#I will not elaborate ana says

[gayhoediaz]

jell-o

(inspired by reply i left on one of @texasbama's posts)

T | 1k | also on ao3

“I feel like jello.”

The words follow a few long moments of silence as they struggle to catch their breath, panting as they stare up at the ceiling of Eddie’s dimly lit bedroom. 

It’s a fairly normal thing to say after an orgasm like that - Buck could huff in amusement, say ‘Me too,’ except Eddie isn’t praising his skills in bed. His voice is not drenched in happiness and the wonder of afterglow - it sounds… thick. Buck can read Eddie like the back of his own hand, even without looking at him. Eddie is not sad - not at all. Although, he's certainly… emotional. 

Buck swallows, keeping his eyes on the ceiling. 

After he pulled out, they ended up falling onto their backs like two people on a sitcom after having off-screen sex, needing the space to cool their body temperatures down - but now he moves his hand, blindly reaching until it finds Eddie’s. Eddie immediately responds to the touch, lacing their fingers together.

Buck squeezes. Eddie squeezes back. 

Buck wants to say something, but he doesn’t. It doesn’t feel as if it’s what Eddie needs right now. It feels as if he’s gathering up the courage to elaborate, himself. So Buck gives him the time he needs, waiting patiently.

Another few beats pass. Buck remains quiet - moves the pad of his thumb back and forth over the back of Eddie’s - soothing him. 

“I, uh…” Eddie finally continues, trailing off to swallow, the click of his throat audible in the silence of the room. “I used to have to use that every time Marisol and I - I uh…” He stutters a little bit - which isn’t usually his thing, it tends to be Buck’s. “I - we-“ he stutters some more, his voice growing thicker. 

Buck sighs, gently slipping his hand out of Eddie’s only to roll himself up onto his side, supporting himself on his elbow, eyes falling upon Eddie’s flushed face. 

Sinking the hand into his hair, soothingly combing his fingers through the sweat-damp strands, he slips his other hand into Eddie’s instead, giving another reassuring squeeze. 

Eddie’s eyes are closed, but the warm light of the bedside table lamp highlights the slight wetness collected around the corner of his eye. Buck leans down - just barely brushing his lips over the area. Eddie swallows again, squeezing his hand. 

“With Shannon, things were… things were good, with Ana, I used to just… close my eyes. Wait for it to be over, you know, but with Marisol, I… I used to, uh… I had to use that.” 

“You used to have panic attacks?” Buck can’t help but breathe, his chest aching. “With her?” 

“No.” The word leaves Eddie’s mouth with a sad huff of amusement, as he finally opens his eyes, immediately finding Buck’s. “Almost,” he says, then. “Every time, I just… I used to repeat it, it was always this mantra in my head,” he says, bringing his free hand up to gesture towards his own temple. “Everything was okay. I wasn’t in danger. My legs were jello, my arms, my chest, my head, I was a giant…”

“…Eddie shaped jello mold,” Buck finishes softly. Eddie nods. 

Buck swallows down the anger he feels at Marisol. 

Rationally, he recognizes that she didn’t do anything wrong - likely didn’t have any idea whatsoever, because if there is one thing Eddie is good at, it’s compartmentalizing and pretending that everything is okay - especially when it comes to people that ultimately don't know him all that well. 

Irrationally, however, the thought of her touching him when he didn’t enjoy it makes Buck want to vomit. So much so that he apparently makes a face he’s not aware of, because the corner of Eddie’s mouth twitches up of amusement, a huff leaving his nose as he reaches a hand across his own body, and up to fit his palm against the side of Buck’s face, thumb gently caressing his cheekbone. 

Buck’s heart immediately calms down. He sighs, giving his other hand one last squeeze before he lets go, moving it to wrap around his wrist instead, nodding once to nuzzle his cheek deeper into his cupped palm. 

“It was on me,” Eddie assures him. “I shouldn’t have forced myself to-“ he cuts himself off when Buck makes a slight huff in his throat. It may not have been her fault, but it wasn’t yours either, is what he wants to say - but instead, he nods, allowing Eddie to go on. “…anyway, I just - it… kept the panic at bay, but it didn’t really… work, you know? I didn’t feel…” he trails off again, shrugging best as he can while laying down. “Didn’t feel right, I never felt…” 

“…like jello,” Buck hums. 

“It helped - kept me from... panicking completely, but I never actually felt... like jello - not in those moments.” 

“And jello is calm - relaxed,” Buck hums. 

“Safe, yeah.” 

“If you felt safe, you uh… you wouldn’t have to remind yourself you feel safe,” he says, briefly turning his head to press his lips to Eddie’s palm. Eddie hums, nodding. “But you’re jello now?” Buck asks, allowing a hint of lightheartedness to slip into his tone as he fits his cheek back into the palm of Eddie’s hand. 

“Oh, yeah,” Eddie says, the slight twitch of his mouth melting into a full smile. “You didn’t see my legs shaking?” 

At that, Buck barks out a laugh - loud enough that he has to tilt his head back, eyes briefly falling closed; Eddie’s own chuckles harmonize with his own - and when their eyes meet once again, Eddie’s smile has grown into a full grin, the previous red-flushed tone of his eyes nowhere to be seen. 

“I did,” Buck assures him, leaning down to bring his lips closer to Eddie’s. “I did see that.” 

“Think you can make it happen again?” Eddie teases, his hand slipping up past Buck’s cheek, fingers tangling themselves in his hair as Buck lets go of his wrist, reaching down and across Eddie’s body to find a grip on the outside of his thigh, pulling it over to lay over his own. A few warm, happy chuckles sound somewhere deep in Eddie’s throat, and Buck nods once, only to brush the tips of their noses together. 

“Mhm,” he assures him. “And again.” 

[hbmmaster]

warioware characters, organized by how precisely their ages are known from canon:

exact age

Fronk: one year old

18-Volt: fourth grader, but specifically 10 years old

narrow range

Mike: was shown being built in warioware touched, probably less than one year old for the rest of the series

Kat and Ana: kindergarteners (5 or 6 years old)

9-Volt: also a fourth grader (9 or 10 years old)

exact age but like in an unhelpful way

Orbulon: exact age has been stated twice, both times just being the release year of the specific game (2003 and 2018); these games do not take place 15 years apart because none of the children aged between games

Ashley: "fifteen going on 500" (this is generally not accepted as canon. if you know literally anything about ashley you'll get why this doesn't make sense so I don't need to elaborate; ashley is definitely younger than fifteen)

range with broad but clear bounds

Penny: middle schooler (12-15 years old)

Mona: high schooler (15-18 years old)

very broad range

Dr. Crygor: over one hundred years old

Young Cricket: ..............."young"

only known vaguely

Lulu: very young, notably even younger than the character with "Young" in his name

5-Volt: old enough to be the mother of a fourth grader

Wario: an adult, believe it or not

Jimmy T: about the same age as wario (it's "rumored" that wario and jimmy were childhood friends)

Jamie T and James T: Jimmy's younger siblings. probably also adults?

Mama T and Papa T: Jimmy's parents

Master Mantis: vaguely elderly, probably not as old as crygor

unknowable

Doris: built long enough in the past that crygor forgot about her, but also he's super old so like. who can say

Dribble and Spitz: I mean, they're not children?

Jimmy P: we know so little about jimmy p, beyond "looks a lot like jimmy t"

Red: he could be as old as time itself or he could be a baby and either one would make perfect sense

Pyoro: pyoro

[schafpudel]

What Kind of Duck, is Duck?

OK. So first, let's get this out of the way:

Duck is not real. Duck is, first and foremost, the vague idea of a duck. Duck... is not strongly based on the reality of ducks as an animal.

She is extremely stylized, a blobby little chibi-mascot in a world of anime humans and realistically rendered animals and animal-people. She has contradictory traits - the yellow coloration of a duckling, on the functional flight feathers of a bird that's entered its adult plumage. Her thoughts and actions are noticeably less bestial than those of Mr. Cat or any of the talking-animal students, not beholden to instincts.

When asking what kind of duck our friend Duck is, we must first admit to ourselves that this is a silly question. Ducks like Duck do not exist. She has little candy-cane legs, for god's sake. God bless her.

(If we want to get real meta, perhaps we could speculate that she isn't a real duck because she is a story-duck: escaped from her narrative like the prince and the raven, and the wilis maiden, and the ghost knight, oblivious to her origins. It would, if nothing else, provide a fun watsonian explanation for some of her oddities.)

But fandom is all about getting fucking silly with it, and building elaborate though exercises about shit the creators didn't think about. And I'm an animal nerd. So this is how I choose to have fun. Let's go.

Analysis of the Birb

Duck can be safely assumed to be a Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, or domestic mallard, as this is the typical barnyard duck throughout Asia, Europe, and... really almost the entire world. I say she must be a domestic mallard, and not wild, for one simple reason:

On the left is the typical appearance wild mallard duckling. On the right are various domesticated ducklings. That's right; the solid yellow color we associate with baby ducks? Specific to domesticated ones! Solid yellow is a sign a duckling will grow up to be a white duck; ducklings that grow up to be other colors have darker fluff mixed in.

(That's right. She'll have white plumage like a swan...)

Many white ducks have orange bills, legs, and feet; other white ducks, especially as ducklings, have orange legs and pink bills. Duck's bill is far more pinkish than her feet, but it's still noticeably orange-y, putting her in sort of a middle area. (By the way, have you ever noticed that Duck's hair color as a girl is the same as her bill color as a duck?)

If she's intended to be anything in particular (which I doubt she is), it might be the German Peking - native to the area, and the creamy-yellow tinged adult plumage of the German Peking compared to other white ducks seems to be reflected by the tint of the duck-feather quill Autor provides as a substitute for Drosselmeyer's swan-feather quill.

However, let me provide my personal baseless headcanon.

Come and see the humble Call Duck

The Call Duck is a Dutch breed, speculated to be descended from a variety of duck imported to the Netherlands from Japan. Call ducks are a smaller-than-average breed, with a note-worthily "cute" appearance compared to other ducks, even as adults: large forehead, round cheeks, short bill. They're also noteworthy for being sociable and friendly with their human keepers, making them great pets compared to other ducks... as well as very, very noisy and talkative.

(Nobody's perfect.)

There's also a certain... symbolism, I think, to the Call as a breed.

Call ducks are friendly and talkative because they were bred not for eggs, or for meat, but for hunting. Not that they themselves hunted! But their innocent, friendly talkativeness, their cheerful noisy voices, were shaped as a siren song to lure wild ducks into funnel traps. Unwittingly bringing the demise of its own kind, the Call duck's sweetness is exploited by hunters to draws other ducks to their doom.

Duck is kind, and sweet, and wants to be friends with people, and wants to help them. She saw the Prince on the lake, like a wild swan, and wanted to help him in any way she could.

In Drosselmeyer's eyes, this made her the perfect person to become Princess Tutu, to set the story back in motion... and through that friendly kindness, send every "character "in the Story to their doom.

[thescarletkiller]

The aftermath of the Mikaelys Family

[Since I made a blog for this AU now, I might as well post my headcanons here instead of sending them out to a different blog]

This takes place after Francis’s execution/after Anastacha murdered him (one of the few bad endings). Just to clarify that while Francis does have a few good endings with his family, this post focuses on the bad ones.

Even after he’s arrested in the Asylum ending, Francis will haunt Nacha and Anastacha literally and metaphorically

I don’t think Nacha and Anastacha will recover from all this

It’s like the premise of the novel Rebecca, where the mother and daughter are haunted by the traumatic memories of Francis. And a bit like Wuthering Heights where Francis’s ghost will come to visit them from time to time to haunt them outside their window. (Can you tell I’m interested in gothic fiction?)

After their ordeal, Nacha and Ana would develop PTSD. It’ll be hard for them to trust people again. They’re more anxious of their surroundings and remembering the thought of Francis will send them on an anxiety attack and constant night terrors.

They can’t see milkmen or dairy products the same way ever again.

It’s a long path of mental recovery for both mother and daughter. They’re the closest they have for support. They stuck together during the difficult times they experienced together.

If they’re encouraged to seek therapy or if they can afford it, they’ll do it together. Or in the Asylum route, they can finally get the courage the confront Francis and cut him off (which leads to his schizophrenia ending). It would be a huge weight lifted off their shoulders. Sure, they’ll heal as long as they need to but that doesn’t erase the horrible trauma Francis inflicted upon them.

What it means for Anastacha:

Whether or not we’re going by the route Anastacha killed her father, the love and respect she felt for her father turned to immense fear, betrayal, hate and sadness

I hc she was just 10 or 12 when it all happened. It was a lot for her to take in that her father turned out to be a monster.

She was just a kid. She couldn’t understand why her previously loving father turned crazy and restricted her and her mother’s freedom. How could her father who loved them so much became so controlling and possessive over them? If her father loves her mother so much, why would he kidnap them, tie them up and try to chop off her legs?

Anastacha tried asking herself these questions for the longest time. She thought that if she could understand the reason behind her father’s actions, if she could see the logic behind him, she can make sense of her father and her own trauma. That doesn’t mean she can forgive for everything he’s done. She knows her father loves her and Nacha in his own twisted way but no matter how much love he had in his heart for them, she believes what he had done is wrong. Nothing justifies keeping his own family hostage.

Once she learned her father is a serial killer the whole time, this newfound knowledge would worsen Anastacha’s fear and shock for her own father. She knew he was a bad person for what he’s done but she didn’t think he’d be an absolute monster.

After learning this shocking revelation, Anastacha became afraid of becoming exactly like her father one day. And if she were the one to kill him, the guilt would weigh heavier on her. She didn’t want to kill again and become a murderer like Francis.

And so Anastacha avoided getting close to anyone for a long time to avoid getting hurt or avoid hurting anyone herself, including her new classmates in her new school. When someone asks about her father, she pauses, hesitates at first before saying “my dad’s dead. Whatever.” (Can be true in the literal or figurative sense). And if anyone pries further such as “how did your dad die?” Ana would withdraw from the conversation and refuse to elaborate further. She would also drop out of a conversation when the topic is about fathers.

Since Anastacha takes after Francis a lot (like his eyes, tired demeanour and the “mmm” verbal tick), she feels disgusted and scared of the fact that she’s gonna look like him when she’s older (like how Francis couldn’t look at himself in the mirror because he looks too similar to his father). She tries not to say “mmm” though it’ll slip out accidentally out of habit, which causes her to bite her tongue out of frustration. When she’s older, she’d use makeup to hide the bags under her eyes so it won’t look like her father’s.

Whenever her mom is having panic attack or night terrors, Ana would wake up in the middle of the night just to comfort her. The same happens for Ana as well. At this point, both mother and daughter have became each other’s support system.

Every time she dreams, it was always about her father keeping her and her mother hostage or her father spiraling them down to hell with him. She has countless nights of endless nightmare. She couldn’t get a wink of good sleep after everything.

Sometimes she could feel her father’s presence looming over her, even if he isn’t actually there to begin with. If she did end up killing Francis, her guilty conscious will manifest into a ghost of him, whispering unwanted thoughts into her head about how he killed her or giving her urges to kill, which leads to her screaming that she’s never going to be like him or throwing/breaking stuff.

She and Nacha become each other’s support system now. They’ll cry onto each other for comfort after a ptsd flashback or confide in each other now that they barely trust anyone but themselves now.

If Anastacha got the help that she needs, she’ll slowly regain her trust in people again. She can begin to open up a little and start making friends. She’ll be cold, distant and touch averse when she grew up but she learned how to be empathetic and understanding towards other people no matter their circumstances.

For romantic relationships, I’ll just say that Anastacha isn’t interested in finding love. It’s not just because I headcanon her as a romance-repulsed aroace, it’s also because she doesn’t want to hurt any potential partner she may have. She believes she needs a long time to heal if she can settle down (which she probably never will).

She’s not used to showing affection to anyone else besides her mother because remembering the suffocating way her father smothered them with affection makes her sick to her stomach. She also doesn’t like being touched by strangers and would tell them off, even coming off as rude if she does so.

When it comes to her close friends however, she would allow them to hold hands and occasionally accept hugs from them but that’s just about it.

Since her past had affected her so much, Anastacha questioned why people behave the way they do. What drives them to do bad things? What causes people to become the way they are? That’s why in the future, she studied to became a psychiatrist. Needless to say, her mother is extremely proud of her.

She chose this career path because she wanted help anyone going through trauma, mental health issues or difficult circumstances. She wants to give people a chance at recovering so they won’t have to go through what she experienced in the past with her father.

It was rewarding for her helping people on the path to recovery, especially if they’ve been in toxic relationships, domestic violence situations and/or suffering from mental illnesses. After rationalising what she’s been through in the past and understanding her father’s psyche, she can use it to help her patients.

I also like to imagine that Anastacha uses music to cope with her negative feelings and trauma. She grew to have a preference for heavy music like rock/metal/punk so I can see her picking up guitar or drum lessons during her teens to vent her anger out. And maybe in her 20s to 30s, she’ll form her own death metal band as a side gig and release an album about the shit she went through as a kid. Nacha would prefer that her daughter should do more ladylike hobbies but whatever helps her cope.

Also, Anastacha would likely visit her father at the asylum once she became a trained psychologist (assuming he didn’t die or escape and track them down).

Francis: Anastacha? Is that you? *gasps* IT IS YOU! Haha…I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! ANA! IT’S YOU! MY LITTLE GIRL! I thought I’ll never see you again! And you’ve grown! You’ve grown up so fast!

Anastacha: *unfazed* hello Francis. It’s been a long time. And don’t call me your little girl or whatever.

Rather than a friendly father-daughter meet up, Anastacha would visit her father to get answers out of him, not just closure from herself but she wanted to understand her father better.

Francis: sweetie, why can’t you understand. I love you and your mother so much. All I wanted was to protect you both from this rotten world. But you both ran away from me? Do you even know how hurt I was? You both left without a word!

Anastacha: then tell me. If you love us so much, why would you keep us away from everyone like we’re prisoners? What good is protecting us when you wanted to cut off mom’s legs? How is that part of our ‘protection’ or whatever?

Eventually it got to a point where Francis tell his daughter about his past. Or when Ana tries not to break down and lash out in front of her father for all the terror he caused. She eventually came to understand why her father became the way that he did. Due to the abuse he experienced as a child, he developed extreme loneliness, abandonment issues and an anxious attachment disorder. Due to losing a lot in his life, he has a strong fear of losing the ones he loves. So by keeping them with him, he won’t have to worry about them leaving.

And yes, Anastacha does acknowledge that her dad loves his family in his own twisted fucked up way. He never cheats on Nacha, he provides for them both and he has shown his affection to them (in the most suffocating way possible). But does that mean she forgives him? Of course not! There’s nothing he can do to erase all the harm he caused, especially after he tracked them down and tried to chop off Nacha’s legs as a last resort to keep them as his ‘family’.

There’s still a part of her that feels sympathy for her father. Not for the man he is now, but the boy he used to be. She just wished he could’ve gotten the help he so clearly needed before he became a monster. Then he could’ve been a father that she could love again. This only drives Anastacha further to help anyone in abusive situations, so they don’t end up like her dad.

Even if Anastacha did try to reason with Francis and break through his delusions, he’s beyond fixing at this point now that he’s murdered so many innocents. It’s simply too late.

Francis: mmm, so you won’t forgive your father?

Anastacha: hmm, I would. If you didn’t become worse than your own father.

If Anastacha went to visit her father after she and Nacha confronted him years ago, this would be a different story. Once she learns that her father has been now reduced to a catatonic, empty husk of a person he once was, she would be horrified yet pitied the state that she’s in, even though cutting him off was the right choice. He’s too far gone now.

No matter how deep Francis is in his deluded state, she’ll try to get him to come to his senses.

Francis: …Ana?

Anastacha: Francis?

Francis: mmm…Ana? Is that you? My little girl?

Anastacha: yes Francis. It’s me.

In this route, Anastacha didn’t get the answers she needed but she’s left to fill in the blanks herself. She told Nacha all about it.

Nacha: what? What happened to him?

Anastacha: Francis is gone. He’s schizophrenic. No matter how much I talked to him, he barely recognised me. *sighs* Whatever. It’s too late. There’s nothing I can do.

Anastacha’s fear of her father is diminished though the hatred is still there. In the end though, she doesn’t completely hate her dad. She can never forget what he’s done but a bit of that hatred has turned into understanding for his part. She’ll visit Francis until the day of his execution and she’ll cry along with her mother once he dies. Now, that the source of all their trauma is gone, they’ll be relieved yet it doesn’t feel like a victory. All that leaves her and her mother is a deep hollow feeling. It’s still gonna take a long time for Anastacha and Nacha to recover from this.

This, this starts a new chapter in Anastacha’s life now that Francis is dead. She’ll heal on her own one step at a time. Eventually, she can find peace for herself and her mother.

What it means for Nacha?

Nacha won’t be doing so well either.

After her husband has been arrested/killed, she’s been haunted by the memory of him. All of the happy memories she had with him had been poisoned after he kidnapped her and attempted to chop off her legs. She couldn’t believe that the man she married turned out to be a monster. Finding out that her ex husband is a serial killer made her fear of him much worse.

She became really anxious as a result such as reacting violently to sudden noises or being too wary of her surroundings. Her imagination is running wild because she’s afraid Francis might pop up and take her hostage again.

Like Anastacha, she would get countless nightmares about Francis holding her and her daughter hostage. Or dreams about Francis as a demon locking her in a gilded where he plans to do all sort of stuff with her. (@hellosweetart iykyk)

All his lovesick words, his possessive touches, his presence, everything about Francis just gives her goosebumps but in a frightening way. He’s became a ghost of her past and he’ll haunt her for the rest of her life.

Nacha doesn’t trust herself to get close to anyone now, let alone get married to someone new. Not after what she’s been through with her ex-husband.

Thankfully, she has her daughter in her life for emotional support. She got separation anxiety if she’s left in a room alone so Anastacha had to check on her often. Thankfully with therapy, she’ll gradually be able to handle being alone in a room by herself. Though for her mother’s sake, Anastacha promised to live with her mom when she’s studying in college or when she’s finally working to support her emotionally and financially. If she has to move far away for her job, she’ll bring her mom along with her.

After getting into therapy, her emotional and mental state has improved. She still haunted by the memory of Francis and still dreams of him but she tries not to think of him much now.

Nacha prefers calm, quiet peaceful sceneries like the one in the countryside to clear her mind. It makes her feel at peace with herself and the world.

She cooks and bakes more as an outlet. Cooking has always been her passion now she holds onto it more than ever. She doesn’t make beef stew and strawberry cheesecake as much anymore, because those are Francis’s favourite dishes he makes.

And once Anastacha becomes a psychologist, she’ll help with her mother’s therapy as much as she can. Nacha’s proud that her daughter has got a good job that helps people, including herself. She does feel guilty about having her daughter be her personal therapist now but Anastacha assures her she’s cool with it and she doesn’t want her to suffer again.

Years after years of reflection, Nacha’s feelings for Francis become complicated. She loved the man who loves and cherishes her as a person and a wife. Not a lot of the men she used to date did that. But the moment her husband’s love turns extremely obsessive and she found out that he’s a monster in human skin, she began to fear what Francis will do to her and Ana. Yet her love for him still remains. Even though his methods of caring for them are suffocating, Francis works hard to provide for his family and he loves them unconditionally. Her immense fear of her husband clashes with the love she has for him. It’s just that her fear has overtaken her and she chose to run away, understandably so.

And after Francis traumatised her, her immense fear and trauma overwhelmed any love she had for him. Nacha just wants him gone from her life after all he’s done. She just wants to forget about him forever. Any mention of Francis or any reminder of him is enough to break her down.

Anastacha gives her updates on how Francis is doing in the asylum. She told Nacha everything, how Francis was an abuse victim growing up, how his mental state is, how he’s sorry and misses her and wants to see his family again.

Now Nacha is conflicted. She’s obviously terrorised by him and resents Francis for traumatising them. She can never forgive that. But a part of her still does care for him. She knows it’s a wrong feeling and she tries to deny it but after hearing about what Francis can go through, she does feel sympathetic for him. If things hadn’t gone down that badly, she wishes she could understand him better and questioned why he became that way. She still misses the happy family life they could’ve had together and the pleasant loving moments they used to have. But it was too late.

If this is the schizophrenia ending, Nacha would be horrified to learn of the current state her ex-husband.

“What?! Oh dear god! What happened to him?”

Even due to her trauma, she would still feel sympathetic to hear that Francis has been reduced from a homicidal maniac to a broken shell of a man. This is why watching his execution wasn’t easy for her either. She had to watch her formerly dangerous husband who was never saved put to rest for good. Nacha knew Francis had to be put down for good. It’s for the best. She’ll finally be free from him yet at the same time, she isn’t either. Like her daughter, Nacha couldn’t totally hate Francis in the end. She knows she still shouldn’t have feelings for him but it’s a complicated case for her. She couldn’t tell why. (Ana makes sure she doesn’t tell Francis this. She doesn’t want her father to win. He doesn’t deserve that).

That’s why after Francis’s death, there is no victory for them. On one hand, they’re relieved but mostly, it has left the mother daughter duo this empty feeling that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.

But even after Francis still haunts her long after his death, she’ll still be on the long road to recovery with her daughter. She won’t be alone in this. One day, she gets to find peace for herself.

“Goodbye Francis.”

Francis’s Ghost

Now we get to the part where Francis haunts his family literally. This can happen after his execution or if Anastacha kills him. He died but he didn’t leave.

Francis’s ghost doesn’t get to rest in the afterlife, not after he murdered so many innocents. His soul will dwell in the astral realm but he’ll come back up the earthly realm to wreak terror amongst the living.

He’s a vengeful ghost that scares people in their nightmares and he’ll keep killing more people by controlling inanimate objects (specifically any sharp weapon) and murder them through his usual methods: mutilating their body until they die in a pool of their own blood.

There’ll be news reports around town about several suicide/homicide cases that seemed too similar to the Scarlet Killer’s modus operandi. The police and investigators are baffled as to what caused this? Could it be a doppelgänger or a new killer that mimics the Scarlet Killer’s methods. A popular conspiracy theory says that the Scarlet Killer manages to escape death and is still alive and at large.

Unfortunately, Francis doesn’t stop there. He haunts Nacha and Ana too, just to see how they’re doing and to watch after them after his death.

He’s the protector and the tormentor at once.

He’ll look over his wife and daughter’s very presence, making them feel fear for their every waking moment. In reality, Francis just wants to be with them, even though they would prefer to be left alone.

Francis also does his job of protecting them by fending off doppelgängers, creeps, thugs, anyone that dares to hurt them. Now they wonder what kind of invisible force is helping them.

When he haunts Anastacha, he just looms over her very presence, watching her go about her daily life. If she’s the one who killed him, Francis honestly doesn’t bear any grudge against his daughter for killing him. He acts like some sort of intrusive thoughts echoing in her head.

If Anastacha can sense her father’s ghost, she will break out in cold sweat and beg him to leave her alone. She’ll constantly apologise to him for killing him, over and over again until she begins throwing stuff at him.

Ana: stop it! STOP IT! I’M SO SORRY FOR KILLING YOU DAD! I DIDN’T WANT TO DO IT! PLEASE DON’T HURT ME AND MOM!!

Of course, Francis could never bring himself to hurt his own daughter. He just doesn’t like how she screams at him when she’s around. Whenever Anastacha begins crying, he’ll be the one who comforts her, even though he’s delusional to the fact that he’s the one causing her problems and Ana tried many times to shoo him away.

If anyone’s bullying Ana, Francis would not hesitate to kill them. Now, Ana questions why her bullies don’t show up the next day.

Francis also haunts his wife’s very presence too. Whenever she’s alone and in her dreams. He’ll always whisper to her that he’ll always love her and that he’ll be with her even after she dies.

Nacha is obviously not ok with this. “PLEASE! LEAVE ME ALONE FRANCIS! I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE!!!”

But no matter how much she protests, Francis can never leave her alone. They technically never divorced nor did Nacha initiate a breakup with him. But even if she did, that doesn’t matter to Francis. He’ll always be her loving husband even after death.

Soon it got so bad to the point Nacha and Ana had to consult spirit mediums and exorcists for help. They were able to ward off Francis’s ghost for a while with dreamcatchers, holy water and crosses. But it won’t be useful for much long. Francis is a persistent man.

Every night, whenever Nacha and Anastacha look outside at the cornfields or moors, they could see Francis’s ghost waving at them from afar.

Or whenever they sleep at night, Francis’s ghosts will be tapping at their window, begging for Nacha or Ana to let him in. Just like in Wuthering Heights where Catherine’s ghost can be seen outside the window.

“Nacha…Sweetie…it’s me…Francis…i’m at your home…I’m so cold…let me in your window…please…I’m so cold, dear…”

Now the both of them barred the windows shut, draw the blinds and lock their doors whenever they sleep. And no matter how loud Francis knocks at their window, they’ll keep ignoring it until they can finally sleep.

And they don’t dare to go out in the middle of the night, knowing Francis is out there.

I know I said Nacha won’t find another man after Francis but on the off chance she did, Francis WILL NOT be happy about it. How dare that vermin steal his wife away from him?! He’ll find a way to get Nacha back.

Much to Francis’s surprise, it turns out he’s more powerful than he can imagine. Not only is he able to control inanimate objects, he can possess people too.

“HAHAHAHAHA! Oh my god… I never knew I could do *that*! I know exactly how I can use this!”

Now let’s say Nacha is on a date with a new man. And after they pulled away from the kiss, the voice of Nacha’s new partner gets layered over Francis’s voice and their eyes morphed into Francis’s tired ones. Horrified, Nacha began screaming at the top of her lungs because she realised her ex husband is back and has possessed her new partner.

“What’s the matter, dear? It’s me! Francis! Hahaha! Don’t tell me you forgot about your husband and replaced me with this fucking maggot?! Hahahaha! How hilarious! Don’t you see darling? I’ll never let you go as long as I’m here! And I won’t let some pesky vermin get in the way of our love!”

Worst case scenario is that Francis chases Nacha and Anastacha in the moors using Nacha’s partner’s body. Or! Francis being the vengeful spirit as he is makes Nacha watch as he mutilates her partner’s body himself while he’s still possessing them and die in a pool of their own blood as a lesson to never pursue another partner ever again.

But that’s just a hypothetical scenario.

Pretty soon, they can’t take it anymore. After Francis has haunted them so many times, it becomes maddening! That’s when Nacha and Ana took matters into their own hands.

The detectives still interrogate the Mikaelys family regarding the Scarlet Killer case. They mentioned that the few surviving victims recalled seeing a ghost with dark hair with black hollow eyes and mouth before blacking out.

With that new information, Nacha tells the detectives that they keep seeing Francis’s ghosts every night. At first, it may sound incredulous to believe but considering the victims’ first hand accounts, the detectives are now inclined to believe them.

The detectives concluded that the Scarlet Killer’s ghost is after his own family, so they instructed the mother and daughter to go the abandoned mansion in the middle of the woods because that’s the best place to exorcise ghosts, which the two of them believed.

So Nacha and Ana have a new plan. They brought everything they need to the mansion and waited until night time for Francis to strike.

Once Francis’s ghost arrives, they opened the window. Now, Nacha and Ana did everything in their power to fight him. But Francis’s ghost is getting more difficult to exorcise. Soon, they ran out of luck. And a blinding white light consumes them.

When the two of them woke up, they realised they’re in a dark, empty zone. Soon, they both discovered that they’re in limbo, which is a border to the astral realm.

Nacha: oh no! NO NO NO NO NO! This can’t be happening!

Anastacha: we’re not dead or whatever? Are we mom?

It turns out the detectives were in cahoots with the DDD all along. And since they needed to stop the Scarlet Killer’s ghost from wreaking anymore havoc, they hatched a plan on how to get rid of him for good since the Mikaelys family are his targets. (Afton is also in on the idea).

So they tricked Nacha and Ana by pretending to help them all the while they planted bombs outside the mansion Nacha and Ana were in. And once they failed, they detonated the entire house, instantly killing those two.

Now that the Mikaelys family are both dead, the Scarlet Killer’s ghost won’t bother the living anymore and pursue after his family.

Speaking of, you can imagine how ecstatic Francis was when he found out Nacha and Ana are in limbo.

“SWEETIE! ANA! YOU’RE HERE!”

Much to their terror, Nacha and Ana tried to escape from him again but there’s nowhere to run when they’re in limbo. They’re stuck together for eternity.

All they can do now is accept their fate. At least they have company.

“Finally…we can be together again.”

Note: originally, I was gonna have Nacha and Ana confront Francis at their own house and they talk it out. But that was anti climatic so I had help from @hellosweetart to help me write that last part. Thanks so much.

[campingwiththecharmings]

WIP Wednesday

i rarely do these (mostly bc i always think about them after wednesday) but i was going through my WIP folder and noticed how much i have written for the next installment of good neighbors so i figured i'd share my favorite part so far, just in case anyone is still interested after getting no update on that fic in 7 months lol 🥲

“I heard you had a visitor today,” you say nonchalantly, as if this is a completely normal conversation to be having in the middle of the night. His brow furrows again, this time in confusion. “A visitor?” You nod in response, your jaw tight. For a moment he just stares at you, waiting for you to elaborate, but then his eyes light in realization.  “Are you talking about Ana?” You avert your gaze to the floor, the sharpness in your chest returning. Then a warm, low chuckle reaches your ears, the sound making your insides melt. God, do you love his laugh. He steps closer, his fingers brushing against the underside of your chin, trying to return your eyes to his; the gentleness of his touch makes your chest ache. “She's just a friend, hermosa,” he explains, his voice low and soft. Unfortunately, his words do nothing to alleviate your concerns. “‘Just a friend’ like me?” you ask, your voice breaking despite the control you’re fighting so hard to maintain over yourself. His eyes soften and a piece of you crumbles inside. You watch as his jaw clenches, his hands moving to cup your cheeks, holding you in place so you can’t look away from him again. “No,” he whispers, shaking his head slightly, “Not like you.”

[aurorangen]

📩 Simblr question of the day: Choose a sim of your own that you consider your/a fave, then choose one sim from three (or more!) different simblrs, now imagine what those sims would be like in a room together? Who's walking out first? Who's staying the longest? Who would get along? Who wouldn't get along at all? Elaborate as much or as little as you'd like :) (p.s please feel free to share this to others, anon or not, and feel free to use the hashtag " SQOTD "! I love seeing everyone's answers and reading them makes my day ~ 💛 )

Hi Ana thank you for sending this to me 😊 I am imagining a specific scenario with Vincent and Supriya by @simvanie! I cannot think of another simblr whose sim works in a similar career (lawyer/politician).

So Vincent would be Supriya's lawyer and he'd help her to take down particular opposition parties (and expose their dirty secrets). The citizen's views would be shifted, political parties narrowed down and Supriya would win her elections every time! I'd say they get along. In a room together, they'd be talking over each other, both charismatic and ambitious and showing their pride in different ways. While Supriya's goal would be to take everyone down through whatever method to reach the top, Vincent would be the calmer one and make realistic, but tactical choices to help her 😌

[sevensoulmates]

i don't see eddie getting his own queer arc i think for one it'd be repetitive. i think for eddie it's simply gonna be the realization that he's in love with his best friend. buck will be the experienced one of the two so it's not bling leading the blind.

I respectfully disagree. Personally, I don't think it'll be repetitive if Eddie gets his own queer realization arc, because both of them have two different experiences with queerness.

Technically diving into my own headcanon here, so fair warning but I personally (IN MY PERSONAL INDIVIDUAL SINGUALR OPINION (I hate to use disclaimers here but I'm not trying to get accused of biphobia here)) view Eddie as a repressed gay man. I don't believe he is truly attracted to women (at least romantically, sexually is another story but then I'd have to dive more into demisexuality which I don't plan to do here). Anyway.

Buck's experience with coming out would be as a man who has always been happily attracted to women and will find out that he is attracted to men IN ADDITION.

For Eddie, if he were to get a queer realization arc, I think it would be vastly different from Buck's because he wouldn't be realizing he likes men as well as women, he'd be finding out that not only does he like men, but he hasn't actually been in love/attracted to any of the women he was with in the past (and that includes Shannon, and NO I will NOT be elaborating on that). I think that this will end up triggering a whole huge overhaul of Eddie's view of himself, his entire life, his family, and his marriage, and I think it will bring him a lot of guilt. Eddie's not the kind of person just to be like oh guess that's why I never was into sex with Ana or Marisol whoopsies and move on. Man is gonna feel GUILTY. That's what he's programmed to feel in response to everything.

I was telling a friend that I bet you ANYTHING Eddie is gonna resist something with Buck out of some backward loyalty to Shannon. Like "No, I can't be gay. Because that means I was using Shannon." No honey you were not. You were just deeply deeply repressed and traumatized.

For me, an Eddie queer realization arc would be an entire deconstruction of every single thing he's ever believed himself to be. Which would be vastly different from Buck realizing he's bi. Buck's bisexual arc will likely come with its own bisexual-specific issues.

I also want to say that even if Eddie did come out as bisexual like Buck (and I would be 100% okay with that happening in the show) I think it's quite diminishing to say Buck AND Eddie both getting queer realization arcs would be "repetitive" because the fact of the matter is that every queer person has a different experience.

More than likely, if Eddie figures this out later than Buck, then yes, Buck will likely be the one most experienced. And I do agree that it's unlikely they'll have Eddie realize he's queer in the exact same way Buck does (ie jealousy over a 3rd guy, etc) but I do think there's a strong possibility of Eddie having his own queer arc. Maybe in season 7 in tandem with Buck, or maybe later in season 8.

Either way, I need people to get off this whole "stop rehashing past stories", "I hate characters making the same old mistakes" or "get off the hamster wheel" train. What I like about 911 is that despite the somewhat unrealistic disasters and calls, and somewhat over-the-top drama at times, the actual character journeys they tell are true to real things people go through. And in real life, people exist in cycles, and that's not always a bad thing.

[deafknell]

why anapris is one of the most ships ever

I blame @frefallingtea for this post entirely (ily)

So I've vaguely discussed this ship in a few different posts, but never fully elaborated on why exactly this ship holds so much mental real estate in my brain. The fact most of their interactions are relegated to side content (both translated and untranslated) certainly doesn't help, meaning I can count the fans of this ship on one hand.

The primary reason I ship these two comes down to one fundamental factor: they're always seeking to one up each other, and value the challenge the other poses as a rival/enemy.

Priscilla is, as we all know, a very prickly character. She does not mince her words and will only take an interest in things she finds entertaining. It's why she doesn't remember Subaru after arc 3, and why she brings Heinkel to the arc 5 meeting she was never invited to. The world exists in her favour, and that includes entertaining her, be it watching people dance in her palms or struggling against their own fate.

But Anastasia doesn't do either of those. She's in a different league entirely - a candidate for the election, but someone who acts outside of Priscilla's expectations. Anastasia is one of the rare people who Priscilla takes an active interest in, outside of her camp and perhaps Crusch.

To Pris, Ana is her biggest enemy in the Royal election. She says so directly in Lugunican Papers 2:

She's somebody Pris cannot afford to underestimate because she's so capable at turning the tides in her favour. It's a sentiment that goes both ways, as we see later:

Their first meeting really hammers that sentiment home. Going over her Camp Formation Story, we get to see Priscilla's first meeting with Anastasia, told from Schult's POV. After contacting the Hoshin company for some assistance regarding Priscilla's husband (at the time) we get to see them bicker about their true natures.

Schult observes instantly how different Pris acts with Anastasia, down to the "equal footing" and "corresponding value." Neither of them are pretending to be on good terms, but they're clearly enjoying each other's company.

Later, in the same SS, Anastasia rejects taking financial compensation for helping Priscilla out.

Both Pris and Ana are noted, multiple times through canon, to be intelligent women. They're equally capable of getting under somebody's skin, and one-upping most conversational partners. But with each other, there's that sense of unpredictability. Ana does something Pris couldn't have anticipated, and it delights her.

Pris and Ana also have that one commonality - being the two "outsiders" to the election. When Ana's heritage is brought up, Pris even defends her selection to Al, calling her "worthy."

A very common theme in most side content focusing on the pair is the presence of others observing them interact. Usually Al or Julius gets saddled with watching them bicker, largely in parts due to how neither of them necessarily reveal their intentions. Anastasia and Priscilla both speak in ways designed to rile or get at people's weak points, which makes it incredibly funny to observe as an outsider.

Just look at their interactions from Vainglory IF:

They're so fun to read, even if their back and forths seem to exhaust Subaru every time he sees them fight. It's very reminiscent of the bickering between Julius and Subaru, the way they won't admit they respect each other just a little.

Julius even says as much, directly to Subaru:

And he's right, in more ways than one. Sure, they bicker and insult each other while acknowledging their strengths, but there's more to both dynamics. One big example of that: the way both pairings tend to agree with each other the most, even with all the fighting they do.

In arc 5, Julius goes against Ana's proposal for minimal casualties, choosing to side with Subaru. Almost every occasion he disagrees with Ana is due to him actually agreeing with Subaru, something that I don't think either of them are necessarily aware of.

The same happens with Ana and Pris. Even though they're constantly at each other's throats, they're the candidates that agree the most with each other. Lugunican Papers has them share pretty much identical opinions on the other candidates, praising Crusch while dismissing Felt and Emilia:

And in Arc 3, Pris is the one to back up Anastasia's refusal to intervene in the Julius-Subaru duel:

A lot of what Priscilla says is incindiary to the rest of the cast, something that Subaru regularly clashes with. It even happens a few times in Prophecy of the Throne, where Pris will state something heartless (i.e. not caring about helping Melty) and everyone else will react negatively to her.

But Anastasia 9/10 times agrees with her and faces less blowback for it. In that Prophecy of the Throne example, she outright explains Pris' opinion and translates it in a way that's more agreeable - it's not that they want Melty dead, but they need incentive to help her. Pris gets annoyed with her, but doesn't disagree with anything she explained to the rest of the cast.

In my opinion, the reason Anapris works so well as a pairing (platonic or romantic) is due to the strong mutual understanding they have of each other. There's no hiding each other's natures, or playing to a crowd. They only want to get the upper hand on the other, but can only gain small victories moment to moment. They acknowledge and understand each other more than anyone else, and that's why they clash so much.

I think this short interaction in arc 5 summarises it best:

[lover-of-mine]

"I do think the show kinda wrote themselves into a corner with them and I can go on a whole separate rant about that" can you elaborate on that?

tldr: the stakes are too high now so it's easier to keep playing with the tension than resolving it.

Okay, so, I do joke they had a plan when they casted Ryan, but I actually do think they were just playing with the chemistry between Oliver and Ryan up until the moment they decided to retcon the well to make the will a thing. I do think both Ryan and Oliver like to play with their chemistry too, I don't act but I'm guessing it is fun to play with what you can do with another actor you have the type of chemistry they have, but when you look at season 2 and most of season 3 as a whole, ignoring a few moments we like to hang on to, they are two friends who really trust each other. Season 3 does up the stakes, but it was early enough they could swing it either way even more with the way they are not as close as they could be during most of season 4, a lot of things about the 2 of them are left implied, and it makes sense considering both of them had explicit love interests that season.

But the shooting and consequences are a real turning point for the way they are being portrayed, its less unintentional, less reliant on the chemistry between the two of them, it's more on purpose, the way the shooting scene was filmed and framed, the choice of words, the slow-mo of them standing there, the impression they give you that they have their eyes locked across the pavement, Buck saving Eddie alone, having Eddie ask Buck is he's hurt, Buck saying "I need you to hang on", the way Buck steps up with Chris without knowing about the will, the way we find out about the will, the choice to have that be something Eddie has been hiding for over a year, creates something on purpose with the two of them that actually allows them to play with putting buddie in season 2 and 3 in a different light, it implies a level of planning when you look at the whole show. Season 5 we have them talking more on screen, we have Eddie basically asking for permission to break up with Ana, the wording in that scene also feels really on purpose to make you look for hidden meanings if it ever came to it. And there are things like Mitchell clocking that hurting Eddie is more effective in controlling Buck that's also something you can come back to and repurpose later. There's the choice to have Buck being the person who actually gets through to Eddie with making him feel comfortable in his own life again, and having Buck being the person Eddie opens up about his trauma to begin with. And then we have literally everything about season 6. Season 6 actually allows me to change the perception of the whole show and write a 4k words rant about how Eddie has been in love with Buck since season 3, because they make a very conscious effort to paint Buck, Eddie, and Christopher as a family unity, the dinner on the premier, Buck baking cookies for Chris to take to school, the 3 of them hanging out on the loft while Chris does his homework. And everything about Buck's death and the episodes following, Eddie mirroring Buck during the shooting after the lightning, Eddie acting like a grieving partner, Chris being the person who makes Eddie go and see Buck, Buck knowing he can run to Eddie's when he's overwhelmed, whatever the fuck was mixed feelings.

But since now they can very easily add context to previous seasons to make them seem planned even if they weren't, there's a whole new level of expectations about them together. Because it makes it look like the people who have been shipping them since season 2 are right, so right now the showrunners have the chance to make what could objectively be one of the best slowburns in television history and add the fact that it's a queer relationship and they have the chance to do something that will make the show go down in romance history in a way. But realistically speaking, it's hard for them to make that relationship a reality. We have 7 main characters, we see 4 of them get together, so we are invested in them, we have Karen being introduced to us when Hen screws up, which makes us sympathize with Karen so we are invested in henren even if Karen mostly exists to be Hen's wife, and we have the other two being heavily shipped together since the beginning. But the thing with Bobby and Athena and Chim and Maddie is that they don't work together, so they don't have to acknowledge bathena and madney every episode, because if we are not seeing them together there's no real expectation for the episode to do something to remind us they are together. That won't work with buddie. Considering the way they are partnered in the field most of the time and they are on the same shift and how high the expectations around them are because of the way their friendship was constructed, they would have to find a way to make the relationship known every episode. And let's face it, most television shows really struggle with keeping slowburns together after the buildup, and the buildup with buddie is high, because they get used to working the tension and once the tension is resolved they drop the ball so we end up with unnecessary conflicts and breakups that make no sense just to add tension back in so the relationship will be interesting for them to write. And we joke that Eddie baby trapped Buck and that they act like an old married couple, but they literally already have a canon legal document tying them together, they very explicitly co-parent Chris, they are very clearly comfortable in each other's spaces, so that makes the usual tricks to keep slowburns interesting won't work, because honestly, I think that even a friends to married thing with them isn't that farfetched. Raise the tension enough in the lead-up to getting them together and they could have them flying to vegas to get married and most people just accepting it. But that's not good for their storytelling because 911 is not the buddie show and there is all this expectation that could end up with them deciding that writing them as an established couple is more complicated to deal with than just leaving them simmering forever.

Because the thing is, one good push and you get them together, they can trip them into a relationship at any time, really, just sit them down and let them talk about their feelings and accidentally confess to something, or turn up the flirty banter they have while they're alone and let them trip into each other, put any of them in danger and have the other snapping, like literally any of the hundred contexts we have of getting together fics about them would work at this point, but the issue is not getting them together is keeping them together in a satisfying way.

[chaosandwolves]

Ok ok ok.

I know I'm late but..

I have to go meta again cause that one scene made me shout at the TV.

So let's dive in:

-

We have Carla and Eddie and Chris.

We have Chris trying on the suit. The last time we saw him doing it was in the store where Eddie panicked when Ana was referred to as Chris' mum. The moment that clearly set off Eddie's journey to finally make a decision for himself and break things off with Ana.

This is already a big reference, especially cause Eddie mentions "the last time" Chris was wearing the suit.

You're directly reminded of that scene.

Then Carla and Eddie leave Chris and go to the kitchen (where Ana and Eddie broke up) and talk further. The conversation is about Chris, sure, but also about Eddie.

And we have Carla yet again saying something big, something that's clearly meaningful.

I don't think I have to elaborate on what that dream could be for Eddie...

-

And then this is the next scene:

Chim and Buck carrying in Jee's new bed.

Again, a scene cuts from Eddie to Buck after something meaningful.

And in which way!

Buck in the context of being an uncle, Buck in the context of a kid - after he's donated his sperm.

This CAN'T be a coincidence. Not again and again and again.

What Carla says also applies to Chim and Jee's room situation and might apply to Buck as well.

We see that the room situation doesn't really work out. The fantasy was better than the reality...at least partially. But Chim brings back the words "dream(house)" and "fantasy" and lifts the situation through that into something nice.

So in this case, fantasy and reality kind of mix and it all turns into something positive in that moment.

Now, what does that mean for Buck?

This HAS to relate to Buck's sperm donation. We haven't seen Buck interact with Jee in ages and now he's taking care of her and helping to create a space for her.

Maybe the fantasy Buck had of helping others with their dream will turn out to have been better than the reality in the end.

And what about the "talking about your dreams make it seem too real."?

Eddie's expression is so prominent here

and absolutely reminds of his reaction the last time Carla said something impactful to him "make sure to follow your heart".

Ultimately, back then Eddie's fantasy turned out to be better than the reality as well.

-

There are just too many references in this little scene, in these two sentences, for them not to mean something. We were right last time when we all knew Carla's words were big.

It's set up the same way again. Her words clearly affect Eddie on a deeper level.

Now, of course I'm gonna make this more about Buddie.

We don't only have the scenes cutting from this to Buck, but also that sentence.

Of course the first thing that came to my mind was: That's why Eddie hasn't said anything about his feelings towards Buck because it's too real.

But also... We haven't had a talk between Buck and Eddie since the very significant one in the first ep where they were talking about Buck's love life. And we haven't had a talk about the whole sperm donor thing.

Maybe both of them are too nervous to actually talk about it cause that would make it real.

Idk idk but you can't tell me that this isn't all on purpose. There are just too many references and the absolute lack of Buddie scenes is so suspicious.

-

The film makers are all too aware of how big of a thing Buddie is within the fandom. They know what will make us scream and what will make us read Buddie into it. They're pros. They're not some amateurs.

There are too many things going on that are very suspicious.

You just can't convince me that it's not at the very least, precisely placed.

And as a bonus we have Eddie saying that as a parent you have all these visions for your kid, just like his parents had for him.

But Eddie is fine with letting go of them and imo he's also fine to let go of what remains of the expectations his parents have had for him.

-

This is my Buddie meta rant for this episode. I swear, these two sentences and Eddie's expression and Buck's storyline... It's all connected.

[outrunningthedark]

could you elaborate on your last post pls? how do the ‘dating someone you rescued’ comment + tommy returning = us not being able to read what’s gonna happen? (genuine question, i’m confused lol)

No worries. Hopefully I’m making it clearer now.

This is strictly a fandom thing because only we would connect something said last season to anything that happens in the future (lol), but basically, if Buck’s first male LI was introduced the same way as Taylor and Natalia and Ali (and Ana and Marisol, ftr), with Buck providing his help in their time of need, the fandom would more easily brush off a non-Buddie coupling like “This is nice and all, but history has shown us it won’t last.”

Buck is going to meet Tommy during a rescue, but it won’t be because Tommy is fighting for his life in the ocean, right?

A different beginning means you have to account for a different outcome.

And the fact that Tommy is a first responder? All the more reason to pay attention. Tim wouldn’t have to try very hard to find a place for Buck’s new man if their relationship ends up resonating with the majority of the audience.

Gonna repeat what I said yesterday about Tommy not being Buck’s long term plan at the moment, but by deviating from “the norm”, we can’t say with 100% certainty that Tim is willing to let them go just because Buddie is the preferred pairing.

(Fandom is assuming Buddie is in the works once “Bi Buck” takes off. That’s not what’s happening here. People who work on the show are not turning down opportunities for representation just because it may not end with Buck and Eddie confessing their love.)

[purplekoop]

Lifeweaver Kit Breakdown:

Source:

https://www.pcgamesn.com/overwatch-2/lifeweaver

(Note: this will be a gameplay-focused analysis post, but this article does have some small lore details as well!! Check them out yourself if you want!)

Lifeweaver is described as a main healer with a kit that revolves around positioning allies, enemies, and himself, with an allegedly low skill floor but high skill ceiling, not necessarily requiring intensive aim to succeed, but instead rewarding better game sense and positioning (similar to Mercy, as very often mentioned before.)

Going over his described abilities now:

Parting Gift (Passive): On death, the overdramatic twink drops a healing item that can be used by either team. Essentially, a health pack on death. finally, this tryhard game gets a Hoovy healing option to be friendly to the other team too. I don't expect this to come into play too much, but it'll be an interesting mechanic to play with for both teams. Hopefully not too tiltingly.

Healing Blossom (presumably, Primary Fire): The article frustratingly doesn't elaborate on this one much, but it says it's the "core of his kit", so it's presumably his main means of healing. The article later states you need to maintain its charge during downtime, and that it has a charge/cooldown mechanic. It's described as working well with other burst healers like Ana or Baptiste. Frankly, I have no clue what to expect for how this one's gonna work, but from the sounds of it it's a strong burst healing option that has some sort of mechanic that gives it large downtime that takes skill to manage.

Thorn Volley (Alternate Fire): His damaging ability and main source of self defense. Allegedly deals "a respectable amount of damage", leading me to believe its damage is okay but not spectacular. Based on the name, I'm expecting a shotgun-like spread projectile attack, similar to Torb's secondary fire.

Life Grip (presumably an activated Ability): "Shields a targeted ally and pulls them to his position". Yep, this is the long awaited "get back here you overextending dumbass" leash ability. The exact stipulations are unclear, but I sincerely hope to minimize trolling that the target has to "accept" the pulling back using Interact or something. Also seems to have a defensive aspect during the pull to make the trip back to safety more reliable.

Petal Platform (another Ability): This is a fun one. It creates a pressure-sensitive platform that rises up when stepped on by players on either team. Another seemingly long-awaited concept, this is a much more reliable-sounding way to get teammates to higher elevation on a hero designed around team support, FINALLY. Later in the article, it mentions you get a bit of extra height if you time a jump at the apex of the ascent, adding to his skill potential. Very excited for the funny potential of this one, especially in tandem with Ice Wall and Teleporter.

Rejuvenating Dash (uhh... another Ability?): According to the article, this gives you "a small burst of passive healing to keep you alive while falling back or repositioning", which based on the name is either a movement ability or speed boost accompanied with a minor heal for a burst of self-sustain. Only issue is uh... There's no more ability slots? We have a primary fire, secondary fire, two activated abilities, an ultimate (gimme a sec), and even a passive, so I have two theories:

This is a Jump ability, similar to Hanzo's Lunge, but with a bit extra to it

This is an alternative option for the same ability slot as Life Grip, similar to Moira's two choices for Biotic Orb, but completely separate abilities other than the initial input.

The former sounds less clunky and is thus my personal prediction.

Tree of Life (Ultimate): "Heals allies within its perimeter for as long as it remains active, and can be placed anywhere on the map to disrupt sightlines and block chokepoints." This seems to be adding to his theme of creating objects on the map, creating a solid object that outright blocks attacks and movement. Based on the wording I'm sort of inclined to believe it's destructible by enemy damage, but not totally sure. Either way, gonna be another fun one.

So that's what we know right now for how Lifeweaver is gonna play! Very excited for his kit, he seems to be the exact kind of high-impact healer I love while also having some very silly shenanigan potential, which I also always enjoy.

[burnitbuilditbetter]

"Hezbollah Threatens America As It Prepares To Defend Israel"

Breaking this down sentence by sentence, this is going to take a bit.

"The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas has warned that it will kill an Israeli hostage every time Israel’s military bombs civilian targets in the Gaza Strip without warning." (tbh I think RogueRocket just took his sentence from this news report, I'll be real with you)

"Two French citizens have been confirmed dead in the fighting, the French Foreign Ministry said Monday, without elaborating. Several others (or dual citizens) are unaccounted for believed missing or held hostage."

"The U.S. State Department said Monday that at least nine American citizens have been killed in the weekend Hamas attacks on Israel, raising the toll from four."

"The State Department says an undetermined number of American citizens remain missing and unaccounted for. It is not clear whether the missing had been taken hostage, were killed or are in hiding."

Associated Press, "Live updates: The latest on the Israel-Hamas war – day 3", PBS, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/live-updates-israel-hamas-conflict-day-3, published October 9th, 2023 (accessed October 9th, 2023)

"Hamas on Monday threatened to execute Israeli hostages if Israel continues to bombard civilian homes in Gaza without warning. “From this hour on, we announce that any targeting of civilian homes without advanced warning will be met regrettably with the execution of one of the enemy civilian hostages we hold, and we will be forced to broadcast this,” said Abu Obaida, the spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, in remarks broadcast on pan-Arab channel Al Jazeera."

Jared Malsin and Anas Baba, "Hamas Threatens to Execute Israelis in Response to Bombing of Gaza", The Wall Street Journal, https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-hamas-gaza-rockets-attack-palestinians/card/hamas-threatens-to-execute-israelis-in-response-to-bombing-of-gaza-jpKdb6ox1uOA4qqqAmXy, published October 9th, 2023 (accessed October 9th, 2023)

"Abu Ubaida—a spokesperson for Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades—told Al Jazeera in a statement Monday that Hamas will execute hostages if any innocent civilians in Gaza are targeted without warning, adding the group would be “forced to broadcast this execution.”"

Ty Roush, "Hamas Threatens To Execute Israeli Civilian Hostages For Attacks On Gaza ‘Without Prior Warning’", Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/10/09/hamas-threatens-to-execute-israeli-civilian-hostages-for-unprompted-attacks-on-gaza/?sh=33f4217b417e, published October 9th, 2023 (accessed October 9th, 2023)

[suffarustuffaru]

you wanna elaborate on the Heinkel-Otto parallels?

SURE THING ANON 👍👍 alright so a while back i made this reinhard-otto parallel analysis here if youre curious and wanna check that out - i also briefly go into how the suwen and astrea families have kind of sort of crossed paths? and also ottos hometown (picoutatte) is historically where ex novel drama involving wilhelm, theresia, stride, etc happened so theres that too!!

yeah so apart from the suwens and astreas having small connections in the past - regarding heinkel and otto specifically, i think the two biggest parallels are 1. the…. alcoholism……. and 2. certain. Aspects. of their personalities. im just gonna address the alcoholism first bc thats probably the most obvious parallel. (also im gonna go into arc 8 spoilers a bit btw!!)

so. i mean we all know heinkels an alcoholic - hes turned to alcoholism to deal with the Trauma Conga Line thats basically been his family history. and yeah. id say ottos an alcoholic too. when we're first introduced to otto in arc 3, hes off in a bar drinking to cope with getting into debt. in general he seems to drink often, which in story its acknowledged that yeah, hes a merchant, negotiations often include a bit of alcohol and otto knows hes gotta be able to hold his liquor - theres an arc 5 side story where he goes to find the dude he needs to restore the tome, ottos brought liquor as a gift, then they drink and thats why theres that one bit in arc 5 where otto shows up again late and hes drunk as hell lasjdfljds. but also like we get more confirmation that otto drinks to cope bc at the beginning of arc 5 after the emilia camp-ana camp meeting, hes drinking and complaining about how shitty the emilia camp's negotiation skills are to garfiel and subaru, who both act like this (otto getting drunk to deal with stress) is something that happens often. (im referring to the wn btw i dont have access to the ln hah)

(also this ask turned out very long so im putting the rest of it right under the cut)

This is what he's like when he's drunk. He's working a stressful job, so they give him his drinking time, but it might actually just encourage even more stress.

also additionally theres a few more alcohol-related things with otto. like how he gets drunk at the end of arc 4 knighting ceremony celebration - which yeah hah you can chalk up to him just you know drinking at a party to celebrate the occasion, but i swear otto 1. just keeps getting drunk on and off screen and 2. given otto is a very Anxious person, the timing of him getting drunk as hell at this party celebrating not just subarus knighthood but also like. officially marking safety - for now - and the end of all the arc 4 mindfuckery that otto got dragged into.... like the moment otto got reunited with alcohol again in arc 4 he decides to get blackout drunk akdndn. the timing is very interesting, i think. or maybe im just reading into that a bit too much hah but im 100% sure ottos an alcoholic anyway so.

(other alcohol stuff with otto includes him having to get banned from alcohol after he was bedridden bc of his arc 5 leg injuries + every time we see otto drink alcohol in canon he drinks to get drunk aidndnd. EVERY TIME.)

anyway moving on to other details. i think its interesting to look at heinkel and otto as characters and examine who they are as people and also their arcs bc 1. i do think theyre a bit similar in some ways and 2. this factors into Why their coping mechanisms are incredibly bad T^T

yeah so. heinkel as i said earlier. we all know hes dealing Badly with his familys entire trauma-filled drama. but i also think its interesting to examine him as a person in Full, and what i mean by that is - the heinkel we see in the main story is very different from the person he used to be. and we dont get a lot of content on younger heinkel specifically, but we get still get a Lot out of it. we see that he used to be a kinder person. he loved and doted on reinhard (when you have a four year old that sneaks out of the house just to see his dad bc he got worried about his dad and the moment he sees his dad he immediately goes up to him - like that shows TRUST). and heinkels given a lot of interesting descriptions in the once upon a time in lugunica side story that are very much at odds with how he is in the present day - he has a "gentle" face, "his voice and countenance was sweet", marcos explicitly tells him "It's time you stop being nice to everyone. It's because you're like this that you've been forced into a job you're not suited for." and this is also after we get the implication (?) that heinkel basically got peer pressured into being the one to ask marcos to come back and rejoin the knights.

marcos also purposefully pokes aggressively at heinkel's insecurities; you get the sense that heinkel is lonely, most likely friendless, an outcast even as hes simultaneously well known due to his family. marcos insults heinkels abilities as a swordsman, and marcos also harshly says that heinkels cocky and tries addressing marcos as if theyre friends when theyre not. "Since when were we such good pals, you and I? Surely you don't think so just because we have the same teacher? How many students does Bordeaux have? Are all of them your friends?" and heinkel tries his best but ultimately hes in the shadow of his family and hes expected to be able to keep up while also looking after reinhard and desperately trying to find a cure for his wife (who was most likely his only Equal and close companion).

but heinkel in the end always falls short of expectations. hes painfully aware of this, with the implication that its always been this way basically for the majority of his life, if not all of his life. and being an astrea and being a knight means that hes watched very closely - or at least thats what i think is the most likely case. so when you compare younger heinkel and current heinkel, you also get the sense that he eventually burned out and gave up even trying that hard at much of anything. thats why he kind of doesnt give a shit most of the time about being harsh and mean, lashing out, saying almost anything he wants, doing what he wants but also failing miserably at that 99% of the time, and also he falls deeper into his alcoholism too and doesnt care about showing this either. hes very publicly a disgrace. he knows this. hes an emotional wreck and he cant crawl out of his own failures, so why care about what other people think? why try to fix himself? its too late. hes a miserable man only driven by 1. spite towards his family and 2. trying to find a cure for his wife and 3. his own alcoholism and 4. possibly his kind of sort of care for schult (aka heinkels reinhard replacement T^T). and we see in arc 7 and 8 too that hes so depressed and tired and jaded after dealing with a lifetime of failure that he just. kind of gives up. last time we see him in arc 8 hes being dragged around by groovy and rowan and he was drinking with rowan in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

so. what about this is similar to otto?

well, otto and heinkel both struggle with dealing with their emotions and insecurities. with heinkel thats pretty easy to see, but with otto its harder to see until you hit the really Obvious parts (arc 8). like yeah, otto gets flustered a lot, hes simultaneously sensitive but at the same time hes pretty independent, he can handle himself, he's dependable - right? but the thing with otto is that he and heinkel both have a habit of lashing out. theyre anxious. they turn to numbing behaviors to cope. theyre pushed around by external factors but at the same time theyre also reckless and do things that speed towards inevitably helping in destroying themselves. they both have friendless and lonely backstories, theyre Extremely aware about their own weakness and powerlessness especially when it comes to dangers theyre up against and especially when it comes to comparing themselves to others. they get Very angry at people they love(d), which makes them get aggressive, and for heinkel we know for sure that theres a LOT of resentment there, and for otto, the anger is Bordering on resentment if it isnt already kind of resentment at this point. theyre also haunted by their failures - with heinkel this is more obvious, but i think once you examine otto deeper hes also kind of dealing with this too.

that, and - while otto hasnt hit rock bottom like heinkel has, i think that if otto keeps going down the path hes on now, hes gonna end up hitting that rock bottom and end up having a similar fate to heinkel right now. bitter. jaded. tired. burnt out and angry and miserable. which, when you look at the ifs - yeah any otto that ends up enslaved by russell fellow ends up bitter, jaded, tired, and an empty shell of himself. and this is also, of course, assuming that the main otto permadeath flags dont happen aljsdfljsd. because if you remember otto's third trial line, it was something along the lines of "if that's the case, then you should've left me in that cave (to die)!" (correct me if im wrong) which 1. sounds like something he would say at any point in the current arc 8 otto-related conflicts and 2. my guess is that this line is referring to when otto was captured by the witch cult in arc 3 and put in a cave. otto is eventually gonna reach a point where he just goes "well you shouldve left me to die in that cave then" which. you know, its not boding well for him hah.

and yeah so. ok im gonna try and elaborate a bit more on some of what i just said about heinkel and otto hah bc its a whole list.

heinkel and otto, i think, have spent so much of their lives with factors out of their control while simultaneously making decisions that make things worse for themselves.

of course with otto, this also manifests as his bad luck - his luck is so bad that he nearly drowned as a baby in the bath, in addition to generally being clumsy his whole life. like this is "getting fucked by the universe itself" levels of bad luck. then you have the impact otto's dp left on him which leads to him having problems with socializing with others, which also leaves him friendless and also bullied growing up (see: people ostracizing him and calling him a "freak") and later he gets chased out of the town by assassins...... then he almost gets sold into slavery, gets captured by the witch cult and almost dies to them, etc...... yeah its a lot. but then you get to otto CHOOSING to save roswaal's tome and that tome being one of the demands the witch cult makes during the arc 5 siege. and then otto gets injured by ley as a punishment for this. he spends time being bedridden, having to be banned from alcohol, knowing that some of his friends are off on some dangerous mission that he cant do anything about, and also he cant be his usual workaholic self either. when we see otto again in arc 7-8, he's participating in a full fledged WAR. and he's decided to dedicate himself to opposing subaru despite being warned that he'll destroy himself doing so. otto is making Poor Decisions right now.

otto turns to micromanaging to deal with all of this, while heinkels the one whos at the point where he gives up. he cant really go on without being pushed along. he collapses to his knees in the middle of the battlefield in arc 7 and he admits out loud that he cant do this (specifically addressing louanna as he does). for otto, he's dealt with his biggest more traumatic events thatve caused the most change in him (pre-arc 3 and arcs 3-8) all crammed in the past year. for heinkel, he's been dragged through the dirt by life and his own decisions for around the past twenty years of his life. thats more than HALF of his life. hes thirty-nine, which, yeah thats older than a lot of the cast but thats only because so much of the cast is in their twenties and under. thirty-nine is not that old. especially when you remember that that means heinkel had reinhard when he was nineteen.

but again, we dont get too much content from heinkels pov directly, but theres no denying that much of the shit happening to him is also his fault. hes ultimately self-destructive and hes also pretty much destroyed his relationship with reinhard (and people like carol and grimm, judging off of how carol understandly reacts negatively to heinkel and grimm likely follows suit), which really DID NOT need to happen. yeah. all the astrea drama involving louanna falling into a coma, theresia dying, wilhelm being an Ass, reinhard being the sword saint, the astreas in general being watched and controlled by the kingdom, and general expectations from the world are all out of heinkel's control. what couldve happened, however, is that heinkel couldve done his best to be an adult and a parent to reinhard - ESPECIALLY when he still had carol and grimm to help out with that - which wouldve turned out better for both himself and reinhard. but that didnt happen.

heinkel turned on his own son and pushed everyone away. otto has similar isolating behaviors, because like heinkel, otto doesnt actually talk to anyone in a way that makes himself vulnerable. heinkel and otto arent actually close with anybody. which, again, isnt helped by the General unpleasant aspects of their personalities (anger, irritation, lashing out, etc).

its hard to see otto's isolation more than heinkel (who is very clearly hated by a bunch of people, his wife has been in a coma for ages, and basically almost no one respects him so like. OF COURSE he doesnt have anyone to confide in), but i think that it gets more clear when you look at otto closely. yeah, otto usually makes it clear when hes annoyed or irritated or angry about something, and otto does things like declare hes subarus friend or open up about his backstory to the emilia camp in various side stories - but hes never actually more vulnerable. when you look at him talk about his backstory, it doesnt feel like theres emotion attached to it - its more like "yeah this happened and this happened". its more factual. and then you remember that he doesnt actually talk about his feelings any deeper than that with Anyone. hes either got his head stuck in work, or theres the occasional "otto sneaks off and gets drunk" scene, or theres all the times where otto goes "yeah so i did this for you, subaru, but im not gonna tell you why or anything" or "yeah i will totally leave at the first sign of danger", or otto only lets himself be a tiny bit vulnerable at a time. like when he tells subaru that theyre friends, or when he reunites with subaru in arc 8 and takes the time to sneak into the room just to quickly say that hes glad that subarus back and to not worry that much. but its absolutely more focused on other people, namely subaru, and not otto. his problem in arc 8 is that hes keeping all his feelings to himself because its all connected to all his other secrets (his arc 8 plans). hes open about being pissed off about staying in vollachia, but its more so "this is a dumb decision and puts us in danger, the more logical route would be to leave" and less "im afraid that we might get hurt the longer we stay here and its making me anxious and angry". he doesnt ACTUALLY talk to anyone in depth about whatever the hell his issues are (roswaal doesnt count bc otto just brushes off roswaal's warnings), he just insists on dealing with it himself like he does with almost anything. his tsundere habits are normally played for laughs, and yeah it IS amusing. but no completely well-adjusted person deals with intimacy by getting all pissy like otto does. why did he see subaru in the forest in arc 4 and immediately jump to punching subaru and giving a "this is why you suck, but also please just let me help you" speech?

and when it comes to like - complicated issues regarding Relationships, you look over at heinkel too and heinkel still misses reinhard. heinkel wouldnt need to use schult as a reinhard replacement if heinkel didnt actually miss reinhard deep down. theres like a love-hate dynamic there when it comes to heinkel and reinhard - heinkel hates reinhard the sword saint. but heinkel misses his son, which is interesting because schult Conveniently looks and acts like how a younger reinhard would, right? heinkel and little kid reinhard was most likely the last time heinkel was ever happy, judging off of the trajectory of heinkels life so far. reinhard is the last person that heinkel has left, and reinhards near silence when hes anywhere near heinkel says so much because there USED to be love there. but heinkel very much obviously resents reinhard now because after reinhard kills theresia in arc 5, heinkel VOWS to make reinhards life a living hell.

its kind of like a version of otto deciding to oppose subaru but to a Much Further extent, because otto doesnt hate subaru. but otto hates subaru's actions in arc 8 because it puts subaru in danger. but again, ottos playing with fire here because the ottosuba conflict is pitting them against each other and Resentment and Anger are gonna come out of that. and i think that otto misses subaru, because the arc 8 conflict is drifting them further apart more than ever. ottos afraid to lose subaru, so hes been going to extremes to not lose subaru. heinkel, i think, thinks that hes Already lost the reinhard that he loved. so turning to schult + getting rid of the current reinhard is the next best thing. otto is still clinging onto subaru with all his might, basically. which ironically is what heinkel was doing with reinhard - especially with Everything going on with the astreas - until that switch from "reinhard is my son and he wouldnt kill his grandmother" to "this is all reinhard's fault" happened somewhere around when reinhard was five or so. that switch wasnt instant. you dont go from loving to hating someone in an instant in most cases, and we know that heinkel defended reinhard from wilhelm at first. this change was gradual, the cracks just started then.

we're seeing these cracks happen with ottosuba, because subaru is ottos closest relationship. theres something to be said too, about the slight parallel between heinkel-louanna and otto-subaru in the sense that i think that theres a very likely chance that heinkel knows that even if louanna wakes up, she most likely wont like him anymore. and theres no way that heinkel doesnt know that things wont be the same anymore with her anyway because she was frozen in time. shes twenty years old. the same age as their son. shes missed Way Too Much, and if she even still remembers anyone, shes absolutely not going to approve of heinkel being an absolute asshole. and i think heinkel hates himself too much NOT to notice - at least a little bit - this. that louanna might just end up hating him in the end. but heinkels one redeeming quality now is that hes still dedicated to his wife all these years later. hes been trying to find a cure for her since he was twenty one years old. theres a side story where we see him in the present tracking down a possible lead and being absolutely devastated AGAIN that the lead was a dead end and theres still no cure. and this is with the possibility that heinkel knows that louanna might end up hating him when she wakes up anyway.

and otto, with all of his intelligence and how much time he devotes to doing things behind subaru's back, most likely knows that subaru will end up angry and devastated and might even hate otto if he ever finds out about ottos plans regarding louis/spica. like imagine being subaru and you find out that otto, someone you very deeply trust, has been keeping secrets so that your DAUGHTER dies. like this is relationship ruining shit, and theres no way that otto doesnt know that. otto knows that subaru cares about her. otto knows all about subarus love for others and his self-sacrificial tendencies. thats why ottos keeping all these secrets - he knows subaru wouldnt approve and he does it anyway. i know i love to joke about how otto is basically hitting subaru with a car and then trying to nurse him back to health like a baby bird but that is quite LITERALLY what otto is trying to do.

also regarding otto and heinkel being insecure about their weaknesses: heinkel is clear with this - the dude has been scrutinized by everyone for at least the past twenty years, AND everyone else in his family from theresia to wilhelm to reinhard is more powerful and capable than he is. this is also not helped by heinkels alcoholism, general mental instability, and reoccurring failures - failing to measure up to expectations, failing to find a cure for louanna, theresia almost killing him in arc 5 and then being killed by reinhard in front of him, and the first time theresia died was because she went on the white whale mission in heinkels stead because he was too afraid to go on it and KNEW that he wasnt fit for that mission. AND THEN reinhard got her sword saint dp. heinkel has dealt with a lot of failure in his life. it made him bitter and harsh but its worn him down. otto is the one whos gotten Sharper because of his own failures.

with otto, we dont see much insecurity about his powerlessness UNTIL arc 8 is extremely straightforward about it with "walking in light/darkness". otto compares himself to julius, emilia, subaru, and says that they walk in the light while he walks in the dark. its honestly sad to see - this is otto acknowledging that he CANT be as good as julius, emilia, and subaru. otto straight up lists their good traits - their idealism, their determination, their ability to see the good in things and try their absolute best at that - and otto says that he cant do it. otto acknowledges that hes basically useless compared to them unless he resigns himself to the "darkness" - so he takes up being an enemy, essentially, to subaru as his reason to live on. its quite frankly depressing and self-destructive. hes going "i cant be good like them, so why try? i'll go another path even if it kills me" which i think is a sentiment heinkel can relate to.

but heinkel and otto think that theres no other option than what they are Now when thats clearly not the case. and they need to see that theres Other Ways to go about their lives. theres no need to stay in the darkness forever, which is the key problems they need to deal with at the moment.

and one last quick note - yeah, heinkel and otto are the black sheep of their family. of course, the suwens have an actual healthy family dynamic while the astreas are a whole mess of generational trauma, but otto notes that hes lead to a lot of trouble for his family. iirc in the arc 4 wn he calls himself a burden on them too and how he'd like to pay them back for all the years they looked after him despite all the trouble he brought (you know, regarding ottos dp, that one time he caused a bug swarm in the town, being chased out by assassins, etc). otto is basically the unwitting "trouble child" of the family. this is a fact that also increases when you remember the ifs - in every if, either otto ends up dead, sold into slavery, or hes main otto whos stuck in the middle of a war right now and is willing to get his hands dirty. otto is known to his whole family as someone who gets into trouble, and they all worry about him but purposefully make a point to not think about him too much or theyll get anxious thinking about wtf hes even doing.

meanwhile heinkel is a black sheep with his own family in the sense that 1. this is even reflected in his character design with the sheer amount of black and brown hes wearing - just take a look at his design compared to the rest of his family and 2. hes way weaker compared to everyone else (not counting louanna) and 3. hes distant from all of them. wilhelm, theresia, reinhard. regarding wilhelm and theresia - we dont know much about their parenting when it comes to heinkel, but its interesting to note that it seems that even before everything went Wrong, it may have been a bit distant. when theresia tells wilhelm that heinkel cant go on the white whale mission, wilhelm calls heinkel a coward. i know that like all these characters are thinking with Medieval Logic, but its still a Cold thing to say. if heinkels not ready for that mission, then hes going to fucking die on that mission, which doesnt seem to occur to wilhelm. like yeah, theresias sworn off sword sainting and its a whole Thing that shes got trauma about. but theresia the sword saint logically wouldnt have died on that mission if it wasnt for pandora + losing her dp suddenly. heinkel on the other hand most likely wouldve died if he went on that mission.

and post-Everything Going Wrong in the Astrea Family, in arc 5, theresia is dying again and her last words are ONLY for wilhelm. she has more than enough time in her last moments to spare AT LEAST a quick "love you" for reinhard or heinkel but she doesnt. she has nothing to say to her son and grandson, and heinkel notes that theresia looked hatefully at him and reinhard. heinkel specifically says something along the lines of "who else could that have been but mother?" after noting how she looked at him too. yeah, heinkels an unreliable narrator who thinks that everyone around him hates him just like he hates himself (see: his narration in arc 7 thinking that another character is looking at him angrily when that character from their pov just Pities him). but at the same time - theresia not having anything left to say to her son and grandson is not a good look. and wilhelm deciding to turn his back on five year old reinhard, and most likely heinkel for trying to defend reinhard at the time, is not a good look either. this is also not helped by heinkel again being very Publicly an absolute wreck, so of course no one respects him.

so yeah uh. tldr: heinkel is an extreme version of ottos worst traits in a lot of ways and otto is just the one thats a little better at looking put together while heinkels so damn tired hes given that up a long time ago. and if otto keeps trying to do questionable shit hes gonna end up miserable in a very heinkel-like way. they are both pretty sad and pathetic and also in desperate need of psychiatric help <3 also they need to ACTUALLY address their core issues and feelings or they are going to keep being fucked in that darkness forever for sure.

[extasiswings]

Sorry but can you elaborate on Marisol being Ana 2.0? And why is it needed for Eddie to go through all that again?

…okay, I promise it’s not that complicated if you think about it for about five seconds but sure, I’ll try to explain it again and be as clear as possible.

Starting with the second question of “why is it necessary to go through that again?”:

It is an extremely common narrative device to demonstrate a character’s growth by putting them in the same situation they’ve been in before so that they can make a different choice. In this case, instead of dragging out a relationship that he didn’t want to be in for 9 months or so and hurting a perfectly nice woman, it would show the audience how much Eddie has grown by giving him the opportunity to date someone he’s met before once he’s ready to date (where he could see their reappearance in his life as a sign of some sort) and letting him say “no, actually I don’t want to do this.” And since I imagine the follow-up question would be “but isn’t he doing that with the 6x14 date” no, he isn’t, he’s choosing not to date and blowing off the setups because he’s afraid of dating at all which is different from him being ready and willing to date and rejecting someone because they aren’t the right person.

As for how she’s Ana 2.0:

Marisol is a random, decently attractive, perfectly nice young woman. Ana was a random, decently attractive, perfectly nice young woman. Eddie met Ana randomly in his personal life (because she was Christopher’s teacher) but then ran into her again randomly at work and it was taken as a sign that they should date. With Marisol, Eddie met her first randomly on a call at work and I expect when they meet again it’ll be an equally random run-in in his personal life that could be taken as a sign. Both introductions were marked by disaster but ended positively: Marisol’s brother almost died but Eddie and Buck came back to fix her house later, Ana had the skateboard incident and Eddie blew up at her over it but then he apologized and they had a nice moment. Ana came back into Eddie’s life at a time he was thinking about dating, Marisol is likely going to come back into Eddie’s life at a time he’s thinking about dating…they’re both women who seem to work perfectly on paper but it’s the “idea” of them that is actually what’s attractive…idk, you don’t have to agree with me, but in my mind it’s pretty obvious what they’re going for there.

[nitewrighter]

what are your guesses on the remaining heroes' favourite animals when Lucio asks?

Bastion: Birds! (Just... birds... no specific species).

Zarya: East Siberian Brown Bear (This doesn't even have anything to do with the whole "Bear as a symbol of Russia" thing, she literally just thinks they're cute)

Echo: Blue Morpho Butterfly

Doomfist: Rhinoceros

Orisa: Puppy!!

Zenyatta: Capybara

Sojourn: Timberwolf

Cassidy: El Chupacabra (And someone else says, "That's not a real animal" and he's like "Bullshit, I know what I saw" and doesn't elaborate further.)

Reaper: "What a stupid question..." (Hedgehog. His favorite animal is a hedgehog.)

Sigma: Tardigrade ("Did you know they can survive the vacuum of space? Remarkable!")

Sombra: Jellyfish ("You neeeeever see them 'til they get you.")

Reinhardt: "Ah! You would think it is the lion, but that is my sigil! My favorite is in fact the stouthearted St. Bernard!"

Symmetra: "The blue glaucus. An exquisite creature."

Wrecking Ball: *angry squeaking* "IS. THIS. A. JOKE."

Winston: "I've always been fascinated by the intelligence of cephalopods. A part of me wishes there were octopuses on Horizon... I would have liked to hear their thoughts on things."

Hanzo: "In my wanderings, I've come to develop an affection for cats. Their grace, their solitude, their ability to find their place and observe from the margins." *pause* "What-- were you expecting me to say 'dragons?'"

Kiriko: "I'll let you guess."

Ana: "Hm... well... I'm very fond of falcons."