#But also the fandom’s complaints just make little to no sense???

[iceinwhb]

Thank you for posting a bit of Lucifer's new card. Yet again PB tosses any sense of player agency out the window. If they want us to like MC, or feeling like we're part of the story as MC...then they're doing a bad job of it.

Ohw, you don't have anything to be thankful for. I would like to bring you more stuff about it, but unfortunately I am part of the people who don't want to buy a nightmare pass card.

I would like to advise that if you want content like this, follow an awesome account that allows us to have a little more information about the Lucifer card; Hikifans (I recommend you to follow the account because there is always whb content that most of us F2P people don't have).

Well, I've already reconciled the idea that Mc is so silly and insipid that sometimes can… work, and sometimes it doesn't, but its change comes with the course of the main story, because the cards are solely for the purpose of fuck with demons.

And I wouldn't want to disagree with PB, precisely because my content goes specifically to this, but I do tend to think it's a company like any other, and all they want is money, regardless of the players.

The price is truly another level compared to other gachas, both new and known, and yes, it seems unfair to me, I also don't feel they want to do it differently when they see the opportunity to make more profit than they didn't have in their other games.

And I want to add that I don't really understand the reason for making it so expensive, if the highest price of LU for a pack is around 26 dollars, and in Doki Doki, 15 dollars the most expensive of the week, then PB does know how to manage affordable prices for their players, and they can also sell the cards separately, and it would be dozens of times better, but no. I know they are aware that the players only pay for the card, not for the materials that can be obtained for free in the game.

So yes, you are right when you say they are doing it wrong, but only for us, the players.

And from this, I can give you even more bad news. There will be cards with the same position as Lucifer:

And I don't have the slightest confidence that it will be free.

On the other hand, if you wonder where all the money you spend on the game goes, I think PB is trying their best to stay afloat, that's why I don't think that for the moment, they are going to address players' complaints. In fact, they themselves said that they were “too busy” developing whb that it was impossible for them to reply to every single comment.

(And what I actually believe they were developing:

And I am sure that if they made a Raphael, there is also a Gabriel and a Michael.)

And I'll try not to contradict myself by saying this, because it depends on how you see PB and if you still believe in it to keep playing. On my more intimate side, I'm just here to bring you nice content and continue in the fandom, because it's one of the nicest fandoms out there.

[skyloftian-nutcase]

What do you think of Hylia? I’ve seen fans paint her as the true villain of Zelda series. Many of which blame her for the reincarnation cycle, and pretty much every bad thing that happened after SkSw’s era.

I have strong feelings about the fandom’s treatment of Hylia, but I’m gonna try to keep this chill.

Long story short, the hatred for Hylia doesn’t make logical sense.

It’s based on the erroneous assumption that Hylia caused the curse (fun fact, if people bothered playing the game they’d see that it was Demise who did it), or it’s based on botw Zelda’s struggles and frustrations because the story is told from her point of view. Oh no!! Hylia is evil because she didn’t listen as Zelda pleaded!! That’s not how prayer works, guys. You don’t get what you want, you get what you need, and Zelda’s major issue stemmed from her father, the pressure on her, her own insecurities, her lack of training and guidance. It’s a two way street to make things work - for all we know Hylia was trying to reach out to her but Zelda couldn’t hear her over the beratement from Rhoam screaming in her head or the whispers of the people echoing in her brain or her own questioning if she could even do it.

So basically, fandom’s Hylia bashing is based on poorly thought out arguments. Also they use characters who don’t even know who she is??? Like, Time, Legend… they have no freaking clue who Hylia is, guys. Her character didn’t even exist when their games were made. Maybe people are trying to make continuity or something, but Hylia was never mentioned in those eras.

Now! Did Hylia do questionable things? Yeah! Yeah, she did! But you know what else she did? She sacrificed herself multiple times to save her people, she fought her own war to protect everyone and the Triforce. She sent people to Skyloft to protect them while fighting alongside those who likely chose to remain. She died in her battle against Demise. She planned on coming back as a mortal, giving up everything she is, so she could finish the job and eliminate the threat. Yes, she used Link - she took a calculated risk, choosing someone with a pure heart who had the fighting prowess necessary if the need arose, and she befriended him. Yes! She used him! It’s messed up! But she also did everything she could to guide and protect him, and she tried to just do it herself without him if she could.

All that being said, sometimes Hylia bashing makes sense in the context of the narrative and the narrator. If your character/narrator has a beef with her for some reason, then yeah, they’re gonna criticize her. Doesn’t make them right about her. 🤷🏻‍♀️ But the idea of the fandom vilifying her is just… stupid.

Sometimes I don’t think it has to do with the stories at all, it’s people venting frustrations they’ve had with religious groups. I can’t fault them for that, but when I see that connection it kind of feels like a smack in the face and really freaking hurts, because God and Christianity aren’t people’s bad experiences, but I’m not opening that can of worms. I can’t control everyone’s experiences and nobody wants to hear me say that just because a person or group of people acted like hateful morons doesn’t mean that’s what Christianity is about. So anyway.

I like Hylia. Demise caused the curse. Hylia was trying to stop him before he even had a chance to utter a word. Demise’s curse led to bad things happening.

[estravenlover]

HATER NATION!!! what’s the most annoying fan interpretation of aziraphale and crowley

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Do you think all the characters are assholes?

Because i think they are despite their tragic backstories and i also don't think they appreciate Yuu enough, except for maybe the first years

I mean, the TWST characters are (mostly) inspired by Disney villains... Plus, they’re immature high schoolers still in the process of emotionally maturing. Of course they're not going to be perfect balls of sunshine. They're all going to be rude or have faults in their own ways, but they also have their strengths and charm points. I do call them assholes (lovingly), but I would hesitate to slap a singular label on any of the characters when they're all very well-rounded and morally ambiguous.

On the topic of Yuu, I think it makes sense that most of the cast doesn't really "appreciate" them. To begin with, most of the characters are not the openly sentimental types; they wouldn’t overtly express that gratitude even if it were present. Then we have to consider that Yuu isn't directly involved in their character growth or arcs in most cases; it's often the other characters who are confronting the OB boys or instigating, physically battling them to snap them out of it, and then comforting them afterwards.

As early as book 1, that pattern holds true. Ace is the one that initially pissed Riddle off. Adeuce are dueling Riddle. Ace decks Riddle and claims his last straw. Trey is the one calling out to Riddle as he's losing it. It's the members of Heartslabyul who gather around Riddle when he reawakens following the OB. (I'm not going to go through and list off what happens in every single book, but I'm sure you can think of many other instances... Lilia insulting Leona, Deuce and Epel having the heart-to-heart on the beach, Octavinelle's plot against Jamil, the twins checking up on Azul post-OB, etc.) To me, it feels like it is the boys and their bonds with one another responsible for the change, not Yuu's involvement. Yuu is usually along for the ride and actually does and says very little despite all the fandom jokes about "being the school's unpaid but overworked therapist" or Crowley's shallow claim that Yuu can help the boys learn to cooperate (which feels more like a vague ruse only shown in the prologue to shoehorn Yuu into the plot). There's actually very little in-game that shows them being active in helping the students change for the better. Much of the time, the boys can resolve their own struggles to get along without Yuu being there (like all those pair-ups in book 6–sure, it may have taken a while, but the fact remains that they did eventually resolve their own issues and cooperate without Yuu having to orchestrate for them; this also happens many times in events like Port Fest, Wish Upon a Star, Ghost Marriage, the Halloween events, etc). A very common complaint (at least among English speaking players) is that Yuu isn’t “involved enough” or that they don’t have a big impact on the events of the story. Therefore, most of the boys not feeling close or indebted to Yuu makes sense from their POV. What has Yuu actually and explicitly done to help them? Not much. It’s mainly in individual fan interpretations where Yuu/a Yuusona/an OC in Yuu’s role is actually able to play a more substantial part in each characters’ life and growth. In general, the standard in-game Yuu is more of a "fly on the wall" character that witnesses events unfold rather than someone who plays a large role in each book. The boys are seemingly the main characters, not Yuu. It's just convenient to have Yuu/a blank slate in the story because they, as an outsider, need TWST concepts explained to them (thus making it easier to give exposition to the players who may also be unfamiliar with the information). The first years, by comparison, are closer to Yuu simply because 1) Yuu is implied to be in the same year level as them (so they're more likely to be exposed to one another) and 2) their preestablished relationships with Grim, Ace, and Deuce opens them up more to first year interactions. "Friends of friends", if you will. It makes more sense than Yuu being appreciated and loved by everyone/most people in the main cast of 22ish. (How many people do you know irl that have 22ish significant friends?) They spend the most time together. Everyone else tends to stick to their own groups (with maybe the exception of Heartslabyul, since Yuu is already close with Adeuce). They’re just... not as intimate with Yuu, and therefore not as inclined to find much appreciation for them.

I want to clarify that this doesn’t mean there are zero instances of the characters outside of the first years expressing gratitude toward Yuu. Like, of the OB boys, it’s only Vil who consistently apologizes for the trouble he caused (note though: it’s not specifically to Yuu, but to everyone in the VDC/SDC squad. Yuu is then given prize money from most of the other boys as thanks for letting them crash at Ramshackle… Of those, only Kalim cites being grateful that he was able to stay and have fun with everyone because of Yuu green lighting the decision. This makes sense, as Kalim’s one of the few who wears his heart on his sleeve and is friendly to most. It just isn’t true for the majority of the cast, and we shouldn’t expect it to be.

As late as book 5, you can see characters like Leona not being so happy to be called out to or for Grim to act all buddy-buddy with him. That indicates to me that the rest of the cast is not that close to Yuu + related parties and doesn't have a real reason to be. (Note: I'm not counting character voice lines here as proof of friendliness with Yuu, as it can be argued that the relationships and events explored in the cards don't run in tandem with the main story and are meant more as fanservice for the players.)

Again, while it's not that fun to read in a narrative, it does leave things open-ended for anyone who wants to self-insert or to expand on those blank relationships for their own characters. I believe this is by design to appeal on an individual level to players. You get out of it what you put into it!

[firethekitty]

Ranking Every Wolfwood!!

happy wolfwood wednesday! i've ranked every wolfwood and it very quickly got out of hand and turned into more of a character analysis/meta. it was really fun and helped me better understand why i love this guy so much!

yes, really!

i hope you guys enjoy and that my autistic rambling makes sense!

1. trimax wolfwood. yeah he’s perfect. nothing else to say. god bless

while i can’t fit everything i love about him into one post, just know that i’ve written almost 30,000 words in wolfwood (and vash) character studies. so when i say “i like trimax wolfwood” that really means “i am fucking obsessed with trimax wolfwood”.

he’s the perfect mix of silly and heartbreaking, funny and serious, annoying like an older brother, deeply kind, so so painfully human; and a PERFECT foil to vash. simply phenomenal writing.

my only complaint would be that his tits are not on display like they are in the 1998 anime. but i can appreciate the subtly, so this doesn’t detract from his otherwise flawless score.

2. 98 wolfwood. omg hiiiii hehe twirling my hair ohh he’s so handsome what an absolutely beautiful design for him. his nose, his spider-esque shape, his TITS…… they even kept his little whiskers!

on top of an amazing design, he’s a very good balance of silly, irritable, playfully annoying, and serious! he fits pre-trimax wolfwood to a T!

but, as trimax progressed…

he’s cool. too cool. he has too much pull. wolfwood should NOT have swag. genuinely it is imperative to his character that he is, and i say this as lovingly as possible, a fucking loser with no friends.

wolfwood is a deeply traumatized man. he isn’t nearly as charming as we, the audience, thinks he is. no one laughs at his jokes, his insults are crude and immature, he embarrasses himself in front of literal children…

god, he is so painfully awkward. and who wouldn’t be in his situation? to have your childhood stolen and forced to grow up as a weapon? not allowed to interact casually with anyone else during the most important developmental stage of your life?

he's just not suave like tri98 wolfwood is. so, while 98 wolfwood is an excellent character, he doesn’t entirely read “wolfwood” to me. similar to how 98 vash is good on his own, but he’s just not “vash”. this is, of course, the result of making an anime out of a manga that wasn’t even 30% finished at the time. while i don’t understand the reasoning behind this, i know that nightow desperately needed the funds the anime brought in, as well as the motivation to keep making trimax, so i have to simply make peace with the dated characterizations tri98 has.

but don’t get me started on the milly situation. really a godawful writing decision, idk who approved that mess.

3. tristamp wolfwood. he is so bullyable. he’s like a sopping wet cat. absolute fucking dweeb.

i debated this for a long time—whether i should rank tristamp wolfwood above tri98 wolfwood. and i asked myself, do i love tri98 wolfwood because he’s a good character and is similar to trimax wolfwood? does he even remind me of trimax wolfwood at all? well, not really, he’s very clearly based on pre-trimax, just like tri98 vash is.

ultimately i decided i do genuinely just prefer tri98 wolfwood, but i felt the need to defend tristamp wolfwood because i see a lot of fair criticisms but also really dumb discourse throughout the fandom about him. so here’s my attempt at trying to address these:

so, there are some things i really enjoy about him and some things i really dislike; and, unlike vash, most of these criticisms are not a result of time/pacing issues. they’re easily fixable.

like, for the love of god he NEEDS to get sillier. they got the loser part down, but he’s a bit too overtly sad in tristamp. i think he will be more like his trimax self in season 2, but wolfwood’s humor is in-part a coping mechanism and important to his character. he’s an older brother! he’s fucking annoying! he thinks he's funny when he isn't! we do get a little bit of this with him and meryl, when he's tormenting her at the campfire, and that’s what i want to see more of. even if he’s playing it up, he should be working on getting their guards down, convincing them he isn't going to betray them.

since tristamp takes place in a weird prequel sort of canon, i get that he would look/act younger than he is in trimax. i think he was modeled after the teenage wolfwood we see in the flashback scenes of him training for the eye of michael, where he’s noticeably less outgoing and more reserved.

however, this doesn’t change the fact that he WAS silly as a kid in trimax, before his “teenage angst phase” (hate to call it that when it’s more like a “realizing he’s going to die by the gun and not being able to do anything about it” phase). but he’s still a lot quieter and reserved in tristamp as a kid, so i think we really need to find a good balance here in the trigun adaptations.

another example of an easily fixable issue—i really hate how they did the “vash sees how kind wolfwood is” scene, in which wolfwood gives money/snacks to children. in tristamp, wolfwood already knows the kid is zazie, which tells us absolutely nothing about his character. this scene is almost entirely worthless, only good for reminding vash that he should eat, which gives tristamp its own not-as-good hospital yuri scene.

and, so, about the elephant in the room… i don’t think he was whitewashed. let me try to explain my thought process.

tristamp, as far as i can tell, doesn’t seem to be taking any inspiration from tri98, whose wolfwood is very explicitly a brown man. trimax wolfwood i feel is a bit more ambiguous in his skin tone, which alternates between dark screentones and completely uncolored pretty much at solid 50/50 odds. just fairly inconsistent overall, even on the official manga covers.

but this doesn’t mean wolfwood is white in tristamp, and it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his aquiline nose. the notorious scenes of him in the suns, looking white as a fucking sheet, shows us how a 3D environment can diminish a character’s silhouette and distinctive features.

compare this to scenes of wolfwood in a dim environment, or to the 2D scenes of child wolfwood and livio that i can't include bc i'm only allowed 10 pics. he looks MUCH better, much darker than vash, and as they both should appear in such lighting. it just doesn't add up—he should be much darker in strong light if they followed the same color values:

SO, even though i feel like all of this is more of a technical issue rather than malicious whitewashing, that doesn’t mean i think it’s acceptable. it looks fucking awful, and the lighting system needs major improvement to work with darker skin tones.

and, like, at the end of the day, wolfwood isn’t canonically latino, and he doesn't really have a consistent skin tone either. it’s a great headcanon, one i partially share, but it’s not canon. the only ethnicity that could technically be considered somewhat canon is japanese, as wolfwood was based off a japanese singer named tortoise matsumoto. you can see this resemblance best in early trigun!

and i really need to defend his nose!!! a lot of people say he lost his nose but he didn’t!! i promise it’s there!!! another victim of his 3D model, you can only see his nose from the side or in the 2D frame after he gets his shit wrecked. see how clearly he has a very well-defined nose when he’s hand-drawn? this is what i mean when i say a 3D environment can drastically alter a character’s important features, as much as i otherwise adore the animation for this show.

also, if you think nightow would let studio orange get away with not including his nose, you got another thing coming.

in conclusion, while i think tristamp wolfwood is a great start, he’s just not quite there yet. but i have immense faith that the next time we see him, he’ll look and act a lot more like he does in trimax!

i know this is true, because there are already some shots in tristamp where i’m just like. oh yeah. there he is. that’s wolfwood. there's the guy i love so much

...

well, that was long! this was really fun to write and i

oh jesus christ what the hell is that thing

4. badlands rumble wolfwood. ah, now here’s a great example of overt whitewashing. no lighting excuses this time, just blatant colorism.

even if he wasn’t ghostly white, there's just something about his design that makes me viscerally uncomfortable and i can’t pinpoint what it is exactly. he’s just so… angular. he has no scruff, no kitty cat mouth, his eyes are very oddly shaped, almost no eyebrows... i just really hate looking at him!

his ONLY saving grace is how mentally ill he acts in this movie. and his tits. otherwise i don’t really have much to say about him!

ok, now we’re done! and here’s a handy wolfwood chart i made to summarize everything.

really hope this was fun to read and if people liked this i'd be glad to write a vash version or other characters!! happy woowoo wednesday :)

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Spoiler for Jujutsu Kaisen

I'm sorry it's so long and looks like a vent post. I'm sorry for those of you who had great luck in avoiding Jujutsu Kaisen until now. With that, let me give some context before the assholery.

Jujutsu Kaisen has a breakout character, Gojo, he is unique, flawed, well written, well loved, overpowered, and the most misunderstood character in this series. He recently met his end in the most infuriating way possible. It was an unceremonious death, off screened, after the biggest most violent battle in the series. Before he was brutally offed with just meaningless exposition detailing how he was killed and him uncharacteristically justifying the death in an afterlife scene that's written to appease a large part of the fandom (shippers- he's gay coded, no waifu here). His death completely destroyed his legacy and the future of this manga.

Problem: This is a popular series with disproportionate numbers of haters, casual fans, fans who get their information from tiktok or fanworks instead of the manga, fans who did a surface level reading of it, opinionated fans who didn't read after a certain point but discuss every new chapter like they're experts, people who hate it because they compared it to their favorite series and Jujutsu Kaisen didn't go that way, people who harass the readers and wish bodily harm on the author for not conforming to FANON, the works.

Gojo was MIA for almost 3 years which made fanon takeover the fandom, when he came back the author was accused of mischaracterization and bad writing because he didn't match 3 years of fanon. Reiterating, I mean fanon not headcanon, the headcanons here are almost all fanon based too and you will get nasty anons if you say you dislike FANON or praise CANON but I believe in people's right to headcanon.

My relationship with this: I've been a fan since 2019, this character of Gojo resonated with me like no one did in my 20+ years in fandom, he is my specialest blorbo, his relationship with his best friend has moved me etc. I'm autistic and this is my special interest as well. Needless to say depression has hit me like a freight train.

MY problem: My friend of 7 years who's currently deeply into yuri and danmei, who shared many fandoms with me, has been through the thick and thins with me, has decided to make me an enemy. When the chapter came out he chatted with me sent his condolences. Then he in his own social medias started talking about how he knew it was going to be a bad series, how he's glad he quit after struggling through 50 chapters, made all the jokes in the world about this death, discussed every little thing he hated and mocked this with his other weeb friends who are like the people I mentioned in the Problem section, validated all their complaints based on their reading of the FANON. He has had many discussions with me about this manga and very rarely did he express any of this negativity.

My assholery: I got frustrated, it was like he wanted me to see how much he could hurt me. I messaged him saying, "Hey what are you saying here, that's not how this character is written. The chapter is bad but this criticism is baseless and in bad faith" He laughed it off, "It's not that deep, this is fiction." I argued that's a shallow thing to say, he said it should have been like FANON since that makes more sense. I said that's conventional writing I thought we wanted different things than the same old nice characters in found family and such.

Then I said something about his favorites and hypocrisy, he said he's not so into it that he couldn't take criticism. I said that was a lie he's always writing essays about those characters. I also said criticize it for the right reasons damn it. He kept denying his own love for his fave so he could keep criticizing mine, because he at least had the sense to not fall for a shounen series. I asked if he was enjoying hurting me. He said are you for real, get a grip and stop justifying your behavior for fiction, they won't giving you cookies for defending them, if you can't bear to see negativity then feel free to mute or block. I snapped and said this is why no one likes casual fans, you can't keep your mouth shut about things you don't know. Have fun with being a two faced friend to everyone. Then I blocked him everywhere.

Some of my friends said I should have muted him long ago, I said this was inevitable if he was just going to validate everyone in vicinity, he had to pick a side. Others said I was right to tell him off. I regret some of the comments I made now.

AITA for the way I handled it? He is right, I could have muted him, I could have not spent my time doomscrolling and seeing all the bad takes he agreed with. I could have waited it out and not dropped an old friend over fiction. I could have done many things.

Please don't comment about touching grass, that's the least helpful thing anyone can say on blorbo the website. It's not a real advice we all know that. Therapy is also there for the depression and it will take years for me to get over the death, you don't need to remind me.

What are these acronyms?

[alphacentaurinebula]

WOT - Lan's storyline

I have been loving WoT s2 and feel like overall the changes they've made have been for the better. But of course I'm now going to spend ages talking about the small bit of it I DON'T like (cough, fandom), because there is one element I am really not enjoying and that is Lan's storyline.

I really like Alanna and her warders in the show (she was very much not my fav character in the books) and I enjoyed the chance to see into their world more in Ep 4 (when we saw their lives together, their relationship, Alanna's family...). I liked the insight into this different warder dynamic. And i just super love Maksim. If we had 15 episode seasons, this would feel like a brilliant way to enrich the storyworld and secondary characters.

But given how much story they are packing in for everyone else, and how little time we actually HAVE in 8 episodes, this whole plotline has just felt like treading water/wasted time.

I don't feel like we've learned anything interesting about Lan, in the way Moiraine's storyline has been filled with both character revelation and backstory. He's broody? I think we knew that already. He's not into threesomes? Disappointing for Future Nyneave, but not exactly crucial information here!

And also Lan is just like...so dumb? Everyone and their mother understands how Moiraine got around the 3 oaths to say she didn't see them as equals. I get it, he's hurt, but...dude! And I've seen complaints (from book readers) that it was wrong of Alanna et al to accuse Lan of being a darkfriend because of his background, but that is rubbish. This world is set up so that literally no one above suspicion of being a darkfriend. It makes sense they'd be suspicious of him.

Which makes it even more ABSURD that he isn't suspicious of them, and instead just blurts out this MASSIVE secret about the Dragon Reborn. I know the Alanna squad set themselves up as not dark friends by accusing Lan, but that could have been manipulation! He's ridiculously trusting to tell them about the dragon reborn.

I know he's pissed with Moiraine and doesn't understand her plans or trust her as he once did...but this revealing of a secret they'd worked 20 years for, just seems...really flipping DUMB!

I know loads of people love Lan in the books but I find him super boring and basically only care about him and his fate because I love Nyneave so much. I really wish we weren't wasting screen time on him and a pointless plotline in a season where everything else is working so well.

[my-lovely-writing]

Obey Me! Lucifer with an abused teen MC.

Little notes: Haha, sorry that was a bit of a hiatus! I've been struggling with, well...life. You know how it is. But I'm back because I have fictional person brain rot. If you don't want to see anything besides my hero/villain stuff, feel free to blacklist the obey me tags.

Also, I'm kinda new to the obey me! fandom, so I'm sorry if the characters are a bit off. I won't be writing about some of them until I've learned more about them.

With that said, if you have any triggers, please check the tw tags before clicking below. This is about an MC who's been abused.

Lucifer

Lucifer found it a bit strange how quickly you took to him.

He makes you do your homework before class tomorrow? No complaints. He reminds you of bedtime (which you have because nobody's allowed to stay up later than Lucifer in the house of lamentation due to the fact that there may not be one left by morning)? "Okay, no problem! I can study TSL later." (Still trying to hang out with Levi, are you?) If anything, you seem grateful for his overbearing tendencies.

Really, with the chaos of his brothers, he's a little bit weirded out by how much trouble you don't cause. Maybe you're just scared of the demons?

Yeah, that has to be it. Works for him.

Except...it doesn't.

Not when he comes in screaming at Mammon for yet another failing grade and you start trembling, face pale and legs locked from your place on the couch, as if you don't quite know whether to freeze or run.

Dammit, he needs to take care of this lest the angels see you as a hostage and another celestial war is started. Besides, Diavolo doesn't want the human exchange student terrified, he's trying to foster relations.

So, for once, Lucifer forgoes stringing Mammon up from the ceiling, much to everyone's surprise (and your and his shared relief) and instead stalks off to his office to calm down with his favorite cursed records.

Later that night, when he's sending everyone to bed, he saves you for last. "MC, please follow me to my office."

His tone is gentle, reassuring even, but you know better than to mistake it for a request. Your mind races as you follow him on shaky legs. What have you done now? Idiot!

When you reach his office, Lucifer gestures for you to sit in the armchair across from his desk. It's surprisingly comfortable as you sink into it, but you can't help feeling like you're being swallowed up. Is he going to eat you?

As he sits in the chair across from you, it doesn't seem like it. Yet.

"How are you adjusting to life in The Devildom?"

You can't figure out his game here. His face reveals little, but you get the sense that he's asking a question without asking it.

"I'm adjusting," you say simply, expecting him to drop it at that. You're just a mortal, after all.

"I asked how you are adjusting," he counters. "It must be a big shift for you."

Really, it must be, he had realized earlier in the confines of his office—he and his brothers struggled enough after the fall, but you, in your human ways, had not even realized the existence of magic or god before coming here, and now you're surrounded by demons? Not to mention that you're still a child. Lucifer doesn't like to curse, usually finding such foul language beneath him, but he doesn't know what to call it other than a mindfuck.

The Avatar of Pride's efforts to push away the tinge of guilt that accompanied said realization have been in vain. He and his brothers haven't exactly been nice to you, have they?

He's long decided to help you adjust, if only to get rid of this stubborn and unbecoming guilt, but he can't exactly do that if you won't tell him what's wrong and you're just staring at him like a gaping fish, so he doubles down. "Are you experiencing any difficulties, MC?"

Fuck, fuck, fuck—if your mind was racing before, it's moving so quickly now that it's burning into ashes that, somehow, through the magic you've just learned exists, are blown away by the wind to spell those three words.

"MC?" Lucifer repeats your name, eyes widening in that half a millimeter of concern Diavolo talks about (referencing that one chat, I forget the actual measurement and I know his eyes technically widened in surprise, but give me a break) . Is this a human thing? No demons he knows of are this...weak. It's an active effort for him to restrain his judgement as he raises his eyebrows at you which, finally, seems to prompt a response.

"P-please, I'm sorry, I'll do better! I'm sorry for whatever I did. I w-won't do it again, don't eat me!"

Well...

Suddenly he feels like an ass for judging you. Just what ideas has Mammon been putting into your head? You look like you've seen your own ghost. And again, he reminds himself, you are a weak and defenseless human child in a world of demons.

"Nobody, not even Beel, is going to eat you. As our human exchange student, I won't allow you to die before the year closes," he says, lips pulling into a frown, studying you more intently now and watching the way you squirm as he looks at you, back ramrod straight against the armchair. What is going on with you? "Why do you believe that I would eat you?"

"I, uh..." Okay, so you don't think he'll eat you, but it's never good when an adult looks at you like that. "I don't know, you seemed upset earlier and now I've been called in here, so I thought I might have screwed up somehow—not, like, arson or anything, but I thought...I thought you'd find something."

"You thought I'd find something?" Lucifer stresses the word.

"...Yes?" you say with all the hesitance of someone on death row confessing to a crime. You swear you see Lucifer's eye twitch for just a split second.

Meanwhile, Lucifer's got it. At first, he didn't really pay all that much mind when Diavolo mentioned that you come from "troubled circumstances", mostly hoping that you wouldn't be just as troubled and therefore troubling yourself, but he's starting to see that you are—just in a different way than the others.

Of course, he doesn't outright mention or address the clues he's just put together—The Avatar of Pride can tell better than anyone that you're hiding your past as well as you can, which is, admittedly, not well, but he's been persuaded to humor you.

"I am not a sadist." Okay, he is, but it's better that you not know that. He continues, "I am not looking to find something to punish you for and, while there are some things I would kill you for such as threatening my brothers, Diavolo, or the Devildom, I have no intentions of causing you harm under regular circumstances. You may get an F on your math test without fearing me or any punishment I would give you, MC."

You blink as you process the words, a little bit of the fear edging out of your body. "I can?" Your voice is tentatively hopeful.

"You can," Lucifer reaffirms, shuffling his paperwork around, if only for your benefit, as tears begin to brim in your eyes. He allows you to save face. "Go to bed. You're welcome in my office if you ever need to talk."

"Thank you," you mumble to him as you hurry from the room. You don't know what this means, but you know you're not dead and that's good enough.

The next morning, Lucifer's brothers are woken up earlier and met with a stern talk about being kind to you, accompanied by the reminder that you are a child even by human standards who is adjusting to life in literal hell and the threat of them having to adjust to hell a second time over (a punishment—Lucifer's punishment is the second hell). "We're building relations with the exchange student for Diavolo," he justifies explains.

His brothers aren't terribly thrilled with the idea of cozying up to a human, but they agree because they remember how hard the fall was for them.

Asmodeus, being the most familiar and cool with humans due to his pact with Solomon and finding your fearful, doe-like nature adorable, offers to take you out clubbing—to which Lucifer reminds him of the child thing.

Fine, fine, no clubbing. He'll pamper you instead, you certainly have enough split ends to suggest you could use a haircut.

From then on out, a new rule is established where each of the brothers, Lucifer included, have to spend time with you every so often with one or more brothers spending time with you each day of the week.

Needless to say, you're confused by the sudden kindness but you soon don't mind it, finding yourself slowly warming up to them—and, much to the shock of your ruined self-esteem, they to you.

Lucifer is pleasantly surprised and secretly grateful to find that his brothers get into less trouble with you around and, eventually, even more pleasantly surprised to find that you seem almost normal around them. You no longer eat in silence at the dinner table, refuse to meet their eyes, or cower like a puppy used to getting kicked when they raise their voices at each other (everyone has learned not to raise their voice at you, even Satan).

It's not long before Lucifer is calling you his best behaved child sibling. He even goes so far as to have everyone retake the family photo with you in it.

Is there any way he can turn you into a demon? He'd like you to be his child sibling for forever, and humans die far too quickly. As far as Lucifer's concerned, Satan has something new to research.

And it's not as though you don't seem to have some level of darkness in you. Just the other day you heard screams coming from the lower levels of Lord Diavolo's castle and followed them in spite of your fear, kind heart wanting to aid whoever was suffering.

According to Barbatos, you didn't even flinch when you found him torturing your parents, pliers still gripped around one of your dad's bloody fingernails.

Hell, you even asked to join in! (How Barbatos responded to that, I'll let you all imagine lol)

Also, Lucifer will never admit it, but he's quite possibly never felt more pride than the time you, Satan, and Belphie pranked him with a whoopie cushion on his desk chair. Normally he would have beat his brothers with it, but he could tell from the less than ideal invisibility cloak over the object that you were involved and hid a smile from prying eyes as he sat on what felt like his throne despite the ensuing fart noises.

And that's how his family of seven became eight once again.

[s-creations]

Fluctuates Chapter 5- One is Sick

One-Shot entries for the #RadioStatic Week 2024.

Yep, I'm doing this again! I'm going to make sure that I can keep track with uploading this time. Also, I will be sticking with the Fluff path, because I need more Fluff with these two.

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Relationships: Alastor/Vox (RadioStatic) Warnings/Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Lots of Fluff because I want it, Rosie will be in this, Probably other characters not sure at the moment, Husk has arrived as well!, nudity mentioned

Alastor was known for one thing, control. He always had to be in control. No matter the situation. Alive or dead, if he was involved, Alastor needed to lead. And while Hell offered so many avenues that allowed him that sense of control, it also gave one disadvantage that he’d not counted on. 

That being his body now had an annual sickness called a ‘rut’. A time where he wasn’t aware of his own consciousness. When his existence was pain and heat and pressure. With a desperate need for the comfort of someone, but with the want to keep some semblance of himself while being lost in his unwanted animalistic instincts. 

It. Was. Torturous. 

As the years passed when he’d first arrived, it was counting down and planning for when he had to hide himself away. Making sure to leave rumors that he was still there, watching from the shadows, so no sinners could believe Alastor was trapped in a situation of weakness. Leaving him alone for days to deal with an illness that brought him to his knees. 

A part of his afterlife he had to deal with in silence. 

…Until.

“Alastor?”

Ears flickering hearing that familiar voice, Alastor practically peeled himself away from his sweat laden pillow. Eyes with blown pupils darting over to the bedroom door where Vox was cautiously peeking his head in. 

The Media Overlord gave a small smile upon seeing Alastor and let out a whisper of, “Oh, we’re a bit further than I thought.”

Entering the room fully, Vox gave a quiet goodbye to whomever was on the other side before closing the door. Shedding his coat and kicking off his shoes, Vox slowly approached the bed, voice low and calming. 

“Hey you, sorry about being late. I tried to get out of that meeting as quickly as possible. Guess it wasn’t fast enough.” Nearing the bed, Vox raised a hand for Alastor to take. 

Only to pull it back quickly when the other let out a low growl, antlers growing.

“Hush you, it’s just Husk’s scent. You know Husk. He just brought me up, that’s all. It’s just the two of us, I promise.” 

Alastor pouted slightly at that, but made no further noise of complaint. Cautiously eyeing the same hand as it reached out and relaxing when it began to scratch behind his ear. 

“Not much for talking either, huh? How do you feel about getting out of that suit and getting a little more comfortable?”

“No.” Was Alastor’s snap reply, voice low and gravely. 

Vox merely shrugged. “Alright, guess we’re starting this off with being uncomfortable but stylish. How typical of you.”

Being careful not to displace anything in the bundle of blankets that had formed a small ‘nest’ on the bed, Vox shifted until he was laying next to Alastor. Who was still watching Vox with cautious curiosity. Seeming uncaring that he was being monitored closely, Vox let out a sigh as he got comfortable and patted his chest. 

“Come on. I didn’t frantically rush over here just for you to keep your distance. Let’s starve off that uncomfortable feeling for as long as we can”

The unseen tail gave a little wag as Alastor rolled over. Moving slowly so he could respond accordingly if there was a trick involved with this. Vox remained as still as he could, watching as Alastor shifted to lay his head on the other’s chest. 

The moment he recognized Vox’s scent, Alastor relaxed. Ears lowering in relief  as he practically buried himself into Vox. Claws coming close to tearing into the dress shirt. 

“There we go.” Vox mumbled softly, arms reaching up to wrap around Alastor as he sunk further into the bed. “Now we’re getting somewhere. A good, long nap will be the best start to this. Good way to build up that needed energy for future issues, right? Nice and relaxed…”

Alastor didn’t respond. Instead nuzzled closer and closed his eyes. Having no issues with the fingers that had returned to gently scratch behind his ear. 

“Nice and relaxed… Before the shit show officially starts.” 

__________________________

The small part of his rational mind that remained knew this was stupid. That he should just listen to what Vox was saying. But another part was saying that he could handle himself and he didn’t need help.

“Would you please just strip!” Vox desperately asked again. Bucket of cold (slowly becoming cool) water in one hand with a cloth in the other. Staring down a disgruntled Alastor, who had bundled himself up further in his nest. Glaring at Vox from the shadows. 

“You’re being ridiculous. I know your temperature is going to skyrocket soon and if you’re uncomfortable now, it’s going to be ten times worse. I have something that can help. But you need to get undressed. Yeah? Think we can do that?”

Alastor’s response was to let out a warning growl.

“You fucking deer-” Vox let out a slow breath, “You know I’m just here to help you. Please, just let me help you. Do you want to sniff the water first? Would that help?” 

Not waiting for a reply, he lifted up the bucket. Alastor flinched away slightly when it was within view. But did eventually poke his head out to sniff the air.

“See? Just water. Just something that will help with your heat. I promise. Now, how do we feel about removing some clothes?”

Alastor snapped his mouth and dove back under the blankets. 

“Come on! You prude, I’ve seen you naked before!”

__________________________

Alastor let out a small whine as his light sleep was interrupted by a new cool cloth draped over his back. Wanting more to break this fire burning inside him. But not wanting to release the large pillow he was wrapped around. 

“I know,” Vox whispered softly, “I know, this sucks. You’re doing great, I promise. Try and go back to sleep?” 

A small huff was offered as a reply as Alastor’s eyes closed once more. 

__________________________

Alastor let out a warning growl as Vox shifted again. Arms tightening around the other. Eyes narrowing as Vox turned over, as best he could, to offer his own glare back. 

“You are entirely too warm,” Vox’s voice was quiet from exhaustion, “Also, I need to use the restroom.” 

Another warning growl was the reply back. 

“What, do you want to hold my hand while I urinate?” While the question was clearly posed as a joke, Vox’s smile dropped when Alastor crawled out of the bed. Standing expectedly by the edge of it while looking back at the Media Overlord. 

“...I was fucking joking- Hey!” There was the sharp sound of feedback as Vox was effortlessly picked up from the bed. Held close while Alastor walked towards the bathroom. “You ass! Fucking- You’re not staying in the room!”

__________________________

There was a new scent in the air.

Alastor’s eyes snapped open as his senses screamed ‘danger’. New and unfamiliar was not making for a safe environment. Form growing, he practically staggered his way to the bedroom door. Eyes looking around for the intruder and Vox, because the Media Overlord was missing from the room. 

Twisting his body in order to fit through the door, Alastor was still frantically scanning the area. A small blip of relief hit him when he found Vox standing at the suite’s entrance. A well tied package in hand as he stared Alastor down with panicked eyes. Alastor’s focus swiveled to the door. Or, mainly, who was on the other side of the door. 

There was a flurry of motion.

Vox quickly pushed the other away from the door before slamming it closed. Pressing his body against it as Alastor quickly stalked forward, letting out an unholy screech as he clawed against the ground. 

“Wait, wait, wait!” Vox held up a hand towards Alastor while still holding the package close. “Wait, it’s fine! You’re fine!”

Alastor stopped right in front of Vox, leaning down as he quickly scanned the other over. Looking for any injuries that the intruder could have delivered. 

Vox placed the package down to free his hands, allowing him to gently place them on Alastor’s face to try and offer some comfort. “Hey, I’m okay, I promise. We just got a delivery. That’s all. You protective little gremlin.” 

He laughed softly as Alasor nuzzled against him. “Yeah, okay, how about getting you to eat something.” 

Remaining close to the other Overlord, Alastor watched as Vox unwrapped the delivered package. The latter wincing as a newly eviscerated corpse flopped down onto the floor. Barely getting out of the way before Alastor descended upon it. Vox taking a few steps back as to not get caught in the crossfire.  

“Hopefully that will keep you satisfied for a while.” He mumbled weakly. Shrinking back to avoid a rather violently thrown chunk of meat.

__________________________

Alastor woke with the first semblance of normalcy since the week had started. Body a little sore, but felt back in control as he shifted slightly, trying to sit. Only to stop when an arm, which had been draped around his waist, tightened around him. Looking up to find Vox’s blank screen reflecting Alastor’s exhausted looking face back. They were both lying on the bed with Alastor on top of the other, head resting on Vox’s chest. 

Smile softening, Alastor shifted up slowly so he could comfortably kiss Vox’s screen. Quietly laughing when the screen flickered on with the Media Overlord’s face barely seen. “Good morning dear.”

Vox let out a small hum as he stretched. “Mornin’... How’re you feelin’?”

“Better. Much, much better. You look a little exhausted.” 

“Chasin’ after you does that…” Vox let out a slow cycle of air as he settled back down into the bed, arms wrapping around Alastor. Hand reaching up to scratch behind the Radio Demon’s ear. “‘M assumin’ your rut is over?”

“Would appear so. But I suppose one more day away from everyone and cuddled up to you would be best. Just to be sure.” While saying this, Alastor settled himself back down. Nuzzling under Vox’s ‘chin’ before laying his head on the other’s chest. 

Vox gave no reply to this. Entire form relaxing as his hand eventually stilled, laying on the back of Alastor’s head. 

The Radio Demon made a mental note to pamper Vox later. Afterall, it’s the least Alastor could do for the other, after caring for him for that week. 

[nabateaprodigy]

Please may I have a Fairy tail request hurt to comfort fanfiction of when Juvia Lockser's male S/O who is Gray's older twin brother reassured Juvia that he still loves her no matter what when Juvia heard complaints from S/Os fangirls of how he could fall in love with a gloomy weather woman and stuff like that and it understandably greatly hurt Juvia's feelings judging by how the rain began to fall (S/O saw the situation and made the fangirls see sense that he loves Juvia and there is nothing that can change how he feels about her). S/O comforted Juvia afterwards..not caring if the rain will make him sick considering how long he spent looking for her. He still cared about Juvia..and he loves her.

(Juvia doesn't deserve any hate)

My Lovely Rain Woman

Series: Fairy Tail.

Character: Juvia and Gray.

Genre: Hurt to Comfort.

Proofread: Yes.

Reader: Male.

Notes: Ahh omg just reading this request a little sad! I love Juvia with all my heart she's my favorite Fairy Tail character. It's sad to see so much hate for Juvia within the fandom. She's just a girl who's in love and who has no problem showing her love for the person she's in love with.

Juvia was out doing some shopping in Magnolia when she overheard two girls talking. "How can a woman like that be with him? She's so gloomy!" One girl had said to the other. "I know right? There's also rain wherever she goes!

And don't get me started with all the affection she gives him. He can't get a moment to breathe without her holding onto his arm!" The other girl spoke in reply. In that moment it was as though Juvia's whole world began to collapse.

Was what they said true? Did what they say was how her S/O thinks of her? Then just as she was taking all of this I'm the girl spoke again. "Not to mention she can be so clingy and obsessive! Honestly, I do take pity on her lover."

"Clingy." "Obsessive." It rang in Juvia's head over and over overwhelming her. It wouldn't stop it's all she can think of now. It was beginning to become too much for her she started to tear up and began running home. On her way, she passed Gray who had notched how upset she was.

"Juvia!" Gray had called out to her but kept on running not stopping until she reached the comfort of her room. Gray knew something was wrong so he ran back to the Guild Hall to tell you about Juvia. As this was happening Juvia finally made it to Fairy Hills and ran straight to her room.

She immediately fell onto her bed crying about what those girls said earlier. The words felt like a knife to Juvia's heart and kept on hearing the words the spoke in her head. All of this was too much for Juvia as began crying harder from their words.

Just then Gray had finally made it back to the Guild Hall to tell you about Juvia. You were with Natsu and Lucy just talking about some jobs you should take. Gray ran up to you immediately to tell you about the state Juvia was in.

"Hey, little brother I just saw Juvia a while ago. She looked very upset I tried to call out to her to see what was wrong. But she just kept running for whatever upset her."

This was a surprise to you what happened? Where's Juvia? Is she okay? All these questions raced through your mind. But just then Gray began to speak again.

"I saw her running off in the direction of Fairy Hills. She's probably already made her way there. So I would go there first to look for her."

Gray spoke to you again and you immediately got up from your seat. You then began to race out of the Guild Hall to go see Juvia. On your way out you shouted to Gray thanking him for coming to you and telling you about Juvia. "Thank you, Gray!"

You were worried so very worried about Juvia. Nothing like this had happened before so you could only imagine how Juvia must be right now. You had finally made it to Fairy Hills now and made your way to Juvia's room as quickly as you could.

You finally reached her door and knocked gently. "Juvia? Can I come in?" No response but you can hear Juvia crying through the door. "Juvia? I'm coming in alright?" You spoke as you opened her door and entered her room.

There she was you saw her as soon as you entered the room. She was crying heavily on her bed. She didn't even look at you when you entered the room she just continued crying.

You approached and sat down on the bed next to her as you began to speak. "Juvia? What's wrong? Will you tell me what happened? I'm really worried about you."

You began to rub her back with your hand in an attempt to comfort Juvia. After a while Juvia's crying seems to have begun to slow down and she was taking deep breaths. Then after some more time, Juvia spoke to you about what was upsetting her.

"Darling, am I too clingy?" Juvia spoke and it surprised you as you didn't expect that. "What? No of course not Juvia why would you think that?" Juvia then sat up next to you.

"Juvia was out shopping earlier today and I overheard these girls taking. They said I was too clingy and obsessive over you darling." It hurts your heart to hear this but your heart hurt even more seeing how it was affecting Juvia.

You then pulled Juvia into a hug her head resting on your shoulder and your head resting on hers. "I would never think anything like that Juvia. I love you more than life itself you mean so much to mean and I care about you more than words can express. Don't listen to them Juvia what they said isn't true.

I love you just how you and nothing will ever change that." As soon as you tell her this Juvia's mood changes and you see her start to smile again. "Thank you darling I'll never doubt your love for me again. I love you so much." Juvia spoke looking at you with a smile on her face. "And I love you as well Juvia."

[chuuwtoy]

i remember discussing with my friend if rebecca was really the blushing virgin that everyone in the fandom makes her out to be. at the time i just shrugged it off and said yes, because i didn't know much about her character (not that there is much anyway.) but after thinking about it, my opinion's changed a bit. so here's my random opinions about rebecca.

incoming airstrike: incoherent rambling.

initially i felt like rebecca was only really put into the first game to be jill's opposite, and also i guess to make it even and put a girl on the other team.

i haven't played RE 0 (and with the complaints i probably won't..) but she isn't exactly squealing and blushing whenever billy looks her way - if anything, billy is more of a flirt. maybe him giving her all these cute nicknames is just in his nature? or perhaps he just really likes her. who knows!

you could argue that everyone on her team died and she's going through this hellish nightmare on her first mission - so why on earth would she have goo-goo eyes over some inmate who supposedly slaughtered 23 people?! haha, i love analyzing these guys.

rebecca isn't afraid to put anyone in their place, she demands respect, "but that's officer chambers to you", "and dont call me little girl!" one thing i love about these lines is how it's delivered, she isn't stomping her feet and throwing a tantrum. she keeps her soft tone and says it sharply! i wish people saw her as spunkier and dominant, rather than an innocent, helpless baby.

suprisingly, she doesn't fall for chris either. i mean can you blame me for expecting her to? he's protecting her throughout the game and vice versa. she's tired and scared but atleast she has chris to lean onto. that's the perfect set up for a predictable (one-sided) romance. the same arguement could be made - she's tired, and got thrusted into another nightmare, she doesn't have time to be flustered over chris..

something that's a little odd but rebecca has respect for chris in the sense that she refers to him as "sir", when she doesn't even do that for enrico. though, im sure its because she's familiar with enrico, but not chris.

she's oddly professional for her age, but no one in the fandom gives her credit for it— and yes i know it's probably because she's a child prodigy, so perhaps she had to grow up quicker? i assume she was around adults much older than herself. ( ≧ᗜ≦) !!!

i know it's common for people to call her a tomboy because "girl + short hair = tomboy" (sarcasm). though, if i'm being honest, i never saw her as one. rebecca (and jill) are just girls, they can't really be placed into boxes - they're not clichés. you see the duality with rebecca loving basketball but also being a chemist? i LOVE that so much. she's in this male-dominated field with an age that still end in -teen.

rebecca is described as "androgynous" in her uniform and while i agree to some extent i don't really like that word too much, because it implies that jill's uniform isnt androgynous when i think that it is.. so what because jill's chest is prominent she can't be androgynous too? hmph, it always left a bitter taste in my mouth.

also i really love that she's wearing makeup in 0, it's her first mission and she's all dolled up 笑笑笑笑笑 but they stopped using ayumi's model and i guess wanted to rework her face.

this isn't meant to disprove or bash that very popular ship "rebilly" by the way! do i ship it? not quite, sorry but i dont ship anything besides myself and a certain bioterrorist えへへへへへへへへ

the novel, caliban cove, portrays her as your typical teenage girl. she gets embarrassed a lot, blushes at the slightest contact, etc etc. it's not canon though, so i didnt bother to mention it.

i haven't discussed this either but i'd like to see discussions about her sexuality, nothing is confirmed but options are always open (ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ.ﾟ

[true-blue-sonic]

Curious to know the difference between Espilver & Silvaze for you (personally I definitely entirely disagree that Espilver is Silvaze but gay 😭)

I must say I've never heard of that statement before myself, though my gut feeling is also that they are not just "the exact same ship with a different person", so to say. It is mostly because Espio and Blaze have quite some differences in personality that affect their interactions with Silver, but I feel like the fact Silver's personality has notable differences between his '06 and Rivals 2 appearances also has an influence on it. And as I wrote this post, I also noted some things about Blaze's personality in '06.

So let's unpack all that, haha! I can understand why at first glance, it's easy to see Blaze and Espio as characters who are mostly just "the same". For example, they're both portrayed as the straight men of the bunch: for Blaze clearly seen in Rush Adventure, where she starts out rather irritable, dismissive, and unamused of Marine, and for Espio with his focused and strength-obsessed attitude compared to Vector and Charmy's goofing around and bickering. Both of them are driven and heavily disciplined, are notably stoic amidst the more zany other members of the cast, work swiftly towards goals, seem more introverted and alright with doing things solitarily, have the occasional moment of wit and snark, can certainly get flustered, and possess a strong desire for justice, among other traits.

But there's also differences between them. Blaze's withdrawal from others came from the pressure she put on herself and 'always having been alone' because of her pyrokinesis, whereas Espio's solitary attitude seems more like an informed attribute to me. Wherever he goes, the Chaotix usually are not far behind, and when he does go solo it's apparently either to go train and hone his skills or because Vector sent him out for a mission. Espio thus doesn't at all seem to have any of the self-loathing Blaze used to have in her pressuring herself: I would say that for him it seems more like a self-imposed desire to become more powerful, which he seems to tackle masterfully and with a level attitude. Blaze also has much more of a temper on her, which makes her easily riled up; Espio meanwhile has a burning desire to snuff out evil, but keeps a calm head throughout. None of these are really traits that affect Silver, but I find it noteworthy to point them out.

But.... to be quite honest, what makes this ask rather difficult for me is that Blaze in '06 doesn't have much to do, which I believe is a common fandom complaint. Silver is the only one to ever acknowledge her, and her role mostly just is to be a satellite around him who keeps him on-track and gives him encouragement and tips. There's very little of her Rush personality (hot-headed, awkward about making friends but getting better at it, not good at accepting help which carries on a bit still in Rush Adventure, etc.) that shows in '06, in my opinion. For example, a noteworthy trait of her in Rush is the fact that she was teased for her pyrokinesis and had high expectations of protecting the Sol Emeralds on top, which caused her to shut others out and put everything on her own shoulders. That is not an experience I would say can be skipped in Blaze's personality: it really heavily influences how she acted in Rush, and affects her to this day even after her growth. But afaik there's no mention in '06 at all of Silver positively impacting her with his apparent acceptance of her and her powers: the trait is merely informed at best, not shown. Basically all development is centered around Silver instead, where Blaze is there to help but does not develop in turn, if that makes sense? And thus, she's more of a blank slate who's very supportive of Silver and who clearly loves and appreciates him as her companion, but whose personality as we'd seen it one year prior is not really there for me. And that makes it difficult for me to objectively compare the differences between the two ships, to be quite honest.

I will readily concede that Espilver and Silvaze could have many things in common: I would say both Espio and Blaze serve as Silver's support in their respective games, where they keep him on track and help him keep up his hopeful attitude. They seem to be well-synced with him, and Silver clearly respects them both. But the main difference for me is that Silver generally is the one making the plans and handing out the orders in Rivals 2, that Espio also follows. Espio only steps in when Silver cannot do so anymore, such as when his powers are almost depleted in the canyon. Silver does not need him for any emotional support or to get advice: he already knows with certainty what he is doing. Meanwhile, though '06!Silver also feels like 'the leader' between him and Blaze for me, he seems much more dependent on Blaze for said emotional support and guidance. He turns to her when he gets stuck about the morality of hurting one person to help many, and she calms him down when he expresses frustration about being unable to defeat Iblis for good, for example. I'd say it is in such things that those little details lie for me: '06!Silver has a lot more focus on morality and world-saving, whereas Rivals!Silver's quality that stands out most is kiiiiiind of being a jerk at most times. He's got his sweet moments, also with Espio, but his temper is very noteworthy in that game; much more than it was in '06, in my opinion.

And to add to that, I feel like the '06 personalities are not carried over so much in later games. In Colours DS, Silver and Blaze start one-upping each other for a bit about how they each could have defeated Orbot and Cubot solo, which I would say fits better with Blaze's withdrawn and occasionally-awkward-and-overly-serious demeanour as seen in Rush. Silver's self-confidence and competitive attitude meanwhile is present in most of his portrayals, and thus also here... but gone are the questions about morals or him needing emotional guidance, which makes a strong part of his personality in '06 for me. Also in one Sonic Channel story, Blaze and Silver get off on the wrong foot at first, and it takes some time for them to see the value in the other being there as their actions sync. I'd say such a story and development fits the two of them better with their non-'06 personalities: Blaze is self-reliant and doesn't accept help easily still, whereas Silver has more of a temper against her at first. It's quite different from '06, where they apparently already are the best of companions and Blaze's role kind of is to give Silver support. But the main source of Silvaze content simply is that game, and there Blaze's personality is rather lacking to me compared to what we learned of her before, and Silver's personality carries more focus on his softer, younger, naive sides. Meanwhile, in the Rivals 2 games Espio offers him his help in the game proper and you can see how they affect each other afterwards, but Silver does not need Espio for emotional guidance or to answer questions about how far you can acceptably go to save a world. For me, that makes both ships just a bit different!

[imsoquarky]

OKAY IM GONNA TALK ABOUT TMNT MM NOW

WARNING FOR SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT!!! THIS IS A RAMBLE POST, I AINT TIPTOEING AROUND IT!!!

Also, probably gonna start making # for post types. I feel like I reblog so much stuff that it's hard to find my actual content-

♠️ - ♣️ - ♥️ - ♦️

Starting off the bat, everyone who said Rise lovers were gonna love MM were absolutely correct. I adored this movie with every fiber of my being and I really think it could bring new people into the TMNT fandom just as ROTTMNT did.

While I will always be sad that Rise did not get the merch it deserved, I am over the moon that MM is getting it. The toys I've seen and merch I've gotten are already extraordinary. For the most part they are very very well made and most of it doesn't look like they've seen their entire family be brutally ripped limb from limb.

But moving away from my opinions about merch which is a whole other bag of worms being the physical item lover I am. THE MOVIE WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!

The storyline, the characters, the voice acting, the line delivery, the writing, the comedy, and ofc most of all

THE ART!! OMG THE ART!!! I LOVED EVERY SINGLE BIT!!! I see so much dragging on the art of this movie because it's ugly BUT THATS THE WHOLE POINT!!! It's meant to be messy, asymmetrical, even uncomfortable at times. Every character is so vastly different from the last, including every single background character. Some of my favorite overall designs were Splinter, April, Stockman, Superfly, Mondo Gecko, and even that fuckin BEAST Superfly turned into at the end.

This was the first iteration I watched where Splinter started out as a rat, being only into the more modern media, I had no idea that he was originally a pet. I could go on and on about MM Splinter and that is what I am going to do. I LOVED HIM. SO MUCH. He was such a dad, and an absolute badass when he wanted to be. Kicking ass to save his sons and just worried out of his mind about them. Despite his distain for humans, he was willing to take their help when it was offered. Instead of reprimanding his sons right then and there, he'd give them a hug and make sure they were safe beforehand. And when he saved them from getting their blood taken (I'm not calling it milking, please don't make me omg- /lh), he was like "I told you so!" but not in like.. a toxic way?? I never thought Splinter would end up as my favorite of any iteration, yet... here we are.

But y'all probably aren't all that interested in my gushing about Splinter yeah? Let's talk about the turtles, going from my favorite to least favorite (not to say I don't absolutely love them all, I just like some more than others.)

Raphael and Donnie are tied, but I'll start with just Raph. Raphael very much reminded me of when I was younger. Down to the struggled with volume & um... well, anger issues. Deep down, he loves and cares about his brothers, but he wants to branch out and meet new people. It's not that he doesn't want them to be there when he dies, it's that he wants to know other people outside of them. He loves them, but it's only natural to not want to ONLY have them.

Donatello was a silly guy, lots of playful jabs at his brothers and I just loved him. Also, the guy can DRIVE. Technically, being old enough, most places I know you can get a learners permit, so he probably realistically could drive. Despite complaining about having a "giant stick" much like 2012 Donnie, I found myself less annoyed by his complaints. Maybe I'm bias? Who knows. Point is, I loved him.

Leonardo, like Raph, was extremely relatable. With his upbringing and having a very anxious father, it makes sense to have such chronic anxiety. I swear, sometimes I feel like a mix between MM Leo and MM Raph. While ofc, I wasn't a fan of the little crush on April, it's not unrealistic. This is the first girl they've met and he has dreams of getting a girlfriend, obviously a 15 year old like that is gonna fall head over heels for the first girl he sees. Hell, when I first found out girls could like girls I honestly wasn't much different. (Ofc, I'm not a girl anymore, but that's besides the point here). But April shutting him down at prom was a relief, I'm hoping it just stays as a little puppy crush. It was handled SO much better than 2012 ever did, and I'm standing by that.

Now Michelangelo. Mikey was the SWEETEST OMG. Him and Mondo were an adorable duo and I'm hoping in future content we get more of them. Also, what is with Mikey and almost getting hit with cars in this film? I think the mans needs to keep away from the streets because he's like the critters down here in Kansas, very bad luck with cars. Only reason he's probably my least fav here is because I guess I don't have much to say about him, like, specifically?

Anyways. That's a lot of rambling, someone please talk to me about MM.

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

Alright so thoughts on YJ Dark Crisis after having read it:

1) Most importantly, Bart Allen.

Amazing. 10/10. An inspiration to us all. But seriously though, Meg writes Bart really well and seems to understand his core character. While I take some issues with how his powers were represented in this issue, I can excuse it because I understand that stranding a speedster anywhere is difficult and Meg had to tweak some aspects of Bart's powers for the plot to work. It annoys me because of who I am (a Flash fanatic) but I can understand that it's for the sake of the plot.

2) The Weird Imp Guy

Yeah, I didn't like it. I don't like this character or what he represents at all. For starters, this is a Dark Crisis event and this guy is completely unrelated to the rest of the crisis. This book might as well not be a tie in. Actually I think it'd be better if it wasn't. Making this series a tie in to Dark Crisis and then making it have nothing to do with Dark Crisis really hurts the series in my opinion. Write a good solo YJ book or write a good tie in. Don't half ass both.

Also, I just don't think the imp was a good villain. I know there are people who disagree with me (and that's valid, people are allowed to have their own opinions) but I don't think what he represents makes any sense. He was written to be a stand-in for the audience. He's someone meant to represent DC fan's ideas and attitudes so that the characters in the story could address those ideas/attitudes within the narrative. It's a meta text and it's not inherently a bad thing. However, I do not think that this was a good application of that at all.

The imp is supposed to represent toxic DC fans. He's homophobic, sexist, ableist, racist and just generally bigoted. He doesn't like that Tim is bi, he belittles Bart and implies that his neurodivergent behaviors/traits make him dumb, he dislikes when Cassie speaks her mind and prefers a brainless puppet of Cassie, he creates racist caricatures for the boys to fight, he says that all the new diverse characters have 'replaced YJ', ect, ect. The imp is just generally a bad person with bad ideas and he wants "everything to be like it was in the 90's".

The problem here is that this is addressing Young Justice fans. The text is accusing the Young Justice fandom of being sexist, homophobic, racist, ableist and bigoted. Maybe I just surround myself with good people and maybe there is a lot of toxicity in the YJ fandom that I'm just not aware of but I haven't seen any of this.

Have I seen DC fans in general get upset that Tim is bi? Yeah, I have. Have I seen DC fans in general be racist. Yep. Are DC fans in general sexist? Absolutely. Is there rampant ableism in the general DC fandom? 100%. These are absolutely problems that exist within the DC comics fanbase but this isn't a YJ issue.

YJ fans have been calling for Tim (among others) to be LGBTQ+ for a long time. They've been calling for Bart's neurodivergency to be canonized for a long time. YJ fans get angry when Bart is mischaracterized or when there is a sexist interpretation of Cassie. Sure, YJ fans get nostalgic for old comics but being nostalgic for old dynamics does not mean we want those dynamics back. Young Justice has undergone so much character growth and I don't think there's a single YJ fan that wants to reverse that.

Additionally, saying that YJ fans are mad that 'Alan Scott, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, ect' have replaced YJ is just... what? When has that ever been a complaint? In what way is Alan replacing YJ? It just feels like they took all the LGBTQ+ characters and threw them on one page to really drive home the homophobia.

I guess my point is that I don't think it's a bad message, I think it's a bad forum. Do this in a Batman comic where the majority of DC fans will actually see it. Don't take what little Young Justice content we've been given and twist it into a PSA about why we should feel bad for even asking for YJ content.

3) Conner Kent

Are we just not addressing what an asshole Conner has been in this series? Not even a little bit? Not gonna state that the world has been affecting his mind? Not going to have him actually apologize in any real and/or meaningful way?

We have one issue left so this might be addressed next time but jeeeeeeeez.

[ladyodaskonpeito]

Day 4: Happy birthday, Sousuke!

Fandom: Free!

Pairing: Yamazaki Sousuke x Tachibana Makoto

Wordcount: 1300

Warning: Mentions of blood and vomit

It's Sousuke's birthday, so I went a little overboard with my day 4 entry 😅

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

A/N: Haematemesis is the medical term for vomiting of blood

September 14th fell on a Wednesday this year, and Makoto was surprised to overhear loud noises coming from the GI clinic at five in the afternoon when he left his office. There were no GI consultations on Wednesdays if he remembered correctly.

And Makoto would remember everything correctly. So he rounded the corner out of curiosity and saw the team of GI doctors busy decorating the hallway with grey balloons and black, lettered flags that spelt out ‘Happy birthday, Sousuke!’.

“Makoto,” Rin called to him. It was naturally Haru’s boyfriend who first spotted him standing and staring at the flags. “You have perfect timing! Please, help!”

Dr Kirishima also appeared delighted to see him. “Yes! Makoto-kun, please lend us any of your personnel who are available right now, please?” As if sensing his concern, Dr Kirishima quickly added, “We have gotten approval from Dr Azuma for this celebration already, don’t you worry! He even offered to cover for us in the ward from five to seven, so we’d have time to make it a party. We’re just a little short on manpower right now to properly spruce up the place.”

The head of their division was an incredibly thoughtful superior in that case, Makoto was impressed.

“He covered for you, Natsuya! You’re the one with limited time,” Dr Mikoshiba laughed. “You, and our birthday boy. The rest of us will party hard and are free to drink all the booze we want!”

“Heck yeah,” Rin, too, rejoiced at that. “Please join in on the fun if you’d like, Makoto? You know how rare it is for the entire GI team to gather together other than for work. I even asked Haru to come, he’ll enjoy himself better with you here too.”

“You’re only inviting the nurses as well for extra helping hands,” said Haru flatly as he showed up just then. He probably headed here immediately from his department despite his complaints. “I’m leaving as soon as we finish setting up.”

“That’s not true, we invited our tech guy too for him to help out,” Dr Mikoshiba interrupted with glee, patting his brother’s back a little too hard for it to not be an intentional distraction to his candle-counting.

“Nii-san is the worst!” retorted Momo-kun once he finished counting thirty of them.

“This reminds me,” Dr Kirishima managed to fish out his phone even with the number of confetti poppers he had in hand. “I have a younger brother who is free too now that the pharmacy counters are closed.”

Makoto gave a chuckle. He would like to stay, just to assist with the preparations of the celebration like Haru would if nothing else. The hospital’s policy did detail that alcohol was only prohibited wherever and whenever clinical activity was taking place, anyway. The GI team would be fine.

“On the top of my head,” he finally offered. Nagisa was an obvious choice for how much he loved a good get-together, but he was stationed at the GI ward until seven, leaving him out of the question. “I recall that Nitori-kun would be coming in for the night shift later. I’ll ask him if he’s free to come in earlier for the party then?”

And as expected, Nitori-kun was down for it. They all made quick work of the decorations while they waited. Ikuya later brought in the cake from their delivery driver at the hospital's main entrance and Nitori-kun was promptly put in charge of calling Sousuke in while still panting as he reached.

“Me?”

“Yes, you,” Dr Mikoshiba instructed. “Make up a fake patient and tell him there’s an emergency, say the rest of us are not available and he’s scheduled to be on an in-hospital call later anyway.”

So Nitori-kun, despite his apprehension, was forced to make the call before his breathing even calmed down. Sousuke picked up on the first ring even when he had an hour left before his on-call duty.

“Dr Yamazaki!” Nitori-kun exclaimed as if taken aback by how fast it was answered, and put the call on loudspeaker. “There has been an emergency, please come to the clinic!”

“The clinic’s closed today. Wouldn’t I be needed at the ED instead?” He first expressed doubts, before quickly proceeding to brush that off and asking for a breakdown of the case.

“It’s a 30-year-old male patient,” Nitori-kun frantically looked around for any ideas, before locking eyes with Makoto. “It’s- it’s Tachibana-senpai!”

The rest of the team could barely hide their snickers while Makoto paled from the imminent embarrassment.

“Makoto?!” Sousuke sounded alarm (as would anyone in his situation, why would the nursing manager be having a gastrointestinal-related emergency out of the left field), concern evident in his tone. Makoto could feel that tiny sliver of hope rising up again at that and at the use of his first name, but he rapidly swallowed it back down. The mortification he’d be feeling in front of Sousuke soon was enough to snuff out any sparks in his chest.

“Nitori, details of the case!” Sousuke demanded after Nitori-kun was quiet for a while, too busy trying to come up with a fake history. Shuffling came from the other end of the phone line, he must have been moving in a rush.

“Uh, erm, senpai presented with- with haematemesis!” Nitori-kun gulped. “He just got off work—that’s right—that’s why he’s at the clinic.”

Someone in the team let out a giggle. It wasn’t caught on by the other end, apparently, as Sousuke continued gravelly, “History of presenting complaint? Any medical conditions? His medication history?”

Nitori-kun couldn’t give any coherent answers to that and only stuttered into the phone. In his defence, Sousuke basically fired the line of questions at him without waiting for a response. He still reprimanded Nitori-kun sternly nonetheless. “What was that report with how many years you’ve been a nurse now, Nitori?”

“To be fair, I’m panicking! It’s my manager we’re talking about here,” Nitori-kun whined. “Please get to the clinic as soon as possible, none of the other GI internists are available.”

“What? How is that possible- just get him to the ED already! I’ll be there in 15.”

“Noooo, come to the clinic!”

“Sousuke,” Makoto interrupted the call, exasperated at Nitori-kun’s helplessness. He wouldn’t want all the efforts of a surprise party going to waste, so he’d have to do it himself. “Bright red vomit, accompanied by pallor and dizziness. No known medical illness and not on any medications.” He tried to sound weak and mumbled some when providing the details, even adding a cough at the end for good measure.

“Please come over to the clinic, I’m too sick to walk all the way to the ED and Nitori-kun is panicking too hard right now to get any sort of meaningful help,” he added at the end.

There was the sound of a car door opening and more shuffling before Sousuke steadied his breath and puffed in reply. “Okay- okay, I’m on my way.”

The team cheered noisily when the call ended, patting Makoto on the back for the good job well done. Although he was apologetic for lying to Sousuke, he hoped the party he’d helped set up would more than make up for the deception and it’d be truly an enjoyable birthday for Sousuke.

A party that Makoto didn’t stay for, because he was a coward who couldn’t deal with pretending to not recognise Sousuke anymore. He left alongside Haru, all the while contemplating whether he should get it off his chest by talking to Haru about it.

In the end, he didn’t. Haru was never the friend who could offer him words of advice when it came to matters of the heart, after all.

Maybe Rin could do that in his stead. If not… well, Makoto was out of ideas.

To be continued on Day 5

[foranpo]

ੈ˚★ One thousand seven hundred and ninety-three.

@coolminahi asked: Hello! Can you do a Itachi x reader soulmate AU of the reader having the same backstory as Maki Zenin where she also kills her own clan??

fandom: naruto.

character: itachi.

reader: gn!

genre: drabble.

au: soulmate!

content: angst, jjk manga spoilers, mention of blood and death, open ending.

word count: 3k.

cole’s note: i know it took me forever but i hope the wait was worth it :' ty for the request and enjoy <3

 ੈ♡˳────── enjoy the reading ♡ ──────

Humans were exhausting.

Living for entire eternities, seeing the birth of all stars and the demise of all empires, the gods agreed that, among so many creatures and souls that roamed through vast space, the human being was, in fact, the most tiresome: happiness was a foreign term to them, as they preferred to live comfortably in their own chosen miseries and difficulties; complaints hung from their lips like the juice of the ripest fruit in the hottest summer; the impossibility of satisfying so many prayers and requests driving the gods mad for so long that the deities' vacations were extended over long periods, leading to more complaints, more sorrows, more miseries, more requests, more prayers, more noise.

And it was so much noise that human beings created –they were never satisfied with anything. They only served to tire, to exhaust the gods.

As such, measures were taken.

The most common requests, prayers and desires that floated the most through the universe were, for some reason, the search for true love. Perhaps because they are constantly surrounded by the negativity brought by their melancholy hearts, human beings realized that there was an extreme need for comfort that they refused to themselves; an affection, a delicacy, a promise that, regardless of the passage of time, would alleviate difficulties, miseries, sadness and complaints. Maybe they just wanted certainty for all the suffering they were immersed in: one person, one love, one life.

Therefore, a new system of soulmates was created.

The gods were the only ones who could see people's nature, the only ones who could guide the same souls to one last meeting in that life, before leaving for the next one; as such, it was pretty easy to figure out which stardust went together and when they should be together –after all, it all comes down to timing. For though two souls roamed the same world, the same life, for years, they could only come together at the right moment, or misfortunes followed the souls, like plagues clinging to the weakest of creatures.

Thus, the number system was conceived by the gods two eternities ago.

However, Itachi didn't care much about soulmates or relationships in general. With so many events taking place around him, it was a little tricky for Itachi to take the time to look for meaning in the random numbers in his hand; not that he paid much attention to his numbers, their appearance piqued any interest in him.

Itachi only had one thing in mind, and he wasn't going to be distracted by such trifles as eternal love dictated by the gods –not least because none of that would make sense, not when Itachi's destiny was already mapped out for himself.

For, Itachi learned to change his way of thinking with you.

Although your presence in Itachi's life was short, just two years of brief encounters wrapped in long silences that briefly soothed your souls, the reality is that, in a way, you managed to help Itachi change his mind. Small words, speeches coming from your heart when the stars were more hidden, poems being recited by your lips, plans and ideas written by the gods gaining colossal dimension when proclaimed by you.

In reality, Itachi believed that it was the gods themselves who created you. There was a certain mystique in your soul, a deep sea of magic and stardust that gently danced through your veins, creating worlds and fantasies in your words. You looked ethereal, totally out of that world, almost perfectly sculpted by the hands of the most talented craftsmen, not just in your figure, in the imperfections that became so enchanting when embellished by the moon, but also in your mind.

“Do you think we are soulmates?”

You had Itachi's hand in yours, the number one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three repeating itself in your hand. The same number. The same location. The same apparition. The same soulmate.

“Do you want to be my soul mate?”

Itachi didn't remove his hand from yours, the heat of your body softening a little the cold that was felt that late afternoon, your touch, even so gentle, managing to comfort him for brief moments in that painful day.

You didn't answer.

Your hand returned to rest in your lap with the grace of that day's wind, Itachi's hand resting momentarily in the icy air that surrounded you. You were silent for a moment, admiring the forest that surrounded you, enjoying that moment of serenity for a little while longer. Finally, a little peace in the middle of your chaotic life.

Itachi wasn't too bothered by your lack of response; having been your friend for two years, Itachi began to get used to your small gestures and mannerisms –all your actions were already part of Itachi's daily life without any resentment being stored in his heart. Itachi knew that, if you didn't answer, you who so loved to give your opinion and unique point of view, it was because you had a reason; as such, he knew he shouldn't pressure you –instead, Itachi preferred the unknown of the forest, trying to see in its shadows something alive, trying to understand if in the midst of all that immensity of trees and bushes, there was something that would allow him to call that woods home.

“What do you think it means?”

Itachi couldn't decipher your words that day. You were different. Your voice was more distant, your timbre somewhat similar to that wind so cold, so rough. For some reason, your warm and welcoming nature had faded that day, cold gray tones painting your soul, leaving Itachi worried, yes, but also curious. It was the first time he saw you without your characteristic light. It was intriguing. You were intriguing.

“The numbers?” you looked at Itachi and nodded, your throat too raw from the outside to manage a single word. “The days it took to fall in love with each other?”

You shook your head.

You knew it wasn't something as simple, as delineated as that. The gods were tired of humans, fed up with their empty words and corrupt actions. It was obvious that they were going to be dishonest, creating numbers for the most insignificant things that could exist.

“My parents had the number two. The number of bowls of soup my mom was going to eat on their first date,” you took a deep breath and let your head rest on Itachi's shoulder. “Do you really think it would be something that simple?”

This time, it was Itachi who didn't respond.

You were right. There was no simplicity when it came to the gods, much less when the paths of love and passion were present. He didn't know why you guys got that number, or why it was such a big number, but it didn't matter to Itachi. Relationships weren't in his plans.

“Do you think we will be happy?”

Your question caught Itachi off guard, your apprehension tangling in the turf that held you so carefully, your fear lingering between you as if enveloping you in a small cloud of discomfort, worry, uncertainty. Your voice sounded low, slurred, almost corrupting the beauty of nature, as if wanting to change reality –you wanted to erase that number from your hands, from your lives.

But Itachi was left pondering your question, ignoring the intonation with which it was used, pondering with all his head and mind on that simple question.

Would you be happy?

ੈ♡˳─────────────────────

It was a full moon night when the river was dyed red.

In the middle of the forest, hidden among the thickest trees and protected by the most poisonous bushes, your clan's screams of agony and rage settled in the withered flowers of late summer. One after another, you saw those with whom you shared the same blood fall before you, defeated by your talent, victims of years of contempt and dissatisfaction.

You used to be tired. That night, you were completely exhausted.

As your footsteps echoed off the fragile walls of your parent's home, new screams were chanted towards you, intense symphonies of hate and revulsion harmonizing with the sound of your blade in their bodies.

Too much time had passed where you allowed hundreds of people to use and abuse their power, flooding your heart with the anguish and disgust you felt for each and every one of them. Despised men who lived too long under the protection of their village superiors knew nothing of real life and all that went on outside their fortress of flowers and shrubs; but you knew.

From an early age you were used as your clan's deity, used as a weapon of war by all who needed to make someone pay, discarded when all happiness, all hope, had been usurped from you like someone who takes a life.

One?...

Two…

Three?

No.

Four.

You were sure there were four. Four dozen lives subjugated to your talent and strength of mind that night, all convinced that they could stop you, all convinced that your impure blood would be spilled that night.

But when the clouds began to cover the bright moon that night, you couldn't hide the laughter that had been stuck in your throat since that massacre began –after all, how could four dozen people be completely wrong?

Hot-faced, splattered with the sin you had just committed, not a single red drop containing a fraction of regret, you left your clan's villa accompanied by the sounds of the night.

Nothing but the running stream. Nothing but the gentle summer breeze. Nothing but peace and quiet.

Finally, peace and quiet.

You let yourself be guided by the adrenaline that was still running through your body, wandering without any conscience through your clan's forest, through your forest. The sounds of the night were mesmerizing, cradling your weary footprints, moving with the stagger of your exhausted body; the aroma of your massacre was camouflaged by the sweet and refreshing scent of the bushes that served as a border with the real world.

And, even before another red drop fell into your hands, you crossed that invisible barrier with the lightest heart and the heaviest soul.

You couldn't tell exactly how much time had passed. In a way, everything had plunged into a paralyzing sea of suspense and calm, a confused mix of emotions toppling your fragile heart. Yes, it was true that you didn't feel the least bit sorry for your actions, after all, all your family members had died for you from the moment they used a five-year-old you to manage to win an insignificant battle between clans; but, for some reason, you couldn't help feeling a certain bitterness in your mouth, an immense weight that you felt only in your soul, pulling you down, trapping your steps, forcing you to collapse in the middle of a field of grass and moonlight.

Your knees hit the uneven ground hard, the tenderness of the grass refusing to support your collapse –anyway, you had to pay for your sins, the grass refusing your comfort would only just be the beginning.

“Another mission?”

Itachi.

It was Itachi's voice.

You were sure it was his voice.

You looked around, lost in that open space that was the scene of your encounters with Itachi so many times; but you saw nothing in the midst of the blood that covered your face, your eyes starting to burn –perhaps because of the drop that had fallen into them, perhaps because of the realization that you were now alone. Without family. Without any friends. Without a home.

“I don't know how to comfort you.”

Itachi's voice continued to echo in the open, carried by the wind and by the moon; words of comfort were woven by Itachi's lips in a sympathetic memory in you, your heart desperately looking for something that would ease all that turmoil that existed inside you.

And it was Itachi who heard your inner prayers.

Among so many destructive memories that formed tragic galleries inside you, there was always an exhibition dedicated to the happiness and comfort you found with Itachi. All gestures made by him, all conversations and ideas exchanged with him, all small seconds were trapped in a wide corridor inside you, overshadowing all the agonizing pictures offered by your family.

Itachi was a small happiness inside you, a small hope, a small life you were looking forward to living.

“And before you ask, no. The nightmares never go away.”

That’s right.

Now you understand where Itachi's voice came from.

It wasn't on your side or on top of you. It wasn't hiding among the branches of the nearest trees, or admiring the beautiful sky that night. None of that. That voice of Itachi was inside you. Emerging from the corridor you specially guard for him. It was a forced memory. It was a hazy memory. But it was a real memory, a memory that broke your fall when all your strength gave up.

Fallen on the grass, staining nature's hope of one day being as beautiful as the gods, you no longer struggled against your tiredness.

“But I will always be here. And you know that I understand you. Always."

Always.

Your lips formed a faint smile as your eyes became too heavy to keep them open, closing them slowly,, carefully,,, serenely…

Always.

Seeing the grass of that meadow swaying in the wind, Itachi's words stopped resonating inside your heart, wandering through the forest in the hope of being able to comfort another soul that needed the warmth that only Itachi could give, that only Itachi could give you.

Always.

Al…yas…

Al…

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Human were dark.

Existing since the creation of the universe, never in the existence of the gods was heard of an event as impure and grotesque as the night of the full moon at the end of your summer. Rumors spread about the events of that night, theories of how a new cult was emerging in that world of peace, making the younger ones shudder; no one knew who told the first lie, the second rumor sounding so natural to all the bakers that, by the time the teachers and nurses found out about the event, the moon was already wearing a new autumn outfit.

It was all macabre; all the details involving the two occurrences seemed taken from the darkest book of the god of war. It was all disgusting; the amount of screams that still echoed through the floors of the houses, all the red of lives lost staining every nook and cranny of the most respected neighborhoods.

“How long has it been?”

Your hands caressed the dry autumn grass. The icy night wind ruined all the hopes of the trees, abruptly uprooting all their beauty, creating colorful walkways in that dry and forgotten meadow.

Itachi was at your side, admiring the thick clouds of ancient anguishes, searching in all that darkness for a little light that would be more persistent than the great and forgotten moon.

“Not long enough.”

The sigh of Itachi's words was trapped in the bare branches of the trees, preventing your meeting from being shown to others, giving you a little privacy in that world so noisy, so busy, so changed.

You pulled your legs towards you and sought comfort in them. Your arms wrapped around the fabric of your pants, your face being partially sheltered from the wind by your legs, your tired, heavy, empty gaze, staring at nothing more than the nothingness that stretched before you.

“Will they ever stop?” Itachi looked at you, your eyes red with the sadness of a macabre past embellished by a moon full of red and anguish. “The nightmares. Will they ever stop?”

“No.”

It was what you liked most about Itachi: his honesty; but that night, so many years after your outbreak, so many years after that bloodbath, that honesty of Itachi hurt you. Not because of its sincerity, but because of its truthfulness.

You would always have those nightmares.

“Do you regretted it?” You looked at Itachi, his eyes curious with your answer, trying to decipher what was in your soul to, at least, try to appease your heart. “Of what you did that night. Do you regretted it?”

“No.”

It was what Itachi liked most about you: your conviction; but that night, so many years after your last meeting, so many years after that promise broken by Itachi, that conviction of yours was suspect. Not because of your honesty, but because of your anguish.

“You didn’t come when I called you.”

“Couldn't make it.”

Itachi was always honest, always using his quiet, low words to convey worlds of truth. He was always honest with you, a quality he came to find helpful in creating a friendship with you.

As such, you just uttered a small “Ah” that was carried by the wind to unknown lands, taking your doubt to places already forgotten by you.

A new silence settled between you, your eyes reminding your hearts of how the other was –so many years had passed and Itachi was still the same; more tired maybe, and a little lonelier too, and utterly broken inside.

You didn't know from him. Somehow, perhaps through a delay in the chronology of the stars, or misled by the wickedness of the gods, you did not hear it from him. You just heard it on the street, small rumors floating through all the streets and alleys where you took refuge from the injustice of your village.

“Is it true?”

“Yes.”

Itachi's confirmation sounded strange in his mouth and refused to settle in your ears, in your heart. He, who loved his family so much, he who bragged so much about his relatives, he who lived with an exemplary family, used the same brush as you and painted his own walls red; but Itachi's red, that which covered the Uchiha's neighborhood, was not the red of betrayal and injustice that you wore –no. The red he'd chosen was one of surprise and despair –not his, but everyone else's.

“Why?”

“Was necessary.”

You nodded and, almost fearfully, reached for Itachi's cool hand. Would he refuse you? Would he let your immoral pasts allow it to come together in a gesture so casual, so normal, so ordinary between you? Was the blood on your hands dry, now that you had finally met again after long years without farewell or warning? Was the blood on your hands already clean of all evil, now that the two of you were once again close to each other?

“One thousand seven hundred and ninety-three.”

Itachi let your icy fingers remember the softness of his hand, your fingers ever so lightly caressing the lines of Itachi's palm, creating little paths of nostalgia and innocence in his hand.

The life line: short, a little tenuous and with only one major interruption.

“One thousand…”

The mind line: curved, quite bumpy, with some flaws.

“Seven hundred…”

The heart line: lightly painted on his hand, shorter than you'd like to admit, but flawless.

“And ninety…”

The fate line: invisible, already a victim of time and consequences that followed Itachi's actions.

“Three…”

Itachi had his eyes closed, letting the caresses you made on the lines of his palm, together with your delicate memory of the number he had seen too many times, lull him into a land of never forgotten reminiscences shared with you.

The silence was cozy as you let your palm know Itachi's magical lines, his fingers closing over your hand, starting a timeless knot that was ready to last for eternities.

And you also closed your fingers, the wind stopping the suddenness of your actions, too nauseated by your union between misfortunes, wanting to leave you in peace, quiet amidst the static weather of that night, in the meadow that had always been yours.

 ੈ♡˳───── feedback is appreciated ♡ ─────