#and edited it while just as tired

[squishy-min-mochi]

Pale Yellow and Held Close

Hooooooi!! This is from my A03 account under the name Alis_Corli1666 and I am the original author dw

Gojo-sensei, if Infinity keeps anything from touching you, why do you carry an umbrella when it’s gonna rain?

________

Satoru forgets sometimes. 

It doesn’t happen very often, and usually, no one is around when it does. But Shoko had told him it was going to rain today, so he'd picked up his umbrella on his way out of Jujutsu Tech. The fine gravel crunched under the force of Infinity, and a grey filter settled itself around the edges of the world around him. He could see the clouds gathering in a shapeless bunch, all shades of dark silvers and off-whites. He doesn’t feel the cold like this, but he can see just how much the trees are swaying, and he can hear the wind whispering against his ears. 

Maki had worn her winter jacket at training yesterday, so the autumn chill must finally be settling in.

He ran through his little shopping list in his head. Yaga was stepping in for curse training today, and Kugisaki had begged Satoru to bring her something from his trip into the city. Then all of his students had piled on their requests, and Satoru absolutely wasn't going to tell them no. The demands were as followed;

- Hairpins for Kugisaki

- A pot of metallic polish for Maki

- Fushiguro wanted a volume on rabbit species 

- Panda wanted a tapioca dessert

- Inumaki asked for more tea leaves

- And Itadori—

“Oh? Sensei!”

Satoru turned his head to see Itadori rushing up the beaten path towards him. He grinned, saluting with two fingers towards his student. 

“Yo, Yuuji! You’re a little late to class today, where’ve you been?”

The boy blushed, embarrassed, and stuttered out something about oversleeping from the night before. 

“—was with Megumi last night reading and so we’re both pretty tired-“

He cut himself off the moment Satoru shot him a knowing grin. Absolute mortification bloomed in Itadori’s eyes, and really, how was Satoru supposed to just let that go?

“Oh?” He chided, “you two stayed together last night? How cute!”

Again, Itadori fell into a stuttering mess of words and hand movements, bright red on the tips of his ears and the sides of his cheeks. 

He was saved, however, by the crack of thunder and almost instantaneous rain that followed. Satoru laughed as he watched Itadori get very soaked very quickly. 

He whined, “ugh, sensei!I didn’t bring an umbrella with me today!” Then he caught sight of the pale yellow umbrella Satoru had in his hand and looked back at his teacher scandalised. 

“You’re not even offering me yours! How heartless!”

Satoru leaned back with a grin, feigning the great deal of sympathy Itadori was demanding. 

“Ah ah, I need this umbrella. Would you really try to get your own teacher soaked and risk him getting sick?”

Itadori just rolled his eyes, “but Gojo-sensei, ifInfinitykeeps anything from touching you, why do you even carry an umbrella when it’s gonna rain? You don’t need it!”

Satoru stopped short. 

‘Satoru, you’re not even usingyour umbrella, and I’m getting soaked!’

‘But this is myumbrella. You should’ve remembered your ownone Suguru- now you’ll get sick, and I’ll have no one to train with!’

Suguru reached for the pale yellow umbrella in Satoru’s hand, utterly misjudging how far his friend was willing to go to avoid being helpful. 

He leaned back and flicked up his leg, and Suguru, the absolute fucking idiot he is, tripped on it. 

He resigned himself to hitting the cold, wet concrete in hopes of some sympathy points, but the impact never came. 

Satoru lifted him up from his precarious position, and Suguru realised he wasn’t getting rained on anymore. 

Above him, the pale yellow material cast a golden shadow over Suguru’s face, and Satoru smiled. 

‘There,’ Satoru grinned, ‘now I’ve protected you from the ground and the rain. I’m fighting the elements for you Suguru, how great am I?”

Suguru rolled his eyes, reaching forward and pulling Satoru’s head down to eye level. He nudged their foreheads together and sighed. 

‘Thanks, Satoru.’

“Yuuji!”

From behind him, Fushiguro walked towards the now soaked first year, holding a black umbrella. 

“You idiot, what the hell were you thinking? Kugisaki told you it was gonna rain!”

‘Shoko, why didn’t you warn me it was gonna rain!’

“Ack— I know that! I just overslept and forgot to grab it on my way out!”

‘Su-gu-ruuu! You forgot your umbrella again. Iori says I should tie it to you like a dog so I don’t have to keep getting it for you…’

“You’re lucky mine can fit us both under it.”

'You're lucky my Infinity likes you so much.'

Satoru doesn’t realise he’s staring until Fushiguro shoots him a questioning look. He frowns in the way that Saturo knows means he’s noticed something he’ll want to talk about later, and Saturo wilts a little inside. 

“I thought you’d be gone shopping by now? And… why the hell do you have an umbrella but not Yuuji?”

He looks down at the pale yellow in his hand, and tries his best to ignore the subtle weight growing in his chest. 

“Ah,” he says, knowing that there’d be no point trying to hide his tone shift from Fushiguro, “I must’ve… taken it by accident.”

Fushiguro huffs at that, wrapping an arm around Itadori’s upper body and pulling his back towards their off-campus training ground. 

Suguru wrapped himself around Satoru's back, soaking up his best friend's warmth and grinned as Satoru whines about getting damp. He feels Suguru sigh, deflating in contentment and Satoru has to fight the fuzzy feeling creeping around his jaw and up his neck. His eyes flutter, and he smiles to himself.

As they leave, Saturo waits. He waits until they’re both out of sight, and then he waits until their cursed energy becomes as faint as it’ll get. 

He grips the umbrella impossibly tight. 

‘I should start using you as a packhorse during bad weather Satoru, anything on you would be kept high and dry.’

‘What? No way! I’ll just take you with me to carry it all— my Infinity can protect us both you know!’

The space between him and the outside world dissipates as Satoru releasesInfinity. Silently, he waits for the rain to soak his uniform, then his skin. He waits until the wind chills the water as it wraps around his muscles. He lets the cold roll his bones between its merciless fingers, and drop the temperature of his blindfold so low he could feel a headache splintering his skin. 

Then, and only then, does he lift and open his pale umbrella. 

________

Sometimes, Gojo Satoru forgets. And when he remembers again, the ghost of that memory lingering in the weight of the rain and the sound of the wind, follows him like an old friend.

[tls123]

thirty-one days of jiujiu(ly) — 2024 edition // day twenty-nine + with bonus lan wangji ! + find the 2022 edition here

[arimabari]

Magic of Pegasus set in the 1890s

[statisticallymorelikely]

Inkpot Gods - The Amazing Devil

"Have you left?"

"No. Um... I'm not gonna make it. I have to hold open the silo doors."

"No, no, no, just jam something in it and get off the island. I know you can do this."

"Q.."

"No. I’ll find you a way out, just like always."

"Listen to me, Q.."

"There must be a way. We just need more time! If, if I had more time, I could--"

"It’s alright, Q. It’s alright. You’ll be alright."

"For Christ’s sake, James--"

"Q.."

"I’m sorry. God, I'm so sorry.."

"Have I ever told you? That day in the gallery, despite all those masterpieces, despite that hideous jacket you were wearing... you were the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."

"James.."

"You saved me that day, darling, and every wretched day since."

"..."

"I love you, Q."

"I love you, too."

"----------------"

[scandalouslamb]

Festus Creed talking to Coral

—The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

[hailsatanacab]

For the prompt ask game!

9. Sleep deprivation and/or 37. Secret Relationship and/or 40. Identity reveal/major secret reveal

(I selected a few so you can chose the one that resonates the most.)

For any DPxDC characters. <3

*emerges from a google docs, covered in blood and panting* i did it... it is done.

thank you for the prompt!! because i love a challenge, or because i can't stop myself, i went and did all of them!! for everyone!! everyone is sleep deprived and everyone is revealing secrets ^^'

Danny/Tim, mentioned Jazz/Jason

(๑•́ ₃ •̀๑) enjoy!! prompt ask game

kid napping

“Red Robin, sound off. Status?”

“All good here, Oracle. Everything okay?”

It’s been a slow night, never a good sign. Pent up energy itches under his skin and he stretches when he stands, preparing for whatever Oracle is going to throw his way. It’s going to be something, he can tell.

“Good.” Relief briefly colours her voice answers, before she becomes serious again, keys clacking away in the background. “There’s been a report from Agent A. It appears that one Timothy Drake has been kidnapped and is being ransomed for five million dollars and a helicopter. I’m tracing the call now.”

“A helicopter, too? Kidnappers these days, used to be they just wanted their money and that would be the end of it… a fucking helicopter, wow.” Red Hood scoffs, and Red Robin can’t help but join in the laughter over the comms.

“Doesn’t exactly sound like these are the brightest tools in the shed now, does it, Hood? Wonder what poor schmuck they’ve got instead.” Nightwing says, slightly out of breath. 

The smile slips off Red Robin’s face and clammy, cold dread shivers down his spine. A stone settles in his stomach. He wets his lips and clears his throat. “Oracle, can you pull up the CCTV on my apartment near WE? Any closer to tracing the call?”

“Still on the trace, they’re using a jammer. Agent A is cooperating so they should phone back soon, which will help.” she reports, falling into silence as he finds the video feed.

“You know who it is?”

“I hope not.”

It’s tense, he taps his feet on the rooftop, fingers tightening over his grapple as he fights the urge to fly off the roof and check for himself. It better not be him. Please, dear God, don’t let it not be him.

“What are you thinking, Red Robin?” Batman growls through the comms. Red Robin can hear the wind under his words, whipping fast as he no doubt makes his way over to his position.

“I had a, uh, a friend coming over tonight. From behind, he… he could be mistaken for Tim Drake.”

The jokes fall silent, the comms growing serious as they pick up on his tone.

“Well, fuck.” 

“Eloquent as always, Hood.”

“Shut up, bat-brat.”

“You were right, Red Robin, it looks like it was your… friend they caught, instead. About two hours before the call came in. I’m following their van now, I should have the destination soon. In the meantime, it looks like they’re heading towards the docks.”

Red Robin throws himself off the building, shooting his grapple as low as he dares to get the fastest swing he can. 

They have Danny. 

Worry gnaws at his gut even as gravity pulls it into his throat with another swing.

Danny is… And Red Robin means this in the nicest way possible, but Danny is fragile. They haven’t talked about it, but RR knows that Danny has health problems. Something plaguing him since he was young, that’s landed him in the hospital more than once. A weak heart, far too slow to be normal, possibly chronic fatigue—he’s always so tired, falling asleep anywhere he can.

Sometimes, he doesn’t even need to put his head down. Once, when they had gone to the corner store to get some popcorn to enjoy their movie (which Danny had explicitly and repeatedly promised he wouldn’t snore through this time), Danny had rested his head on Tim’s shoulder while they were waiting and he’d just… gone. On his feet, asleep, just like that.

He’d laughed, when Tim woke him up. Apologised. Said Tim made him feel safe enough to fall asleep just about anywhere and—

Red Robin grits his teeth and corrects his course as Oracle updates them with more precise coordinates.

Tim had carried him home that night, piggy-back for four blocks, but by the end of it, he wasn’t tired at all. And that’s another thing, Danny’s just so light. It’s concerning.

They never did watch that movie, but it’s a night that Tim can’t help remembering fondly all the same. They’d ended up rewatching some old sitcom that Danny’s seen countless times but Tim’s never really bothered with, Danny drifting off to sleep again and Tim eventually following him, because… sleep is easy with Danny.

It’s the same for him, he thinks. He can’t explain it, but he feels safe enough to sleep with Danny, too.

He needs to be alright.

“So… Is this friend just a friend? Or a friend friend?” 

“A friend, Nightwing. Now hurry up.”

He’s not in the mood to play these games, not now. There’s a reason why none of them know about Danny, and this is one of them. His family, as much as he loves them, are just too damn nosey for their own good.

“You know that doesn’t answer my question at all.”

“Then why don’t you ask something intelligible, rather than continue with your childish antics?” Robin snarks, and for once, Red Robin has to agree with him. Or, rather, he’s grateful for the distraction that it gives him.

Tim has secrets. He’s sure that Danny does, too, and so far—aside from the standard background check he always runs on new friends and friend friends alike—he’s done very well to respect them. He just can’t say that his family would do the same.

They can be overwhelming, to say the least, and Tim has tried his best to protect Danny from that.

Only to fail to protect him in every other way that it counts.

“How long have you guys been ‘friends’?”

“Nightwing, save it, please.”

“What’s his name?”

He ignores him.

Red Robin lands on the building first, thank goodness. He wastes no time in finding a skylight that can be pried open fairly quietly, slipping inside without a second thought.

“Wait for backup, Red Robin, that is an order!” Batman says, when he lets them know he’s in.

“Negative, Batman. I’m getting him back.”

“Red Robin!”

He weaves silently through the desks on the second floor of the warehouse, always moving, always keeping a trained eye on the shadows around him.

When he reaches the stairs, he hears voices.

“Looks like three of them, armed. The-the hostage is tied to a chair in the middle of the room, he…” Red Robin takes a steadying breath. The person has a burlap sack over their head is slumped to the side, from where he is, Red Robin can’t see if his chest is moving. There’s blood on the floor. “He needs medical assistance. Another two on the northside entrance.”

The comms explode in admonitions, everyone pleading with him to stay where he is, to wait for help, but fuck that. With a tap, he switches them off and he can finally, just about make out the words of the kidnappers as he creeps down the first few steps.

“—shouldn’t he have woken up by now?”

“I don’t know, man, you’re the one that hit him! Do you think he’s—”

“No! I didn’t even hit him that hard, I swear!” the man cries, holding his hands up in surrender. “I just couldn’t take any more of his stupid jokes!”

If there was any doubt in Red Robin’s mind that they picked up Danny by mistake, it’s gone now. Yeah. If you get Danny, you get his stupid jokes, too.

He creeps closer. 

There’s some storage crates between him and Danny, if he can get behind there without being seen then that leaves him in a good position for when whoever’s next in takes out the guys at the front. He can’t do anything without them gone first, not without risking them taking shots inside and endangering Danny.

The man that hit Danny circles round behind him and grabs at his hands.

“What are you even doing, Pat? Who gives a shit, leave him alone.”

“I’m just checking! I just gotta see!”

“Fuck’s sake, guys, who cares? We just gotta get our money, that’s it—”

“And our helicopter!”

“And our—”

“Shit, I can’t find a pulse! Shit, Frank, I killed him, I—”

Jason told him once that when the Pits overtook him, he used to see green. Instead of blacking out, he’d be swimming in that putrid Lazarus colour and he’d slip into that rage and bad things would happen.

He’s heard of people seeing red, too, but really, he thinks that’s more of a literary device.

Tim doesn’t see anything aside from his targets.

A barrage of birdarangs take the guns from the guys at the front, the three around Danny startling badly enough that the guy that kil—that’s behind Danny—stumbles, losing his footing.

Only one of them shoots.

Amateurs. 

There’s a round of curses on the comms as the shots come through. Oracle must have turned them back on.

“Fucking hell—Nightwing and I are at the front, Red Robin, don’t worry about them.”

Red Robin’s barely listening.

He spins, kicking the largest guy in the stomach hard enough so that he doubles over, wheezing. Following through the movement, another kick lands on the side of his head and he’s down. 

The second one, Frank, gets his wits about him and raises his gun, spraying wildly. He’s a shit shot, going wide in panic, and Red Robin simply ducks and rushes forward, keeping low. Tackling the guy, he grabs the gun off of him and uses it to smash him across the face, once, twice, three times, before he stops moving.

“Oracle, get police and paramedics on scene, now.” Batman says, the displeasure in his voice evident. “Red Robin, Robin and I are coming in from the top.”

Pat hasn’t even made it up off the floor yet, scrambling backwards, fear plain on his face. 

Red Robin stands, breathing heavily, gun still in hand.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I swear I didn’t mean to do it! Please—please, don’t, please!”

Red Robin doesn’t kill.

Well, no, Red Robin doesn’t normally kill.

No, that’s not quite right, either.

Red Robin has killed. Red Robin will more than likely kill again. Red Robin sees no problem with killing.

The gun is up, pointing towards the guy without any real thought about it.

Footsteps rush behind him, the familiar heavy footfalls of Batman and Robin, so he doesn’t bother turning around. The gun follows the guy as he keeps pulling himself backwards, snot and tears mingling down his face.

“Red Robin,” Batman says, softly.

It’s always weird hearing Batman’s voice like that. It’s not the first time, obviously—Batman can’t use his scary intimidating voice on victims or children, after all—but having it used on him is weird. 

“Breathe.”

“He’s dead. They killed him.”

If hearing Batman’s voice was weird, Red Robin can’t even recognise his own.

Distantly, he realises he’s dissociating. There’s a tightness in his chest, it’s hard to breathe, a growing buzz drowns out any noise in his ears and he can’t think, he can’t—

A heavy hand squeezes his shoulder, jolting him out of his thoughts. Batman reaches around and gently removes the gun from his grip, and Tim feels the instant loss of it. He should have done it, why hadn’t he done it?

Robin takes care of the last man, his crying cut off by a swift kick to the head. Nightwing and Red Hood join them, zip-tying the men on the floor and starting to drag them back to the entrance of the warehouse one by one.

No one says a word.

Shrugging off Batman’s hand, Tim moves towards the chair.

Shaking, he takes a deep breath and removes the sack. The small part of him that was left hoping it wasn’t him, it couldn’t be him, please dear God let it not be him, shatters.

Even dead, he looks peaceful.

Tim’s seen death. He’s no stranger to it, he’s seen what it can do to a person. There’s some blood coagulating over his eyebrows, but otherwise, he looks peaceful. Is that comforting? That he didn’t suffer?

Danny’s head lolls to the side as the sack comes completely away, his hair flopping over his eyes. Tim’s been on at him to get a haircut lately, he thinks it’ll be nice tidied up a bit, just on the sides. It’ll get rid of that permanent bedhead. Help him with job interviews, he’s got to be thinking about that now that he’s in his last year of college.

It’s about the only thing that’ll hold him back, Tim thinks. Danny’s brilliant. Any employer would be a fool to turn him down because of his shaggy hair, but employers are stupid so it makes sense to put your best foot forward and—

Tim falls to his knees.

Fuck.

He’s dead, he’s really—Danny’s skin is horribly pale, cold to the touch. Gone is his bright, cheerful smile. 

“Danny, I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry, I—” 

He stops himself with a deep, shuddering breath. He can’t break down here, he can’t, he can’t, he can’t.

Instead, he tips forward to rest his head in Danny’s lap, arms curling around himself. They were too late. They got here as fast as they could and they were too late.

 “Danny, I’m so sorry…” he whispers. “I… I love you, I love you, I’m sorry.”

Dimly, he can feel the others standing around them. Someone crouches down beside him, resting a comforting arm over his back, but he doesn’t turn his head to see who it is. He squeezes his grip on Danny’s legs tighter.

“Come on, baby bird. Let’s—”

They’re interrupted by a huge, honking snore as Danny jerks himself awake.

Tim’s head snaps up, staring at Danny with wide eyes.

“You were asleep?” Red Robin springs up, several different emotions rapidly flip flopping through him.

“Wha… What?” Danny heaves a yawn, blinking blearily down at him. “Sorry, I’m just… they were shit kidnappers, man, really boring. Honestly, worst abduction yet.”

“You were asleep? I thought you were dead!”

“Not mutually exlusive, you know.” Danny says through another yawn. He rolls his neck around with an almighty crack and glances at everyone. “Didn’t think I’d warrant the whole Bat brigade, though…”

“The kidnappers thought they had Tim Drake.” Batman supplies, while Red Robin tries to work through the emotional whiplash.

“Ah, makes sense… wait.” Danny sits up suddenly, squinting at Red Robin. “Did you say you loved me?”

“No, of course not, why would I—”

“Tim? Is that—are you—are you Red Robin?”

“Everyone, hold the fuck up!” Red Hood shouts from the other side of the warehouse, having finished securing the perps to a streetlight outside. “Double R is dating Danny fucking Nightingale?”

Well, there goes his identity… Oh, who’s he kidding, Danny’s smart. There’s no way he could have salvaged that. This was not how he thought the night was going to go.

“Cranberry, is that you?” Danny twists in his chair, somehow delighted to see Red Hood rescuing him, too. “I thought I smelled you lurking about!”

“Shut it, you little shit. Since when were you dating this dweeb?”

“I’m sorry,” Red Robin pleads, hands in the air to try and slow down the onslaught of information and insults, “you two know each other?”

“Cranberry?” Nightwing echoes, looking as lost as Red Robin feels.

“Yeah, Cranberry—The Cranberries—zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie. Obviously. Also he’s wearing a big, fuck off red helmet.”

“Yeah, sure, makes sense.”

It’s about the only thing that does.

“And please don’t call my boyfriend a dweeb, Cranberry. Especially when he just said he loves me for the first time.”

“He only said it because he thought you were dead.”

“I am dead, so it counts.”

“Only half, so I’d say that puts you at a solid ‘like’. Tim’s—and savour this, Tim, because I’m only going to say it once—Tim’s intelligent, so I’m sure he’ll come to his senses soon.”

Danny just throws Red Hood such a shit-eating grin. A level of feral that Tim’s only seen before in Damian. 

“That’s what I used to say about Jazz, too.”

Hood scoffs in offence, and to be honest, Tim’s not sure where he should go from here. What the hell is happening, how do they know each other?

“Come on, is anyone going to untie me or am I really meeting your family mafia-style?”

“Do it yourself, Slimer.” Red Hood laughs, crossing his arms.

“Ugh, you suck so much. I’ll fucking slime you, just you wait. Can’t believe Jazz even likes you, I preferred it when she was dating Johnny.”

And then, without Danny doing anything other than muttering obscenities at Red Hood, the ropes fall to the ground. In one swift motion, Danny stands up and stretches himself to his full height of 5’6.

“All of you need to explain, now.” commands Batman, and honestly, Red Robin’s very much on his side of it.

“I can’t believe it… Jason and Timmy are both in secret relationships? That’s… How come no one told me?” Poor Nightwing sounds the most shocked out of all of them. He turns to Damian and clasps onto both of his shoulders. “You’re not secretly dating, are you, D? Please tell me you’re not, please tell me you’re single, please?”

Of course, Robin just clicks his tongue and pushes his hands away. Really, Red Robin doesn’t think that Nightwing’s in any danger of that happening, he’d be surprised if anyone could stand Robin enough to actually date him.

He shakes his head and turns to Danny, who’s staring right back at him, worry clear on his face.

Fuck, he... He's alive. He's really alive.

Tim pulls him into a bone-crushing hug, fingers buried deep in his NASA shirt. Tucking his face into the crook of Danny's shoulder, he laughs wetly with the joy of it. He's alive. He hasn't lost him. He's safe.

“I’m sorry I haven’t told you before now, starshine, but…” Danny breaks the hug and softly pulls away from him to rise on his tiptoes to place a kiss his cheek. The skin burns cold where his lips touch. “I love you, too. Also, you’re gonna wanna sit down. This is going to be a lot.”

[problemswithbooks]

BNHA Ch. 429

So, I guess Toga is dead, and people are losing it.

I get why people liked her--she was actually queer, being pan/bisexual. She was representation for them and that's rare in shonen manga. But here's the thing--she was bad representation at best and insulting at worst. Nor do I think she was made queer because Hori really wanted to represent a queer girl. Himiko was always the author's poorly hidden fetish--she just was. She liked girls as much as boys because Hori wanted to draw a girl touching sexually on another girl. You can see this in how he draws her and Ochako in solo pics together.

I mean, people seem to understand this when it comes to Momo and her outfit being overly sexual or that both Himiko and Hagakure's Quirks either leave them naked or they have to be naked to use them. These are excuses to draw girls in a sexual manner. Himiko being into other girls is the same thing and that's the kindest interpretation.

Given how Himiko acts and her Quirk being heavily coded sexual desire, and therefore her use of it against someone unwilling being sexual assault, it could just being playing into harmful stereotypes of predatory gays.

As a queer person myself I just found Toga insulting. She was designed to be overly sexual and give the male author a female character that he could draw being suggestive with his other female characters. When he did flesh out her character, her backstory was eventually the trope/fear of straight people, that gay people will be so overcome with their lust that they end up sexually assaulting them.

In the end Ochako accepts this part of Toga and says she'll giver her blood forever, but as much as a lot of readers took that that as some deep lesbian confession, for me it really fell flat. Hori never really gave any of the main kids time to actually learn about their villain or show how that changed their minds toward them. Shoto only works because Touya is his brother (even though he admits he barely remembers him). But Ochako goes from not thinking of Toga at all pre-first war, to one thought about her during her speech, to suddenly caring about her so much she--given how Toga's quirk is coded, is willing to essentially fulfill Toga's kink for the rest of their lives.

It's weird and it comes out of nowhere. It's made even stranger because Toga doesn't actually change or show remorse for anything she did, which included personally hunting and murdering people before she joined the LOV. None of the death and destruction she is also partially responsible for is brought up either, something that Ochako was rightfully upset about during the first war when less people and property had been destroyed. Ochako just accepts everything about her suddenly and her past serious crimes are forgotten so they can cuddle and cry.

Am I shocked Toga died--a little. I didn't think Hori would have the guts to kill off a young girl character, especially one that he clearly got a lot of joy drawing in sexy poses. But at the same time, once he killed off Shigaraki and ended Touya's story with his slow death, I'm not surprised he went the same route with Toga.

This isn't Naruto--Hori isn't really kind to characters that do something wrong, especially if they don't try and change. Enji, Bakugo, Hawks, and Aoyama all sort of got punished for what they did. Enji is the worst off, being permanently crippled, missing an arm and burned everywhere. Bakugo's hand is damaged, his heart weaker, plus he feels bad that Izuku lost his Quirk so they can't compete the same way he wanted them to. Aoyama, despite doing way less wrong and even helping his class during the forest raid, still leaves school because he doesn't feel he earned being there yet. Hawks lost his Quirk and even though him running the HPSC could be seen as good for him, Hawks always wanted a break, but now he has one of the most time consuming and stressful jobs out there.

So, if this is what characters who actively did good things and even changed and fought to be better get, what would characters who never changed and never did anything positive for anyone but their friends/themselves get?

Before the last Arc started, when so many people said the LoV were 100% going to be redeemed I had doubts and always thought it wouldn't make sense with how the story presented redemption or treated other non-LoV villains in the past. That if the main LoV did get some happy ending where they were bffs with the main cast it would clash with how other characters had been treated.

That doesn't mean that I think how Shigaraki, Toga, and Touya ended up in the manga was well done. I think their endings fit far better then a last minute redemption would have, but at the same time you can feel how rushed everything has been since the end of the first war arc. Hori was done with this story months if not years ago, yet he was contractually obligated to finish it. Because of that I think he left out as much as possible. As much as I think he's written some pretty obsessive stuff, particularly towards women, I can't really fully blame him cutting corners or the story being shit at the end.

We know Manga authors, particularly those that work with Jump are treated like shit. That they suffer incredibly long hours at times not even getting to go home for days. We've gotten messages for Hori saying he's sick quite a few times. On top of that, weekly story telling is not a great way to tell a cohesive narrative. Ideas probably change week to week or at least month to month and you can't go back and change the last chapter no matter how much you need or want to. Then you remember he also gave a lot of ideas to the people who made the movies, which would also change his plans for how he wanted the main story to go.

The story is bad--it has been for a while, but I think a lot of people put their hopes on their favorite characters getting a happy ending, even when there were signs that probably wasn't going to be the case. I know how much it sucks when a character you love gets a shitty ending (Stain was my fav, but he got an absolute dogshit ending) but at least, knowing what I know about the industry I can't really blame Hori the way I see some other people doing. Criticize it, sure, but saying Hori hates his readers or is horrible writer isn't true. BNHA was popular for a reason--he's great with characters and the beginning of the story had some great pacing. We'll never know, but I wouldn't be surprised if BNHA could have been amazing if Hori had been treated better and the story hadn't needed a chapter every week.

If anything BNHA has taught me how much a story suffers when authors/artists are treated like crap and forced to work past burnout.

[iceinherheart-kissonherlips]

for anon:  I kind of wish that someone would do gif sets of the Cleopatra exchange in The Wedding of River Song and also that The Doctor just says "Down girl" when River briefly gets sidetracked by Ramone in The Husbands of River Song.  I'm pretty sure that it's an open marriage but also wonder if they are averse to either seeing or knowing about other people even when they are actually eye to eye.  I feel like there's a great discussion to be unlocked about trust between them that supersedes other people.  Of course, if this is too naughty to bring up pretend I didn't say anything :)

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

questioning sexuality is so exhausting

[sysig]

Wake up somewhere better, maybe (Patreon)

[ccieatchildren]

Spark

Phone Notes 1

As they were about to open the door— about to make it to freedom— fingers clamped down on their wrist. A scream bubbled up in their throat, but his words cut them off.

“I rolled over and went to cuddle my wife, but they weren’t there.” A cheek nuzzled against them, “want to tell me where they went?”

Cold sweat gathered at their brow while Whumpee scrambled for a response. They gaped like a fish locked in his arms, Whumper’s fury palpable in the tense atmosphere, but no excuse came to mind. They was so close.

“Hmm? No answer.” He tightened his grip even more, leaving finger shaped bruises on their skin. “You know what I think,” Whumper’s voice dropped an octave, becoming deep and gravely with anger, “I think my pretty, little wife took my generosity for granted, sneaking out of our bed, the one I was nice enough to leave them unbound in, and took advantage of their husband’s exhaustion, not caring at all about the hard work he does to keep them here well fed, safe, and pampered. That little bitch of a wife tried to escape their loving husband for what?” Whumper was seething, each word bit out, trying, but failing, to keep his composure. “Some woman who doesn’t even realize you’re gone. A job you were forced into despite your affinity for research. A repetitive life that takes your all, but never gives anything in return. A lonely existence without someone to rely on or care for.”

He let out a long sigh. “I simply don’t understand why you would want to escape Whumpee. I have given you everything you need here. All you need is to stay with me. Why do you want to —“

Whumpee whipped around to look at him in disbelief, a scoff leaving their lips at the absurd question. “We both know why I don’t want to be here.” They wiggled out of his loosened arms, swiftly turning their back on him and walking to their— his— room. Whumpee knew when to abandon their current mission to retry again another day.

Stunned by their swift dismissal, Whumper stared after them in shock before hurrying along to their room. He hadn’t expected them to respond with such harsh indignation, and simply give up— no, just regrouping— after he caught them. Whumper had thought they would fight some more to make it out, they were right at the end after all, or at least cower under the weight of his frustration and fury. But they did neither. Their fire wasn’t as bright as before, but it hadn’t been completely put out yet. There was still a small spark eager to grow inside them, despite the months they had spent under him.

Whumper felt a crooked smile spread across his lips as he locked the bedroom door behind him. There was still a lot of fun left to have with Whumpee.

[citrus-soda]

Orikero blast attack!!! These fellas have been rattling around in my head for a couple months now. Lore stuff under the cut <3

It’s mentioned once or twice in the series that the planet Keron’s weather is controlled via satellite. I like to think the weather conditioning satellite (WCS) is less like an unmanned satellite and more like a space station, with crew both on the planet’s surface and aboard the satellite - constantly working to keep the installation up and running.

A weather satellite might seem like a huge deal to humans, but to Keron’s general public it’s regarded with about as much reverence as a power plant or water treatment center. It’s just a municipal service to them, and one they seriously take for granted! You can take tours of the satellite sorta like how one can tour money mints or chocolate factories here on earth. There’s a gift shop!

Rotada is the highest-ranking non-military crew member of the WCS, holding the position of head engineer. The WCS is her pride and joy, and even if she isn’t the station’s official captain, she’s pretty much the de-facto second in command. Often butts heads with the actual captain (Neneki) about what’s best for the WCS and its crew.

Kind, but not nice.

She knows just about everything that goes on around here.

Before working on the WCS, she was an engineer for an aerospace company.

Rocheche is one of the WCS’s many onboard scientists. He’s specifically in quality control - keeping an eye on the station's near-constant stream of data to ensure the planet’s artificial weather patterns are flowing smoothly.

The new guy.

Developing a caffeine addiction as we speak.

Fresh out of college and fought tooth and nail to get this job. "Per my last email" is his most often typed sentence this year!

Neneki is the WCS's captain and a warrant officer in the Keronian army. He'd been assigned to the satellite as punishment after being demoted from the rank of second lieutenant, but he's actually been enjoying himself immensely. He's not sure what to think about Rotada, and sometimes clashes with her if he feels she’s undermining his authority too much.

Easy-going. To a point...

Misses his wife. When's his next shore leave coming up???

Before being sent to the WCS, he served as an ambassador / negotiator for the Keronian Empire.

Neneki might’ve only gone down one military rank when he got demoted, but he essentially is a former diplomat sent to manage a municipal / scientific facility. Considering how much importance Keron assigns to military jobs… they did him dirty. At least he's having fun?

Junii is a tour guide, as well as a member of the satellite's PR team.

Chipper and friendly, shes pretty good at keeping kids entertained. Probably because she herself is easily amused.

Double-faced like a Janus cat. She is able to talk with both mouths at once, but since shes only got one set of lungs she runs out of air faster. She usually only does this as a party trick.

i quite literally just realized she looks like beta-design tamama. someone come and kill me right the fuck now

[apophisistired]

I finally caved into the hyperfixation and made my trollsona. She's so cute I had to share

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

holy fuck, this gives the zenin so much more lore than what we got in the manga. like the potential is right there to have this great inter-clan generational dispute and cold war but gege just breezes past it and then gets rid of it completely.

with all this cool new shut we’re getting about them, im almost glad that megumi was born a boy. like could you imagine just how much worse the zenin would have been to him if he was a girl? they already have the whole misogyny thing going for them and then their version of jesus pops up and it turns out that it’s a girl who wields their prized technique?

god, i can’t imagine just how much more controlling they would be towards megs, although im still not sure if the whole training until ur bones fall off would still happen. i feel like naoya would be different towards megs but we also know that the zenin are totally okay with incest so i hate where that would go.

It would have been bad.

See, I think the entire training until your bones fall off thing would still happen, but there would be an added layer of cruelty towards it. Because megumi was a little boy who was being trained in a way that even adults couldn’t have handled, so of course he spent a lot of time getting hit and a lot of time crumpling under the pressure and exhaustion. There are very, very few instances where he remembers actually leaving the training room on his own two feet. He usually was pushed until he collapsed and woke up later in the room they kept for him. But if he was a little girl in the same circumstances? They’d make every “failing” about her sex. They’d blame her being a girl for it and constantly use it as a source of sneering superiority.

It would also be bad because she would very much be seen as a source of descendants. Boy Megumi wouldn’t necessarily be exempt from that, but it would happen sooner for girl Megumi.

Bloodline is very important to the Zenin. Inheriting power, techniques—they want to continue the flow of power through the generations. And most of the Zenin clan (and the wider jujutsu world) believe that Megumi is the most powerful Zenin alive right now, if not Gojo’s equal, and the only reason why hes being graded as a Grade Two sorcerer is because gojo’s purposefully sabotaging his development. Like. Mindset is a huge amount of jujutsu ability. Yuuta went from getting beaten up by normal high schoolers to having some combat ability but needing inumaki to handle a semi grade one to being the second most powerful person alive in the span of a few months. He absolutely blitzed the previous second most powerful person alive when he would have lost that same fight a few hours previous. There’s a lot of people convinced Megumi’s on Gojo’s level but he’s been keeping him on a leash since childhood. But the powers still there in his blood.

That’s power the Zenin want to pass on, regardless of gender. But as a boy, Megumi’s got a little bit more leeway—men are accepted as warriors first in the clan, and age won’t affect his ability to procreate. If megumi was a girl? She’s got that goddamn biological clock ticking down. As the ten shadows, I think the Zenin would still expect her as a warrior, but they’d also have a fucking quota she needs to fill before the clock hits zero. And they’d have some very proprietary concerns about making sure no one outside of the clan has a chance to become involved with her. They’d want her to stay within the clan with her partners. And they’d be absolutely creepy and weird about how they went about it. It’s a little bit of a mercy that Megumi’s a boy.

[chipjrwibignaturals]

mumbo "im all for closing of the wage gap" jumbo

[samuraisharkie]

the thing about living in the world is that it is filled with hopeless anguish and despair and evil and there’s no way for anyone to defeat it all. but you have to keep on living