#I think it's mostly out of my system

[storytellering]

I dunno guys, I think he did nothing wrong ever

[rhiangalaxy]

Shen Qingqiu is blowing up the System with his mind rn

[ID: A Scum Villain Comic. First image depicts Shen Qingqiu within the Water Prison, kneeling on the ground with his arms and wrists tied with immortal binding cables. He wears a nervous expression while the System screen next to him with a cheering kaomoji goes "Checking In." to which SQQ reponds "i'm bad". The next image depicts SQQ with now ripped robes holding his tied hands in front of him while Luo Binghe stands facing away from him in the foreground. LBH is holding his hands up to his face with a flustered expression whilst SQQ is looking at his back with a very confused expression and "???" next to him. A caption above them states "One Wife Plot Experience Later..." The final image is in a chibi style. SQQ glares at the system as it says with a smug look "Checking In" to which SQQ responds "i'm doing bad" End ID]

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

As per usual, it’s DP crossover with (probably) DC, although you could probably adjust it for other fandoms

ANYWAYS

A little kid and his mother are trick or treating in another city, perhaps at some kind of event rather than knocking on doors, and the kid is dressed as Phantom. It’s very adorable, with his little ghost-shaped bucket and clearly homemade and already stained costume—listen, white only works if you can just fly over street grime or phase it out of your clothes—and his slightly I’ll fitting wig. The kid is SO happy to be out and about dressed as his favorite, and maybe even showed it off to Phantom back in Amity Park before his family left.

The hero, insert whoever you wish here, is probably in civvies and just enjoying the event. The kid, meanwhile, is so glad when people ask who he is so he can explain, and so- the hero gets to hear ALL ABOUT the local town hero who is probably pretty small time despite the kid’s clearly exaggerated stories. The hero certainly never heard of him, but the kid’s mom confirms that Phantom really was the town hero, despite some mixed reviews of the poor guy.

“Did you manage to show him your costume?” the hero asks.

“Yeah! We went down to the cemetery to leave flowers and I got to show him my costume.”

Wait. Cemetery? Maybe it was part of theme, because Phantom had to be named that for a reason, but… it sounded like…

The kid ignores the suddenly VERY still hero and instead turns to his mom. “Momma, do you think we should bring him candy? He doesn’t get to trick or treat like we do, and I can work super hard to get him a bunch!”

The kid’s mom just smiles. “We could, but maybe we should bring him something homemade. I bet he’d like something more filling, teen boys like him have a hollow leg.”

The kid wrinkles his nose. “Like Vernie with the pizza bagels?”

“Like your cousin, yes. We can make some cinnamon rolls and take them to his memorial, maybe bring some of the apples from your grandpa’s garden…”

The hero is pretty much forgotten as the two-part family wanders off, not quite intentionally forgetting the hero is there so much as the hero somewhat accidentally ended the conversation when they just froze and didn’t ask anything further.

Not that the hero didn’t want to. But they’d learn something very serious.

One—there was a small town hero they’d never heard of. Two—that hero was apparently a teen. Third—most pressingly, the teen hero was both beloved enough to have kids dressing up as him and dead enough to have a grave.

This… might require some phone calls.

[wandixx]

GIW made a lot of mistakes and the biggest one was going against Young Justice part 2

part one is here

@whimsicalchaosgarden you asked to be tagged, sorry it took so long

Trigger warnings: mentions of experimentation and dehumanization (tell me if there is more appropriate way of phrasing it)

“So,” Robin started, taking the voice recorder out of his utility belt. “It'll probably be best if we get an explanation while making an accident report. This way we get it all over sooner”

Everyone agreed with this idea, standing in the loose circle in the debriefing area to make it all feel more serious. They had limited time before the next batch of cookies needed to be taken out of the oven and there was no way they all wouldn't devolve into chaos when it happened. M’gann knew from experience. 

To make sure they wouldn't take too long and cookies wouldn't turn on the fire alarm (again) both she and Danny set a timer.

In the meantime they had to learn who actually attacked them earlier.

“Phantom do the honors”

Danny froze for a moment, looking like deer caught in the headlight before he asked in a bit squeaky voice:

“How do I make an accident report?”

“Just say what happened but make it sound fancy,” Artemis explained. 

“Make a mission report and we'll fix it along the way,” Kaldur proposed.

“Answer ‘When? Where? Who was involved? What happened? What have you done about it?’ without excessive use of puns to avoid Bat-lecture” Robin helped, already in handstand.

“Bat-lecture? Really Rob?”

“So it's like lab report lite” Danny said before Robin did anything more than squawk indignantly “Alright, I can do it. Do you have any set phrase to start? And which accident report is it, in the database?"

“44th… How about ‘[Hero name], report’? Sounds serious enough.”

Everyone agreed, so after a moment of silence Kaldur did the honors.

“Phantom, report”

Danny straightened, rolling his shoulders back and locked his eyes in the middle distance. It was a bit eerie how fast he went from relaxed and goofy to almost emotionless statue. M’gann wished to never encounter it again, thank you very much.

“Incident report no. 45 made by Young Justice member Phantom, regarding an attack from earlier today, 26th April 20XX. The Young Justice Team, later referred to as the Team, went on a trip to an amusement park staying currently in the city of Happy Harbour. It was an activity meant to strengthen interpersonal relationships within the Team, previously green-lit by Red Tornado. Every member was in civilian attire as per protocol. Around 3:15 PM, after two and a half hours, the Team were disturbed by a group of ten armed people, recognized by member Phantom as belonging to Ghost Investigation Ward, colloquially known as GIW or Guys In White because of their uniforms. Later in the report the organization will be referred to as the GIW. Two shots were fired by the assailants, targeting but not reaching member Phantom. Members of the GIW were hostile but with use of humor and threat of legal actions, the Team managed to diffuse the situation before it endangered passerbys. Despite direct attack, none of the Team members’ identities were compromised. Assailants left the confrontation with belief that Phantom left his ectoplasmic signature on an unrelated civilian. Agents refused to admit they were working for the GIW since its operations break a couple of laws of the state Rhode Island. Because of that, their appearance was reported to local law enforcement and taken care of. No injuries or damage to the city infrastructure were sustained other than two burns in the asphalt in the place of confrontation. Required follow-up with local law enforcement in civilian attire as victims of assault. End of report” Danny sighed, easing back into a more natural position. “This good?” he asked, with a sheepish smile.

“Perfect”

“How are you so good at reporting? You didn’t even know what to do a second ago? That’s just unfair”

“I used to write my parent’s lab reports. It’s pretty similar in form”

“Lab-”

“Follow-up to the report only, Kid-Flash,” Robin interrupted “Phantom. elaborate on who were the assailants”

Danny stepped back from himself again.

“GIW is a ghost hunting organization supported and accredited by the state government in Illinois, legally operating also in states Wisconsin and Ohio. Their goal is to catch and examine ecto-entities to learn more about their biology and ways to obliterate them. Obviously their plans for experimentation don’t include consideration of ghosts’ well-being”

“Damn, that’s messed up”

“They wouldn't catch a blob ghost if they tried,” Danny shrugged, though something was wrong with the gesture. She wasn't sure though, so she moved on.

“Then why were you scared?” M’gann pressed on instead.

“My parents… are, you know, prominent ghost hunters so when GIW opened we all got a tour around the whole building. The lab was… it made me imagine things I wished I had never thought about”

“They have labs? Like evil labs?” Robin perked up like a kid who just heard that Christmas came early. “How could you hide it from us?!” he added, falling to hang on Danny's shoulder. He twirled a bit to catch the left one even though before he stood on halfa’s right side. Dramatic as always “Conner, we have a birthday gift for you!”

“What does GIW’s lab have to do with my birthday?”

“The potential!” Robin yelled, straightening for a better effect.

Everyone started laughing. Well, everyone other than Conner who just looked at them confused.

“He probably wants to storm another lab, bring up nostalgia of our first meeting,” Kaldur calmed down just enough to explain.

“Tell me you wouldn't like to punch an evil scientist,” Wally added, almost dropping to the floor. 

“This does sound nice”

“And THIS is exactly the reason why I haven't told you all. Thanks for spoiling my surprise Rob,” Danny lied, though he did his best to sound truthful. He even projected some false mirth.

It would take much more to trick M’gann though. She abruptly stopped laughing.

“You're lying. Why actually haven't you told us?” she demanded maybe a little too harshly, but she was worried. Everyone froze for a moment, before turning to look at Danny.

“They're all bark no bite, and aim worse than Stormtroopers’, so I haven't considered them important enough to report”

Other's didn’t know, of course, but M’gann knew just how terrified Danny was during the confrontation and how echoes of that fear soured air around him even hours later.

Everyone did realize this explanation was a tone of bullshit though. 

Apparently incredulous stares were enough of the response.

“You and the Justice League have more important things to deal with than some shitty local laws”

“Bullshit again,” Artemis burst her lips “This is exactly what Justice League is for”

“I already found people to help me lobby against them”

“And why aren't we on the list?” 

Danny fell silent, not looking anyone in the eyes, which was quite a feat considering they had him in a half circle. M’gann considered moving to his side to show her support. Stare down like that had to be quite stressful.

Why not actually. She stepped closer, and drew him in the loose side hug. Danny tensed, which wasn't abnormal for him. He usually relaxed in about thirty seconds, if he didn't, she'd let go.

“I didn't expect them to breach the containment…”

“Each of these lies is worse, you know? Like, insulting our intelligence level of worse,” Artemis interrupted once more, pinning him with her eyes alone “Give us truth or stop talking”

Danny raised his head to look back at Artemis and mimed zipping his mouth shut and throwing the key away. 

“Really?”

Boy just shrugged, not breaking eye contact.

“Alright, let's move on to the next question, how did it get approved in the first place?” Wally interrupted, waving his hand between them. They both shook off like dogs fresh out of water.

“Couldn't you wait five more seconds until I won?” 

“Ha! You wish Artemis. Though you could give us a moment”

“I gave you literal ages”

Danny snorted “Sorry, I keep forgetting how impatient you are”

“Oh shut up, my brain is just faster than yours, you slowpokes”

“Sure, sure”

“He made a good point,” Kaldur said “This shouldn’t even pass. And even if, you’re legally a Meta”

“Normal ghosts aren’t and halfas being a thing is not exactly common knowledge among the living”

“I’ll never get used to this distinction”

“I believe in you, Rob”

“What about ‘Extraterrestrial, extradimensional and otherwise previously unincluded’ Optional Protocol to the ‘International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’?”

“Oh my god Conner, you’re the only person to say the whole name ever”

“Hey!”

“It all comes down to the definition of the ghost and the fact that Alien addition uses sentience and sapience as a ground to give anyone said rights. And also, US signed it but didn’t ratify it so…”

“Isn’t it same thing?”

“Nope. I thought so too, but apparently signing anything means nothing unless it’s also ratified, so I’m kinda fucked. Can’t even get the UN to frown at them disapprovingly, because officially, nothing was agreed to. And you know, even if they ratified it, ecto-scientists conducted enough research to prove we aren’t sapient enough to have these rights anyway. Just most of the states didn’t need to make a law out of it”

“That’s rough buddy”

“Are you really quoting Avatar at me right now? Really Artemis?”

“Yes”

“Wasn’t Avatar this movie with blue people? I don’t think they said that there”

M’gann wasn’t quite sure why human members seemed to be appalled by the question.

“We’re going to fix that later-”

“What exactly is there to be fixed, because I feel like we’re talking about to different things”

“- but for now can we go back to the whole ‘ghosts have no rights in Illinois’ thing” Robin continued, completely ignoring Conner’s questions.

“Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio. There are portals to the Zone in two of these states. GIW already tried to send nuke through one of them”

“How Americana of them,” Kaldur muttered.

“If you have another insane tidbit about them, please share it all now. My mind can’t utilize any more revelations like that”

“I handled it, don’t worry”

“Someone tried to nuke literal Afterlife…”

“Yup, get on the schedule Kid Flash. You’re supposed to be fast”

M’gann knocked her arm into his, kinda as a ‘don’t be mean’ message. Danny kinda tensed, but soon relaxed back and moved his head as if he wanted to lay it on her shoulder. Excitement of the day was clearly catching up to him.

M’gann wouldn’t be mad if he did laid his head there.

“Why do we learn about it just now?”

“I wrote the report, not my fault you haven’t read it”

“Can’t fault us for assuming we’d know every important thing from your endless bitching!”

Danny straightened and laughed, in this horrible humorless way that made M’gann want to claw at her brain until she couldn’t hear or sense any of it.

Instead, she brought her other hand up and just held him tighter.

Thankfully the whole spectacle didn’t last long.

“It’s cute that you think I bitch about anything important”

“Phantom…”

“Don’t Phantom me right now. Even if by some miracle they managed to send the missile to the Zone, it most likely wouldn’t have worked. They’re mostly just a joke.”

“They managed to shot you. Right upper arm or shoulder”

“Don’t deny it, we’ve seen you wince when I leaned on you and when M’gann hugged you”

Martian tried to let go hearing that, but Danny held her in place. She stayed where she was but carefully moved her hand away from the slightly damp area on his shirt. She suddenly caught on everything that was wrong with him, now that she knew to look for it.

“I got worse from the hand of my house’s security system”

“You… understand that it’s… like… way worse, right?”

“You don’t know life until you hear threats of dissection against your alter ego after stopping death ray with bowl of cereal,” he said, relaxing more into her side again. He sounded absolutely exhausted.

“Do you want to move in here? Until we deal with this whole GIW and assorted mess?” she said instead. Conner nodded, surprisingly eager to share the space that he considered somewhat sacred.

“Nope, I’m good, I’m needed there”

“You could Zeta- yeah, no, nevermind, it wasn’t good idea. But we could make it work”

“You still should-”

“It’s fine. I mean, I have it handled and it doesn’t affect that many people. And we’re working on it. It’s fine”

“It really is not,” Conner growled.

“You need your arm patched up” M’gann demanded, ignoring previous conversation, with eyes still fixed on the blood that stained her forearm. She should’ve destroyed at least Operative K.

“I bandaged it up”

“It soaked through then. Let’s go to med–”

Loud shrill interrupted her, because of course it did.

“Oh, look, convenient distraction! Let’s take the cookies out before they get burned!”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” M’gann stated in a way that allowed no argument “You’re getting away for now only because I’m holding most of your weight right now”

“Sure we will. And I can stand on my own, thank you very much”

“I’ve heard many lies today and this might be the worst of them. We’re going to Medbay as soon as the cookies are out”

“You’ve got it boss”

[iphyslitterator]

Rewatched the scene at the bar, and I'm going to be too hard on Buck for a moment, look away.

Tommy says, "I was driving by your place the other day....," and doesn't sound done with the sentence when Buck interrupts then propositions him. What was he going to say, huh?? Where would the conversation have gone? Would there have been a conversation, a confession, if Buck hadn't interrupted it with sex???

Tommy says that Eddie stopped speaking to him, and Buck SAYS NOTHING. Not a "sorry, I didn't ask him to do that" or a "he shouldn't have" or a "that sucks, man, I know you were friends." We've talked about how Tommy got no indication Evan missed him; he ALSO got no indication Evan cares at all that his friends stopped speaking to Tommy on his behalf (and, I mean. maybe he doesn't).

[2isted-chocol8-art]

Would you be interested in making one of those ship chart things for the time buddies ? I dont have a specific one in mind (if you dont know what I mean looking up “ship chart template” gets you stuff) but im curious what your headcanons would look like on one of those

Thank you for the ask!! It was surprisingly harder to fill up than what I expected, but really really fun! It also helped me define a bunch of headcanons I had, so that's always nice. I'm not writing all of them down because this would become incrediby long, but if you want me to elaborate on any of these points, feel free to ask!! Blank template below the cut, if someone wants to do one of these too:

I couldn't find the name of the author, so if you guys know it I'd appreciate it if you let me know!

[iamhereinthebg]

Let's talk about the clock keepers!

With the last chapter (124), we have a lot of new things to look at and mostly, a lot of new questions. So let's look at what we know about them for now!

N°1's rumor shows right away what they are capable of. Putting even more emphasis on it and what they really do in the festival arc.

The owls eat away the time of whoever entered the boundary and wasn't allowed to. And the dolls Kako creates would answer the question of 'what happens to the souls after the body is destroyed' . (Knowing that Mirai can destroy the souls and bodies, so the Owls are probably not that powerful.) It's a cruel and awful price to pay, but not that surprising from the supernatural's perspective. Knowing the skate was 'a human who wanna play god and control time'.

What they are doing is also literally written in their titles, they are described as 'Time guardians, representatives of the Past, the Present and the Future', they are called clock keepers because they are protecting the clock that controls time within the school, act and punish according to it.

But with this chapter showing them in a really grim light, it’s pretty hard to see how they can be described as ‘good’ guardians.

The last chapter is really showing the danger Nene is facing. Showing the boundary as a cold place with all the things the clock keepers have been hiding. To show all the risks she is taking to go back to her friends knowing fully what could happen to her. If she tries to change the past, the clock keepers may change her into a mechanical doll wandering aimlessly in their cold boundary.

AidaIro have been trying  a lot to show how wrong and dangerous they were in this arc. We saw them through a lot of character’s pov, and all of them have been treating them as the biggest threat like Akane described them in chapter 108.

Nene sees how horrible their methods are, everything is pointing at them for being cruel. They will maybe even not listen to her because she seems to have broken the representative of the present’s watch and Akane is nowhere to be seen. 

Do they just punish anyone that seems to get too close to their powers? Humans mostly? Since the clock keeper of the present is a human too, does it mean they are affected by this?

The only reason for this would be if they gain something out of it. Would it mean the dolls have a bigger use than just filling the boundary. But what for? A soul? A body? A kind of sacrifice? 

But it would be insanely hypocritical of Kako to do this, showing his clear disagreement about the pit god's situation and Hanako’s choice to not do anything when the school is in in danger.

It’s not impossible, but only if the representative of the present breaks those rules they would suffer the same consequences as a normal human, they clearly have ‘autorisations’ over anyone else.

And I also think it makes sense for  a human to be part of this mystery.

Let's look at what happened when they decided to rewind time too.

We just can’t decide which timeline is the worst. On one hand we have a muderous curse, and on the other hand, we have a whole school being 'killed' in record time, the students are being turned into supernatural beings and even if they can turn back they are still attacking other students and people present for the festival. The school is even more crowded than usual, the number of victims at the end of the day will be pretty horrible in both timelines. I am not surprised the clock keepers decided to act. 

Changing a whole timeline is a huge deal, we even know that all of the Mysteries have limitations, prices to pay to be powerful.

Shijima can’t stop drawing even if she wants to, Tsuchigomi has the power to know but is not allowed to act on anything, Hakubo can bring things back to life but also kills everything he touches, and the Clock keepers have mechanical/broken bodies.

It may be the price they pay for their powers, Mirai seems in better shape than Kako too. The latter has to keep his mask on to hide his fake eyes. And they are dolls, the things they create to punish people. They can use their power to change the course of events but then have to go to sleep for a really long time, here for around 50 years, and just hope that what they did was the right choice. Kako’s role is one of ‘control’ over a lot of things, so not being able to do anything and not have any relevance for a long time is a big risk and price. Even more knowing a supernatural needs their rumor to continue to spread around to exist.

N°1 have a human in their team because they can break the ‘curse’ of their power. If Kako and Mirai can’t see anything and are forced to sleep to change the past, the clock keepers may use a human because they can observe what is happening in the living world, so they can observe the present. Akane was left to be the eyes  for the clock keepers in the new present like he is already in the original timeline. He reports things that seem suspicious to Kako.  Kako said it in his second appearance, their role is to observe at first, they take actions if they deem it necessary. 

Another thing to have in mind is that the clock keepers have also been kind of an exception since the beginning of the manga. They are the only mysteries to have ‘split powers’ in three, and several representatives. They are clearly important for the mysteries, being named number one and the oldest. Most of them show up to a meeting when they don’t when Hanako, the leader, calls for one. N°1 also don't fear to put their 'boss' on a trial.

They have respect from the mysteries, but also from exorcists. None of the characters want to take action against them in a big part of the manga despite having caused a real mess across the school. Tsuchigomori’s yorishiro was taken for no real reasons than Hanako's plan, and Shijima '’only'’’ trapped 2 students in her painting for example.

Teru always talks about the clock keepers like they are above the others too. He lets them have a pass on a lot of things and they are the only mystery he was willing to ask for help, probably mostly because a human is among them. But if the clock keepers always had such insane techniques to recruit a human (pretending to kill students (cf:chap 25 with Aoi)), it’s strange that no exorcist has done anything against that. Teru threatened to get rid of other mysteries, like Hanako even when he is the leader. Even after saying how much he hates the timeline and being 'controlled' by them, he never actually mention getting rid of them after or regretting not doing it sooner. It's considered a problem for Akane for him, he is only ''vexed'' to work with them and he even advised Akane to be careful about the yorishiro to be able to use their power.

We can point out that the inactions of the Minamotos clan may be because the mysteries are the real ‘pillars and yorishiros of the gods (Kami)’. Kako is the one who confirms that they are proxies of the gods , so close to deities. The mysteries’ yorishiros being clearly seals to a bigger danger (probably the pit god) But I still think the clock keepers have had a pass for the thing they did when others didn’t. Only two yorishiro were destroyed when they messed with the students' time.

The broadcasting club strengthened their methods with each new mystery and they had to use an old mystery power to do only a distraction for n°1 with their usual use of Hanako and Nene, knowing that they are really cautious supernatural. They went right away for their weak link, the mortal one, and they are the last mystery they want to take out before the most powerful one (Mitsuba not even being considered as one) It's also the time where they finally use Natsuhiko's curse. A curse that can take out Mitsuba down immediately. They were rarely as pro active to go against a Mystery in terms of power.

The moment being ‘now’ is also something to note. The clock keeper's powers may be more ‘fragile’ and/or powerful during this time, since the three days-ish of the festival are the time limit for people to forget if they ever rewinded time. The days before and during the festival are also the moment where the school time is the most unstable. Maybe they can do something that drastic only at this time, but it’s also the period where they are the most ‘weakened’ hence why the broadcasting club may have chosen this precise moment to act on them, Natsuhiko taking contact with Akane only when the preparations of the festival started. I would say that they can’t change the timeline when they want, a power like this may need a pretty big limit. 

The whole school being infested and killing students, their big clock being threatened, the boundaries between the supernaturals and humans nearly don’t exist anymore, the ‘enemy have gone this far’ with the curse on the school etc... The solution was to get rid of the root as Kako said. Because only rewinding time for the day wouldn't have been enough. I also think they didn’t mind what Shinigami did in the previous arc if it set things right. Kako even admits that Hakubo has extremes measures but doesn't stop him. It's not that surprising when you see what has been happening in the manga. They are “judges” after all and condemn things as they think it’s better to do.

Number 6's story being the last arc before the one of the clock keepers, was full of insane and drastic measures from a lot of characters. The story has more skates, it's normal for its progression. The more we go into the manga, the bigger the punitions are too. They lost everyone to the severance in the previous arc but they could get back because they weren't 'dead'. Now they don't exist as 'themselves' anymore, they have to literally change time to go back to their statu go. The clock keepers have been in the manga since nearly 100 chapters, it's great their story and the way they are handling things are awful to the characters. It doesn't mean they are right, but it's logical in term of story telling.

And now this is more of a personal preference, but I truly believe making a supernatural, especially a mystery, truly 'evil' now would go against the themes of this manga. None of the mysteries are shown through an ‘only evil lens’. Obviously they all take drastic measures that are awful to the livings half of the time, their morals and comprehension of life and death are way different than humans, it’s not even comparable. But the story always reminds us they do this for a reason, at least to them. Showing the clock keepers going 'oh yes we have been sacrificing people only to keep our power/be more powerful and nothing else' would be pretty strange in my opinion.

Hakubo was only doing his job this whole time, being more a servant/slave unable to take decision on his own, Hanako has done of what he did out of love, Shijima tried to kill Mei only because she thoughts she was hurting her by existing, Yako wanted to see the only person she ever cared about and who teached her everything, etc

All rumors have a part of truths and lies in them we are missing a lot of informations here.

That would break the whole point of the mysteries and the fact we as readers try to empathize or at least have a perspective on why they do this. Even the God pit wasn't shown only as an evil entity when it has been eating dozens of people. And we could even argue that it tries to do the right thing from its pov by wanting to bring 'happiness' since humans asked for it, all of it is also being amplified by rumors. The villagers thought that to keep the pit god calm they had to sacrifice young girls, but it was also to ask for wishes, like 'happiness'. And the god pit answered.

This is more of a stretch now but Kako being so extreme in his rules and choices may be because he is the one who already saw. He is the oldest supernatural they introduce in the manga, he is maybe even older than the god pit. He doesn’t even hesitate to say what It is to Akane, he seems to be the only one knowing that Tsukasa and him have merged. (w/o Tsuchi probablybut too many rules forces him to stay inactive/silent)  What kind of perspectives are we missing?

 Going this extreme must be for a reason that we don't have for now. We don't know how many times they rewinded time, we don't know what happened to them.

And especially we don't know why they had to leave their city and country. Why did they have to go into a foreign land, keeping only the memory of an endless snow day spent next to the chimney with sweets and tea as the representation of what they can call home. It is also shown that the clock keepers, compared to other mysteries, spend a lot of time in the innermost reach boundary. Akane has clearly been there several times. And it's so personal too, they have their house here. We see that Tsuchi spends more ’casual/mundane’ time in the school than his boundary, Yako’s innermost reach is the start of the staircase where Misaki died, Hakubo's could only be described as 'the awful village Sumire was from' and Shijima's was Mei's dream. These last two mysteries never went into them before Nene appeared. Everything they still do and cook is filled with their previous life/home, and it's always shown in a reassuring light. I think there definitely will be a story around this, and I hope we will see how it's important to their roles, and their powers.

Their yorishiro is a key to the big clock to control time,something that exists for them only because they are a mystery. But it also seems to lead to an ever more ‘secret’ part of the boundary. I have no idea what it means for them, but fire and comfort are always here in all their ‘most important places’.

It's too easy for now, to judge them and only categorize them as evil. Yes it's insane what they do, and not right to any other characters. But it's also not that drastic when you know the consequences of altering Time and what already happened in the manga previously, the two ideas can coexist.

The clock keepers are not an exception among the mysteries in terms of personnalities, they have traits all of them have.

They represent Judgment, or at least think they represent it. All mysteries are arrogant, the one being the most neutral about it being Hakubo, he's just doing his job and knows his capacities. But the clock keepers? They really are, probably the ones with the biggest ego. Kako is arrogant enough to not even care and take his time when danger arises because he knows he has time on his side.  His introduction actually already shows this side, his first appearance showing he came late because what's the point of being on time when you literally control it. Nothing is a problem when you can just go back in time like it never happened.

Mirai may not go with the definition of arrogance at first glance, but she definitely shows it in a different way. The world is her playground, she is kept in the clock keeper's boundary because she can't help herself but use her powers and turn the whole school into a retirement home. Whenever she fights she has a big smile on her face and she is seen laughing a lot at people following her, acting like a child whenever she doesn't get her way. I think their arrogance is the main point of their story. They are awful because of it. 

It's no wonder Akane is in the clock keepers , the idea to judge someone forever and stick to it is something really strong for them too. Kako has been stuck on Hanako's first introduction to him not even wanting to see him again for a really long time, just because he said ONE thing and Kako made his whole view about it, even bringing it back in a trial. They make their views on something and just stick to it forever. It’s not that surprising to see they go this far for people who try to control time, because they think they are right.

Once again, it’s easy to see what’s wrong with them but they are not only shown as evil supernaturals since the beginning of the manga.

 They are always shown as duty centered and described as stern and strict supernaturals. Kako doesn't hesitate to turn back time because it's Mirai who wrecked the school. So it's only fair 'because it's one of our own who did it, it's normal for me to fix it'. He works by the rules since his introductions in his manga, he is the most strict mystery and the one being the most bothered by what is happening in the school because it is ‘Their sworn duty to protect the school’.

 And they are just once again, as a lot of mysteries, taking their roles to an extreme for humans' standard. Kako's problem is that he is TOO serious, he knows his role, he knows how powerful they are, he knows his duty and he will make sure to do it. Even if his methods are awful. And I personally think that's what their arc, the next chapters, will be about.

That they were wrong and that it cost the lives of a lot of people and that especially Akane was a victim of it too. 

Putting them as only ‘cold blooded and evil’ characters is also not fair when there are a lot of little interactions that at least shows that they care about human lives and the school to some extent and Akane. Mirai literally took a blow for him. After getting destroyed, the first thing she does when she wakes up, is checking if he is alright and asking to be praised, she doesn't check anything else only making sure he is okay because she knows Kako can physically fix her. And we know that Kako can rewind Akane’s time, but he maybe would remember what happened, which means Mirai took the blow to avoid him to feel the pain of being stabbed. This wasn't even scripted since Akane planned for Mirai to escape. She acts like a kid more whenever he is around and wears the name he gave her like a badge, clearly having fun with him. She is absolutely shocked when he orders her to never take a blow for him ever again, saying she is a child rather than a beast/monster like he does in all previous chapters.

Kako forces Akane to have tea with them because he wants to congratulate him on a job done well. He is a bitch about it and is shocked because ‘what do you mean someone said no to him?’ and he uses his power to force him, but it’s a classic supernatural move, he does this because he can’t fathom that Akane would say no when they baked cakes specifically for him, it’s just another representation of his ego. Akane even admits that Kako listens to him at some point. If Teru wanted to ask for their help is also because they seem ‘'’reasonable’'’ supernaturals.

Akane has gone through a development in the manga that makes him question A LOT of what he knows, sees and assumes, that's his whole role. In the last chapters it is shown that Akane has a hard time to pinpoint exactly how he feels really about the clock keepers because he knows what their real role is, they are 'protecting' and that's something he can understand. But he hates the way they work. He says it throughout the whole series, but what can he do? He is literally just a random human boy among god powered beings. And it's no wonder Akane is also one of the only half supernatural.

Their whole thing is 'being humbled' by humans in this series. 

And it's easy to say that humans are only victims in all the supernatural stories. They need to realize how much their actions and consequences are a part of the supernatural world. Supernaturals especially the mysteries, are bound by duties and rumors, they have to respect rules for the humans if they want to be part of their world, things happen because rumors were written, supernaturals start existing because of humans, the god pit became so powerful because humans made sacrifices asking for wishes. I kinda hope that Human’s greediness will be addressed, they are far more powerful than they think they are in the grand scheme of things.

And it’s even more obvious when we see that all mysteries have a human and their death linked to their yorishiro. Which is also why I think there is more behind the clock keepers’ backstory, we know nothing of it and it will give us a new insight at what is happening. What happened to make them feel so much that they now go to all those extremes to respect their sworn duties as mystery n°1? I think they are arrogant and need to be put in place for what they are doing but I don’t think they are as greedy as a lot of fans are saying.  I have so many questions and I hope we will have some answers soon. 

We are missing information on so many things, why was Amane trying to get the clock moving too? He wanted to change time probably, but it’s not as simple as trying to move a 'magical' clock. Was his fate a consequence of this at some point? If Kako already knew Tsukasa had the god pit in him why not do anything sooner (Tsukasa became a real threat recently though, since he was locked in Hanako’s boundary probably and the clock keepers waited to be active)

So many things can’t be answered for now and it’s blurry on so many parts so it’s easy to make speculations, but once again I think the important thing here is ‘nuance’. Not all humans are ‘only nice’ and the supernaturals aren’t ‘only evil’, otherwise AidaIro won’t have any story to tell. And unfortunately I think it's a thing that has been clearly lacking in the writing of the recent arcs and the consequences of rushing storylines.

I am really scared for the next chapters but I also can’t wait for the clock keepers’ story to finally be shown! 

[rustyboltzz]

Some mspaint technos @ company

[storytellering]

Boys, bored at the family function

[shorthaltsjester]

me as an imogen’s selfishness built from her isolation is one of the most interesting things about her truther (which, before someone vagues me on twitter . i don’t think this doesn’t mean she can’t and hasn’t been altruistic but that’s a separate post) + someone who loves when my favourite characters have their lives threatened and/or they die. i am eating well after last night’s ep.

as someone who cares for the world of exandria and despises everytime ashton opens his mouth about the gods and clocked into ashton and ludinus wearing the same hat a while ago . having to listen to them talk about how they’re better than ludinus because (checks notes) they want to do exactly what ludinus wants to but their motives (the exact same kind of trauma that made him tell ludinus to “grow up” . me BEGGING him to take his own advice) are better ??? i’m not eating as well but what can you do.

my grip on this campaign as a completionist who Is enjoying cr even if i don’t think this is a particularly strong campaign is truly resting on the shoulders of imogen impulsive-and-single-minded temult, fearne “if the world’s burning i want a front row seat” calloway, orym “only member of the group capable of a thought for the ‘little guys’ the party claims to stand for” of the air ashari, and chet who is there for vibes (and to protect his family). also shout out to braius for joining the one party where betraying them would make him easily break into the top 3 morally upstanding members of the party.

[the-pea-and-the-sun]

why is namek like that

i had a namekian specbio post drafted but along the way i got distracted with the namekian sky, so im just jotting down a bit of my thoughts about how a namekian solar system and planet atmosphere might work. most projections arent particularly stable, its no surprise they had a severe ecological disaster. we know namek has liquid water, and is an earth-like enough temperature for bulma to be comfortable there, so everything else is kind of bending around that. this super cool article by sean raymond talks about how you might make a no-night planet work. luckily no other planets are ever specified to exist in namek's solar system (to my knowledge) which makes this a lot easier! generally more stars = less planets, so im imagining that namek is the only planet in its solar system.

this is raymond's three star system diagram! in this model though, the planet actually does experience night, but only once every 600 years. im satisfied with this, as we get the information about namek "always having at least one sun in the sky" from dende, who's 8 years old, and likely just hasn't experienced or heard about namek's night yet. there's a lot of fun worldbuilding potential here! supposedly grand elder is only around 500 years old, and given that within his lifetime there was a catastrophe great enough to nearly extinct their species, it's possible that no living namekians know that their planet has a night time. but if they have, it's probably some huge legendary event, and is probably associated with porunga in some way since that's the only time the vast majority of namekians will ever experience a dark sky (do namekians have religion? holidays? questions for later...)

so COOL a three star system works! (as long as you allow for these substantial aus, anything for eternal sunlight..) however due to dragon ball rules we're working with a canon year of only 130 days. this is kinda problematic for a habitable planet like namek. shorter orbital period = closer to the (main) sun. given that there are already two extra suns shining light on this definitely liquid water having planet, this seems like we might have to do some magical hand-waving, which makes me sad because i find that boring. but its at least fun to think about what the magical logic is instead of just saying "eh it works because magic", so i wanted to try that! since the dragon balls operate on their own magical logic they might have a skewed definition of what a "year" can be classified as (and a year is pretty cultural too, right?). also, why do the dragon balls take a year to be able to be used again at all? (aside from plot reasons) like... what are they doing? with the dragon balls on earth, it was kinda easy to presume that they were "recharging" or that the dragon himself needed some kind of "rest", and that this process just so happened to take an earth year. the translations i could find were kind of vague on this, so im taking advantage of that vagueness. being about 1 au from the sun in this model, namek's "year" as defined by how long it takes to orbit its central star is about the same as earths (a bit boring, sorry) ! and the time it takes the other two objects in its system to make a full rotation around their shared center far far exceeds that, so i kind of don't think theres any justification to define a namekian "year" as 130 days other than that being the time it takes for the dragon balls to recharge, which makes perfect sense to me culturally! i mean, given that there are three suns, surely the amount of time it takes for your planets magical wish granting dragon to start working again would be a much more meaningful unit of measurement than the time it takes your planet to complete and orbit around your smallest sun (oh god what are namekian seasons like. probably fucked. another question for later). also from my wikipedia skimming it looks like alpha centauri's planet (assuming its a planet) has a similar orbital period to earth's too. its nice to have some real-life justification 👍

theres more to say about that but im moving on from this part for now. i just wanted to provide justification for a namekian year being however long it needs to be in order for namek to have three suns and still have liquid water.

i wanna talk a bit about the planet itself. namely: why the fuck is the sky green??

almost any other sky color could have some non-poison gas explaination except green. DAMMIT!! but its fine we can make it work. (also the plants are blue. which is actually a lot less problematic but i'll talk abt that later) im referencing this artifexian video for my information here btw 👍he gives a few ways that a sky could appear green but we kinda have to rule out all of them here except for something green being physically suspended in the air, because there just isnt any light/atmosphere combination that makes the sky look green to human eyes. since krillin is a human whos just so super wicked strong he can also fly, id be fine hand-waving breathing a green gas or dust for him and gohan, but. bulma is on that planet too... breathing away... also there's pretty clearly grass on this planet and like, brown earth. so mars like dusty skies dont make a lotta sense either. so i guess artifexian's sky-algae idea will have to work ! as horrifying as the implications are .... either these guys are just straight up breathing in green stuff all the time, or the algae is somehow suspended too high up to be inhaled. (also sky-algae would explain why the planet looks almost gaseous from space)

luckily bulma doesnt seem to be having any problems breathing it that green stuff, but like pollen allergies its easy to imagine that someone would be. which is kinda fun to think about actually. someone having an allergic reaction to the namekian sky, validating bulma's concern about breathable atmosphere would be a lot of fun... BUT I DONT HAVE TIME FOR THAT FOR NOW !! i have other goals in mind. i just wanted to record this "namek's sky is green because theres guys in there" concept somewhere. also, three suns at various levels of rising at setting at all times, while not portrayed in the anime due to technical limitations, would almost CERTAINLY mean namek would have a really cool variety of sky colors! just all tinted green because of the sky algae. of course sky algae doesnt need to be green all the time, nor does it need to be in the sky (or alive) all the time. maybe the green skies are new post ecological disaster? very fun to imagine pre-guru namekian skies....

[themathomhouse]

I don't know if I like taking ADHD medication. apparently it doesn't magically make me into a more organised person who doesn't procrastinate, which would imply that those things were partly within my power to control before now as well!! and that just can't be right. I'm supposed to be able to hide behind my diagnosis and never work on myself this is bullshit

[skitskatdacat63]

“Do you think love can bloom even on the battlefield?”(Monaco 2010-2013)

[sankttealeaf]

WIP WHENEVER

sometimes you miss the deadlines for wip games but that's okay, there's no rules here! ty for the tag @elinorbard !!

giving a super secret snippet of the reincarnation au for durgetash i'm cooking up! rue and enver meet in group therapy for the first time (in this lifetime, anyway) ft. group therapist wyll

“Did you get here alright, Enver?” Wyll asks, making conversation to keep the room from going too quiet.

He nods. “Yes.” Ravengard. Where does he know the name from? “I don’t live too far. Heapside.”

“Ah, the journey isn’t too bad for you then,” he replies with a nod and takes a sip of his coffee. Wyll checks his watch and Enver can’t help himself.

“You said your last name was Ravengard, right?” he asks, determined to figure out where he knows the name from before it consumes him.

Wyll nods and offers no more explanation because Enver hasn’t asked for it.

“Huh. It’s familiar,” Enver replies, mainly to himself.

“Curious.” Wyll turns to look at the tiefling woman, who’s now pulled her knees to her chest and resting her head against them. “You said the same thing, didn't you?”

She shrugs, tail wrapping itself around her legs as she gives Enver a look. “The Ravengards held a seat in the Council of Four back in the fifteenth century. Notable family. You’ve probably heard it from a history book.”

He doesn’t expect her voice to sound so smooth. There’s a hint of what he would consider to be an Upper City accent in how she speaks, authoritative without being commanding, like a gentle breeze that gets the attention of the hairs on the back of one's neck. Enver doesn’t realise he’s staring at her until he sees her tilt her head with a small smile, her eyes giving him a once over.

“Right, that must be it,” he says as he clears his throat and looks away, too busy to explain to her how that can’t be possible.

tagging (with no pressure!) @cj-kenobi @kaleido-scope-lady @theviridianbunny @adorablebanite

[ghost-bard]

Youre kidding me. Porter is a multiclass teacher and he wont let one of his students multiclass your fucking kidding me he called gorgug a c+ student while hes taking freshman-junior artificer classes i hate his guts so much my fucking goodness maybe gorgug wouldnt be a c+ student if he wasnt taking on a 400% workload you bitch i hate himmmmmm

[iriysse]

headcanon.

When Elves re-embody typically they are given bodies identical to their original ones. When Aredhel was re-embodied, however, she specifically requested a new appearance. She could not rewrite her life, but she desired at least to be a little less 'doe eyed and gullible looking' as she called it, and something felt like a clean slate if she could start anew from the very foundation of how she looked. There were no memories of staring in horror at what she had allowed herself to become. Mandos considered and granted her request, and she left his halls feeling as if she had been made anew. Those who knew her could recognize her after a moment of initial confusion.