged monkey. (HBP)

Undoubtedly JKR intended this as implication of the Gaunts as truly Slytherin's last descendants, but again, I see that as stupid, there's no way someone can actually inherit the looks of their thousand year old ancestor lmao. So we can assume Tom Riddle either changed the face of the statue, or is the one who added the statue to the Chamber in the first place. Either way, it reinforces his obsession with Slytherin as a blood relative and confirms that he's speculating that Harry is his blood family when he tells him they look alike.

Then there’s his rebirth ritual - bones of the father, blood of the enemy, flesh of the servant - which is conspicuously missing something from his mother. Harry takes the place of “his mother’s side”, his blood taking the place of the Gaunts, again implying them as blood family. Harry as “blood of the enemy” and also family is also linked to Dumbledore telling Harry in DH “So your wand recognized him when he pursued you, recognized a man who was kin and mortal enemy [...]"

Then the golden thread connecting Harry and Voldemort during Priori Incantatem echoes the golden threads connecting family members on the Black family tree, again establishing them as “family”.

and a narrow beam of light connected the two wands, neither red nor green, but bright, deep gold. He and Voldemort were both being raised into the air, their wands still connected by that thread of shimmering golden light. The golden thread connecting Harry and Voldemort splintered (GoF) The tapestry looked immensely old; it was faded and looked as though doxies had gnawed it in places; nevertheless, the golden thread with which it was embroidered still glinted brightly enough to show them a sprawling family tree dating back (as far as Harry could tell) to the Middle Ages A double line of gold embroidery linked Narcissa Black with Lucius Malfoy, and a single vertical gold line from their names led to the name Draco. (OoTP)

Another highly important parallel is regarding the Gaunt memories:

And he hurtled drunkenly at Riddle, wand and knife held aloft. “Stop.” Riddle spoke in Parseltongue. The man skidded into the table, sending moldy pots crashing to the floor. He stared at Riddle. There was a long silence while they contemplated each other. The man broke it. “You speak it?” “Yes, I speak it,” said Riddle. “You’re not welcome.” “Er — I’m sorry — I don’t understand you,” said Ogden nervously. Harry thought Ogden was being extremely dim; the stranger was making himself very clear in Harry’s opinion, particularly as he was brandishing a wand in one hand and a short and rather bloody knife in the other. “You understand him, I’m sure, Harry?” said Dumbledore quietly. “Yes, of course,” said Harry, slightly nonplussed. “Why can’t Ogden — ?” But as his eyes found the dead snake on the door again, he suddenly understood. “He’s speaking Parseltongue?” “Very good,” said Dumbledore, nodding and smiling.

Things to note here:

1) Marvolo and Morfin speak in Parseltongue to each other for the whole memory, and it’s ther same with Morfin and Tom, establishing it as the language of his family

2) Tom Riddle managed to enter the Gaunt shack (which presumably had protections up) without being invited in, and he comes in immediately and automatically speaking Parseltongue, not even knowing who he's speaking to at first. So we can assume that Parseltongue was the "key", the password, to entering the House of Gaunt, much like the entrance to the Chamber opened when Harry used Parseltongue. (there's likely blood wards as well, but Tom jumping to speaking Parseltongue even while his uncle is aiming a knife at him makes me think that Parseltongue was part of the wards and what let Tom enter, somehow).

Another parallel is Voldemort giving Harry the same look he gave Bellatrix after she says "It's an honor to have you in our family's house", that you can read in this post. Now, Bellatrix is the love of his life, and Harry is someone he barely knows, and he gives them the same Look - implying Harry is somewhat on par with Bellatrix in who he considers family.

There are many such parallels and connections that you can find, I won't quote all of them.

We see that Diary!Tom and the adult Voldemort have the same exact intense reaction to Harry immediately - he confides to him about his family, gives him the "strange likenesses" monologue.

Harry isn’t the only person he confides such things in - but there’s one very important difference between those dynamics and Voldemort's dynamic with Harry - Voldemort doesn't know Harry. He's barely interacted with him. The adult Voldemort at least has spent a year in Harry's presence while on the back of Quirrel's head, has likely used Legilimency on him and read his emotions and thoughts. But Diary!Tom only knows bare minimum info from Ginny, he hasn't even seen memories of Harry or anything - and both versions have the same reaction.

Comparatively, Ginny spent months writing to Tom and exposing her deepest secrets to him. Barty Jr. was a Death Eater for 2-3+ years and Voldemort spent a lot of time interacting with him in GoF. Snape was presumably a student of his and took the Mark at 16, so he would've worked closely with Voldemort for ~5 years pre-1981 and then ~3 more years by DH. Bellatrix is, obviously, someone he’s had a decade long intimate relationship with.

That familial intimacy Voldemort feels with Harry, it’s “unearned”, so to speak, because he assigns meaning to that blood connection. His followers on the other hand have to earn that special connection with him that Harry has automatically - through interaction, through building that trust, through usefulness.

Of course the blood connection is not all that matters - he presumably didn’t monologue to his uncle Morfin about his emotions, he confided in Harry, who he thinks of not just as a Gaunt, but as a Gaunt like him that understands him, and one who craves family just as much as he does.

At the same time, it’s not Harry that Voldemort felt guilt about killing - it’s Snape, a follower who he knows and has an actual relationship with.

Harry as the Chosen One

Voldemort's role as a villain is that of an abuser, a cult leader, someone who is violent to people he calls family and kills them repeatedly (see also: how Voldemort is Cain in HP as a retelling of Cain and Abel in this meta). We see this with his murder of his father and other blood relatives, with his treatment of his followers that he calls his "true family".

And at the center of this story of Voldemort as violent to those he considers family is his dynamic with Harry, who he thinks of as his blood family - and indeed that's the whole point of Harry as the Chosen One. Dumbledore says in HBP:

“Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back! Voldemort is no different! Always he was on the lookout for the one who would challenge him."

Well, these are the people Voldemort oppresses - his family:

“Listen to me, reliving family history...” he said quietly, “why, I am growing quite sentimental... But look, Harry! My true family returns...” The air was suddenly full of the swishing of cloaks. Between graves, behind the yew tree, in every shadowy space, wizards were Apparating. All of them were hooded and masked. And one by one they moved forward... slowly, cautiously, as though they could hardly believe their eyes. Voldemort stood in silence, waiting for them. Then one of the Death Eaters fell to his knees, crawled toward Voldemort, and kissed the hem of his black robes. “Master... Master...” he murmured.

And so of course the man who murdered all his living relatives in one go, who calls his cult of abuse victims his true family, who is deeply violent and abusive to those he calls family, would think it was someone who is his long lost family that’s prophesized to kill him. Because tyrants fear the people they oppress.

Fandom sometimes questions why Voldemort sees Harry as such a big threat - this is why.

(For a number of reasons I think it makes zero sense for Voldemort to have chosen Harry over Neville solely because he’s a half blood though)

And for it to count as violence towards family, Voldemort has to see it that way. Otherwise Harry is just an enemy, and Voldemort has a lot of those, and there’s no reason his violence should have any more significance than his violence towards other enemies.

i.e. Bellatrix murdering Tonks inherently counts as violence towards family, despite not knowing or interacting with her, because they’re blood family and that has social significance.

There are many ~symbolic~ familial dynamics in HP, but when it comes to Harry it isn’t just symbolic for Voldemort - he truly sees Harry as his dear cousin, as his kin. And he’s the one fixated enough on the idea of family to assign that meaning in the first place - this isn’t confirmed fact, and this isn’t reciprocated by Harry. He doesn't have to assign this meaning to it - he chooses to, and he chooses to be violent to Harry anyway. (As mentioned before, it’s worth noting that pureblood society is a highly collectivist culture in which your extended family relations matter a lot, including cousins.)

Harry's perspective

While Harry identifies with Diary!Tom when he shows Harry the memory of being sent back to the orphanage (I think the part where he thinks of him as a friend was part of the diary's enchantment, so that wasn't even him), that's when Harry still thinks of Tom as a friend - once he finds out he's Voldemort, Harry doesn't reach that level of identification until HBP and DH, and even then it starts out "reluctant" and grows stronger. vs. Voldemort for whom it is immediate.

In general, when Harry forms immediate attachments and fixations, it's often family he has claim to (i.e. Sirius who is his godfather and parents' best friend) or someone that gives him validation and makes him feel special (connection with the Prince, and like with Diary!Tom, once he finds out it's Snape and Snape killed Dumbledore, Harry doesn't reach that level again until The Prince's Tale).

Harry gives no such validation to Voldemort - he's a threat, he's the one who destroyed him. It doesn’t make Voldemort seem powerful or benefit him to view Harry that way - Voldemort assigns this meaning to it solely due to his craving for familial connection, even if it’s in a highly warped way.

A version of Voldemort and Harry where Harry’s not a Parselmouth could have that intimacy (uh, other than the fact that Harry would never become a DE lol), but it would just have to develop naturally like his other relationships.

And the funny thing is, if you go with the canon explanation, the Parseltongue was never real and Voldemort never finds this out - regardless of whether it’s the truth, it’s true to him, and that guides his actions throughout the series.

[apatheticlexicographer]

Where Evil Nests

Chapter 2: Saying Yes

so after i put a poll up the vote was overwhelmingly in favour of naming this AU “Where Evil Nests”. so yay!!! we have a name that doesn’t suck now :DDD

uhhhhhh, this is probably a good time to mention that will is an unreliable narrator. fair warning to the henry apologists/appreciators that this is not a pro-henry story. aha. :fuckboy_emoji: :fuckboy_emoji:

in case ur curious, or even if ur not: this AU takes place several years before canon starts. i went with the “4 years ago” date from the original montauk pitch for when joyce and lonnie divorced, which puts will at about age 8 and jonathan at like 12. anyway, that’s why ~12yo henry is so much bigger than will lol, i prommy i’m not just shit at scaling 🙏🙏

Ch1 Ch2 Ch3

@gay-stranger-things asked to be tagged in the continuation so there ya go. if anybody else wants to be tagged in future lmk i guess, tho i’m also gonna be tagging everything with #Where Evil Nests for mostly my own benefit

rambling below...

apologies for the serious inconsistency in the art, even within individual pages. you can literally see me putting progressively too much effort in with each page lmfao. a bitch been hella busy the past couple of weeks and i’ve only been able to work on this very sporadically. also doesn’t help that i had to redraw and redraw and redraw like half of this chapter. the 2nd page pains me particularly bc in my initial draft i had the door on an angle to show the rose window and spent H O U R S messing around with it to make the perspective work, before realizing the angle didn’t match the direction will was facing in and i didn’t want to redraw him. the worst part is that it looks better compositionally the way it is now ToT

hmmmm i put way too much text slanted to the left and like none slanted to the right... oh well i am not changing that i will scream if i have to touch any of these pages again

i can make no promises abt when chapter 3 will be up bc i start a formal art course soon and idk if i’ll have any motivation to draw outside of it lol

okie it’s almost 5am. again. i gotta get a better sleep schedule dude <///3

OH WAIT I JUST WANT TO CLARIFY THAT PANEL WITH LONNIE IS ***NOT*** IMPLYING C/S/A. I JUST REALIZED U COULD INTERPRET IT THAT WAY BUT THAT WAS NOT MY INTENTION. i reworded that line slightly to make it scan better but in retrospect perhaps i should have left it be bc Yikes

[heliianth]

Raises my hand I wanna hear about the au!! Here's some prompts to talk about for it if you want

1. Any thoughts about how killugon's familiar pact works?

2. What's killugon's magic like respectively?

3. What is Alluka and Nanika up too?

(No pressure to answer all of these but ur au just seems so cool!)

YAY ok hello hi ok

stuff is below the cut because i YAPPED sorry lol this is a biiig wall of text.

forewarning some of the Lore™ is kind of fucked but its pretty in line with some of the shit that already happens in hxh anyway so just. expect that ;;^-^

1—

Killua and Gon's familiar pact is weird and its a bit hard to explain so hang on with me here bc first i gotta explain what a normal familiar pact is like

witches can make deals with sentient magical entities—often minor spirits that take the form of animals—in exchange for power. it acts as a symbiotic relationship, though with some downsides. their life forces are linked together along with some other more case-specific caveats. it's for this reason that familiar pacts are pretty rare because generally magic entities don't want to suddenly become mortal like that, it's usually not worth it. but anyway. after both agree, they will collaborate to summon a magic object as proof and confirmation of the pact. usually it's something small like earrings or whatever, but magic users can always tell if something is a familiar object or not. they have capital-v Vibes. you can have a pact without a familiar object, but its a bad idea because the power boost can fuck you up; they act as, like, a filtration system where you only get what the deal says you get with none of the really really ugly side effects of a mortal using a spirit's power. trying to non-consensually break the pact by destroying the object voids the deal but also completely severs both parties' connections with magic (similar to how breaking a nen vow in canon has the potential to nukes your ability to use nen). a witch and their familiar can safely break the pact, but it has to be a mutual decision, and even then some drain in magic is likely

so... why is killugon's weird? bc the Zoldycks are weird.

Kukuroo Mountain sits on top of a magic wellspring (like a hotspot for natural magic) which allows the Zoldycks to do all sorts of fuckshit that wouldn't otherwise be possible, and that includes their dummy unethical family necromancy ritual that merges a benign spirit with a human in the seconds before your soul disappears after death, artificially creating a demon (demons basically being what humans call fucked up scary spirits. its not exactly what this ritual turns someone into, but there's no vocabulary for it because its so rare outside of the Zoldycks). it's sort of like a nasty perversion of the familiar pact ritual because it involves magic power between an entity and a mortal, but it kills the spirit involved instead of creating a bond. the resulting "familiar object" is called a Demon Pearl. Demon Pearls resemble gemstones and magic users generally think they're a manifestation of the human and spirit merging, like how lightning striking sand creates glass. unlike a regular familiar object, if a Demon Pearl breaks, the owner will just outright die. for future reference, this whole thing is colloquially referred to as an assimilation ritual.

as an aside: Killua's design is inspired by nekomata—cat yōkai that are sometimes described as being abused domestic cats that return from the dead(?) in order to enact revenge. so :3c

to get back on track: if a familiar pact is a symbiotic relationship between a witch and a spirit, Zoldycks are like little magic parasites that literally want to eat you. they actually have to eat you in order to keep existing, because they don't have their own magic to sustain themselves like "real" naturally formed spirits or demons do. and they extract that magic via . cannibalism. i guess its not cannibalism if they're not human anymore? u know what im talking about.

(as clarification: this ritual isn't like, monopolized by the Zoldycks, but it's also not common knowledge. it's highly illegal and difficult. not to mention immoral lol. they're just the only ones who have the resources, amassed skill, and gall to do it so frequently and openly as a family right of passage thing)

all that is to say the Zoldycks are technically magic entities that can make familiar pacts, but theyre bad at it and it would be a bad idea even if they werent. Killua by all means should not have one. but killugon do not give a shit about what they should and shouldn't do. that's like their whole MO

so Gon and Killua's familiar pact works because:

a) like in canon, Gon is kind of a bottomless pit of potential. his connection with magic runs really deep and his specific practice means he's less likely to "burn" through his magic than other witches—talk about it more when i answer ur 2nd question :3

b) their familiar object is Killua's Demon Pearl (a huge "fuck you" by having the object representing him and Gon's bond be something that actually can't be destroyed unless they want to kill him lol), meaning that it doesn't act as a filtration device so much as a straight up transfer. so Killua doesn't have to eat Gon to mooch off him at 100% effectiveness, but that does mean they're at risk of unbalancing each other. that's where the next part comes in

c) Killua actually has magic binds etched on him by his family. similar to Illumi's needle, it's supposed to be a safeguard against Killua getting into a deadly situation where he uses too much magic without a food source and starves to death, but it also makes him less likely to negatively effect Gon through their pact

as for the actual deal that lead to their familiar pact... "Let's stay together [forever]!" Gon likes calling it a promise instead of a deal because it feels less transactional. & yes that little blue necklace he wears is Killua's Demon Pearl. usually it's tucked under his shirt so people don't notice tho lol

2—

Gon does a branch of magical art called green alchemy!!! I don't have hard and fast rules for it yet as I kind of want magic itself to be wishy-washy and dependent on the user's own creativity in the same way Nen is and also because i feel like a type of magic that lets Gon go off the rails is where he'd best fit. so i don't have a strict definition of what "green alchemy" is yet beyond what the name implies, but the most basic application is physically turning parts of nature into other parts of nature. i want to make it a very material-based way to use magic so it forces Gon into being resourceful, and his aptitude with it is informed by his childhood spent in the woods learning the rules of nature before he uses magic to bend them. like grabbing a fist full of dirt and squeezing it hard enough to turn it into a really dense stone, or doing the reverse and causing a giant boulder to crumble into soil. it gets wackier when you add your own magic into the mix, and you can do thinks like speeding up natural processes; causing vegetation to combust, rapidly growing plants, etc. things like that

Killua is like. his main thing is that hes a little creature with sharp teefs and sharp claws. the assimilation ritual the Zoldycks did with him involved a lightning spirit, so he does have his lightning too, but using it is problematic because of those aforementioned binds he has on him and the whole. cannibalism thing. if he went sparky too often he'd have to eat something or someone in order to maintain equilibrium with Gon. so using his electricity kind of necessitates escalating a fight into a lethal situation in order for immediate food and he has to treat it like that

3—

ok so this question kind of calls me out bc i dont have a "plot" for this au yet. its really just a bunch of worldbuilding and AMVs i imagine while listening to songs lol. so what Alluka and Nanika are doing is probably similar to what they do at the beginning of canon. which is sitting in their vault </3 i dunno. maybe i will brainstorm something different!

but!!! i can tell you what their schtick is

Alluka is a case of the traditional Zoldyck assimilation ritual going real bad. so bad, actually, that it scares them into adjusting the process for Kalluto

i want to give another warning for like. everything that has to do with a necromancy spell involving small children. i felt sort of evil explaining all this

so. the ritual has the subject dying in a fairly instantaneous fashion so that the amount of time the human soul lingers is greater than if you... like... slowly bled to death. out of necessity to avoid complications, the kids kind of have to do it themselves :( obviously that requires they be trained beforehand for it. the age at which Zoldycks go through the ritual varies based on when they pass that hurdle, but it's usually 4-5. they like doing it ASAP because younger children generally deal with the whole merging with a spirit thing easier than adults. but Alluka just. never gets there. to no fault of her own... she just doesn't. and the Zoldycks smack face-first into the very real possibility that they're going to run out of time waiting for her to pass this training, and resort to going "you know what, training schmaining. you're doing it anyway. up you go"

this was NOT a good idea. turns out that the high success rate of their ritual not only has to do with age, but also the kids, you know, being prepared and willing. Alluka is decidedly not. she is scared out of her mind, and doesn't... do it properly. so when it's time to merge, she's still alive.

instead of the ritual doing what it's supposed to (hijacking a spirit's magic to shove someone's soul back into their corpse and merging the two in the process), they lose control over the spirit causes it to come into direct competition with the mortal soul. and when the contest is between a human child and Nanika—a pretty powerful spirit associated with nighttime and stars (hence "wishing")—the outcome is not going to be in the kid's favor. they end up having to do a completely different spell just to keep Nanika from killing Alluka, and due in no small part to sheer luck, the two get to tentatively coexist in the same body

Alluka has a worse time sharing with Nanika than she does in canon. Nanika is more volatile because it's kind of hard to forget what the Zoldycks did to her. she does not like them. even Killua is on thin ice until he makes up for it by being a sweetheart. but Nanika's attitude means Alluka has a lot of those magic bindings on her restricting what she and Nanika can do. this causes her to have a more difficult time adjusting to the way her body looks as a demon vs. as a human, she's less equipped to handle even just being around a lot of active magic (she doesn't have a strong connection to it), she's tired a lot of the time too. however, unlike the rest of her family, Nanika still being alive instead of merged with her makes it so she doesn't have to eat people. she behaves more like a "real" spirit/demon. so thats a W i guess

AND thats all. WAUGH it was really fun finally getting to share all these ideaasss with someone thank u for asking :D !!!! and sorry for the essay again lol

[greenerteacups]

Hi, @greenerteacups! My girlfriend and I love your writing in Lionheart so much! We love how true the characters feel to themselves and often feel even more like themselves than in actual canon. We talk about Lionheart all the time.

We especially admire how Draco takes realistic strides in his development into a person who cannot accept the beliefs of pure blood society. However, it struck me today that all those changes started with Draco's separation from that world at Hogwarts in Gryffindor House, something which Dumbledore admits to influencing at the end of the first book. Dumbledore likes to have his hands in the middle of things, obviously, and it makes sense to have the Boy Who Lived somewhere cut off from the Wizarding World living with no strong positive relationships so he can manipulate boy hero later. But I am extremely curious as to why the headmaster just had to mess with this one rich kid's sorting with no promise of it paying off. In fact, we have had no clues at all as to Dumbledore's motivation nor has it been questioned since the first book.

I'm not at all picky about the reasons for canon divergent events. I'm eating up Lionheart as-is, but I was wondering if we might get some sort of insight in the future into Dumbledore's motivation for influencing Draco's sorting? Maybe I'm just thinking about this too hard, but I'm really curious now if it was for plot purposes or if it was for reasons that we will find out later or perhaps even for reasons that might continue to affect the story.

As always, thank you so much and we hope you are well!

Hello! First, thank you for such a detailed message, and for such kind words of support! I hope you and your girlfriend enjoy the upcoming chapters.

As for Dumbledore — yeah, this is one of those things where an eleven-year-old megalomaniac goes "of course this makes sense, I am the center of the universe and everyone should care about me" and then later on goes "hang on. what was the reason for that?" The following isn't canonical (I sound like a broken record at this point, I'm always going "I don't get credit for it if it isn't in the text!" but it IS true, and the following is just me riffing on what's already written. None of the following requires knowledge of things that haven't happened yet, although there will be conversations about Draco's Sorting to come).

Dumbledore's phrasing in Chapter 8 implies Draco wasn't completely unusual — "But there comes the rare case, now and then," — i.e., Draco may not be the first. But then, why Draco, instead of, say, Theodore Nott? Daphne Greengrass? It doesn't seem like their time in Slytherin has been terribly beneficial for the educational experience. It comes to mind that Draco, for all that he is another random rich kid, is a rather special rich kid; he's the joint of the Black and Malfoy families, which were the two primary bastions of power/support for Voldemort during the war.

I guess another way to frame it is this: from his perspective, putting Draco in Gryffindor places the heir to Voldemort's power base squarely where Dumbledore can keep an eye on him, and removes him from a social environment where he could network with other powerful aristocratic children. You know that marriage allegiance network that Pansy describes? The one that's copying the Black/Malfoy/Lestrange network from the first war? Draco's a crucial missing link in that chain. He's also surrounded by Harry's friends and Order members, which — while you can't always count on the Power of Friendship to save the day, cf. Peter Pettigrew — that experience is never not going to affect his judgment and beliefs.

You know the medieval practice of "warding," where you'd send your kid to be raised by another aristocratic family, and then they'd come back when they were of-age? That was one of the main levers of allegiance besides power — because not only is your kid functionally a hostage, so you can never fuck with the family that's warding them, but they're also growing up around that family's own children, forming close friendships that will endure after they leave and return to inherit their own titles. It was tactical, especially for families whose own territory might not be the safest place to raise a child.

Lastly, I also want to flag — and this is discussed in the draft of an upcoming chapter, so I'll keep it short and classy — but Dumbledore is making a really huge claim to Draco, i.e., that he's capable of changing the Sorting Hat's mind. He doesn't explain how he's done this, or what methods he used to interfere with its magic. Draco seems to believe him, but I don't know that I would.

[messrsrobyn]

i just saw a tiktok saying the marauders would call the fanon characters slurs bC theY weRE FroM the 70s aND they WoulD NEvEr wear SkiRTs or liSTeN to pOP mUSiC and like first of all sirius black himself told me he's a disco fan, but also... not even going into the "those are just headcanons" territory bc those people love to bring canon, there's a) no evidence of homophobia in the wizarding world, b) there's actually a lot of text evidence that supports the idea of the wizarding world being better at gender equality (which is wild bc jkr is a terf bud i digress...!) and they were teens who were fighting against a fascist system. like, not to go all politics here, but guys, people in the 70s were gay and were fighting fascism and were wearing skirts. all around the globe. it's not a wild jump to think they'd at least be ok with the fact that gay people are real lol (not to say a lot of leftists aren't homophobic, but like, again, this is fiction...they are canonically the light side, they are canonically against bigotry [wild, again, bc jkr] so you come into my house and you tell me they'd hate crime me in real life?) and what amazes me the most is that it's usually the same person that hates jegulus bc "james would never date a fascist" but like, choose your fighter, he's either a man of high morals and fighting for what is right or he's a queerphobe. you can't have both things and use the "fascism" argument in my house!!! actually, people in this fandom should actually just stop using the word fascist, tbh. they think their biggest revolutionary act is to... be mean to people online regarding ships? anyways robyn you're amazing and your patience is certainly better than mine will ever be!!!

I SAW THIS TIKTOK !!!!!

"they'd bully you and me if they were real" well they arent 😭

idk. the creator then said in the comments that people are entitled to their own hcs and it's like,,, then why make a post shitting on them??? just read what you wanna read???

and also yes !! queer people have *always* existed, the 70s were revolutionary for queer rights. i think it was '73 when they removed homosexuality from the APA list of psych disorders, the wholeeee punk scene?! (which always trips me up when people also say "sirius wouldn't have worn skirts/eyeliner! he was punk! like,,, do you know what punk is???)

idc what people hc at all but i hateee when canon/period-typical attitudes are brought into discourses.

"they wouldn't have all been allies or gay, the 70s were very homophobic" sorry that i don't want to read fics about homophobia i guess? sorry that i don't fancy reading about my oppression in fun lil stories??? i get enough of that irl i don't want it in my books. even then, if it is included? i fw it, but why would i want the MAIN CHARACTERS of FICTION that i'm engaging with FOR FUN to be against me????

ALSO !!! agreed. i've said it before and i'll say it over and over again, i HATE the morality based arguments because none of them are real !! i promise that me reading a fic about regulus doesn't mean im a fascist, it means i'm reading a silly little story. or reading mlm instead of wlw doesn't make me misogynistic BECAUSE THEY ARENT. REAL.

especiallyyyy with ships. no. jegulus isn't misogynistic. i don't read jegulus bc i hate women i read it bc it's fun??? bc i want to???

the people making these kinda posts just want to be the best marauders fan and they want to have the best takes and they want everyone to bow down in the comments and say "YES!!! YOU'RE OUR VOICE OF REASON!!! YOU'RE SO SMART AND RIGHT!!!" when really i just want them to shut upppp and let people enjoy what they enjoy.

fandom is so much more fun if you spend your time engaging in things you like instead of hating on the things you dislike (shocking, i know)

[spaceyflowerswriting]

pt 2/4: little changes (gun park x reader)

...except the main character is goo and reader only plays a role in little dialogue. hear me out.

(pt 1)

details: fluffy oneshot, gender neutral reader written in 2nd pov, general canon au, you and gun have been dating for a while in secret

summary: goo starts to notice little changes in gun, influenced by you. the thing is, gun is keeping his relationship on the low, so here are goo's antics of being annoying and trying to find out who you are.

warning: one part of these moments has implications of gun and reader in bed!

a/n: i dont rmbr how i got this information but at the time i wrote this, i heard gun couldn't drive so... yeah lol

(ironically i forgot gun's first appearance is him literally driving crystal around. but tbh, just bc i think its funny, i wanna keep it a headcanon that he can't drive LMAO)

×

"Make sure you don't text and drive."

"Hah, how old do you think I am?"

"Just saying! You text often on your travels so I wanna make sure."

"Don't worry, I always make my coworker drive."

. . .

The red stop light finally gave Goo a chance to snap his neck towards the passenger seat where Gun sat.

"Must be so nice to just sit there, huh?"

"Eyes on the road," Gun replied flatly, his gaze still glued to his phone. Nearly the entire ride he had his eyes on it. And it looked like he was texting.

Suddenly curious, Goo acknowledged Gun's comment with, "We're at a stoplight, dumbass," and then asked, "Who's so important you can't stop texting them?"

"Why is that the assumption?"

Goo scrunched a brow, lips twisting into a frown. "What does that mean?"

"I could be typing notes in my phone."

"Stop bullshitting, you and I never take notes."

For a second Gun looked like he was going to admit Goo was right, but then he just looked up and said, "The light's green again."

Goo looked back in front of him, only to see a red light. He deadpanned and turned back to Gun, staring down at his phone.

"Seriously, who're you texting? I've driven your ass around for twenty minutes and you've done nothing but stare and text on your phone."

"That's none of your business. How close are we to our destination?"

Goo tsked and sucked in a breath of sharp air, bringing his eyes to the road. "Almost there."

"Alright."

There was a pause as the light actually turned green this time and Goo pushed down on the pedal, pushing the driving limit like he always did. He decided to keep bothering Gun in the meanwhile.

"I know you're not texting the boss, he'd rather call you, and he only talks to us for business reasons. I'd guess it's also probably not Crystal since your conversations with her are always short and to the point. And you don't have any friends. Just who are you texting?" He kept on rambling his thoughts out loud, while Gun sat silently.

When Goo eventually gave up, he suggested Gun drive sometimes so he could just be on his phone for twenty minutes.

"I got Candy Crush levels to beat, ya know."

"You won't be alive to beat them if you allow me to drive."

Memories of a burning car with him and Gun standing in front of them flashed in Goo's mind three times--a different car each time--and he nodded.

"I don't know how you can fight a seven nation army but can't drive a car."

"That's a mystery to me, too."

Goo wanted to facepalm.

~

"That selection of jewelry looks so nice."

"You know you can buy it, right? My card is yours."

"No, Gun, we are not doing this again. Last time you let me use your card you ended up nearly buying the entire store for me."

"Hmph."

. . .

"Rubies, eh?" Goo held up the necklace he picked up, embedded with emeralds. He glanced back and forth between it and the ruby necklace Gun was holding. "You buying a necklace?"

"No, I don't like jewelry."

"The hell are you doing here then?"

"I'm buying a gift."

Goo snorted. "Very funny, now tell me the truth."

Gun stared through his sunglasses, not a single muscle moving on his face.

"Oh?" Goo leaned in, staring more closely at Gun's face like there was some hidden movement of an expression change or something. "Who's it for, huh? I didn't think you'd be the type to buy jewelry for someone."

"I'm buying it for someone special to me," Gun answered surprisingly honestly, leaving Goo flabbergasted for a moment.

"Uh." He leaned back to compose himself, adjusting his glasses. "First off, that's so cringe. Secondly, you actually have a friend?" Or maybe a lover or crush? Usually that's what someone special meant. Still seemed unbelievable, but just in case, Goo added in, "...Or something?"

Gun made a slight smirk. "I'm not incapable of creating bonds."

Goo shivered. "Ew, why do you always talk like an alien? Just say you made a friend." He followed Gun as the latter turned away to look at bracelets. "Who'd you become friends with? Some new successor you're trying to impress through jewelry?"

"When have I ever done that? Of course not."

"Then who?"

"Does my personal life matter to you?"

Goo swatted at his shoulder. "I could care less, but you've got me curious now. Who's this 'special someone' to you?"

"Stay curious," simply said Gun, picking up bracelets with his free hand and comparing them to the necklace in his other hand.

"Ugh."

Fine, Goo didn't care. It was probably some one night stand Gun just really liked the work of and wanted to keep around.

Actually... Gun had never said anyone was special to him before. It was cringey to hear him say that before like Goo stated, but now curiosity grew in him. What could it mean...?

~

"Oh, shit! I just remembered your meeting!"

"Damn, I lost track of time."

"It's fine, we both did, now hurry!"

. . .

Mr. Choi strummed his fingers across the table, not hiding his annoyance. "Gun, late again?" he questioned, Goo snickering.

Gun bowed his head slightly. "You called in a sudden meeting. I apologize for not being prepared, sir."

Goo was sitting leaned back in his chair, feet kicked up on the table. "Why do you look like a mess?"

Gun straightened up, finishing buttoning his shirt up and running a hand through his hair. His tone was much more sharper when replying to Goo. "I just said I apologize for being unprepared."

"So? It's late at night, what were you doing? Lounging around and being messy?" joked Goo.

Mr. Choi narrowed his eyes. "Or did you just come back from 'messing around?'"

Goo's jaw dropped when Gun's head slightly lowered once more.

"You youngsters..." Mr. Choi pinched the bridge of his nose.

"No fucking way!" Goo immediately started cackling as he leaned back, nearly falling from his chair. He moved to sit properly while giggling in between. "Sorry we interrupted your little fun~"

Gun ignored him and just mumbled an apology when Mr. Choi lectured him with, "I know you're an adult with the freedom to do as you wish, but don't be so careless by losing track of time."

The meeting began right after that, and Goo listened, of course. But he couldn't help but be mildly distracted by thoughts about the person Gun was "messing around with." Did they really do him so good he would lose track of time? Or did this person matter more to him than this meeting so he stayed back a little?

Probably the first, and it was also funnier if it was true. If the second was true though, that'd be interesting. Still kind of funny, though... Goo felt like he could never imagine Gun getting emotionally invested in anyone.

~

"Have fun at the party!"

"Ugh, I don't even want to go... promise me you'll still be here if I come back early. Which I probably will."

"Pft, sure."

. . .

Goo had a little too much to drink during this party. But he was having fun so who cares?

While chatting up some people, he saw Gun walking away to the exit of the room and ran after him, leaving the people he was talking to confused. He wrapped an arm around Gun's shoulder once he caught up, slurring, "Where're you going, huuuh~?" Gun shrugged him off but Goo just moved to hug his arm instead. "The party just began!"

"Ugh." Gun pulled his arm out of Goo's grasp. "I don't like parties like these."

"But you never leave this early! Come on, there's more to drink and eat!"

Gun sighed and looked around until he spotted a certain someone. "Crystal!"

"Hm?" She looked over at him, pausing from grabbing snacks at the tables.

"Keep this guy busy."

"What?" Gun was already sprinting away. Crystal started shouting, "Gun! GUN!! YOU ASSHOLE!!"

"Where's he going?" Goo wailed, heading to Crystal to lean onto her. "It's like he's sneaking away to see someone!"

Crystal shoved Goo away (or attempted to, because he kept falling on her like he didn't have a skeleton), saying something under her breath as she shook her head.

Goo didn't hear, and even if he did, he probably wouldn't remember tomorrow morning anyways.

[henrysglock]

i think where u and aemiron's csa theories flop at times is that. well. we have no proof henry has sexual intent.

yes, the vines and billy's lines and so on yada yada can be easily interpreted as CSA-coding - even the GA picks up on that. yes, i literally believe so much that the vines, will talking abt the MF in 2x04 and the entire possession thing is easily a metaphor for rape and CSA (i mean on character tropes it says will's possession was mind rape but who knows if character tropes is canon).

however the thing is, we have NO clue if henry is an actual pedophile. there's no textual evidence that he's sexually attracted to will or any child and thats why he did those things. the entire upside-down CSA thing is literally just a metaphor because, as far as we know, NONE of those actions had sexual intent, and the entire point of rape is quite literally, unfortunately; sexual intent.

(and even then the metaphor isn't even canon unless an ST writer etc says so. literally nothing the fandom theorizes is canon because its all a theory)

it's a common coding thing in film. they'll add metaphors that they never actually put into the explicit text so it just stays that way. for example, in wednesday, a character's in-ability to transform into a werewolf and become part of a wolf pack could be seen as a metaphor for being queer. this doesn't ACTUALLY mean the character is queer, unfortunately (personally i doubt that but nothing is canon yet) - but they use metaphors to portray that experience in their fictional world.

so while SA-coding is associated with henry and the upside down, this doesnt LITERALLY mean henry's a pedophile (because again we've literally never been shown his sexual attraction to children)

"There's no sexual intent"

How...How blunt do I have to be about this? Anon...He...There were babies involved. The entire slug thing in general (Barb included) is quite literally sexual reproduction. You can't say there's no sexual intent when there's sexual reproduction involved, anon. Like...please enlighten me on how I can possibly make that clearer. Do I have to be vulgar about it to make it click? Because I'd really rather not be.

All this without mentioning the fact that nearly every person he's targeted, lured, or said goosebump-worthy (/neg) lines to has been a teenager or younger. He's Vecna, Mindflayer, and Demogorgon. We have to look at all the seasons. Here, let's make a list of his victims and their age groups together:

Will: Preteen and teen.

El: Teen.

Nancy: Teen.

Max: Teen.

Fred: Teen.

Chrissy: Teen.

Patrick: Teen.

Barb: Teen.

Billy: Teen (but not a minor).

Heather: Teen.

Holly in S1: Child.

That's one hell of a track record lmao. The only outliers are Joyce in S1 (she's only targeted because she's connected to Will) and the Flayed (which were kind of a mixed bag since they were only there to become the Fleshflayer).

So, not a single one of the primary targets are over 20 years old...but most of them are teens. So you're right, I guess. He's not a pedophile.

He's closer to the definition of an ephebophile (with a thing for redheads).

Also, this isn't Wednesday. This isn't even in the same ballpark as Wednesday. Stranger Things is an adult supernatural horror series. It was supposed to be named Montauk for heaven's sake, as in the MKULTRA subset known for...what, exactly?

You guessed it: raping and otherwise abusing boys to break them and turn them into mindless super-soldiers.

I...don't know how much plainer I can make it without it becoming tasteless. The tentacle and the Mindflayer's possession are not a metaphors for rape. They're literal rape. The metaphor is the combination of Henry and the Shadow Monster re: cycles of abuse and the way forced conformity and weaponized trauma allow cycles of abuse to be perpetuated.

If you don't want to see what's on the screen in front of you, for whatever reason, that's totally fine. It's no skin off my nose. But don't come in here telling me my analyses flop when I incorporate the things you choose not to perceive.