#I also have complicated feelings on her being alive but that's a separate post

[unicornofthesun13]

More nuanced spoiler thoughts on Darius and Brooklynn:

As someone who was/is a major Dinostar shipper, I was obviously in shock after the show, especially after episode eight. However, I'm not sure I actually want them to get together romantically

Neither of them are in the best place for that type of relationship. Brooklynn clearly has a one-track mind and whether she's with Kenji or Darius isn't going to change that. She's so focused on whatever mission she's dealing with that she's willing to fake her own death. And Darius is only just getting over his grief, only just truly accepting she's 'dead'

When she comes back, and it's revealed that she's been alive this whole time, it isn't going to be pretty. There are going to be hurt feelings on all sides and I think it's best to explore that first. Brooklynn is going to be dealing with a lot of trauma, and her choosing to stay dead, whatever her reasoning, gave Darius (and the rest of the campers) a lot of trauma themselves. That can't just be brushed past. There need to be consequences.

So if Dinostar does happen it needs to be after a lot of talking and reconciliation.

But I love how they weren't afraid to make it messy and have these complicated feelings. I love how technically it's a love triangle but with none of the usual bs. I am happy that Brooklynn didn't feel the same. Based on what we know about her mental state at the time, that would have been way out of character. She's so far down the rabbit hole, that it's going to take a lot to snap her out of it, and get her to care about anything else.

Whether they make Dinostar platonic or romantic, I'm glad their dynamic and relationship are being focused on. I'm looking forward to season two and their messy messy messy reunion. I want them to fight and I want them to love each other at the end of it anyway.

[casscainmainly]

Just asking for fun cuz I think you being really interesting points abt so many of the bats to the table: who do you think should be Batman if 1) Bruce Died, 2) Bruce voluntarily steps down (old age / debilitating injury) or any other scenarios you would like to explore.

It's an age old question, it's fun to see who thinks what and what thoughts they bring to the table :)

Such a great question!! Though honestly I'm not sure I have any original or good thoughts haha. For me the Batman successor should be one of two people: Cassandra Cain (I am a Cass blog) or Dick Grayson.

For Cass the reason is obvious. So many people have written about how Batman is the culmination of her arc about agency and controlling her destiny - for a girl who was raised to be nothing, to be a tool for other people, becoming the centre of the narrative is an incredibly poignant and wonderful conclusion. She wants to be Batman, she has the ability to be Batman, she believes in Batman; she is as clear a successor as you could get.

Dick is more debatable. His feelings on being Batman have always been tangled up in his frustrations with Bruce, in a way Cass (who is more able, albeit imperfectly, to separate the man from the symbol) doesn't deal with. So I think there's some panels of him saying he doesn't want to be Batman, doesn't like doing it, etc.

However, in my mind he does like being Batman, he just doesn't like being Bruce's version of Batman. He comes to this conclusion in Gates of Gotham, and the back parts of Batman and Robin (2009) is basically him having fun once Bruce is alive. It was Bruce's death that made things difficult, not the mantle itself. Where Cass can be Batman now, Dick can elevate the mantle; and it's no secret that Bruce himself views Dick as his clear successor.

I honestly think both should wield the mantle. I love the idea of Cass being Gotham's Batman while Dick is the Justice League/wider world's Batman. This plays to their strengths, and solidifies their arcs: Cass finds a permanent home and a place she loves that loves her back, and Dick gets to travel again, using his leadership and interpersonal skills to save people.

In the case of Bruce's retirement, this would be the perfect set-up. For his death, though, I think it would be complicated by both Dick and Cass' grief. Look at the Batman Reborn era: the Dick and Cass parallels were actually insane. They were both told not to wield the Bat mantle - Dick by Bruce's message, and Cass by Bruce asking her to give Batgirl to Steph. This hurt them immensely, but they tried to follow Bruce's orders. The only difference was that Tim (and Jason) forced Dick's hand into disobeying Bruce, while Cass was already gone.

In an ideal world, Tim should've been asking them both to take up the mantle. His meeting with Cass in HK should've kickstarted her journey home, and she would've arrived back for angsty talks with Dick about who the Bat symbol belongs to or something. This basically happens in Gates of Gotham: Cass' conversation with Dick in the car is about not letting Gotham (and, I would argue, Bruce) dictate who they can or cannot be. They both want the mantle, and this was an acknowledgment that they both deserved it, too.

So, long story short, Cass and Dick are my picks for Batman successor. Them simultaneously being Batman would be so fun too, given their complicated relationship. They would be keeping score of who's the better Bat, and Cass would probably lob Dick out a window again, but they'd also have a shared understanding and deep compassion for each other's circumstances and desires. Curious to hear other people's thoughts!

(Also Duke Thomas should be their Robin but that's a post for another day).

[that-left-turn]

I got a couple of asks on billing, but as I started writing this post, I realized it'll be longer than a year of hunger, so I have to break it up into separate points/posts.

“Melissa is fine with being second billed after Norman. Suggesting she's not is to say that she's weak.”

Melissa is anything but weak, but she's still subject to the same sexism/misogyny and ageism as other women. She works in a male dominated industry and the sci-fi/fantasy & horror space in particular is difficult for women. There aren't a lot of allies. If you work within that niche, it's very easy to start believing the things you're told (directly or indirectly) about your own worth and talents.

Melissa is bombarded—has been since TWD first gained traction—with the messaging that Norman is the star. He's the one people love, the one the fans show up for. The one people travel for hours to catch a glimpse of on set. She's lucky to be a part of the production, especially since she has social anxiety and the studio is so nice to be this accommodating to her needs. She's not able to promote in the way Norman does, so who is she to expect fair and equal treatment for the work she does put into the storytelling and the acting?

Being second billed in the title credits means that Melissa is less than Norman to the show. Less money, less influence on story direction, less authority on the set. She is the supporting lead, not the star. Even the title tells the audience and anyone working on the show that.

Melissa puts effort into crafting Carol's arc. The things she recently mentioned at Tribeca, about going out to mingle among people to observe their behavior? That's research on the actor's part and a good actor does a lot more than memorize lines. That's part of what I mentioned in a previous post about how 'creatives' (I hate that studio invented word 🙄) put in a lot of unpaid hours of work.

Why should she settle for playing second fiddle to the show's "real star," when she invests at least as many hours of prep into the show as he does, when she carries the bulk of the show's emotional arc and to judge by the coverage of the second season, is responsible for the surge of attention? Isn't she owed equal recognition despite not having a penis or being vocal about her mistreatment?

A woman can't say the things Norman or JDM do. You get labeled 'difficult to work with,' a diva or a bitch. Lauren Cohan's fight with AMC over the pay gap was well-publicized and maybe the GA doesn't understand why she came back to the franchise? I believe there's a comment out there by Kim Dickens about returning, where she basically says that as an actor, you can't afford to bear grudges. What she doesn't say, is that her comment pertains to female actors (and most POC).

As a woman in the industry, you bite your tongue often. You smile when you don't feel like it and you say complimentary things about people you despise simply to be able to keep working. You don't want to be "overreacting," or "too emotional" or "too sensitive" when your 'competition' (aka your coworkers) step all over you, or "make a fuss." You get fired or blacklisted for less than what the TWDU men aren't shy of saying in public.

It's also complicated for Melissa because she likes Norman. He's her friend. She doesn't want to damage their relationship by complaining to the bosses (who may have a 'buddy' relationship with her costar) and like I said above, Melissa believes he is the star of the show. Why wouldn't she? She's been inundated with subliminal messaging for over a decade, along with the usual studio behavior to make sure women stay in line and know their place. That place is always below/after the men.

None of that makes Melissa weak. Quite the contrary. She's kept Carol alive and more than relevant, despite repeatedly being sidelined, which takes a savvy woman. Someone who's talented and smart.

[i-like-eyes]

Sort of follow up to the previous Sage and Kit comic

Version with my chicken scratch handwriting and further thoughts on both comics below the cut

While I think my own lettering has more of a punch than just typing it out, ultimately what’s important is that people can read the thing and I don’t have the most steady arms.

I really wanted to show off the thumbnails for these:

I mostly posted these because they look silly, but also you might notice a few differences for the longer comic. Mainly that I changed the composition of Starline’s two panels to better contrast his first and last meeting with Eggman, and Surge had a panel dedicated to more about her removed for the sake of pacing.

I’ve been very happy to see how people have reacted to the first comic! There have been so many different takeaways for it, which is exactly what I wanted! And also a lot of variants of "OOOOOO" which is a joy. It’s very much from Sage’s point of view, and trying to capture her mindset was tricky.

I originally had a different direction in mind; in it Sage was more dismissive of Kit, that she thought that she was somehow better than him. But Sage never really questions the nature of her relation to Eggman, and I realized that as an AI designed to serve she would simply see Kit as fulfilling his function. The point of the comic was to just compare and contrast the two, so I left it more open ended as too how exactly she feels about Kit.

This little comic blurb is a sort of amalgamation of two separate ideas for Sage and Kit. Sage’s being that as the only kid in the entirety of the Eggpire she doesn’t really have anyone around her age to hang out with. I never decided on a direction for that one, so I revisited the idea here.

Kit was more complicated; I thought if he was ever to begin the healing process, he'd have to learn that someone else out there genuinely cares about him. That he doesn't exist for someone else, that he doesn't need to fulfill a need, someone can care for you just because. I'd like to explore this with Tails, that long after the events of Overpowered he wonders if they are really okay and goes just to see if they are alive. I felt that Tails' opinion on the whole thing was underdeveloped, due to a much heavier focus on the new kids and challenging the main character's worldview. But it's a shame that Tails, while clearly a kind kid who really wanted the best for Kit and Surge, only gave Kit his attention when Kit was a threat that needed to be taken care of. Their first meeting was really good, it's left up to interpretation if Tails was just lowering Kit's guard or actually complimenting him, or both! (I like to think both) But afterwards they didn't have another aha moment because there was so much stuff going on. This is probably a consequence of having both a lot of things happening at once and also repeating the same story beat of big fight then split up three times over the course of the arc. Tails needs to meet Kit in a context that isn't "let's wait for Sonic to fix it". I think that the brief time they had Kit at the Restoration's place could of been the moment to show Tails reaching out in a calmer context. Ofc Kit probably wouldn't care because his programming kicked in and he was laser-focused on Sonic, but point is I wish we had more of Miles' take on the whole thing. Thankfully Sage could make a better first impression, though like Tails with Sonic she would have to convince Kit she isn't doing this for Eggman.

So many directions to take these guys and so little time....

[joyful-witch]

Besties I strongly dislike Scott Cawthon but the fnaf movie was good and I’m annoyed that it was good. Like. The joy I felt watching the movie (and also cried like twice cus it hit way too close to home as an older sibling) is unparalleled. But also. Scott Cawthon is an awful person and supports people who want me dead? And also doesn’t believe women should have the right to basic medical care? And. My feelings are so conflicting rn. I want to separate my love for the series from Scott Cawthon. But if I did that I wouldn’t be any better than HP fans.

I think it’s okay to have these complicated feelings and talk about them. I’m still trying to figure it out myself?

I guess the big difference between JKR and Scott is that he avoids talking about his opinions and the only reason we know these things is due to his voting record and who he gives money to (which btw I don’t believe donating to lgbt charities makes up for voting for the party that wants to commit genocide against us. It’s still shitty. Like yay he’s donating to the Trevor project but also. Damn voting for these people that want us to not have rights and don’t want us to be alive really hurts).

He is still actively harming the community. Even if he isn’t outwardly spewing hateful rhetoric (unless he’s gotten worse. Or unless his opinions have rapidly changed over the past couple of years. If so please feel free to correct me, just not without sources).

But his series has basically transcended his control. It’s not controlled by him. It’s controlled by the fans. Half the shit that’s canon now wouldn’t be canon without the fans and it’s this big collaborative effort and that’s what’s so beautiful about it. Unlike jkr whose views and specifically racism are baked into her properties.

But he still gets money from it.

And he could be using that money to support some really awful people.

Idk. It’s complicated.

I don’t like or support Scott Cawthon. But I love fnaf. I grew up with it. I love the community. And it really influenced my love for horror media. And gods this movie was great. I had such a good time watching it.

I don’t know what point I’m trying to get at.

I guess I’m just sorta venting.

It sucks loving something when it’s creator who actively gains money from it supports some truly awful people.

I want to be able to put my feelings aside so I can joyfully rant about this movie without mentioning “gosh I wish Scott wasn’t involved” but that obviously isn’t the case.

I don’t expect any response to this post. Im just sorta putting my feelings out there into the void. And if someone relates I hope they know they aren’t alone.

And if you’re gonna say something hateful or something that outwardly supports conservatives I will gladly block you. There is no excusing the active genocide being perpetrated by the Republican Party against the queer community, but more specifically trans people. And if you support that then you can gladly get the fuck off my page. I will not tolerate bigotry.

Also don’t harass anyone mentioned in this post. I really don’t want their fans to harass me and don’t want them to have a reason to. I’m not very popular but last time I posted about Scott I got a bunch of death threats from a bunch of middle aged white men and trolling teenagers. And I do not have the mental capacity to deal with that right now. I’m dealing with a nasty bout of Covid and a nicely sized second degree burn from a cooking accident on top of my chronic illness I don’t need to be harassed.

K thanks bye

[rachelsfav-queer]

AAAAAA SHIT!!!!

Okayyyyyyyy! I'm feeling angsty for some reason (probably cause I'm an idiot and keep listening to sad music) so I'm taking a break from my actual writing to get this out. I knew I couldn't not write it either cause it's just too good, but ITS SO HEARTBREAKING!!!!

I'm really sorry about this

(Note: I started this oneshot before I got the news last night, so obviously I'm in a much better mood lol)

It hadn't been long after Enid had passed that it started. Yoko was also gone, which left Wednesday alone, truly alone, for the first time in decades. The three of them had all grown into old age, even Yoko, who had found a spell to allow her to age with her wives, two people she could not stand to outlive.

And now, it's only Wednesday left, her genes allowing her a naturally longer lifespan. Well, at least, as long as the ones who held her heart lived. But now, she can feel her age catching up to her in the most brutal ways. Her mind, body, and soul are all withering quickly and without mercy.

Enid’s funeral was only two weeks after her passing, but by then, Wednesday was already in a wheelchair, barely capable of holding herself up even in the chair. It broke Bianca’s heart, the sight of her best friend suffering so deeply that it reflected completely on her physical body. And the pain wasn’t only present in her physical condition, but also emotionally. Nobody had seen Wednesday so utterly desolate in years. It was as if every last bit of her will to live had been torn from her.

And really, it was.

Everyone knew that when an Addams falls in love, they love with everything they have, all of their soul is dedicated to their chosen. It's how they're built, and it has its ups and downs. One of the worst cons is showing itself clear in Wednesday now.

She is degrading, every part of her. An Addams is truly nothing without the ones they love. It gets so bad that only a month after Enid's death, Wednesday is entirely reliant on others to stay alive and care for herself. Bianca does her best, but is ultimately helpless on her own, needing help from other friends and nurses. Especially because Wednesday simply doesn't speak anymore. The only sounds she makes are the tiniest grunts, and that's only ever in response to little Raven, who still speaks to her every day.

Little Raven, oh poor little Raven. She made a promise long ago to always be there for her best friend, and she is staying true to that promise. By now, she's long since figured out all the abilities she has as a spirit possessing a physical object. One of those abilities is to affect living beings around her, at least a bit. She uses this to ensure no one tries to separate her from Wednesday, nobody even gets the idea to do so with her influence. And so, the haunted plushie that has always remained by Wednesday's side throughout the entire time they've known each other stays posted right at Wednesday's side, sitting atop the bedside table.

One day, she's not sure why, but little Raven decides to finally tell Wednesday her story. It all starts with a soft chuckle, "You know, I used to know someone who was just like you, Wednesday. She was... everything." And little Raven tells the seer everything. From the moment she met her little sister, to the moment she finally met her. It was long and complicated, but somehow, little Raven knew the entire time that the seer was listening.

Eventually, little Raven finished. It was then that something beautiful happened. Wednesday, for the first time in so long, spoke. "Raffi," the seer's voice was weak as she spoke the name the spirit hadn't heard in a century, the name she had forgotten, but she heard it so clearly, and it shocked her thoroughly. "You're curious. I saw this, in a vision, when I first held you. A Boot-strap paradox, quite exhausting. You have... served me well, old friend. You protected me, you cared for me, and you have shown me all the love you had to give. Furthermore, you have given me comfort in the darkest of times, and it is my turn to return that comfort. You've done well, Raffi. But... my time here on this mortal plane is come to a close, and so is yours. You have no need to hold yourself here anymore, so please, forgive yourself. It's time to let go. As Enid and Yoko are waiting for me, so is Lovette waiting for you. It's time we meet them again. I love you, little Raven."

"We- Wednesday... Thank you. It has been such an honor, being your friend. I love you too, Wednesday. Good night."

And so, in that lonely old mansion, two spirits, two best friends, leave together onto their final adventure. When Bianca enters the room again and sees her friend has passed, she oddly feels at peace. As if some huge weight has been lifted from the very walls of the house itself. And Bianca sees the raven plushie, and she can't quite describe it for a while, the stuffed animal almost seems to be missing something. But eventually, she realizes, and she smiles, “So long, little Raven. It was nice to meet you. Goodbye Wednesday, you finally got that splash of color you needed.” With that, the siren sets the plushie atop Wednesday’s chest and leaves a final kiss on the seer’s forehead, leaving her to finally rest.

End <3

(Little Raven + her sister’s name reveal???)

(This is what I had on repeat while finishing this lol)

[rou-luxe]

Ikevil OC: Elsie Juniper

The Juniper Tree fairytale is very violent. If you search it up, do so with caution.

I drew this a while ago but I forgot about it 💀

more under the cut

Elsie Juniper. Quiet and deadly. If she snaps, no one is making it out alive.

Birthday: May 14th (Taurus)* Height: 160 cm Affiliation: Theater, Crown (temporary) Curse: The Juniper Tree: Marlinchen *not intended to be recently, that's just a coincidence

"My mother she killed me, My father he ate me, My sister, little Marlinchen, Gathered together all my bones, Tied them in a silken handkerchief, Laid them beneath the juniper-tree, Kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I!"

In "The Juniper Tree", Marlinchen's tears assist in bringing her brother back to life. Following the tale, her tears provide physical comfort to someone for a set amount of time, but like numbing rather than anesthesia. She tends to use it more on people suffering a fatal wound, to let them pass in peace. Elsie is rather sensitive and prone to crying... in conjunction with her ability, her ability tends to be rather inconvenient for herself...

She hates the stench of blood and flesh. However, her ability does come in handy when helping out Roger (he tends to accidentally cause more damage to the person when this happens because he doesn't know when he's going too far) Roger sometimes uses the tears as numbing.  Then the members have to drag her away from Roger lest he get turned-

She works as a costume designer for the theater where Liam works at. Occasionally she writes her own plays. Sometimes she'll go to the bar and write with quill and pen for hours on end...

Relationships (read: delusion / headcanons)

oh lovely sylvatica... yk how Alfons loves watching Liam at plays? Elsie likes to watch front row seat to see all her hard work and Liam usually has them sitting next to each other* Elsie can't take much more flirting. Save her. Please. + their relationship is a complicated one. might write sometime.

Ah, yes. Coworkers and great friends. Elsie loves designing new outfits for Liam ❤️ He's really good at comforting her and Elsie repays him any way she can. Always the small things. She probably loves messing with his hair.

Elsie is painfully honest. Harrison teases her a lot about how obvious it is whenever she lies. He doesn't even need to use his ability. They both love sweets, though, and Harrison loves treating Elsie to the bakery. (BIG BROTHER FIGURE SPOTTED!!)

William and her are on okay terms. Elsie respects him a lot. wtf what else do I say (<- just finished William route but is still confused)

Elsie feels really comfortable around Elbert. They can have silent moments in peace, and she likes taking care of him, whether it's making sure his hair is brushed or making him tea. He is ADORABLE.

Victor has too much energy for her, but she sometimes helps him take care of Crown. She loves messing with Victor's hair also...

Other than to study her ability, Elsie and Roger don't interact often...

She's constantly under the impression that Jude is really scary. She once bumped into him and wouldn't stop apologizing

*I CAN SEE LIAM BEING A MATCHMAKER SO BADDD THIS HEADCANON LIVES IN MY BRAIN I NEED TO SEE MORE LIAM AND ALFONS RELATIONSHIP PLEASE CYBIRD

In the Victorian era, if a woman was single, it was commonplace for a woman to be escorted by an older male servant (like a butler) or an older family member. If she was NOT single, the woman would typically be escorted by her lover. Alfons takes advantage of this fact

Of course, Liam wants Elsie to be safe, so he asks Alfons to sit next to her. Alfons is already there, anyway. He can trust his coworker enough in case anything goes wrong... right? 😇

(she has her own backstory with explanations of certain likes / dislikes, but I'm not revealing it. maybe in a separate post. I don't want to traumatize anyone just looking at this)

watch me forget she exists

"...What do you want from me?"

[floatinginzerogravity]

I did an Analysis of the Murder Drones Pilot for my friends and am deciding to post it: Pt.1

Okie, It's Murder Drones explanation time

okay, first of all, I've waited LITERAL MONTHS to do this, and WILL be pointing out every tiny detail, and would very much love to do this with every episode. (I am happy stimming so much right now)

If you don't feel like reading all this, I can provide a condensed version. I will just send a wall of text, I will fill it with my theories and goofy bg details, I will send excessive screenshots of the characters, and I will not feel shame. Be warned

so, The year is 3000 something, and humanity has been colonizing other planets, using half-sentient worker drone robots to mine them. Humanity then blows up the planet by accident (oops)

Just for clarity, this is not earth, it's a completely separate planet around 70 light years away called Copper 9 (Side note, it's technically impossible for a moon to have rings. oops, the show is scientifically inaccurate, it's ruined now/j) Anyway, the core collapse killed all humans and turned the atmosphere into a "toxic death storm" (description lovingly borrowed from N) The Worker drones, now free from human control, discovered their sentience. They build a society based on the human one before it, with families, schools, and all the other stuff

The Robot Sentience side tangent: Liam Vickers, show creator, when asked about the Drone's sentience- "It was kind of a basic, limited version... the disaster that happened on their planet that kind of left them kind of stranded, kind of played into their adaptive AI abilities.... You need a sort of intelligence to not fall over... it expands to keeping them alive in various circumstances" Basically, they were programmed to do certain tasks, and when humanity was wiped out, their goals changed and they were given the space to find their own sentience. Sentience can also occur if they're in an environment that promotes sentience or if their damaged/corrupted in some way

JCJenson (in Spaaaaccce) (aka the company that created the drones and runs colonization. The name of the company is also, apparently, based on a cleaning company. BCBoston or something) Decides they don't like sentient AI running around and sends Disassembly Drones to Copper 9 to wipe them out

(Text: "CALCULATING, MOST PROBABLE DEITY TO PRAY TO)

The implication here is that the blue guy threw his child when the attacks started. (I think the fandom named him Bob or something similar) This is the first example of the A+ parenting of Murder Drones characters.

V's just perched on a lampost lol. Very Creature™️ of her

Bg text #3 I guess

[Text: Photo cred: some dead dude lol] [Text: "dying is stupid and also dumb" -me, idk]

[Text: How do we fix this in a complicated Sci-fi way] So, Uzi wants to fight, and everyone else wants to hide, basic plot stuff, moving on

Her railgun has stickers lol

[Text: "Violently opposed to biological life" The rest is readable]

Khan (Uzi's dad) being the worst™️, an image collection

Something that will forever irk me until the day I die is why a robot has Testosterone????? Don't they not even have biological genders, or biology, like, at all???? I don't think robots need hormones, bud

I once saw someone point out that this is probably one of the first times someone has been nice to Uzi, as she has no friends, is bullied, and her father is a bit neglectful <- Understatement (I do want to say that Khan isn't as bad as most of the fandom seems to think he is. Doesn't mean he's good either, though)

Baby's first "Bite me", I'm so proud. (Fun fact, in Spanish she says "Jodete", which translates to "Fuck you!" )

HSDHJDSFNJKDSHJDFHGJFGBKJDFDKJG WHY DO YOU HAVE HORMONES?????? YOUR FREAKING ROBOTS???!!!!!! WHYYYYYYYYY (Plot: Uzi says that she plans to sneak out to find the last part for her railgun, and in the next scene she is waking up at 3:00am to do just that) Now time for deciphering Uzi's sticky notes

[Text: To do: >Talk to source

>...

>(I can't read the rest)] [Text: RESEARCH: How to turn "REALLY sad all the time" into "Look really cool"]

[Text: LIMAL NO 4EYA!!!!!] <- I have no clue what this means [Text:Murder ??? Matter ???? really at c?????] <- Again, no clue what this means

[Text: Uzi Dos-] [Text: Yeaahhhh, I'm not reading that]

Location: Khan's closet where Uzi steals the "Door Master" key from

"Yeah, everyone has a picture of their family where one member is mysteriously ripped out in their closet."/s -Liam Vickers, paraphrased from a reddit AMA

[Text: WDF of outpost 9 [Having faithfully made a slab of metal that can be a wall but also not a wall, on the 11th day of December, three thousand and ???]

[Text: You cannot be murdered by scary robots when .... a door, (unless they open it) A scientific]

I find it interesting that the DD's are referred to as "Murder Drones," which is not their technical name. It seems to be something only the WD colonies use

Fun fact: this line is a bit of a meme in the MD community

Plot: Uzi manages to lie her way out of the WD colony, enters the Corpse Spire, and finds the required part for her railgun. As she goes to leave, she's attacked by a DD, who she defeats with her railgun, only for it's head to regenerate.

[criminalmutantsins]

Sylki Rewrite

(Note: Although I don’t like Sylki, I don’t have a problem with anyone who ships them.) Warning: Internalized Homophobia Mention

Two weeks ago, I binged the Loki series. To put it shortly, I loved it! Loki has one of the best character development I’ve ever seen. He moved past his insecurities and realized what he truly wanted- to be loved and seen. The time aspect was easy to digest and didn’t complicate or overinflate the concept too much. I loved the new characters, especially Mobius and O.B. Mobius and Loki’s chemistry was amazing and so natural, which makes sense since Mobius was his first friend. O.B. was lovable and so nerdy. I hope they both return to future projects. Though I didn’t connect with her as much, B-15 was a good addition, and would be happy to see her return. When it comes to Sylvie, I'm mixed with her. She’s well-written for the most part, but I didn’t like the Sylki romance in S1, and her attitude got irritating in S2 (I'll most likely write a separate post on it). Alongside thinking Loki being attracted to a version of himself is weird, their romance felt rushed and unnatural. I couldn’t really see Loki being attracted to/like/in love with someone that quickly and Sylvie looked like she barely tolerated him, even in the second season. Honestly, I think this romance was pushed by Disney instead of the writers, mainly because there was a moment in Episode 4 where Mobius rants about how strange the attraction was. I’d like to think that was the writers calling out Disney for how weird this idea was. I would’ve liked it more if Loki and Sylvie had a sibling-like relationship. I would’ve written it where Loki feels protective of Sylvie because he sees a bit of himself in her such as his anger, loneliness, and wish to belong somewhere. But, he also respects her because she lived alone and in survival mode, teaching herself how to use magic and escape death. In turn, Sylvie sort of resents Loki, especially when he mentions his relationship with Frigga, since he lived in Asgard and had a family while she lived alone and in fear. I would have a scene where Sylvie lashes out at him (maybe when he accidentally breaks the Tempad), calling him a fool for taking his family’s love for granted. On the other hand, Loki snapped and said how she had the chance to be her true self while Loki lived under Thor’s shadow and Asgard’s expectations. Maybe go as far as to mention how he felt he had to hide his bisexuality and genderfluidity out of fear of not being accepted. By the end of the argument, both realize how their pain does not absolve others and that there is good and bad in their lives. Other than the kiss scene, the scene with Loki trying to stop Sylvie from killing He Who Remains was great. 

I was so glad S2 left the ship behind. It was one of the reasons why I think S2 is a big improvement. I can’t really describe their relationship since there are moments when they get along but there are others when Sylvie is really standoffish and doesn't seem to like Loki. Maybe the closest description would be bickering siblings, which is close to what I wanted.

Did anyone else get nervous that there would be a Sylki kiss in the S2 finale? I was, especially when he was trying to stop her from killing HWR again. If they did, it would've messed with my enjoyment since there was no indication in previous episodes that they were continuing the romance. Thankfully, they didn't and the finale was perfect, even if it broke my heart that Loki will live alone for as long as he's alive. I wanted him to be happy with everyone.

[supernovaa-remnant]

@sioster

karo, I'm gonna put the responses to your ad aeternum asks under a cut just bc I posted the fic not that long ago and don't wanna, like, majorly spoil it for anyone who hasn't had the time to read it yet but wants to (also bc it's finals season and so many people are busy)

(also putting under the cut because wow these got really long actually 😭)

wilbur never calls the dream from his timeline marzenie. it would feel unfair, I think. unfair to both of them. because as he does get to know the dream of his timeline, he really does come to care about the other, but he's kinda swamped with this guilt of worrying he's just using dream as a replacement? at least for a while, he is. (swamped with guilt) so, he finds ways to keep them separate in his mind.

marzenie is the nickname he gave to the alternate timeline dream. marzenie loved the nickname. wilbur's not going to take that away by giving it to someone else. besides, it was always meant to be a way to differentiate the dreams, anyway.

he has all sorts of loving nicknames for the other dream—he has more time to find these nicknames. darling, sunshine, starlight, love, etc. but never marzenie. marzenie will always belong to the dream who was enthralled by the beauty of the earth, who was the first in a very long time to hold wilbur, who bantered with him and danced with him and *sobs* yeah </3

it would be a bit complicated, a bit messy, but ultimately good, I think. there's bureaucratic issues in starfleet wondering if wilbur bringing marzenie to their timeline breaks the prime directive. some (who don't like wilbur being in starfleet due to his ancestry) would fight extra hard to dismiss him from starfleet. wilbur's crew would fight hard for him, though. so would the manhunt. so would others. and, in the end, considering the literal time agency hasn't come to say wilbur messed up the timeline by doing so, they can only assume it's okay.

there's a lot of grief, too. from marzenie. they didn't really have a lot of time to discuss it in the 21st century, but marzenie has lost pretty much anyone he's ever known and loved. there's joys with getting to know versions of sapnap and george and others who are alive, but they're still different versions. and the versions of the people he loved who are dead are still gone. and the versions of people he loved who are alive are still gone. and maybe he felt that those alive only saw him as something broken, but he still cared about them.

so, there's a lot of grief. but wilbur is there. and wilbur loves him. and it was either live with wilbur and the grief or be erased with his timeline and leave wilbur alone, and marzenie would always choose to stay.

there's other complications (marzenie was a captain in his timeline but has no starfleet training—he ends up on the syndicate as essentially non-starfleet personnel). there's also complications with this timeline's dream. and this timeline's dream team. and this timeline's manhunt. and where marzenie fits with them. complications with wilbur's relationship with this timeline's dream, too.

but, ultimately, it's good. marzenie bonds with the crew of the syndicate when he's figuring out what to do when he's not a captain in a war. he learns to bake with niki. he also spars with her. he gets close to techno. they also spar. he loses a fair amount. he continuously pushes wilbur to discuss the complicated relationship wilbur has with techno. the human members of the crews are people familiar to marzenie. he likes to get to know these versions. he convinces wilbur to sign up for therapy. he signs up for therapy himself.

it turns out he gets along really well with dream. they reach a point where they just start introducing themselves as twins. dream's parents include him in family dinners. dream's siblings just say they have another brother. george eventually transfers to the manhunt. the entire dream team complains about marzenie staying on the syndicate but in a light hearted way. the crews of the two ships get really close, actually, and they find lots of excuses to rendezvous. congrats they've unlocked a new level of friendship

things with wilbur and marzenie are really good. they explore the earth together. they take shore leave together and travel. they cuddle and write songs. when marzenie decides to write a book, wilbur reads it and gives advice. they adopt a cat together. they peel oranges for each other. it's all really soft and domestic. and they love each other and they love their friends and they heal together. and everyone's really happy.

(anyway, I think some days wilbur would wake up after extremely vivid dreams (pun not intended) of the above scenario. he'll have incredibly vivid dreams of a universe where marzenie was never shot. and a lot of the dreams take inspiration where he's found himself in life—the crews of the syndicate and manhunt get close. they hang out a lot, actually. wilbur writes more music. wilbur goes to therapy. wilbur gets a cat. when the ships meet up, wilbur & dream often cuddle together at night. etc etc.

but I think the dreams with marzenie would be so vivid, that for a moment he'd wake up and wonder where marzenie was. on especially bad days, he wakes up with bleary eyes and, for a moment, thinks this timeline's dream is marzenie.

and he feels incredibly guilty afterwards. and in particularly bad days, he holds dream close and says "I love you" over and over again with emphasis on the "you" just so dream knows. and dream doesn't fully understand, but dream knows wilbur's been through a lot, and he knows healing isn't linear, so he just holds wilbur close and repeats the same words to him)

[wellnoe]

What are your thoughts on the retcon that it was Phoenix, not Jean, that died on the moon & that Jean was in the ocean the whole time? If you don't like it, how would you change it?

i like it! i like it, bc i really love x-factor and the jean characterization in x-factor is so good, and that all comes out of the phoenix retcon. the jean that is struggling to deal with what phoenix was and meant to people and means to her is so interesting that i do not really mind the idea that jean, in body and largely in mind was in the bay the entire time.

the thing is, i think post-retcon, a lot is done to introduce ambiguity about who is jean and what phoenix being jean means. classic x-men does this, when it shows someone who for all intents and purposes is jean placing her own body in a protective cocoon. it does this when it shows a person who is jean and believes herself to be jean after her death on the moon, it does this when it shows jean talking to moira about what being phoenix means for her and it does this when it shows jean as phoenix making contact w scott when they are children! all these stories point to a relationship of being between phoenix and jean that is more complicated than "phoenix is not jean". i think x-factor and other later x-comics do this too, to greater or lesser extents.

for a lot of early x-factor, jean is very invested in drawing a clear line between her and phoenix (and she does still resent phoenix for a long time later), and i think the jean that is emphatically NOT phoenix that we get is extremely interesting!! that rejection is very good!! and then jean receives phoenix's memories and that makes things more complicated. if phoenix as jean did these things, if these things happened to her, if jean now remembers them and feels them and has to reckon with all the emotions and responses they bring with them, what happens then? and what happens is that jean kind of embraces being both jean and phoenix, two separate bodies and beings who can nevertheless be the same. phoenix's experiences are hers. one of the more fun and easier examples of this is phoenix and scott having sex in new mexico, something that becomes routinely referenced as a memory between jean and scott even by jean herself.

i think w all of jean's rejections of phoenix, the fact that she identifies w her and embraces those memories as her own is very fun, and is a lot of what i like about their relationship.

also!! i just think the retcon is handled really well. i think phoenix's effect on everyone's lives is given the appropriate weight. jean being alive does not invalidate phoenix's death or what she meant/did to other people.

anyway i like the retcon bc it leads into a lot of stuff i love.

[miyamorana]

Miya's 2023 Fanfic Recs Part 1

Here are all the cool, complete fics I've read this year. Separated into 5 posts because there's nearly a hundred of them.

PART 1: BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA (33) (Note that there are a few BNHA stories in part 5.) Part 2: Other Animes and Cartoons (20) Part 3: Television (16) Part 4: Video Games, Movies and Books (16) Part 5: Crossovers (11)

Title: Plain Scary, 10/10 Would Not Recommend Author:Manfedzku Pairing: None Rating: General Word Count: 1,872 Summary:  For a huge fundraising event, Class 2-A decides to host a haunted house as their contribution. Because none of them knows how to chill, they hold an internal contest, with the students splitting into two main teams and a prop department. Midoriya himself is super excited to use his Quirk for actual fun and entertainment, except that some have brought up that his array of powers and ghosts would make it unfair for the opponent. “How about this?” Midoriya bargains, slightly miffed. “I don’t need One For All to strike fear. I’ll do it Quirkless.” Or, Kind, compassionate Midoriya shouldn’t be able to fucking terrify anyone without his eldritch-like powers, but non-believers who’ve faced literal war hell find out that he does. He does.

Title: reconcile Author: whatagoodegg Pairing: None Rating: Teen Word Count: 151,203 Summary: Midoriya and Shigaraki get hit with a Quirk that basically locks the both of them in an indestructible box and makes them unable to physically harm each other. The only way for them to get out? They have to reconcile their differences. Obviously, this is easier said than done.

Title: Complicated Creation Author: Elemental Pairing: Aizawa Shouta/Yamada Hizashi Rating: General Word Count: 112,787 Summary: Midoriya Izuku is medically quirkless, not technically homeless, perpetually exhausted and doing his damned best despite it all. He also sees spirits, which might be cool if not for the fact that a) no one else does, b) they really don’t like him very much, and c) he’s pretty sure the heroes now think he’s a villain working for the League. Aizawa Shota just wants to take down Overhaul, rescue Eri, keep his students alive, get some rest, and find out how this Deku kid knows things he absolutely should not know about his personal life and the Shie Hassaikai case. Unless Nighteye’s right, and the kid really is a villain.

Title: Family (Regardless of Blood or Time) Author: Blueseabird2 Pairing: Aizawa Shouta/Yamada Hizashi Rating: Teen Word Count: 16,252 Summary: Shouta gets sent back in time and immediately starts putting things into place to take down All for One. More importantly, he also adopts a lot of children, meets friends at the Park, and joins Midoriya Inko on her crusade against society’s idiocy. He gets Nezu involved. (He’s also not as alone as he thinks).

Title: looking for sunlight Author: the_crownless_queen Pairing: None Rating: Teen Word Count: 3,964 Summary: Being at Mighty Tower feels a little like a dream come true, to Izuku. Okay, maybe a lot like it. In which Aldera is terrible (duh), Mighty Tower is awesome (also duh) and Izuku’s new acquaintance/possibly friendly adult Yagi Toshinori is pretty cool — and taking him to meet All Might.

Title: If Pining’s a Joke, We’re a Comedy Show Author: JajaLala Pairing: Fukukado Emi/Kayama Nemuri, Aizawa Shouta/Yamada Hizashi Rating: Teen Word Count: 7,729 Summary: Kayama Nemuri has a certain problem with a cute joke-themed hero. Every time they meet sparks fly, but it’s impossible to tell whether Ms. Joke really feels the same, or if she’s only flirting for the sake of comedic bits. Shouta, the confidante, is getting tired of all this pining.

Title: Sparkling Friendship✨ Author: Emily_Elizabeth_Fowl Pairing: Aizawa Shouta/Yamada Hizashi Rating: General Word Count: 11,839 Summary: One raised brow later, Shouta remembered there was a question he was supposed to answer. He muttered something, hoping Hizashi would let it go. “And now with words this time?” Hizashi said a small smirk dancing on his lips, and Shouta huffed. “I said there wasn’t a guy,” he didn’t, but this was close enough. “I just-” What was he supposed to say? Got distracted because I saw you through the window during my nightly pass by your apartment and I was overcome by the need to feel how soft your hair were ? “…Got distracted,” he finished lamely, keeping the rest of that explanation to himself. “By what?” Hizashi sounded incredulous, tilting his head slightly, another strand of hair falling onto his face. *** Or: 5 times Shouta thought Hizashi and him were dating, and the one time they actually were

Title: Loser, Forsaker, Mover, Shaker Author: jukoist Pairing: Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto (minor) Rating: Teen Word Count: 25,278 Summary: “So you and Bakugou… You were never exes? You really were just friends?” “Well, I was Kacchan’s friend. He was my bully.” Midoriya gets hit by a truth Quirk, and his past relationship with Bakugou comes to light. Midoriya learns what it means to have people on his side; Bakugou learns what it means to face his mistakes head on. Dredging up the past is dirty, and painful, but it’s necessary if you want to heal. AKA Protective 1-A, Hurt Midoriya, and Bakugou/Consequences.

Title: Fun At Hero Con Author: wolfsrainrules Pairing: None Rating: Unrated Word Count: 3,627 Summary: Midoriya Izuku is still the biggest hero nerd to walk the earth and not even being Number One is going to change that. Now if only he could remember to tell his fans that he is Pro Hero Deku.

Title: The Toes Show Author: RayShippouUchiha Pairing: None Rating: General Word Count: 1,657 Summary: By this point, Izuku feels confident in saying that there’s very little online he hasn’t seen or at least heard of in some shape or form. So Izuku knows that if he digs deep enough there’s got to be some kind of job online he can take that won’t care that he’s young and quirkless. All Izuku has to do is find it. ~~~ Come to find out Izuku doesn’t have to dig all that deep after all. Even if the job he ends up with is far from … conventional.

Title: Keep You To Myself Author: RayShippouUchiha Pairing: Aizawa Shouta/Midoriya Izuku Rating: Mature Word Count: 9,192 Summary: And yet the truth is that Shōta knows himself, has grown to know Izuku, well enough to know that what they’re doing, what’s between them, it’s not friendship. Or, at least, it’s not only friendship. Not on either of their sides. Friends don’t have this kind of tension practically seething between them. Friends don’t harbor this kind of underlying burn smoldering away beneath every word exchanged or this electric sort of charge coursing through every accidental touch. Title: Brain Pain Author: RayShippouUchiha Pairing: None Rating: General Word Count: 2,430 Summary: “Oh ho ho,” Izuku chortles into the darkness of his closet even as he grabs a bottle of water up so he can start gnawing on the cap. “I think the fuck not you raggedy-armed bitch.” It’s easy enough to start typing out a reply even with one hand and his vision sometimes blurring in and out. “I know a guy with more arms who’ll be a way better hero than you ever were,” Izuku mumbles around his water bottle, one eye squinted closed as he puts all of his faith into his phone’s extensively trained spell check and autofill functions.

Title: There Is A Pattern Here Author: lovelysandlonelys Pairing: None Rating: Teen Word Count: 9,309 Summary: Midoriya Izuku was just barely keeping his grades afloat. It was a hard thing to do when you were quirkless, because quirkless people were less evolved beings and couldn’t possibly be up to par with their quirked classmates. And better than them? An impossibility. Alternatively: All of Izuku’s teachers have accused him of cheating, until now. Title: Pied Piper Author: Blackholeca Pairing: Aizawa Shouta/Shirakumo Oboro/Yamada Hizashi (background) Rating: Teen Word Count: 297,091 Summary: If they wouldn’t give him a chance then the solution seemed simple, he’d give himself one. He’d force the world to see him, force them to recognize his hard work. He wasn’t missing a quirk, it was simply that everyone else had been given an advantage. He wasn’t broken, or useless, or incapable, and he’d prove it by outrunning all of them, he who was quirkless, he who had started in last. [UA rejects Midoriya from the hero course and he finds salvation in vigilantism.]

Title: damage control Author: yamadadzawa (liarielle) Pairing: None Rating: Teen Word Count: 6,741 Summary: Midoriya turns to Shouta, gripping his hand in a fist despite his clearly broken finger, and boldly declares that he’s still standing, that he doesn’t need to be rescued this time. Shouta can’t help it. He shouldn’t, damn it, he shouldn’t encourage this, not when the kid is displaying a frankly disturbingly high pain tolerance. But he can’t help it. A feral grin stretches across his face. Maybe Hizashi is right, and it does pay off to be an optimist, because it looks like Midoriya Izuku might not be skydiving towards his fate after all. This kid can learn. He can be saved. —– Or: Midoriya isn’t surprised to see his name in last place on Aizawa’s quirk test, and believes that he deserves to be expelled. He’s not expecting to be wrong, and he’s definitely not expecting to have friends who don’t hesitate to stand up for him.

Title: Witness Author: PitViperOfDoom Pairing: None Rating: Teen Word Count: 37,608 Series: Part 1 of Good Neighbors (Words: 62,416 - Works: 2) Summary: When a violent turf war breaks out between rival villain gangs, a civilian is caught in the crossfire and killed, and the Number One Hero Endeavor is called to quell the fighting and restore peace. Shouto has been trapped working for his father since graduating high school, his life and career firmly under Endeavor’s control. Determined to keep his masterpiece from striking out on his own, Endeavor gives him an assignment that will keep him as far from the public eye as possible: bodyguarding Midoriya Izuku, the sole witness to the murder.

Title: What it Means to Be a Hero Author: DeusVerve Pairing: Asui Tsuyu/Midoriya Izuku/Uraraka Ochako Rating: Teen Word Count: 278,089 Series: Part 1 of What it Means to Be a Hero and Side Stories (Words: 280,081 - Works: 2) Summary: Staring at a trembling boy before him, All Might knows what he would’ve wanted someone to tell him if he’d asked the Number One Hero if he could’ve been a Quirkless hero. And if that notebook he signed was anything to go by, a little help from Nedzu and the boy might even surpass him. When Midoriya Izuku asks All Might if he can be a hero without a Quirk, the Symbol of Peace says ‘Yes.’ Title: in the depths of shadows Author: starburstsunshine Pairing: None Rating: Teen Word Count: 65,522 Summary: While out on patrol, Shouta comes across Midoriya, who may or may not have unlawfully apprehended a villain. As it turns out, Midoriya seems to have an affinity for getting involved in trouble. And as it turns out, Shouta seems to have an affinity for taking in powerful, aspiring heroes. (Hizashi just says that between Oboro and Shouta, they simply have the tendency to take in strays. Hizashi is rarely ever wrong.)

Title: answer me. Author: supercrunch  Pairing: Midoriya Izuku/Shigaraki Tomura Rating: Explicit Word Count: 16,944 Summary: A finger touches his stomach and traces up his chest. It stops to investigate a small rip under his right pec, pressing against Izuku’s bare skin. It leaves goosebumps. “Your little jumpsuit’s not very durable, is it, Deku? I like it.” “Don’t.” Izuku tries to back away. He can’t breathe. Shigaraki toys with Izuku’s zipper. It moves slowly downwards. Izuku’s exposed collarbones prickle in the cold. He shivers but doesn’t dare try to cover himself up. “You’re not good,” Izuku whispers. “You’re awful. You’re insane.” “Yes.” A bead of sweat drips between his pectorals and into his navel. Shigaraki follows it with his eyes. And then with a finger, dry and cool against Izuku’s itchy-hot skin. “I hate that your little friends keep interrupting us,” Shigaraki whispers into the corner of Izuku’s mouth. “Let’s try it this way, pretty rabbit. You come find me. Promise we’ll get a moment alone.” (The first time Izuku sees Shigaraki Tomura he thinks nothing much. They second time they meet, though, is the time Izuku really sees him. It happens in a crowded shopping complex and it starts with a hand around Izuku’s throat.)

Title: 1 loud blonde friend + 1 loud cloud friend = 2 very annoying boyfriends Author: Emily_Elizabeth_Fowl Pairing: Aizawa Shouta/Shirakumo Oboro/Yamada Hizashi (pre-relationship) Rating: General Word Count: 1,643 Summary: ”-So if you pass the exam on your first try, I’ll go out with you.“ Yamada was staring at him as if he suddenly declared the sky was bright neon green. Shouta blinked, vaguely uncomfortable. Did he misunderstand? Were they just joking? Pranking him-? "That is a cruel and unusual punishment,” Yamada announced, making Shirakumo snicker. “My love life is going to depend on my math result? I’m going to die alone.” “My future as a hero depends on your math result,” Shouta reminded him dryly, moving to take the starter textbooks out of his backpack. “I think this is a fair exchange.” Or: some tutoring shenanigans. No math was hurt in the making of this fic!

Title: Suikawari My Heart Author: RayShippouUchiha Pairing: Aizawa Shouta/Midoriya Izuku Rating: Teen Word Count: 9,834 Summary: Cheeks noticeably flushed, Dekiru sits down on the stage and fits a watermelon between thick, toned thighs. His hips twist, those thighs flex, and the watermelon cracks, spilling a fresh wave of juice and sweet pink flesh all over Dekiru’s lap. “Oh god,” Shōta can’t help but say, riveted despite himself, “I wish that was me right now.” On stage Dekiru’s eyes go wide as his head snaps up and his attention somehow abruptly zero’s in on Shōta. It’s at that moment that Shōta becomes aware of the deafening silence that’s fallen over the beach.

Title: Throw The Last Door Open Author: the_crownless_queen Pairing: None Rating: Teen Word Count: 8,593 Summary: Katsuki bit on his tongue so he wouldn’t scream — what, he didn’t even know — and kicked the wall. The elevator jerked to a stop. “What the-” “Kacchan!” Deku shouted, hand clenching the railing as he stumbled. “What did you do?” There’s nothing like getting trapped in a metal box with someone you’re currently annoyed at. Nothing.

Title: sugar and spice (and everything nice) Author:  the_crownless_queen Pairing: None Rating: Teen Word Count: 3,402 Summary: “I was thinking that I could make something sweet for Aizawa-san?” she asked, tugging absently at the hem of her dress. “He’s always eating those jelly things, and they’re sweet, but Yamada-san and Nemuri-chan always say they’re not real food and are bad for him…” She wasn’t really looking at him and so she couldn’t see the way Izuku’s eyes teared up from how adorable she was being. “I think that’s a great idea! Do you know what you want to make?” She hesitated for a second before nodding. “Could we make candy apples?” Title: Matchmaker Matchmaker (Gonna Match Him A Man) Author: RayShippouUchiha Pairing: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Midoriya Izuku Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Word Count: 5,083 Summary: “You did what?” Naomasa eventually rasps once he can breathe again.

“I don’t want my boy to make the same mistakes I did,” Toshinori explains. “But he’s a great deal shyer than I was at his age. So I’ve taken it upon myself to reach out on his behalf.”

“No,” Naomasa practically gasps, some strange mix of horror and glee in his expression. “Toshinori, tell me you’re joking. You’re trying to matchmake Izuku?”

Naomasa doesn’t wait for Toshinori to actually answer him.

Instead, he just breaks out into loud braying laughter, uncaring of the way everyone around them has stopped to stare.

Title: How To Decipher A Midoriya’s Mumbles  Author: whatagoodegg  Pairing: None Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Word Count: 5,459 Summary: step one: have a hearing quirk step two: try to resist the urge to tell everyone about the wild shit he says step three: profit?

aka: midoriya is in the habit of talking shit under his breath. its cathartic. he didnt think it was necessary to break the habit. too bad he forgot about the girl in their class with a hearing quirk.

aaka: five times jiro kept quiet about what she heard, and one time she didn’t.

Title: Multilante  Author: Starlight (Fandom_Eclipse) Pairing: None Rating: General Audiences Word Count: 13,660 Summary: Izuku was debating the merits of seeking out the new vigilante group that was on the news when he heard the list of known members. He knew those names. Specifically, he knew those because they were assigned to six of his hoodies.

He knew he should come clean. Maybe just stick to one costume, or stop being a vigilante altogether. Groups were treated much more seriously than lone entities, and he could get in serious trouble if they sent heroes after him expecting backup that didn’t exist.

A week later, he had characters designed for every hoodie he owned.

In which Izuku becomes a one-man organization, and everyone has to deal with the consequences.

Title: Foresight Author: akcugrai Pairing: None Rating: General Audiences Word Count: 66,396 Summary: Izuku’s quirk is simple, it tells him exactly what he needs to do. It tells him to grab an umbrella and that afternoon it rains unexpectedly. It tells him to bring cash and it turns out the card reader is out of order. His quirk tells him to rob a bank. Well, might as well. - - - Does the name All for One mean anything to Izuku? Nope. Will he tear down the empire of a powerful villain who has been terrorizing Japan for over a century anyway? Sure.

Title: Twenty-Four Pairs of Craft Scissors Author: orkestrations  Pairing: None Rating: General Audiences Word Count: 1155 Summary: Twenty-four pairs of craft scissors, one pissflake, paper scraps everywhere, and glitter all over the floor.

Or: Eri’s first time making paper snowflakes.

Title: flip the switch and watch them run  Author: noxum Pairing: None Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Word Count: 6316 Summary: What Izuku thinks is just another hellish day at Aldera takes a turn for the worst when disaster strikes. Trapped in a collapsing building while digging his once-childhood friend from the rubble, what will he do when the roof caves in?

Title: Kill All the Lights  Author: JoWithTheFlow Pairing: Midoriya Izuku/Monoma Neito/Todoroki Shouto Rating: Mature Word Count: 20,996 Summary: What kind of operation…led to a hero and a vigilante being thrown into a cell together?

Judging by the look on Phantom’s face, he was thinking something very similar. There was a noise from further in the cell, though, and his body language shifted, his eyes lighting up with a touch of fear as he squared his shoulders as much as he could square them. “We’re not alone,” he warned Shouto.

Shouto raised his eyebrows, turning his attention to the depths of the cell.

“What’s this?” a voice rasped, from deeper in the cell, darker, the part covered in the most shadows. Phantom flinched at the sound of it, and there was a rattle, a clink, and Shouto realized that the third member of their company was more heavily chained than them. A moment later, and the second realization hit—that meant something. “A new person to join us in suffering?”

Another shuffle, another clink, and the owner of the voice finally stepped into the little bit of light coming through the window on the door. The light caught the edge of his hair, so dark it almost looked black, but Shouto knew better. He knew better.

Title: The League of Vigilantes  Author: katydid  Pairing: None Rating: General Audiences Word Count: 8575 Summary: An amnesiac Izuku joins the League of Villains. To their frustration, he keeps being nice and helping people. Now everyone thinks they’re an organization of vigilantes!

Title: Yuuei Survival Guide Author: LowlyWriter Pairing: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Word Count: 519,280 Series: Part 1 of A Boy and his Ghost (Words: 543,862 - Works: 3) Summary: Izuku steps towards the other teen, holding his hand out to shake, “I’m Midoriya Izuku by the way. We haven’t officially met yet, right? I don’t remember seeing you at the Entrance Exam?”

The blue-haired boy pauses, studies his hand uncertainly before shrugging. “Shirakumo Oboro,” he introduces in return, hand phasing right through Izuku’s when he goes to return the handshake. Shirakumo doesn’t seem surprised by it, but Izuku whips his hand back when the intense chill climbs up his arm.

or,

Izuku tries to pretend eveything is okay even though his homelife is crumbling around him, there’s an insanely powerful Quirk that’s not entirely his coursing through his veins, he suddenly knows his childhood hero, All Might, and to top it all off, he seems to have befriend a pastel blue-haired ghost that has way too much insider knowledge on Izuku’s new homeroom teacher, and English teacher. He’s really just trying to survive Yuuei… Title: The Mask of the Demon King Author: katydid Pairing: Midoriya Inko/Sensei | All For One Rating: General Audiences Word Count: 3816 Summary: All Might meets Izuku Midoriya’s father at a parent-teacher conference.

[sansloii]

META + family (Evan)

Oooof

so…Evan's whole "family" situation is a complicated matter. when his parents were alive, he never really had a good relationship with them… and, as an adult, he wishes they would've died sooner. At best, they acknowledged him in some way and made sure that he wasn't skipping school and getting trouble ( and on the off chance he was doing all that, they were very present for that ). At worst, they full-on neglected him and he was often left to his own devices. they were never physically abusive to him — never laid a hand on him. however, they were the type of parents that obviously did not wish to be parents. they didn't wish to be married either so… it's anyone's guess why they went through with having Evan and getting married afterwards.

Taking care of Evan — truly taking care of him — was near the bottom on the list of priorities that they had after he reached… 6 or 7 years old. and so, Evan was a lot more independent than others his age. He was still immature in many ways but he kinda… had to take care of himself or learn how to do that when he didn't know how.

going to the issues each parent had would take too long and I'm already planning a lengthy headcanon post about Evan's childhood that includes a more concrete timeline but i will say that Evan does have family that he does care for. I feel like a bit of a broken record in some regard with how much I mention or allude to Roderick and his now deceased wife being like… the positive influence in Evan's life. however, much of Evan's formative years were spent solely with his parents and he didn't properly meet Roderick and Magdelena until he was already 9 years old. Even then, Roderick and his older brother ( Evan's father ) began butting heads a little bit about how Evan was being raised, how he clearly was just left to do what he wanted when he wanted, and a bunch of other personal things that bubbled up as a result of those arguments. So Evan didn't see his Uncle as often as he would've liked ( and didn't get to stay over too often either, despite them living so close and in a better neighborhood comparatively ). Roderick also missed out on many crucial parts of Evan's life until he started pushing to be a more active part of it a couple years later.

what followed after this tug-of-war between the two brothers was his father's death… and then his mother's. He had a little high point being adopted by Roderick + Magdelena ( though this was already when he was 16-17 years old ) but it plunged into another low point when Magdalena succumbed to her illness. So it was just him and Roderick — who, to his credit, tried exceedingly hard to give Evan whatever support he could've asked for. However, at that point, Evan had spent so long being independent and just… doing his own thing, that he didn't really lean on Roderick too much emotionally. He was, and still is, very grateful for Roderick stepping up where his father didn't but… to this day, Evan doesn't see Roderick as a "father" in any light. That's what he is but Evan associates the word father with his physically present but deadbeat parent so strongly that he can't separate the two. He's perfectly content with Roderick remaining his Uncle because ascribing a "father" status to Roderick would kinda… group the man in with someone who didn't care about him, didn't care if he was safe, didn't care if he was truly healthy, and only cared about "school" so long as he didn't get calls about Evan skipping or causing trouble. the same could be said about his mom and Magdelena, in that she is his Aunt and not his mother for the same reasons.

He has a lot of love for his Aunt and Uncle but absolutely none for his Mother and Father. And that's how it'll always because he's glad the latter two are dead.

@lured-into-wonderland | send META + a word, name, or phrase for a headcanon

[moonlit-orchid]

So I've been seeing some analyzing lately about Kite on here and that make me think of him and Hart and that made me think about two things one Hart illness and two the boys mom. We never see anything about her we know Faker was distant because of trying to find a cure which is probably why he was never there and his job also implied being very long still doesn't excuse his bad fathering but it explains enough to us why he was absent their mom however is never brought up once and a scene someone posted on tumblr shows Kite saying he never had anyone other Hart and he explicitly states he never had parents so what happened to his mom and Hart's illness is also never explained or even shown he was just f-up because of his dad but it's also stated as incurable so what does that mean for Hart.

Well, as for Hart's illness, I think it being left vague was probably because it would be too difficult to explain, but I personally don't think it's too much of a plot hole.

As for the mom, oooh boy. That is a HECK of a plot hole, but I think I might have figured it out, because of Kite saying he never had any parents. If we look at Dr. Faker, as a scientist of that level he would have always been busy, to the point of rarely being around, and then when the stuff with Hart happened Faker disappeared. You could say Kite never had a dad to begin with.

Following this logic, we can guess what Kite's mother was like. Considering the large age gap between Kite and Hart, his mother needed to have been around until recently. Unless, of course Kite and Hart have different mothers. So, there are two ways this could have been.

The first one is that Kite's mom was neglectful. Like Faker, she was hardly ever around. By the time Hart was born, she disappeared, probably because her husband was no longer actively involved in the boys' life in any way, and was probably the reason for her staying at all. And so, really, Kite never had a mother at all. She was never around for him.

The other way is the idea that maybe Kite and Hart have separate mothers. Kite's mother could have died giving birth to him or just walked out. Perhaps it was Kite's stepmother who raised him, rather than his own, who left him, meaning Kite never really had a mother or father. I think this is pretty likely too, due to how different Kite and Hart look. (Then again, there are the Kaiba brothers who are practically opposites. But even then there's a chance they're unrelated)

I think it's very likely that Hart's mother died in childbirth. Hart was said to be born with his illnesses, and I get the impression that those complications around his birth also took a toll on his mother, and caused her death, leaving Hart and Kite.

Whether Kite and Hart share their mother, I feel it is very likely that she had no relationship with him, like Faker. Kite had stated he never had ANY parents, including the very alive Faker. He wasn't being literal, these were the words of an angry, rejected child whose parents were never around. He doesn't really mean he has no parents, he means that his parents were never around and neglected him, so he might as well have not had them.

Tl:DR: Hart being born with illnesses had also taken a toll his pregnant mother, who passed from the birth. Whether Kite and Hart share a mother or Hart's mother was a step-mother, the mother in Kite's life was barely around, like his father, which has resulted with Kite feeling rejected and therefore rejecting them in turn, saying he never had anyone but Hart.

Thanks for your ask!

[bisexualmikisayaka]

and like. it’s not like anyone comes to me for meta or any of that this truly is just me and maybe 5 consistent followers but i feel like i Have To Have A Stance On These Things As A Berserk Poster so:

- as much as i like gutsca, i’m certainly not married to it. i posted a little bit about the difficulties i have reconciling the beast of darkness scene with their relationship and like. on the whole i think much like many of the other heterosexual ships written by men who can’t write women i really like the potential it has more than the canon it does. i’ve expressed my strong desire for the alternate universe berserk where casca is still... obviously traumatized but is cognizant and is in possession of all her faculties trying to navigate the world after the eclipse and what a relationship with guts, also traumatized, would look like there. going back to the in-universe content i think they are quite interesting in the sense that they really only have one to two moments of being a “couple” before everything goes to shit, and the rest of their relationship is kind of based off of what could have been rather than what was. guts cares about casca, it’s undeniable, but a lot of what drives him is also guilt and rage at everything that happened during the eclipse. the casca he wants back was a casca he only barely got to know - the thoughts of the future that they shared were driven entirely by hope, and not in experience because of how quickly everything bad happened after that. i don’t want to call it a sense of obligation towards restoring her mental capacities, but it kind of feels like that. i can’t get people who think the story is about their love conquering all, because i don’t know if you can call what they have “love” in that sense. it’s more complicated than that, because berserk is a complicated manga! 

and then on casca’s end, i’ve also posted about my irritation with her lack of interiority even in scenes focusing on her - the most exploration of her life during the years where she’d regressed was through farnese and schierke, not through her own view. and now that’s she’s up and actively dealing with what happened, it seemed like we were getting a step towards casca development, but now she just thinks about the eclipse for two seconds and then passes out. awesome. i just have no idea if miura was actually going to give her that internal development we spent so long seeing with guts, and i have even less of an idea of what it’s going to look like under mori and studio gaga. i almost feel like guts here, lol - i miss the casca we knew before this happened and i wish she wasn’t getting nerfed at every second. i still have hope, especially with the events of 372, but i can’t imagine that being trapped in a castle with griffith and a bunch of apostles is going to be good for her. guess we’ll just have to wait and see, but god i really hope we can actually get some sort of progress on her end. 

- i am a moonlight boy gutsca baby truther though. sorry. that’s their kid. i don’t need for them to be permanently reunited with him to have what i would describe as a “happy ending” - in fact, i don’t see a way moonlight boy makes it out “alive,” because like it or not he is a part of griffith and that seems kind of impossible to separate. now the griffith dual identity thing is very interesting - like, what it means for him to have this form every month and what that indicates, because he is someone who changes forms on a symbolic and literal level pretty frequently, so what does that make moon baby represent for him? but i digress. my feelings on guts and casca as parents are... also complicated, as i really kind of hate the “warrior woman has a strong maternal streak because She Is A Woman And Woman Love Baby” trope but a) i will take anything. ANYTHING. that expands casca’s character especially in the newer chapters and b) casca’s relationship to her presentation of herself is explicitly stated to have been out of necessity rather than any real desire. she is strong, she runs with the boys, but she also didn’t always want that (see her golden era comments about wearing a dress and her body, especially during sex with guts ((and i know, she’s not saying these things, it’s miura writing her to say them, but i’m sticking with an in-text interpretation of this because if i actually got into casca’s relationship to femininity i’d need a whole new post. i’ve talked about her a lot here already!!))). i’d prefer a different way of her showing her caring side - ideally it’d be bonding with farnese and schierke, but i’ll live. it’s not the most offensive writing decision related to her. guts i honestly like being a dad, be it adoptive or biological, because it works with the parts of his character that are already present. him learning to be a good father is breaking the cycle that gambino put him in, whether he’s conscious of it or not, but it’s also not something i need from him. it’s just fun to see. 

- speaking of griffith and relationships i generally engage with griffguts on a.. thematic level, i guess? there’s like this very visceral hatred that a lot of fanboys have for griffith in particular (which often pairs with homophobic-to-homoerotic-sliding-scale jokes, go figure) that is just not present in my engagement of his appearances in berserk. i think he’s a phenomenal character but i also think it’s bullshit to call what he does as femto separate from the character of griffith. yes, he was under horrific, life-shattering duress when he made the decision to become part of the godhand and you could argue that they were manipulating him into making that choice. he still did all that shit, though. i maintain what i said in one of my recent posts about his creation of falconia - the moment he needs to use the power he obtained through that sacrifice, it’s telling that he reverts back to his femto appearance. separate from the godhand he may currently be, but when he needs to draw upon the power he received from them through that sacrifice, he has no qualms about doing so. i think it’s fair to see him in distinct stages - rickert even presents this dichotomy when he rejects griffith by telling him his leader isn’t the hawk of light - but to me he’s not. a different person, he’s just in different stages of his character. yes, he becomes inhuman, and through that he literally becomes a different being, but it’s all progressions of griffith through what was being set up in the GE and the black swordsman prologue. we knew he would do anything to get a kingdom. we knew the behelit would come back to him somehow. this progression was laid out for us from the start; we just watched him move through it. he’s still griffith, even as femto.

- fuck, what was i talking about. oh yeah, griffguts. i definitely feel like i come to appreciate their early relationship more and more with each reread, but it’s definitely more like. a site of observation and analysis for me rather than something i would say i actively “ship.” outside of like My Ideal Version Of Guts And Casca That I Think About Sometimes as well as my own private jokes about serpguts and the occasional farnesca moment i don’t really ship much in the series because... making berserk about shipping would be insane. anyways they’re obviously the primary relationship dynamic in the series and it’s really fascinating to watch how they relate to one another and then change drastically, but still maintain some sort of connection (mostly on guts’ end. on griffith’s, it’s a little more complicated, especially in the newer chapters under the newer direction... but why else would he kidnap casca?). but i do believe that there was something romantic going on between him and guts in the golden age (i mean. there is literally no other way to interpret griffith going crazy after guts wins the fight and leaves him, and guts’ own reasons for initiating that are... also pretty un-heterosexual!), but that’s just one level of their relationship. there’s a lot more to it, both back then and now, and that’s why i think looking at griffguts as just a traditional “ship” in the fandom sense does it a lot of disservice - again, complicated manga means complicated relationships! much more interesting to me to see the ways their journeys intersect and then diverge, but always come back to one another in the end. 

- anyways that’s that; these opinions were also all written at 1 am and are subject to change! berserk is a text i am constantly formulating and re-formulating my opinions on, so who knows. maybe i’ll revisit this post in another year or so with totally different perspectives on these things 

[osonos]

Complicated thoughts on Oppenheimer

Scroll if you don’t want SPOILERS btw

To start off, I just want to say that I enjoyed Oppenheimer and thought it was a well made movie. All of the actors pulled their weight or more, and I hope to see Blunt receive a nomination for it.

That being said, I thought it had shortcomings, if not faults. Mainly, and my post will largely revolves around this, an emotional failure to launch after the bombings of Japan. I don’t think that Oppenheimer is divorcable from outside perspectives, considering the direct human suffering he helped to inflict upon others both at home and abroad. And pre-apologies for a very American centric take at times.

One, without the human suffering the bombings lack emotional weight. Two, it makes me feel like Nolan failed to understand the impact of media and how it helped to propell his ww2 crush into infamy. World War 2 is arguably one of the first wars to produce media that brings it to the general public back home and probably the first to meaningfully document the horrific aspects of it. This advent of modern media changed not only how we view war but also our receptiveness to it (think Vietnam War). The whole argument in favor of the bombings relies on the american public being unable to stomach a wholesale invasion of the Japanese home islands. Expanding on this, Oppenheimers celebrity status that Nolan is so enamored by, was propelled by the media that come from it. Do we really have the father of the atomic bomb without pictures of the mushroom cloud? Of the destruction? Of the dead and injured?

Now the most obvious counterpoint to this is falling victim to an exploitative take. I don’t want to see the Japanese people get burned alive. I also really don’t want to presume to know what any Japanese person would want in a portrayal. But I do know that I wanted to see something at all. Instead we get shielded from it, at best for the sake of time and at worse to push a more sympathetic take. Going back the point about media, it’s in there but only for Oppenheimer to squirm at. To me, I felt like Nolan gave a thesis for why Oppenheimer was a conflicted individual later on but decided to skip to the conclusion. I also think a two minute scene where we see a normal day in Japan, the bomb get dropped, and then a cut to the horror/announcement scene would have ensured that emotional launch. I didn’t need to see it, I needed to dread it and not have it fizzle at american guilt without substance.

Going back to that mention of Americans harmed, there is literally no mention of it. None. People got sick. People died from other experiments. There’s no respect or dignity in being hidden like skeletons in a closet. Like the Japanese, they simply can’t be separated from Oppenheimer and Oppenheimer from them. No one ever dares to separate the Nazi Regime from the Holocaust, but I suppose history favors the winners. It’s more interesting to build on Oppenheimer’s quip about his people being sent into camps (again, media!) by forcing him and ourselves to directly confront how he’s became monstrous trying to stop monstrosity.

Lastly, I would be amiss to not mention Tatlock and her classic Nolan fridging. There’s not as much to say here because her struggles with sexuality probably would have been too much of a time detour to cover in an already 3 hour long movie. But implying that she killed herself because she couldn’t have Oppenheimer when she might have just been a communist sympathizing lesbian (or a different sexual identity) in 1940’s America, feels weird. After reading her Wikipedia page after, it feels even weirder in an unintentional parallel with the Oppenheimer-Einstein-Strauss scene. That woman was so complicated and she got reduced to what exactly? An emotionally flimsy affair partner? Nolan, maybe her death wasn’t about ur ww2 crush or not the whole reason alone. Don’t overthink it. But hey it’s Nolan and this kind of writing isn’t new for him.

That being said, I really enjoyed the second half. I got tired of Oppenheimer’s underdeveloped guilt pretty fast but considering the amount of promotional activity around “I am become death, destroyer of worlds”, it was nice to see a “destroyer”. I’d say that McCatharyism fit the bill for that far more than Oppenheimer and the bombs ever did over 3 hours. Emily Blunt, your fierceness and emotional command made me feel like it was worth not leaving the theater or reaching through the screen to scream at Oppenheimer. Watching Oppenheimer get a political hit job done on him truly was almost a horror movie. So in summary, if you want a globalist emotional take, this is not for you. But fortunately, it also not for you if anti McCarthy undertones (really overtones by the 2/3 mark) aren’t palatable. I’m seeing a lot of blind loyalty posts and while I’m glad people are out enjoying the movie I’d like to gently remind everyone this story is too complicated for a singular opinion. It’s unserious to label any different opinions as lacking “media literacy” or what not. I’m almost certain those takes would never knowingly be said to a Japanese person so don’t hide behind anonymity or laziness. Let’s make room for opposing takes from our own.

Lastly, did the Strauss’s aide Brutus him??? Was that the implication? He was soooo passive aggressive and I was worried for him 😅