arminsumi · 1 year ago
Note
hi! I hope you're doing well, i always look foward to your work <3
can i request gojo and geto being protective over you
drink lots of water!
Promise — 約束
SatoSugu ⋅ fem reader
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NOTE — so sweet !! thank you, i'm so happy you look forward to my works :) i hope u like what i made of this, the idea just kinda happened
WARNINGS — angst with fluff / comfort (it's not actually sad the boys are just distressed because you got hurt), implied injury / near-death experience (reader)
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" THEY WHAT ?! ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR MINDS ?! " Satoru yelled like you had never seen him yell before. He was seething, eyes ablaze.
" This has to be a mistake... oh, angel, don't cry, come here. " Suguru talked to you soothingly.
You had come to them and told them the news through chokes and sniffles. It stung their hearts to see you so petrified.
An especially frightening mission had been assigned to you. Usually, these two overprotective boys tagged along with you or just did it themselves to save you the burden and pain of using your straining technique. But that wasn't an option this time, for some reason.
" I have a bone to pick. " Satoru grumbled, storming off violently.
Suguru had been practically cradling you in his arms to try and soothe your nerves.
" Satoru ! Don't do something rash — ah, shit, 'gotta go after that madman or he'll kill someone. Okay, you stay with Shoko, alright ? She's in the main hall by the vending machines. Relax. Satoru and I will sort everything out. Drink some water and rest — and no cigarettes with Shoko. "
So the boys went to complain to the higher ups, and though admittedly they were shaken up by Satoru's violently aggressive attitude, they didn't budge.
" ARE YOU ALL OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MINDS ?! "
" Satoru, calm down. " Suguru said. That's when Satoru finally calmed down.
" We're the strongest, let us take on this mission instead. " Suguru tried to reason.
Satoru's voice subtly shook when he spoke, residual anger lingering in his throat. His heart was beating heavily. " Y/n's weak. " he said. A harsh truth. " Too weak to take on a special-grade like that. "
Suguru tended to butter you up and call you strong, but Satoru was brutally truthful; you were much, much weaker than the both of them. Ever since they had met you, they felt this overwhelming urge to protect you with their lives.
Then they tried to convince the higher ups that you were " too weak " to do it. But they still didn't budge. In fact they glowered at the two students.
" You think I can't do it myself ! I'm a fucking god ! I could snap that thing in half with my fingertips ! " Satoru went into a sudden self-induced power trip, but Suguru stood besides him and silently agreed. Of course he could do it himself, he was Gojo Satoru.
Storming off again, Satoru left to go find you. And Suguru followed after his steps.
" Shoko ? Where did Y/n go ? She was supposed to be with you. "
" . . . uh, she walked right past me earlier and when I asked where she was headed, she said something about Roppongi ? " Shoko had her head in her hands and a lit cigarette between her fingers.
" God fucking damn it, that idiot. " Satoru's heart panged with worry.
" Save some limbs for me to rip off. " Suguru joked.
" Let's go get her. " Suguru said.
" I swear to fuck . . . I'll fucking rip that thing to limb by limb if it even so much as grazes her skin. " Satoru seethed.
" You two are gonna get reprimanded for this, you know. "
Satoru waved his hand dismissively and left with Suguru.
You were in the midst of battle, bleeding and panting. Covering your ears, you were just about to succumb to your paralyzing fear when suddenly your two saviors sliced right into the scene. You caught a glimpse of the most feral, raw look in Satoru's eyes; pure vengeance, it was almost artful how he pulled apart the cursed spirit.
" Angel, it's okay now, We're here. " Suguru comforted you, lifting your limp body and holding it like a baby. " You did good. Don't try to move, you must be in a lot of pain. I've got you, don't worry. Oh — Satoru, that was quick. Are you trying to show off for her ? Just teasing. "
You listened to the lullaby-like voice of Suguru and let your eyes flutter shut. The last image in your vision was that of a panting, blue-eyed boy who looked so startled to see you in poor condition. He looked about ready to cry.
Their voices sounded like distant echoes to you as you drifted into a half-conscious state, leaning more on the unconscious side.
" . . . I could kill those old fucks right now. "
" Satoru, calm down. She's going to be alright. Let's just get her to Shoko. "
" I hate seeing her like this. "
" Me too. But she'll be okay. "
" Angel, still with us ? Satoru, just breathe. She's really going to be okay. Don't cry or you'll make me cry, too. "
" Sh-she's so damn stubborn. Stubborn a—nd st-stupid. Why'd you run off by yourself like that. Y-you stupid weakling . . . "
You could hear Satoru distantly crying, and he didn't stop until after Shoko tended to you. The boys kept close, soothingly stroking your arms and cheeks to keep you conscious.
Nothing can explain the relief they felt when they saw you stirring-to again.
" Hey, sleepyhead. " Suguru's tender smile was the first thing you saw.
Satoru's lips were parted, his face paler than ever. He looked so relieved and yet shocked to the bone, like he'd just gone through the worst day of his life.
" Welcome back to the land of the living. " Shoko greeted, cleaning up the blood on your cheek. " You know, you made the boys cry. Satoru even had a snotty nose like a little kid. "
" Shut up . . . "
Satoru heard how dry your throat was when you spoke, and promptly shoved his half-full water bottle in your face, hastily drying his eyes on his uniform sleeve. Like the in-sync duo they were, they worked together to help you drink; Suguru held the back of your head, and Satoru tilted the water bottle into your mouth. Of course he spilled a bit, two rivulets of water went down either side of your jawline and tickled your neck.
" . . . was just . . . trying to show you two . . . that I'm not weak . . . but I guess I am. I'm Sorry. " you choked, voice barely above a whisper.
Their hearts sunk deep.
" You're not weak . . . " Satoru choked up too, eyes only recently dried of tears and yet fresh ones began tipping over his bottom lid, wetting his angelic lashes. " You're not weak, I'm sorry I say that all the time. I shouldn't have . . . I just . . . would rather convince you you're weak so you'll call on us all the time, 'n n-never r—r-risk los—ing y—ou. " he suddenly sobbed at the end, realizing how deeply he cared for you.
Suguru was on the verge of tears, too, because of the sight of his best friend sobbing like a hurt puppy and also because of what he had just said.
" . . . don't cry, you two. A—ahah, Sh-Shoko don't you cry with them ! Or I'm gonna cr—yh. "
" Very graceful, Satoru. " Suguru joked.
" . . . thanks. " you thanked them.
" Don't say thank you. "
You could barely make out the complicated sentence that Suguru said next, it was something like;
" You'll never be undeserving of our protection. " and " So never say thank you. "
That day, they didn't just promise to keep you safe, they vowed it. Weak or not, strengthened or not, they felt compelled to be at your side.
Through the long passage of time, they never break their vow to keep you safe, even when Satoru and Suguru part paths. You're never an enemy to either of them, you're always their baby.
It's a tough reality to accept that one of your closest friends has become a murderous cult leader, and the other has become a lonely god. But they still visit you. Sometimes you three will hang out altogether in secret — so risky, but worth it, to see the two of them smiling with you even though you had very few things to smile about during your adulthood.
The sweet, comforting feeling of the adolescent memories made with them carries through all the years.
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© arminsumi
Do not plagiarize / repost / translate / copy layouts / etc.
Do not steal what I've worked hard to create.
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uranometrias · 7 months ago
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✮ꜜ : ❛ guilt's a motherfucker : spencer reid x fem! reader
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pairing: spencer reid x bau! reader
summary: denial was an art, especially in a field like the one that you worked in. as a profiler, it was almost impossible for anyone to pull the wool over your eyes. you'd spent enough time with your team to know that this gift, this specific sort of perception was not something you were immune to either. meaning, no matter how much you tried to keep things a secret, someone on your team was bound to read right through you. especially spencer. 🔱 ━━ alternatively: the one where your inability to say what you want leads spencer to accept the affections of someone else.
content warnings: i think this could be considered angst . spencer reid having a crush on reader. reader being jealous of spencer getting attention from someone else. cute friendship between derek+ emily + reader. reader is the youngest on the team. set in s6, pre- jj’s departure.
read part two here
“You doing alright, babygirl?” Derek’s voice isn’t hard to miss, and the obvious smugness that was attached made your eyes roll. You knew from the moment that you’d leaned forward in your chair, lips pulling down into a deep pout that someone would clock you and quite quickly put two and two together. You didn’t mean to be obvious, in fact, usually you did a much better job at keeping your cool. However, there was something glaringly different today.
Spencer had gone for a new look, you remembered the day he walked in with his hair freshly cropped, shoulder-length tresses replaced with what Hotch had affectionately referred to as "boy band" hair. The rest of the team had laughed, you'd even cutely hid your own snicker behind your hand, but you couldn't deny that it fit him. It was flattering, dare you say cute as hell. In the weeks that followed though, he'd went even shorter, gone were all traces of boy band.
The look he sported now was distracting, incredibly so. He looked good, and it seemed you weren't the only that seemed to notice.
"She's eating him with her eyes." you grumble, arms crossing as Derek comes up behind you. He's got his chin pressed to your shoulder, following your line of sight, as a boisterous laugh escapes him. "It's not funny, Derek." this hiss of yours only seems to fuel his amusement as he starts to chuckle even louder.
"You've been mean mugging that girl since she walked in this morning." Derek rounds your desk now, obstructing your view of the betrayal taking place across the bullpen. It was a slow day, a good day. No cases, but loads of paperwork. Your desk was covered in nothing but files, some you'd started, some you'd finished. You're still cross, but you allow yourself to look up at your long time friend.
"I'm not mean mugging." you huff, blinking slow as you think over your clear fib. "There's just something in my eye." you whisper, and it's not convincing. You can tell by the way Derek's bag chuckling.
"Yeah, a green monster." he retorts quickly, and you can't deny the way it catches you off guard, as a choked laugh at your own expense escapes you. "Jealousy's not a good look on you, little bit." he hums and you droop, because of course you know that. "Why don't you just talk to the guy? Look him in the eye and tell him straight up how you're feeling?" he asks, and despite all his jokes and quips, Derek Morgan was perceptive, and he cared about you.
"That's a horrible idea." you exclaim, and your entire body jerks back, recoiling as if you'd been stung. "God, aren't you supposed to be some kind of smooth criminal?" your eyebrows quirk upward, "What type of advice is that?" you proceed, and Derek's bemused, looking down at you as he waits for you to finish your spiel.
"Just tell him straight up how you feel?" you deepen your voice to mock his, "Why don't I just run around the bullpen in underwear too, since we're doing dumb things." you huff, and your dramatics are amusing. They always have been. You'd been a member of the team going on two years, and you'd made a mark so deep it almost felt like you'd always been a part of the Unit.
You were a stark contrast to Emily and JJ, and a complete 180 from the angsty bombshell that had been Elle Greenaway. You were a wide-eyed 20-something year old that still had so much light behind your eyes, and a hope that you wouldn't shake. You had a way of making everyone laugh. You could pull anyone out of their heads, even Hotch, who Derek had caught many times fighting back small content smizes as you took the team's mind off the gore of the job.
"That's one way to get attention." he hums, and you huff again.
"Derek, you're not being helpful. If you're just here to laugh at my misery, I'm gonna start rethinking your place in my life." you hum, and you lean forward, chin resting against your palms. Derek appraises you, head tipping to the side as he offers you a charming grin.
"All I'm saying is, you've been crushing on the kid since you got here." he reminds you, and your frown deepens. "And the world wont be blind forever." he mumbles, and you know what he means. Spencer Reid to you had always been the most beautiful guy, but he'd been buried under mountains of trauma and insecurities that he had never been able to accept that. With time though, Spencer had begun to blossom, and this new haircut seemed to be a testament of this.
He was coming into himself, there was a new confidence budding in his steps, less stammers between phrases, and you didn't really have to fight for eye contact much anymore. He was still Spence, and in his words, he was far from an Alpha Male, but he could be. And he would be, you just knew it. Which meant that the more confident he became, the more women would see him the way you saw him. Damn. Derek sees the way the cogs in your mind move, and he sighs.
"Take it from someone who's been around-." you can't help but to insert with your own little quip. "What are you calling yourself a dog?" you tease, and his eyes roll, but he still grins wide.
"Listen." he stretches the word a bit, and he's looking you right in the eye. You can see sympathy swirling through the pretty pools of brown, and you believe that maybe if you were a bit older, and had met Derek first, you'd be swooning for him the way you were swooning for Spencer. You shake these thoughts of his beauty away, as you give him the space to speak freely. "I know what it's like to miss a window." he reminds you. "Rejection's a bitch." he adds.
True. It was precisely why you'd never bothered to say anything to Spencer. You got through life by pretending things were fine, by making a joke out of the hard stuff. You wouldn't be able to handle opening your heart to someone, and being told 'No'. That you weren't good enough, that you weren't what they needed. Maybe that was selfish, rejection was a part of life. It was necessary, but still. You'd rather deal with your unresolved issues alone. You saw no need to bring Spencer into conversations about your feelings for him at all.
"But guilt's a motherfucker." and Derek's words stop you short. You blink. What was worse? The sting that rejection could cause or the gaping hole that guilt would bring? The thought of getting an invite to a wedding day for a future Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Reid while you sitll held romantic feelings close to your chest made you want to vomit. Perhaps Derek had a point. At least if Spence turned you down with time the two of you could work around it, become friends again.
If you never said anything though, you'd have no right to be angry or hurt or jealous if some woman with much more confidence than you managed to swoop in and knock him off his feet Damn, you hated when Derek was right. His chuckle is what alerts you that your begrudging inner thoughts had been uttered aloud.
"What's Derek right about?" you smell the familiar scent of Prentiss' perfume before you see her face. It's subtle but comforting, and it makes you unconsciously relax in your seat. Derek's moving out of your line of sight, and you're met with the sight of Spencer still talking to the woman. She had a firm grip on a mug of coffee in one hand, her other hand leisurely tracing circles on Spencer's arms. You inhale sharply, swiveling in your seat as you turn to face Emily.
"Everything." Derek takes the swing, winking as you and Emily share a dry glance. He then subtly nods his head towards the woman crowding Spencer at the kitchenette and Emily's lips form a thin line of understanding. She turns to you, hand resting on your shoulder as she gives it a firm squeeze.
"Don't you think it's time to take a swing?" she offers, and you hate that immediately she falls into step with Derek. The duo forming a united front against you to ensure you put your big girl pants on and tell him the way you're feeling. "Here's an idea," And Emily's looking for a second to make sure Spencer is still too preoccupied to make his way over. "You've been trying to find someone to go with you to that new movie... what was it?" Emily snaps her fingers.
"Crash of the-" you cut her off with a deep sigh.
"Clash... it's Called Clash of the Titans." you mutter, and you pout. You had been trying to convince Emily, JJ, and Penelope to give the action film a shot. What could be better than watching Sam Worthington run across your scream for nearly two hours as you're transported to Ancient Greece? But, alas... the girls were far more interested in other things. In truth, they'd all agreed that they'd prefer to see something a little less packed with gore and violence.
Just for a change of pace.
You couldn't slight them for their polite rejection of your plans. The last case you'd been on had been especially taxing and nightmare inducing. "Why don't you ask him instead?" she hums, and you look over at the chatting duo, they'd really been talking for a while. There's this easygoing sort of look on Spencer's face, and the beauty across from him has turned about the same shade of red as the lipstick smeared across her full pout.
"Looks like she beat me to it." you mutter, and you think maybe God hates you, because as you let the words out, the girl is beaming even brighter, slipping something she'd written on a napkin into the palm of his hand. She offers a flirty wink before she's sashaying off, hips moving from side to side as she makes her way back to her own little cubby. "Ah well, who cares?" you try your hand at playing nonchalant. "It's not like I was in love with him or anything."
And the thing about Denial was that you'd spent so long making it your security blanket that you often forgot you were working with some of the most brilliant minds the FBI had ever produced.
Derek pats your shoulder, he's sympathetic to your plight. He was probably the only person you had been the most forthcoming with about these feelings you harbored. Emily frowns, and she offers you a side hug, chin resting on the top of your head. Their comfort makes you feel better, but the coil of feelings in your gut only seems to tighten. You wanted to be alone, you'd been perceived enough, if any of them pushed any further you may have broken into tears.
"I-I should get back to work." you mutter quietly, and they both know what you're doing. For once they resist the urge to comment, and they leave you be. Your desk was farthest away from the rest of the team. You and Hotch had agreed it was necessity. You could focus more when your back was to the rest of them. You let out a quiet sigh, fingers drumming against the table as you swallowed your emotions. You tiredly reach for an unfinished file, flipping it open.
Blurry words peer back at you, and you're shocked to realize that despite all your efforts you were still about to cry. Fuck.
You close your eyes, counting up to thirty in both english and spanish, by the time you'd finished breathing treinta under your breath, you had a new guest in front of you. Spencer stretched up for what felt like miles, his eyebrows furrowed as he stood before your desk with a look of confusion on his face. "Hey, are you alright?" he asks, and his voice always has this tenderness throughout.
"J-Just fine." and your stammer gives you away. Your voice is coated with mucus, a surefire signal that you were about a few seconds shy of having an immature meltdown. How silly of you to be this shaken up over the prospect of Spencer being with someone else. How dare you? You didn't even have the balls to admit that your playful flirting was just you overcompensating for the fact you couldn't do it foreal.
"I read somewhere that breathing exercises help you get through boring things." you motion to the file, and you've perfected your fake grin. Spencer doesn't look convinced, but he plays along.
"Oh, yeah? Where'd you read that?" he asks and you blanche.
"Uh. Just somewhere." you answer, and he's raised both his eyebrows. You recover quickly, clearing your throat. "You've replaced me, huh?" you ask, and you're playing it off like one of your jokes. Spencer looks shocked for a second, before he tips his head to the side as he looks down at you as if you were the most important thing in his world. If only.
"What do you mean?" he pries, and you motion with your head to the coffee station.
"Found another pretty girl to boost your head up, huh?" you mutter, and there's this flash. Something you can't quite catch, mostly because you're not in the mood to profile and analyze what all his facial expressions meant now. "You guys looked like you were having a good time." you add, and you hope you don't sound bitter. Jealousy or not, if Spencer was happy, you'd be happy too. You'd try.
"Yeah." he replies, and his face is turning red. "S-She was just being nice." he answers, and you hate that the first thing you notice is how he hasn't said 'No, I haven't replaced you.' You sour all the more.
"That's nice, Spence." you hum, and it's clear you've now become uninterested. So much for trying.
Still, Spencer was nothing if not selectively oblivious. You guys had been playing this game for almost a year, he wasn't going to make it easy for you to cop out and make him the bad guy. "She actually asked me to go see-" the rest of his joy-ridden words are mush in your head, and you can imagine how unamused you looked as you half-listened to him go on about how they were going out Saturday.
Yippee.
You don't mean to be rude, not really. But you couldn't bring yourself to listen to anymore. "Congratulations, Spencer." you cut him off abruptly. "But I've got to finish this, so if you could just-" and you're ushering him off as he stares at you aghast.
"What's your problem?" he pries, and you blink owlishly.
"Nothing." you insist, and you look over your shoulder. The team was not-so-subtly watching the exchange. Typical.
"I find that hard to believe." Spencer retorts, and he's got this unimpressed look on his face, like he knows something you don't. His genius has never irked you before, but right now it just makes you feel more perceived. Like he knew how you felt and was rubbing this all in your face. He couldn't possibly be that cruel though, right?
"Well that's not really my problem is it?" you snap, and Spencer's reaction is instantaneous. His scoff rings in your ears.
"Yeah, actually it is." he shoots back, and you rear back in surprise. What was that supposed to mean. "You know this is getting really old." and your strangled gasp escapes you before you can stop it.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" you narrow your eyes as you set your glare on him. He's got his own challenging sort of glance on his face, almost like he's daring you to keep playing dumb. You will. If only to push him to spit out whatever was so clearly sitting on the tip of his tongue. "Go on. Please tell me, Mr. All knowing." you press and his eyes roll. You look like a perturbed toddler ready to fling yourself on the ground and scream.
"Grow up." is all he says, and it slices you clean in half. "If you're gonna play the role of the jealous little girl, at least respect me enough to not play dumb about it when you're caught." and then he's leaving you sitting at your desk, and you're gawking.
Fuck.
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ohhappyday123 · 5 months ago
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Office Dynamics
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The usual chaos at Dunder Mifflin was in full swing as you settled into your desk. You glanced around the office, noting the familiar faces: your best friend Pam at the receptionist desk, Dwight giving one of his many stern warnings to an uninterested Jim, and Michael hiding behind his office door, occasionally peeking out to see if anyone needed "managing."
You had been at Dunder Mifflin for a few years now, and over time, you had built strong relationships with your coworkers. You were especially close to Pam and Dwight. Pam was your confidante, the one who shared your love for art and a good cup of coffee. Dwight, with all his quirks, had become a surprisingly loyal friend. And then there was Jim, with whom you'd developed a complicated yet exciting "fling."
The camera crew caught you at your desk, and you gave a small wave before starting your work.
Interview with Y/N: "I love it here. Everyone's so... unique," you laughed. "Pam and I have been friends since I started, and Dwight, well, he's an acquired taste, but he's a good friend. Michael... he kind of sees me as his secret favorite. I don't know why, but I'll take it."
As you typed away, Michael's voice echoed through the office. "Y/N! Can you come into my office for a second?"
You rolled your eyes playfully at the camera before standing up and making your way to Michael's office. He shut the door behind you, a serious look on his face.
"Y/N, I need your opinion on something very important," Michael said, his tone hushed.
"Sure, Michael. What's up?" you replied, curious.
"I've been thinking about the next office party theme. What do you think about a ‘Scranton Renaissance Fair’?" he asked, his eyes wide with excitement.
You couldn't help but smile. "I think it's a great idea, Michael. Everyone will love it."
Michael beamed, clearly satisfied with your response. "I knew I could count on you, Y/N. You're the best."
You left Michael's office, feeling a bit lighter. As you walked back to your desk, you noticed Jim watching you with a smirk. You raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking what he found so amusing.
He got up and sauntered over to your desk, leaning against it casually. "So, the boss's favorite, huh?"
You shrugged, trying to hide your smile. "What can I say? I have a way with people."
Jim chuckled, his eyes sparkling. "Well, you certainly have a way with me."
Before you could respond, Pam appeared beside you, a stack of papers in her hands. "Hey, Y/N. Got a minute?"
You nodded, grateful for the distraction. As Pam led you to the break room, you glanced back at Jim, who was still watching you, his smile never wavering.
In the break room, Pam set the papers down and turned to you, a knowing look on her face. "So, what's going on with you and Jim?"
You felt a blush creep up your neck. "Nothing, really. We're just... having fun."
Pam raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh. Just be careful, okay? Jim's a great guy, but office flings can get complicated."
You nodded, appreciating her concern. "Thanks, Pam. I'll keep that in mind."
As the day went on, you found yourself in the middle of a prank war between Jim and Dwight. Dwight had somehow managed to get himself locked in the conference room, and Jim was pretending to have lost the key.
Interview with Dwight: "Y/N is one of the few competent people in this office. She understands the importance of structure and discipline. Jim, on the other hand, is a menace."
Interview with Jim: "Y/N and I have a good thing going. She's smart, funny, and knows how to keep Dwight in check. Plus, she's got this amazing smile that just... well, it's something special."
As you tried to mediate the situation, Michael called another impromptu meeting. Everyone gathered in the conference room, and you took a seat next to Pam. Jim sat across from you, giving you a playful wink.
Michael started the meeting with his usual enthusiasm. "Alright, everyone! I have exciting news. We're going to have a ‘Scranton Renaissance Fair’! And it was all Y/N's brilliant idea."
You felt everyone's eyes on you, and you gave a modest smile. "It should be fun."
After the meeting, as everyone was getting back to work, Jim cornered you near the copier. "So, a Renaissance Fair, huh? Any chance you’ll dress up as a princess?"
You laughed, shaking your head. "Only if you dress up as a knight."
Jim grinned, leaning in closer. "Deal. But just so you know, I'm pretty sure I'd be the one saving you."
You felt your heart race as you looked into his eyes. "We'll see about that."
The rest of the day flew by, and as the office began to empty, you found yourself alone with Jim. He walked you to your car, his hand brushing against yours.
"So, dinner tonight?" he asked, his voice hopeful.
You nodded, feeling a warmth spread through you. "I'd love that."
Interview with Y/N: "Jim and I... we have this connection. It's fun, it's exciting, and it just feels right. I'm not sure where it's going, but I'm enjoying the ride."
As you drove home, you couldn't stop smiling. The day had been filled with the usual office antics, but amidst it all, you felt a sense of happiness and anticipation. Tonight, you'd get to explore whatever this was with Jim a little further, and you couldn't wait.
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lancabbage · 2 months ago
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When someone brings out the novel artwork as 'proof' WWXs og body didn't have scars all over his back from YZYs canonical abuse... You know you're dealing with an idiot.
Yes, the art is pretty and a nice addition. But it's not canon and it hardly depicts it either... We have artwork in the novel that shows WWX in red and black during his youth when he would have been wearing Jiang clan purple. He only starts wearing black post burial mounds escape. So that's incorrect...
We have novel art depicting WWX with glowing red eyes... Also not canonically true either. Nor are his tits ever particularly out, but most give his YLLZ era a plunge neckline so low you might be able to see the hint of his garden path if you look close enough!
If you're using mostly fan generated artwork - who have been clearly influenced by the CQL and donghua or their own personal headcanons and preferences - you're a moron and wasting my time.
“Uh, yeah,” Wei Wuxian said. He felt his back, which was LINED WITH OLD AND NEW WELTS. He couldn’t help but ask the question he’d been dwelling on. “Really, this must be the greatest injustice in all of history. Why am I always the only one getting hit whenever something happens?”
7S translation
Wei WuXian, “Uh-huh, that’s right.” He felt his back, COVERED IN SCARS BOTH OLD AND NEW, and still couldn’t hold back the question he’d be thinking about, “How awfully unfair. Why is it that I’m the only one who gets beaten up, whenever something happens?”
ExR translation
YZY whipped and abused WWX whenever she was in residence at Lotus Pier. Considering she was apparently barely there and the detailed description of new and old scars (wounds/welts*/injuries - whatever you want to fucking call it!! It's all the same!!!) we see in the extras, she must have harmed him any chance she got while she was back. We see her lashing him (and him alone!) for the most tenuous of "reasons"... The fact it states he was covered in scars both new and old shows historical abuse spanning some time - most likely since he arrived at LP at the age of nine!!!
So don't go pulling that bullshit on me when we're talking about canon FACTS. Especially when people cherry pick the text to conveniently show what they want and omit the stuff that shows they're talking from their ass.
*An English lesson for those struggling with 7S translation choice for the scars on WWXs back...
The term "welts" doesn't JUST mean a swollen bruise like mark on the skin or an itchy raised bump. It's a technical term used for injuries and scars left behind from being whipped or beaten hard and heavily with something. While I'm not a fan of their word choices, this is technically correct in the sense the marks are classified as welts as defined above.
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reikunrei · 6 months ago
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feeling incredibly averse to posting this but i'm just gonna drop my kofi link here in case anyone wants to help me get out of my increasingly shitty situation living with my parents
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more info below ig
after having given my parents nearly $100k over the last four years, i'd love to be able to actually leave. my future job situation is still up in the air (i've submitted for about a dozen positions and the only one i've heard back from and interviewed for hasn't gotten back to me yet), and i haven't been able to build up any savings because, again, i was (and still am) helping my family afford rent and bills, and probably the taxes my parents are behind on, but if i think about that, i'll get too angry. no joke, i've given my family, at the bare minimum, 85% of my income over the last 4 years. the rest of it has gone toward medical stuff and, now, my car
at this point, with the combo of my mom refusing to lower her standards and my dad's seeming refusal to hunt for a new full time job, i don't see how they won't continue to bleed me dry. my dad even has a bad habit of taking money out of my old savings account that he's a joint owner on or whatever from when i got it set up when i was 16, even when i stopped actively putting money in it, so now any time it gets its automated $1 transfer from my checking account, he'll just take that $1 without consulting me. i'm not exaggerating, even if it has $1-2 in it, it'll be gone within a week
i've even put off starting on testosterone because of this. i wanted to start it like 3 years ago, but kept putting it off because of money issues and wanting to save as much as possible. i got really close to actually starting it this year, but because of how messy everything is, i put it off again bc having one more thing on my plate, especially when my parents are already weird about me being trans, was not something i wanted to deal with
not to mention, we're still currently not living under a lease in our house that we're, as far as i'm aware, still tens of thousands of dollars behind in rent on (again, my dad refuses to disclose our financial position honestly with any of us) and it's developed many, many issues bc the landlord, even before we were behind on rent, is shit and refuses to actually fix anything. and my dad loves to just ignore things unless we beg him to do something
i'd love to be on my own (in the, much more affordable, midwest) by the end of summer. i by no means want to rely on donations and i have other avenues i'm working with to make money (i still have my current full time job, but i'm going through my old belongings and selling a lot online), but i'll take any help i can get atp because i'm truly at my wits end. i'd start doing art commissions again if i could, but doing that from 2020-2022, partially on top of my full time job, absolutely wrecked my right hand and i'm still in enough pain that i can't make it a regular activity
idk how much else there is to say. there's more i could say but... i don't really wanna air all my dirty laundry here. i'm miserable in so many ways and it's just become increasingly clear that my dad expects me to constantly cover his ass. my younger brother gives money too, but he manages to go on big cross-country and overseas trips with friends, so i think i've been stuck with the burden of giving the most money. there's so many more things going on in the world rn and everyone is stretched thin so i don't expect much, or anything, but. idk. might as well throw it out there, right?
i’ve also since taken down the gfm i set up last year when we got our first eviction notice bc, while we still need the money, i don’t feel right keeping it up for multiple reasons, including “i don’t want to give any of that money to my family” and it feels too… serious to keep it up when i could just throw out my kofi instead
i just want to make sure i have some sort of safety net to catch me if i move before anything job-wise is finalized. i need to be able to afford a place to live for at least a month so i can job-search while physically being in the area i wanna move to, which would ultimately make it easier for me to find a job at all. i'm working on being more firm with giving less money so i can actually have the means to move and be safe and comfortable, but... that never lasts long in this house
anyway. that's it, i guess. thanks for reading
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fountainpenguin · 2 months ago
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Riddle watches New Wish - Post #31
The Battle of Big Wand
Part 5 of reacting to this episode (spoiler-free)!
And we're back! Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda have run off and Dev is eating his feelings through pudding.
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Good to note Wanda says it's been weeks since Peri granted a wish. They're so stressed out...
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Their son is dying!!! Their precious baby boy they were denied for thousands of years and have only had for about 22 years!! Whom they left behind to go on vacation through time for 10,000 years!!! oh no, he's got anxiety...
From a story standpoint, I like that Cosmo and Wanda aren't "just" in a cage, and even if they were freed, they wouldn't leave their dying son to interfere with the rest of the plot if they can help it. That works great.
Aw, Peri's mumbling about bringing Dev food from the cereal bar and that's the one thing he told his parents he was excited about at Dev's house. And Dev's affected... He's wobbling...
Dev recently turned 10 and he is dealing with really heavy situations.
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I like his "Aha! There!" as he's looking for excuses about why he's not interested in saving Peri.
Dev: Always with Da Rules! Holding me back; keeping me from getting what I want!!
I wish Da Rules had been emphasized more in New Wish because we barely saw them and I really think the weight they carry would make this scene stronger, but I like it!
He is having a ROUGH day...
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I don't personally love the art style for Dev's tears... I think it's a bit silly for the heaviness of the scene since it doesn't seem to be dripping off his face, just kinda going into the void... It looks more like light than water, but it has a unique aesthetic and I admire that.
Something something, Dale's tears in "Lost and Founder's Day" were huge gushing fountains as he had a breakdown and Dev has rivers...
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Oh, I'd know THAT look anywhere... It's how Timmy looked in "Meet the OddParents" when he was losing Cosmo and Wanda and we got "It's okay, guys... It was worth it. I'll be fine. It's all good... IT'S NOT ALL GOOD; I'M NOT FINE; I'M GONNA MISS YOU!!"
Dev is holding it the flip together if he can mirror the devastation of Timmy torn from his fairy family after 51 years...
... especially since Dale's level of tears exist in this show:
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Local billionaire forced into 7 years of underground child labor, starvation, and other abuses has a complete breakdown whenever he's at risk of losing what he has now, more at 11...
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And the crown is OFF... Dev once again slipping away to work things through by himself. I expect no less than him seeking solitude when things are hard... It's definitely his pattern by now.
I... didn't know there was a key, so it pulled me out to try figuring out what that item he threw down was. I think it might've been a punchier moment if that had been a bigger deal, but that's nitpicky. Alas, Dev will not be jumping in the pit.
I think it would be funny if Dev panicked and jumped into the pit and then he couldn't get out, and Irep just left him there, so he's yelling for his dad and Dale's just standing there at the top, clearly Going Through It at the sight of "deep dark torture pit hole beneath the lid that swings open like a trapdoor." Dale's been okay so far, but I feel like seeing his lookalike son in The Torture Pit would definitely be a trigger for him... Not necessarily something that would kick him into gear to save Dev, but I think it'd spook him. -> I think the Anti-Fairies should push the cage lid shut after Dev jumps down so he's trapped and screaming for help, and that really snaps something in Dale :)
Wanda still taking shots at Dev, oh no. I... don't love that, actually? He's clearly going through stuff. Hmm...
Okay. I liked the show-don't-tell we had when Dev questioned Irep why the other Fairies were here (and not just "the usuals"). And I liked how he and Irep were arguing and his dad cut in to tell him to "listen to his business partner," leading Dev to protest that they're not partners if they don't listen, etc.
This feels off? It's both a tell instead of show (Wanda telling us "I think deep down, he has good in him," which we literally just saw and have regularly seen throughout the series since he started letting down his walls), and it's kinda victim-blamey tbh?
-> Maybe I'm wrong on that, but it just... surprises me to hear that from the mouth of someone who's been in the godparenting line of work for 50,000 years. She's clearly seen this kid has issues (as early as "Peace of Pizza" when Dev hugged Cosmo who was disguised as Dale and Wanda was disguised as the boot).
-> I get that he's currently taking over Fairy World and that her son is dying on the floor... I just expected more sympathy from her, especially since she's seen Dev at his best (joking around with Hazel) and Timmy caused both her and Cosmo back-up in the OG series multiple times by complete accident and/or Cosmo and Wanda's failure to communicate their needs. That might not be canon here, though... but even if it's not, she's seen Dev at his best when he's kind, playful, imaginative, and generous towards Hazel, so I'm just really surprised.
-> I think it throws me off because Dev just saved her son's life and instead of saying thank you, she's making a point of emphasizing that she doesn't think he's a good kid unless you delve incredibly deep inside him. Oof...
OG series Wanda (actual dialogue from "Playdate of Doom"): You have to learn how to forgive people after they try to destroy you! New Wish Wanda (emotionally): This kid actually sucks. We should spit on him.
To be fair, in my second post for this finale, I did say she tends to have a black and white view of things and I cited her bitterness towards Foop, even knowing he's a baby of a wildfire species who was raised in Abracatraz. She really seems to struggle with people having facets, which was interesting.
Come to think of it, she also did this with Blonda back in the day- She was either furious with her or apologetic and accepting, but then she went full savagery again. I guess it's just her thing.
??? She also totally ripped the gold stars off Poof's Good Baby chart when she thought he was acting out against Foop during their playdate, and she made Poof watch her do it, and she and Cosmo eventually took him all the way down to zero, and... that's kinda messed up, actually. He's a good boy :( Also, something something, Wanda forcing Poof to hug Foop after Poof made it very clear he wasn't comfortable with it, Wanda too afraid to stand up to her dad in "Talkin' Trash," something something...
I think during "Certifiable Super Sitter," Foop told Wanda he was sad that his parents had "moved away without leaving a forwarding address again" and he wanted to play with dogs and fire, and Wanda immediately wanted to handcuff him, then a moment later grabbed him by the collar and yelled at him... hey Wanda. what on earth. he's bein' vulnerable...
-> Wanda stop seeing people as only Good or Bad challenge (impossible).
Cosmo keeps cutting her off about it?? She sees the bad in Dev and Cosmo seems to see the good. That's interesting.
I'm glad Cosmo is once again reaching his magical back-up threshold sooner than Wanda. He did that in "The Same Game," and his magic drains way faster than hers or Poof's according to the meters in "Grow Up, Timmy Turner." It's kind of his thing (to me).
Oh, apparently my worldbuilding notes say male Fairies drain fast and hard because their bodies are designed to release a ton of magic during childbirth, so they can't hold it in well when it's being actively drained out of them.
Yeah, that tracks. Sorry, Poof.
HEY!! I was just joking when I said Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda were slipping off to canoodle and using "chasing Puppet Hazel" as an excuse, but why is Puppet Hazel here and they're not??
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She gave them the slip and they really said "oh well; we tried. Time to snuggle" and this is why Irep hates them. sdfkl.
Peri is dying (This IS about him).
I like how they have to power the Big Wand with electricity kind of like how Jimmy Neutron had to rewire it back in Power Hour 1 (and forgot to plug it in).
Although, I do like how in "Crocker Shocker," Fairy World is powered by belief in Fairies... "Battle of Big Wand" AU where this episode goes exactly like "Crocker Shocker," which means Fairy World losing power also removes its ability to float, so it plunges towards Giant Bucket of Acid World and Dev has to do a total 180 halfway through his scheme to avoid a horrific death.
Actually, that's freakin' HILARIOUS. Maybe I'll write that. I just really want him and his dad to be scrambling to higher ground and freaking out. Stupid. I hate it. I need this so much.
?? I may be misremembering, but I think Wanda makes lemonade from Cosmo's sweat / dust again in this episode similar to "Nectar of the Odds" which is... hmm.
Y'know what, now that I think about it... We should never let the man who spent 7 years perfecting his skills of squeezing juice out of things get this close to Fairies. TERRIBLE idea.
[cnt'd - It would be wise to prepare yourself for Opinions (TM), and if that does not sound up your alley, no shame in that]
Ooh, there goes Hazel's rule-free wish! Restoring Fairy World to normal.
... Eh, it's not as funny as my secret hope that Hazel would be too anxious to use it and wish for something silly, but I was right with my "use it to save people when they're dying from magical back-up" theory. I'll take it.
Aw, Dev with his arm on his chair. He looks goofy for someone having a terrible day. He looks exhausted.
Mind-wiping the planet? NO! My Club Redheads Who Didn't Get Mindwiped!!
Oh my flippin' gee, it's a really, really good thing I didn't set Happy Peppy Gary up as under Pixie protection and therefore immune to mindwipes and then write a whole arc about him raging against Fairy World and hoarding all his remaining friends in this club!! It's a good thing I didn't do that!! Oh no...
It's a good thing I don't have to treat New Wish as canon in my 'fics if I don't want to. I think he's suffered enough. He would flip out. skldjf.
... Actually, I guess he's not on the planet during this part of the timeline... So he'd be fine even if he didn't have immunity. but the rest of the club is toast.
Cannot express enough how funny it is that this is the equivalent of Gary coming back with pizza and his entire world is on fire AGAIN... Jorgen stop mindwiping Gary's friends challenge... plz, no more...
They're okay!! Peri looks so tall. He's all grown up!
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?? So... Huh. Hang on. Why is Peri okay? Dev didn't get involved. I thought he was dying from magical back-up because he hadn't granted any of Dev's wishes for weeks.
Can Wanda just Do That... Can she do that... That doesn't sound right.
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Huh! I cannot believe I was on the right track (in my first theory post for this episode) when I said that the alt ending I thought was funny (but doubted would happen) involved Dev losing his memories and Peri, but how it would probably be a good thing for both him and Peri...
... I just thought he was going to start working things out with his dad (maybe with Dale realizing he messed up in hiring Vicky and regretting he wasn't there) and Dev might be deemed un-miserable, and... not so much because he outed magic to the world :'D
I had high hopes for you, Dev... Sorry, kiddo.
I'm so surprised. I genuinely didn't think we were going this direction?? Did... did we get any foreshadowing for this?
Fingers crossed this means more Daddy Issues episodes for Dev if we get more seasons, as I wouldn't want that resolved too fast considering how deep both their issues seem to go.
omg, is the window design behind him a copy of his game tablet?
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But he's ready to face his punishment, taking accountability and accepting his consequences like a mature adult, even though he's young and broken...
... Uh, big yikes for Dev here being like "Well, maybe I deserve [to lose my caretaker and magical memories], Hazel." Big abuse cycle vibes... Uh-oh...
I hope we get a Season 2. I'd really like to see him work through this; it's a dark place to leave off ;;;
Wow. Is this really the route we're going? Dev's slipping towards "I deserve punishment and I'm going home without magic - or Peri - to live with my dad," and Hazel laughs in his face & tells him "Oh yeah, you definitely deserve it." ??
Holy cow, that's brutal. I write dark stuff all the time, but that gets to me for some reason?? Hazel, why would you say that?
Timmy "I forgive H.P. & Anti-Cosmo" Turner & Chloe "I forgive Kevin and Foop" Carmichael & Hazel "get wrecked" Wells. omfg?? I guess Timmy and Chloe making excuses for people who did bad things is also saying Something about them (which is Chloe's Thing in multiple episodes), so it's not necessarily good, but... I mean, H.P. and Anti-Cosmo did leave him alone after this point in the series apart from Anti-Cosmo kidnapping Cosmo while thinking he was kidnapping Timmy after Timmy downloaded critical life-changing info to his brain, and Foop became very fond of Chloe, so...
... Huh. I did not think I was this invested in Dev. Now I just feel... weird? Played.
Okay, so... First of all, kudos to Hazel for not throwing her morals away to chase a guy who wronged her. Respect. I said in an earlier post that I wanted boundary setting and... I guess I got it.
But... are we doing this? So, why didn't Jorgen mindwipe people after Dev became king of America? The news reporter clearly still remembered him. What's the plan if someone greets him as "former king" again? Surely he'll question that.
Why ?? is Foop still allowed to attend school in the main series despite harassing everyone, but Dev gets dunked on ?? Is it just because Foop lives in a world of microaggressions about how people don't expect him to be capable of being a good person because he's an Anti-Fairy? lmao??
It can't be that they're scared of Anti-Cosmo... School straight-up yoinked Foop's summer camp privileges.
- This is hilarious? iirc, Jorgen stopped erasing Crocker's memories after Season 7 because the benefit of him knowing (i.e. Fairies sucking power out of him) outweighed the benefit of him not knowing (which is why we get my favorite joke in Season 9 where Cosmo blatantly tells Crocker he's a fairy), but Jorgen took one look at Dev and said "Bad boy. Dangerous." -> Okay, I guess I'll just be normal about this :') - I feel like Dev would be really mad if he found out how all the other villains have gotten off easy in the past - I'm scratching my head, but the only villain I remember being punished this severely was Crocker, who suffered as a child despite doing nothing wrong (plus his multiple offenses as an adult, but he was trying to kill people) - Arguably the Anti-Fairies suffer by being locked up, so... I guess there's that. And yeah, I get that Norm doesn't like his lamp. - Okay, I guess Foop broke so hard that he developed an alt personality who sticks with him from his second appearance in Season 7 all the way through Season 10, but...
I know Dev took over Fairy World, but he clearly expressed remorse and saved Peri. So I feel weird about him going back to his dad, this time without a godparent to look after him...
... but it's horribly in character for how the Fairy Council - and Jorgen by extension - see their world. Their canon has literally always been "we use humans as a power source and dump them when they get scary," which is heavily implied to be the reason for the hard rule of leaving when they're adults, so idk what I expected...
Like, they booted Crocker to the curb and it literally wasn't Crocker's fault he lost Cosmo and Wanda as a kid. This is extremely in character for Fairy World.
Actually, I should be cautious about saying it's in character for Jorgen, who has huge issues about erasing memories and stress eats his feelings.
Huh. Y'know, this reminds me a lot of the first half of "Timmy's Secret Wish" when Poof and Foop get sent to the Hocus Poconos, but I love that scene; it's one of my favorites in the series. Maybe I'm anxious about this plot point because if there's no Season 2, this is Dev's finale. I feel pretty confident that if we had a Season 2 that builds on this, I'd like it more- It would be a step in his journey rather than the end. It just worries me to know they did this when there's no Season 2 confirmed, because that's a wild thing to drop on us in the final minutes when there's been no memory erasure foreshadowing in this episode (and not much in the series as a whole). Like... I straight-up did not see this coming. This is a total tone shift from the OG series where we had fluffier endings, so I... genuinely am caught off guard. I was not set up to expect this, even with the drama of "Lost and Founder's Day" and "Operation: Birthday Takeback." -> ?? Even with multiple days spent analyzing this episode as I liveblogged, I saw no foreshadowing for this... I don't think. I mean, sure, actions have consequences, but wowza. Maybe I'm just biased because I've been bingeing the OG series again while doing art and there are plenty of episodes that do a great job of foreshadowing (Ex: "Anti-Poof" depicting Foop sleepy and Poof taking naps before the climax where everyone sings a lullaby to put Foop to sleep). This... feels weird after days of analysis. I feel like I've been played? I did not see the set-up for this. Ah, well... can't win them all. I think I'll like this much more when there's a Season 2 that can build on this. But I'm very "Hmm" because throughout my liveblogs, a theme for me has been "I wish they'd emphasize Da Rules and consequences; I'm very unclear what New Wish's lore is" so I feel... irritated that this got dropped on us with so little foreshadowing. Alas... -> Tbh, maybe this is what Dev needs? (To not wonder if he's friends with Hazel only because "she wished for them to be?") A soft reset for him where he remembers their fun and fights without the magic might be a good move for his character to look inside himself and try to solve his problems without magic. but holy flip. holy wow, Hazel. omg, I think Timmy would be stunned if he met you. Hazel confirmed down to torment H.P. and Anti-Cosmo on international TV?? Hazel confirmed ready to dropkick baby Foop into a black hole because he's a bad little boy??
:o We never saw Hazel's mom (a therapist) work with Dev. Is that what we're setting up for Season 2? Because if that's true, I like that part.
?? I think Hazel is trying to communicate that actions have consequences, but her laughing and saying he deserves it just doesn't feel right to me. Dev (for all his many red flags) is one of the nicest bully characters I've ever seen; he clearly regretted snapping at her earlier in the season and apologized to her of his own choice.
He even came to his own conclusion in this episode that he didn't like what Irep was doing (hurting people), AND he realized his dad doesn't care for him and started working through that. No one had to carry him through that. His dad didn't have to monologue about not caring about his son. Dev put those pieces together himself.
If he'd been a harsh bully in front of the audience the whole time, I think this wouldn't feel so shocking, but considering what a loyal friend he's been to Hazel in the past (Ex: Willing to lure his dad's robots away from her & being friendly to her when she came to his birthday), this is a lot to take in right now.
I'm gonna have to sleep on this (and rewatch it without pausing; I've been working through this episode for days).
I feel bad for not loving this, but... ?? Wow. That's... a lot to take in.
So... we're losing Peri; is that right? That... kinda shocks me because we barely got any episodes of them together. Oof :( That's a super engaging dynamic... Just gone? Oh, my heart. I hope they get back together in a future season? I said earlier I liked the idea of Peri realizing he's not ready to godparent, but this doesn't give me that vibe. I wish we knew how Peri feels.
I like that Dev's taking accountability- something I remember him not doing back in "Lost in Fairy World" and stuff, and it does feel right that there would be severe consequences for his actions. I do think he admires Hazel a lot, but he needs to work on how he treats others- I agree I cannot in good conscience say he's "doing well" if we've only seen him be truly kind towards Hazel, and everyone else is unclear (and he bullied those kids in the past).
I understand why it's dangerous to allow him access to magic now that "taking over Fairy World" and "locking up and nearly killing his assigned fairy" are on his track record.
And I'm not really surprised that the Fairies, who are deeply concerned about their personal safety, are willing to take magic from him even if he has to go home miserable. I get it. but holy cow.
?? I think it makes me feel better to think about it in terms of "Yes, he'll go home miserable, but magic is a privilege, not a right". omg tho. holy flip. Actually, Fairy World did also erase Timmy's memories multiple times, both for worse and better things he did than this ("Timmy's Secret Wish" & rude clone in "Fairy Idol," which wasn't technically Timmy but they still dropped consequences on him). So... it is in character. tbh, this is incredibly funny?? It really shines a light on how Timmy's biggest strength was often said to be his imagination and creativity, and he showed this over and over. He'd dodge and weave and spin his little gears like mad, taking down the big players in the magical world left and right, and I honestly like how Chloe, Dev, and Hazel don't do that. -> Chloe managed to win Foop over because reaching out was her strength. But imagination was Timmy's. Timmy was a master at his craft. He worked hard on it. We regularly saw him take the time to think, plan, and outwit his antagonists... but the Fairies mopped the floor with Dev. omg?? that's hilarious? Dev didn't even try to argue his case, or make an effort to appeal to anybody? Incredible, actually. No notes. -> I... hope it's maturity and not learned helplessness. but... considering I said his pattern was that he kept withdrawing and relying on himself without reaching out to others for help... uh-oh..... I don't feel so good about where this is going for his mentality...
I think the Pixies should make a move on Dev and I'm not joking. The Fairies clearly don't want him and the Anti-Fairies have had their fun. I desperately want to see Dev ricochet between the entire magical world.
- World's biggest plot twist: Dev ends up fawned over by multiple species and we bring back the deleted scenes of magical dudes bugging Timmy in "Fairly Oddlympics"... Dev's now the one Anti-Cosmo bothers because he NEEDS to know if he's a good cowboy, and H.P. asks Dev if he's prettier in his dress than Jorgen and Anti-Cosmo are <3 - Seriously though, since Timmy used to play the role of breaking gridlocks when the three races argue (because he knew them all), I think Dev should do the same. Dev and his many weird uncles...
I wish we could see Dev's eyes in this scene. I personally would've liked to see his eyes the whole finale because I think it really would've gotten to me and made it hurt.
I get that he usually wears them when he's being devious or sneaky or closed-off, but it does make him feel more distant. Which is probably the point since this is a children's show and you don't necessarily want him to be seen as "the good guy" to little kids, but I would've liked to see his eyes and connect with him more.
Hm. I guess I shouldn't be surprised this was his ending. I've been told by agents that "you can't have messy moral grays like [my writing] in middle grade," and it IS a kids' show... They probably can't write him behaving THIS badly and let it go unpunished. But... hm. I guess this tracks? Foop is a non-human baby whose evil is over-the-top (laser guns, nuclear warheads, black holes, boxes full of magical spiders), so it's probably okay to play with it and still let him stay in school. Maybe Dev can't be "too relatable" with bad behavior like that. I wonder if that's why they kept Irep's cube head? I know kids' shows generally opt for simplified protagonists and complex villains (often with facial hair) to make it easier for young kids to connect with the nice protag and harder to connect with the evil villain. Maybe Irep needed to be emphasized as non-human and that's also why Anti-Cosmo, Anti-Wanda, and Dale had mild behavior in this episode.
Ooh boy. I'd like to see a Season 2, though. This is one heckuva plot twist and cliffhanger to drop on us for a season finale? For a possible series finale??
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AND! HE'S! DOWN!! Memory wiped! ... unless his shades saved him, which be really funny considering how Jorgen's wearing shades to protect his eyes and Hazel had her eyes closed.
I think shades are pretty standard across the series when memory wipes come into play?? I think Jorgen wore those when erasing Crocker's memory, playing into why Cosmo and Wanda (who didn't) also lost their memories of being Crocker's godparents. Is that what we're going for? That would be funny.
No good-bye with Peri? No taking off his shades? :(
Oof. It hurts to hear Hazel write Dev off as a jerk. He IS a bully; I'll give her that. I think he should have to fight uphill to win her over again, but Hazel's thing definitely seems to be blocking out people if she doesn't want to talk (Ex: closing off when she was upset she and her friends scored poorly on the friendship test, annoyed at Dev at the end of "Lost and Founder's Day" and then walking off without giving him the chance to explain, no on-screen decompression after the "Operation: Birthday Takeback" drama beyond her very quick "Dev, what are you on about? We're still friends even though I literally yelled at you and walked off" bit in "Battle of the Dimmsonian"), which is ?? ... I mean, that is a choice for a protagonist. Huh.
-> Can't stop thinking about how in "Battle of the Dimmsonian," Dev recontexualizes what happened by claiming they had an argument, even though we definitely saw Dev being quiet when talking while Hazel snapped at him and walking off without him getting to say his piece... Like, it's been haunting me ever since I saw that episode but I wasn't gonna say it, but now I'm... hmmmm..
When people yell at ME and I don't get the chance to speak, I don't consider it an argument. That happened not long before I watched this, in fact, and I consider it the other person being rude while I held my cool and waited for them to wind down their rant. I don't consider it an argument if it wasn't mutual bickering on some level.
I... I'm sure I'm overthinking it, and I'm maybe biased by that recent yelling experience, but since we KNOW Dev has issues about thinking he's not good enough to make / keep / deserve friends, it's hard not to read this as "Dev accidentally internalized the belief that he and Hazel blew up in a mutual fight." oh boy. I'm dying, squirtle...
-> btw, I think it's fine that Hazel walked away after "Lost and Founder's Day"; proud of her for doing that if that's what she felt was best. I do think she should've told Dev sooner that she was over the fight tho, considering he clearly didn't know and legit thought she broke off their friendship. And meanwhile Hazel was like "??? Friends can fight; it doesn't mean we stopped being friends."
Hilarious. Girl, he cannot read your mind. You KNOW you snapped at him. You KNOW you didn't tell him you were over it. You KNOW you two didn't talk until he approached you first even though you were at the museum from daylight to sunset and may have even had classes together. Super interesting dynamic (and Hazel is VERY justified in thinking Dev relapsed, called her a mean name, and mugged her)...
But also, she did not let him explain the part about how he wasn't part of his dad's brain-zapping scheme or that he saved her from robots with ill intentions by taking her hat and running off, we NEVER see him explain onscreen what actually happened so she might still think that now, and furthermore... oof.
- Fair judgment or textbook case for fundamental attribution error? You decide! (Again, Hazel is allowed to be annoyed... I am just Shook). Oh, that is an INTERESTING way to differentiate her from Timmy and Chloe... holy COW... - Actually tbf, Chloe backstabbed Timmy multiple times, sold out Mark's alien identity for extra credit, and she does hate Kevin's guts, but...
Cry... S1 Dev "Maybe I deserve this" Dimmadome vs. S1 Timmy "I did something bad and I don't deserve sleep" Turner forcing himself to stay awake multiple days... ruh-roh......
I'm probably reading this wrong, but this is setting off all my alarms...
Holy flip, Dev. I've never seen a more "Aliens Exist"-animatic-coded character in my life besides Dib, and I was gonna draw it with the Crockers. I have a new vision... Like this:
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... Okay, I actually REALLY want this 'fic now :'D Dev and Dale go home and both hang out in Dale's lab puzzling over the weird notes about fairies someone left behind... Theorizing together... Ya Boix sparkling water cans all over the floor... Dev making progress while Dale is doing work business, then catching him up when he comes back... Youch.
Well, all righty!! Wow. I...... Huh.
The rest of my notes have been split into several subsequent posts. They're very long as they cover reactions to the rest of the finale (Yes, I was very confused to learn the thing I thought was Hazel's rule-free wish isn't her rule-free wish) and then I'll post my reflections on the series as a whole. Enjoy, and thanks for coming on this liveblog journey thus far! Not done just yet... Heads up- If you didn't like the dip into critique this post took, you may not want to see the upcoming posts for this liveblog series, which are both positivity and critique alongside comparisons to the OG series.
Also, if you're interested in a sideblog exclusively for my FOP worldbuilding, detailed character bios, 'fics, and fanart (without liveblogs or this type of critique), you may like my @riddledeep blog.
-> I just finished tidying it after hiatus- My new public announcement (pinned post) is queued for the day after this post goes out, and maybe you'll like it. I'm open to self-advertisement for people's FOP AUs / worldbuilding blogs or AO3 series to follow, so read that post for more info!
-> Here's the sideblog masterpost if you want to browse my character bios and worldbuilding posts.
Thanks again for reading my liveblogs!
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lexosaurus · 11 months ago
Text
The Fog Around Us: Chapter 1
Hello all here's my second fic for the @ecto-implosion! This one with @nightwanderers12081 who did AN INCREDIBLE PIECE OF ART LOOK AT IT!
Please enjoy my accompanying fic!
read on: [ao3]
[see all chapters]
Characters: Danny Fenton, Valerie Gray Tags: Amnesiac Danny Fenton, Enemies to Friends WC: 4476 Summary: Two weeks had passed since Danny Fenton went missing. Two weeks had passed since Phantom had disappeared as well. It couldn't be coincidence.
****
“He can't have gotten far.”
Those were the words Valerie had heard the first day the missing child report had been filed. The first day Danny didn't show up to school.
“You kidding, Fenton?” Dash said, emphasizing Danny's name with the sort of disbelief one would say about a toddler training for the Olympics. “No—no way! He's so annoying, I bet whoever nabbed him will get so pissed at his loser squeaky voice that they'll toss him right out of their truck. They probably didn't even get him out of the city!”
“No way he's gotten far,” Kwan agreed.
The next day in homeroom, it had come from Sam. She hadn't been in school the previous day. Well, she had at first, but after the whispers started going around and the police showed up at the school, she and Tucker had been pulled to the main office all too quickly.
“He can't have gone far,” she whispered to Tucker, who was wringing his red cap around in his fingers. “It's Danny we're talking about. He's probably—you know. He's fine.”
Tucker was silent for a moment. To an outsider, it would look like he simply had nothing to say. But Valerie knew better. She could see how his jaw twitched, just barely suppressing whatever words were swimming around in his mind. It was only after his muscles relaxed that he finally spoke, his voice so quiet that Valerie almost didn't pick up what he said. “I know you want to think that, but Danny wouldn't...do this. He wouldn't slip away without telling us first.”
Whatever temper Tucker swallowed, Sam had no problem spitting out. “You don't know that. You know how he gets!”
“I do know, Sam. There's no way—”
“This is the same guy who—” Sam stuttered, then lowered her voice, hissing something too softly for Valerie to hear.
Tucker's reaction was telling, though. He sighed, not sharply, but still showcasing his frustrations all the same. “This is different. Come on, you know that.”
“I don't want to hear it,” Sam snapped. “He's fine, Tuck.”
And that was that.
Valerie could almost believe them. And god, she yearned to believe them with a fortitude that nearly crushed her heart, but on the third day, she made the mistake of passing by the teacher's lounge.
In an instant, she was plunged back into this new ice-cold reality.
“His parents suspect ghosts,” came the gruff voice of Ms. Tetslaff. “And you know, as wacko as they are, this time? Yeah, I might believe them.”
“It's not too far-fetched. You know that the CPS investigation came up clean. Especially after speaking to Ms. Jasmine Fenton directly, nothing came up that was particularly worrisome from their house. They seem like a good family, albeit a bit to the left. It feels unlikely that any of this could have stemmed from within the home,” Mr. Lancer said.
CPS investigated their house? Valerie thought back, but she didn't remember Danny ever mentioning it. So, why? Why had CPS gone?
“And you know how Mr. Fenton gets whenever a ghost gets near,” Mr. Lancer continued. 
“Oh yeah, he's a jumpy one,” Ms. Tetslaff agreed. “Always the first one out of the class.”
“And the last one back, sporting some sort of bruise,” came the voice of the old history teacher. What was her name, Mrs. Sawyer?
No, her name didn’t matter right now. What, with this information piercing every wall around Valerie's mind.
Danny was...getting hurt? And she hadn't noticed?
But she didn't have long to process this before Mr. Falluca took his chance to interject. “Didn't I tell you? After that whole CPS debacle? I told you all it was ghost related. I told you that the parents are weird, but Danny was always getting hurt around a ghost attack or on his way to school.”
He was what?
Why hadn't Valerie seen anything? Or heard anything?
“And I agreed if you'll recall,” Mr. Lancer said.
“I wouldn't be surprised if a ghost kidnapped him this time,” Mr. Falluca said.
“To get to his parents, most likely. The weekly harassment wasn't getting anywhere, so they had to escalate,” Mr. Lancer concluded.
“Poor kid,” Ms. Tetslaff murmured.
“Indeed. And if that's truly the case, then who knows how far they've gone. They're ghosts, after all.”
But Valerie was through listening to the teacher's gossip. She backed from the door, stumbled over her feet, and bolted around the corner, nearly slamming into some upperclassmen as she did.
No...no way....Danny? Her Danny?
She'd broken up with him so he wouldn't get hurt, hadn't she? She'd predicted this. Ghosts were ruthless and vengeful and ugh, she had let him go to prevent this from happening!
And yet!
And yet...
She skidded to a stop, her heart thundering in her ears. Around her, the hallway bled Casper High red, posters about kindness and unity hung haphazardly over the walls, and the ever-long fractals of lockers wove spiderwebs around her vision.
And yet, he'd been hurt anyway. No, it was worse than that. He'd been hurting the whole time, and she hadn't known. He'd...never told her.
But why would he? It wasn't like he knew that she was the Red Huntress. Maybe if she'd revealed this to him, he would have told her about the ghosts harassing him. Maybe she could have done something. Maybe, maybe it wouldn't have come to this.
Now, it was too late. Danny was gone.
And she had to bear the weight of the blame.
Her breath shortened, and hot tears sprang to her eyes too quickly for her to will away. They spilled down her cheeks and splashed onto the disgusting red and white tile below her.
She should wipe them off, stop crying, suck it up. She couldn't break down now, not while Danny was out there with god only knew which rogue now.
But shit, it was her fault.
Her weakness got to her, and she found herself standing before the row of lockers with her forehead pressed against the cool metal. Her curly hair fell around her, shielding her from the view of any potential onlookers. But thankfully, the science hallway—tucked in its own small corner of the school—was always nearly deserted while classes were in session.
She should have saved Danny. She should have noticed something, anything. What was even the point of having all this gear if she couldn't protect the people she cared about most?
She wanted to crumble, to disintegrate into a pile of dust on the floor. She held her hand against her mouth, choking back sobs that tried to rip from the core of her diaphragm, but she knew that the lunch period was nearly over and it would only be a matter of minutes before the hall was populated once again.
So she breathed. In, then out. First, nothing but a shaky jolt, and then steadier. In and out until the thick tears had reduced to rubble, and her sobs were nothing but hiccups. 
And then she made a promise to herself. One to bring Danny back home.
She may have failed to protect him before, but she wouldn't fail to save him this time.
She wouldn't.
****
The air was still tonight—unusual for this particularly windy fall—and it was as if Valerie could hear every secret Amity Park whispered into the stars. Every owl hoot in the surrounding air, every soft click of someone’s heels on the pavement below. 
There was a certain serenity to these kinds of nights, ones that were bathed in countless stars glittering in the air above. Not that Valerie had really cared about silly things like the stars before. But after she began donning flight in her red suit alone, they became a source of comfort to her. A constant that she could count on—if the clouds allowed so. 
And it was all thanks to one particular boy that she had even looked up in the first place, hadn’t it?
The past two weeks, she found herself leaning on their comfort more as she spent the nights searching, and searching, and searching some more.
But where should she look? She didn’t know. It had been so long that he could be anywhere. There was a chance—a very likely chance—he wasn’t in Amity Park at all.
Especially if what she’d heard about him was true.
It was Johnny 13 who had let it slip. After a week of no leads, of no sleep, Valerie had the rather unfortunate pleasure of running into the biker ghost himself.
Or, maybe the fortunate pleasure. Because after cornering him and pressing her gun to his temple, his silver tongue was all too eager to spill.
“The kid?” Johnny had asked.
“Fenton. Son of the ghost hunters? Maybe you’ve heard of him.” Valerie wedged her gun into his skin just a little more.
“Jeez, cool it. Yeah, I’ve heard of him. Kid’s damn annoying enough on his own without his parents getting involved.”
Confusion sliced through her, but she had only just begun to react when Johnny slid out from her hold, reappearing on her other side.
“What are you talking about?” Valerie whirled around, nearly forgetting to keep her gun out in front of her. “Danny? The son? He doesn’t have anything to do with ghosts!”
Johnny barked a vicious laugh. “Oh, is that what he tells you? Man, you humans are so blind. Well, kid’s a good actor, I’ll give him that.”
Then, black cloaked her vision, and she could hardly escape the swirling shadows before she looked up and realized that Johnny 13 was gone. And then, so was his shadow.
That had happened almost a week ago, and since then she had questioned any ghost that crossed her path, but either no one knew or no one would tell her.
As the days stretched on, her suspicion about who could be behind Danny’s disappearance only grew, molted, and then solidified until there was only one ghost it could be.
The one ghost that had—not-so-coincidentally, Valerie was sure—disappeared as well.
In fact, Valerie was sure she hadn’t seen Phantom since before Danny’s disappearance. She tried to remember and…yeah, he hadn’t made any appearance grande nor small over the past two weeks.
That was unusual for him, the ghost that almost seemed to live in Amity Park for how much time he spent here.
So Phantom had to be involved somehow. He just had to. Perhaps he was the one who took Danny, or he could be just an accomplice. Either way, the timing was too exact for him not to be involved at all.
But he was just. Gone. 
Valerie had searched high and low, but there didn’t seem to be any sign of him anywhere. And if he was the one who took Danny, then where had they gone? The Ghost Zone?
Valerie tried not to think about that possibility too much.
So when a frighteningly familiar ecto-signature reading popped up on her wristband, Valerie didn’t hesitate to jet over to the source of it. He was just around the block—so close—and soon, she would have answers.
That little asshole thought he could just appear after two weeks of Danny’s disappearance as if everyone was going to welcome him back with open arms? As if nothing ever happened?
Yeah, fuck that. 
Drawing her weapons was a subconscious action at this point. Valerie didn’t have to think before her gun of choice had formed in her hand—black, with red on the side. Sleek and deadly, just like her.
She whipped around the corner of a building, looked out into the street, and there he was, hovering thirty feet above the sidewalk. Bathed in white with wild hair floating around him as if underwater and his black and white suit unmistakable against the Amity Park skyline, there was Phantom.
He was slow to face her, but that only worked to her advantage. Because as soon as it clicked in his head what was happening, Valerie was already on him, her gun trained at his forehead, her eyes fiery with weeks of untapped fury as she shouted, “What the hell did you do to him?”
Phantom blinked once, his eyes flickering to the gun, then Valerie, then to the gun again. He blinked again, this time slow, and perhaps so obtuse and obnoxious that Valerie couldn’t help but press her ectoweapon into his aura as she yelled, “I’ll fucking kill you again, Phantom! I’m not playing. Tell me what happened to him! What did you do to Fenton?”
Knitted eyebrows shot up along with his hands, and he jolted back as if seeing the gun for the first time. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hang on, what are you talking about?”
But that only enraged Valerie even more. “Don’t play dumb with me!”
“Seriously, I don’t know what’s going on! I don’t even know who that is!”
“You disappear for two weeks the same time as Fenton does, and now you’re claiming to not know anything?” Valerie’s glare narrowed as red tinged the edges of her vision. “Seriously, how much of a dumbass do you think I am? Spill! What the fuck happened to him? What did you do?”
He inched back more, his hands clasping, unclasping, then dropping once again. There was a nervous energy around him, and Valerie noticed—odd—that his chest seemed to be rising and falling almost as if he were hyperventilating.
But no, that wasn’t possible. “Answer me!” she snapped.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about! Do I even know you?”
Valerie could have laughed at the sheer audacity of Phantom, but then she looked at him—really looked at him. His wide eyes quivering in anxiety, his ears which seemed to be pointed lower than usual, his panicked stance, and his fast…breathing…and suddenly, Valerie wasn’t sure anymore. Because the Phantom she knew would have made a stupid quip, shot her gun, and darted away.
But this? This Phantom? The one having anxiety before her?
This Phantom was almost pitiful.
She felt her grip on her gun weaken, and her arm lowered ever so slightly. “You don’t…remember me?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, but I think you have me confused for someone else!” he said, drawing his palms up once again in surrender. “I’ve never met you.”
…How?
She tried again, gritting her teeth and drawing her gun back to full force. “Oh no, you don’t get to do that game with me, ghost! Tell me what you did to Danny. Now.”
“I don’t know who that is!” he pleaded. “I’m serious! You have to believe me.”
Why did she believe him?
No, he was a ghost. Ghosts were conniving and evil. They were made to trick humans into getting their way. Valerie knew this. It was as ingrained into her as any self-defense move was.
So then, why? Why could she look into his acid-green eyes and instinctively know that he was telling the truth?
“What do you mean by that?” she pressed further. “I saw you just a few weeks ago. Hell, you live here. I know you do, even if you refuse to admit it.”
“I don’t—I don’t know. Really, I don’t know what you want from me. I’ve never been here, I promise! I was in the Infinite Realms and—”
“What? Where were you?” 
The glow in his eyes flickered, and his nervous energy was suddenly so palpable that Valerie could almost taste it. “The Infinite Realms! You know, where all the ghosts live!”
But…Phantom had only ever called that the Ghost Zone. Like all the other humans did. 
Infinite Realms? Was that…what the ghosts called it?
“I’ve only ever been there, I promise! I just…just woke up there one day, and I’ve been there ever since. I only got here—the Human World—a few minutes ago. There was a portal. Green, swirling light? You know? And I flew through it. I swear that’s the truth,” he insisted. “I promise I’ve never been here before. I didn’t know it was forbidden to come to your territory. I’m sorry! Once another portal comes, I can leave—uh, what’s your name?”
What. The. Fuck.
Valerie hovered in the air, stunned, staring into the eyes of a ghost she knew like the back of her hand, but one who didn’t seem to know…anything about her, about Amity, about anything. 
“You are Phantom, right?” Valerie asked.
“That—that’s what the other ghosts call me,” he said.
So…this was Phantom. It wasn’t some strange clone or anything. So then, what the fuck was going on?
“But you don’t know who I am?”
“No,” he said, then his eyes widened once more. “Am I supposed to?”
A fit of hilarious anger surged through Valerie, and she wanted to snap at him that of course he should know! What was he, stupid? But almost as that spiked her, it dissolved away. 
It wouldn’t have been fair to be angry at this Phantom. This one had no idea who she was, he didn’t know their history, and he apparently knew nothing about Amity Park, which Valerie had more than assumed had become his haunt.
Deep breaths, then. She needed to figure out what the hell was going on, then she could give Phantom a ginormous piece of her mind.
“You’ve been here before,” she explained. “A lot, actually.”
“I haven’t, I swear,” he insisted again in a panic, eyeing the gun that Valerie had forgotten was still between both of them.
She dropped her arm, though she didn’t retract the gun into her suit. One could never know, with ghosts as duplicative as they were.
“You have,” she retorted, now without the gun backing up her words. “I’ve seen you here more times than I can count. I’m The Red Huntress. That ring a bell at all?” 
He shook his head, though his brow was furrowed. “I was born in the Realms like other ghosts, and I’ve only ever been there. I’ve never left!”
This game of ping-pong wasn’t going to work. At least, it could only work so long as Valerie was willing to sacrifice her entire night’s sleep for the cause of Phantom’s mental rehabilitation, which as it stood, she wasn’t. 
Okay then. Time for plan B.
She pulled her cell phone out of the pocket in her suit’s thigh and opened TikTok, typing Phantom into the search bar.
“What are you doing?” a panicked voice asked.
She shushed him, eyeing past all the debate and theory videos until she found what she was looking for. Then, without so much as looking past her thumb clicking on the thumbnail, she shoved her phone in Phantom’s face.
He watched what sounded like some sort of compilation video with eyes expanding to comical proportions. Whatever weird fast “breathing” he’d been doing before was picking up again, and if it weren’t for Valerie’s adept reflexes, he probably would have swiped her phone out of her hands when he made to lunge for it.
“Nuh-uh!” Valerie said, holding her phone back.
“That can’t be right!” Phantom said, turning on her. “I swear, it’s not me!”
“It’s from a month ago, glow-boy!” she said. “There’s literally thousands of videos of you on here from the past year!”
He halted, his body growing rigid. “The past…how long?”
“Year,” Valerie repeated. She clicked another video and turned up her volume in time for the video Phantom to say a truly god-awful pun.
“Year?” Phantom’s voice was breathy. He wasn’t looking at the phone anymore, but Valerie could see him flinch at hearing his voice. “But that…no, that can’t be right.”
“I think your brain is having a hardware issue,” video Phantom said. “Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on?”
“You just don’t understand my BRILLIANCE!” a nasal voice screeched.
“Technus, your brain is slower than an Internet Explorer loading screen. I wouldn’t exactly call that brilliant.”
The Phantom in front of her shook his head incessantly. “That’s not me. It can’t be.” However, his voice sounded anything but convincing.
“It obviously is. What, you think I just made up a bunch of videos to confuse you?” Valerie snorted. “Give me a break.”
“But…I’ve only been a ghost for a few weeks! See? That can’t be me.”
A few weeks?
But that’s…
Valerie swiped down to the next video, this one a close-up of Phantom’s face grinning down at the camera below. He brought his gloved hands up behind his pointed ears like moose antlers, sticking his tongue out as he did. His white fangs poked out of the corners of his lips, his smile stretching until he broke into laughter.
The Phantom before her was sheet white.
“I’m only a few weeks old,” he begged quietly, hiding his eyes behind his hands as if Valerie’s phone screen was displaying imagery too horrific to look at. “This is impossible. I’ve been in the Infinite Realms. It’s…this is…no…”
“Phantom, I’ve known you for months.” Valerie leaned in, but as if sensing her, he reeled back, curling into himself.
“Is that how everyone knew who I was?” Phantom peered up from his hands. 
“Who?”
“The other ghosts. They…they acted like they knew me. Like I should know them. But I’d never met them before.”
Valerie didn’t know what ghosts he was talking about specifically, but she had a general idea. “You have. You do know them.”
Phantom reached for her phone again, and this time Valerie let him have it. But, to her amusement, when he jabbed his finger at her screen, nothing happened.
“You have to take your gloves off.”
Phantom’s brows furrowed, and he surveyed his hands as if seeing the gloves for the first time.
“Do they come off?” he asked himself mildly.
“They do,” Valerie answered, even though she was sure he didn’t expect her to. And sure enough, at his look, she explained, “I’ve seen you do it before.”
“Oh.” 
He handed her phone back to gently peel the white hazmat gloves from his suit. To his shock, but not Valerie’s, as soon as they left the vicinity of his aura, they simply dissolved into a green goo that began falling like rain before evaporating into the air.
“So that’s how that works,” he mused.
On one of his hands was the faint green glow of lightning that spindled up his wrists and disappeared into his suit. It was something that Valerie had seen before but never had the balls to ask about. Considering how much Phantom didn’t seem to know about, well, anything, she was sure as shit not getting that answer tonight either.
But on his other wrist was something interesting. And it was a small, skin-tight metal wristband.
“What’s that?” Valerie nodded toward the wristband.
“Huh?” Phantom asked, following her eyes to the bracelet. “Oh, I don’t know. I woke up with it, so I must have died in it. It’s how our outfits work, I think. Well, until you get powerful enough to change your appearance.”
Valerie filed away that bit of ghost lore for later. Her Phantom was never so forthcoming about the inner workings of ghosts as this. 
“No, you didn’t. I’ve never seen that before, and I’ve seen you with your gloves off.”
“Well, I don’t remember. Maybe I was starting to figure out how to change my appearance before I got like this?” He reached for the phone, clearly uninterested in talking about a silly bracelet when his entire world seemed to be imploding.
Valerie relented, handing it over. But, to his growing agitation and her further amusement again, his fingers had little impact on the screen.
“How the hell do you work one of these?” he growled.
“You might be too cold. What are you trying to do?”
“I’m trying to see if I knew that ghost! The metal one that was attacking me in the Realms yesterday!”
Valerie plucked her phone out of his fingers. “Okay, chill. Did he tell you his name?”
“Yeah. Said it about a million times.” He rolled his eyes. “Skulker, greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone. That’s what he said, anyway.”
“Oh, you definitely know him,” Valerie said, while still typing Ghost Skulker into the TikTok search bar. Sure enough, hundreds of videos appeared before her displaying the same annoying face in various poses on her screen. She clicked on one and handed her phone over to him.
His reaction made Valerie wonder if a ghost could jump out of its own skin. “What?! How? How is this possible?”
“I told you, we all know you! You’ve been around for a little while longer than a few weeks, Phantom!” 
She took the phone from his fingers. Just in time too, because he looked about ready to kneel over.
Could ghosts faint? As soon as the question popped into her mind, she realized that she didn’t want to test that theory. She barely knew what to do when a human fainted, let alone a ghost. And Valerie wasn’t one to start coddling ghosts.
She sighed, then glanced around. “Hey, wanna sit and talk for a minute?” She gestured over to the tall office building nearby. “If you like heights and privacy, I know a good rooftop.”
He squinted as if trying to figure out if he knew that roof. And then Valerie remembered all the nights on patrol, ambushing Phantom on that same building.
She thought back. What had he been doing those nights? 
“Sure,” he said, breaking her out of her thoughts.
Right. She didn’t have time to waste on Phantom’s silly actions. She was here for Danny. And somehow, this amnesiac was connected—she was absolutely certain of it.
They flew over and touched down on the roof, Valerie’s hoverboard retracting into her boots. She looked over to see Phantom’s flight tail morph into legs before he cautiously hit the roof as if he were afraid of breaking it. He looked down curiously at the ply and gravel roof before crouching down and…touching it? With his ungloved fingers?
What the hell?
As if noticing her staring, he answered, “Everything here feels weird. It’s missing that charge.”
“Charge?”
He glanced back at Valerie. “Yeah, the charge from the ectoplasm.”
“You can feel that?”
“You can’t?” 
Okay…yet another weird thing to file about ghosts. Apparently, they had some sort of sixth sense for ectoplasm.
It was like every single word out of this idiot’s mouth left Valerie with more questions. For a moment, she wondered if that was on purpose. If he was using his classic ghostly manipulation to try to distract her from asking about Danny.
But then, she looked back down at him rubbing the grains of rock and pebble between his fingers, and yeah…no freaking way this was an act. Her Phantom was an idiot, but not this stupid.
So what the hell was going on?
****
next chapter
[read all my works here]
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ineedmycoffeerightnow · 8 days ago
Text
So okay there's some arguments i hear from people why Home x Wally is not valid ship, so i decided to explain these and try to counterargument them! If you have an argument of your own feel free to write it in the comments :3
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1)"This is incest! They like father and son to each other"
Canon of the show is that Wally didn't know Home before the he moved into him and also he like. A Building. If we're going to build on the show's lore Its would be just popular headcanon. Just because you see them as parent and child doesn't meen everyone does く⁠コ⁠:⁠彡
Some people are like to thing that Home is a creator of the show/his soul in there. I get it too, this theory KINDA makes sense, but still... We didn't see Wally acting like Home is his creator/getting revenge on Home for make their life hell (you can count worshiping as a sight but evidence is too weak), they are pretty chill with each other! Plus, it doesn't explain why Home is doesn't like humans, and from new update we learn that Welcome home is another world, so this theory is 99,99% is false i think
2) "Home is a building!"
Eah. LIVING building. With emotions and fears. Home is fully aware and sentient, it just so happened to have a different body then the rest of the puppets
3)"Home is abusive/evil!"
I understand why some people see them having Dynamic like this, but honestly I never saw it as inherently abusive? Maybe Wally is actually obsessed with Home, or maybe it’s the opposite, or they’re both crazy about each other, but it could also just that they act the way they do because of their self awareness. I do also think they’re overprotective of each other as well.
I just can’t see them *not* having any kind of close relationship, I mean Wally literally takes care of her, serenades him, and even blows them kisses and Home does similar gestures back at him! The feeling is mutual here.
3)"Wally is worshiping Home! Its unhealthy"
The only evidence of Home being worshiped by Wally is "so bellow" page.
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I know technically it could’ve been used as evidence as Wally worshiping Home as a god but I think there are many other ways to interpret that drawing on the site… Like, I don’t think Wally is viewing her as some powerful entity, I think Wally is just obsessed with he. Not in a worshipping way but more like in a “you mean everything to me and I wouldn’t let anyone come between us” way. Also because of how Home’s eye’s are, the drawing could’ve easily been outside just as it could’ve been inside (we can’t really tell since it’s all black). And even if it was inside, I don’t think that means Wally can’t leave Home, honestly I don’t even think he’d want to anyway. They’re both mutually bonded to each other
3)"Wally/Barnaby is canon, so you can't ship Wally with Home"
First. Wally/Barnaby isn't confirmed canon. Yes, there have been many, and I mean MANY, hints at this ship. I personally think that in fact in near future it is going to be canon. Second. Im still allowed to do whatever i want with them. They are my comfort ship, they make me happy and it doesn't hurt anyone.
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So, what's conclusion?
People like to think that their personal disliking of the ship is a valid point to bully shippers. They would make TONS AND TONS of excuses just to make others dislike it too. "They like son and father!", "They are abusive!", "This is proship, its gross!' despite not having evidence at all. Idk why ppl so scared to say "I don't personally like Home/Wally, its not for me" and go with their lifes. It much easier then to digging internet searching for art of them two and then show it to others saying: " LOOK HOW GROSS IT IS!!! SHIPPERS OF THIS SHIP IS TOTALLY UNHINGED!!!! How lucky we are not to be this stupid 😉😉😉"
It hurts. A little.
Life is so much better when you just not interact with things you don’t like, wish more people realised that tbh. Especially in fandom, because people get so mad over ships and headcanons when they could just…. Not interact? The more you seek out the content, the more it’ll appear in your feed because it’s how a for you page works. The algorithm shows you things it thinks you will like based off previous posts you’ve viewed……
Like I’m just shipping these silly little puppets together and making headcanons I’m not hurting anyone 😭
Thanks to @serillian for helping me with this one -⁠ᄒ⁠ᴥ⁠ᄒ⁠-
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darlingian · 7 months ago
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weekly tag wednesday
Firsts! Name: c h a n i Age: 31
First Pet? My mom had two Siamese cats before I was born, their names were Ayla and Tiki. But the pet that was all mine was a Betta fish named Herman. He was beautiful.
First Word? My parents had this friend named "Crazy Bob" (so named because of his tendency for lighting fireworks in his mouth.) and he was pushing me on a swing and every time the swing came close to him he'd say "Bob!" and eventually I said it.
First Celebrity Crush? I think Lindsay Lohan?
First IRL Crush? Brendan. He could draw really well and gave me a picture he drew of an armadillo.
First kiss? Either Chelsea, at summer camp in grade 8 on a dare, or if that doesn't count, Bryan at a Halloween party. He looked like Michael Cera and was dressed in a child's unicorn costume. Neither of us enjoyed it.
First Car? a 2005 Toyota Echo. Loved the hatchback, hated that it was a 2 door. Especially when we had a baby and trying to get the bucket seat in and out was a bitch.
First apartment/house/dorm/whatever away from your parents? I left home at 16 and couch surfed with friends. But I was 21 when I first rented my own room and was completely self reliant.
First time on a plane? 13, when I went on a ski trip to BC with my dad.
First cellphone? My dad works in telecommunications (he designs software? Idk he's explained it to me so many times and I still don't understand) and he always had new cellphones laying around so I think the first one he let me take was some kind of blue Nokia. (but my fave was a Motorola razor with Arabic lettering on the keyboard because he bought it in Dubai.)
First concert? I went to music festivals with my dad since I was really young. My dad always said my first was the Canadian band 54-40, but the first one I remember was Bedouin Soundclash. But if we're talking about the first concert I went to without parents? Then Hedley when I was 12. (They played a free block concert)
First Foreign country you visited? I've never been out of the country. (Much to my chagrin. I have such a yearning to travel.)
First sport you ever played? Played soccer when I was little.
First career aspiration? I wanted to be a vet and an artist.
And finally… tell me about the first time you wrote/drew/created/whatever something that made you think "wow" When I was in grade 5 I won an art contest and got to go to art camp. I can't even remember what my art looked like but I remember being proud of it. But when I was in grade 8 I made this plasticine sculpture of a hand reaching up from a tree stump. There were vines and a ladybug and a mouse. My art teacher kept it as an example.
thanks for the tags @mybrainismelted @stocious @energievie @deedala @creepkinginc @heymrspatel ! I'm giving each of you a soft kiss on the head.
tagging @too-schoolforcool @michellemisfit @mickeysgaymom @heymacy @gardenerian @gallawitchxx @iansw0rld @blue-disco-lights @crossmydna @sgtmickeyslaughter @sam-loves-seb @mmmichyyy @metalheadmickey @jrooc @sickness-health-all-that-shit @deathclassic @loftec @suzy-queued @lupeloto
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andrewwtca · 2 years ago
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a Soriku Endgame, Actually essay on Light and Darkness
Also available to read on Archive of our Own.
Kingdom Hearts, with Sora and Riku in particular, has been on my mind as of late. It’s always been on my mind, to be honest, ever since I first got into the series. It’s grabbed my hand and hasn’t let go, especially with all the new lore. And yet, I’ve been struggling to make peace with myself. 
On one hand, I don't want to get my hopes up, thinking that Sora and Riku would ever become something 'more' or that what I’m seeing is anything other than in-depth speculation. I've had my heart broken before and this series means too much to me for me to foolishly dive in like this. 
On the other hand, I can't ignore what the story is telling me, as a literary analysis enthusiast and as a diehard fan. There have been parallels established, setups finally going through, and Nomura has said before that “this series is not intended to be child-focused, and so the complexity of the story is purposely made prominent.” I can’t keep turning a blind eye, knowing everything I know, thinking everything I think. If I did, I feel like I would be doing a disservice to both my experiences with the series and my experiences as a person. 
So yeah—Soriku Endgame, Actually. Today, I’m arguing its canonicality because of the balance of Light and Darkness (or lack thereof) throughout the series. Please enjoy my messy and impassioned essay!
a sky of falling stars
The Children of Destiny is a new concept introduced to us in the finale of Dark Road. To summarize, they are people with the ability to feel what others feel, connect, and become one with them—empaths with Light. 
It appears that the Children of Destiny are all descendants of Ephemer, characterized by silvery hair. There's Ephemer, there's Baldr, there's Xehanort—and, oh yeah, there's Riku. 
Upon the release of the finale, a lot of people—myself included—quickly jumped to the conclusion that Sora is a Child of Destiny, which isn't all that wrong. If we're going by what the games have given us, Sora is very special. What other character has housed five different hearts inside his own? What other character had an entire arc in Birth by Sleep talking about how he felt the pain in someone else’s heart?
But Nomura has insisted since the beginning that Sora is an ordinary boy, that he wasn't born with anything special, explaining that he “had the premise that a heart like Sora’s exists within all the players. Sora is ‘ordinary’, therefore everyone is ‘ordinary.” (Before anyone argues Nomura is just going through a retcon, I doubt he would go through with one to this extent, given how he has had the ending to the Dark Seeker Saga in mind for years.)
Riku, on the other hand, has not been given this kind of treatment at all. He's always been painted as a golden child, better than Sora at everything, being the original bearer of the Keyblade. For crying out loud, he had a light in Birth By Sleep that was seen from space, not Sora. If you factor in bloodlines, it wouldn't be too far off to theorize that Riku is a descendent of Ephemer's line. Riku isn't who most look at first, but all signs lead to him being a Child of Destiny. 
But that doesn't explain Sora at all. He may not have been born special like Riku, but he's special somehow. After all, Nomura did finish his ‘Sora isn't special’ line with, “I figure even if you’re ‘ordinary’, for something important, everyone can exhibit a special power just like Sora.” Aqua even calls out that Sora is the one who can set things right, the boy who can touch others’ hearts. 
And that is where the necklace theory comes in.
Sora has always been associated with royalty, sitting on a throne in box art or having crowns plastered around him—or on him. From his debut, Sora has had a crown necklace that has never been explained. Despite wearing it in every outfit, it's never been addressed how it came to be.
It’s after Aqua and Terra came, judging by the BBS cutscenes of him and Riku. But it’s before KH1, as that's when his journey began. That’s a huge timeframe, from being a kid to deciding to leave the islands, but it's easy to pinpoint a time when considering something the games still never fully fleshed out: the meteor shower. 
In Chain of Memories, Sora and Riku fight over this memory they supposedly both had of Namine one night during a meteor shower. One of them promised they would keep her safe, and it's all cute until we remember that Namine wasn't actually in these memories. And Namine can't make any new memories—she can only rearrange old ones. 
Sora and Riku both share this memory. And the way they fought over this memory gave it the utmost importance. It becomes obvious at this point that the both of them witnessed a meteor shower, and given what we know about their dynamic (and that's a lot), it would make sense to assume it was Riku promising Sora to keep him safe—almost like a charm.
The necklace theory has been around for years, but it’s only after the Dark Road finale that it was expanded upon (or perhaps it’s just me and maybe three others who think this, but I don’t mind one bit.) It isn't just Riku promising to keep Sora safe. In giving Sora a necklace, a crown, Riku has metaphorically crowned Sora. He has brought Sora up to his status as a Child of Destiny, putting all his love into a charm that he hopes can keep Sora safe. 
There’s a flaw in my logic though, trust me, I know. I just said that this meteor shower didn’t happen until after BBS, and yet it’s during the game that Sora feels the pain of others, it’s during the game that Aqua says that Sora is going to be the one to set things right. But I still stand firm in my belief. Riku has always been painted as the golden child, the Child of Destiny, but his love for Sora runs deeper than his love for anything else. 
Riku’s light is the one that brought Terra and Aqua to Destiny Island but Riku’s light shines for Sora; sort of like step one to Sora’s crowning. Riku’s light rubbed off on Sora, ever since they were kids—after all, a Child of Destiny’s power is to connect hearts. Why not connect his own with another? Why not share his light?
Further, in BBS, Sora can feel Ven’s pain and take care of his heart, but he isn’t fully aware of this nor is he able to really do anything about this. It isn’t until KH1 that Sora ever exhibits a power of truly connecting to another’s heart when Sora entered the darkness swallowing Riku and touched Riku’s heart’s light to obtain his Keyblade, explained by Nomura himself. And it isn’t until KH3 that Sora finds the power to wake up Ven’s heart.
Regardless of whether or not I’m right about this, it means Nomura isn't technically wrong about Sora being normal. Sora, no matter what, doesn’t have some divine birthright, but he still has the makings of someone who can bring peace to the world—all thanks to Riku.
This helps set the tone of their relationship, of the depth of Sora and Riku’s bond. It also moves the storyline forward to how they will be the ones to instigate change—but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s first talk about who once were and who they could’ve been.
in another life
Kingdom Hearts is pretty on the nose on parallels between Xehanort/Eraqus and Riku/Sora. Besides personality, Xehanort and Riku are both Childs of Destiny who give in to the darkness and Eraqus and Sora are endless sources of light. But the parallels don't exist to make us empathize with Xehanort/Eraqus: they're to tell us a cautionary tale of what our protagonists could've been. 
So it begs the question, what actually separated Sora and Riku from becoming like Eraqus and Xehanort? Let’s start with Riku.
To recap, Xehanort was a student in Scala ad Caelum alongside Eraqus, who watched all his classmates die. He learned from Baldr about their roles as Children of Destiny and in his grief, became obsessed with wiping the world clean. He wanted a Keyblade War to create a fresh start, void of Light and Darkness, so that the world could try again. 
Riku seemed to have been walking the same road as Xehanort. He stopped fearing Darkness and started dancing on the line between it and Light. Riku was angry at the world and angry at his friends, and perhaps in another life, he may too have wanted to wipe the world clean. 
But every time I compare him and Xehanort, I can't help but think that a cautionary tale isn't what Xehanort/Eraqus is. Because I can't help but think that it just could never have happened to Riku, and it's for two main reasons: 
1) Hope.
Riku has hope in the world. When we look at all the other Children of Light, they all had a Darkness that took them down (although in Ephemer's case, it was a literal Darkness that killed him). Baldr lost himself in grief. Xehanort lost himself in rage. But not Riku. 
When Xehanort saw that the world couldn't be fixed (to how he believed it should be), Riku did not even see a world that needed fixing. Riku saw the world in all of its complicated glory. For instance, Riku is one of the first characters to acknowledge the feelings of Nobodies; their pain, and their love. He doesn't see them as an extension of Darkness or Light. They simply are. 
Riku believes in redemption. It's been his entire character arc, after all, to redeem himself and walk the Road to Dawn, a term coined way back in CoM. Ever since then, Riku has been closely associated with the sunrise—night turning into day. Darkness becomes Light. Redemption. This symbolism is shown in box art, said in interviews, even his Keyblade is called the Way to Dawn. 
The fact that Riku was even able to think of the Road to Dawn proves that he's nothing like Xehanort. Xehanort believes that there is no redemption because the world needs to be wiped clean. But Riku believes that there is a road he can walk, a road he can take to salvation because the world is not good or bad, but made for people to live and learn. But how? How was he able to walk that road? He has hope, but how was he able to use it? And that's the second reason. 
2) Sora. Riku has Sora. 
It may feel a bit obvious to say, but it's true: the fact that Riku is Riku; Sora is Sora; and their relationship is the way it is, is the key to why they would never have fallen to the same fate. We don't know the full extent of Xehanort and Eraqus's relationship, but it's safe to assume it wasn't as kind or loving as Riku and Sora's ever were. The two would play as kids, promise to keep each other safe, tell secrets—the two became princes of destiny together, destined to fight their way home.
I can't see Xehanort and Eraqus as anything more than students in a fucked up situation. Because when things got bad for Xehanort, he didn't think of Eraqus as his guiding light. He only thought of what he lost. There’s even a line in Dark Road of Xehanort hearing Eraqus crying in the other room, yet he never comforts him, never approaches him. They suffered alone, too afraid or perhaps too blind to reach for one another.
When things got bad for Riku, he saw Sora. He saw how Sora loved Kairi and sacrificed himself for her, and he saw that Sora was forgiving towards him. The reason why Riku and Sora didn't end up like Xehanort and Eraqus is that they simply aren't them. Their bond is deeper and their love is stronger, and Riku’s hope is simply stronger than Xehanort’s ever was.
It’s important to emphasize that this truly is a feat that only Riku (and Sora, one day) could’ve accomplished. It's natural to us that Riku, one of the series' protagonists, was able to do this. It's easy to shrug off the balance he managed to strike between his Light and Darkness, but for so many actually in the series, it's an incomprehensible thought. Mickey even stated in CoM, that Riku introduced Light and Darkness in a way nobody has ever seen before. To understand how this affects Sora and Riku’s relationship, it’s important to understand the way things currently are.
the light we pass down
Light and Darkness are the very core of this series. Light represents the connections you make with others, while Darkness represents the lack thereof—those with Darkness in their hearts are those who walk alone, while those with Light are those with many friends around them. Darkness is selfishness, and Light is selflessness. 
Darkness is usually framed as an inherently evil source in many stories, but it's something that cannot be extinguished. Light needs to be there to balance it. 
But Kingdom Hearts seems to be going down the path less taken—yes, Darkness isn't 'good', and it isn't desirable to isolate yourself from the rest of the world. But the series is asking the question many like to ignore: when does Light become Darkness? 
In nearly every game, you can trace one character fed into the illusion that Light is good, everything else is bad, and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. MoM to his pupils in Union X; Odin to Baldr in Dark Road; Eraqus to his children in BBS; Yen Sid to Mickey in forbidding him to speak of Aqua; Donald and Goofy to Sora in telling him that their ship runs on happy smiles. It is generational trauma. 
A cycle of hypocrisy has been forced on not only the 'defenders of Light' but 'agents of Darkness.' Xehanort doesn't care who he hurts as long as he can get his own idea of balance in the world, believing his judgment to be supreme to others—despite his initial thoughts in Dark Road, that unless someone's heart is pure Light, how can one know for sure what is right and wrong? To which Eraqus responded that they as Keyblade Wielders held the supreme judgment towards morality. 
Again and again, this cycle of defending what they believe is good and Light repeats, hurting themselves and hurting others, and even Sora is not free of this hypocrisy. While he doesn't go out of his way to hurt others the way Xehanort has, he is capable of hurting others: Riku was hurt by Sora in KH1 when he was silent when Kairi suggested leaving him behind or when he shrugged off Riku going missing in Traverse Town. In CoM, when the idea of him ‘abandoning’ people was presented, he acted out harshly and completely rejected the idea (this is all another parallel to Eraqus!)
He even denies the idea that Riku has hurt others. Despite Riku acting out of his own free will, the reason he feels the need to atone and walk the path to redemption, Sora believes that the Darkness was forced on Riku by others.
Sora has been carved into the same mindset as so many others, the idea heavily tackled in Dark Road, that Darkness is only brought upon by others, and that it needs to be expunged. Sora is a firm believer that the Darkness is something to be eradicated, such as with his encounter with Vanitas in KH3. When Vanitas states that he is simply Darkness, Ven is quick to understand and even accept. Sora, on the other hand, rejects this and insists that it isn’t okay. 
Even our series’ protagonist is unable to shake himself from this self-righteous, black-or-white thinking. Riku is the only character in the series who has formed an actual balance in himself, with all other characters having to pick one side. Lea, Xion, and Roxas leave the Darkness of Organization XIII and become Keyblade Wielders. Terra embraces his Light, Aqua leaves the Realm of Darkness, and Ven is literally separated into a being of Light and Darkness (although not out of his own volition).
The series is not framing any of these things as negative—there’s nothing wrong with embracing Light. However, these characters are falling into the same cycle that the generations before have; they will once again be faced with a Darkness too deep to defeat and ignore. It must be talked to, reckoned with, and faced with open arms. Riku has been the only one able to return the hug and walk away.
We’ve explored what makes Riku’s character arc so significant and what Sora’s flaws are, and it’s time to dive into the murky waters of the future.
when does the sun become the night?
Sora. Oh, Sora. I love you, Sora. Now let me tear you and your smile apart. 
The parallels between Xehanort and Riku are very on the nose and easy to distinguish; meanwhile, Eraqus and Sora are a bit more challenging. 
In BBS, Eraqus is the Master of Aqua, Terra, and Ventus. He forms a bond between them, as one would expect, mentoring and looking out for their well-being. The Light in his heart is strong due to his connections with them, alongside being a Keyblade wielder. Although not perfect (feeding into Terra's insecurities about his Darkness, cough), he does care for them. But when the world falls to Darkness, Eraqus doesn't hesitate to be selfless, to give up his connections, the Light in his heart, to kill them to save a greater good. As long as someone somewhere can benefit from his actions, he isn't harming.
But is that selfless? Is sacrificing for a 'greater good' truly selfless? Is there a line between the needs of the many and the needs of the few? Or is there a certain ‘darkness’ that comes with these acts? Disregarding yourself, disregarding others, selfless yet selfish; it's not the right thing to do, and the series doesn't hesitate to frame it as that. What Eraqus did was wrong. He hurt others, even if he refused to acknowledge it.
And yet, no one seems to make any noise toward Sora. 
Sora is a Guardian of Light. He is the cheerful protagonist who makes everyone smile and feel better. Ever since the first game, when Donald and Goofy (although not with ill intent) told him that the Gummi Ship runs on happy faces, he's been under the precedent that his emotions do not matter in the greater scheme of things. In the long run, what matters is that others are safe, the people he cares about. 
Once again, like how Xehanort and Riku deviated in terms of having hope, this is where Eraqus and Sora begin to deviate from their parallels. While both are selfless to the point of ‘darkness,’ they show it in dramatically different ways. Eraqus is willing to hurt the people he cares about (and by extension, himself) to serve this 'greater good', but Sora is only willing to actively hurt himself. 
I feel the need to remind everyone that this is a teenager we're talking about. If we weren't in a franchise partially owned by Disney, I feel like more people would be willing to call this what it is: suicidal. This is not Light.
We've already seen ways that this harms Sora outside the narrative and the whole getting sent to Quadratum thing in his Rage form. Sora transforms into a drive form that’s oddly reminiscent of his time as a Heartless and can unleash powerful attacks that lower his HP (hmm). Furthermore, this form only appears when his HP is low (double hmm) and stated by Nomura, “based on him going into a rampage state, controlled by feelings of anger (triple hmm).”
Back inside the narrative, the climax of KH3 was Sora believing that he's worthless without his friends, genuinely worthless, and unable to fight at all. This is the very definition of a Light gone too far when remembering that Light is the connections you form with others. With too much Light, Sora lost himself. He couldn't find himself past who he was for others.
In the section prior that broke down generational trauma as it appears in Kingdom Hearts, I mentioned that Sora does not only end up hurting himself but passively hurting others around him, most notably Riku. Sora is unable to understand that Darkness is not the absence of all good but rather the shadow that simply follows you around. Sora cannot understand that Darkness is not something to be shunned, to never talk about. (This could also be tied back to his Rage form—while he does not actively channel his anger to hurt, that is what happens; only to never be acknowledged by him.)
(Off-topic, but I find it funny that Sora, who is so keen on the idea that Darkness is Not Good, was only ever to have a proper conversation with Riku in the Realm of Darkness. It’s very telling to their characters.)
Kingdom Hearts is setting up a narrative that Light and Darkness cannot exist in excess. That Light doesn't exist to balance out the Darkness, to stop it from becoming too strong—you need Darkness to exist as well. 
Sora has gotten this far along the story and still hasn't managed to learn this, because it’s just not something you can learn (or unlearn, rather) on your own. Because this kind of thinking isn’t undone with hours of contemplation; in a fitting Kingdom Hearts fashion, it’s connections that lead to the revelation.
the roads we walk
Xehanort and Eraqus fall out with each other. They stop talking and sever the connection with each other. That was a core reason things got as out of hand as they did for each other; they weren't keeping each other in check. Xehanort's Darkness left him blind and unable to see that there was Light after all, and Eraqus's Light blinded him and left him stumbling with a Keyblade for a 'greater purpose.' Their hearts fell too far to one end of the balance, leaving the scales unbalanced.
Riku and Sora do not have that. They have a connection like nothing seen in this series before—Riku had literally raised Sora to become a Child of Destiny alongside him. The Light of their hearts is just so awe-strikingly bright. 
Sora, however, has lost himself in all his light. He is stuck in the same bright room that Eraqus was, stumbling around with his Keyblade. But where Eraqus was forever lost, Sora can be found: because where Riku had Sora to guide him to the Light, Sora will have Riku to guide him through the Darkness. 
Riku spends the majority of his character simply proving that he is capable of redemption. It takes him the ending of a game to realize the errors in his ways and another game to figure out the solution he must fight for, and these weren't revelations he finds on his own—he found the first with Sora and the second (in CoM) with Mickey and Namine.
For Sora to even have the revelation that he cannot keep shutting out the Darkness in him unless he wants more pain for himself and others, he needs someone to help show him that is an option. And who else but Riku, who is living proof that existence isn’t just black-or-white, Light or Darkness?
Riku is Sora's foil. A foil is a character who either has pronounced differences between themselves and the protagonist or is so alike that a contrast appears. Riku is the ladder, similar enough to Sora that one can begin to make assumptions about where the story is heading. Their similarities aren't hard to find: they both hail from Destiny Islands, they both have a love for adventure, they both were assumed to walk a path of Light for the rest of their lives, and they both care deeply for each other. The contrast begins in KH1 when Riku begins his fall to Darkness while Sora remains firm in his standing.
Riku’s arc ended with acceptance; he needed to accept the Darkness and the Light inside him to find peace. It’s only natural that his foil, struggling with the same imbalance, would go through a similar arc but still different enough to be his own.
It isn't just the story telling us this. Riku has always been associated with imagery of dawn, the breaking of Darkness into Light, and Kairi is always associated with imagery of dusk, the breaking of Light into Darkness (which is a conversation all on its own). Sora, on the other hand, is associated with a large blue sky (his name, after all, does mean sky.) It's not hinting towards a journey of any kind—not a redemption like for Riku.
He is the daylight. He is the Light in everyone's lives. But ‘Sora’ doesn't mean the day sky. It simply means sky. Sky, at day or night—and I don't mind if you call me reaching at this point, but it feels like it's calling out to the fact that Sora needs to accept that he is both Light and Darkness, the way the sky is both day and night. 
Nomura has even stated in an interview before when asked about the two different versions of the Dream Drop Distance illustrations that he “wanted its composition and look to remind [the player] of the title’s catch copy, ‘Darkness becomes light, light falls into darkness.’” The parallel structure of the tagline serves to mirror the parallel structure of Sora and Riku’s paths, Sora’s road to night and Riku’s road to dawn.
But I digress. Exhaustively, it’s very apparent that Sora is heading toward a climax, a Darkness he cannot ignore. His breakdown in KH3 was left unspoken, unresolved, and his disappearance only contributes to the fact that he’s heading toward another breaking point, where the cheerful protagonist can no longer remain cheerful. But like in KH3, something is going to be the same: Riku.
At his lowest point, it was Riku who was next to him, telling Sora that he believed in him. It was Riku who carried on when Sora couldn’t. Riku is going to be key in Sora's journey to night. Riku was able to find his Road to Dawn by remembering Sora. He was able to walk by remembering his love, his passion, his everything, and it was because of Sora that Riku found balance. He found the Light within himself, and he learned to accept that the Darkness would always be a part of him, the way it is for others. 
Sora's arc will be spun into motion because of Riku. The next installments of Kingdom Hearts are setting up that Riku's dreams are the key to finding Sora, implying perhaps that it may be Sora and Riku all alone in a world. Whatever the case, Riku is going to be by Sora's side, as that is where they are at their best, to face Sora’s worst.
And it's fitting. Riku had to go from Darkness, defined as a lack of connections, to a balance with Light, having connections. He went from his isolation, wearing a blindfold and not being able to face anyone, to being the charming Riku we all love, fighting alongside the Keyblade wielders. His journey would have him open up, so he would be joined by memories, ghosts, not by people until he began to embrace others.
Sora will be going from Light to a balance with Darkness. He'd be going from connections to a lack (though not in the same extremes that Riku did), in a sense. Understandably, he can’t do it alone, make such a drastic change; he'd need someone.
This change, this balance, this emphasis on connections, it’s guiding us to what the narrative has been trying to tell us all along.
we can be the darkness, and the light, and the sunsets and sunrises too
When asked about the theme of KH3 and the entire series, Nomura answered, “It’s in the title: hearts. The consistent theme across the whole series is ‘What is a heart?’”
Kingdom Hearts is going to be doing something unprecedented in not only a lot of media but in its world itself. While the idea of Light and Darkness existing within characters is not new, the characters aren't exactly behind that idea. Most of the Keyblade Wielders and Guardians of Light cherish the Light above all else—while all the primary villains worship the Darkness. They fight for a balance but don't fully grasp that within (nearly) all of them lies both entities. 
Riku seems to be more accepted in the world, as he did join the Light in the end. But what Sora would do is... just absolutely bonkers. He will be embracing a Darkness in him, the same kind that Terra and so many others were taught to push out. Sora will be... well, a teenager. Happy and angsty and all the things teens are.
This is where Kingdom Hearts has the chance to seal the deal, to fully welcome this balance of Light and Darkness: a relationship between Riku and Sora. 
For all Guardians of Light, there is a generational trauma hanging over their heads and haunting them, and Sora will need to accept his Darkness to combat it, but the story can't end there. The games have been building up the idea that Sora will be the one to bring change to the world, that Sora will be the one to end this cycle. He won’t just accept his Darkness but lead a new age. He will be the one to show that there's a different way (or really, only one other way) to move forward:
Love. 
Unconditional love. Not love depending on whether they fit the wielders' definitions of Light and Darkness, not love depending on the amount of Light in someone's heart, not love clouded by hypocrisy. Just pure love, forever forgiving and growing.
So who better for Sora’s love than Riku?
Let’s get all the arguments for Kairi out of the way first. Some may say that Kairi could still fulfill this role of spreading love in the next games, but that’s only if her role in the story is completely revamped. She represents friends growing apart as they grow older yet remaining close. While Sora and Riku represent a balance between Light and Darkness, Kairi represents holding a Light close to your heart, even when it's so far away; fitting for her story of being ripped apart from her home.
The games keep pushing the friends' growing apart narrative rather than pulling from it, having Kairi remain with Aqua to train while Riku goes after Sora. There is little space for Kairi to suddenly walk a road to dusk that leads to romance. Especially because it’s Sora and Riku who are the Children of Destiny, they are the ones who will connect to other hearts and bring change, not Kairi. Her lesson would be for herself, not for the world to see. 
A relationship between Kairi and Sora would just be backtracking on this message. Sora needs to accept his Darkness, but joining forces with a Princess of Light does not challenge any norms, it does not provide a new answer. It makes sense because the core of Kingdom Hearts isn’t a Prince and Princess of Light—it’s two boys who saw the night sky fall one day, two boys who grew up together, two boys destined for something greater who write their own paths anyway. It’s Sora and Riku. Nomura himself has stated that “Sora and Riku represent the theme of the Kingdom Hearts series, which is the ‘light and dark sides of the heart,’” the essence of this essay. 
Carrying on, some may stop me here and say that their love doesn't need to be romantic for a point to be made. But I argue that there is no other way.
Romantic love in stories often serves as the culmination of the story’s themes. In Leigh Bardugo's books, her romances serve to show the importance of love and healing. In the Shadow & Bone trilogy, Alina has the options between the Darkling, representing power, Nikolai, representing nationalism, and Mal, representing love. Just love. Not one befitting of a Saint, someone to change the world, but that’s not who Alina wanted to be; she just wanted a happy ending. Shockingly, she picks Mal. In Six of Crows, Kaz and Inej's romance, both traumatized teenagers, serves to show that you can heal and you can love. They're both scared of people, scared of intimacy and yet they still love with all their scars on display.
In Revolutionary Girl Utena, the romance between Utena and Anthy reaches its climax at the end of the show, displaying the vulnerability of both girls and the rawness of their feelings. But most importantly, it drives home the message: that the power to bring revolution is not the power of a prince or a witch. The power to change the world is love. The only way to change the world to be suitable to live in is through love. The power, a revolution, brought by love.
Romance is a revolution. It’s often saved for the last act of stories because of how it acts as a thread between all of the themes. In Kingdom Hearts, the theme needing weaving is balance: balance between yourself and others, balance between selflessness and selfishness, balance between Light and Darkness. Sora and Riku getting together would be Yin and Yang—a boy who had to accept his Darkness and a boy who had to fight for his Light. They complement each other and fill where the other lacks. 
Likewise, a relationship between them stresses the importance of connections. Tai Yasue, co-director of the series, has stated that “the theme of the KH series is ‘connections of the heart,’” and the narrative will take advantage of any opportunity to let that theme shine. Previously, many defenders of Light would sacrifice their connections with others for a greater good. But Sora and Riku choosing to love each other, choosing to love the Light and Darkness in each other instead of trying to chase away their Darkness, is showing that love is their other option. 
Sora getting with Kairi challenges nothing. It tells the others that Light must be with Light, that good must be with good. Even their grand attack in Re:Mind is two giant angel wings where they proclaim, “Light!” Sora and Riku, however, show that Light does not mean good. It shows that people can do bad things, and it doesn't make them bad, because people are not black and white. Like two kingdoms forever at war with each other, finally coming together and realizing that the other side is human and that you can't simply demonize them.
Sora and Kairi say there is nothing wrong with the world. To carry on. Sora and Riku say that there isn’t anything wrong with the world; it’s the people looking the wrong way. There is nothing wrong with what’s around us. Nothing wrong, nothing right. “Nothing is whole, and nothing is broken.” It’s simply being: being Darkness, being Light, being both, being neither.
It has to be Sora and Riku. It's always had to be them. Riku brought Sora up to the status of a Child of Destiny, and their journeys were led by each other, their character development taught by one another, and their acceptance will come from (an eventual) conversation between the two about their pain and hurt and Darkness, it’s all always been leading here. To this moment in time where they show the world all the hurt they hold and how they carry on with.
All of that, and loving each other? 
They are crossing the line, as Hikaru Utada sings in Don't Think Twice. They are going to be crossing every line established in Kingdom Hearts, and this is their power. Their revolution. Their predetermined yet self-made destiny. The payoff for years and years of searching and yearning and pining and chasing is a love that brings revolution, and oh...isn't that just romantic? 
That is the answer to “What is a heart?” The heart is the love you have, despite it all. The heart is the connections you make, despite it all. The heart is your Darkness and your Light and your experiences and your fights, despite it all. The heart is Sora and Riku, despite it all.
grant us the power to bring the world revolution
A lot of this analysis really depends on whether or not you believe Sora and Riku are in love with one another, I realize. You may agree with me that it seems fitting that their coming together as a pair would catalyze all the themes in Kingdom Hearts, but you disagree that it means they'd ever be a pairing. Which, I'd like to thank you for at least hearing me out. 
The queerness of their relationship means there will always be naysayers to them getting together, there will always be people claiming that I'm reaching. I do not care if you see them as brothers or ‘just’ really good friends. I see a love story. I see a love story and a love story saying to love, above all else. Do not judge others for you don't know what is wrong or right, for you are biased, for you are flawed, for you are human. Love others for that is the heart's will. Love.
I see that their getting together would be a testament to that love. To that forgiveness, to those flaws we have. It would be an acceptance of Riku's pain and Darkness that he mysteriously doesn't want to acknowledge, it would be an acceptance of Sora's pain that he's been bottling up ever since the beginning of his journey, and it would be an acceptance to the Light they both share. It would be the balance that so many generations have looked for and couldn't find because they did not practice acceptance, only judgment. 
Sora and Riku getting together is acceptance and it's proof that love is the answer to a generational trauma that has been around ever since the beginning of time. So yeah: Soriku Endgame, Actually. 
Thank you so much for reading! I’m a really big fan of stories about light and darkness and the balance between them, stories about love, and just Kingdom Hearts in general. I didn’t want to keep these thoughts in the back of my head and I’m glad I wrote them all out, even if it’s messy (and a shocking 6k words long...) Kingdom Hearts is a bit messy, after all.
If you're interested in more about Sora and Riku's relationship or just literary analysis of KH in general, please check out Constructing Kingdoms on YouTube, as it helped give me the words to write a lot of this essay. Further, if you're in total denial that there is any queer text in Kingdom Hearts, please check out this amazing video essay on Riku being gay. 
That's all I have. Please feel free to share if you have any disagreements or if any parts really spoke to you, or if you have anything to add, or anything really. These two live rent-free in my mind, and I don't mind talking about them or about how they're just so perfect to change the world.
Thank you. Spread love (and the Soriku agenda.)
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sweet-little-raven · 4 months ago
Text
In The Shadow Of The Dungeon
Relationship: Wednesday Addams/Enid Sinclair
Rating: Mature/18+
Word count: 4k
Summary: Wednesday and Enid are in a secret relationship. After two months of summer break, they catch up before class, no matter the repercussions. Or: Slytherin Wednesday x Hufflepuff Enid have fun before class
Author's note: I'm obsessed with Wednesday and Harry Potter, so... :') Story inspired by this Tiktok video. Not my fav but I hope you will like it ♡
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Enid sighed, glancing nervously at the grandfather's clock in the corner of the Slytherin common room. "Wednesday, we should really go," she murmured, brushing a kiss to Wednesday's cheek as she passed her and looked towards the stairs. "Potions class is starting soon, and if we're late, Snape will be furious. He hates you—I mean, he hates everyone, but still. Don't make him hate you more than he already does."
"Let him be. I don't care about what he thinks of me," Wednesday replied with a smirk, pulling Enid closer. She slipped a hand around her waist, guiding her back towards her dorm room in the Slyherin Dungeon. The dorm was empty, as everyone had already left for their morning classes. It was the perfect opportunity.
The Slytherin girl shut the door behind them, muttering a quick soundproof charm so no one outside the dorm room would hear them.
As she looked around the empty room, Enid took note of the scattered potion ingredients on Wednesday's desk and muttered a few worried words to herself, but before she could say anything, Wednesday's lips were on hers, silencing her protests.
"We really shouldn't," Enid breathed, even as she melted into the kiss. "Snape will—"
"Snape can wait," Wednesday growled, her fingers tangling in the blonde's silky hair. "I've waited long enough to have you to myself."
Two months. It had been two months since the girls last saw each other. Usually, students loved summer break—but not Enid and Wednesday. For them, being away from each other for so long was a fate worse than Azkaban.
The girls had been together for almost a year now. Saying that their relationship was unexpected was an understatement—a Slytherin and an Hufflepuff together? That was rare. Slytherins were known as proud and mean, they usually avoid mixing with the other houses. Especially the Hufflepuffs, who were their polar opposite.
However, being in different houses didn't stop the girls for falling in love with each other.
When she saw Enid for the first time—a new student dressed like a bubble-gum with blonde hair with the ends dyed in pink, purple and blue—her cold heart had melted for the first time. She immediately knew what it was: the Addams Curse.
The Addams Curse was something stupid, according to Wednesday, that she kept repeating to her parents that it skipped a generation. In other words, it was a love curse. And this disgusted her. Her parents, obviously, were both cursed and couldn't keep their hands to themselves for more than three minutes.
Wednesday swore she would never be like them. However... that changed as soon as she saw Enid for the first time: she immediately knew that she had succumbed to the curse.
It took her three months to ask the blonde on a date. For at least a month, she had tried to ignore the curse, hoping that it would just go away. But it never did. On the contrary, it only made things worse for her: her tan skin started itching, she started losing her appetite and couldn't sleep at night. She knew that these were caused by the curse she kept ignoring.
After a month, she knew it had to stop, so she started getting closer to Enid. First, as simple friends. She heard that Enid had some difficulties in Defense Against Dark Arts, so she volunteered to help her. The teachers were clearly... surprised by the proposition, considering who it was coming from.
Wednesday was a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and her reputation at Hogwarts was despicable. People described her as rude, proud and haughty. She didn't care about anyone but herself—at least until Enid arrived.
Enid never understood why people hated Wednesday. The girl was always nice with her: she agreed to help her not only in Defense Against Dark Arts but also in her other classes—which was obviously an excuse to spend some alone time with her—sometimes, during their studies at the library, she would give her her favorite candies she bought at Honeyduke's and Enid would hug her as a tank you. That girl was perfect.
Wednesday soon realized that the more time she spent with the Hufflepuff, the less her skin itched and sleeping at night was easier. And, most importantly, the more she fell in love with her over and over again.
Enid couldn't be happier of her relationship with the Slytherin. On the contrary of what people thought about her, Wednesday Addams was extremely caring with the persons she loved. She always made sure that Enid was alright; if she struggled in a class, she would immediately help her, if she was having a bad day, she would do anything to make it better even if it meant watching a horrible rom-com movie with her. They were both very happy and complemented each other very well.
However, the two girls agreed to keep their relationship a secret as they were both not comfortable with people knowing. Sadly, it was very hard to not kiss all the time or be closer than two friends should be in public. They rarely had time for themselves at Hogwarts, unfortunately, especially as they were both in different houses.
Summer break was the worse for them. Wednesday lived in Edinburgh, but Enid lived in a small village in the Surrey and with Enid's parents being homophobic... they couldn't see each other; it was too risky.
And now, they were alone. Wednesday didn't care if she will be late, didn't care if Snape yelled at her once again. All she cared about was the blonde and the fact that they were finally alone.
Enid's resistance crumbled as Wednesday's hands roamed, exploring the familiar curves and angles of her body. She pressed closer, all thoughts of potions and punishments fading away. She wasn't the kind of girl to be late to class, on the contrary. Enid was usually referred as the 'perfect girl next door', as an innocent Hufflepuff or even a 'teacher's pet'. Oh, if only they knew...
Wednesday led Enid towards her bed, the closest to the door, their lips never parting. The Slytherin's dorm room, usually so cold and foreboding, now felt hot. Enid fell back onto the dark green duvet, pulling Wednesday down with her so the brunette was now straddling her waist.
"We really need to go," Enid gasped between kisses, her voice a mix of urgency and desire. Keeping her hand to herself after break was the hardest thing she had ever done. All she wanted to do was kiss her girlfriend, but in the busy corridors, she couldn't. It was torture. "If Snape finds out—"
"Let him find out," Wednesday interrupted, her voice low and husky. "I don't care about Snape or his stupid punishments. All I care about is you."
Enid's heart swelled at the intensity in Wednesday's eyes. The dark brown orbs were full of lust, and this only made her core ache even more. So, she gave a reluctant nod, leaning in for one last kiss before she pulled away completely.
Fuck the repercussions.
Wednesday's hands were possessive, holding Enid as if she might vanish if she let go. She kissed her lips, barely letting her breath.
The minutes ticked by unnoticed. Enid's resolve weakened with every touch, every whispered word of affection. She knew they were treading dangerous ground, but being with Wednesday made her forget everything else.
Wednesday's kisses trailed from the blonde's lips down her neck, each one igniting a fire that made Enid shiver. "Wednesday," Enid whispered, her voice barely audible. "Are you sure about this?"
"I've been waiting to do this for the past two months, Enid. I'm more than sure." Wednesday replied with a smirk on her face. It was worth being late.
Enid's breath hitched as the Slytherin's hands moved with deliberate slowness, unbuttoning her tie and her white shirt with her cold fingers before throwing the clothes on the cold floor. The Hufflepuff could feel the heat of Wednesday's touch, sending shivers down her spine. Enid's own hands found their way under Wednesday's white-buttonned shirt, feeling the smooth cold skin beneath.
It didn't take long before they were both left in their underwear. Wednesday wore a black lace bra with matching panties, while Enid wore simple pink cotton underwear. Cute, Wednesday thought.
With a smirk, the brunette started leaving more kisses all over Enid's neck, nibbling at her sweet spot. Enid shyly moaned as she wrapped her bare legs around the Slytherin's waist, bringing her closer.
"You don't have to be so quiet," the girl murmured against the blonde's neck. "The Dungeon is empty, and just in case, I've cast a soundproof charm over the room. Let me hear you, puppy."
With a soft smile and flustered cheeks, Enid nodded and opened her mouth a little bit. She kept moaning softly as Wednesday attacked her neck with kisses, now trailing down her covered chest. "Can I remove this?" she asked, pointing at the baby-pink bra. Even though she already knew the answer, she still asked. She always wanted to make sure that the blonde was okay with what she was doing.
Enid quickly nodded, and Wednesday didn't lose time. She un-clipped the bra and threw it on the floor with their shirts and skirts. Then, she started kissing down her chest, sucking at her sensitive nipples before she continued to kiss down her body, to her stomach until she reached the baby-pink panties. "Fuck," Wednesday gasped. "You're already so wet for me."
"Take them off," Enid moaned. "Please, Wednesday... I need you so bad."
With cold delicate fingers, Wednesday gently took the cloth off. 
The soft glow of the dark green lanterns cast a dark, intimate light over the room, highlighting the curves and shadows of their entwined bodies. Enid arched her back as Wednesday's lips trailed down her collarbone once again, her hands gripping the sheets in anticipation. She absolutely hated when the brunette made her wait like that—it was torture; and Wednesday loved torture. Usually with the Cruciatus curse, but making her girlfriend squirm under her touch as she intentionally avoided her core was more than worth it.
Each touch, each kiss, sent shivers down the Hufflepuff's spine, making her forget the world outside. At this moment, the fear of being late to Potions class didn't matter anymore. There was no way they would stop here and they both knew it... it was too late.
"Wednesday," Enid breathed, her voice barely more than a whisper. The name was a plea, a prayer, filled with longing and need. Wednesday responded with a low, guttural sound, her hands sliding lower, exploring, claiming as she kept avoiding the blonde's core.
Enid's eyes fluttered closed, lost in the sensation of Wednesday's fingers tracing patterns on the sensitive skin of her thighs. Her black-nailed fingers were so close to her core... but she didn't touch her there yet. She loved making her girlfriend squirm and lose her mind like that before touching her.
"D-Don't be such a tease," Enid moaned in a mix of pain and pleasure. The more Wednesday avoided her core, the more it started hurting. She needed her to touch her;  now.
With a challenging smirk, Wednesday pulled away to look up at Enid. The blonde was already a mess: her hair was all over the place, her eyes filled with unshed tears. "Or what?"
Enid's right hand found her girlfriend's head and pushed it down to her core. "Stop teasing, Addams, I'm serious."
Wednesday simply shook her head. "Huh-huh-huh. You're being a bad girl today, aren't you?" With another smirk, she reached over to the nightstand and grabbed her green tie. Before the blonde could understand what was happening, the Slytherin grabbed her hands and pulled them over her head.
She wrapped the tie around Enid's wrists, tying them together with a deftness that spoke of practice and precision. Enid's eyes widened, her breath hitching at the unexpected turn, but she didn't resist. She trusted Wednesday completely. She knew that she would never hurt her intentionally and that she would stop immediately if she asked her to.
"Stay still," Wednesday commanded, her voice firmer than a few minutes ago, sending more shivers down Enid's spine. The blonde hated to admit it, but she loved when her girlfriend took control over her. It was... very enjoyable.
Wednesday secured Enid's tied hands above her head, fastening them to the headboard. Hard enough so she couldn't move, but not hard enough to hurt her.
Enid's heart raced, the anticipation and vulnerability making her pulse quicken. She started rubbing her thighs together, hoping to get some friction out of it... but Wednesday quickly stopped her. "Don't move, little badger."
That stupid nickname.
Enid squirmed at it, desperate for her girlfriend's touch.
Wednesday's hands roamed over Enid's body once again, exploring every inch with deliberate slowness that drove the blonde crazy. Her fingers brushed over her sensitive skin, eliciting gasps and whimpers from the girl beneath her. As she moaned, Enid arched her back, straining against the tie that held her, desperate for more of Wednesday's touch.
"Please," she whispered, her voice trembling with need.
"Patience," Wednesday murmured back, her lips ghosting over Enid's ear. She knew how much effect this had on her... and she absolutely loved it.
After this, she trailed kisses down the blonde's neck, her teeth grazing the delicate skin, leaving a trail of marks in her wake. Enid's body shuddered, her breaths coming in shallow gasps.
After deciding that she played long enough, Wednesday's hand finally slid between Enid's thighs, her fingers teasing and exploring the wetness. However, she still avoided her clit on purpose. Enid's hips bucked, seeking more, but Wednesday held her down, controlling the pace. She loved to be in control—as a Slytherin, it wasn't surprising. Enid knew what she was getting into when she started her relationship with Wednesday... and it wasn't a bad thing. She was ashamed to admit it, but being controlled by her girlfriend was her favorite thing. Especially when she used her knifes... but that was for another time.
Wednesday took her time to tease Enid before she finally started drawing slow circles on her clit. Enid moaned loudly, tears of joy falling down her flustered cheeks. It took only a few more circles before she felt Enid getting dangerously close to the edge. Too fast, in her opinion; so, with yet another smirk, she stopped all her movements and pulled away.
"Wednesday!" Enid groaned in frustration, her chest moving up and down at a quick rhythm. "What the fuck!?"
"Not yet, darling. I barely touched you, and I know that you can't control yourself so I had to stop. We'll really have to work on it in the future."
"You're a monster, you know that?"
"I know; people keep reminding me." To anyone else, being called a monster would be an insult, but to Wednesday, it was such a good compliment. At least coming from Enid, who of course meant it in a good way.
After a minute in which Enid focused on calming her breathing, Wednesday knelt on the floor and pulled the blonde closer to the edge of the bed. Enid barely had time to take a breath before she felt wet kisses on the interior of her thighs, dangerously close to her core. She could feel her girlfriend's hot breath against her clit and it drove her crazy once again.
"Please," Enid cried out, her hips unintentionally bucking up. "Wednesday..."
"Are you going to be a good girl, Enid?"
"Yes! Yes, just... fuck, please. Just touch me, I can't take it anymore, Wednesday."
"Stay still." The brunette started kissing up the blonde's pale thighs until she reached her core. Deciding that she tortured her girlfriend enough, she finally gave in and started sucking at her sensitive clit.
"Fuck!" Enid moaned, her fists clenching the tie.
Wednesday's movements were slow and deliberate—she wanted to drive Enid to the edge, but not so fast. No matter how late they would be to class, what they were doing right now was much more important. Two entire months without a single touch was pure agony—they really needed each other after this.
The Slytherin kept sucking at the sensitive point, before she decided to gently slip a finger inside. Enid moaned a bit, though she barely felt her girlfriend's thin finger because of how wet she was. "More," she begged.
Obeying, Wednesday added two other fingers and started pulling in and out gently. Clearly, she didn't need to be so gentle because Enid was soaking wet, but she always preferred to start slow to let her get used to it. However, it didn't take long before she quickened her movements.
"W-Willa..." the blonde breathed. "I'm close... don't stop."
"You're mine," Wednesday whispered, her voice rough with emotion as she quickened her pace once again. The sounds of her fingers going in and out of her core were becoming obscene, but they could care less. "Only mine."
"Only yours," Enid echoed, feeling herself getting closer and closer... before she finally came. Her cries filled the room, her body convulsing with pleasure as she strained against the tie once more, her hands clenching and unclenching as the waves of ecstasy washed over her. Wednesday watched her with dark, hungry eyes, her own body responding to the sight of Enid's pleasure. Her own core ached in pain, desperate to be touched.
As Enid came down from the high, Wednesday climbed back on the bed and straddled her quivering naked body, pressing a tender kiss to her lips. They kissed for a few minutes until Enid was able to catch her breath. "Wow," she murmured. "That was insane. You're insane."
"So are you, my love." Wednesday then untied Enid's hands, without getting up from her waist, rubbing the marks left by the cloth with gentle fingers. Enid wrapped her arms around Wednesday, pulling her close, their bodies fitting together perfectly. "Are you alright?" Wednesday asked. "I didn't mean to tighten the tie that much. Your wrists are red."
The blonde nodded in response, a silly post-orgasm smile on her face. "I'm fine, don't worry about it." After a short pause, she added, "Do you want me to return the favor?"
Wednesday opened her mouth to respond, but before anything could come out, the bell rang, breaking the fragile bubble of intimacy enveloping them. Instantly, frustration and disappointment surged through the brunette as they reluctantly disentangled from each other, their shared moment abruptly cut short.
"Meet me at the Room Of Requirement after school?" Enid smirked as she got up from the bed, her legs shaking.
"With pleasure, Cara Mia."
Wednesday now fumbled with the buttons of her shirt, her movements hurried yet tinged with a lingering gaze fixed on Enid. She couldn't help but marvel at the way Enid's hair fell delicately over her shoulders, the way her baby-blue eyes shined. It was in these stolen moments, amidst the rush and constraints of Hogwarts, that Wednesday found herself overwhelmed by the depth of her feelings for the Hufflepuff. She used to hate the Addams Curse, but now that she herself had experience it... she adored it. She and Enid were bounded, destined to be together by fate and they both couldn't be happier.
The Slytherin loved her tender Hufflepuff girlfriend with a fierceness that often left her breathless. It wasn't just a teenager relationship that won't last; it was a profound connection that had grown quietly but steadily over months of stolen glances, whispered conversations, and secret rendez-vous far from prying eyes. Enid's kindness, her gentle spirit, and the way she effortlessly brightened any room with her presence—these were the qualities that had captured Wednesday's heart from the very beginning. The Curse had chosen her partner well.
As she watched Enid hastily gather her belongings, Wednesday's thoughts swirled with a mixture of longing and admiration. The love she felt towards her blonde was inexplicable. Oh, she couldn't wait to be after school.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ +++
Enid and Wednesday were now walking side by side towards Professor Snape's Potions classroom, their usual closeness replaced by a careful distance. It was a dance they had mastered, the art of concealing their love in plain sight, always wary of prying eyes and wagging tongues. Even though the corridors were empty at this late hour, they didn't want to risk being caught together.
As they approached the dungeon corridor where Snape's classroom was located, Enid's hands started shaking. She didn't regret what happened—didn't regret being late because of it—but she hated when teachers were mad at her. It just reminded her of her horrible parents.
The girls stopped in front of the closed door of the classroom, exchanging a worried glance. Yup, they were indeed late. Enid's heart raced with nervousness as Wednesday raised her hand and knocked firmly on the door. The sound echoed in the quiet corridor, announcing their arrival to Professor Snape.
A few moments passed, the tension palpable as they waited for a response. Enid shifted slightly, her fingers nervously adjusting her clothes to make it less look like someone who had just been fucked, while Wednesday stood beside her with an air of quiet confidence. The Addams girl didn't care about teachers yelling at her or all these things, she was much more dangerous than them. If it were up to her, she would cast Crucio on ever single person who dared annoying her.
The seconds stretched into eternity before the door finally swung open, revealing Professor Severus Snape's imposing figure framed against the dimly lit classroom.
"Miss Addams, Miss Sinclair. Explain yourselves," Snape's voice was crisp with authority, as usual. All eyes were on them, students looking curiously at the girls. Wednesday being late wasn't unusual, but Enid? That was new.
"We, um, lost track of time, Professor," Enid replied, her voice shaking as she nervously played with her fingers.
Snape's gaze flickered between them, his suspicion palpable in the tense silence that followed. Enid shifted nervously, preparing to fabricate a better excuse, but before she could speak, Snape's eyes narrowed on their ties—Wednesday's adorned with the distinctive yellow and black of Hufflepuff, Enid's with the unmistakable dark green and silver of Slytherin.
Shit.
They had reversed their ties.
They were both in such a hurry that they didn't even notice...
The two girls shared a worried look as a ripple of amusement swept through the classroom. Before any of them could come with yet another excuse, Snape's emotionless voice interrupted. "Miss Addams... I didn't know you switched houses. The same goes for you, Miss Sinclair."
Embarrassment tinged Enid's cheeks as the truth of why they were late became clear to their classmates. She exchanged another glance with Wednesday, who managed a subtle grin despite the situation.
"Very well, since you two seem to have coordinated your attire in such a... unique manner today, I'll deduct ten points from both Hufflepuff and Slytherin as a reminder to maintain punctuality and proper dress."
As Snape turned away to resume his lesson, the classroom buzzed with whispers and curious glances, confirming that their secret was now public knowledge. The other students were not dumb—they had realized why they were late and why they reversed their ties.
Great, now everyone knows we're late because we fucked, Enid thought with flustered cheeks as she and Wednesday made their ways towards the only free table in the middle of the classroom. Once they're seated, they quickly exchanged their ties so Enid would have her Hufflepuff one back while Wednesday her Slytherin one—the same tie she used to tie the blonde's hands earlier.
Throughout the rest of the lesson, they sat side by side, their fingers intertwined discreetly as they listened to Snape's instructions.
"It was worth it," Enid smirked at Wednesday, murmuring to her once Snape had his back turned.
"Definitely. We should do this more often."
Ten points were totally worth a nice morning. "Totally."
"I love you, Enid."
"After all this time?"
Wednesday smiled. "Always."
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karniss-bg3 · 1 year ago
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I keep seeing people half-joke about Kar'niss being evil aligned but I just see him as more of a victim than anything, being taken advantage of by the Absolute cult at his most vulnerable. I so badly long for fixit scenarios where he maybe gets knocked out after battle, brought back to camp and taken care of.
Imagine him being tenderly bathed, wrapped in blankets, given cloaks to shield himself from harsh sunlight. Imagine him glowing with new health after some time has passed, his exoskeleton no longer looking as ill-fit and painful, his hair grown back in thick, long, lush tresses like it's meant to be... 😭
I've always considered Kar'niss "evil coded" but I never wanted to label him as evil overall. It stems from drow alignments being mostly evilcentric but D&D is gradually changing to make that less hard lined. One of my favorite personal characters is a drow male who escaped the Underdark after suffering years of abuse. He had to leave his children behind which broke his heart even if traditionally drow are pretty "meh" about their children. He also dyed his hair as his own way to stick it to Lolth societies in general. Drow are the embodiment of nature vs. nurture and I think even if you come from that society you don't have to be beholden to your birth.
Kar'niss stands out from the others at Moonrise because he is obviously very ill. No one has bothered to address his mental state and if anything they take advantage of the fact he's two fries short of a happy meal. It's clearly exploitation in the strictest sense. Yet the players are meant to ignore that and go "Oh well" in a game about addressing and healing through trauma? I don't think so.
I get that Larian likely didn't have time to do more with him and that companions take a lot of work to add in. Still, I'll always preach that Kar'niss got boned the worst compared to most non-companionable NPCs we run into. He was a perfect candidate to be taken in and helped, especially since mental illness isn't a trait any of the other companions have to deal with. I will give Larian the benefit of the doubt while simultaneously remaining sour about how robbed we were. It is what it is.
I like all of your ideas and I agree, Kar'niss deserves love and the chance at redemption. Hell, Astarion is the most popular of the companions and he's done some heinous shit. Sure it was under the influence of a cruel master but the same can be said about Kar'niss. If we can't lend Kar'niss the aid he deserves in-game then we'll do it through writing, art and any other medium we see fit. That drider won't know what hit him by the time we're done, I promise you that.
Thanks for the ask!
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ahgasegotarmy116 · 1 year ago
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Semantic Error | A Jeon Jungkook Series | Chapter 4
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Based off of Semantic Error (bl) by J Soori Summary: Jungkook asks to spent time with y/n as friends Pairing: Techie inexperienced fem!reader x Artist fuck boy Jungkook Word Count: 1.2k~ Warnings: Nothing really, Jungkook is just being annoying and flirty a/n: This is just a tiny bite of the story since I haven't updated it in almost 5 days... oops. I'm spending time at my sister's house for the next few days but I should be able to work on posting more on Monday :) Read from the beginning
Days after my reconciliation with Jungkook I find myself thinking of the possibility of asking him if he would consider working on the game with me again but that would require me to swallow my pride. I'm not really in favor of that option so I decide to wait until he brings it up... if he brings it up.
I could always put up a flyer in the visual arts department asking if anyone would be interested in joining. I'm saying it here and now, I will never crawl back to him, if he sees that I'm still looking for a designer and ends up being interested then he can beg me to be a part of the project again. 
Either way as long as I get a new one by the end of the week then I don't care who I work with. As long as they have a good work ethic and their character design doesn't suck and they can keep to deadlines and... well maybe it might be a bit harder to find someone to fit the bill than I thought it would, knowing that people tend to be very unreliable and unpredictable creatures. I don't want to go through what I went through with Hana cancelling on me again. I guess the only way to really try to find someone is let people know about it.
Calculating all the pros and cons of what the result might be depending on my methods I decide fliers with my contact information would be my best bet. I'll just place it on some sort of bulletin board and hope for the best. If that doesn't work I'll resort to some sort of digital announcement. Opening the program I plan to use I notice that I've received a friend request on sns. Pulling it up I'm greeted with a follow request from Jungkook which I find strange but I accept it nonetheless. Soon after I get a DM from him in my inbox. 
'Hey pretty, I didn't realize you had social media, I guess this means we're friends now that we're following each other :)' I roll my eyes at his pathetic excuse at flirting.
'Last I checked you followed me, I haven't followed you yet' I say putting him in his place.
'Yet ;)' shit I should've just ignored him. 
'Come on y/n just follow me, I promise my account isn't some narcissistic blog or anything, plus next time we see each other I want to take a picture with you and post it! I like posting pictures of my friends!' he says and I can feel his smile through the phone and I roll my eyes at the thought.
'You have to ask for my consent before posting anything' I reply ultimately giving into him since there's no harm done with clicking a single button. 
'Okay I got it. Hey can we meet up in the library tomorrow? I wanted to spend some time with you. I know you end up spending a lot of time in there anyways so I just thought that maybe we could study together, especially since we taking Chinese together' he says waiting for my permission to give him another place to annoy me in.
'What makes you think I would want to study with you?' I say hoping to brush him off.
'y/n I'm your TA , I've see all of the work you've turned in' he teases.
'What's that supposed to mean?' I ask offended at what he's implying.
 'It means that you write like a child. Plus your accent when you speak isn't the best either. I could tutor you if you'd like ;)' he responds, simultaneously offering his help while also insulting me. 
'Pass' I say frustrated with his attitude.
'I'm sorry I didn't mean it, I just like thinking about what you might look like while you're responding to me. You probably have your brows pinched together looking utterly offended and maybe even blushing from embarrassment' 
'I'm not embarrassed!' I retort.
'Why don't you look in the mirror pretty, I've got you blushing without even being there don't I' I get up frustrated, determined to prove him wrong but to my disgust I see my cheeks with a light dusting of pink. 
'Fuck you' I reply indirectly confirming his suspicions.
"Anyway do you want to meet after the class you have after Chinese?' he suggests.
'Aren't you in that class too?' I question annoyed by the memory of him taking my spot for the second time that day.
'No I dropped the class, there was no way I was gonna stay in it and bring down my gpa, I just wanted to annoy you for a bit' he admits.
'Do you have another class after Chinese?' I ask curious as to what he'll do while I'm in class.
'Oh no I'm done for the day after that :)' he sends
'So you're just gonna wait around for me until my hour and a half class ends and then spend even more time studying together? Don't you have something better to do with your life?' I question, confused as to why he would do that. 
'Not really, I just wanna spend some time with you. I wanna be friends remember?' he send with no hesitation.
Is this what friends do for each other? Waste a whole day waiting for your class to finish just to then tutor them afterwards just because you want to 'spend time with them'?
'You Jeon Jungkook are an enigma' I respond not bothering to acknowledge his continued efforts to establish a friendship with me for some odd reason. 
'Thank you? Anyways what's your answer pretty?' he prods, not satisfied with my evasion of his proposition. 
'First off stop calling me that, second I'll be there from 3-6 are you prepared to stay for that long?' I question trying to get him to rescind his invitation. 
'Yep, I'll make sure to clear my schedule, see you then pretty ;)'
I groan audibly at his antics and close out the app. I guess this whole flyer situation can wait until tomorrow since he's given me a splitting headache from all of this. Who knows maybe he'll bring up the game tomorrow so I won't have to make them or swallow my pride, therefore making him come crawling back to me since he seems so eager to spend time with me. 
Taking a deep breath to clear my mind I decide to go to bed early to prepare myself for the mystery this is to be my day tomorrow. My days used to be the same week to week, month to month through out my life with minor changes to my class schedules since I've been in college but ever since Jeon Jungkook decided to walk into my life it has been anything but ordinary.
I'm used to scheduling things down to the very minute and that has worked well for me. It's set me up for success in my schooling but also as an adult. My life is what some people might call boring but I find peace in my calculated existence. Whereas Jeon Jungkook rolls with the punches and lives in chaos. My world is in black and white and his is in color, my life is routine and his life is creative. Why has someone like him taken an interest in me when I'm the exact opposite. Why can't he just leave me alone? I guess the real question I should be asking is why can't I get him out of my head? 
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alsophila-grahami · 5 months ago
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get to know me tag
tagged by @averythepirate thank you <33
do you make your bed?
not as a habit, but i have been doing it more recently
what is your job?
unemployed/student gang
if you could go back to school would you?
probably not. I dropped out of art restoration due to burn out, and then I randomly went into horticulture and it's been such a horrible experience that I don't have it in me to go for another round, especially not with untreated adhd lmao
can you parallel park?
in theory yes, but I actually haven't done it since my driving lessons which was more than 5 years ago
a job you had that would surprise people?
I had a student job at an archeological dig site for exactly one day. we were excavating a graveyard under old church foundations. very interesting but it was in the middle of a heatwave and so hard on my body at the time that I quit after my first day, whoops
do you think aliens are real?
regarding how big the universe is, thinking that we're the only life form in it would be kinda crazy, so yeah
can you drive a manual car?
yeah it's the norm here, I drive a 2002 toyota corolla named after george harrison. beige interior, lovely brown dashboard, he's an old man but I am insanely attached to him <3
what is your guilty pleasure?
I don't feel guilty about any of my pleasures! I guess the closest would come safiya nygaard's videos since they're very consumerist and verging on the side of the internet I don't like to hang around, but they're very entertaining & I still don't really feel guilty about them
tattoos?
so far only 2 flying ducks on my arm that I got matching with my friend when travelling in budapest! i want many more tho, planning to get a nick drake one soon
do you like puzzles?
yeah! as long as they aren't like insanely frustrating. recently played a puzzle game called the last campfire which I really liked
any phobias?
not really
favorite childhood sport?
growing up as a fat kid not many, but I did really like badminton and trained it for two years
first thing you wanted to be growing up?
an illustrator
do you talk to yourself?
not that often but yeah for sure
what movies do you adore?
my top 5 are a new leaf, butch cassidy and the sundance kid, true stories, local hero and perfect days. all comfort movies too
honorable mentions: big eden, the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford, the american friend, mikey and nicky, castaway on the moon
coffee or tea?
I like both but I prefer tea
favorite color?
these :)
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tagging: @acrosstherachelverse, @ssontag, @inrainbowscd, @lovemug, @thedivinemagnet no pressure ofc
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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 2 years ago
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missed opportunities
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This isn’t meant to be a summary or a translation of the Sunset Savanna event!! I just wanted to share my thoughts surrounding the actual tournament and the characters involved in the overall story.
I felt like??? This event was originally meant to be much bigger and much more elaborate than what we got. Is that just me?? Don’t get me wrong, what we ended up with was… okay. It was serviceable. It worked. I just feel like it could have easily been more, but there had to be significant downsizing for some reason.
One thing that kind of confused me was the hyping up of the Catch the Tail tournament versus what we actually got?? (Loved the tourism part though, hearing about local foods, stories, and customs is fun!) I understand the cultural significance of the game, but a tournament arc doesn't work that well if we're only invested in one side; obviously, we'll be rooting for NRC to win because we know them the best and have spent the most time with them, but... They have no significant rival or opposition to go against (which is at least one thing episode 5 had going for it in the form of Vil vs Neige, and even in the Harveston event when the Seven Dwarves reappear). We don't even really have names or faces to think of as their foes. We aren't really given the chance to cheer for anyone else. Like???? NRC's first opponents get no artwork at all, and then we slip through ALL the other matches to the very end. Their last opponents are supposedly Cheka's usual trio of guards--except they're just beastmen mobs A, B, and C. What happened to the lore about "most of the important roles being fulfilled by female warriors"?? You really going to sit here and tell me that the people assigned to guard the person who is essentially the future of your country aren't roles traditionally fulfilled by strong lionesses? All three of the roles just happened be occupied by easily reused male assets? Even the replacement/temporary guards assigned to Cheka were women, and the way the originals were foreshadowed made it seem like they would later be a big deal or the "rivals" NRC had to overcome in their final matchup. They technically were, but they were just your typical run-of-the-mill mobs. (And what a waste, because they comment in the game that the leader of the guards is a HYENA. You could have easily made these three mobs twisted Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed.) They have some investment, being that Kifaji trained them and they are bitter about having won previous years but Leona stood them up for training. It’s basically one big ploy to circumvent Leona not wanting to give the warrior lessons to the winning team, a way to counteract his laziness. It makes sense for the story, but it isn’t very high-stakes.
The first team NRC fought against was even more unremarkable; they cheated just as much as NRC did and didn't even compensate for it with at least recognizable artwork or personalities. In fact, they got NO art at all. If anything, this team should have been the run-of-the-mill mobs from how generically mean they were.
It feels like this event had a handful of red herrings and cheeky lines thrown in to tease at the reveal of significant new characters, only to never follow through on them. I like Kifaji, and it's reasonable that Leona says tourists like the NRC kids can't possibly meet the head of state (Farena/Falena). However, I don't like that a lot surrounding Cheka's guards amounted to nothing?? They even mention they have a member to substitute in that's a retired imperial guard, but that ends up being of no real importance either… (he throws the match because Kalim showed him great kindness earlier by buying him a bus when his original breaks down.) It’s more like a convenience that lets Leona swap in and cinch the win for NRC even though he’s not able to formally compete). It's in-character for Leona to play dirty but it’s still so... anticlimactic????? Especially since the competition is supposedly for the best warriors to prove their wits and might.
Another missed opportunity is that??? The competition is supposedly open to anyone, even those from outside the Sunset Savanna. That may very well be just a writing loophole for Leona to easily shoehorn Kalim/Jack, Vil, and Lilia in as competitors, but there's so much more you could do with that idea!
Maybe there are other outsiders come to fight for the title. Maybe Rook shows up as a competitor to spook them if the devs don't want to design that many actual "rivals" with unique designs or new faces. Maybe there are your "non-traditional" fighters as well, people that are very young (just for the lols, imagine a kid Cheka's size kicking butt, using their small size and speed to their advantage) or very old (Rafiki weaponizing his wisdom and experience in combat, idk) but are still skilled enough in their own right to participate. Maybe show us more types of beastmen and how they use their specific animal’s physical traits to their advantage! I don't know how likely it is for merfolk or fae to join (since those races seem like recluses compared to beastmen and humans and merpeople don't do well in arid climates), but it would have been cool to see others throw their hats into the ring!
There were probably just limitations in place due to this being a hometown event…? It wouldn't be fair for the others to only feature one new character while this one features a TON of them, nor would it be fair for this hometown even to be significantly longer or more detailed than the others. Basically only the Halloween events are super extensive. In which case, I get it. I still would have really liked to see this concept more fleshed out and fully realized though!
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s10127470 · 2 months ago
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What If One Piece had an LA-based Dub? (Part 1)
So recently, I’ve been talking with some friends on Discord about One Piece, specifically about its’ English dubs.
And essentially, we feel like that One Piece hasn't really gotten the best treatment when it comes to English dubs.
Like, we already know the travesty that was 4Kids.
But this also applies to their long-standing and current dubbers, Funimation.
This is probably a controversial opinion, but I don't think they were the best choice to dub One Piece.
Like, yes, they are of much higher quality when compared to 4Kids.
But even then….
For starters, I feel like there's a lot of miscasting here. Even among the main cast.
Probably the most obvious being in the case of Christopher Sabat as Zoro.
He just makes him sound way too old. He's suppose to be a young man.
I can't be the only one who thinks that it sounds too much like Piccolo.
And finally, I feel like Funimation's dubbing is a bit too…..straightforward (if that makes sense).
After rewatching the 4Kids dub, I've grown a sense of appreciation for it.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still not that good.
But I feel like there’s some elements that they do better than Funimation.
In contrast to the Funimation dub, a lot of the performances have a little more life and energy to them.
Even if they're not all that good…..
One thing I really like is that many of the characters have accents, which just feels right given how the whole premise of the series is about traveling the world..
This is made even better when you get remember the Netflix adaptation, which gave a lot of characters accents, including the main ones!
Plus, 4Kids is just much better at handling the frequent comedic and silly moments.
Hell, why do you think this scene blew up in popularity?
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Plus, they did a slightly better job at translating some scenes to English and not having them come off as a direct, one-to-one translation.
It's a little hard to explain, but essentially they keep what was said in the original Japanese version and kinda give their own flair to it.
But with this discussion, being the idea man that I am, it gave me the idea of an alternate timeline.
One where One Piece wasn’t picked up by 4Kids or Funimation.
But instead, it was picked up by Viz Media, who would commission an English dub out of the voice acting capital of the world: Los Angeles, California!
I feel like this alternate timeline would not only give us a much better dub than the other two, especially 4Kids.
But also do the franchise a LOT of favors....
If you know One Piece, you'd known that the series had a hard time catching up in popularity in the West.
It was 2000s. The decade was all about making everything cool, hip and edgy.
And anime was one of the prime contributors to this trend.
Plus during that time, a lot of anime fans had this stigma against Western animation, seeing it as nothing but kiddy shit.
These people are the one of the reasons why we have crap like this.....
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And since One Piece is famous for having an incredibly cartoonish art-style and world, it did not do it any favors.
Made even worse with the 4Kids dub, which infamously kidified the anime to absolute HELL.
However, I feel this dub would counteract that.
The dub itself would premiere on June 2nd, 2003 on Cartoon Network as part of Toonami.
And although the would probably have some censorship, it would be NOWHERE near the level of 4Kids.
Plus, from what I've seen, anime that aired on Toonami was able to get away with a lot more explicit content due to it's clear aiming at older audiences.
For the East Blue Saga, the dub would air new episodes every week, Monday through Friday.
That's what we're gonna be covering for this part.
As we go through each arc, I'll be sharing my voice choices for the major characters in each of them.
So without further ado, let's set sail!
Romance Dawn (June 2nd-June 4th, 2003):
Starting off this showcase we have our main star the future king of the pirates himself, Monkey D. Luffy!
When thinking of a voice for Luffy, I wanted him to still be voiced by a female.
And one of the major female VAs, I've come to a tie on who would be good voice for Luffy.
And that tie is between Colleen O'Shaughnessy and Kari Wahlgren.
Between the two of them, I think their voices both perfectly fit the type of voice Luffy would have.
Pretty goofy and silly while still being able to do the more serious and emotional moments well.
And while you can still tell they're a woman, they're still able to convincingly sound like a boy.
I think the coolest thing about this choice would be that in the case of Kari, this would be one of her earliest voice acting roles, as she entered the realm of voicework in the prior year of 2002.
And about a year into her career, she would find herself becoming the official English voice of one of the most famous and revered protagonists in anime/manga history!
Next we come to Koby, who would be voiced by Pamela Adlon.
Oh yeah, let’s talk about that real quick.
In contrast to other anime dubs, this one would primarily feature voice actors typically found in Western animation.
I feel like this would make One Piece stand among the crowd, and it kinda fits since the main character himself does draw heavy influence from the Golden Age of Western Animation.
As for why I choose Pamela, especially since Koby pre-Marines was shown to have a whiny sounding voice, was because I was coming at this with the knowledge of his post-Marines look.
I’m not a fan of how the Funimation Dub gave him a new voice after we were reintroduced to him, whereas the original Japanese version kept his voice actress.
So I wanted to do the same thing they did.
I feel that Pamela was the best option.
She’s known for having a noticeably deeper and hoarse voice when compared to most female VAs.
Hence she’s famous for voicing a lot of male characters, particularly boys.
As for her performance as pre-Marine Koby, it would be pretty similar to her performance as Otto Osworth from Time Squad….which is funnily enough, a Cartoon Network show.
Now we come to Alvida, who would be voiced by Wendee Lee.
And yes, she would voice both forms of her.
Her original fat form, and current slim form.
Now we've come to the second member of the Straw Hats, Roronoa Zoro!
He would be (at least for now) voiced by Ben Diskin.
His performance would be sound like a slightly more serious version of, and I can't believe I'm actually referencing this guy, Ban from The Seven Deadly Sins.
One cool thing about Ben voicing Zoro would be that he would bring a lot of authenticity to the role, since he would've been around Zoro's age at the time of dub's release (20-21 years old).
Also, this would really funny to think about since around this time, Ben was voicing Numbuh 1 and 2 on Codename: Kids Next Door, another Cartoon Network show.
Rika would be voiced by Kath Soucie, essentially sounding like a slightly older Lil Deville from Rugrats.
Helmeppo would be voiced by Jeff Bennett, who would definitely sound like the recent gay shipping icon as of late, Bradley Uppercrust III.
Like, you can't tell me that his voice wouldn't fit Helmeppo like a glove.
And in just you don't believe me, here are some clips to prove my point.
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Next we come to his father, Axe Hand Morgan, who would be voiced by Jim Cummings.
And for his role, Jim would definitely use his serious voice that he uses with characters such as Mister Moloch in Project G.e.e.K.e.R. and Hernán Cortés in The Road to El Dorado.
Now to come to Red-Haired Shanks, who would be voiced by Steve Blum doing a Cockney accent.
Yeah, he's basically gonna sound like a swashbuckling Spike Spiegel.
Which actually sounds pretty cool....
As for the rest of the main Red-Haired Pirates.
Benn Beckman would be voiced by Wally Wingert.
Lucky Roux would be voiced by Bill Fagerbakke.
And Yasopp would be voiced by James Arnold Taylor.
And finally, we have Higuma, who would be voiced by Rob Paulsen.
Orange Town (June 5th-June 10th, 2003):
First start off come to the third member of the Straw Hats, Nami.
Nami would be voiced by Kate Higgins.
Who weirdly enough, when it comes to LA voice fan-casting for One Piece, she's always the one to get picked for Nami.
And I can totally see why.
She would definitely fit the character.
Next we come to the big bad of the arc himself, Buggy the Clown.
Originally, I was gonna have Mark Hamill voice him.
But I figured that would've been too easy and too obvious.
So instead, I decided to choose Steve Blum as the voice of the character.
His performance would be pretty reminiscent to that of The Green Goblin in The Spectacular Spider-Man, but a little more silly sounding.
Even his laugh would be pretty similar to Gobby's.
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Plus, Buggy's casting choice is pretty funny to think about since as I mentioned earlier, Steve would also be voicing Shanks.
Which would make Buggy's pure adulterated hatred for him even funnier.
As for his main crew members.
Mohji would be voiced by Liam O'Brien, essentially using the same voice he used for Zazz in Sonic Lost World.
Cabaji would be voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, using an Eastern European accent.
And Ritchie would have his vocals provided by Frank Walker.
As for the one notable characters of this arc.
Chouchou would have his vocals provided by Dee Bradley Baker.
And Boodle would be voiced by Tom Kane.
Who was also voicing Professor Utonium on The Powerpuff Girls around this time.
Syrup Village (June 11th-June 24th, 2003):
First we have the fourth member of the Straw Hats, Usopp.
Just like with Luffy, I have two VAs in mind that could voice the God himself.
James Arnold Taylor and Jason Marsden.
Both of them would strike that perfect balance of being able to sound silly while knowing when to take it seriously.
Also, if JAT was voicing Usopp, he would essentially sound like a younger version of his own dad.
Kaya would be voiced by Tara Strong.
The Usopp Pirates would be voiced by Grey Griffin (Ninjin), Colleen O'Shaughnessy (Pilman), and Nancy Cartwright (Tamanegi) respectively.
Jeff Bennett would also be voicing Merry.
Dee Bradley Baker would also be voicing the big bad of the arc, Kuro.
Jango would be voiced by Phil LaMarr, who would doing a what could be best described as a knock-off Michael Jackson impression.
Which, let's be real, would fit the character perfectly.
Phil would also be pulling double duty as Siam, with the other half of the Nyaban Brothers, Butchie, being voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.
And finally, we have Gaimon, who would be voiced by Charlie Adler.
Baratie (June 25th-July 10th, 2003):
Starting this off we have Kuina, who would be voiced by Grey Griffin.
Shimotsuki Koushirou would be voiced by Phil LaMarr, essentially using the same voice he uses for Samurai Jack.
Now we come to Johnny and Yosaku.
Johnny would be voiced by Nolan North, while Yosaku would be voiced by Mikey Kelley.
So essentially we have Raphael and Michaelangelo tagging along with the Straw Hats.
Finally, we've come to the fifth member of the Straw Hats (and the last one as of right now), Sanji.
Sanji would be voiced by Josh Keaton.
And just like with Ben as Zoro, Josh would bring a lot of authenticity to his performance (given that he would've been 23-24 at the time)
Also, we all know how Zoro and Sanji are rivals.
This would be funny to think about since this wouldn't be last time Ben and Josh would voice a duo of rivals.
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Zeff would be voiced by Clancy Brown, essentially sounding like a slightly more serious Brooklyn version of Mr. Krabs.
We would also have John DiMaggio playing double duty as both Don Krieg and Fullbody.
Ghin would be voiced by Crispin Freeman.
Patty and Carne would be voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson and Tom Kenny respectively.
Pearl would be voiced by Jess Harnell.
And Hawk-Eye Mihawk would be voiced Lex Lang, doing a French accent.
Arlong Park (July 11th-July 31st, 2003):
Starting this off, we have Arlong himself, who would be voiced by Fred Tatasciore, which will be really funny to think about once we get to you-know-who.
As for the rest of main crew.
Kuroobi would be voiced by Doug Erholtz.
Hatchan would be voiced by Bill Fagerbakke.
And Chew would be voiced by Jeff Bennett
Nojiko would be voiced by Michelle Ruff.
Genzo would be voiced by Cam Clarke.
Bellemere would be voiced by Vanessa Marshall.
Which would be really weird to think about since she was on Cartoon Network's latest original series at the time, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, voicing this guy....
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Well I'm pretty sure I just ruined Bellemere's death for most of you now since it's hard not her with the voice of Irwin now......
Anyway, Nezmui would be voiced by Tony Oliver, essentially sounding like an evil version of Lupin III.
Or how he was in the original manga....
And Moomo would have his vocals provided by Frank Welker.
Buggy's Adventure (August 1st-4th, 2003):
I don't really have anything to say for this one except that it will be part of the dub.
Roguetown (August 5th-12th, 2003):
Starting this off we have Smoker, who would be voiced by James Arnold Taylor, essentially sounding pretty similar to Walker from Danny Phantom, but without the Southern accent.
Next we have Tashigi, who would voiced by Karen Strassman.
Daddy the Father would be voiced by Jeff Bennett.
Five-Alarm Carmen would be voiced by Candi Milo.
And finally, we have Dragon, who would be voiced by Dave Wittenberg.
Well, that's all I have for now.
It's not the most detailed post I've made, but I thought it was fun to do.
Plus, I always like to showcase by knowledge of voice actors.
Which speaking of, I'm not sure how this post will do since I'm not sure how knowledgeable of voice actors any of the potential viewers are.
But hey, I'll just have to wait and find out.
Anyway, let me know what you think about this alternate timeline I created.
And for the two choices I had for Luffy and Usopp, who do you think would be the best choice for them?
And finally, I really hope @mysticalchildsuit actually likes this post since the last time I made a post about One Piece....they were.....
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