#Dark Parables Writing

[shadowroxz13]

Heyyy! IDK if you do headcanons on the Dark Parables but if so, can you do headcanons on the fairytale detective pls?

@bffanatic234

Oh.. wow, I was not expecting this! Always wonderful to see and talk to another DP Fan in the wilds, I normally don't write headcannons nor requests but ya know what, I might as well give it a shot, who knows, I'd may be up for doing more of these in the future! So Please feel free to ask! :)

Note: These are just my take with the Fairytale Detective from my POV while playing the games. Right off the bat, The games establishes the the Detective is female via canon, so that's what I'll be working with as well as Including SPOILERS for some of the games, I'll also be adding in bits of my own personal writing headcannons for the series as well so I hope you don't mind that. (And I'm Terribly sorry that this has been so, so long in the making.)

The Fairytale Detective is Autistic hands down, No- I will not fight anyone on this, you can pry this idea from my cold dead hands before I say that is this girlie isn't Autistic.

With being Autistic, her main hyperfixations included but not limited to: Fairy tales, Magic and spooky themed items, Classic lit and Gothic Lit, Puzzles, Constellations and the Moon's phases among many other things but these are the ones that she can list off from the top of her head when asked.

She has extremely long hair but she doesn't like having her hair down around her neck- so she constantly puts it up. Mainly within a ponytail to keep it out of her face. (She can wear it down for a good while but I'd say after at least 2 hours, her hair would need to go back up before it starts bugging her.)

She Has a Black Cat chain necklace with a little golden gem acting as the connector between the charm and the chain, She calls this her lucky charm and doesn't leave anywhere without it.

She loves the very little tiny details within most objects she picks up during her cases, If she could, she would keep almost every overly ornate thing that catches her eyes. Mainly the tiaras from the Exiled Prince case and the Moon Stone and the Moon Essence's Bottle-yes, just the bottle itself- from The Red Riding Hood Sisters Case.

Surprisingly, She is NOT a polyglot. AKA: Someone who knows several languages. Despite people thinking she is one due to her cases, the most she knows is a few phrases and words in both Spanish and French-but she isn't an expert with these unlike her native language, English.

Because of the language barrier, Somehow, The Veil of the fairytale world is able to translate everything for her into english even if it's written in another language.

Due to some of the events from her cases, She will suddenly bolt awake within the middle of the night for almost no reason from time to time. On the good days she's just mildly stunned as she looks around her room wondering where she is before checking the time on her phone and tries to fall back asleep. (Unsuccessfully most nights.)

On the bad nights however- She wakes up crying and shaking in place, out of breath- as her mind begins to replay the events that haunted her dreams for the remainder of the night. (ie: Killing James, Not being able to save The Wolf Queen and Raphael, Watching Snow's grief being used to hurt people Etc.) She doesn't sleep at all when those happen...

Because of this habit of suddenly waking during the night, she has developed a horrendous case of insomnia as a way to avoid the bad nights and this issue isn't helped by the fact that majority of her cases take place during the night. Which causes her to burn more energy due to how active her cases require her to be and in turn, forces her to stay awake for much longer than normal.

Long story short, It's a vicious cycle of her being awake until she's gets a chance to just passes out at home for a long time in a dreamless sleep due to exhaustion. But at least this way... She at least gets some semblance of sleep, however little it may be.

She does have good dreams despite these issues, but they are extremely rare for her to have, but because of this- it allows her to remember them much more clearer than her nightmares.

The one that has been the most recent and reoccurring one, is her in a field surrounded by different kinds of wildflowers all around her as two little girls and, who the detective assumes to be their father, plays with them as the girls suddenly calls out to their mama as they look towards her, all three beings having cat ears for some reason... whenever she wakes from this one, She's crying a little bit because it felt so real to her.

Most days when she's not dealing with cases: she's either asleep, dealing with her classwork, playing computer games/video games, Chatting online with friends, helping her family out or watching Crime shows and animated Movies/shows.

(Some of her favorite crime shows are: Criminals Minds, Psych, and Leverage. and for movies: Beauty and the Beast (Animated 1991), Enchanted, Phantom Of The Opera/Into The Woods.)

She ABSOLUTELY hates the taste of Coffee, she would rather drink tea and other drinks such as: Water, Sweet Tea (American), Lemonade (American) or soda pop before she would even consider touching Coffee, she does like the smell of it when it's being brewed however.

EDIT: She doesn't drink any form of alcohol. She can't stand the smell of it and for personal reasons as well.

Her Absolute favorite scents are Lilacs, Burning Campfires/Burning Wood, Black Cherry, Apple Cinnamon, Coffee Brewing and the smell of a warm Summer Petrichor.

Because she's Autistic, some of her senses get overwhelmed via her cases (Floralia's pollen was killer on her lungs and sense of smell for example.) Due to this- she does need to take a few moments before forcing herself back into action to deal with the case at hand. (After the cases she tends to shutdown for at least an hour or two.)

EDIT: She also doesn't smoke due to her lungs being very weak and also due to hating cigarette smoke among other personal reasons.

Like any normal person, she also has a few phobias such as: spiders and heights, but she fully despises Dolls and Puppets of any kind, seeing or being near them. (This fear doesn't improve after the Final Cinderella case...nor when dealing with a Certain Count's personal collection.)

I personally think that the Detective is a very short girl, roughly around 4'11, as most of the places she goes to seem larger than life than she is. (She's 5'1 with her shoes on though, so don't feel too bad about her height.)

She has a small temper when people do actually bring up her height, She won't yell at people right off the bat, but she'll get the impression that they think she won't be able to solve the case that she was called in for, solely due to her height. She does know it's not out of malice, it really just annoys her in how common the idea is.

Fun Fact: She is actually taking college classes, but people around her, outside of her family and friends, Have thought she's at least 14 or even younger solely due to her height at times.

She doesn't like working on cases while dealing with her class assignments- but when she does get called into action during her projects-she get excused from them without repercussions- she doesn't really know how this deal work and has asked before, but nobody has given her a direct, straight answer. This fact annoys her, but she's not complaining about it, if it means she can sleep before 6am for once and not suffer in her grades- she'll take it.

She has never ever swore in her life. If she needs to express her anger via words, she will come up with her own words. Example: "Sweet Frank Sinatra, Holy Mother Teresa!" her personal favorite of these are "cheese and crackers." and 'Oh...Sugar Cookies!"

Her Music taste is variety. Ranging from 70'-early 2000's, Classical, Musicals show tunes, Everything but Rap Music, she will change the radio or whatever she's listening to from Rap Music automatically.

I personally see her as Asexual- She would rather have just the romance parts of dating and romantic gestures over anything else. I feel like she also considering herself to being possibly sex repulsed due to only wanting Fluffy romance- but she's still questioning that part of herself.

And Because of this, anything with Jack flirting with her makes her VERY uncomfortable to say the least, but Jack seems to be enough of a gentlemen to know when to back off from her and focus on the tasks given to him.

Julian's flirting however, makes her feel even more on edge than with jack's flirting. It makes her stomach do flips whenever Julian does it.

She originally wasn't planning on taking the job as a Detective at all and just focus on schoolwork/family issues, it wasn't until she got personally requested by the Heads of the Detective Agency she now works for to answer the call. So in a way, her bosses kinda twisted her arm on the matter in becoming a Detective. (The Letter was delivered to her via a Black Cat with Heterochromatic eyes... a little odd to her, but hey- weird things happen all the time.)

The Detective understands the lengths some of the villains that she encounters will go to for their goals, it's not right for them to risk the world doing so, but she can see why they were pushed to the brink of everything, and in a way feels terribly sorry for them, due to seeing this route as the only way to reach their goals. She always wants to help them in the end. Speaking of...

The Detective truly believes that she can save everyone from a terrible fate, but time and time again, the world around her proves her wrong. She hates that fact being shoved into her face every time she can't help someone at all.

Due to this, she tends to beat herself up because of it, Blaming herself thinking "What if I did this instead?" Or "if only I was quicker." it's not very often she thinks like this, but it does linger in the back of her mind, which inspires her to be better to do better as an ideal paragon. (she's not a paragon- She's Human.)

Out of All of the goddesses that she has met over her years as a detective, She has made a ranking list of what goddesses she likes, and who she detests because of their interactions or how the detective learns about them and how they treated people and followers.

Her List is the following: Likes- Selena: Goddess of the Moon, death, stories, and oceans and overseer of the Fairytale realm. Soleanna: The Goddess of the Sun, War, Life and Overseer of the Mortal Plane, Indifference- Flora: the Goddess of Balance and Nature, Overseer of Rosaria- The Realm of the Faes. Thalassa: The 'Goddess' of the Sea and Tides. (The Detective doesn't consider Thalassa a Goddess, as she's seems more like a nymph that was appointed by Selena to her.) Absolutely hates-Merida: The Goddess of Maidens and Twilights: Overseer of the Veil.

The Detective has a personal Vendetta towards the Maiden Goddess, due to the sole fact that the Goddess forbade the creation of more Fairy Godmothers and thus forcing young girls, who would normally be considered to be the ideal candidates as Cinderella, the girls The Maiden's Goddess's godmothers strive to find and help, to fend for themselves in (Possible) terrible situations, some of which could have been avoided if the Goddess stepped in and not wash her hands of the issues.

The Detective swears if she ever meets the Maiden Goddess in person, she IS going to call her out on the issues she made and grill her a new one. Noctis: The God of Shadows, Candles, and Forgotten souls is Fine in her book, but will never understand why he hooked up with Merida within all the realms.

She has known about Curseries long before her very first case. Although, she thought they were all just old wives tales while she was growing up and were used to scare kids, not ever realizing that they were very real, and very dangerous beings to deal with.

Yet what surprised her the most was that her own heart would belong to a certain Crooked Cat when she became a Detective later in her life.

Nor the fact that she- herself, would find the abilities of a Cursery, the possibility of Finally having the means to help people, taking a powerful shapeshifter as a lover who's extremely loyal to the people he loves, the Pull of immortality is a very appealing thing to someone who's cases have put her life at risk more than once. It seemed a little Greedy of her to want this sort of thing... but oh temptations are always such a sweet alluring thing... aren't they Dearie?

I Hope that you enjoyed and like all of these little Headcanons! This was really, Really fun to do, I'd be happy to do more of these in the future if the Fandom wants them for other characters or just wanna Pick my brain on things for DP or Cursery or even writing in general lol. And Once again, I'm so so sorry for how long these took! Life just got busy for me.

I Do Hope You Have A Wonderful Rest of your Day/Night!

-ShadowRoxz.❤

[paranormal-potatoes]

who wants some wip belladonna angst that hasn't been edited in a year :3

---

Belladonna doesn't trail just behind her sister anymore. She doesn't do a lot of things anymore. Some by necessity, like wearing gloves almost all the time. Some because they make Rapunzel nervous, like being at the corner of her vision or just behind her.

(Rapunzel was never afraid of her powers. she just had to mess that up too)

Gerda (and Gwyn and Kai because it's always Gerda-and-Gwyn-and-Kai, never just two and they follow each other) is a little immune to her but she also understands having abilities you didn't ask for. A less lethal sort of abilities but still.

(it's fine there's no one like her. really, it is)

(it's still lonely)

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The Detective is still wearing gloves.

"Anyone want more coffee? Or, uh, tea?"

He turns back to the coffee maker, humming.

Claw marks scar the back of his neck.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

She wants to ask why he wears them. He said sensory issues, but she saw the way he looked away, brushed it aside.

[darkparablesthorst]

Earl Grey

Paring: Henryk/Fiancee!Reader

Content: SFW. Fix-it, Henryk never wages war against Solwood, slight angst, Henryk is socially awkward

Word Count: 919 words

Notes: Why do they always eat or have tea in my drabbles lmfao. 

✿ 

Henryk returned the teacup to the saucer with a barely audible clink. He rolled his tongue against the back of his teeth, noting the citrusy, bittersweet taste of Earl Grey that coated every crevice of his mouth. 

"Did you like the tea, Your Majesty?"

"Yes, it's delightful," Henryk replied shortly before lapsing into a long silence that soaked through his layers and clung to his skin. 

His tongue lashed against the back of his teeth again. 

The subtle clink of porcelain brought him back to focus.

"Wonderful. It's my favorite. It was an auspicious day when the diplomat from the Western Empire brought such a gift. Being on the other side of the world, it was a rare commodity in my country that I rarely found the opportunity to indulge in," you said. Henryk couldn’t tear his eyes away from the slight pout of your lips.

 "Is it? Your favorite, I mean," he replied, clearing his throat. 

"Indeed, Your Majesty."

"I see."

Another moment of silence passed. The longer he grasped for a thread of conversation to weave, the more he frayed at the seams. Despite the hours, the years, he poured into books on etiquette and decorum, the art of social grace had always eluded him. Being duty-bound and devoted to one’s responsibilities fell short when one lacked the wit to forge connections, both personal and political. He made the mistake of presuming that material exchanges were enough to compensate for his silence, and he had to endure a harsh lesson at the dissolution of his first engagement.

Under the look you cast at him from across the table, one that pulled at those fraying threads to quicken his unraveling, he felt the sting of Wanda’s rejection all over again. 

“Your Majesty,” you began as if coming upon a sagely conclusion but not without an indiscernible smile on your face, “I thank you for making time for my invitation to tea. However, it would be a shame if I were forcing you away from more important matters at this moment.” 

Henryk clenched his hands on his lap under the table. It seemed like he had fumbled once again. 

However, your smile widened a smidge as you continued. “Which is why it is pertinent that we are comfortable during our short time together.”

Henryk stiffened. “You do not mind my silence?”

“Not at all.” Your expression softened as you continued. “I’d forego the torture of forced pleasantries in any given situation if I could. Alas, I am only human,” you ended with a laugh. “Besides, we are to be married in a few days’ time. We have the entirety of our marriage to become better acquainted with each other.”

Marriage. He felt the tips of his ears burn, and a flare of hope bloomed in his chest. 

“Very well.” He nodded stiffly. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, my dear.”

The endearment flustered him so much that he reached for his cup and gulped down a mouthful of lukewarm tea, barely stopping himself from choking. You spared him further embarrassment by stifling your giggles, though amusement lit your eyes as you raised your tea cup in silent cheers. 

–

A week after your wedding, Henryk awoke with you in the Queen’s Palace and led you to an orchard of trees and flowering bushes. Arm-in-arm, you took a stroll about as you enjoyed the early morning breeze. 

“An entire orchard! How auspicious!” You examined the blooming flowers and the fruits hanging overhead. “But I must say that bergamot and tea plants are a strange choice for a garden.”

Henryk offered you a smile. “Most unusual indeed. But we are fortunate to have the best tea makers employed by the castle. They have acquired the means to produce Earl Grey, and these happen to be its fundamental ingredients.”

You halted in your tracks, causing Henryk to stop himself, and stare at your husband with wide eyes and a slack jaw.

“You… planted an entire orchard just to make Earl Grey?”

“Yes. You did mention that it was your favorite tea.”

You fell silent, and Henryk felt the first twinges of worry begin to take their hold since the day you kissed on the altar.

Until you burst out laughing, clinging onto his sleeve for dear life as both breath and composure left you.

“Oh, I should remember to be careful of what I say around you,” you say, wiping a tear from your eye. “Let’s hope that I never wish for the destruction of a country or anyone for that matter.”

“Is it… too much?” He asked with a crestfallen face.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course it is!” He flinched and made to pull away from your grasp before you tightened your hold.. “Not so fast, love. I’m not done.” A smile drew across your face. “I am flabbergasted, but also very flattered. I am quite the lucky woman to be married to you,” you teased as you leaned on his arm. “Now, you must make sure that we are the first to taste the first and best yield of this orchard. As for the pastries to partner it with…”

The rest of your words faded into a pleasant tune in his ears. You were happy to be his wife, to be the recipient of his affection, to be his queen. The joy he felt almost ached, transcending to euphoria at the feeling of your arm entwined in his, chatting away about afternoon tea, while the ripe bergamots and tea flowers in full bloom swayed in the sweet breeze. 

[xhashaseed]

🌧️🌩️💙

[spookygibberish]

Last year I listened to a worldbuilding podcast that was very queercore hopepunk (2/3 of the hosts were straight...) and I have kind of come to detest the ideology, as well as all these nitty little microgenres. the podcast itself was not bad per say, but it was so utterly bland and the kind of writing advice that almost seems to discourage people from making challenging or transgressive art via prioritization of escapism as the ultimate goal for a fantasy work + the repeated adage that "realism is no excuse". You can set out to make a cozy, fluffy, fantasy world where people never behave in evil ways, are ever selfish or cruel, and never fight over resources and ideology, but if your love for human beings is conditional on human behavior only ever being perfect and good all the time then idk if you actually have much love for human beings at all. it's the kind of advice that encourages easily digestible fluff over all, and if you actually internalize it your never going to get out of it the power to write something like The Dispossessed, Left Hand of Darkness, or Parable of the Sower. is all.

[reverssentiment]

Any analysis of Deltarune's themes of escapism would be well-served to recognize that the Dark Worlds aren't just fun romps. They're parables of morality and personal growth, loaded with messaging that the kids can take back to their everyday lives. King is an object lesson about taking out your bitterness and loneliness on others. Queen is a perfect practice run for standing up to a controlling mother, and her mansion is full of puzzles to teach Berdly that being smart isn't everything. All salient lessons!

And every Dark World ends in a private "the magic goes away" sequence where the world must be destroyed to return to reality. CH1 mimes Undertale's victory-lap, goodbye-to-the-Underground sequence to set the emotional stakes: the portal fantasy is ending. All these places will disappear. You're leaving Narnia forever. Et cetera. These worlds may have escapist utility – cf. "isn't this world just... better?" – but they're not pure, disconnected fantasies, and treating them as that risks missing significant thematic elements of Deltarune.

The Dark Worlds don't have any morals for Kris – I suspect – because Kris has deliberately obscured the nature of their issues from our eyes. The secret bosses gesture at what we imagine they might need – The air crackles with freedom – but Jevil and Spamton's stories have no definitive answers and, critically, end in tragedy. If you had to pinpoint a moral in them, it would be... what? "Don't reach for more than you're afforded"? "Reality is for other people to define"?

"The desire to be free will destroy you. Instead, you should become a prop – a tool, a shield – for someone else's story"?

...because that's what Kris is right now, aren't they? A prop in the story we're writing for Susie and Noelle and Berdly and all the other kids with brighter futures. A prop in our story, if we try to fix their life – forced by * Our descent into their body to become a better person. Collateral damage in our inspirational moral lesson. Hell, they're even a classic "bad influence" character, despite Susie's clear typecasting in that part – Kris is the one who opens a Fountain, after we're all clearly informed of the consequences of indulging in escapism via Dark Worlds. Kris is dragging Susie down.

[bellshazes]

dreaming up a syllabus for an imaginary course on metanarratives about gameplay, which i think would go something like:

unit 1: who do you think you are i am - auto-documentary & games

Vlogs and the Hyperreal, Folding Ideas

The Slow Death of Let's Play Videos, Meraki (to ~10:00)

World Record Progression: Mike Tyson, Summoning Salt

ROBLOX_OOF.mp3, hbomberguy

Life as a Bokoblin: A Zelda Nature Documentary, Monster Maze

optional: Braindump on the History of Let's Plays, slowbeef

unit 2: what like it's hard? - intro to challenge narratives

Chapter 26: Games as Narrative Play: Two Structures for Narrative Play, Rules of Play

A different kind of challenge run: Minimalist 100% (BOTW), Wolf Link

Surviving 100 Days on Just Dirt, Mogswamp

Can You Beat DARK SOULS III with Only Firebombs, the Backlogs

Is it Possible to Beat Super Mario 3D World while permanently crouching?, Ceave Gaming

The Pacifist Challenge - Beating Hollow Knight Without Collecting Soul [CHALLENGE] - Sample

optional: How to 100% Snowpeak Ruins in under 15 minutes, bewildebeest

unit 3: nelly you don't understand, i AM the narrative - form and function

The Future of Writing about Games, Jacob Geller

Can You Beat GRIME Without Weapons?, the Backlogs

Mushroom Kingdom Championships, Ceave Gaming

My Life as a Barber in Hitman 2, MinMax (Leo Vader)

MyHouse.WAD - Inside Doom's Most Terrifying Mod, PowerPak

optional: Mega Microvideos, Matthewmatosis

the theme and structure is mostly intended to introduce at least one critical or historically contextual work followed by examples of the type of narrative in question.

in unit 1, this is the idea of "How do people talk about their own experiences in the context of YouTube and playing video games?" across three rather different kinds of documentaries. unit 2 is intended to take that lens of who is telling what tale and dial in on challenge running, where i first noticed the way some videos turn the story of overcoming a challenge into its own narrative that is distinct from but related to the narrative events of the game itself. unit 3 circles back to the bigger picture with a variety of examples that, to me, are maximally metanarrative, the emergent story of the player-narrator now functionally replacing the game's embedded narrative.

bonus unit: broken narratives

Glitch & the Grotesque at the MLA, Sylvia Korman

Watching time loop movies to escape my time loop, Leo Vader

The Stanley Parable, Dark Souls, and Intended Play, Folding Ideas

Breaking Madden, Jon Bois

The TRUTH about the Pizzaplex in FNAF: Security Breach, AstralSpiff

this one is highly underdeveloped, but i'd love to work out something more robust building on randomizer challenges that produce intentionally bizarre, semi-ironic "lore," and bois-esque endeavors to break games so hard the story itself crumbles. but that's really out of scope so i'm just including the links to things i couldn't bear to get rid of. more rambling abt the challenge runs I chose under the cut.

Challenge runs represent one of the most obvious places to start, due to being extremely plentiful and having a hook that makes a "here's how I did X thing in Y video game" format almost unavoidable. Minimalist 100% is an underrated and sweet straightforward example that I mostly include as a baseline for reporting-out style narrative; here are the facts, here's what happened, this is the thing that it is. Mogswamp's 100 Days on Just Dirt is similar in style, but the physical measuring of days is a delightful and, more importantly, external narrative device.

Now oriented, we get a taste of Ceave Gaming's narrative approach to Mario challenges with the no-crouching run, and while we still aren't at the degree of player-characters being constructed for the narrative's sake, the spirited belief in crouching sets the stage for other rhetoric in more extreme cases we'll see later.

The Backlogs' entire body of work qualifies here, but GRIME is the strongest inspiration for putting this list together. I include the DS3 firebombs run because what was initially a factual description of how his wife's use of firebombs inspired him to play differently in the original DS1 firebombs run has developed into full-blown multi-game narrative arc with the Firebomb Goddess (his wife, who also voices the character) compelling his in-game character to achieve his destined quest. Grime takes that even further,

In-Game Documentaries

I include Life as a Bokoblin mostly as a contrast to My Life as a Barber - there is a level of fictionalization and roleplay involved in the Zelda in-game documentary that highlights exactly what I want to single out when I am talking about metanarrative, the story about a story.

[fandomtrumpshate]

Unlisted Fandoms Challenge

Welcome to the LAST update on write-in fandoms for FTH 2025 (only one day left to sign up! go Do The Thing!)!! We have a LONG list of fandoms for you - TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY ONE write-in fandoms this year. So far!

And there's been some movement near the top of the list. Jeff Satur, with 10 signups, still holds the lead, but in second place we now have a TIE. Control (Remedy Game) gained *four* new signups to match Zhen Hun / Guardian's 9 signups. Cabin Pressure has also moved up the rankings, with three new signups bringing it to a total of 7 to claim third place. Whew! Just below them we have:

a four-way tie for fourth place with 6 signups includes-

6 Alien Stage 6 Carry On 6 Dimension 20 6 Dungeon Meshi / Delicious In Dungeon

two fandoms with 5 signups each, in fifth place are-

5 BBC Ghosts 5 White Collar

which brings us to an eight-way tie for sixth place with 4 signups each-

4 Detective Conan 4 Fire Emblem Awakening 4 It - Stephen King 4 Pathologic 4 Roswell New Mexico 4 Schitt's Creek 4 The X-Files 4 Transformers 4 Voltron: Legendary Defender

and with 3 signups each, an 11-way tie for seventh place-

3 Dungeons and Daddies (Podcast) 3 Fields of Mistria 3 Fire Emblem Fates 3 Inception 3 Iron Widow 3 MotoGP RPF 3 Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint 3 Rusty Lake/Cube Escape 3 Stand By Me/The Body by Stephen King 3 The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison 3 Zhen Hun / Guardian (drama) RPF

Below the cut are 56 fandoms with 2 signups each, and 195 fandoms with a single write-in.

2 Animorphs 2 Attack on Titan 2 Avatar Legend of Korra 2 Beyond Evil 2 Biggles Series — W. E. Johns 2 Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu (Cute High Earth Defense Club) franchise 2 Black Sails 2 Bridgerton (TV) 2 Britpop RPF 2 Castlevania (All Media Types) 2 Challengers 2 Cherry Magic 2 Conclave (2024) 2 Dan and Phil (rpf) 2 Dangan Ronpa 2 Dead Boy Detectives RPF 2 Digimon 2 Dishonored 2 Dr. Stone 2 Due South 2 Dune (Villeneuve) 2 Five Nights at Freddy's - All Media 2 Fruits Basket 2 Grantchester (TV) 2 Gravity Falls 2 IndyCar RPF 2 Jeeves and Wooster 2 Kingdom Hearts 2 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 2 Link Click (Shiguang Dailiren) 2 Lovecraft Mythos 2 Lucifer (tv) 2 MAS*H 2 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury 2 Nirvana in Fire (琅琊榜) 2 Oasis 2 Princess Tutu 2 Sailor Moon 2 She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) 2 Slow Horses 2 Sonic the Hedgehog (Games) 2 Team Fortress 2 2 The Blue Wolves of Mibu 2 The Empyrean - Rebecca Yarros 2 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (TV series) 2 The Poppy War 2 The Stanley Parable 2 Tiger & Bunny 2 Tower of God 2 Universal Century Gundam 2 Valdemar Series by Mercedes Lackey 2 What We Do In The Shadows 2 When the Third Wheel Strikes Back 2 Word of Honor 2 Yu-Gi-Oh! 2 ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 / JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken / JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

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[ecoterrorist-katara]

I really liked your meta about bloodbending, this is a big ask but how do you think that the whole bloodbending storyline could/should be rewritten? It’s clear that the writers are using bloodbending as a metaphor for slavery but it rarely comes across that way, and poor Hama was failed spectacularly by the writing

hello anon! thank you for this fabulous question & hope you don't mind that it took me ages to get to it.

TL;DR: I think making Hama into a serial killer/abductor was a terrible narrative choice. If it were up to me, Katara would have a (child-friendly) ethics discussion about bloodbending with Hama, who then joins them on the Day of the Black Sun. After the war, bloodbending becomes a lynchpin issue when the North attempts to colonize the South, but Hama and Yugoda find healing uses for bloodbending in the kerfuffle.

But first, my "ATLA bungled colonialism themes" soapbox: to me, bloodbending is a metaphor on two levels. The storyline about how Southern Waterbenders are captured and then transported to the FN certainly seems to reference the Transatlantic Slave Trade, like you said, though without the labour exploitation aspect; the storyline about Hama and bloodbending feels like an allegory for guerrilla resistance in general. Imo the narrative kind of cheapened these potential real-world connections by making The Puppetmaster a spooky Halloween special with a dash of “an eye for an eye” parable. The narrative's treatment of bloodbending, and Hama, feels like an unintentional reflection of “unacceptable” colonial resistance and "dark" knowledge of the colonized (fearmongering around Vodou etc). A common colonial narrative is that the colonized are sinister and underhanded for engaging in things like guerrilla warfare, which is either too violent or too cowardly depending on what’s more convenient for the colonizers’ narrative at a specific point in time. I think ATLA’s approach to bloodbending reflects this general sentiment, especially since Hama is drawn as this creepy Hansel & Gretel-style witch, a keeper of a sinister / untrustworthy / threatening type of knowledge. I also really don't like the part of the story where Hama became a serial abductor out of this indiscriminate thirst for revenge. While it's possible in real life for a colonized, incarcerated person to make those decisions, and good fiction can explore that effectively, a children's show is not the place. ATLA's target audience and general tone couldn't handle all the complexities around that, so they turned Hama into a cartoon witchy villain. Groundbreaking.

Anyway, I think the start of The Puppetmaster is actually very promising. Hama's story, and the children's discovery of her SWT roots, was touching. Katara's growing sense of unease at discovering the "darker" uses of waterbending (taking water out of flowers) is interesting. Katara is the perfect character to explore the intricacies of "how far is too far in colonial resistance." Because she's not a pacifist, like Aang, but she's also not a total pragmatist, like Sokka or Suki, and she cares about the fates of random people more than Toph. She's angry and compassionate in equal amounts.

I would love a conversation between Hama and Katara about bloodbending -- not in the dead of night while Katara has to protect her friends, but where Hama talks about the genuine hopelessness she felt in the Fire Nation prison. And Katara could talk about why she thinks bloodbending is wrong -- taking away someone's agency -- and Hama can ask Katara what she would've done in that scenario; maybe she can point out that she could have made the FN guards kill each other, but she only made them open her cell door, so it was the least violent escape she could have done; and I think, framed that way, Katara would have started to see bloodbending not through a lens of fear and disgust, but sheer pragmatism, and realize that all bending can be good or bad.

During the war, I think Katara and Sokka could convince Hama to join them on the Day of the Black Sun: Hama, for the first time in decades, has hope, and she gets to see some of the people who used to be just little kids when she was kidnapped from her home.

After the war, bloodbending would become a hot button issue in North-South relations. I could easily see the Northern waterbenders being horrified at bloodbending, in the same way Medieval Europe & puritan America have been horrified by witchcraft and other feminine-coded knowledge. I could envision the Northerners using bloodbending as justification for why women shouldn't be allowed to waterbend, and justification for why the South is backwards and therefore needs the North's influence (which would also tie nicely into the North and South comic). While Katara is busy with the political BS, Hama is swapping notes with Yugoda the healing master, and then they would eventually arrive at the conclusion that bloodbending could be used to heal.

(I can't take credit for the "Northerners horrified at bloodbending" idea, btw -- colourwhirled's Southern Lights has a storyline around it.)

Anyway, Hama deserved so much better. I like seeing her in AUs where she never had that stupid "kidnapping FN civilians" plot, like the aforementioned Southern Lights, or Lykegenia's The Things We Hide (which I read earlier this year and loved!). Hama and Jet's storylines are why I don’t trust ATLA’s politics, nor the politics of its creators. As much as I love Zuko and find his redemption arc to be an incredible story of a conscientious objector in the heart of the empire, Hama and Jet should have also gotten their redemptions too.

[shadowroxz13]

byello Shadow, its Arty/Cel/whatever from Discord >:3 you probably know what sorta headcanons im boutta ask for (Snowfall trio lmao)

Howdy hey Arty! (Quick thing, thank you for sending this ask in! I needed the break from my monster of a 30K fic lol.)

Everyone's favorite Little tiny gremlins! We adore the SnowFall Trio/Snow Patrol here, so I'm more than happy to talk about them. Once again, These are just my takes on the Snowfall trio/Snow Patrol from my POV while playing the games, I'll be including spoilers from the games, along with added in some Personal writing headcanon for the series as well.

If Ya'll Like these little headcanons and would like to see more of them or even some other kinds of writing, Please do feel free to ask!

Now, then Enough Stalling from me, Let's get into this!

First off, I'll be doing the kiddos in order of Kai, Gerda and Gwyn Separately then together as a group. Their ages for all of these headcanons are gonna be spread out- Ie: I may start on them as kids, then Jumped to them as adults then back to teens. (so ya kinda get a 4 for 1 deal here! huge savings in my opinion lol.)

Kai Headcanons.

Kai as a kid was always the adventurous one of the all the kids in the SnowFall kingdom's village growing up, the only one who could really keep up with all his antics, was Gerda.

Kai as a woodcutter's kid goes with his father, Noah, to find different types of wood and what makes for good building supplies, firewood, or what's good to sell, Kai got really into the different types of trees and the surrounding flora that he knew (Mainly things like daisies, Lilies, lily of the valley, and Snowbells flowers.) So seeing this, Noah got Kai a botany encyclopedia book when Kai turned 13.

Because he's a woodcutter's kid- Kai has muscles, he actually has a sleeper build to him.

He's actually Really Short when he was a kid (Unlike the Detective who is constantly stuck at 4'11 all her life.) he standing at the following Heights throughout the ages; Kid: 4'1, Teen:5'7 Adult: 6'4. As you can see, he gains a bit a growth spurt during his teen years!

Kai has a Pollen Allergy that can lead him to becoming sick.

Kai can spend hours upon hours reading into the following morning once he gets started on books- It's usually Snow or gwyn who give him a blanket whenever he visits.

He was the one who was extremely nervous bringing up the idea of dating to both Gwyn and Gerda after his talk with the Detective, beyond relieved after they all felt the same about each other.

Gerda Headcanons.

Gerda's Parents actually died when she was extremely young, possibly when she was around 2 or 3, She was fully adopted by the whole community of the village, but mainly Noah was the one to keep an eye on her the most, as he was also raising his son alone, so it was nice to have another little one to keep Kai company when Noah needed to go for longer trips outside the village. And because of that fact, Gerda and Kai became best friends and starting to develop a deep bond with each other.

She's actually 2 years Younger than both Gwyn and Kai. (Ego, If Kai and Gwyn are 17 then she's 15.)

Most people would think that she's the calm, sensible one- ABSOLUTELY NOT! She is chaos incarnate, Kai and Gwyn are the ones to reel her in when she on the loose.

Gerda as a kid, was really really tall in fact taller than Kai and Gwyn and most kids in the village, but by her teen years her height just came to a full stop. As she stands at the following heights of 4'7, and 5'8 respectfully.

Between Kai and Gerda, Gerda was the more popular- in that she's kinda feeds off of the energy that people gave her, and due to that- people around her suddenly felt better after she interacted with them. (A Hint towards her Golden Child Powers.)

Gerda Golden Child powers are something of a rarity, as when she gets older, so do the strength of her magic- this also allows her some minor healing ability when she's a teen and an extended life, much more than the average mortal. (Some say there are rumors of the Golden Child's powers being able to bring loved ones back from the dead with their blood, if not also grant immortality to the living.)

Gerda developed a minor fear of Snow White when she was a child, and due to this, she never goes up to the palace without Kai, but if Kai is suddenly called away by Noah, then Gerda is attached to Gwyn as someone who she sees as safe, and because of that, they start developing minor feelings for Gwyn and Snow started to improve her standings with Gerda, As a way to make her not seem like a monster to the tiny blonde child.

Gwyn Headcanons.

Gwyn constantly wanted to know where James was, and if he was ever going to see his father after he (Gwyn) woke up from the dreamless sleep Snow White put him under to save him. Snow felt as though she had to bit her lip on this subject matter. Mainly due to the facts that James is dead and the She's been separated from him for centuries, but for Gwyn- it's been only a few days.

Gwyn is amazing at archery, but does struggles with Stringing his bow at times- as James usually helped him with this task. After Kai and Gerda started making countless trips up to the castle walls to visit Gwyn at the request of his mother Snow White to help him get acclimated with the modern world and other kids, Kai was the one to help Gwyn learn a trick about bending the bow to string it, and together they start hanging around together without Gerda, Leading them to develop feelings for each other.

Gerda and Gwyn usually met up for smaller easier crafts like basket weaving or Playing Board games of strategy. Gerda usually wins, but a few times Gwyn wins (Because Gerda lets him.) These little moments is what leads them to developing a Relationship.

People might assume that Gwyn likes the quiet feeling around him, but actually he loves the Noise that Gerda and Kai bring to his life. it makes him feel alive to be around such vibrant people.

Gwyn's height was pretty normal for a kid all the way to his adult years, only outshining Gerda by the adult years, Yet having Kai tower over him. (Kid: 4'3 Teen: 5'5 Adult: 6'0.)

He enjoys baking with his mom, Snow is a wonderful baker with cakes and cookies among other deserts, but she tends to become uneasy a bit afterwards, something regarding her step-mom that Gwyn put together... But He doesn't know why it makes snow uneasy.

The SnowFall Trio/Snow Patrol Headcanons!

The Trio actually Met before running into the Detective. While Hiding from the Mountain Beast, the Gerda and Kai found themselves within the Icy yet heartwarming chamber that Snow put Gwyn into while he was asleep. The Minute that both Kai and Gerda saw Gwyn within the glass coffin they both caught themselves yelling to each other; "Who in the world is the pretty boy? and why is he so pretty?!" which unfortunately lead to Kai getting caught by the Mountain Beast and gerda hiding behind the glass coffin, before tailing the Mountain Beast inside- where she runs into the Detective and her Partner exploring the castle trying to get to the bottom of all this.

Both Gwyn and Gerda constantly worry about Kai and his mortality, while Gerda's cuts can heal to perfection within a few hours, and Gwyn has more durability thanks to his Parent's combined immortalities, Kai doesn't have anything within those traits- so it leads to him being on bed rest from dire issues and illnesses. Both Gerda an Gwyn take turns watching over him taking care of him, worrying about their lover.

The three of them had no idea about what a Polycule relationship was until the Detective told them all about it after she overheard all three of them start to 'talked' (IE: Panic) over who Gerda loved as teens- which then lead to Kai Blurring out that he liked both Gerda and Gwyn so much it hurt his heart, and then lead to Gwyn crying because he felt the same way but couldn't put it into words, and he didn't want to disappoint his Mom. (Snow could never be disappointed by who her kid loves- She wants Gwyn to be as happy as can be.) And for Gerda, she just felt terrible for putting both the people she loves through this.

After seeing all that display of emotions, The Detective gently hugged all three of them, and calmly explained that what they were all feeling was valid and that a relationship between the three of them was actually possible from what she knew of Different kinds of romantic relationships.

When Gwyn and Gerda were planning their wedding- they made absolutely sure that Kai knew the Detective was on the list of honored guests as a bride's maid of honor for Gerda and her catty partner is consider the best man- Due to the fact that if it wasn't for those two- none of them would be here to celebrate this day.

They both wanted Kai's opinion on a type of gift he would like The Detective and her Partner to bring for them. (They forgot to tell him it was ALL of their wedding while planning- Not just Gerda and Gwyn.*I'm sure this won't backfire at all on them!- It will*)

Kai sometimes feel inadequate due to his partners' abilities, so he needs like a sense of validation from both of his partners that he's just as capable as both Gerda and Gwyn. (The both of those two know that he is, and do tell him that, he just needs to believe in himself/prove it to himself.)

They all takes turns with the single brain cell between them, most of the time, Kai or Gwyn has it depending on the day of the week. Gerda gets it for holidays, as a treat.

All three enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate together after playing in the snow- this leads to all three of them having sleepovers a bunch as kids and they still do this well into their adult years, though instead of playing in the snow- it's curling up with a good book as one of them reads to the other two or movies nights. They just all love the quiet moments together.

They will always send letters to the Detective whenever she can't visit them and will constantly update her with whatever is going on in their lives- and will always send her a small gift. (Ie: A desert made by Snow, a little toy they found, an archer's guidebook, Teas- things like that.)

They all consider the detective as 'their mom' and her catty partner 'their dad' They three of them will call them as such when they see them... Before correcting themselves, as they feel like they should call the detective by her title, I mean- she and her partner are older than they are lol. (They all started this as kids and it didn't stop when they were teens. Just don't let Snow hear Gwyn call the detective 'mom', she will get defencive on that.)

Hey hey! I Hope that you enjoyed and like all of these little Headcanons! I love talking about the SnowfallTrio/The Snow Patrol, they are legit so stinking cute as a couple and as people- Side Note: I really need to explore the Snow Patrol in writing, but this was such a good exercise for me to do so, as it helps me understand how I would love to write these three for whenever I tackle the 3rd Dark Parables game within my writing. So thank you so much for these for letting me explore that and for the much needed break from that 30K monster I've made!

(Ps. I'm so so sorry for how long these took to make, I fell down the Fandom Rabbit Hole for a Visual Novel game called Killer Chat, where you as a aspiring writer, accidently join a chatroom filled to the brim with serial killers after asking one to many murder-related questions. The Fandom for this game is absolutely wonderful and full of amazing writers and artists- so It's been very hard climbing out of that rabbit hole of content, so again I'm so sorry about that!)

I Do Hope You Have A Wonderful Rest of your Day/Night!

-ShadowRoxz.❤

[scary-grace]

apparently it's not enough for me to roast the main character of BNHA or write so many fixits, I have to take it super literally and also give two middle fingers way, way up to a famous Ursula LeGuin parable by posting this self-indulgent miss-the-point thing. Omelas AU, for child abuse and neglect, hopeful ending, Oboro Shirakumo POV.

one who walks

Why did he have to look?

There’s no thought Oboro has right now, no thought he’s had for the past six months, that feels good, but that one feels worse than all the rest – the wish that he had let the knowledge be enough, that he’d managed to grasp it the way his best friends had, that he’d been outraged and betrayed and depressed and eventually resigned. Shouta and Hizashi reacted normally, the way most people react when they find out the truth. Neither of them wanted to look. But Oboro looked. Why did he have to look?

Oboro can kick himself about that from here to the end of time, and it won’t change anything. Oboro looked, and looking has consequences. For him. For everybody.

The city streets are empty at this time of night, but even if they weren’t, nobody would ask Oboro where he’s going. Nobody in Musutafu questions where anyone else is going, except to ask if they want company for the walk. Everybody’s going somewhere with purpose, or just to admire the view, and no one in Musutafu has bad intentions. Oboro never wondered why that was until six months ago. Never wondered why the things that went wrong in other places – crime, sickness, hatred, murder – never go wrong here. He just thought Musutafu was special, that the people who live here are special, too. And they are. Just not for the reason Oboro thought.

A trade, is how they framed it, when they sat Oboro and Hizashi and Shouta down to tell them why Musutafu is so peaceful, so prosperous, so perfect. You have to give something if you want to get something in return. Oboro and his friends know how trades work. They trade things all the time. They nodded, and Principal Nedzu explained what the whole city traded – and trades every day – so they can keep being happy and safe and free forever. Oboro didn’t get it at first. He could tell that Shouta didn’t, either, but Hizashi picked it up fast, and Hizashi got mad. A kid, he repeated. We can only live like this because you’re torturing a kid.

In exchange for Musutafu’s prosperity, they give up one person – a little kid, locked away beneath the city, left alone and unhappy and forgotten. Always hungry, never spoken to, never cared for. One person’s suffering in exchange for the happiness of six hundred thousand. No matter how many times Nedzu explained, it didn’t sink in – not for Oboro, at least. Hizashi had already gotten up and left, slamming the door so hard that picture frames fell off the wall and shattered on the floor. Shouta sat on the couch, staring blankly at the wall, and Oboro kept asking questions. The same questions over and over again, hoping the answer would change.

It never changed, and finally, Nedzu steepled his paws together and sat forward in his chair. Perhaps, Shirakumo, it would help if you could see.

No, Oboro should have said. I don’t need to see. I get it. I’m not as smart as my friends are. It takes time for stuff to sink in. Give me a second, or a minute – maybe a week – and it’ll all make sense. I’ll take your word for it. I don’t need to see. Yes.

Most people don’t go and look, but it’s not unheard of. And it’s not unheard of for people to be tormented by what they see. Some people have such a hard time with it that they leave Musutafu and never look back, never to be seen again, headed off into the darkness for parts unknown. Oboro’s never known anyone who left, but he always knows when someone’s gone. The whole city seems dimmer, somehow. It takes a while for the light to come back.

Oboro’s thought about leaving. There have been days in the last six months where he’s wanted nothing more than to get up and run. But he looked, and he saw, and that means he can’t just leave. Just leaving doesn’t fix anything. Knowing what’s happening and leaving is the same thing as staying, when it comes down to it. For Oboro to clear his conscience, there’s only one thing to do.

He knows that Musutafu is perfect, peaceful, that there’s no such thing as bad intentions or hidden evil, but it still surprises him that there are no guards outside the building that holds the sacrifice. Everybody knows where it is. Everybody knows exactly what goes on here and what the consequences for changing it are, and they haven’t even set a watch. Oboro knows why, and knowing why makes his jaw clench and his vision blur. They don’t need guards. They don’t think anybody would really do it.

The doors are unlocked, too. Oboro slips inside, his hands shaking, his legs leaden. He made this same walk six months ago, behind Principal Nedzu, still believing somewhere deep down that it was a joke. Just like before, it’s the smell that alerts him that something’s wrong.

Nothing decays in Musutafu. Nothing rots. No one leaves a mess uncleaned long enough for it to mold, or an injury untended long enough for maggots to set in, but the stench that emanates from the storage room at the bottom of the stairs is unmistakable. Six months ago and now, Oboro recoils from it, some instinct yanking at him to get away. He holds his ground. As terrible as this is, it’s nothing compared to what’s going on behind that door.

Nedzu explained it again as he and Oboro stood before the open door, as Oboro froze in horror, too numb and distant even to cry. In exchange for Musutafu’s peace and joy in a dark and dangerous world, something had to be given up – one child, not locked up as a baby but imprisoned once they’re old enough to understand what’s being taken from them, neglected and forgotten forever. Barely fed. Oboro asked about that as he looked in at the kid, whose limbs were stick-thin, whose face was hollow instead of round and healthy. Never cleaned up or tended to or comforted. That wasn’t allowed, Nedzu made it clear. Even being kind for a second would ruin everything.

The kid in the storage room didn’t ask for comfort. It cringed away from the open door at first, then snarled in anger, then cringed away again. Oboro asked if it was a boy or a girl, and Nedzu said it didn’t matter. He asked what its name was, and Nedzu said that didn’t matter, either. Oboro asked what would happen when the kid died, because he couldn’t imagine anybody surviving like this for the kind of long life the people of Musutafu have.

And that was when Nedzu said it. The thing that made Oboro’s head swim and his skin prickle, the thing that clenched his hands into fists at his sides and closed his throat so he couldn’t scream. When it dies, another will be chosen, he said. Sometimes one must be sacrificed for the good of all.

But it isn’t for the good of all. Oboro sees the storage room, the neglected kid, every time he closes his eyes – but when he opens them and looks around, he sees people he didn’t see before. People Musutafu ignores. People who look different or see things differently, people their perfect city doesn’t have room for. Kids, mostly, in families that look perfect from the outside. Oboro wonders how many of them grow up and walk away forever.

Would this be okay if it actually worked? Would Oboro find it easier to swallow, easier to ignore the way Shouta ignores it, the way Hizashi convinces himself, that Musutafu being the way it is justifies this? No, Oboro thinks as he stands in front of the door and lifts the key off the hook beside it. Even if it worked. If it’s built on something like this, it’s not worth it at all.

As he fits the key into the lock, Oboro wonders if he’s being selfish. He’s wondered that a lot since this idea sunk its claws into his head. If he shouldn’t take his guilt and horror as another sacrifice for the good of all, something he can and should bear so the rest of the city can live in peace. He hates reading, and he’s not as smart as Hizashi, but he went straight to the library and read everything he could find about morality, about ethics, about anything. Almost everything he could find said he was wrong.

There was one thing, though. Something old, something stuffed away at the back of a pile of books. Whoever saves one life saves the world entire. Oboro thinks about that, reminds himself of it. One life versus hundreds of thousands is the wrong way to look at it. It’s one life. One life, and Oboro can save it. He unlocks the door, kneels down so he won’t block out the light, and holds out his open hand.

The ground shakes ever so slightly beneath Oboro’s feet, not an earthquake or a foreshock – just a warning. Stop while you still can. Go no further. Oboro’s skin crawls, and his nose wrinkles at the smell leaking out of the storage room. He leaves his hand extended and speaks. “Hi,” he says. The ground rattles again, harder this time, and an odd, wavery sound drifts out of the darkness. “I’m Oboro. You might not remember me, but I was here before.”

There’s that wavery sound again. Nedzu called it whining, said that it was all that was left of the kid’s ability to speak after years down here, but Oboro doesn’t think that’s right. It sounds like sighing, or sobbing, quiet and plaintive. “I was here before,” Oboro says again. “I’m sorry it took me so long to come back. I just – I’m sorry. But I’m here. I’m here to help.”

Nothing moves in the storage room. The smell covers Oboro like a shroud, making his eyes sting. All he can hear is the kid’s breathing, faster and shallower than before. What does help even mean to them? “You never should have wound up in here. Nobody should,” Oboro says. “I’m here to take you away.”

Even when Oboro was standing here last time, asking questions that couldn’t be answered the way he needed them to be, he had this thought in the back of his mind. The thought of coming here, doing this. So he was careful with what he asked, and Principal Nedzu explained in detail about how even if someone was to take the child out of the room and care for them again, it wouldn’t make much of a difference. It had been in there too long, and something had been wrong with it from the start. It would never speak, never function normally. It must have grown used to its surroundings. It’s scared of people, scared of the light. Why would it want to leave? That’s where it belongs.

It isn’t, Oboro said. You put it there. You made it this way.

Indeed, Nedzu says. There was regret on his face, but not guilt. In any case, it’s too late.

Oboro doesn’t buy that. Not for a second. He leaves his hand extended, ignoring the low rumble from below the surface that rattles his bones. “I’m here to take you away,” he says again, and a small hand emerges from the darkness to brush against his.

Maybe the rattling isn’t some warning to Oboro from the universe. Maybe it’s just his own rage, because the hand fumbling awkwardly against his isn’t whole. It’s missing its index and middle fingers. All that’s left are two stumps barely protruding above the knuckles. Whatever they’ve been doing to this kid isn’t bad enough. They had to chop off the kid’s fingers, too. Oboro’s limbs might be humming with fury, but the kid’s hand is shaking like a leaf in the wind, its arm too weak to support it. The kid makes a weak attempt to hold onto Oboro’s hand, but loses their grip.

Oboro catches their hand in both of his. “Okay,” he says, steadying his voice with an effort. “Can you come out? Do you need me to help you?”

The kid doesn’t answer, but the hand caught between Oboro’s goes tense. Another hand emerges from the darkness, this one missing just the index finger, and with Oboro as an anchor, the kid pulls themselves halfway out of the storage room and into the light.

Their hair is long and matted, their eyes squeezed shut. They smell awful. Their skin is scratched raw all over their body, and there are sores on their feet and legs. Oboro feels a surge of disgust and hates himself for it. If the kid is filthy and starving and smells awful and can’t speak, it’s because they were made to be that way. It’s not their fault, and it’s not their fault no one’s helped them. Oboro doesn’t get to be grossed out. If he thinks it’s gross, he can do something about it.

But first he has to get the kid out of this building. “These stairs are kind of tall, so I’m going to carry you up them. Is that okay?” When the kid doesn’t respond, Oboro reaches for them, and when they don’t flinch, he scoops them into his arms. They weigh next to nothing. It feels like Oboro’s carrying a bundle of dry twigs. “Okay. Let’s go.”

There aren’t many lights on in Musutafu at this hour, but Oboro can see them flickering. He wonders if they always do that, or if it’s something new, something that’s only happening because he broke the rule and rescued the kid. But he hasn’t rescued the kid yet. They’re still inside the city. Someone could still stop him. Oboro picks up the pace, but the faster he walks, the more the kid’s arms and legs flop bonelessly, their head jarring with every step. They can’t even hold their head up. That’s how weak they are.

Oboro can fix that, though. He calls up his quirk, shaping the softest cloud he can manage, and settles the kid in the middle of it, bundling them up tight. The kid blinks up at Oboro through their matted hair. Their eyes are crimson, and too large in their hollow face. “That’s better, right?” Oboro asks, trying to keep his voice encouraging. “We’re just going to walk for a little bit. Just until morning, and when we stop, I’ll help you get cleaned up and find you some clothes and some food. How does that sound?”

Blink. Blink. “Okay,” Oboro says. He picks up the pace again. “We’ve got a little ways to go. Let me know if you need anything. If not, just enjoy the ride.”

He sounds confident, like he actually knows what he’s doing or where he’s going once he passes Musutafu’s borders, like there’s not panic scratching at him, growing stronger with every step. Oboro came prepared to help. He has a backpack full of food and medicine and clean clothes for the kid, and he knows how to defend himself as well as anybody. Better than some, maybe, because he’s taller than most people with the strength to match. It’s not about defending himself. It’s about everything else. Not knowing where he’s going. Not knowing what’s out there. Maybe knowing how to take care of someone but not knowing how to heal them. Having to do all of it alone.

Oboro would have brought Hizashi and Shouta with him, if he could. He spent four months trying to explain, trying to get them to go and see, pointing out all the other things he could see now, too. But nothing he said worked. Nothing he said could convince Shouta to look, or get Hizashi to look past his anger long enough to turn it into something to act on. Eventually Oboro had to stop trying to talk to them about it. If he kept talking, they might guess what he was planning. They might try to stop him. Oboro couldn’t let that happen.

But that means they’ll wake up tomorrow in whatever’s left of Musutafu, and Oboro won’t be there. He won’t have a chance to explain, and he’ll never see them again. If there’s anything Oboro knows about the ones who walk away from Musutafu, it’s that they don’t come back.

[paranormal-potatoes]

had another scene idea for the casefic

Belladonna: *overextends herself doing something dangerous and ill-advised*

John: *was recently stabbed because he did something dangerous and ill-advised*

John: I won't tell if you don't tell

Belladonna: deal

[darkparablesthorst]

no rest for the wicked

Word count: 334

Summary: Fiachra was glad to have a friend tag a long in his journey to find the elixir, but there are some drawbacks when said friend is too... efficient.

•••

"Come now, Fiachra. You wouldn't let simply being tired hinder you from your goal, would you?"

"I'm—" he wheezed, bending over to catch his breath, as he dug his walking staff into the earth of the downtrodden hiking trail. "Surely a moment's rest won’t signify much in the grand scale of our journey."

The trail sloped to a steady incline which allowed you to look down to meet his eyes from a few paces ahead of him, grinning from ear to ear. "Such indolence you allow yourself, my good man! The days will become much longer in the coming months, and we will have much less of the night to safely travel. If we are to ever find this elixir you speak of, then we must make haste!"

"Wait!" Fiachra pleaded, feeling a surge of relief when it stopped you from turning around and bounding forward once more. "We don't even know where it is!"

"Exactly why we must press forward immediately."

"Your shoulders must be tired from carrying such a large knapsack."

"Not at all! I am used to carrying larger wares upon my back as a merchant!"

"Perhaps we can convene on the clues we have gathered thus far?" Fiachra tried again.

"We have, just a few days ago. Which is why we are here in the rumored path of pilgrimage that the first Mist Wolves had taken in search of their home, supposedly a lead on where the Elixir of Life might be."

"Are we even heading in the right direction?" He asked, desperate, throwing his hands up.

"Uncertain! But staying in one place will certainly not help us, either!"

"It would keep me away from death's door, that's for sure," he bit back. You huffed a laugh, turned on your heel, and resumed your trek up the trail.

Fiachra groaned and stumbled a few steps behind, frustrated and feeling a bit petty. That damn elixir better show itself soon, or you'll be shaving a few years off his life before the sun even gets the chance to.

[wutheringmights]

The first time I read Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler, it was 2016 and I was in a college course taught by a professor I hated. Making us read the novel had been the one good decision she made, though I didn’t learn much from her. 

She more or less tossed the book at us and told us it was relevant to the times-- and that was the whole lecture. Flipping through my original book (I used to write my course notes in the book itself for easy review later), I can see that I learned close to nothing from her. Her lecture material had no insights an average person couldn’t have gotten from reading the damn text themselves. Where’s the review of academic literature? The historical context? Interpretations based on different schools of thought?  And she had the audacity to complain that my class was made of the worst students she ever had. Ma’am, you were one of the worst professors I ever had. I would curse your name, if I had bothered to remember it. 

 Anyway, I read the book in 2016 and decided that although the book was relevant, it still felt a degree removed from the current state of affairs. In the privileged bubble of having all of your needs met while in college, I was convinced that the world would miraculously fix itself by the time I graduated-- or that the world would suck, but I and everyone else I cared about would miraculously be effortlessly thriving. Call it optimism, naivety, or sheer delusion: the world sucked, and maybe it would get a little worse, but surely things will turn around soon. 

Now it’s 2025. Jesus christ. 

I’m in a book club now and, by the democratic will of the club members, we decided to make Parable of the Sower our first book; which also makes it my first read of the year. 

What a fucking time to go back to it. This was perhaps the worst time I could have picked to reread this book. 

Parable of the Sower  hits way harder now, in no small part because I grew up and got a reality check. Butler famously said that her near-apocalyptic depiction of America was born from exploring what the state of the country would be if the problems present in 1999 weren’t solved and continued to worsen. She’s succeeded. The housing crisis, climate change, wage gaps: all of our familiar everyday terrors are here, vivid, and downright terrifying. 

I was not having a good time. The entire time I was reading it, I was in a terrible mood. But as dark as the story gets, it never feels overdone. There’s cannibalism and sexual assault in spades, but Butlet lifts the tone by showing that the relief from the horrors is in being good to others and building a community. 

I love Butler’s writing. I loved it in 2016, I loved it when I read Kindred, and I love it here. She always writes with a strong, unique voice, and her plots are always on point. With some authors, you can see their tinkering all over the prose. Everything Butler writes feels perfect. No sentence is out of place. Her ideas and themes are well-developed and culturally relevant. She writes books that remain wholly original no matter the genre she writes in. 

If you can spare the stress, please read Parable of the Sower-- or Kindred, or any other of Butler’s books. This has definitely reminded me that I need to go through her entire catalogue and get my hands on everything she has ever touched. Butler is truly one of a kind and a cut far, far above the rest. 

---

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Rating: 5/5⭐

[smhallow]

You are not a hero. You don't get to have True Love. This is the part where you lose everything. This is the part where you rewrite your story.

After losing everything in service to the Evil Queen, and driven to the edge of sanity by a narrator who won't let him die, Hansel must bring himself to do the impossible: forge his own destiny, or give up on his Happily Ever After.

For fans of T. Kingfisher's fairytale retelling THORNHEDGE, Tamsyn Muir's 2nd person mental illness extravaganza HARROW THE NINTH, video games like SLAY THE PRINCESS and THE STANLEY PARABLE, and Sondheim's masterpiece INTO THE WOODS (which I listened to nonstop while writing this book).

My dark fantasy, cozy horror, not-a-Romance-but-super-romantic novella HOW TO SURVIVE THIS FAIRYTALE comes out 1/16/25.

ARC applications are open now, and you can apply here!

[fandomtrumpshate]

Unlisted Fandom Challenge update!

At the top of our Unlisted fandoms:

Jeff Satur (9) and Zhen Hun / Guardian (7) continue to hang on to spots 1 and 2!

Beyond that, the ties have grown!

With 5 signups each:

Alien Stage

BBC Ghosts

Control

Dungeon Meshi

White Collar

4 signups:

Cabin Pressure

Dimension 20

It - Stephen King

Schitt's Creek

Transformers

With 3 signups in an 11-way tie:

Detective Conan

Dungeons and Daddies (Podcast)

Fire Emblem Awakening

Fire Emblem Fates

Iron Widow

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint

Roswell New Mexico

Stand By Me/The Body

The Goblin Emperor Series

Voltron: Legendary Defender

Guardian RPF

WHEW!

If you can believe it, there are now so many fandoms with two signups each – 44 – that we're bumping those below the cut with the single-signup fandoms.

And THEN! There are one. hundred. sixty. one. write-in fandoms with just a single signup. 161! Giving us a total of 228 write in fandoms all together! So far!

Full list of fandoms with one or two signups below the cut:

The 44 fandoms with 2 write-ins each:

Animorphs

Avatar Legend of Korra

Biggles Series — W. E. Johns

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu (Cute High Earth Defense Club)

Bridgerton (TV)

Carry On

Cherry Magic

Conclave (2024)

Dangan Ronpa

Dead Boy Detectives RPF

Digimon

Dishonored

Due South

Dune (Villeneuve)

Fields of Mistria

Five Nights at Freddy's

Grantchester (TV)

Gravity Falls

Inception

Kingdom Hearts

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Link Click (Shiguang Dailiren)

Lovecraft Mythos

Lucifer (tv)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury

Nirvana in Fire

Pathologic

Princess Tutu

Sailor Moon

Slow Horses

Team Fortress 2

The Blue Wolves of Mibu

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (TV series)

The Poppy War

The Stanley Parable

The X-Files

Tiger & Bunny

Tower of God

Universal Century Gundam

Valdemar Series

What We Do In The Shadows

When the Third Wheel Strikes Back

Word of Honor

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

And finally, the 161 single write-in fandoms:

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Among Us

Arctic Monkeys/The Last shadow Puppets

Around the World in 80 Days (TV 2021)

Babylon 5

Baseball RPF

BBC’s Musketeers

Bendy and the Ink Machine

Beyond Evil

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei Bu Love/Happy Kiss

Black Doves

Black Sails

Boygenius (Band)(RPF)

Brilliant Minds

Britpop RPF

Brokeback Mountain

Bullet train

Canji Baojun De Zhangxin Yu Chong (The disabled tyrant's pet palm fish)

Cassette Beasts

Castle

Challengers

Charmed (1998)

Countryhumans

Criminal Minds

Danger Force (TV)

Dark Deception

Dark Rise

Dead by Daylight

Descendants

Destiny 2

Divergent (Movies)

Downton Abbey

Dr. Stone

Dragonball

Dragonlance

Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

Emma - Jane Austen

Etta Invincible

Fangs of Fortune

Farscape

Fear & Hunger: Termina

Fields of Mistria

Finder no Hyouteki / Finder Series

Flight Rising

Formula 2/3 RPF

Frieren

Fruits Basket

Gangsta (Anime & Manga)

Generation Loss (Web Series)

Giselle

Grimm

Hatoful Boyfriend

Haven (TV)

Helluva Boss

Henry Danger (TV)

High School Musical (Movies)

Hikaru no Go

HLVRAI - Half-life VR But the AI is Self-Aware

Homer's Epics, Ancient Greece Religion and Lore, Epic The Musical

House MD

In Other Lands

In Stars And Time

IndyCar RPF

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Jeeves and Wooster

Jet Lag The Game RPF

Jurassic Park (Extended Universe)

Kamen Rider GotchardKane and Feels

Kraven the Hunter

Kuroko no Basuke / Kuroko's Basketball

Law & Order

Lays of the Hearth-Fire Series - Victoria Goddard

Lies of P

Life is Strange

Live A Live

Lord Seventh/Qi Ye

M*A*S*H

Malory Towers

Mass Effect 1, 2 or 3

Metaphor: Refantazio

Mononoke (2007 series and 2024 movie)

MotoGP RPF

My Time at Sandrock

Mystic Messenger

NBA RPF

Nerdy Prudes Must Die

Norah Grant Bruce's Billabong books

Oasis

Oh No! Here Comes Trouble

Once Upon A Time

Order of the Stick

Outlast games

Over the Garden Wall

Pacific Rim

Paradise Of Thorns

Peaky Blinders

Persuasion - Jane AustenPhandom

Pirates of the Caribbean

Power Rangers (2017 movie)

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Prodigal Son

Project Sekai

Psych (2006)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Qiang Jin Jiu (Ballad of Sword and Wine)

Quantum Break

Ranma 1/2

Resident Alien

Resident Evil

Rise of the Guardians

Riyria Revelations

S.C.I Mystery

S.W.A.T. (2017 show)

Saint Seiya

Saw franchise

Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated (2010)

She-Ra Netflix

Shipwrecked Comedy

Sonic the Hedgehog (Games)

Sonic The Hedgehog (movies)

South Park

Spinning Silver (Novik)

Spirited

Squid Game

Starkid Musicals (no hp)

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical

Super Sentai

That 70s Show

The A Team (either the 2010 movie or the 1980s series)

The Coffin of Andy and Leyley

The Librarians

The OC

The Pairing - Casey McQuiston

The Paradise of Thorns

The Radiant Emperor

The Silt Verses

The Umbrella Academy

the vampire diaries universe

The Venture Maidens

The Walking Dead

The West Wing

Thousand Autumns

Tokusatsu

Tron

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles

Turning

video games by Arkane Studios

Wander Over Yonder

Warriors / Warrior Cats

Watcher Entertainment/BuzzFeed Unsolved RPF

Wind Breaker

WNBA RPF

Wonka

Xenoblade Chronicles series

Yellowjackets

Young Wizards (Diane Duane)

Zatch Bell

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