#The most important Object in pretty much the whole Universe

[45percenterthen]

@ahomeonfire wig

[ao3cassandraic]

I’m wondering about your thoughts on something I’ve been musing on after S2. How good is Aziraphale’s reading comprehension? How much does he understand subtext and metaphor? Because his behavior this season struck me with the impression that he didn’t really understand the books he collects. He’s clever at puzzle solving, and contains vast knowledge; but he always seems to take things at face value (when he’s not willfully misunderstanding), and refuses to give up black-and-white thinking, which would make it very difficult to analyze texts.

Angels, demons, language, and culture: part 1

You sure ask the difficult ones. (Which is great, I'm totally jazzed about it!)

I delayed answering this ask because it sent me off in a lot of directions:

What is an angel's starting knowledge base?

In contrast, how and what do we humans learn about our world and one another?

Which of these learning methods is not really available to an angel?

What do humans learn from books, fiction especially?

What kinds of information get left implicit in books because authors are humans writing for other humans?

How would an angel fill in those blanks? How would those blanks distort an angel's notion of How Humans and Human Things Work?

What would angels generally and either Aziraphale or Muriel (because yeah, it's hard to have this discussion without thinking about Muriel too) specifically read human-authored fiction for?

I don't have all the answers to the above questions. Not even CLOSE. I happily invite my fellow meta-ists to weigh in on any or all of them!

But let's see what I can tease out. We'll start with factory settings, so to speak.

Angelic vs. human factory settings

(questions 1 through 3)

Angels have (one) language. They have music -- or, at least, they can sing Her praises (likely by rote). At least some, like our Starmaker, have the knowledge to do specific jobs. Note that Aziraphale not only doesn't know how to make stars and nebulas, he's not even clear on what a nebula is. We can safely assume from that that angels don't all possess the same set of knowledge and skills purely by virtue (heh) of being angels.

We don't see, however, how much of what they know is simply an angel's birthright versus how much of it is somehow educated into them. We also don't know how She divvies up necessary knowledge, though I'd think it safe (given most takes on angelology) to guess that angelic rank and intended function are part of Her calculus, perhaps even the whole of it.

What strikes me hardest is that angels seem to be created either as adults or children (which is what I believe the scareable "cherubs" are), and they may well never change that state. The Starmaker is childlike in some ways, but not a child. Likely never was a child! Aziraphale, Before the Beginning, isn't childlike at all; his personality seems pretty close to fully-formed.

And children learn so very, very much. Babies learn so much as babies, while their neuroplasticity is super super plastic! Especially they learn about relating to other beings! (Which the Starmaker is conspicuously Not Real Great at, honestly -- absorbed in the work of creation, the Starmaker does not pick up the feelings Aziraphale is laying down at all.)

Children also learn one OR MORE languages, and that "more" is rather important, because language shapes how we think to some extent (the extent of that extent, and its nature, are objects of fierce debate among linguists and neuroscientists), and different languages shape us differently. Just as Crowley (as plenty of theologians argue) did humanity a favor with the whole knowledge-of-good-and-evil thing, the Tower of Babel (assuming that was a thing that happened in the GOverse; no reason it wouldn't have, I suppose) added a whole lot of nuance and complexity and competing understandings to humanity's sense of itself and its universe.

Exactly how angels and demons manage to speak all human languages (which Crowley indicates they can) isn't clear. If we accept that the Tower of Babel happened, both Heaven and Hell must have had to figure out a way to deal with it.

We do see, however, that angels and demons can be fluent in human languages without being fluent in human thought or human cultures. Gabriel and Sandalphon speak perfect English yet barely know which end of a book is up. Hastur and Ligur can't disentangle ciao/chow. And, I mean, actual food? Fuhgeddaboudit. So I see their linguistic facility as a sort of Douglas Adams Babel fish: it can translate an angel's or demon's thought into the target language, but it can't help an angel or demon think like an actual speaker of that language.

As an example, Gabriel can tell Job and Sitis about their new children, perfectly fluently. His purely-linguistic fluency does not help him understand that they loved their old children, much less why.

This may explain why Aziraphale studied French under M. Rossignol. He perhaps didn't feel he understood how French speakers think, and was interested enough in that to learn the language (as other meta-ists have noted, the language of love!) the human way.

So yeah, if I have a conclusion here it's that angels and demons can seem as off-center as they often do from a human perspective because they wholly missed out on a key period of human brain development.

What they have in its place appears to be... rules. Which is, I think, where I'll take this next.

[jakes3resin]

Blondes Have More Fun

Anyways, this is probably the closest I'll ever get to writing Crack fic for this fandom, so enjoy Blond!Bucky and his ability to drive Buck and the entirety of the 100th wild with his smile and hair! Also personally I think Callum looks like a 24 year old when blond, so imagine handsome charming, nearly thirty Bucky Egan running around looking like a baby faced newbie then you'll be half a bowled over as the 100th.

It is a truth universally acknowledged at Thorpe Abbotts that Major John "Bucky" Egan can be talked into anything. Anything. So long as you were convincing and Buck wasn't around to drag him away from the dumber ideas, Bucky was down to play ball.

Curt had once talked him into using a British accent for a whole week, even in meetings with the CO. Bucky hadn't even blinked before adopting an uncannily perfect London accent. It was so convincing that some of the newer replacements had asked if the man was British.

Another time, he got into a howl off with Meatball after Hambone said he didn't know which one was worse. The pair were so loud that no one could actually tell who won. Most were too busy covering their ears. The few that weren't couldn't decide. It was officially settled as a draw, but Benny still refuses to accept that Bucky would ever beat his precious boy Meatball in anything.

There were countless tales of Bucky getting into trouble simply because someone had said within his earshot the six words needed to wreck Jack Kidd's night.

"You know what would be fun?"

The magic words. That or a dare would send Bucky careening into trouble with half the 100th behind him to watch the fireworks. Honestly, most of the time, Bucky was already getting up to his own antics, so convincing him to do something else wasn't exactly hard.

It was one such utterance of the phrase that sparked a wildfire within the 100th Bomber Group that threatened to tear them asunder and send one Major Gale "Buck" Cleven to an early grave. Or prison.

The night was like any other Friday night. Bucky had gone out with Curt and Bubbles. Buck had chosen to stay in for the night reading, and Harry had done much the same. Kidd, the minder of the entire 100th, had gone to the officer's club while the trio had gone to a local pub in the town just off base. So the usual minders of this trio of mad men were missing, and as the saying goes, while the cats are away, the mice will play.

It started as Bubbles's idea.

At least that's what they think it started as. A few too many drinks had left the evening a blur for Curt and Bubbles and a blank for Bucky. That last fact will be important later.

"You know what would be fun?" Bubbles said, or perhaps it was Curt. Or maybe it was Bucky. But it was probably Bubbles. The man was quite the troublemaker, he just hid it better behind soft smiles and manners.

"What?" Bucky leaned against the bar to grin at Bubbles. Well perhaps a more accurate word would be slumped, he'd spent half the night playing some weird darts game that required shots for every bull's eye Tommy made. It was safe to say that the man was on the downhill slide to wasted. Curt kept an ear on the pair as he flirted with a pretty blonde next to them at the bar.

"Being blonde." Bubbles sighed. "All the movies make it seem fun, don't they? And Major Cleven sure is pretty with his blond hair. I bet it'd look really pretty as well on your curls Bucky."

"Sorry, sweetheart, one moment," Curt turned his head to stare at Bubbles. "You think Buck's pretty?"

"And you don't?"

"I do!"

"We know you do, Bucky," Curt sighed and leaned further onto the bar to make eye contact with Bubbles. "I mean, sure, objectively, you could say he is, but I thought you were wrapped up with Croz and Jean?"

"I am, but I still got eyes don't I? 'Sides ain't there something fun about being blonde?" Bubbles leaned against his cupped hand on the bar. "Can't a mind wonder?"

"Yeah Curt," Bucky rose in defense of his friend slinging an arm around Bubble's neck. The move was so uncoordinated that the pair were nearly sent to the floor. "Why can't Bubbles wonder? I wanna go blond, too!"

Curt rolled his eyes at them, but an idea was taking root in his head. An amazing idea.

"Well," Curt grinned. "Why wonder when you can do?"

"You boys aren't thinking about bleaching your friend's hair on your own are you?" A voice cut through the trio's conversation. It seemed the blonde woman from before had been listening in and was rightly amused by the drunk airmen's conversation.

"Cause you'll fry his whole head off in the state you're in, and the world would mourn those curls." She lifted a hand to tug gently on one of Bucky's loose wavy curls. He smiled at her, loose and happy. Usually, only Buck plays with his hair, but Bucky doesn't mind when anyone else does. Buck does though, which Bucky still hasn't figured out.

"Well, how do you suppose we save his curls then," Curt paused searching for the woman's name, "Nora."

"Good job, I half thought you were too drunk to remember my name handsome." Curt smiled, and Nora kept talking

"There's a drugstore down the way. Stocks up on anything a girl, or flyboy in need, could ever need. I'll help you boys out." Nora laughed. "You'll look mighty pretty dyeing those curls blond Major. I wanna see 'em first."

With Nora leading the way, the trio tripped over themselves into chaos. Bucky laughed as Bubbles rambled on about how pretty he'll look as a blond. Curt butting in to say that he'll need to either shave his mustache or bleach it too.

On base, Buck felt a shiver run down his spine as he laid down to sleep. Writing it off as just a chill from the cold British air, the man fell asleep.

Bucky groaned as he woke up. Voices drifted around him. His head felt like it'd be screwed off and used as a bowling ball all night, and as desperately as he wanted to go back to sleep, he knew that now that the sun was up, he was up.

"Curt, if that's you snoring on my legs, I'm gonna kick you off." Bucky pulled his pillow further over his head, trying to block out said snores.

"Fuck off," Came the grumbled reply. An elbow dug into the back of his knee.

"Get off," John whined. Curt huffed shifting just enough to let Bucky free his legs. "Why didn't you go to your own bed?"

"Yours is comfier." Bubbles murmured next to the pair, and Bucky really was starting to wonder what the hell they all drank the night before.

"It's the same cot as everybody else." Bucky grumbled, finally sitting up. Bubbles and Curt immediately swooped onto the space he abandoned. "Rude. You just want me for my bed."

"But it's such a lovely bed, sweetheart," Curt buried his face in Bucky's pillow, not even glancing at the man he was stealing from. Bubbles seemed to have immediately fallen back to sleep.

"I'm getting breakfast," Bucky yawned, stretching his arms above his head. "Meet me there when you idiots wake up. I'll sneak you in."

"Sir, yes, sir." Curt's hand flopped into a mock salute that had Bucky rolling his eyes.

First things first, breakfast. Or at least coffee for his hangover.

Getting dressed as quickly as he could, Bucky didn't even waste time checking how he looked in a mirror. He went to smooth down his mustache only to curse when he found it missing. Thinking Curt must have shaved it off as a joke, Bucky groaned but moved on. He didn't even touch his hair after that, just walked right out of his barracks. The only thing that mattered to him was coffee and how he'd get his hands on a gallon of it. It wouldn't be the first time he ran around base with his hair going every which way. No one would bat an eye.

Had he known what kind of chaos he was about to wreck upon the poor, unsuspecting airmen of Thorpes Abbotts, Bucky would have at least styled it a bit. You know, just to ensure maximum chaos.

The bike ride to the mess wasn't awful. The fresh air helped at least. With his sunglasses on, his head felt less like it was going to split open and more human. What was weird was how everyone stopped in their tracks to watch him ride past.

"Is that-?"

"No way!"

"Someone get Kidd!"

"Holy shit!"

"Major Cleven is going to lose his mind!"

"Do you think he has a twin?"

"Hell if I know, I can't believe Major Cleven let him out of the barracks like that."

"Lord help us if there's another Egan running around."

Bucky ignored them. He was way too hungover to parse through what nonsense the boys were going on about, and he simply pedaled faster to get to the officer's mess. He just wanted his coffee.

"Major Egan, sir!"

Bucky glances up from securing his bike and meets the eye of one of the newer boys. Kid barely looks old enough to have enlisted.

"Uh," Bucky searches his memory for this kid's name. Bucky tried to know some of the newbies names, but it was harder than he'd ever admit. "Monroe, right?

"Yes, sir!" The kid squeaked, a bright tomato blush spreading across his cheeks. Bucky winced, the sound drilling right into his brain. "I wanted to say you look nice today, sir. Your, your hair is real nice!"

"Thanks, Monroe," Bucky smiled, thrown by how Monroe managed to grow even redder. He reaches out to clasp the kid on the shoulder. "You alright there? You look like you're gonna faint. Had any breakfast yet?"

"I-I'm fine, sir, thank you!" Monroe was stock still under Bucky's hand, but he wrote it off as nerves. Some of the boys got nervous around the older pilots, especially if they were officers. "I'll be going now! Have a good day, sir!"

In a flash, the blushing replacement ducked under Bucky's arm and ran as fast as he could down the lane. Bucky watched him go, head tilted not sure what the hell just happened to him. He heard a few shrieks behind him but wrote it off as typical background noise. There was always something going on.

"Weird kid." Bucky turned to walk into the officer's mess. He'd have to tell Buck about it when he saw him next. Maybe he'd understand what just happened.

Speaking of, Buck had better have saved him a seat for breakfast. Bucky was not going to battle the morning rush as well as his hangover just to find out he had nowhere to sit.

On the way inside, Bucky ran into Veal. As in, he literally ran into the man because he'd stopped dead in his tracks staring at him. Bucky hadn't even seen the other before he practically bowled him over.

"Veal, what the hell?" Bucky groaned.

"You," Veal stared at him wide-eyed. If Bucky were less hungover, he'd get quite a kick out of this. "You, you?"

"Shaved, I know," Bucky gestured to his face. He turned to keep walking into the officer's mess. "Yeah, Curt had some fun last night."

"Wait, no! Bucky-!" Veal went to grab him, but Bucky just swerved out of the way. Nothing was getting in his way in his quest for coffee. "Bucky! Stop! Don't go in there!"

"Yeah, yeah, Veal," Bucky waved a hand behind him. "I get you're shocked, but come on, man. It's not the first time any of you've seen me without it!"

Bucky rushed in, not paying anymore attention to Veal. He walked with one purpose. Coffee. He didn't care if the other officers stopped and stared at him slackjawed as he walked past. He was a man on a mission.

"Hey, coffee, please? Whole pot if you could," Bucky smiled at the attendant, who blushed scarlet before running off. Thrown but not deterred, Bucky just shrugged and turned to find Buck. Maybe he'd be able to steal Buck's coffee.

He found Buck seated near one of the windows with his back facing Bucky. Jack was at his table, but otherwise, it was empty. Bucky started over.

Jack saw him first and choked on his grapefruit juice.

"Oh shit," Jack choked out. Buck leaned over to check on him.

"Alright, Jack?" Bucky grabbed the seat next to Buck. Jack just stared at him, eyes wide. Bucky tilts his head confused. "Buck, what's with him?"

Buck turns and freezes. Bucky stares at him. Buck stares back.

"Buck?" Bucky reaches out to shake him.

"You," Buck starts but doesn't finish. His wide blues eyes stare at Bucky's face.

"Coffee, sir!"

The attendant from before arrives with Bucky's requested pot of coffee and a cup.

"Thanks!" Bucky smiles up at the other. The attendant trips backward. Buck turns and glares at the other man. He flees.

"Buck, what the hell?" Bucky nudges Buck. "Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

Buck turns to stare at Bucky again, a clench to his jaw that Bucky's knows means he's holding something back. Jack seems to have started breathing normally again.

"Your hair!" Jack says. Bucky reaches up to touch his hair. Sure, he didn't style it this morning, but was it so bad? Monroe said it looked good!

Speaking of, why was everyone focusing on his hair today?

"What about it?" Bucky's genuinely curious now. Buck's still staring at him, eyes bright, and now Jack seems to be wishing for death.

"Its-!"

"Pretty."

Bucky turns to Buck. It's his turn to stare wide-eyed at the other. A blush rises up to his cheeks. Buck's not one to mince his words, and a compliment from him feels akin to a hundred.

The entire mess hall goes quiet as Buck stares at him. Bucky smiles at him. Buck goes rigid, and Jack chokes on his juice next to them. Again.

"Bucky!" Curt slammed his hand against the window, happy as a clam and utterly sober. Bucky hates that Irish constitution of his. "Let us in!"

Bucky stands up to hoist open the window. Jack's still too busy choking on his juice to stop him, and Buck seems to have frozen solid. Bubbles and Curt fall through seconds later. The pair immediately start talking over each other happily, and Bucky is starting to wonder if he was the only one who woke up with a hangover.

"God, you should hear the scuttlebutt going round!" Curt cackles as he launches himself into the seat across from Bucky. Bubbles nods next to him, already munching on a piece of toast Bucky thinks used to be Jack's.

"Anything fun?" Bucky dumps creamer into his coffee. He moans as he takes a sip of it. God, coffee really was the best hangover cure. Bucky doesn't notice how quiet the mess hall got until Bubbles finally answers his question a minute later. Odd.

"Just how pretty your hair looks now Major," Bubbles smiled at him. Bucky reached for his hair again.

"Is it really so different?" He asks. Buck makes a noise next to him like a dying chicken, and Curt cackles.

"Blond really is your color, Bucky! You look like one of those pin up posters running around like that!" Curt reaches across the table to tug on one of his curls, drawing it down into his eyesite. Buck bangs his knee against the table with a swear. Bucky would fuss over him, but he's reevaluating his whole morning with this new information.

"Oh!" Bucky gasps. Now he feels silly. "That's why Monroe complimented me outside?"

"Pardon?" Buck's voice comes out strangled. Bucky swings his gaze back to him. Buck's blue eyes are nearly electric, and Bucky gulps.

"Monroe? Cute kid? Brunette replacement with a billion freckles that disappear when he blushes?" Bucky rambles. Curt cackles again as Jack buries his face into his hands. Bubbles grabs a slice of Buck's toast this time.

"And he stopped you?" Buck's jaw was doing the thing Bucky knows only happens when he's pissed. But why would he be mad? Bucky tilts his head to stare at Buck, curls flopping down into his eyes now that Curt's untucked them from behind his ears.

Buck clenches his fist.

"Yeah, he and Veal both stopped me before I walked in." Bucky reaches over to grab Buck's hand. "You okay?"

"I'm fine John," Buck reaches up to tuck his loose curls back behind his ear. His hand lingers, and Bucky fights the urge to press his cheek into Buck's hand. "You look real pretty."

"Yeah?" Bucky sits up straighter, leaning into Buck's space. "How pretty?"

"Like a daydream." Buck whispers, voice low. His blue eyes won't stop staring, and Bucky can tell his blush is spreading by the volume of Curt's laugh.

Oh, Bucky could just kiss the other.

"Yeah, Nora did a nice job on your hair!" Bubbles pipes up having polished off Buck's toast. "We should write her a thank you card!"

"Nora?" Buck twitches.

"The girl who dyed Bucky's hair, of course!" Curt chimed in reaching for Bucky's coffee. Bucky batted his hands away, holding desperately onto his cup. "Pretty girl too! Kept running her hands through Bucky's hair saying how nice it was."

"I think nows a good time to stop that." Jack shoved his last slice of toast in Curt's mouth.

Buck's hand was still hovering over Bucky's cheek.

"Oh, now I remember!" Bucky leaned towards Curt and Bubbles with a bright smile. "She kissed me on the cheek before we left, right?"

Buck pushed his chair away from the table with a screech. Jack turned back to his grapefruit juice with a sigh.

Buck stormed out of the building, and it was through the combined efforts of Curt and Bubbles that Bucky didn't run after him. They could hear yelling through the still open window.

"Oh shit!"

"Everybody run! Major Cleven's pissed!"

"Who flirted with Bucky this time?!"

"Buck calm down, whoever it was they probably didn't mean anything by it!"

"Outta my way Crank."

"Buck, c'mon if you go to jail, who'll stay by Bucky's side?"

"Only gotta go to prison if I get caught."

"That's right-wait, Buck, no!"

Bucky sipped at his coffee. Jack sighed and turned to Bucky.

"Would you please go stop him? I'm not explaining to Harding why one of the 100th murdered a civilian, a fellow Major, and a replacement."

"Buck wouldn't do that," Bucky rolled his eyes.

Jack stared at him, judgement clear in his eyes. Bucky shifted under his gaze.

"Fine," Bucky groaned and pushed away from the table. He refilled his cup of coffee. "He wouldn't, but I'll go stop him."

Curt and Bubbles chirped their goodbyes as they waved down an attendant. Bucky mourned his pot of coffee as he glanced back and saw Curt gleefully pouring it into a cup.

Stepping put in the sunshine, Bucky reached for his sunglasses. Finding Buck would be easy. He simply turned in the direction of the yelling and started walking.

He ignored the boys all watching him and whispering. Now that he was walking, he could see his reflection in the windows of the buildings he passed. His normally brown locks were now a bright blond. He felt a bit foolish for not seeing it earlier, but hangovers tended to narrow one's field of vision to only what's necessary.

"DeMarcooo!" Bucky called out when he saw the other walking Meatball. "You seen Buck anywhere?"

"Just missed him," Benny yelled back. He pointed to the left of the barracks. "Went that way!"

"Thanks!" Bucky called back with a smile. A few of the boys around him erupted in whispers.

"Nice hair!" Benny yelled with a grin. Bucky rolled his eyes and kept walking. Buck couldn't have gone too far, right?

He found Buck only a few minutes later outside of one of the barracks the replacements were quartered. He was leaning against a wall talking to someone.

"Buck!" Bucky jogged over. As he got closer, he realized that the person Buck was talking to was the kid from earlier. "Monroe! Good to see you again so soon!"

"Major!" Monroe squeaked, eyes bouncing from Buck to Bucky. "Major Cleven was just reminding me about a few chores that I forgot about! I'll get going! Sirs!"

The kid ran off before Bucky could stop him. Buck watched with a satisfied gleam in his eyes, and Bucky huffed out a laugh.

"You know, you don't have to act all jealous to get my attention," Bucky pulled Buck to him by wrapping an arm around his waist. "I'll still only ever look at you."

"Just making sure everyone else knows that." Buck replied, voice low and serious.

Bucky reached up his free hand to drag him down into a kiss. Buck melted into his touch. Bucky laughed into he kiss as he tried to keep his coffee from spilling all over the two of them. He pecks the corner of Buck's mouth and pulls away.

"So you like the hair?" Bucky scrunches his nose into a shit eating grin.

Buck wiped that grin off his face with another kiss. Not that Bucky was complaining, of course.

Later that night, after making sure Buck didn't actually murder anyone, Bucky found himself in front of a vaguely familiar drug store.

"Well Major, I take it your boy liked the blond?" Nora grinned, pink lips spread into a devilish smile. She leaned one hip against the drug store counter. "Surprised you made it back here. You boys weren't exactly stone cold sober when you left."

"I always remember my bets, darling. I'll forget a lot but never those." Bucky laughed and set his hat down on the counter next to her. A single blond curl fell down into his eyes. "Now, what's this about makeup?"

"Oh, Major, you'll look lovely in something peachy."

[omgthatdress]

Re-living my childhood and working on doing a fashion history spam of the American Girl dolls!

Oh my god I can’t begin to tell you what a huge part of my childhood those dolls were. Before I go on, let me clarify my family’s financial circumstance growing up: I was a pretty solidly middle-class only child. I definitely wasn’t rich, but my mom was willing to spend a lot of money on buying me a shitload of American Girl stuff because A.) she thought they were cool, and B.) they provided a much smarter alternative to Barbies. And when I grew up and got too old for them, I was able to give my stuff over to my younger cousins.

Looking at what the brand has to offer now, it’s pretty clear that the brand has changed over time and that the emphasis has gone from the historical dolls to the modern ones. Honestly, that’s not a 100% terrible thing. I fully embrace change as a part of the universe, and if it’s a part of the survival of the brand, so be it. As long as the historical dolls remain in tact and the brand integrity is respected. And for the most part, until very recent years, it looks like it has been.

Mattel bought the American Girl brand in 1998, and from then on, you can see the brand shifting away from the original five dolls. I’m going to get waaay more into this with the spam, but really, the historical dolls until very recently have actually remained pretty great. If there’s one really broad critique I could give, it’s that the overall color palette skews towards the modern, with a lot of very bright colors and a heavy emphasis on pink, but when taken individually, the pieces remain very accurate.

HERE’S THE THING! In 2016, a new historical girl was released: Maryellen, repping the 1950s. She’s blonde and has blue eyes, following shortly on Julie, who repped the 1970s and also had blonde hair and blue eyes. You can kind of see a theme developing here. The girls from the 30s, 50, 70s, 80s, and 90s are all blonde with blue eyes. You’d think that girls in the 20th century were only blondes. But anyway I’m getting away from the point. Maryellen was released with only TWO books! The fuck?! Maryellen’s collection remained the same very immersive collection that I love about the brand, but clearly, shit’s changing.

The next historical dolls, Nenea (repping Hawaii after Pearl Harbor), Melody (repping Black girls, Motown, and civil rights in the 60s), Courtney (repping blonde hair blue eyed girls with 80s nostalgia and very little historical engagement), Claudie, (Black girl in the 1920s Harlem Renaissance) and Isabelle and Nicki (again blonde girls repping 90s nostalgia with little historical engagement) all only have two books. The brand has LITERALLY been diminished. The books were an equally important part of the playset, not only providing context for the garments and objects you were playing with, providing REAL, often complex lessons about history, making history feel real and relatable, but they fleshed out the girls, their lives, and the worlds they lived in. They made what you were playing with more than just a playset, more than just a dollhouse or Barbie accessories, they were a whole universe for girls to explore.

Like I said at the beginning, I didn’t grow up rich. I definitely had more privilege than others out there, but I still wasn’t the rich kid villain from a 90s kids movie. I had a lot of American Girl shit because my mom saw the value in the brand and was willing to spend a lot of money on it in a way that she wouldn’t be willing to spend a lot of money on Barbies.

Honestly, I don’t know the toy industry, I don’t know what little girls today want out of their dolls. I know that times change, and that what’s beloved in one generation isn’t necessarily going to be carry over to the next. But I find it hard to believe that little girls straight up no longer are interested in history, and that moms no longer want to give their daughters toys that will actually teach them things. I’ve read a lot of articles about how the brand is struggling, and I don’t think it’s a generational divide. Mattel has fucked up the brand, and I am not just saying that out of Boomer toxic nostalgia that says that everything from the past is GOOD, everything today is BAD, and that anything that changes is inherently not only bad but a personal insult. The stuff that made these expensive dolls worth buying just isn’t there.

[controversial-blorbo-bracket]

Controversial Character Tournament Round 2: Alois Trancy from Black Butler vs Eichi Tenshouin from Ensemble Stars

(remember that these characters are fictional and your fellow tumblr users are real. i will block you if you harass others in the notes, please consider sending your unhinged harassment to my inbox instead)

Propaganda under the cut, may contain spoilers:

Alois Trancy:

LOVE:

- "everyone wants this guy dead. he is the villain of his narrative for the simple hubris of wanting to live and be loved after surviving traumatic events one after another for his whole childhood, and in the end the narrative kills him for it. being an anime-only character, many fans dislike his character as well, seeing him as unnecessary or controversial/contradictory to the well-established lore of the main storyline. he's gotten rejected from other poll tournaments, even, for his backstory containing a Lot of controversial and dark material (so yeah heads up for that). i personally care very deeply about his character, because someone i am very close with in my real life relates a lot to him, and has experienced similar traumatic events. in the end, he just wants to be loved, but he is bound to the hatred of his fellow characters, of the writers and his universe itself, of the fans of his series, of... everyone but a select few people clinging to him. which is to say, he is broadly hated, but i think the balance of the few that truly and deeply want to break him out of that fate and love him with the fervor of a thousand suns.... i think that makes him a great candidate for this competition."

Eichi Tenshouin:

LOVE:

- "Eichi is so silly… he started an entire war for his crush… then “killed” said crush in public (it was a metaphorical killing). He’s responsible for ruining the lives/mental health of SEVERAL if not dozen of people. He doesn’t know about the concept of “love.” In all honestly, I just see him as a very naive person with too much money to spend (he’s extremely rich if I didn’t mention it). People either love him or hate him, though I feel like the fandom has been coming around to him lately, especially in the past few years, so he may not win the poll, but the discourse around him has left such a strong impression on me that I HAD to submit him. Personally, I love him he’s one of my favorite characters; I have a plushie of him :)"

- "Okay first of all I don't love or hate him I'm actually pretty neutral about him BUT I will defend him til the day I die because people who hate him hate him for like. the wrong reasons. Okay he started an idol war like he was 16 and wanted to change the idol system at Yumenosaki and none of the teachers did anything to like. actually turn these kids into idols and Eichi took things into his own hands. This guy is a rich chronically ill nepo baby and gay as hell which is incredibly important to the whole narrative and I still stand by the fact that like. if the adults at the school had done their job this wouldn't have happened and Eichi has shown a lot of growth and self reflection in the time since then (even though he is......essentially creating an idol factory to mass produce popular idols. anyway) and he regrets a lot of his actions during the war but also. objectively at least for one of the characters, if someone didnt do something about what was going on in that unit it would have ended incredibly badly (Shu Itsuki and Ex-Valkyrie which is another long story I am not going to get into but you can read Marionette if you want to know more about it and even as a Shu Producer I think it was necessary for his own character arc and development, as well as Nazuna and Mika's arcs. Anyway this isn't about them this is about Eichi) he's very complicated and I think people who hate him just because of the war are missing whole pieces of his character, yknow? He was just a kid with ideals and a lot of money and drive to create change and nobody was around to guide him in the right direction. I still don't understand how the teachers at this school have jobs if they just allowed four kids to get metaphorically executed on stage though."

- "i love him very much he’s kind of a bitch though so like i think he’s divisive enough to win it"

- ""how controversial can this idol gacha game boy possibly be" I have seen people unironically censor his name it's so funny. his haters are so. they hate any complex morally grey character and none of them can be normal about it. the amount of people I've seen making jokes about his terminal illness and how they can't wait until he dies is something else, and I've seen soooo many people unironically call him irredeemable and evil and that enstars would be better if he wasn't in it (as if eichi isn't the single most important character in enstars' plot like. literally most of the cast would never have met and bonded if it wasn't for him) and etc etc. his fans are also kind of rabid and hardcore but I respect that. he gives me brainworms too. I think the controversy might maaaaybe be largely only the western side of the fanbase...? bc his merch is still some of the most expensive in the entire series lol. an expensive boy few can afford... literally the character of all time. please appreciate him in this cat hoodie: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ensemble-stars/images/5/5d/Eichi_Tenshouin_Namja_Town.png/revision/latest?cb=20200109223739"

- "He is my special little guy my blorbo my funny little war criminal however he very much did commit a lot of crimes and people rightfully do not like him for it. However. To me, personally, he is my poor sick little meow meow. He is so fucked up and I love him for it. Men who were born all alone in a wet cardboard box am I right ?"

[ot3]

okay two things you Gotta Know if you intend to continue in Impel Down: one, Ivakov uses neo pronouns. No joke. Oda invented new pronouns for them. They aren't translated tho.

The second thing is that Bon Clay, when they were in Baroque Works, was actually treated with respect as a genderfluid person (in universe, that is). The organization had codenames that coreesponded to gender, and the name Number 2 Bon clay is actually a Mashup of both the female and male naming conventions.

Oda's relationship with the lgbtq community is...tough to read, but it is important to recognize that it's a little better in Japanese.

i really don't think that's that much better. regardless of what pronouns a character is using or how they're treated in-universe, the point of reference the audience has is the real world and oda is just blatantly using some of the most harmful and persistent caricatures of gay and trans people as stand ins for gay and trans people as a whole, at least at this point in the narrative. i understand its somewhat better later on.

but the thing is if it was like, these caricatures were consistently sympathetic i would be a little bit more understanding, but that just straight up isn't the case. whether or not we're supposed to see these characters and view objects of scorn and derision, or as somewhat sympathetic portrayals of gay and trans people is pretty much completely arbitrary. he wants to have it both ways.

i don't think there's an active hatred for gay and trans people from oda in the same way i dont think he actively hates women, but i think these are all groups of people who oda doesn't genuinely care about portraying outside of the very specific boundaries he already believes they should exist in. he seems fundamentally uninterested in going outside of his comfort zone to portray other groups of people as if they're like, human beings.

[csyched]

Mundane Design Detail of Digital Devil Saga: Tag Rings

(Spoilers for both DDS + DDS2.)

I have a tendency to look way too deep into little details of character designs in media, and when it comes to DDS where uniform designs are common, it gets even more fun for me. One of the things that first stood out was tag rings; the Junkyard invention that is introduced briefly and very early in the game as identifiable objects used simultaneously as trackers for downloadable mantras and can also act as digital wallets. I always wondered though, how much more they can represent for a character's actual design rather than just being a game tool for logging progress.

Rings on different fingers (and hands) represent different ideas on how we wish to present ourselves; these ideas can change from culture to culture, and in observing these differences, I looked both at general Western culture and of course, Hinduism. I was able to find more information in Western cultures with more commonalities. However, in Hinduism, by looking into mudras, you'll find rings on each finger can still hold different meanings. The middle finger is "ego", the pinky is "illusion", the ring finger is "karma". The index finger is Jiva-Atman - the individual soul or self. The thumb is Paramatman - the universal, eternal soul.

And if you've noticed, most individuals of the Junkyard wear their tag rings on their middle finger (on their left hand). In Western culture, the middle finger, similar to "ego" in Hinduism, represents "individuality". And hey, what do you know? That's a pretty important theme brought up later on.

The Samsara Tunnels scene with Lupa is actually what drove me to research further into this. Lupa removes his tag ring before performing an inevitable act of self-sacrifice, and at first, I thought it meant he was giving up his individuality. Until I noticed that no, Lupa wears his ring on his index finger on his right hand, rather than his middle finger on his left hand like almost everyone else. In Western culture, the index finger on the right hand instead represents the "potential for leadership". Fitting, for the Leader of the Wolves, who has offered his own head to the dominating tribe of the Embryon.

And then he hands it to Gale - who slips it onto his left hand next to his other ring, and he puts it on his index. And what does that represent? Comradery. Ohhhhhhhhh man. Let's go, gay subtext!!!

Irrelevant comment: (The funny thing is Lupa's ring literally does not pop up on his hand until the camera focuses on his hand and then it disappears. For the rest of the scene and the rest of the game and DDS2 it is gone. I don't know if that was an intentional choice - I doubt it - perhaps the animators didn't want to make a whole other Gale model with the two rings. I like to think he kept the ring...)

Moving onto DDS2, and Serph sells his tag ring at the Mad Mart to make some cash. Nobody else sells their rings. With the hacking disk, they are no longer needed, so it seems everyone just keeps it for sentiments. Serph himself also wears his ring on his middle finger, so was it a story choice for him to give it away - to represent him giving up his individuality? Of course, maybe not immediately, but eventually, Serph's individuality blends with another soul - being Sera's - in order to become Seraph. And no, they do not wear any rings, because neither Sera nor Serph did at the point of fusing.

Yeah.

Some additional points:

Cielo doesn't wear his tag ring as a ring, he wears it as a necklace. Similar to Lupa and his layers of necklaces with several tag rings. I'm not sure what that means - usually, necklaces with rings represent vows, most commonly found for promise rings. They can also represent deceased loved ones. Which is quite heartbreaking when you think about Lupa's necklaces...

Generally, the right hand for rings is the "action" hand while the left is the "thinking" hand.

If I ever find more information and more opportunities to extend this drabble, I will. I'm not sure how interesting this essay is for others, but some friends were interested in hearing it. I really do wonder how much thought was put into this design aspect, and if anyone has their own knowledge to bring to the table, I'd love to hear it.

[layce2015]

Supernatural (Dean Winchester x Female!Reader)

Swan Song

Masterlist pt 1

Masterlist pt 2

On April 21, 1967, the 100 millionth GM vehicle rolled off the line at the plant in Janesville – a blue two-door Caprice.

There was a big ceremony, speeches. The lieutenant governor even showed up. Three days later, another car rolled off that same line. No one gave two craps about her. But they should have, because this 1967 Chevrolet Impala would turn out to be the most important car – no, the most important object – in pretty much the whole universe.

She was first owned by Sal Moriarty, an alcoholic with two ex-wives and three blocked arteries. On weekends, he'd drive around giving Bibles to the poor "gettin' folks right for Judgment Day." That's what he said. Sam, Dean and (y/n) don't know any of this, but if they did, I bet they'd smile.

After Sal died, she ended up at Rainbow Motors, a used-car lot in Lawrence, where a young marine bought her on impulse. That is, after a little advice from a friend. I guess that's where this story begins.

And here's where it ends.

Sam was sitting on the hood of the Impala drinking a beer in Bobby's salvage yard, when Dean and I come over to join him. "Hey." Sam greeted as Dean takes a couple beers out of a cooler, hands me one and leans against the Impala, being unusually quiet. 

"Guys? What's going on?" Sam asked, worried. "I'm in." Dean said. "In with...?" Sam asked, confused. "The whole 'up with Satan' thing. I'm on board." Dean said. "You're gonna let me say yes?" Sam asked, surprised. "No. That's the thing. It's not on me to let you do anything. You're a grown...well, overgrown...man. If this is what you want, I'll back your play." Dean said. "That's the last thing I thought you'd ever say." Sam said.

"Might be. I'm not gonna lie to you, though. It goes against every fiber I got. I mean, truth is...You know, watching out for you...it's kinda been my job, you know? But more than that, it's...it's kinda who I am. You're not a kid anymore, Sam, and I can't keep treating you like one. Maybe I got to grow up a little, too. I don't know if we got a snowball's chance. But...But I do know that if anybody can do it...it's you." Dean explained.

"Thank you." Sam said, grateful to hear such words from his brother. "If this is what you want...Is this really what you want?" Dean asked. "I let him out. I got to put him back in." Sam replied, Dean looks away. "Okay. That's it, then." He said, in a remorseful tone, then Sam looks over at me.

"What about you, (y/n)?" He asked me and I sigh. "Honestly, Sam...I don't like it. But...you are your own man and if you say you can control the devil and put yourself and Lucifer back in the cage, then I trust you. I'm standing by you." I said and Sam smiles at me. "Thanks, (y/n)." He said and I nod at him then we continue drinking our beers in silent.

Later, Sam and Castiel fill up jugs with demon blood. A dead demon hanged upside down over a devil's trap and Sam wipes blood off a large knife, while Castiel puts the lid on a jug of blood. Dean stands next to me, looking so conflicted of what is happening, and I reach out and take his hand in mine then run my thumb over his knuckle, to give him some sort've comfort. 

We exit the building, Sam and Castiel carrying the gallon jugs of blood then they put them in the trunk of the Impala, while Dean and I walk over to Bobby. "I still can't get used to you at eye level." I said to him.

"So, was I right?" Bobby asked. "As always, Yoda. Two stunt demons inside, just like you said." Dean replied. "Did you get it?" Bobby asked. "Yeah, all the 'go juice' Sammy can drink." Dean said, while I sigh and look away.

"You both okay?" Bobby asked, I shake my head. "Not really. What do you got?" Dean asked. "Not much. These look like omens to you?" Bobby asked, handing Dean a newspaper. I lean closer to Dean to read the paper with him. 

"Cyclone in Florida, temperature drop in Detroit, wildfires in L.A." Bobby said. "Wait. What about Detroit?" Dean asked, looking up from the paper. "Temp's dropped about 20 degrees, but only in a five-block radius of downtown Motown." Bobby explained. "That's the one. Devil's in Detroit." Dean said. "Really? As far as foreboding goes, it's a little light in the loafers. You sure?" Bobby asked. "Yeah, I'm sure." Dean replied.

The Impala, of course, has all the things other cars have... and a few things they don't. But none of that stuff's important. This is the stuff that's important. The army man that Sam crammed in the ashtray – it's still stuck there. The Legos that Dean shoved into the vents – to this day, heat comes on and they can hear 'em rattle. And, when she was riding with them, (y/n) had stuffed her already chewed up gum up under the seats.

These are the things that make the car theirs – really theirs. Even when Dean rebuilt her from the ground up, he made sure all these little things stayed, 'cause it's the blemishes that make her beautiful. The Devil doesn't know or care what kind of car the boys drive.

Dean was driving the Impala, Sam was riding shotgun, Castiel is asleep in the back seat while I sit next to him and smile at him. "Aw. Ain't he a little angel?" I asked the boys as I nod to Cas. "Angels don't sleep." Sam said and I roll my eyes.

"Sam, I got a bad feeling about this." said Dean. "Well, you'd be nuts to have a good feeling about it." Sam said, sarcastically. "You know what I mean. Detroit. He always said he'd jump your bones in Detroit. Here we are." Dean said. "Here we are." Sam said.

"Maybe this is him rolling out the red carpet, you know? Maybe he knows something that we don't." I said. "(Y/n), I'm sure he knows a buttload we don't. We just got to hope he doesn't know about the rings." Sam said then he sighs.

"Hey, um...on the subject, there's something I got to talk to you guys about." He said. "What?" Dean and I asked. "This thing goes our way and I...Triple Lindy into that box...y-you guys know I'm not coming back." Sam said and I frown and turn my head away. "Yeah, we're aware." Dean said.

"So you guys got to promise me something." Sam said and I look over at him. "Okay. Yeah." Dean said. "Anything." I said. "You guys got to promise not to try to bring me back." Sam said. "What?" I exclaimed, shocked, while Dean shakes his head. "No, I didn't sign up for that." He growls.

"Guys--"

"Your Hell is gonna make my tour look like Graceland. You want us just to sit by and do nothing?" Dean asked, angrily. "Once the Cage is shut, you can't go poking at it, Dean. It's too risky." Sam said. "No, no, no, no, no. As if we're just gonna let you rot in there." Dean said. "There's no way we're gonna do that!" I shout. "Yeah, you are. You two don't have a choice." Sam said. "You can't ask us to do this." Dean said, upset.

"I'm sorry, guys. You have to." Sam said. "So then what are we supposed to do?" I asked him, tears forming in my eyes. The idea of losing my best friend is just...I don't know a better word for it...awful.

​​​​​​"You guys find a home, have a family. You – you have barbecues, go to football games and go to concerts. You two go live some normal, apple-pie life, guys. Promise me." Sam said and I stare at him, in disbelief, as Dean looks over at him. "Well, is it bad timing to tell you that...your wish is coming true?" Dean asked and Sam stares at him, confused.

"What?" He asked. "Last night, I, uh...I asked (y/n) to marry me." Dean said and Sam's eyes widen and he looks over at me, like for confirmation. "It's true. Although, we don't have a ring yet but...he did ask." I said and Sam huffs out a laugh. "Well...I'm glad you guys. Now you just need to home, maybe turn one of your safehouses into a home, (y/n), and you two live on. Have kids or do whatever. It would mean alot to me, if you guys did this." He said and I look down. 

We arrive in Detroit and parked in an alleyway then Bobby looks through binoculars at a building. Once he was done, Bobby walks over to Sam, Dean, Castiel, and I. "Demons. At least two dozen of them. You were right...something's up." He said to Dean. "More than something. He's here. I know it." Dean said, walking to the trunk of the Impala.

Sam looks at Bobby and sighs. Bobby looks at the ground for a moment, then walks up to Sam. "I'll see ya around, kid." He said. "See ya around." Sam replied and the two hug.

Bobby pulls away then look Sam in the eye. "He gets in...You fight him tooth and nail, you understand? Keep swingin'. Don't give an inch." He said, his voice breaking a little. "Yes, sir." Sam said. Bobby stares at Sam for a moment, tearfully. Then he turns and walks away.

Sam sighs, rubbing his face and brushing a long strand of his bangs out of his face. Sam looks at Castiel and walks over him, holding his hand out to the angel. "Take care of these guys, okay?" He asked as he nods to me and Dean

"That's not possible." Castiel said, plainly. Sam scoffs. "Then humor me." He said. "Oh. I was supposed to lie." Castiel said and Sam scoffs again. "Uh...Sure. They'll be fine." Castiel said, never taking Sam's hand to shake. "Just-just stop...talking." Sam said, smiling a little, then he looks over at me and I give him a small smile before I go and hug him.

"I'm gonna miss you." I whispered to him as he hugs me back. "Yeah, I'll miss you too." Sam said then we pull out of our embrace and he looks down at me. "Take care of my brother." He tells me and I nod. "I will." I said and Sam smiles and we hug again then he heads over to the trunk of the Impala, where the open jugs of demon blood sit.

"You mind not watching this?" Sam asked us and Dean and I walk away as Sam picks up a jug. 

Later, Sam clears his throat and closes the trunk and takes a deep breath. "Okay. Let's go." He said, walking past Dean and I. After a moment we follow him. Bobby and Castiel stayed back, watching us go. 

Sam raises his arms as he approaches the building with the demons. "ALL RIGHT! We're here, you sons of bitches! Come and get it!" He growled and three demons come outside. "Hey, guys. Is your father home?" Dean asked them.

The demons manhandle the boys and I, inside and over to Lucifer, who's looking out the window. "Hey, guys. So nice of you to drop in." The devil said, continuing to stare out the window. He breaths on the glass, foggy and freezing it up.

"Sorry, if it's a bit chilly. Most people think I burn hot. It's actually quite the opposite." Lucifer said, as he draws a pitchfork in the condensation. "Well, I'll alert the media." Dean said, sarcastically.

Lucifer turns his head to look at us, his face was covered with red sores. "Help me understand something, guys. I mean, stomping through my front door is...a tad suicidal, don't you think?" He asked, moving to stand in front of us.

"We're not here to fight you." Sam said. "No? Then why are you?" Lucifer asked. "I want to say yes." Sam replied. "Excuse me?" Lucifer asked, taken aback. Sam takes a breath, closing his eyes and the three demons drop dead in flashes of light. "Chock-full of Ovaltine, are we?" Lucifer asked, a bit impressed.

"You heard me. Yes." Sam said, firmly. "You're serious." Lucifer said, questionable. Sam glances to Dean and I real quick. "Look, Judgment Day's a runaway train. We get it now. We just want off." He said. "Meaning?" Lucifer asked. "Deal of the century. I give you a free ride, but when it's all over, I live, he lives, she lives, you bring our parents back..." Sam said and Lucifer rolls his eyes. "Okay, can we please drop the telenovela?" Lucifer asked, getting him to stop.

"I know you have the rings, Sam." Lucifer said. Dean and I look at Sam, who stares at Lucifer. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He said. "The Horsemen's rings? The magic keys to my Cage? Ring a bell?" Lucifer asked, stepping closer to get in Sam's face.

Lucifer then slips pass us as we turn to look at him. "Come on, Sam. I've never lied to you. You could at least pay me the same respect. It's okay. I'm not mad. A wrestling match inside your noggin...I like the idea. Just you and me, one round, no tricks. You win, you jump in the hole. I win...Well, then I win. What do you say, Sam? A fiddle of gold against your soul says I'm better than you." Lucifer taunted.

Dean and I exchange worried looks then look over at Sam, who fidgets. "So he knows. Doesn't change anything." He said. "Sam." Dean whispered. "We don't have any other choice." Sam said. "No." I mutter but Sam faces Lucifer.

"Yes."

Lucifer closes his eyes and bright light emanates from him. I held up my hands, turning my head away from the blinding light. When the light fades, Lucifer's previous vessel was gone and Sam was laying motionless on the floor. "Sam." I exclaimed as I kneel beside him to check on him. Dean takes the Horsemen's rings out of his pocket and throws them at the wall, where they stick.

"Bvtmon...Tabges...Babalon." 

A hole appears in the wall where the rings were and thw air is sucked into it. Sam stirs. "Sam." I said, taking his arm and help him sit up. "Sammy!" Dean exclaimed, running over to us. "Dean! (y/n)!" Sam exclaimed as he groans in pain. "I can feel him. Oh, God!" Sam cried out. "Keep fighting him, Sam!" I said. "You got to go now! Come on!" Dean said and he and I take Sam's arms and help him up. 

Now standing, Sam stares at the hole that leads to the cage. "Go now, Sammy. Now!" I yelled. Sam walks towards the hole and takes some deep breath but then he turns back to us, smiling. "I was just messing with you. Sammy's long gone." Lucifer said and we stare back at him, horrified, my heart dropped at this.

Lucifer turns back to the hole in the wall. "Chdr bvtmon tabges babalon." He changes and the hole closes. Lucifer removes the Horsemen's rings from the wall and turns back to look at us. "I told you...this would always happen in Detroit." He said, then he disappears. Dean puts his hands to his head with tears in his eyes and I placed my hands over my mouth, tears falling down. "No..." I cried, defeated.

*3rd Person POV*

In a abandon theater, five people stand in a loose circle. Lucifer in Sam's body flexes his right arm, shoulder and hand. "Sam. Come on. I can feel you...scratching away in there." Lucifer said, smirking, then he noticed a broken mirror and looks into it. "Look...I'll take the gag off, okay?" Lucifer said as he walks towards the mirror. In the reflection, Sam was breathing heavily in anger.

"You got me all wrong, kiddo. I'm not the bad guy here." Lucifer said. "I'm gonna rip you apart from the inside out. Do you understand me?" Sam growled, angrily. "Such anger...Young Skywalker. Who are you really angry with? Me? Or that face in the mirror?" Lucifer asked.

"I'm sure this is all a big joke to you, huh?" Sam sneered. "Not at all. I've been waiting for you...for a long, long time. Come on, Sam. You have to admit...you can feel it, right?" Lucifer asked and Sam shakes is head. "What?" He asked. "The exhilaration. And you know why that is? Because we're two halves made whole. M.F.E.O. Literally." Lucifer replied. "This feels pretty damn far from good." Sam spat.

Lucifer smiles and taps at his head. "I'm inside your grapefruit, Sam. You can't lie to me. I see it all...how odd you always felt, how...out of place in that...family of yours. And why shouldn't you have? They were foster care at best. I'm your real family." Lucifer said. "No, that's not true." Sam said. "It is. And I know you know it. All those times you ran away, you weren't running from them. You were running towards me." Lucifer said. 

Sam looks away then Lucifer sighs. "This doesn't have to be a bad thing, you know." He said, Sam scoffs at such a ridiculous idea. "I let Dean and (y/n) live, didn't I? I want them to live. I'll bring your folks back, too. I'll even bring back (y/n)'s folks for her. I want you to be happy, Sam." Lucifer said. "I don't want anything from you." Sam growled and Lucifer raises an eyebrow. "Really? Not even a little payback?" He asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam asked. "Look closely. None of these little devils look familiar to you?" Lucifer asked as he gestures to the demons behind him then back at the mirror. "That's Mr. Bensman...One of my grade-school teachers." Sam said, looking at a bald man in a suit. Lucifer turns to look at the demons again. "And that's your friend Doug from that time in East Lansing. And Rachel...your prom date." He said, glancing back at the mirror, and Sam looks at the demons, horrified.

Lucifer looks back at the mirror, spreading his arms. "Sam Winchester, this is your life. Azazel's gang...watching you since you were a rugrat, jerking you around like a dog on a leash. I know how you feel about them. Me too. And you wanna know something? (Y/n) was supposed to die that night Jake stabbed her. But we didn't take in consideration of how much your brother cared for her." Lucifer said and Sam shakes in anger. "So, what do you say you and I blow off a little steam?" He asked as Sam glares at the demons behind him.

In the streets, a news report is playing on televisions in a store window. "Reports are flooding in – a 7.6 earthquake in Portland, 8.1 in Boston, more in Hong Kong, Berlin, and Tehran. The U.S.G.S. has no explanation but says to expect a six-figure death toll." the reporter said.

"It's starting." Castiel said as he, Dean, Bobby and (y/n) watch the news. "Yeah, you think, genius?" Dean said to him, harshly. "You don't have to be mean." Castiel mumbles. "So what do we do now?" Dean asked as he paces and (y/n) had her arms folded across her chest.

"I suggest we imbibe copious quantities of alcohol...Just wait for the inevitable blast wave." Castiel suggested. "Yeah, swell. Thank you, Bukowski. I-I mean, how do we stop it?" Dean asked. "We don't. Lucifer will meet Michael on the chosen field, and the battle of Armageddon begins." Cas said. "Okay, well, where's this chosen field?" Dean asked him. "I don't know." Cas said, shrugging, and (y/n) closes her eyes in realization. "Well, there's got to be something that we can do." Dean yells.

"There is." (Y/n) said and the men all look over at her, her back was facing them. "What are you talking about?" Bobby asked and (y/n) sighs and looks over her shoulder at them then Dean's eyes widen, realizing what she was gonna say.

"No, no, no." Dean said, shaking his head. "Dean...it's our last hope." (Y/n) said as she turns to face him. "No! I'm not letting you do this!" Dean yells. "What the hell you two going on about?" Bobby asked. "Ariel." (Y/n) said and Bobby gets a look of understanding. "Balls." He grumbles and (y/n) turns to Cas. "Cas, can you call her?" She asked and Cas nods as he pulls out his phone.

"There's no way in hell..." Dean growls but (y/n) shakes her head. "Dean..." she pleads. "NO, DAMN IT! I'M NOT LOSING YOU TOO!" Dean yells. "You're not gonna lose me, Dean." (Y/n) said but he shakes his head. "(Y/n), please.." Dean pleads and (y/n) walks up to him and takes his hands in hers.

"Do you trust me?" She asked and he looks at her. "What?" He said, confused. "Do you trust me?" She asked again and Dean stares into her (e/c) eyes then nods. "Yes, I do." He said, firmly. "Then you'd know that I can handle this. Lucifer's got Sam, Michael's got Adam and they are about to have a showdown somewhere and the only way to stop this is to say yes to Ariel." She said and tears build up in Dean's eyes.

"I just got you back...." he whispers. "And I intend to come back in one piece." She said and Dean stares at her, clenching his jaw, as tears run down his cheek. The two stare at each other for a few moments before he speaks. "You better. My world would be awful empty without you." He said and (y/n) smiles before Dean leans down and kisses her, lovingly.

They hear the sounds of wings and they break the kiss to see Ariel there. "Ariel..." (y/n) said and the archangel gives a sympathetic look to her. "(Y/n), I am so sorry but..." Ariel said, a bit desperate. "I know..." (y/n) said then she looks over at Dean. They share one last look before (y/n) speaks up. "I love you." She said to him. "I know." He said and she smirks at him, getting the reference.

She looks back at Ariel and takes in a deep breath and let it out, slowly. "Yes." She said and Ariel gives her an I'm sorry look then a bright white engulfs Ariel and (y/n). Dean fidgets a bit as he watches this then the white light disappears and only (y/n) stood there until she stumbles back and Bobby, Cas and Dean run over to her, catching her before she fell.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Dean said. "Easy there." Bobby said as they stand her up. She stands up straight and she opens her eyes which glows bright blue. "Ariel." Castiel mutters and she looks over at him as her eyes go back to (y/n)'s normal eye color.

She nods then looks over at Dean, who still looked upset. "You better bring her back alive." He growls and Ariel gives him a sympathetic look. "I will." She said, her voice was still (y/n) but it was not in the way she spoke. It was a bit softer, a more innocence to it similar how Ariel spoke.

Ariel then walks up to Dean and places a comforting hand on his cheek and, even though it was still (y/n)'s hand, Dean noticed it wasn't even close to (y/n)'s touch. The way Ariel touched his cheek was almost like a mother to a child. "I'm so sorry that Heaven, my family, took so much from you, Dean." She said, sympathetically, then she has a determined look on her face. "But I promise I will make it right." She said, determined, as she removes her hand from his face and Dean nods.

Back at the theater, Lucifer was sitting on steps, his hands and clothes all bloody. All the demons laid dead on the floor, brutally killed. Lucifer smiles and turns to a mirror, Sam stares back horrified by what he has done. Lucifer exhales sharply. "So...are we having fun yet?"

In between jobs, Sam, Dean, and (y/n) would sometimes get a day...sometimes a week, if they were lucky. They'd pass the time lining their pockets. Sam used to insist on honest work, but now he hustles pool, like his brother and (y/n). They could go anywhere and do anything. They drove 1,000 miles for an Ozzy show, two days for a Jayhawks game, go to the beach in Key West, and an event show about motorcycles for (y/n)'s birthday.

And when it was clear, they'd park her in the middle of nowhere, sit on the hood, and watch the stars...for hours...without saying a word. It never occurred to them that, sure, maybe they never really had a roof and four walls...but they were never, in fact, homeless.

Chuck leans back in his chair, staring at his computer screen and smiles. "That's a good line." He remarked. A phone then rings and Chuck answers it. "Mistress Magda?" He said, grinning. "Um, no, Chuck." Dean said. "Oh, uh, Dean. Uh, wow. I, uh, I didn't know that you'd call." Chuck said, embarrassed. 

Dean was in the Impala, parked in a city alleyway, and Ariel paces as she listens. "Who's Mistress Magda?" Dean asked and Ariel turns her head to Dean, looking confused. "Nothing. She's a, uh, a...just a, uh...a close friend." Chuck said, sheepishly. "Yeah, I'll bet...real close. Whatever happened to Becky?" Dean asked. "Didn't work out. I had too much respect for her." Chuck replied.

"Boy, you really got a whole virgin/hooker thing going on, don't you?" Dean asked and Ariel gives him a look. "Dean." She said, disapproving. "Okay, this can't be why you called." Chuck said, feeling insulted.

"Sam said yes." Dean said. "I know. I saw it. And I saw (y/n) said yes to Ariel too. I'm just working on the pages." Chuck said. "Did you see where the title fight goes down?" Dean asked. "The angels are keeping it top secret – very hush-hush." Chuck replied.

"Aw, crap." Dean growled. "He didn't see it?" Ariel asked, worried. "But I saw it anyway. Perks of being a prophet. It's tomorrow, high noon...place called Stull Cemetery." Chuck said. "Stull Ceme...Wait. I know that. That's...that's an old boneyard outside of Lawrence. Why Lawrence?" Dean asked and Ariel perks up at this. "I don't know. It all has to end where it started, I guess." Chuck said.

"All right, Chuck. You know of any way to short-circuit this thing?" Dean asked. "Besides the rings? No. I'm sorry." Chuck replied. "Well, do you have any idea what's gonna happen next?" Dean asked. "I wish that I did. But I-I just...I honestly don't know yet." Chuck said. "All right. Thanks, Chuck." Dean said before hanging up and turning to Ariel.

"So Lawrence is where they're gonna be?" Ariel asked. "Chuck believes so." Dean said and Ariel nods. "Well, then, I guess that's where I'm going." She said. “Alright, let’s go.” Dean said. “No. You’re not coming.” Ariel said, sternly. “What?” Dean asked, angrily. “This is between me and my brothers.” Ariel said, simply. 

“Your brothers are using my brothers as meatsuits! And you’re about to go fight them inside my fiancé’s body. That sure as hell makes me a part of this.” Dean argued. “If you go, they’ll kill you. I can’t have that on my conscience.” Ariel said. “You can’t keep me out of this!” Dean growled.

Ariel looks at Dean and suddenly appears in front of him, reaching her hand out and hovering her fingertips in front of his forehead. Dean stares at archangel in front of him, worried that if he makes any sort of movement she’ll use her powers on him.

Ariel stares into Dean’s eyes with a stern glare. “I can if I must.” She said, almost as if she was challenging him to make a move. Dean remain still and Ariel pulls her hand away, her serious expression softening. “Please, leave this to me, Dean.” She pleaded. Before Dean could say anything, Ariel disappears.

Later, Dean closes the trunk of the Impala as Bobby and Castiel walk up to him. "You goin' someplace? You're goin' to do somethin' stupid. You got that look." Bobby said to Dean. "I'm gonna go talk to Sam." Dean replied. "You just don't give up." Bobby said. "It's Sam!" Dean exclaimed. "If you couldn't reach him here, you're certainly not gonna be able to on the battlefield." Castiel said.

"Well, if we've already lost, I guess I got nothing to lose, right?" Dean asked. "I just want you to understand...the only thing that you're gonna see out there is Michael killing your brother and, if she fails, your girlfriend." Castiel said. "Fiancé’." Dean corrects and Bobby and Castiel give shocked looks to him then Dean sighs. "Well, then I'm not gonna let them die alone." Dean said as he walks to the car, gets into the Impala and starts the engine. 

The next day, Lucifer stands in the cemetery and looks around, as if he was waiting for somebody. Then there was the sound of wings and Michael, in Adam's body, appears. "It's good to see you, Michael." Lucifer said. "You too. It's been too long." Michael said and Lucifer nods.

"Can you believe it's finally here?" Michael asked him. "No. Not really." Lucifer said. "Are you ready?" Michael asked. "As I'll ever be. A part of me wishes we didn't have to do this." said Lucifer. "Yeah. Me too." said Michael.

"Then why are we?" Lucifer asked. "Oh, you know why! I have no choice, after what you did." Michael yelled. "What I did? What if it's not my fault?" Lucifer asked. "What is that supposed to mean?" Michael asked, suspiciously. "Think about it. Dad made everything. Which means he made me who I am! God wanted the Devil." Lucifer said.

"So?" Michael said, shrugging. "So why? And why make us fight? I just can't figure out the point." Lucifer said. "What's your point?" Michael asked. "We're going to kill each other. And for what? One of Dad's tests. And we don't even know the answer. We're brothers. Let's just walk off the chessboard." Lucifer said. "I'm sorry. I-I can't do that. I'm a good son, and I have my orders." Michael said, shaking his head. "But you don't have to follow them." Lucifer points out.

"What, you think I'm gonna rebel? Now? I'm not like you." Michael sneers. "Please, Michael --" Lucifer pleads. "You know, you haven't changed a bit, little brother. Always blaming everybody but yourself. We were together. We were happy. But you betrayed me – all of us – and you made our father leave." Michael growled. "No one makes Dad do anything. He is doing this to us." said Lucifer.

"You're a monster, Lucifer. And I have to kill you." Michael spat and Lucifer glares at his brother. "If that's the way it's got to be...Then I'd like to see you try." Lucifer said, in a low tone, but then they hear another set of wings.

"Brothers, stop!" A female voice commanded and they turn to see Ariel walking up to them. "Ariel?" Michael said, questioning, as Lucifer glares at her. "Why am I not surprised that your vessel is Dean Winchester’s whore." Lucifer said and Ariel glares at him.

"Don't talk about her that way. She's my friend." Ariel growls. "Ariel...back off. I've told you what would happen if I see you again." Michael asked her and she turns to him. “Yeah, well, I'm stubborn. Guess I learned it from you two. Now, c'mon, you two know what will happen if you go through with this.” She replied and Lucifer scoffs. “I tried to tell him but he won’t listen.” He said, gesturing to the oldest archangel.

"Ariel, you know we have to do this." Michael said. “I know, I miss him too. But doing this won’t bring him back. He’s given up on us.” Ariel said. “No, he hasn’t! He left because of him!” Micheal yelled, pointing towards Lucifer.

“No, he left because he just sees us as disappointments.” Ariel argued. “You shut your mouth!“ Micheal shouted. “No matter how hard we try, we will never be good enough for him.” Ariel said and Micheal jerked his head away, brooding.

Lucifer watches them both, curious and a little hopeful that she is getting through to Michael. “And that’s alright, we don’t need him. We can forge our own paths. Just like the humans.” Ariel said and Lucifer let's out a disappointment sigh.

“You had me until humans. We’re nothing like them! They are broken and flawed.” Lucifer declared. “So are we! You’re about to destroy this beautiful planet just because Dad left to get milk and never came back?” Ariel said and Lucifer glared at her, while Michael watches them.

“At least the humans can think for themselves.” Ariel sneered. “Now you sound like Gabriel.” Lucifer mocked. “And that’s a bad thing? He and I have been around humans, we’ve seen how truly wonderful they are. If you would allow yourselves see that then…” Ariel started to plead.

“Then what?” Lucifer asked, interrupting her. “Is it gonna undo the centuries of loneliness I’ve spent in the cage? I’ll never bow down to these hairless apes. Not when they continue to lie, cheat, kill, and destroy and blame it all on me! They can’t even admit when they’re the ones in the wrong.” he yells.

Ariel scoffs. “I could say the same about you.” She sneered. “Enough, Ariel! You made your plead.” said Michael. “But…” Ariel tried to argued. “It’s time for you to step aside.” Michael said, looking over at Lucifer.

Ariel sighs, frustrated with her brothers. “I won’t let you either of do this. If I have to…I’ll kill you both.” Ariel said and Lucifer laughs at this. “You kill us?” He asked. “I’m done holding back.” Ariel replied, cracking her knuckles. Then three siblings stand tall, almost like a western showdown; all of them staring, wondering who is gonna make the first move, until they hear an engine running.

They all turn and see the Impala driving up to them. "Dean..." Ariel mutters, in a soft worried voice, as Dean puts a tape into the tape deck and turns up the volume. "Rock of Ages" by Def Leppard plays as he drives up to the angels. "Howdy, boys." Dean greets as the angels stare at him. "Sorry. Am I interrupting something?" Dean asked as Michael and Lucifer glares at him while Ariel gives him a worried, concerned expression.

"Hey. We need to talk." Dean said as he shuts the engine off of his car and walks out towards them. "Dean. Even for you, this is a whole new mountain of stupid." Lucifer said. "I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to Sam." Dean said to Lucifer. "Dean, you're gonna get yourself killed. Please." She pleads and Dean turns to her. "Look, Ariel, I know you mean well but I gotta do this." He said and Ariel frowns.

"You're no longer the vessel, Dean. You got no right to be here." Michael growled and Dean turns to him. "Adam, if you're in there somewhere, I am so sorry." Dean said. "Adam isn't home right now." Michael said. "Well, then you're next on my list, buttercup. But right now, I need five minutes with him." Dean said, pointing at Lucifer, and Michael glares at him. "You little maggot. You are no longer a part of this story!" Michael yelled as he starts to walk closer to Dean and Ariel goes to stand in front of Dean, protectively. "Take one more step..." Ariel growls, threateningly, at her brother until they hear a voice.

"Hey, ass-butt!" A voice shouts and everyone turns to see Castiel and Bobby nearby. Castiel is holding a bottle from which a flame is burning – a Molotov cocktail. He throws the bottle at Michael who screams as he goes up in flames, Dean recoils back while Lucifer raises an arm to block the light and Ariel shuts her eyes.

Michael disappears and Dean looks over at Castiel, questioning. "Ass-butt?" He asked. "He'll be back – and upset – but you got your five minutes." Castiel said. "Castiel. Did you just Molotov my brother with holy fire?" Lucifer asked him, in a low tone. "Uh...no." Castiel said, a bit nervously. "No one dicks with Michael but me." Lucifer growls then he snaps his fingers.

Castiel then explodes in a rain of blood and chunks of meat. "Cas!" Ariel screams while Dean and Bobby look on, horrified, then Dean turns to Lucifer. "Sammy, can you hear me?" Dean asked as Lucifer turns to him. "You know...I tried to be nice...for Sammy's sake. But you...are such a pain...in my ass." Lucifer growls then he throws Dean onto the windshield of the Impala.

At that moment, Ariel raises her arm and thrust it forward, making Lucifer go flying off to the side and lands on his back. He gets up, quickly, but Bobby shoots him in the back. Lucifer turns and Bobby shoots him again in the front.

Ariel flicks her wrist just as Lucifer makes a twisting hand motion and Bobby's neck snaps. "Nooo!" Dean screams while two vine-like ropes come up from the ground and grab Lucifer by his wrists. Ariel goes to stand in front of him as the vines hold Lucifer back.

"Sam, I know you're in there. You need to keep fighting, honey." She pleads as Lucifer glares at her as he struggles against his restraints. "You're really starting to test me, sister." Lucifer growls and Ariel quirks up a smirk. "That's what little sister are for, right?" She quips and she noticed he was fighting really hard against the vines and she flicks her other wrist and two more large vine-like rope pop up out of the ground and grab him by his ankles.

"You think you're little twigs are gonna stop me?" He asked her. "Long enough for me to get to Sam." She said then she goes to address Sam again. "Sam...you're stronger than this. You can do it. I believe in you." Ariel said as Lucifer fights hard with the restraints and the feeling of Sam fighting back in his mind.

"Fight him now, Sam!" She yells then Lucifer let's out a scream and breaks the vines. Ariel, taken a back by this, stumbles back as Lucifer charges at her and the two begin to fight.

All Dean could do was watch, in shock, as Lucifer and Ariel threw punches and kicks at each other until Lucifer had the upper hand. He slams her down on the ground and said. "Sorry, sister. But you are getting in the way." And Lucifer snaps his fingers and, like Castiel, she explodes in a rain of blood and chunks.

"N-o-o-o-o!" Dean cries out, horrified, and Lucifer turns to Dean. "Yes." He growls and he grabs Dean's legs and pulls him off the hood of the Impala. He punches Dean hard, making him fall back against the Impala, spitting blood. He held out his hand, catching the blood bleeding out of his mouth. 

Dean turns to face Lucifer, using the car for support. "Sammy? Are you in there?" He asked. "Oh, he's in here, all right." Lucifer replied, punching him again. "And he's gonna feel the snap of your bones." He said, throwing another punch. 

Dean falls to the ground. "Every single one." Lucifer said, hauling Dean up to his feet and pins him to the backseat door. "We're gonna take our time." He said, punching Dean a further ten times causing Dean's face to be very swollen and bleeding.

He puts out a hand to Lucifer's jacket. "Sam, it's okay. It's okay." Dean said, painfully. Lucifer pauses and stares down at Dean, confused. "I'm here. I'm here. I'm not gonna leave you." Dean said, causing Lucifer's face to harden in anger, punching him twice more. "I'm not gonna leave you." Dean said in a strained voice, more blood bleeding out of his mouth.

Lucifer hauls back up a bit, preparing him for another beating, when sunlight glints off the roof of the Impala, catching his eye. In the window Dean is pinned to, Lucifer's reflection was Sam, staring at something in shock.

Through the window Lucifer can see the little green army man stuck in the ashtray. As Lucifer stares at the little army man, Sam remember all the wonderful memories he has of Dean and (y/n).

Young Sam stuffing the army man in the Impala's ashtray. Young Dean puts Legos in the Impala's vent. Young (y/n) stuffing chewed up gum under the seats. Young Sam, Dean and (y/n) carving their initials in the Impala.

Sam gifting the cross necklace to (y/n) on her 13th birthday.

Sam going through Dean's cassette collection while Dean fills the Impala's tank. Sam holding up the tape labeled 'MOTORHEAD' to show Dean in the driver's seat. Dean takes the tape from him to put in the tape deck.

(Y/n) meeting them at the bridge in Jericho and saying, sarcastically, how much she misses them.

The trio leaning on the Impala as Sam tells Dean he's driving. 

Sam waking up with with a plastic spoon in his mouth, (y/n) being woken up by the loud music from the backseat. He yanks the spoon out and Dean laughs and does a drum solo on the Impala's steering wheel. 

Sam sleeping in the passenger seat until (y/n) wakes him up.

Dean sitting in the passenger seat with sunglasses on. Sam and (y/n) laughing after (y/n) honks the horn to startled him awake. 

(y/n) picking Sam up from the Roadhouse on her bike and they take off and Sam enjoys the wind blowing in his face as they ride on.

Dean telling Sam and (y/n) they're screwed after the dealing with the shifter at the bank.

Sam, Dean, and (y/n) in the Impala, singing along to Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive.

The Impala bouncing along a dark road, as Dean drives like a happy mad man after he and (y/n) slept together for the first time.

Sam giving Dean a thermos of coffee, while they stake out Santa. Dean discovering it's empty and setting it aside, disappointed.

The trio sitting in the car after Sam scratched the lottery tickets and won $1,200.

The trio dressed as security-company employees as Dean teases Sam about school drama productions.

Dean motions that he can't hear Sam because the music is too loud.

Dean lying across the front seat of the Impala, drumming to 'Eye of the Tiger while (y/n) leans against the car, shaking her head.

Lucifer was engrossed by all the memories, still poised to throw a punch as Sam is reminded of the love he has for his brother and his best friend.

(y/n) hugging Sam as he glares over at his brother after Dean made his crossroad deal to bring (y/n) back.

Dean telling Sam about carrying him outside during the nursery fire, while getting gas in Lawrence.

Dean jumping at latino pop-dance music blasting from the speakers. When he tries to turn it off, the wipers turn on, making him rear back.

The boys getting glitter bombed from the air conditioning vents of the car and (y/n) climbing in the back seat, laughing and holding the empty glitter container.

(y/n) and Sam decorating one of her safehouses for Christmas and cooking food and making eggnog.

Dean giving Sam the keys to the Impala, showing that he trusts him again.

Finally the memories end with Dean hugging Sam after coming back from Hell. And Sam apologizing to (y/n) for what he said about it being her fault that Dean died and she forgives him and hugs him.

Lucifer stares, his fist unclenches and just like that, he was Sam again. Gasping and breathing heavily, he let's go of Dean, who falls to the ground against the Impala. 

Sam breathes quickly as he realizes he's in control of his own body again. He looks down at Dean, who stares back up at him. "It's okay, Dean. It's gonna be okay. I've got him." Sam reassured him.

Then Sam took out the Horsemen's rings and tosses them on the ground. "Bvtmon tabges babalon." he said and the ground caves in around the rings and air is sucked into the hole. Sam and Dean look at each other as the hole widens. 

Sam turns back to the hole and gets ready to jump in. "Sam!" A voice called out. Sam and Dean turn their heads to see Michael has returned. "It's not gonna end this way! Step back!" He ordered.

"You're gonna have to make me!" Sam yelled, furious. "I have to fight my brother, Sam! Here and now! It's my destiny!" Michael said. Sam glares at the archangel then glances over to Dean for a moment. 

Sam closes his eyes and spreads his arms and begins to fall backwards. Michael lunges forward and grabs Sam's jacket. Sam grabs a hold of Michael's arm and they fall into the hole together. 

After few moments the hole closes in a blinding flash of light. The Horsemen's rings burn bright in the grass on the ground where the hole was. Dean closes his eyes as he leans back against the Impala. Dean kneels on the ground near the Impala, the horsemen rings in his hand, staring at it with a lifeless expression.

Castiel and Ariel, still in (y/n)'s body, appears next to him and Dean slowly looks up at the two. "Cas, Ariel, you're alive?" He asked and Ariel smiles down at him before she goes over to Bobby. "I'm better than that." Castiel replied. He touches Dean on the forehead and heal his wounds.

"Cas, are you God?" Dean asked, as he stands up, and Castiel smiles a little. "That's a nice compliment. But no. Although, I do believe he brought me and Ariel back. New and improved." He said as Ariel resurrects Bobby, who gasps and sits up. Dean looks down at the Horsemen's rings in his hands and grips them, tightly.

Endings are hard. Any chapped-ass monkey with a keyboard can poop out a beginning, but endings are impossible. You try to tie up every loose end, but you never can. The fans are always gonna bitch. There's always gonna be holes. And since it's the ending, it's all supposed to add up to something. I'm telling you, they're a raging pain in the ass.

That night, Dean, Castiel, and Ariel were in the Impala. The men sat in the front seat, while Ariel was in the back.

"What are you two gonna do now?" Dean asked the angels. "Return to Heaven, I suppose." Castiel replied. "Heaven?" Dean asked, surprised. "With Michael in the Cage, we're sure it's total anarchy up there." Ariel said. "So, what, you're the new sheriff in town?" Dean asked her. "I like that. Yeah. I suppose I am." Ariel said. "Which would make Cas my Deputy." She said, smirking a bit before it disappears.

"Wow. God gives you a brand-new, shiny set of wings, and suddenly you two are his bitches again." Dean said. "We don't know what God wants. We're not even sure if he'll even return. It just...seems like the right thing to do." Castiel explained while Ariel stares at Dean. "Well, if you do see him, you tell him I'm coming for him next." Dean growled and Ariel turns to Castiel.

"Cas, can Dean and I talk alone?" She asked and Castiel turns to her and she nods. Next thing, Cas was gone from the front passenger seat and Ariel occupies it. "Dean..." Ariel said while Dean glares at the road. "Look, I know you're angry..." She said. "That's an understatement." Dean muttered.

"But my Father helped. Maybe even more than we realize." Ariel said. "That's easy for you to say. He brought you and Cas back. But what about Sam? What about (y/n)? What about me? What about us, huh? Where's our grand prize? All we got is my brother in a hole!" Dean growled, gripping the steering wheel tightly. "And I got two brothers in the hole as well." Ariel said, firmly, and Dean glances over at her before he looks back at the road.

"You're angry and you're hurting, I get it. Michael, Lucifer and Gabriel....they weren't perfect but they were my big brothers. I always looked up to them. Before Lucifer turned his back on Dad, everything was good...we were happy believe it or not. But then after Lucifer was put into the cage, everything was different. Felt like nobody could be trusted no more. And now Gabriel is dead, Michael and Lucifer are in the cage...Raphael is the only brother I have left but I'm sure he's angry that I interfered and probably won't speak to me." Ariel said as Dean listens but he continues to stay silent.

“Look, I know you’re upset, but this what you, Sam, and (y/n) fought for. No paradise. No hell. Just more of the same. Are you saying you would rather have peace over freedom now?” Ariel asked and Dean doesn’t respond. “Try to take comfort in the fact that you three saved billions of innocent lives. Doesn’t that make the sacrifice worth it?” She asked and Dean continues to stay quiet and ignores her question.

"Am I gonna get (y/n) back? If my prize is to face this world, I don't want to do it alone." Dean said and Ariel gives him a sympathetic look. "I have some things to take care of first and then I'll bring her back." Ariel said and Dean glares at her. "How much longer?" He growls, angrily, but Ariel doesn't respond. "You know what? Whatever you got to do, you got a couple of hours to finish it. (Y/n) has a safe house about that far out, so once I get there, she better be there." Dean said, threateningly, and Ariel stares at him then nods before she disappears. "You and Cas suck at saying goodbye." Dean grumbles as he looks back at the road, leaving Dean alone in the Impala with his thoughts for the first time in a long time.

*(y/n)'s POV*

I gasp and, quickly, sit up only to find myself in an old bedroom. I turn to sit on the edge of the bed and place my head against my hands as flashes of what happened comes to my mind. Then I hear the sounds of wings and look up to see Ariel, in her old vessel's body, standing by the doorway of the room.

"Ariel!" I said as I stand up. "D-Did we..?" I asked and she nods. "Lucifer and Michael are both in the cage." Ariel said and my heart drops. "So that means, Sam and Adam are...gone?" I asked and she gives me a sympathetic look before she nods. 

I choke out a sob, sit back down on the bed and place my hands over my face. I feel her hand on my shoulder and I look up at her, my eyes filling with tears. "I'm sorry, (y/n)." Ariel said, apologetically, and I give a small nod then I look around.

"Where's Dean?" I asked her. "He should be here soon. He basically threatened me to bring you back here." Ariel said and I scoff out a laugh. "Sounds like him." I said.

"I wanted to say thank you for trusting me, (y/n), and helping with stopping Michael and Lucifer." Ariel said and I nod a bit. "You're welcome. I just wish Sam was here." I said and Ariel frowns at this. "So what are you and Cas gonna do?" I asked, changing the subject. "Well, as we told Dean, with Michael gone, we're gonna try and take control of the angels and be, as Dean said, Sheriffs' of the town." Ariel said.

I huffed out a laugh. "Sounds like a great premise of a TV show." I joked and she chuckles. She turns to me and gives me a motherly smile then said. "I better get going." She said and I stand up. "Will I ever see you or Cas again?" I asked her and she looks off to the side, thinking. "I hope so but if not, I will always be watching over you and Dean." Ariel said

Then she walks up to me and hugs me, I hug her back. "You've been a very good and dear friend to me, (y/n). I'll never forget you." She said and I smile. "Likewise." I said and we break the embrace and at that moment I hear the sounds of a familiar car engine. "You better go." Ariel said as the engine sounds stop and the sound of a car door opening and closing could be heard.

I go to the bedroom door and open it then I look behind me to see Ariel was gone. I frown a bit at this just as the front door opens. "(Y/n)?" I hear Dean calling out to me and I look ahead of me and give a small smile.

"Dean!" I called out as I run out of the room and towards the stairs. I make my way down the steps to see Dean at the bottom of the staircase and I jump off of the last step and leap into Dean's arms, who catches me and holds me tightly. Then he kisses my face, aggressively, while I let out a sob I didn't know was holding in.

I move my head to look at him then he goes to kiss me and I kiss him back. We break the kiss and lean our foreheads against each other. "For a moment I was scared I lost you." He whispered to me and I give a small smile. "I told you, you wouldn't." I said, chuckling, and he scoffs but gives me another kiss.

The next day, we go by Bobby's house and Bobby comes and hugs me. "So glad you're okay, (y/n)." He said as I hug him back. "Me too." I said as we pulls out of our hug then Bobby and Dean hug. Then after they break the hug, Bobby hands Dean a small box and Dean looks up at him, confused.

"Figured you two would need this." Bobby said and Dean opens it and I come up next to him and see that it was a diamond ring. "It was my wife's..." Bobby said as mine and Dean's dropped and we look up at him. "Bobby..." I said, softly. "We can't take this..." Dean said but Bobby shakes his head. "Nah, keep it. Consider it a gift from me." Bobby said and Dean and I share a look before Dean takes the ring out of the box.

"You sure, Bobby?" He asked him. "Yeah, I'm sure." Bobby said and Dean turns to me then takes my left hand and slides the ring on my ring finger. 

This is the last Dean, (y/n) and Bobby will see of each other for a very long time. And, for the record, at this point next week, Bobby will be hunting a Rugaru outside of Dayton. But not Dean and (y/n). Dean didn't want Cas or Ariel to save him. Every part of him, every fiber he's got, wants to find a way to bring Sam back. But he isn't gonna do it. And neither is (y/n). Because they made a promise.

So, what's it all add up to? It's hard to say. But me, I'd say this was a test...for Sam, Dean and (y/n). And I think they did all right. Up against good, evil, angels, devils, destiny, and God himself, they made their own choice. They chose family. And, well...isn't that kinda the whole point?

Weeks had gone by and we were able to fix up the safe house and make it more of a home. We had sold the other safehouses after I cleaned it up and made them more like a home and used the money to help fix up our home. We smiled at our accomplishment and I pick up a bag from the floor and I noticed something shining inside. 

Curious, I dig into the bag and grabbed the item. I pull it out of the bag and opened my hand to see that it was the amulet Dean used to wear but tossed it aside after Cas said it was useless on finding God. I frown at this as I run my thumb over the pendant as it reminded me of Sam a bit cause I remember Sam telling me how he gave Dean this amulet for Christmas.

"Whatcha got there?" Dean asked me, breaking me out of my thoughts. I jump, slightly, at this then turn to him and hold up the amulet. His smile disappears as his eyes widen in shock. "I threw that away...how did you..?" He asked and I sighed. "I picked it up, obviously." I chuckled as I walk up to him, jiggling the amulet.

"Why?" Dean asked and I look up at him. "Cas and Ariel said it was useless cause it didn't help them find God but, to me, it's not." I said as I stand in front of him. "It was always a part of you." I said and I hold the amulet up and he stands there looking at it then at me. 

"May I?" I asked him and he nods and I go to put the amulet on around his neck. He looks down at it and I smile. "Perfect." I said and I look up at him. "Now, he's always with us." I said and Dean furrows his brow but then realized that I was referring to Sam. 

He looks away for a moment and I frown then I place my hand on his cheek. He closes his eyes and I turn his head to face me then he opens his eyes to me. "I know. I miss him too." I said and Dean nods, a tear drop rolls down his face, and I lean up and kiss him, gently, on the lips.

Once we break the kiss, we embraced each other and I lean my head against his chest and I start to think over everything we've been through. I always thought that I would die during a job by either a monster or a demon. But never in my life would I have thought that I would get to settle down, have a home and marry the man I love.

Now that I have this chance at the apple pie life, I’m not gonna let it go. I’ll fight tooth and nail to keep it. This curse over mine and Dean’s family line, ends with us. 

Sam sacrifice himself to give us this life and we’re going to cherish every second of it.

No doubt – endings are hard.

But then again...

nothing ever really ends, does it?

[kobitoshiningneedle]

Sister Iris of Hazakura Temple: the Ultimate Defendant of Phoenix Wright

(this is a writeup I've submitted in AA subreddit, so if you recognize the text, this isn't a Matrix lag. Yes, I have a strong opinion about Iris and I want to speak about it more!!)

Starting with the obvious, any Ace Attorney game has a strong and multilayered story and good replayability because of that. It's a very interesting endeavor to just find missed details, to rethink and reconsider some moments in the game after knowing the full story. After completing the game and reaching the major resolution of the plot and mystery, one may look back to find a pleiad of more obscure details that support main plot threads and enrich them. One of the most interesting details of TT's plot is the final defendant and the way she was presented in the game. I believe Iris embodies a lot of thematic weight, and she and the story around her propose a very meaningful challenge - both for Phoenix and for the player

Firstly, the circumstances around Iris are intentionally subversive. After 2-4 we learned that not every single defendant is innocent, so of course we become suspicious when the mysterious girl finds herself at the defendant seat - only for us to be proven that Iris is actually is unlike her sister at all and is a good person (but not completely innocent, to be fair, but about that later). So it's a subversion of an already subversive case, which paints Iris and Bridge as a whole in the very interesting light, tying all three finales of the trilogy together

Perhaps the main theme of the trilogy (and the franchise at large) is trust in the clients and, on the bigger scope, to your friends and close people. Phoenix-Iris relationship embodies that theme, and, again, can be considered a culmination, a resolution of that theme after the three games. It's evident that after the disastrous trial in Memories Phoenix still couldn't let his "Dollie" go. There still was a part of him that believed the girl he spent months with was a genuine person, and when he, at last, learns the truth, he literally says: "You've been the person I thought you are". Reassuring words for Iris herself, they pretty much conclude the "trust theme" and reveal that, again, Phoenix was right to trust the person. Of course, it's really interesting to see a hero being mistaken and growing from that, but it's not any less cathartic to realize that he did a right thing, regardless of the obstacles

Now onto Iris herself. She's an interesting specimen within AA universe on her own, and, despite common opinion, she steps beyond just being a nice-girl-who-is-not-her-murderous-sister. The crux of her character is finding strength, again, her own "two to stand", figuratively speaking, outside of her twisted familial loyalty. Yes, Iris IS guilty by association with Dahlia morally-speaking, as she didn't try to tell the police about Dahlia's atrocities. In some ways Iris is meant to mirror Godot - both of them made mistakes trying to take matters into their own hands thinking they were doing the right thing (Godot with his masterplan in 3-5; Iris with her idea to replace Dahlia and retrieve her necklace and postponing this until Dahlia strikes again). But while Godot's ultimate downfall was caused by being boastfully overly-confident in his capability to protect people, Iris' calamity, again, stems from her inability to speak for herself - she didn't even manage to tell her real name to the person she liked or simply steal the necklace from him

I think it's important to understand that Iris has her flaws - not some cutesy quirks like being shy or anything, rather, more ugly flaws that can affect other people and make her own life worse. Characters aren't meamt to be perfect people all the time, and being framed as "good" in a story doesn't exclude them from being objectively the reason for some atrocious events. I would even argue that a good story should never shy away from such decisions. Iris *is* nice and well-intended unlike Dahlia (who, on the contrary, despite wanting to bring harm was in some way the reason Mia and Phoenix have met which kickstarts the bittersweet emotional journey for Nick in the trilogy), but things she did weren't always good or had benign consequences. Besides, someone being so self-deprecating that it harms not only one"self", but others too is a fascinating and sorely realistic juxtaposition by itself

Nevertheless, after Edgeworth asks her to not deceive Phoenix anymore, she finally decides to tell him (in the front of the whole court, no less - kinda unusual place for a meek girl to confess) the truth about her sister and herself, tells her feelings - and after Phoenix reassured her that she was worth Phoenix's trust after all, maybe that instigates her growth as a person (note that it doesn't necessarily mean that she and Nick should be brought back together, it's more about their past relationship and what they both can learn from that now, after there's no more secrets). The theme of truth is always intertwined with the theme of trust and its importance in our lives. Just like in any other Ace Attorney case, only the reveal of her truth is able to free Iris from the shackles of her disastrous family.

It would be fair to say that Iris was cast aside by the case - after all, the Bridge had a lot going on in it, so you has to look closely to see something about her. There are a few details I personally find endearing about her. When she is in the detention center speaking with Edgeworth, presenting various profiles to her (like Larry's or Maya's) makes her respond in a very positive manner, like "This is a hardworking person", or "This is a very reliable woman". Funnily, Edgeworth remarks that Iris isn't a good judge of people after that, and that may be so - on the other hand, however, it indicates that Iris just generally tries to see good in people. Even about Dahlia, she says first and foremost that she was "strong and never complained about anything" - she understands her twin sister the most. Cumulatively, it all points at the fact that, despite spending the majority of her life in seclusion, she may be perceptive to some degree (the other example, when there's a wrong choice in her Psyche-Locks segment, she suspects that Edgeworth may have a deep secret inside on his own). In many ways she shares these traits with her younger half-sister Pearl, who is a sheltered, but unusually perceptive child herself

There are a few other interesting tidbits about Iris, but these are more like my overthinking. Iris, despite being raised far away from the city, is actually capable of being well-adjusted to modern society, she's relatively well-versed with technology, she managed to go to the university in place of Dahlia. The other interesting moment is the fact that she and Phoenix did have some sort of affinity in fact, because their relationship lasted for eight months without seeming issues (aside from the obvious not-telling-him-my-real-name problem), and, from my experience and observations, even if it's not that log of a period, it happens when two people have similar fundamental worldview and mindset. So Iris, at least to some degree, has something in common with Phoenix - maybe it's her positivity regarding people in general?

Anyway, I believe Iris is worth at least some attention from the fanbase - and not only as one of the possible love interests for Phoenix, but as a character who, as many other people in the Fey family, had a lot of odds stacked against her throughout her life, but in the end having a silver lining and the chance to finally be happy and honest with herself

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super manga Ch. 64-67

“Hey, everybody!  It’s me, Moro!  The cool new villain from Dragon Ball Super!  And I’m firin’ my lasers!  Shoop doo woop!  Ha ha!  Remember that?  There was this epic internet meme about shooting lasers out of your mouth in Dragon Ball, just like what I just did!  It’s pretty cool how I’m a big time Dragon Ball villain, just like Frieza and Cell, you know?  I mean, I get to be a pop culture icon, just like those guys, and people will make epic memes about the cool stuff I did in my saga.  Right?  Right?  You’re shaking your head no, are you saying the memes aren’t going to be epic?”

So let me break this down.  This whole arc has been about Goku finally learning to use Ultra Instinct at will.  Merus tried to teach him how, but the best Goku could do was use the incomplete version of UI that he used against Kefla in the anime.  So after training Goku in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Merus decided to fight Moro himself and get killed, which would then infuriate Goku until he experienced a surge of emotion that would awaken his full potential.  It’s a totally original idea, you guys!

Anyway, it works, and Goku is so overcome with rage that he taps into something deep within himself and becomes the Legendary Super Saiyan achieves Ultra Instinct again.  Moro panics, and Goku starts whoopin’ his ass, which would be satisfying if any of this felt halfway fresh.

I don’t like this arc.  Moro, Merus, and Seven Three are the only genuinely novel concepts to it, and they don’t get fleshed out nearly enough to justify the effort.  Moro’s sole purpose seems to be to prey upon all life in the universe.  What will he do once he consumes everyone?  That seems like an important question, but it never comes up.  Cell and Buu had similar career paths, where they would have gone on to destroy everything, but Cell and Buu were both monsters.  Moro’s a sorcerer or something, and he’s had ten million years to think about this, but we never hear any of his thoughts on the topic. 

Merus was an “angel-in-training” who became too sympathetic towards mortal justice.  How did this happen?  All we ever find out was that he joined the Galactic Patrol some time ago, and the nobility of fighting space-crime was too much for him to resist.  But why did he join the GP in the first place?  Whis and the Grand Minister seem to object to Merus’ life choices, but they also don’t seem terribly fussed about them either.  I can’t make sense of the guy, mostly because I can’t relate to his dilemma.  The angels in Dragon Ball are so vaguely defined in the first place that it’s impossible for me to judge whether Merus is doing the right thing or not. 

Seven Three is more of a plot device than a character.  He’s an android with the ability to copy someone’s powers and store them for thirty minutes’ worth of use.  Moro used this to serve as a handy backup of his own powers, and he ate Seven Three in order to reverse the gains Vegeta made against him earlier.  I feel like “fugitive convict alien android” could be a fertile field for storytelling, but Seven Three just stands around looking bored most of the time, like Hit with less personality.  The whole “copy ability” is symbolic of this entire arc, which feels like Toyotaro dared himself to borrow as many plot points from Dragon Ball Z as possible.

Anyway, Goku clobbers Moro for a bit, then asks him to promise to return to the Galactic Prison.  Moro agrees, and Goku gives him a senzu bean.  This scene got a lot of heat when the chapter was published, and fans were furious at Goku for giving another bad guy a senzu bean.  I feel like this misses the entire point. 

Let’s be clear, Moro tries to betray Goku immediately, and Goku just wrecks his shit all over again to prove a point.  “You can’t beat me, even if I restore your power and let you try again, so why not just surrender.”  But Moro won’t do it. 

Moro even recovers the hand he lost earlier, which contained a copy of Merus’ angel powers.  He thinks this will allow him to close the gap between him and Goku, but it doesn’t.  Goku still dominates him.

So getting mad at Goku is dumb.  He was trying to convince Moro to give up, which probably isn’t a terrible idea, seeing as no one was able to kill Moro before, and it’s not obvious that Goku has the power to destroy him.  So maybe the best thing you can do is to talk him out of being evil. 

The people you should be mad at are Toyotaro and Toriyama, who came up with this whole business of Goku giving Moro a senzu bean, for seemingly no better reason than the fact that he’s done it before with Piccolo and Cell. But it had dramatic weight with Piccolo and Cell.  The first time, Goku had to give Piccolo a senzu bean, because Piccolo needed to survive so that Kami could go on living.  With Cell, Goku gave him a senzu bean because he was so confident that Gohan would pound the crap out of Cell, even at his maximum strength. 

Why is he giving a bean to Moro?  He can surrender to the GP whether he’s got all his power or not.  Indeed, Goku tries a more original approach after the first thing with the bean doesn’t work.  I like the part where he just talks to the guy, because we haven’t seen that before.  So the part with the bean just feels even more redundant. 

Anyway, Moro’s body can’t contain the angel power of Merus, so it starts to expand and distort, which only makes things harder for Moro.  He desperately seeks out a new body...

... And he winds up merging with the Earth itself.  This puts Goku at a disadvantage, because while it doesn’t stabilize Moro very much, it does mean that Goku can’t kill Moro without destroying the Earth in the process.  Whis explains that Goku needs to destroy the power copying crystal in Moro’s head to defeat him, but Goku can’t get at it, so Vegeta uses Spirit Fission to try to make the job easier.

But Goku still can’t get the job done, so everyone starts gathering energy to share with Goku so he can regain Ultra Instinct.  For fuck’s sake, this is exactly the kind of crap they would do in GT whenever Super Saiyan 4 Goku got beat. 

The power collected isn’t enough, until Jaco runs off to find Majin Buu, and then Goku suddenly receives a big boost that puts him over the top, and he makes a ki construct that rassles Moro down and finishes him off for good. 

And that extra energy came from Uub, which is kind of awkward, since Uub hasn’t met the Dragon Ball cast at this point in the storyline.  Basically, Jaco remembered Merus’ theory about Buu absorbing divine energy when he gobbled up the Grand Supreme Kai, and that divine energy was split between Fat Buu and Kid Buu.  Kid Buu became Uub, so Jaco got Buu to find Uub and get him to send energy to Goku. 

Fuck all of this. 

Seriously, this is the most contrived nonsense I’ve ever read, and what purpose does it serve?  This arc isn’t a story, it’s a checklist of story beats and callbacks that Toyotaro wanted to use.

So then they wish all of Moro’s victims back to life, and then they go to a medal ceremony at GP headquarters, because Toyotaro decided to do a callback to Star Wars on top of everything else.  And Merus is supposed to get a medal for his role in stopping Moro, but he no longer exists, right?

Wrong!  He disappeared that day, but he only ceased being an angel.  Now he’s a mortal, which seems to suit him just fine, since he can be a space cop like he always wanted.  See, this is what I’m talking about.  Was this always how it was going to do, or did the Grand Minister arrange this somehow as a way to strip Merus of his divinity without ending his life? 

Because the Grand Minister could have prevented all of this by telling Merus to quit the GP from the start.  And so he kind of acts like he came up with this whole thing as a special rule-bending thing.  And yet, he punishes Beerus and the Supreme Kai for their role in this, ordering them to play with Grand Zeno for a while.  How was this Beerus’ fault? How was this the Supreme Kai’s fault?  Merus made his own choices, and Whis was the one who said he’d take care of Merus during this story, and that clearly didn’t happen. 

So that wraps things up, right?  Wrong, because the recaptured criminals suggest to Jaco that Seven Three might have survived the final battle on Earth.  Jaco is confident that he found no trace of Seven Three, but they go back for another look and they still don’t find anything, but that’s because some other characters have already recovered his remains.

They seem to have big plans for Seven Three, but before they can do anything with him, another set of space crooks show up and capture Seven Three for themselves.  And their leader is a guy by the name of Granolah, which leads us into the next arc. 

And that’s it for Moro.  It really kind of sucked.  I should write more about it in the future, but right now, I just want to move on.  I hope the Granolah arc is better, because I really need a win from the DBS Manga. 

[aetherphobia]

NRC Oc #1: Spirit Auraveil

(Drawing by my buddy Howl @thesunshineriptide. And yes they drew her with a gun. They said it was mandatory /j)

Basics

Spirit Auraveil (She/her) is my very first twst oc, originally intended to be my Yuu but ultimately decided against. She is twisted from Medusa (Hercules exists as a movie and therefore she's canon to Disney. Leave me alone /j/lh). She is a gorgon Ramshackle student with a fear of men, an appetite for concerning things, and a love for the color red. She is not the prefect, as the prefect in her universe is @elysia-nsimp's Yuu, Comet Yuusonya/Morningstar (depending on the universe). Spirit is just another unfortunate soul(less) that got put in that dorm due to being accepted into NRC out of a mistake on Crowley's end, not reading her file correctly and assuming that she was a boy. She doesn't show up until sometime after Azul's OB in the canon of this universe. She's basically just another npc for Comet to deal with. She's one of many.

The Quirks of Spirit (Personality n stuff)

Spirit is written to be constantly walking around with a resting bitch face. Everything that comes out of her mouth sounds blunt, rude, and generally uninterested without meaning to. Her first comment upon entering Ramshackle was a blatant insult to Yuu's (Comet's) decorations. She tends to be very similar to that of a beastman, being alert and a relatively good hunter. So good, in fact, that she is actively named "Ramshackle's pest control" for being the one to capture all of the rats and mice that skitter around the dorm. She eats most of the rodents she finds, but it's still pretty helpful! The downside is the simple fact that Spirit is not all that above the idea of attempting to eat Grim. She hasn't tried to yet, but who knows if she will or not?

But over time Spirit does soften up a bit, trying to be a little(?) nicer. This is rather difficult because at times she genuinely cannot tell whether or not she's being rude to someone and will not notice until you point it out directly. She's the equivalent of a baby non-venomous snake trying to bite you. She's not actually trying to hurt you, it's just instincts.

She also doesn't have the best memory. Every week, Malleus comes to visit Yuu for tea and a talk. And every week Spirit forgets who Malleus is. It's rather frustrating to have to remind her every time he comes around, but she doesn't mean any harm to it. She kinda just doesn't register him as someone important enough to actively try to remember. She's not scared of him, just confused as to why this tall lizard man keeps showing up at her doorstep. Generally, Spirit doesn't remember people unless she wants to remember them.

Funky party tricks (Talents and abilities)

For starters, her signature spell. Despite being soulless, unlike the canon Yuu, she is fully capable of doing magic. And her exceptional magical ability is what ended up overshining the fact that her file was labeled as female. Her signature spell is called "Serpent's Monolith." She can basically encase people into a cold, stone statue when she looks them in the eye, basically stunning her opponent for a temporary period of time. She cannot leave them as statues for too long without straining herself. So this spell is basically used to do things like flee from an awkward encounter or temporarily stun an enemy to buy her party some time to strategize. However, the whole needing to look into their eyes thing only applies when she's stoning a sentient being. She can also use her magic to turn smaller objects into stone, only she doesn't have much of a limit to how long she can leave them like that, as the smaller the thing, the less magical energy she needs to use to maintain the stone. When something or someone is turned to stone, they are basically frozen in time in a way. So she often likes to stone some of her soda cans and energy drinks to preserve their state so they can be just as cold by the time she actually wants to drink them. Grade A magic use I know (/j).

Another magical thing about Spirit that even I as her creator often forget about is the fact that Spirit is a psychic medium. Ever since birth, seeing and communicating with the dead was about as natural to her as breathing. This power of hers was a strange phenomenon to her family, as there are no traces or history of anyone who can speak to ghosts on either side of her family. It all sorta just came out of the blue somehow and no one knows why. Spirit isn't even the name she was given at birth. She changed her name to Spirit out of her strong connection with the spirits around her. In a way, it's both a blessing and a curse. She often cannot tell the difference between the living and the dead. Not to mention that even when ghosts don't present themselves as a visible form, she can still see them no matter what. She sees and hears more ghosts than a lot of her dormmates on the daily and it can get annoying fast.

As for talents, she's actually a surprisingly good poet. On the side she has the habit of writing poetry to outwardly express how she feels, something she often struggles to do with words and her facial expressions. This talent is something that a lot of students know her for, as she once infamously wrote Kalim an anonymous love poem and all hell broke loose when he became DESPERATE to find the author of that poem and wouldn't shut up about it until he eventually found her (via recognizing her fucking handwriting). But clearly the embarrassment of this incident didn't have a hard enough kick on Spirit, as she proceeded to make the same mistake again but this time directed towards Idia and was executed a little differently. Both incidents resulted in the same suffering from success story, just in different fonts.

Trauma /j (Backstory, life back home)

Spirit grew up with 13 older brothers, parents who desperately needed a divorce but never did, and severe money problems. She spent many nights trying to evade getting eaten by her brothers in her sleep and ignore her parent's screaming competitions. She never got to have anything that was just her own that she didn't have to share. And her worst nights were having to listen to her mother cry about financial issues through the walls after being given one nice thing. Because of this, With her accidental attitude, she is also incredibly stubborn. She does not know how to accept a gift and hates leaving loose ends. It doesn't seem to go through her head that people can just give her things without malicious intent or wanting it back later. But for some reason, she has the habit of accidentally befriending rich people who keep trying to shove kind gestures down her throat. None of those gestures are ever accepted without a fuss from Spirit not wanting to somehow subconsciously manipulate them for her own gain despite not asking for any of it in the first place. She's often not mean on purpose. And she certainly doesn't enjoy making people cry without meaning to. It's often hard for her to accept that allowing someone to give her gifts won't harshly impact their financial situation in some kind of way.

Basically, she's the total opposite of Ruggie. Grew up poor, but her spender's guilt bites her too hard in the ass to be a moocher.

Relationships (Philia, Storge, Eros, etcetc)

Comet Morningstar/Yuu - Philia

Spirit is fond of her housewarden, even if she's bad at showing it. She believes that the dorm just wouldn't be the same without Yuu. Even if it started out rocky, she does have great respect for this individual.

Alice - Eros??? Philia

Alice can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but she does still care for Alice. Alice is a good ally who helps her with research on a certain disappearance. Spirit doesn't fully realize that the two of them are friends, only referring to Alice as an acquaintance. But with how they are often seen together, even if Alice is teasing her, they might as well be.

Grim - run

She still wants to eat this cat.

Floyd Leech - Eros

She initially didn't trust Floyd. All she heard was that Octavinelle is shifty. She often tried to distance herself from the Octavinelle members to stay out of shady business. This proved to be rather difficult as Floyd kept showing up to bother Yuu. This lead to Spirit being subjected to him. Over time, her fears of him lessened (somehow). And at some point, she offers him a shell bracelet she made as an act of attempting friendship. Floyd misinterpreted this as her asking him out. And Spirit spent a whole three days unaware she was in a relationship at all. It worked out in the end though.

Jade Leech - positively acquainted(?)

Spirit spends more time with Floyd than Jade. And she's unsure of him. But she gives him the benefit of the doubt out of respect for Floyd. He's strangely nice to her. But Spirit cannot read tone. So she often genuinely cannot tell if he's being nice because he wants to or because he has alterior motives. She's too afraid to ask.

Kalim Al Asim - Eros

She used to think that Kalim was annoying and unnecessarily obnoxious. But her opinions were changed over time when she actually bothered to spend time with him. He gifted her a bracelet and a parasol to shield her from the harsh sunlight so he could show her around his dorm. Eventually, this leads to a crush. And then the letter incident happened where she sent him an anonymous love poem to get those feelings off her chest and then it backfired tremendously. To this day she is still embarrassed by this whole ordeal. Especially since Kalim still has that poem framed in his room.

Jamil Viper - fear

Spirit has this feeling of fear towards Jamil. A part of her has no idea why. Spirit is not an active participant in book 4 so she is only informed of that incident much later down the line. Generally, Jamil reminds her of a snake in a very literal sense. As a gorgon, she half expects him to be hostile out of instinct alone. And so she acts accordingly.

Howl Pendragon - Philia

Spirit found Howl to be interesting at first, although mildly intimidating with them being an Octavinelle student. But once they showed they were not a threat, she softened up a little to them. Similarly to Alice, Spirit also doesn't entirely realize that Howl is her friend either. But they still get along pretty well. She knows that they're a good person to turn to if she ever needs a shoulder to lean on. Not that she would out of her own paranoia, but the thought has indeed crossed her mind a few times. Howl is one of the few people she would actually care about if they died.

Malleus Draconia - Who the fuck are you?

As stated previously, Spirit struggles to actively remember who Malleus is. Not out of any malice (hehe), but it's rather amusing for Spirit to have to be re-introduced to him every time he passes by Ramshackle. Even when she is reminded that he's a regular visitor, she's not all that intimidated by him. She doesn't really care for his status or how important he seems to be. She's honestly more curious about what reptile he's supposed to be.

Idia Shroud - Eros

They never really acknowledged eachother much until the events of Glorious Masquerade, where Spirit encouraged him to go up the stairs to the belltower in a way that he would understand (gamer lingo) and bribed him with little snack cakes she had in her pocket. And they sorta just clicked from there. After that whole fiasco he attempted to repay her for the snack cakes by offering her two fresh boxes of them (they were really cheap). She ended up panicking and trying to refuse. He panicked in response and didn't know what to do. Spirit cried, he fled, Ortho forcefully dragged him back upstairs kicking and screaming to resolve the issue, blah blah friendship. Spirit actually finds Idia to be an enjoyable presence even if he's not much of a people person. She gifted him a red tamagotchi as a way to basically remind him that she exists without explicitly being in his line of sight. It felt strange to actually want someone to know her, but she doesn't register this as a bad feeling. This feeling ended up evolving into something more and resulted in another backfired poem incident.

Venus - minor inconvenience

Venus is a ghost that bothers her often. She's sorta like the Grim to Spirit's Yuu. Annoying, breaks into weird pirate vocabulary, and doesn't shut up about her missing daughter. Spirit genuinely doesn't know what Venus' deal is. But she's been trying to find a way to help her move on. And hopefully soon, as the times Venus disappears for too long never get any less concerning.

Media (Drawings, Picrews, friend art and other stuff)

A good chunk of the friend art are from my buddy Howl. A lot of these pictures depict her without her snakes. This is either because I can't find picrews that have gorgon snakes, or because some of these were made before she grew in her snakes at all (late bloomer).

Spirit's official Tumblr account: @definitelynotspirit

Conclusion

And that's pretty much it. I may update this from time to time for any new information or stuff that I forgot. But I will leave it at this for now so I can move on to the others. Thx 4 reading!

[powerfulblob]

Nimona and Fatphobia

OK so for those of you who don’t know, they’re making Nimona significantly thinner in the movie version...

When she’s canonically plus-sized.

The original comic does a pretty good job with this, and avoids many commont ropes.

Still, I have some criticisms about size representation in the series as a whole, and I’ll get to those too.

Spoilers ahead.

Alos, tw for misogyny, fatphobia, racism, ableism, classism, eating disorders,

Before we start, a quick disclaimer:

I’m plus-sized, in the sense that this is the label that I think describes my size the best, and I have to get “oversized” clothes at Garage and my parents tried to get me to diet, so this was a big deal for me.

First...

First and most importantly: Size is not Nimona’s primary character trait.

She’s the main character of the series.

And this is something that’s such a big deal.

ND Stevenson himself said it in his earlier cartoon: The action comic industry is not so big on size representation.

In this comic, Stevenson critiques the way in which merchandise, posters, and the general culture of comics is very much misogynistic and portraying a very universally thin model.

The gendered sizing stereotypes and objectification come hand-in-hand. It’s the idea that women can only be seen as thin, busty objects of men’s consumption.

In any case, it’s the big deal that Nimona’s the main character.

She’s on the front cover of the book, the series is named after her, she’s the main character with arguably the most important role...

In any case, like this is the first thing I wanted to mention. While size representation is getting better, it’s usually a side character or two. But she’s the main character. I can talk about this alone for hours honestly.

2. Food

When I was reading Nimona again, I was worried because of the food tropes. I realized there was a running joke about pizza, and I was about to groan thinking of all the fatphobic comments that could come out of this.

But after actually reading this:

The joke isn’t about Nimona wanting food, it’s about her boss, Ballister, having nothing to eat in his fridge and having trashy taste.

He, dead-pan, says, “There are some genetically altered anchovies” Like what the hell is up with that?!

I actually think this is really awesome, as someone who struggled with eating disorders for a while.

I didn’t want another “The Whale” situation where the fatness was portrayed as a thing to be ashamed of, and directly caused by “junk food.” 

Nimona sips soda without caring for calories, has cravings that’s treated as something to familiarize her with the audience, and it’s overall a good job.

3. Power

This isn’t Shazam, in which thinness is considered synonymous with power.

She’s always portrayed as lively, and strong, regardless of her weight. If she needs to transform, it’s never to do with weight, but to do with form and function. Which is honestly a lot more than I was expecting.

Criticisms:

Amount There really aren’t that any other main characters that are plus-sized. Like, there are a few minor ones with less than 10 speaking lines, but nothing too major. But the one character that is important is treated with respect that I wish more plus-sized characters have in media today.

Still, there are a few worth mentioning. This includes Tabitha, the apple-seller, and Tabitha’s friend (again, extremely minor character but better than nothing). Like, I thought it was nice to see too sorta-thick characters getting together and chatting. You know, just living life. I thought that was nice. Sometimes normalcy is a good way to go when we have trash like The Whale out there.

Also, there was this random person with two speaking lines (not loving the ableist and classist stuff, tbh though)

Of course, there’s also my favorite character in the series, Dr. Blitzmeyer, but I’m still angry that she was menat to be thicker in the sketches so I’m not including her :(

Look at that! She was thicc af before

There were a few more plus-sized folks in the book, but no one who’s actually major.

In all:

I wish there were more plus-sized characters in the original comics, but that doesn’t remove the fact that Nimona was handled extremely well, especially for a comic.

[ilovedthestars]

Mal, aspec icon, and also reasons why I love Widdershins in general

So, as a birthday present to myself I recently bought physical copies of all ten currently available volumes of the webcomic Widdershins, and I’m currently rereading all of them from the beginning, and I’m just. Having emotions about it!! This post is part Widdershins propaganda (go read it) and part rambley thought dump on the parts I'm excited about on my reread. (I’ll try to stay away from major spoilers, but read at your own risk.)

A vague bit of context for anyone who knows nothing about Widdershins: Historical fantasy, set mostly in Victorian* England, centered on the fictional English town of Widdershins, which is the location of a magical “anchor” which is a source/amplifier of magic. Magical practitioners are called wizards (regardless of gender—witches also exist but are a very different thing) and the magic system revolves around summoning “spirits” of various emotions, and using/making deals with said spirits to imbue objects with magical properties. The tone is pretty light and adventure-y, and very fun. Every arc jumps back and forth between a few different sets of characters, but their paths all eventually cross.

(*technically slightly pre-Victorian. The ongoing and final installment is set during/around Victoria’s coronation. There’s also flashbacks, visits to other locales, and a Time Travel Episode)

The character I remember getting most attached to when I first read Widdershins, and the one I’m currently having the most emotions about on my reread, is Mal (aka O’Malley). First of all, I completely forgot that he’s canonically ace (and maybe aro)??** His significant relationships throughout his arcs are all close friends with found family vibes—when we first meet them, he and his longtime friend Wolfe have been traveling around Europe together for years, on what money they can earn from Wolfe’s busking (he plays violin) and Mal’s somewhat cheating at cards. Wolfe is an optimistic, calm and gentle person, and he clearly brings out the best in the very grumpy and abrasive Mal. They rely on each other, make sacrifices for each other, and generally have just such a lovely relationship--one thing I find particularly sweet is that it’s shown multiple times that listening to Wolfe’s violin playing helps Mal relax and makes him happy.

Pictured: Mal suggesting that Wolfe pacify a huge spirit of sadness by playing his violin, because "It works for me" 🥺 (In case my image turns out bad, here's a link to the actual comic page--I'm just excited about my physical copies!)

I’ve rambled before about “love as in significance” and how my favorite fictional relationships are ones where two characters are deeply important to each other, in a non-romantic and/or ambiguous way. To me Wolfe and Mal are a perfect example of that kind of deep friendship, effectively a life partnership, with no romance.

(**Widdershins also has multiple gay/lesbian characters, some of whom get romance arcs, and at least one canonically trans person. In Victorian England. There’s also a fair amount of non-white characters. I cannot stress enough how much this is just Not A Thing within the story. I believe the in-universe justification is that random magic ability evened the scales, and things like oppression and colonialism never got as bad as they did in our world. What it works out to is fun escapist adventures where homophobia and racism aren’t obstacles to the diverse cast, which is exactly my type of story. It’s definitely not trying to be historically accurate, but doesn’t get bogged down in modern labels, either.)

Mal also has a really satisfying character arc going on. He can see magical spirits, including the ones around people, and read their emotions—this is not a normal thing within this magical universe, and he mostly considers it a burden/annoyance, as it makes people (especially crowds) overwhelming. It turns out to be a whole thing, which I won’t spoil, but in my reread I just finished book 7, curtain call, which is the conclusion to the first big arc of Widdershins and includes a really cool flashback scene into Mal’s past. He’s got a whole thing going on where he makes some new friends, and eventually decides to stop running away from things. It’s really hard to talk about without spoiling, so I’ll just say that he’s still my favorite character and his arc is very strong.

Pictured: What it looks like when Mal sees spirits, and also another example of him being comforted by his friend's music. (Here's a link to the actual comic page)

Mal (and Wolfe) star in chapters 2 and 5, and feature prominently among a larger rotation of characters in chapters 7 and 9. The various chapters/books rotate through different sets of characters, but they're all lovable and you'll get attached to new characters quickly. Some other really fun characters from various Widdershins stories include:

Harriet “Harry” Barber, a bounty hunter who tracks down magical artifacts with the help of her magic-sniffing dog Gren (who she may or may not have stolen from the police)

Sidney Malik, who is cursed with accidental kleptomania (other people’s things just appear in his pockets, and he feels very bad about it). He got kicked out of wizard university for said kleptomania and is now pursuing his true passion of being a stage magician

Verity Cunningham, inventor slash bounty hunter slash Harry’s former-partner-turned-rival, and the greatest bounty hunter who ever lived, if she says so herself (which she will, loudly)

Lei Feng, who I can’t actually say anything about because all the coolest things about her are spoilers, but trust me she goes through some fun twists (she’s a magician’s assistant/inventor)

Alexa King, a baker with green hair who is going to Widdershins to win a baking competition in the year 2013, and if you’re wondering what this has to do with Victorian England and if it involves time travel shenanigans, yes, yes it does

Harry and Sid are the stars of the first chapter, and they're very close seconds to Mal in terms of my favorite cast members. If I have made this webcomic sound cool enough that you want to try it, please go check out their super fun story.

(P.S. A note about romance, since this post is partially about aspec things and i'm addressing it to my very aro corner of tumblr. Some of the chapters/characters in Widdershins have romance subplots, which never take up too much space in the story and are very well written in my opinion. I am someone who is super picky about romance in books, and I've rooted for every single romantic relationship in the comic--they're very sweet, and all built around two people who get along and are important to each other, as the friendships are. No forced romance or painful amatonormativity here.)

[imabiscuitinthousandworlds]

So my physics presentation went really well!! :D actually i think it as my best one so far. just because it was like. properly scientific? or as close to it as one can get in this specific situation. and also i got the vibes that my teacher was pretty happy with it and that guy has like. resting bitch face. i have never really seen him express an emotion other than neutral interest. like not openly. but he did nod at some of my slides/what i said and that's cool. also people asked me questions that are literally impossible to answer but instead of standing there and then repeating that part of my presentation like a broken record-slash most people my age (and so far during presentations) i just outlined what i *did* know additionally, even if that was very little, followed by a "nobody knows".

except the hard "think about it" questions by my teacher. one about dark matter (which i mentioned but did not research bc it technically wasn't important for my presentation) which i also answered like those from my classmates ("this is why we know it exists but nobody knows *what* it is) and also the one if a homogenous universe and the structure of the cosmic web don't contradict each other (i don't and i think i explained that rly well even if that was actually the first time i thought abt it).

also it was super obvious that i looked at a whole bunch of sources and knew my pictures instead of just pulling random ones and also that i was neck-deep in an obsession. so. i don't even care abt the grade tbh (though a good grade might save me from the Horrors [formulae]) but like. i'm super proud of how the presentation ended up. and that i managed to put together a proper sourced and informed presentation abt a fuck-off complicated problem. and i think my teacher might have even been almost impressed and just to get that vibe feels amazing (idk how to talk to him but he's one of my favourite teachers somehow and i do wanna impress him iykwim like. look! i totally failed that exam on formulae but i am not bad at physics in general! look at me! i'd seriously consider studying physics if not for the maths part!! idk i've never understood so much and been so interested as with him as my teacher)

anyways. long-ass rant. i'm just SUPER happy. somehow this tiny grade/presentation was more important then the Big ExamTM today which was objectively like five times more important (i think that also went well tho, we had to write a comment and i already kept accidentally doing that during other textforms before sooo i should be good. also writing. i'm good at that lmao)

[arthotsglasses]

Making otome environment in 3D (massive project)

so as I've been working on some small props from otome games, I thought... I wanna model entire rooms, environments from these otome games, and export them to VR so we all can have a tour and BE in the moment hehe (kinda like a movie set tour). It’s my little dream 💭

JUST IMAGINE BEING IN YOUR FAVOURITE MAN’S ROOM IN REAL TIME! YOU CAN MOVE AROUND, TURN YOUR HEAD TO LOOK WHEREVER! ISN’T THIS EXCITING???

So I've thought it out, planned a bit, and here are some of the steps I will be taking to make it happen.

Gathering references - pretty much any image/screencaps I can find of bois rooms, gardens, houses, outdoors, of the otome games I've played. (Some from google, some from my phone and switch lol)

Study furniture/rooms & fill in the cut off sides - usually, otome game backgrounds are limited to one image from a single camera angle. So I will kinda design the 3rd and 4th wall of the room to make it a complete space)

Floor plan - need to make sure all furniture and objects are properly scaled and fitted into the room based on the screencaps

Modeling Blender assets - reappearing items like wooden planks, pillows, mattress, windows, books, rocks, grass, trees, etc can be modeled once and reused. Varying the texture and directions will make it look less repetitive.

Model the Room/place - using the assets and the reference image I build the actual environment.

UV mapping and Textures - Uv map objects that need unique textures, then import the UV overlay to clip studio to paint the mesh on image surface. Import the images back to Blender and wrap the textures accordingly.

Lighting & details - yeye lighting, details, and all that fun stuff at the end to tweek and make things perfect!

Export! - as of now, I will probably use sketchfab, a website you can view 3D models on. If you have oculus or vr devices, I think you should be able to view it using that as well.

These are just rough steps for me to follow, I've started steps 1-4 all at once simultaneously, but I'm sure there's more stuff that needs to be done. Ik it will take a longgg time... I probably will end up doing rooms and then piecing it together to create the whole thing, so random rooms may be done in random order, and yeah... not the whole universe at once lmao. I've also gotten a lot of help from my stream since there are a lot of good 3D artists I respect. Probably will continue to get more help lel. These posts are also for myself to keep track of the progress,,, so yeah!

Games I'm planning to do: Ikevam, ikesen, ikepri, ikerev, diabolik lovers, olympia soiree, collar x malice, piofiore, variable barricade (maybe more)

You can watch me work on it on Twitch here

Comment if you want to be notified in future updates on this project!

tagging @bespectacledbun @pettyval

some progress

Started off with Variable barricade living room, cuz it seems the most simple. pretty much done modelling it and now time to UV and paint!

[faery-the-diamond]

I saw someone was asking about ask box, so i guess i will try to use it, AHEM.

Ask to Crownbert: How is that feels to be... A crown... just a crown.

Ask to narinder:Do you remember Ratau and others who you given crown to? Who was the best on your think and what did he do?

Ask to some of believers: And how changed quality of your life after narinder have become crown nearer and leader have become a crown? Are it better or worse?

Sorry for such a delay 💦

Before we start, here's an important note first:

I'm planning to answer these asks with text (with some occasional art) so that I had enough time to draw the comic itself as well as art for my other AUs. Especially since my university starts on the next week :">

————————————

Lambert: Well... Saying that it feels strange would be an understatement. Which is expected from being stuck in a magical object I guess. But it also feels kind of... Terrifying. Imagine yourself being a leader, who was responsible for everything for the past couple of years, and then suddenly you ended up in a position where the only thing you can do is grant your questionable ally powers and watch. You have no idea how much I'm worrying each day...

————————————

Narinder: I do, in fact, remember them. Though sometimes I wish that I didn't... Lambert had a lot of predecessors. Most of them were weak like Ratau, unable to sacrifice even one of their followers. Some of them even thought that being in possession of my Crown gives them the ability to reason with my siblings and their followers. Naive fools they were... But there was a handful of my vessels that I honestly thought that they could make it to the end. Though in the end all of them still failed. The most successful one, besides Lambert, was a lizard. He wasn't afraid to use violence and sacrifice anyone who even looked wrong at him. He was the only one who managed to reach my brother Leshy. But apparently he had some serious mental illness, talking to himself constantly, speaking with the people that were never there, even changing his name almost every day which is why I'm not sure how to call him. In the end, Leshy, the God of Chaos that he is, broke his mind completely letting him rot in his own madness.

————————————

Follower A: It was definitely worse in the beginning, but we're pretty sure that it was just our Leader trying to get used to controling another body.

Follower B: And he's learning quickly! That's truly an impressive feat that only an actual Deity is capable of!

(Here is a post where I explained how followers view this whole situation if you haven't seen it)