#and he trusted DF because he loved him

[drinkingteainthedark]

Ngl, Yingxing was a little silly stupid. He really trusted a man that dealt with his friends death by doing unethical science to not make him immortal? Down horrendous.

Clearly, the real reason his eyes turned red is because he slam dunked those rose coloured glasses right onto his face with all his craftsman arm strength the moment he caught a glimpse of a red flag.

[floatingonyourback]

anyway time travel au is really, at its core, about dfs finally letting llh run because he can trust that llh will eventually find him again (and come back to him). equally, it’s about llh finally realising he doesn’t have to run because dfs will wait for him no matter how far he roams (or how well he hides).

[bbcphile]

The Yin Leaves Threat Is a Bluff (MLC Meta)

Mysterious Lotus Casebook fans: Are we ready to talk about how the yin leaves threat was a bluff?

So many people seem to be taking Di Feisheng at his word that he wanted to make Li Xiangyi eat the yin leaves of the Wangchuan flower to regain his martial arts for one last glorious fight and that he was fine with Li Xiangyi dying very painfully from their poison after. And I see why: after all, LLH took him at his word, too, and LLH is famously smart and a good detective.

However, LLH has a history of jumping to false conclusions about DFS and, like the rest of the jianghu, assuming the worst of him: in fact, his mistaken belief that DFS broke the peace treaty and had his shixiong killed is the central misunderstanding that nearly destroyed both their respective sects and each other. So, since LLH is canonically very bad at telling who actually wants him dead and who loves him, it’s worth investigating this further. And looking at DFS’ history of bluffing is a good place to start.

DFS and Bluffing

Di Feisheng has a history of bluffing and/or threatening to kill or torture people when he doesn’t mean it. Here are some of his most notable examples (but click here for a much longer list of things he’s lied about or withheld info about):

Threatening to kill Qiao Wanmian to convince LLH to let him find a cure for Bicha (he doesn’t kill women)

Threatening to torture Gao Qian for information (he searches rooms instead)

Threatening to kill FDB when LLH says he’s trouble (the smirk after shows he was joking)

Threatening to kill Xiao Zijin at the wedding if LLH doesn’t help him get into 188 prisons (LLH walks him into a trap and yet DFS doesn’t even try to hurt XZJ in the fight)

Lying about poisoning and curing QWM to protect LLH’s identity and pretending to kidnap her

In all of those examples, DFS is trying to help or protect LLH, albeit in a very dysfunctional way. In the first example, he’s trying to blackmail LLH into living; the second example is to solve the case to find Shi Hun to expel the Asura Grass so he can find a cure for Bicha; the third is a joke, but also one designed to make LLH admit he does care about FDB because LLH is pretending he doesn’t care about anything as a prelude to giving up once he finds SGD’s body; the fourth is to get evidence that someone framed the Jinyuanmeng so LLH will trust him again and want to live to figure out who really killed his shixiong; and the last is to protect LLH’s identity (even though he only agreed to protect it until the Asura Grass was expelled. He’s trying to prove to LLH that LLH can trust him and he wants to help him, not harm him.)

All that to say: DFS has a history of bluffing about threatening to kill people if he thinks it will help Xiangyi live, and will take on the role of the villain—role the jianghu regularly casts him in—if he thinks it will help. And as some of those examples show, he also doesn’t share his plans with LLH until after the plan has been completed. And just look at all the things DFS withheld from LXY at their first donghai battle if you need more examples: he doesn’t mention that he knows it’s a frame job or why he stole SGD’s body. In all these examples, it’s not just that DFS has control issues and doesn’t want to share theories until he has proof: it seems likely that he knows/assumes LXY wouldn’t have believed him, because LLH already proved he didn’t trust him when he fell for the frame job, broke the peace treaty, and attacked the Jinyuanmeng. DFS assumes that there’s no point in presenting information to someone who won’t listen to it; he’d think it’s a waste of time and energy that could be better spent actively solving the problem.

But Why Bluff About the Yin Leaves?

Yao Mo’s Questionable Loyalty:

When DFS says he just needs LLH to live long enough to compete with him, he’s not talking to LLH himself: he’s talking to Yao Mo. In fact, the entire yin leaves plan was Yao Mo’s idea. And that changes everything.

Why? Well, for starters, Yao Mo is the one who invented the Bicha poison and gave it to JLQ to use on LXY (without DFS’ knowledge or permission). That alone is reason enough for DFS to not know if he can trust him, and this lack of trust explains why DFS never told Yao Mo that the mystery patient was LXY/LLH or that he was poisoned by Bicha. Since JLQ poisoned LXY because DFS paid so much attention to him and to fighting with him, it makes sense that DFS would try to protect LLH by hiding his identity and not drawing attention to him. 

But of course, as soon as Yao Mo figures out the mystery patient was poisoned with Bicha, that secret is blown. The pained face (and Throat Bob of Emotion) DFS makes while Yao Mo is having this realization shows not only how upset he is that they don’t yet have a cure, but also how worried he is that Yao Mo now knows it’s LLH, which makes everything more complicated.

DFS was right that Yao Mo would figure it out, since the first thing Yao Mo does after this realization is tell DFS he’s thought of a way “to heal him so he can compete with you.” DFS had pointedly NOT mentioned competing with him in front of Yao Mo yet (to hide LLH’s identity), so this is definitive proof that his cover is blown and that DFS needs to find a new way to keep LLH safe. 

This new plan is to downplay how much LLH means to him, and that motive explains so much about this scene. We know from watching him grieve and tear up while mourning LLH at his personal waterfall after his enthronement ceremony that DFS is miserable because of LXY’s supposed death and that he doesn’t see the point in fighting anymore without him, so we know that one last fight with LXY wouldn’t fix that: he’d still be dead and DFS would still be devastated. 

(Here are some screenshots of him mourning at the waterfall.)

But this isn’t common knowledge. In fact, it seems to be a closely guarded secret; he’s mourning in private, with only Wuyan as a witness. In public and to the rest of his subordinates, he’s trying to project the attitude of the unemotional, unflappable, heartless demon of the jianghu because his reputation is part of his armor that keeps him safe. It lets him seem like he doesn’t have any weaknesses (since “a swordsman shouldn’t have weaknesses”), and it keeps people from knowing that his primary weakness (other than the mind control bug) is LXY/LLH. 

(NOTE: He’s not even comfortable with anyone other than Wuyan and the three kings knowing he cares more about reaching the pinnacle of martial arts than he does about the Jinyuanmeng itself, and it’s not clear if any of them know that he mainly wants to increase his strength and power to free himself from the mind control bug. That’s how closely he guards his vulnerabilities.) 

With that in mind, if he wants to keep Yao Mo (and therefore JLQ) from knowing how important LXY is to him, there’s only one possible answer to Yao Mo’s question about whether he’d mind if LLH dies from the yin leaves after the fight: pretending he wouldn’t object. If he said he’d give up a fight rather than let LLH die from the yin leaves, then Yao Mo would know LLH matters to him more than fighting, which would be revealing a weakness. If DFS said he would give the entire Wangchuan flower to LLH to cure him and would therefore be sacrificing his chance of getting stronger, it would be painting an even larger target on LLH’s back and showing Yao Mo that endangering LLH would be the key to controlling him. The only safe option for both LLH and DFS is for DFS to claim he doesn’t care if LLH dies after they fight and to give orders to find the flower.

Here’s a gif of his command about the Wangchuan flower:

Notice his furrowed brow, the tightness around his eyes and mouth, the way he’s almost wincing as he gives the order? He is miserable about having to play this game and his incredible poker face is barely up to the task.

Here’s a still image of right after the pronouncement; you can still see the barely suppressed wince.

After this command, he dismisses Yao Mo from the cave immediately so he doesn’t have to keep pretending he’s going to sacrifice LLH. The entire time Yao Mo is present, even while he’s walking away, DFS holds himself completely motionless, staying in character from the bluff and desperately waiting to be alone with LLH. The instant Yao Mo is gone, DFS slumps in relief, or at least, does his version of a slump: he bows/droops his head as though the weight of what just happened was too much to shoulder. 

Here’s a close-up of his reaction:

DFS’s relief at being alone with LLH shows that he believed LLH knew him well enough to know when he was bluffing.

He was wrong. 

LLH: Believing the Worst of DFS (again)

LLH’s belief that DFS wants to kill him for a duel makes sense, since at this point, he still thinks DFS did in fact have SGD killed and broke the peace treaty, and he’s pissed off, feeling betrayed, and also in pain (from the medicine and the Beifeng Baiyang transfer that made him cough up blood, and from all the snake bites–he’s primed to read those as exclusively aggressive and cruel attempts to heal him at all costs for the fight, and not to realize that DFS would absolutely do all these things to himself to heal his own martial arts without batting an eye. And he’s in too much pain to see the horrified look on DFS’s face when LLH coughs up blood and DFS realized he almost killed LLH while trying to cure him.) 

But that doesn’t mean LLH is right. 

DFS, upon seeing that LLH has again cast him as the heartless villain, doesn’t try to dispute it. In the same way that he didn’t explain about why he took SGD’s body at the donghai battle, he doesn’t explain himself about the flower, possibly because he thinks he doesn’t have time to waste arguing. His goal is to get LLH to live–he grieved him for a decade, after all, and doesn’t want to have to do it again–and he is painfully aware that he is running out of time. LLH hasn’t exactly been subtle about only staying alive to find and bury SGD’s body, and now that they’ve accomplished that, he wants to make sure LLH doesn’t give up. Growing up in Di Fortress, DFS probably learned how to recognize what it looks like when people give up on life, and seeing those signs in LLH would explain some of the desperation behind his actions.

So, what does he do instead of trying to convince LLH the threat was a bluff? Here’s a gif of his response:

He swallows his disappointment at being thought a heartless killer–bowing his head again and shaking it, then looking up at the cave roof in exasperation–and takes a long, long inhale to collect himself and to quickly brainstorm a new plan. Once he’s figured it out, he says LXY’s name and launches into stage 2 of his plan to convince LLH to live: correcting the initial misunderstanding that first led LLH to not trust him anymore. 

DFS tries to convince LLH that someone conspired against both of them a decade ago–the truth he thought LXY wouldn��t believe him about on the ship–because if that worked, then it would solve two problems: 1.  LLH might believe him that he doesn’t want to kill him for the rematch if he knew he hadn’t had SGD killed, and 2. LLH would choose to stay alive to find SGD’s real killer and get revenge. 

And when LLH doesn’t believe his initial attempt, he gives what is possibly his longest speech in the entire show detailing the evidence supporting his claim that they were both set up and offers to help him find the truth in exchange for their rematch. While he definitely does want a rematch, DFS mentions it here in part because LLH thinks it’s all he cares about; if he were to offer to help without requiring the fight, LLH would be less likely to believe him and even more suspicious of his claims, especially since LLH currently thinks DFS would kill him for said rematch.

But unfortunately, his plan for them to team up fails as he thought it would all those years ago, so he decides to play along with being the heartless villain LLH thinks he is, and it’s only then that he threatens to kill FDB (revealing FDB’s parentage in the process), because he knows that LLH would stay alive to protect FDB. 

I have another 2000+ words worth of thoughts about his talk and fight with FDB–the way he tries to “kidnap” him first instead of fighting him, the way he looks miserable during the fight instead of enjoying it the way he did during the fight at QWM and XZJ’s wedding–but it will have to wait for another meta because this is already way too long as it is. The point, though, is that he’s not fighting FDB because he wants to or is enjoying hurting him: he actually hates every second of it and of performing the role of jianghu villain LLH has once again cast him in. But he’s doing it because he thinks it’s the only way to keep LLH alive. 

These aren’t the actions of someone who just wants to sacrifice his old rival for a fight; they’re the actions of someone trying everything he can think of to keep the person he loves alive. It’s an incredibly convoluted way to show his care, but given that he’s desperate, out of time, and can’t get LLH to trust or believe him, it makes sense that he’d fall back on a reliable skillset that’s kept himself alive despite all the odds: bluffing, keeping his true goals a secret, adopting the mantle of villain, and letting himself be hated for things he hasn’t done.

With both the fight with FDB and with the yin leaves threat, DFS plays the villain to try to force LLH to live, because he’d rather LLH hate him and live than love him and die. 

Because Di Feisheng has never wanted Li Xiangyi–or Li Lianhua–dead.

[callmeklair]

laito ♡

disclaimer: whatever I'm gonna say is based on my memory so if anything is misjudged, feel free to correct me. if you are reading this post thinking whatever I'm typing is with 100% guarantee or with full knowledge in DL, then you are making one of the biggest mistakes of your life.

I'm writing from whatever I remembered.

one thing I'm grateful to Rejet for, despite many neglected and unexplained plot points, is maintaining Laito's character development pace.

he is one of the most complex characters in DL and his trauma runs really deep. he was once a sweet boy ruined by Cordelia, further, trying to paint himself black in the horrible reality, thinking it's the right thing? by drowning himself in pleasure? to hide his loneliness? to hide his pain?

by the timeline in the dark fate game, every boy of the sakamaki household has warmed up to Yui and were in the lover's phase, but laito... ah, yes he was also already close to Yui and was lovey dovey but at the same time he was disoriented, even Carla wasn't able to predict him.

he tried to push Yui away, built up a wall again, tried making her hate him to protect her.

in case of his trust issues, don't remember if it was mentioned or not, but he never blamed Yui, it was him that he wasn't able to trust due to his past after all was he ever thought the correct way of love? no more than that, 'why will a vampire be taught love?'

laito is quick witted so is Reji, so is Shu. as much as I can remember these characters were the less likely ones to use their strength in Sakamaki DF, and only used their brains.

but they kept Yui to themselves and protected her under them. But Laito, conflicted. he wasn't able to trust himself on her, how was he supposed to protect her from Tsukinamis?

This is why I'm glad, despite his lover phase, he wasn't truly suddenly sunshine and rainbow with Yui because he was still dealing with his trauma. I mean as per DF timeline it wasn't that long since Yui came into their life, also, knowing Laito, there's no way they both sparked for each other at first sight so to me it was the perfect pace.

considering it was like a month or so between HDB & DF, and how it might have taken Yui a few weeks to get closer to them, Laito's DF route was understandable.

butttttt when Laito does overcome it little by little, and starts trusting himself on Yui, he is a clingy boyfie. I mean just look at his Lunatic Parade CGs

there's not even one CG where he hasn't kissed her or tried to get an opportunity/opening to kiss her.

i don't remember his LP route at all, so I need to re-read that once again. but until then, I'll just end this post here. anyone wanna add/correct something, feel free to comment/tell me/send me an ask, I'll happily edit my post. i won't be offended if there's something i wrote wrong and you come to correct me.

note: edited this at 2 am after it has been stuck in my draft for a month, so any wrong English/grammatical error, pls ignore it. I'll correct it later when I'm sober

[jasperflickercats]

I wanna write this eventually but, I have a Bramblestar's Storm au in which the literal storm still happens, but instead of a stupid love triangle, it's about Bramblestar facing consequences for being a DF trainee in TNP.

The Clan is still divided on the OOTS trainees, and then when it's revealed that Bramblestar was an og trainee, all hell breaks loose. ThunderClan almost splits in half. And because of the physical storm going on, it almost destroys them. The pressure is immense. Some cats want Bramblestar forgiven, some don't trust him, and some hate him, because he saw firsthand what Tigerstar was like. He knew better than almost any DF trainee just how horrible Tigerstar had been. But he still trained with him.

So ThunderClan must try to reunite under the hurricane, while Bramblestar struggles to keep everyone together when so many simply don't trust him.

[diminuel]

At this point Dragodile have so many kids from various AUs, I love it! It’s funny to think about maybe the most canon version or a canon-adjacent version of Luffy who is still in denial that 1) his dad fucked croc and 2) croc gave birth to him meeting some Devil Fruit user who through crazy DF powers for Reasons I Can’t Explain (except my amusement) brings all of Luffy’s AU siblings into his universe and the Straw Hats are stuck with a bunch of various age kids to take care of until they can figure out how to get them home…. and Dragon gets a very confusing snail call (“Ew Dad, can you please stop making babies with Crocodile?!”)

*INTO THE DRAGODILE VERSE*

(Not asking you to draw or anything, but just thought it was a funny idea to imagine and chat about! lol)

Time to torment Luffy! We haven't done that in a while *lol*

Maybe this is an universe where Dragon and Crocodile have not had any other kids (yet), so Luffy is struggling to erase his memory about Crocodile's relationship with his dad (and generally his involvement in Luffy's birth) while also keeping a bunch of Monkey D. children from going overboard or eating all his food. And no, he will not answer any of his crew's questions about who these insane kids are - though of course the kids can answer these questions themselves because they most likely know Luffy and his crew in their own universe.

(And this is a bit random but I'm taking this chance to ramble:

I do still wonder in what kind of AU verse(s) the kids actually exist. I've drawn 4 OC babies (Merry, the twins, and Mini Dragon) that are biologically theirs who may or may not exist in the same universe. Baby 2 and another pregnancy do exist in the Divorced AU. I think Mini Dragon might exist in an universe where there are just him and Luffy, considering Iva's comments. (And of course I also have a whole armada of Crocodile DNA experiments that I don't have any plans for *lol*)

Then there's the Stinky Child AU where they probably "only" have their three stinky children. Even though they wanted more, it just didn't happen for various reasons.

In the Chaotic Family Time AU Vivi (who may or may not be Crocodile's child) and Robin are probably also somehow part of the family but I don't know if they have more kids or if they're just happy to just trust that the fates will put a child in their path that needs parents X3)

[kingsandbastardz]

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that JLQ's clear refusal to believe DFS could even be slightly gay is the one and only reason she didn't try to skin Wuyan alive. Wuyan who, is trusted by DFS, allowed extremely close proximity, and has all the same skills DFS values in her. TBH if there was a possible love rival outside of anyone other than LXY - she should have suspected Wuyan first, before any of the 12 Pillars.

It's sad that we didn't get enough episodes to see a little more of Wuyan for anything, or JLQ for her actual Alliance duties -- but I know enough about what it takes to run operations that I can extrapolate the skill sets needed:

Skills they both have:

budgeting and currency exchange/issues

managerial acumen/ability to organize and move large groups of people

planning

communication at both upper and lower levels

resourcing

logistics

strong understanding of timing, topography, weather and how to deal with issues

stealth

esoteric knowledge for random shit they likely have to source or deal with themselves due to rarity, etc

negotiations

how to present yourself to the public

thorough and systemic thinking

planning for failure

Where JLQ fails but Wuyan succeeds:

ability to anticipate what DFS wants

ability to deliver what DFS wants in the way he wants it

ability to not sexually harass DFS

putting DFS' desires over their own (Whatever Wuyan's feelings are, we have no idea)

Where Wuyan fails but JLQ succeeds:

getting public credit for hitting their kpis

choosing to not be subservient

public leadership / getting public buy-in

It's interesting that with the both of them -- if DFS chose at any random time to just get up and leave Jinyuan Alliance behind -- both would immediately drop everything and follow him.

They're both used to seeing DFS' back - Wuyan because he deliberately positions himself there regardless of what DFS seems to wish (his own show of willfulness). JLQ because DFS is always walking away from her.

And of the two - i feel like DFS would likely take Wuyan with him, while leaving JLQ in charge of the things he doesn't care about.

So yeah. I'm still surprised Wuyan wasn't killed before DFS came back from seclusion. It's pure speculation but maybe his outward presentation of being a servant is the thing that saved him. Why does he play a servant when DFS himself is like, "You do know I think you're supposed to be standing up there with the higher ranking ppl, right?" Is it from a sense of distrust of everyone, leading him to create a persona? An emotional need to serve DFS? A not-so-secret kink? A sense of loyalty that he feels he can only express in this manner?

Just what history do they share that DFS feels comfortable enough to cry in front of him? Twice. Both times while mourning LXY/LLH.

I have so many questions.

[i-write-hurt-not-comfort]

in the defence of Ruki Mukami - why Ruki's trauma has just as much influence on his actions as everyone else

i am sitting in the chemistry library at uni right now and am going to spend my time on the most useless task ever to avoid doing anything impactful. please don't take this too serious because i can't write meaningful character analyses.

so i've seen a ton of stuff around, because i know Ruki's not one of the best loved characters in the western fandom. well, of all the characters, i see nearly the most Ruki hate. and obviously everyone is entitled to their opinions, whatever. but what DOES bother me is the reason.

a lot of people say that Ruki's trauma doesn't correlate to his actions, or explain abusive behaviour in the same way that the other characters' do. and i would die for Ruki and we know this, but i've thought about it a lot and i have a Theory as for why some people seem to view his character this way. (i have also studied neuroscience at degree level and learnt about trauma and synaptic plasticity)

to summarise for those who perhaps haven't read all the games (my sources for all this is basically Ruki's MB, DF, and LE), Ruki was born as an only-child in Romania to a rich family, and his father was revealed to be a politician during the Ceaușescu period in Romania. they had a lot of servants, all of whom Ruki learnt from a young age to abuse. he admired his father very much and looked up to him, and his mother was good to him and was close to his father. it would seem like a very good, perfect family - although i'll briefly discuss later why this wasn't necessarily the case.

unfortunately, in the DL universe lore, Karlheinz and Ceaușescu were buddy-buddy politicians, and Ruki's father was eventually chased out of his position. during his downfall, Ruki's father became an alcoholic and began abusing Ruki's mother, verbally and physically. Ruki saw a lot of this as well: somebody he looked up to, admired and trusted, becoming an abusive monster in a very short period of time. i think that's part of why Ruki overlooks Karlheinz's crimes and sees him as a good father anyway.

not only that, Ruki's mother - once again somebody who nurtured and cared for him - turned out to be having an affair. and shortly after that, his father committed suicide: something Ruki actually walked out on.

that in itself is a lot more traumatic than i think people consider. a lot of the DL characters have long-term trauma, but intense sudden trauma, such as your "perfect" life falling apart due to an alcoholic, abusive father killing himself and his mother having an affair, has similar psychological impact. remember, these are people who were supposed to care and nurture him, he trusted them a lot, and they both abandoned him abruptly in very extreme ways. that's the number 1 root of Ruki's trust issues. he's been seen to cut Yui off entirely because he's scared of becoming his abusive father.

similarly, living in a "perfect" household as a spoiled only child can be inherently traumatic. i don't know about you guys, but i've met some (only some, not the majority) of very, very emotionally constipated spoiled only-children. a lot of children showered with materialistic affection are missing key emotional maturity developments. their outlook on life is very narrow and they lack the emotional components of attachment; this is part of why Ruki is quite emotionally immature.

not only that, but growing up as an abusive sociopath to "lower" members of society such as servants is a form of abusive on his parents' behalf. they did not teach him proper world awareness. some children are born as psychopaths etc, true, but the majority of "sociopaths" (diagnosed as ASPD) are that way because they were not taught remorse as a child. Ruki would've learnt to treat his servants that way because that was how his parents did (and we see his father being a dick to the servants in LE too i think), and that in itself is inherently traumatic too.

imagine then, with very little capacity for remorse or a concept of societal hierarchy, being thrown into an orphanage. Ruki is a dick to everyone, yes, but the shock of having everything you know challenged suddenly and without explanation or support is going to cause further trauma. i think people just don't like to consider the fact that a lot of "sociopaths" (again, ASPD is the correct label there) were victims too. he went from being the "master" to being "livestock" and that's going to very rapidly alter your young brain chemistry, entering a "master" mindset as a defensive mechanism. that's why he gets angry/upset/confused when it's challenged.

Ruki has a fuck ton of PTSD as well - he's the only character who i've seen literally throw up MULTIPLE TIMES when experiencing flashbacks.

but i think people generally know that, perhaps not thinking about it as deeply. my Theory as to why people don't seem to see this as being as "extreme" as the other boys' trauma goes further than that.

diabolik lovers follows this dynamic between the Sakamaki's vs Mukami's, whereby Yuma, Kou and Azusa (Yuma and Kou more strongly) have this mindset of "the Sakamaki's can't have trauma because they were rich" and obviously as readers, we're supposed to be like "um, no, the Sakamaki's can have trauma too" because they do.

with that said, Kou and Yuma do successfully get to Subaru/Laito and Shu's heads respectively with this narrative. especially Subaru and Shu who get really fixated with this "i was a spoiled, privileged kid" and because of that, naturally we, as readers, lean towards feeling sorry for the Mukami's especially.

obviously, Ruki is the odd one out when it comes to the Mukami's. he had a sheltered upbringing whereas the other brothers were fighting for their lives in poverty/on the streets, victims and witnesses of the civil war and orphan crisis. Yuma particularly pushes this "Ruki had it easy" notion too, and i've definitely noticed that a lot of people who don't particularly like Ruki tend to fall towards that.

this idea of "not enough" trauma has enough to unpack as it is and we won't do that to, but personally i think that all of Ruki's abusive actions are justified. no, they are not an excuse. none of the diaboys' behaviour is excusable, but i think Rejet did quite a good job of giving them enough fucked up backstory to make us as readers at least understand why that might be how they act.

and from what i see, it seems to be Ruki who people think is the exception to this the most, because his trauma isn't in the same vein as the rest of the Mukami's. the "rich people can't have trauma" narrative gets pushed so hard that i think people forget 1) it isn't true and 2) Ruki went through a ton of fucked shit as a kid, and i don't think any of his actions made me feel any differently than the other diaboys' awful behaviour towards Yui.

you can find Ruki boring, not interesting, or just not your type. but he very, very much has "sufficient" trauma to explain his toxic and dominating actions. thank u for coming to my TedTalk.

[folkloristico]

Some Daphne & CoL (& Bloom) headcanons that have been haunting me nonstop lately

So I’m sharing them here.

A key factor of my understanding of Daphne is that she was homeschooled and as a result grew up mostly sheltered from the outside world (courtesy of the war as well), being more familiar with (formal) adults than her own peers. As a result, she developed a strong relationship with all CoL members.

Oritel

Daphne is totally a daddy’s girl. Sometimes when she’s still in her early teens and life is calmer, she knows how to tug at his affection to get what she wants. She isn’t spoiled, exactly, but Domino prides itself of being one of the most ancient and powerful monarchies (though most of them do, really; they aren’t rich and powerful for no reason) and Daphne herself isn’t immune to this.

Daphne often ditches her royal maids (the three we see in the second movie) and goes searching for her father, usually finding him busy in his office. Once she unlocks her basic fairy form and is free to soar into the sky it’s over for them. Oritel does admonish her (sometimes), but he’s too fond of her to send her away and so they end up spending lots of time together like this.

They can go on for hours playing strategic games together.

He teaches her sword-fighting. Sometimes he lets her win, but Daphne points it out to him that she doesn’t like it and so Oritel stops.

He also teaches her how to play the piano—it’s the only artistic talent he has, Marion being the true artistic soul of the family. (And Bloom, too, later on.)

Marion

Moments of intimacy between Daphne and Marion are rare because Marion does the majority of the traveling on behalf of the kingdom. She is better at handling people than Oritel is, and being the one born into the royal family comes with a fair amount of advantages. (Slightly unrelated to Daphne but still worth mentioning—they both know it’s how most people see them and it’s something that makes them uncomfortable, for different reasons, but they soon grow to ignore it.)

As a young princess (late teens-early 20s), Marion would sometimes name-drop the Dragon Flame just to see how people would react. It was the little power she was granted over them, and she isn’t proud of that now. What she is proud of is seeing Daphne is much more wary with the DF than Marion herself ever was.

Soon the word spreads that the young princess is an amazing Guardian and Marion takes it upon herself to teach Daphne everything she can.

Both Marion and Oritel are very protective of Daphne because of reasons that stem from their childhood/families, and they try so hard to keep Daphne safe that it sometimes backfires.

Like during the war, they start drifting apart. That is because Marion and Oritel are so determined to protect Daphne while she’s still a teen that they don’t tell her many things, and Daphne, who is incredibly receptive, isn’t to be fooled.

She grows to think they don’t trust her as much as thought they did. There’s still an insane amount of love between them, but sometimes it feels like it’s not enough. Especially on Daphne’s part.

Hagen

He’s been around since Daphne can remember, and he’s as close to an uncle as he can get.

Most people find Hagen’s presence to be uncomfortable because he speaks ever so rarely that they don’t know what to do with him, especially in a climate where people are always meddling and poking their noses around—Downton Abbey kind of thing, where no one, from servants to royalty, knows how to shut the fuck up, ever.

Oritel doesn’t have much time to take Daphne to the stalls and just hang out, so Hagen takes it upon himself to teach Daphne how to properly take care of her horse—which Oritel and Marion gave her as a gift. (In a world of technology and magic, of course, there are countless ways of traveling that are indeed faster, but people in the Magic Dimension are still attached to traditions.)

Ironically, the longest conversations Daphne ever has with Hagen happen when she asks him questions about subjects he’s interested in—mostly sword-fighting and sword making, occasionally battle strategy and tactics.

Saladin

He’s the kind of guy who gets along well with everyone.

People who meet him might think he’s naïve, but despite having an easy-going personality, he’s wary of the people he can trust. His kindness shouldn’t be mistaken for foolishness.

Because of this, Daphne is quick to warm up to him.

She has a lot of questions about… anything, really, and he makes sure to respond to them as best as he can. Marion and Oritel are often too busy to spend a lot of time with him when he’s visiting. Hagen and Faragonda only half-listen to him rumbling about this or that, and eventually they get tired of it, but both are too considerate of his feelings to let him know.

Saladin knows this, and sometimes uses these occasions to make fun of them.

Daphne, on the other hand, can never get enough. She grows particularly fascinated with Andros because of some similarities the planet shares with Domino (and because it’s the home planet of Sirenix), and it just so happens that Saladin has some acquaintances from the planet, in part thanks to his work at Red Fountain.

He brings Daphne gifts whenever he can; she has a whole shelf dedicated to them. With time, she feels she should reciprocate somehow, so she starts meddling about the palace trying to find anything that could interest Saladin.

Because he knows so much already, surprising him is hard, but still Daphne does her best. Eventually, even Marion and Oritel fall into this routine and whenever they find something of interest, they make a mental note of mentioning it to Daphne. But she’s the Biggest Nerd Ever™️ and usually knows about that stuff already.

More related to Marion but still worth mentioning, Saladin is Marion’s favorite person to have around when she has to attend royal business meetings/parties. He’s fun to be around and has a knack for always steering the conversation in the right direction, which comes particularly in handy when they’re in the company of someone who Marion doesn’t like. (She’s too polite to say it to their faces, but there are some people she just can’t stand.)

Faragonda

Faragonda is the kind of person you go to when you want to have a sincere and mature conversation about something.

She’s a powerful fairy and, like Saladin, has a kinship for academics. But she favors interacting with people over researching, and so she doesn’t have extensive knowledge on everything.

But being the only fairy of CoL outside of Marion, there are things Daphne prefers asking her rather than Saladin. Like when Daphne first considers the idea of studying to become a Nymph, Faragonda is the person she goes to.

During the quietest years of the war, Daphne spends some months at Alfea and they get closer than ever. (Though it was partly because Oritel asked Faragonda to keep an eye on her. He thinks Daphne doesn’t know this much, but she does.)

Because Faragonda knows Daphne has a kinship for the academics, she offers Daphne to help out at Alfea after the Sirenix Curse is broken.

Griffin

Griffin joining the Company goes opposite from smooth and so Daphne is kept at a distance from her. Oritel in particular is wary of her and doesn’t want Griffin nowhere near his daughter. 

Marion is of a slightly different opinion. At first, she doesn’t trust Griffin more than Oritel does, but she’s too preoccupied with the war and everything else to even consider the idea of Daphne developing a relationship with Griffin.

Because the truth is, none of them believe this allianceship will evolve into something deeper. But slowly—very slowly—they fall into a new routine and Griffin goes from serious threat to someone who’s just there to someone they can actually trust.

While there isn’t any active form of discrimination against witches by the time Daphne is born, anti-witch sentiment is still very real. Because of that, Daphne has never met many witches before. Griffin is the first chance she’s got at interacting with one, and she’s mesmerized by Griffin’s extensive knowledge. It doesn’t go as far as Saladin does but rather limits to certain aspects of magic for which they both share an interest.

Daphne is weirded out by her, but in a strange, almost funny way. It’s like there’s this person who just came out of nowhere and everyone just accepted it. Well, not everyone, exactly—half the palace wants her dead, but she has the approval of the queen and—reluctantly—the king, and so no one dares to say anything.

It’s only later that Griffin grows comfortable enough to tease Oritel about it, who, for his part, always looks on the verge of a stroke everytime he’s reminded how close Daphne has gotten to Griffin. Which only sets Griffin for even more teasing.

Marion has since longer abandoned her prejudices and isn’t worried about their relationship. 

Griffin will never admit to it, but she enjoys Daphne’s company in the library as much as she enjoys Faragonda’s.

Only sometimes does Daphne cross the line and ask questions Griffin doesn’t know how to respond to—mostly about the war, or if Daphne is feeling particularly bold,  Griffin’s past affiliation with the Coven and Valtor. Daphne is barely in her early 20s by the time Domino is wiped away; she isn’t a child anymore, but Marion and Oritel are protective of her to a fault and don’t want her to get involved.

Bloom

Bloom and Daphne’s relationship from before the destruction of Domino is almost non-existent because Bloom was still a baby when the planet was attacked. 

But Daphne, for her part, loved her, deeply and devotedly. She always wanted to have a little sister, and just when she thought it would never happen, her mother was pregnant. But months later, Marion suffered a spontaneous abortion, and she and Oritel stopped trying after that.

That is why the news of Bloom comes both as a blessing and a curse. It’s everything they’ve ever wanted, but the timing is so wrong that Marion wonders if it wouldn’t be for the better if she lost  this child as well. But she doesn’t, and when Bloom is born, Daphne swears on her life that she will never let anything bad happen to her.

Suffice to say that once Domino is restored, they all love Bloom—because how couldn’t they? She’s the lost princess who saved them all. But their own understanding of her only goes as far as the vague idea they have of her, and in reality Bloom is struggling an awful lot to fill the shoes of the person they want her to be.

Daphne knows exactly what it feels like, and as she, too, is struggling after having basically come back from the dead, she makes sure Bloom knows she can count on her anytime. Bloom feels like a burden to her, but she doesn’t realize how much she is helping Daphne in return.

Their relationship is smoother than the one Bloom has with Marion and Oritel. They’ve all gone through an insane amount of trauma, and they’re all trying their best. The fact is that Bloom never felt like she needed to meet her biological parents because she always had parents, still has them, and they’re the best pair you could ever ask for. Whenever she’s with Marion and Oritel, Bloom feels like she’s somehow betraying Vanessa and Mike.

Daphne is a whole different deal. Bloom never had a sister but always wished she had one, and in that sense, Daphne has sort of dropped from the sky. Not to mention that during the three years Bloom spent at Alfea, Daphne was always there for her whenever she could—when she was strong enough to reach Bloom in her dreams, that is—and helped her get through some tough moments.

It’s both easy and weird for them to be around each other. For Daphne, because the baby sister she once held in her arms is now but a few years younger than she is. For Bloom, because she’d gotten so used to the idea of being an only child, and of being able to only talk to Daphne in her dreams, that having her in front of her very eyes is unsettling.

Bloom often feels that now that Daphne—the princess the kingdom has known for more than twenty years—is back, she won’t be ‘needed’ anymore. She doesn’t realize just how much Daphne loves her. Because to her, it’s like the mere fact of Bloom having survived the war is proof enough that she’s succeeded in keeping her promise to keep her little sister safe.

[acequinz]

Giving the lotus trio my favourite kinks as a welcome to the official brainrotting ships list.

Li Lianhua: Shibari, he loves to tie up his lovers. Sometimes with specific ropes and other times with their own clothes.

Fang Duobing is always so easy, he will bend however llh tells him too, he does complain but they eventually dissolve into moans as the ropes dig into him just right.

Di Feisheng is more tricky because he doesn't always allow it, this is very sensitive to him and so llh always feels an extra thrill when he does get a chance because it's a testament to the trust DFS has in him.

Di Feisheng: Blindfolded, he loves it when his partners can't see him or what he does until he actually touches them and the reaction it brings.

Fang Duobing is surprisingly tame with this, also quieter, but his body is loud. It flushes and flinches, his chest rising with the sharp intake of breath as the touch returns to him, completely focussed on the sensations spreading across his body but he never complains as if afraid the touches will stop.

Li Lianhua is loud, in body voice and movement, he very much tries to move away with a loud gasp if the touch is too fast, in other moments his body is stiff with anticipation to where it will come and how? It's also the most easy method to reduce him into a crying mess because he gets very overwhelmed.

Fang Duobing: oral, anything as long as his mouth is stimulated. He works. Having either fingers in his mouth or suck a dick, everything is good as long as he has something to fill his mouth and make it feel full.

Li Lianhua likes to put his fingers in his mouth and just stroke his tongue or the sides, his fingers never stay still rubbing and probing until fdb is drooling all over the hand.

Di Feisheng loves to fuck his mouth, keep him on his knees until he is drooling and crying or just keep him still to cockwarm him on particularly lazy days.

[difeisheng]

difang idea: a-fei gets amnesia again. as a joke fdb claims he's married to dfs, thinking dfs will also clock it as a lie like he did with llh. except a-fei readily accepts this and now fdb feels increasingly bad about tricking him

alright, so first off i'm going to direct everyone to the 方笛 edit i've rewatched the most, which is also along the lines of "fang duobing tells a-fei that they're married and a-fei goes with it" (although fang duobing ends up less remorseful about it there heh)

but no please, give me fang duobing realizing he accidentally assigned himself a husband who will follow him wherever he chooses to wander, and trusts him without question. trusts him, because a-fei has an impression of standing in this carriage of a house and being asked to call someone master, a word too weighed down by shadows in his mind whose shape he can't make out. but fang duobing doesn't request that of him, fang duobing simply tells him they're married, they're one, and if he had some other motive against a-fei then why would he lie about them being equals and tying their lives together like that?

cue fang duobing staring up at the roof at night wondering what he's done, while a-fei sleeps with his back to him, not even a dagger within arm's reach. and that vulnerability is premised on an unthinking little lie, as was a-fei eating dinner with him pressed shoulder to shoulder; as was him running fang duobing's hair through his fingers, arm braced comfortably at his back, in some strangely gentle tease. but regardless of the reason it doesn't mean that that trust isn't real and it's slowly dawning on fang duobing that maybe he actually wants it, wants all the little details of this facade to be genuine. how does he possibly explain all that to a-fei, though, that the start of this was a joke but that he's changed his mind and doesn't want it to be one?

and what will he do once it's di feisheng who looks him in the eye again, not the man who believed fang duobing could love him (but who, with that blind faith in him, turned out to be right)?

[afra-blueraz]

hello 👋 may we know why ruki x yui is your fav ship?

Me after seeing this ask : Taking out a large list of reasons why Rukiyui is my favorite. Lol

But before that I need to say that I love all Diaboys x Yui ships and all diaboys x Yui ships are my 13 favorite otp in whole dl story . I mean there is no ship in diaboys x Yui that I hate or dislike I like all of them. But Rukiyui is really really really special to me . I love and die for this ship . My favorite and beloved couple 🤧🤧.

And reasons :

1_ Yui is the only girl who can make Ruki to say I love you . I mean we are talking about Ruki . The boy who doesn't trust women and doesn't believe in love . Yui made Ruki drop this hard opinion. As Ruki said, Yui always changes his rigid opinions easily. Yui is the only girl to whom Ruki said I failed against you and told her I love you.

2_ Ruki rarely cries. Since Ruki's personality is like mine ( we are both INTJ ), I know that these characters rarely cry and don't express their emotions easily. But Ruki cried after reading Yui's letter in which Yui wrote I miss you ( DF Ecstasy prologue ). This shows that Yui can make Ruki show his emotions and even cry. This shows that Yui is so important to Ruki that Ruki cries for her. And believe me, it is true when I say that the INTJs are difficult to cry.

3_ Imagine Ruki called Yui livestock for the first item then this word changed to angel . Yui is his angel 🤧🤧🤧 .

4_ The most important reason is Ruki is even willing to betray karlhines, who is completely loyal to him, for Yui's sake. I think it's absolutely clear that Ruki admires karlhines more than anyone else and swears loyalty to him. But Ruki is willing to break this promise for Yui's sake and betray Karlheinz.

Just look at these sweet kisses . He is kinda eating Yui . Yui is everything to him . Yui is his angel . His meaning of life .

Just look at him smiling at Yui with a soft look . His smile is full of love . This love is really special because this man didn't believe in love and now he is looking at a girl with a big love . 💘💘💘💘💘💘

Mr personal opinion is that Ruki wants to change his destiny for Yui . He can't be Adam and can't stay with Eve . But he doesn't accept this fate and decides to change it for Yui . For his angel . For his love .

[callmeklair]

How would you rank the boys from most to least possessive? Kind of random question I know but I'm just interested in your opinion :3

it makes me really happy knowing you all love my opinions even though I feel like that's it's been long since I read a few routes and hopefully don't make any misinterpretation 😭

I didn't know what kind of interpretation you wanted so I gave my opinions in what way they were and now are possessive and why.

there are chances some people's ranking might not match with mine but I tried my best to rank the boys based on my (not so horrible) memories. it was difficult to do overall so I did family wise because many boys were ending up on a tie.

(don't forget to read the conclusion note!!)

I ranked based on them giving freedom to Yui from least to highest !!!

Sakamakis:

1. Ayato: it's wayyyy too obvious that Ayato is the most possessive out of all his brothers, and one of the reasons being Cordelia's obsession to make him no.1 which narrowed down his mentality to "yours truly" and always getting/acquiring "first class things" it can also be seen in the anime how obsessed he became to make Yui only his after being the first one to taste her blood, to the point he left hickeys on her before she went for a bath. I wouldn't say his possessiveness towards Yui was just as "a prey", more than that, his obsession to be number one due to Cordelia surpassed that reason as Yui's blood was considered special as it was the finest of its quality in the whole world, according to them.

Kanato: I haven't read his routes much, actually I tried to but just couldn't make myself sit through it, but based on what I have seen in anime and some routes, he is one of the most possessive ones after ayato (maybe?) and.... not in a good way. I don't think I need to expand on it because we all have sat through it in anime in scenes with Kanato. though there are chances he might have changed a little(?) in future games, Kanato stans are free to come and correct me because he is one of the characters whose content I have never read much.

Laito: it might be surprising to some but let me tell you, his possessiveness started on Yui as "a prey" behind that facade he puts on due to what Cordelia did to him. it's more like he is conflicted. his possessiveness is way too conflicted because of Cordelia. openly, people think that he let's Yui to be shared to others but I think it's more like, he don't wanna succumb to any feelings or have anyone special to him, to the point he don't wanna be possessive to someone in either good way or bad way. but ofc, after staying with Yui, he finally started to open up and slowly became possessive (in mid of MB maniac/ecstasy, then VC and further) I would say he is a silent possessive man, because people will think he is being carefree but he is indirectly protecting Yui (encounter with Carla and Shin in DF)

Reiji: the only reason Reiji is considered more possessive than Subaru is because of his obsession to not let Yui in contact with Shu, which is of course because he was scared. Seeing how everything eventually belonged to Shu, no matter if he wanted it or not, meanwhile he, Reiji, being neglected by everyone, even servants, he was scared to lose Yui to Shu. and thus he was such a nasty possessive man in the first game, but his character slowly developed and his possessiveness turned towards the direction of sweetness. it was good to see how he went from being scared of Shu snatching Yui away to not feeling the fear anymore and having full on trust on Yui which is a very big thing in Reiji's case.

Subaru: because of his distrust in women due to his mom, even though he was possessive with Yui, it was not in a good way but, thankfully, eventually as he became comfortable with her, he slowly became a sweet gentle boy. what I liked the most was that despite being possessive he let Yui freely roam around but magically appeared whenever someone advances at her. tsundere.

Shu: my lazy sloth, who doesn't want to have anyone close to him because of his past. he was the least possessive for obvious reasons but gradually as his relationship with Yui developed and he came out of his bubble, his possessive side could be seen. Just like the other two before, he did give freedom to Yui but easily gets jealous so his possessiveness was never in a bad way that much.

Mukamis:

(these brothers were so hard to rank because they are equal to each other when it comes to possessiveness)

Kou: ┐⁠(⁠´⁠ー⁠｀⁠)⁠┌ he was very much possessive of Yui in MB but in a very wrong way due to obsession of Adam's apple plan but thankfully by the end of ecstasy he started becoming a little normal. he gets easily jealous, so Yui always watch out for herself. in conclusion, he is the most possessive in his brothers and thankfully it went from toxic to normal possessiveness.

Ruki: livestock. yes that's the word he used to rationalise his toxic possessiveness towards Yui for completion of his plan. it was cute to see how he went from being possessive as "master" to being possessive as a jelly boyfie. plus one of the reasons he is very possessive with Yui is because he can never get any "undisturbed" alone time with her due to his brothers which makes his actions ,when he is being possessive with her, very cute.

Yuma: my sweet Gardner boy. (Yuma Stans help me because I'm out of words (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠))

Azusa: my cinnamon roll and one of the members of "eve's no. 1 protector" club. Azusa is cutely possessive (if we ignore the knife obsession in starting). best boi, will do anything for Yui. Might not look possessive of Yui but he secretly is but more than that, to him her happiness matters the most. I read somewhere that in his route in chaos lineage it was revealed he asked Karlheinz to turn back time 3-4 times??? I'm not sure if i remember it correctly but this also directs towards how he remembers in almost most of the routes in CL, and in some, to us readers, it's indirectly hinted that he remembers but he is hiding it.... but that's a topic for another day. also feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. and we got distracted from the topic.......

Tsukinamis:

Shin: insecure possessiveness. after losing his eye and getting his pride hurt, his only aim was to surpass his brother, Carla, which he was never able to. just like how Carla wanted recognition from his father, Shin wanted recognition from his older brother. this is why he was so obsessed to get Yui in every single route, even in his own route. this is why I loved his route, because of the development. minor details matter too. his toxic possessiveness turning into normal boyfriend possessiveness yet the goal to acquire her remaining the same but not in toxic way (LE being an example when he pushed Yui away to keep her safe no matter how much he wanted her.)

Carla: he is such a beautiful composed character, that people aren't aware about the rate of his possessiveness. unless you have read any Carla route, you won't know how bad is the possessive rate in Tsukinami family. as he was raised to be a king, he hides his emotions well which is also the reason why it took him time to realise his own feelings but when he did, the possessiveness (⁠ﾉ⁠´⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠ ⁠ﾐ⁠ ⁠┻⁠━⁠┻

because of DF Shin, Carla is on second rank or else his LE route was dangerous for my heart. ifykyk

→ I didn't rank kino because I'm totally not aware with his character so I didn't wanna make any wrong interpretation.

in conclusion: all of them were toxic-ly possessive at some rate but slowly as the more time they spent with Yui and developed their character, their nature of possessiveness also started to change. I rated the possessiveness based on the freedom they allow Yui for.

any diaboy at first rank doesn't mean that they don't give freedom to Yui at all, it's just less compared to others and their jealousy level is ↑

why did this post go from possessive analysis to character analysis, I'm sorry, i just loose the track so much while writing (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)

[apphiarothowrites]

insane idea I'm pulling out because I'm rewatching Steven Universe with my friends

Fusion between Devil Fruit users is a thing, but rare because most DF users do not trust others and most types do not mix well across type-i.e. logias and paramecias are very rarely compatible power wise. Zoans are more apt to fuse across type, because animals rarely if ever have an elemental aspect tied to them in the fruit but it's still rare because having Giraffe That Can Belch Soap Bubbles (a griaffe zoan and a paramecia) isn't that great in combat actually and it also reduces the number of fighters on your side if you have a fusion who isn't a heavy physical hitter.

Enter Marco. Every DF user who's even remotely friendly to the Whitebeards wants to fuse with Marco. Who wouldn't??? He's the fucking phoenix, his fusions heal and you turn into the most badass bird on the seas. Why wouldn't you want to become one with that guy?

Marco is not that keen on it. Back when he was younger he experimented around with it and found that the fusion state was....not the best, mentally, for him. The awe of his power, the excitement, and the thrill of battle were heady of course, but it did not take long for him to realize the partners he would fuse with were...Well, covetous. They were fusing for battle and the combination made sense at the time, of course, but in the aftermath he could distinctly tell that the fusion wasn't about him resonating with his partner. It wasn't about maintaining a connection because he and his partner were on the same wavelength or of a same mind about something or because they even liked him at all. It was all about his power and his fruit.

He swore off Fusing with anyone who wasn't Pops after the age of 25. Pops respected him, Pops loved him as a son, and Pops not only didn't want his power but was happy to give it up and give it away back to him when they pulled the fusion apart. They still only very rarely pulled it off-the Fusion more difficult as Pops got older and became physically taxing on him but also because there was almost never a real need for it.

Then, after almost a decade of no fusing at all, Ace came to the Moby Dick. Suddenly, after the first time-on complete accident during a raid-fusion was exciting again. Because Ace didn't give a damn about keeping Marco's power close and on hand, didn't give a damn about the phoenix really at all. All Ace cared about was how much harder they could hit together to keep everyone safe and make their enemies pay.

Suddenly, Marco's fire was *hot* and could literally burn the hurt away. Suddenly, Ace's fire didn't hurt if he accidentally spat at someone. Suddenly, fire had form and warmth deeper than heat and felt like an old friend and was feathery soft. Suddenly they were the burning phoenix and nothing could stand in their way. (Even if one man on the crew whispered to himself at night, wondering what it would take to burn them out completely and leave naught but ash behind, nothing could stand up to them)

[blimbo-buddy]

I am so mad the cats who trained in the Dark Forest against the clans were just easily forgiven.

There should've been more consequence.

Ivypool gets leeway because she turned into a spy but, the others were full on intent until the battle. It was only during the Dark Forest battle that Blossomfall is convinced by Ivypool to not fight for DF.

I punishment I feel that is fitting is basically community service among the entire clans. The entire trainees and they aren't like fully trusted.

They can show remorse and guilt but it'll take moons to really undo the damage and they don't have to be forgiven any time soon especially by the victims who had their loved ones taken during the fight.

What are your thoughts on this, Blimbo?

I think the only leader who should have pardoned their trainees is OneStar because let's be real, it's funny to imagine him wanting to spite Starclan so much that he forgives the cats who wanted to destroy them (BreezePelt). He'd probably give them a light "punishment" but that would be about it really. And it's even funnier to imagine his spite leading him to appoint HareSpring, a Dark Forest trainee, as Deputy. He should have told HareSpring "Hey, listen, when I die and you become leader I want you to appoint BreezePelt as your Deputy. Spite Starclan.".

I 'unno it'd just be funny to image OneStar giving the middle finger to Starclan and not only forgiving the trainees, but then go on to appoint one of them into a position that is second to the Leader and THEN tell that same trainee to appoint another trainee. OneStar may be sent to hell for that, but he'll be sent down in a fit of defiant laughter.

[charkyzombicorn]

Long post ahead!

How the strawhats (+ Ace, Sabo & Law) react to L(uffy), N(ika) and B(oth):

Zoro

L: 4/5 One point deducted because he's less emotionally stable and that's annoying

N: 3/5 two points deducted because Nika wrings out Luffy and really can't take anything seriously

B: 5/5 obv

Nami

L: 3/5 he's more serious but he's still fight for all of them, but he's more prone to arguing with Nami without Nika

N: 1/5 yeah its part of Luffy but it's the worst part and she doesn't trust it when Luffy's not there

B: 4/5 Yeah he's childish and annoying but he's earnest and she loves him

Usopp

L: 3/5 Usopp can trust him but he's not as fun

N: 1/5 He doesn't trust That Thing, it scares him, and it doesn't stop staring at him

B: 5/5 That's his captain!!! Best guy ever, a little stupid but that just means he likes Usopp's stories more

Sanji

L: 3/5 stop arguing with Nami u bastard

N: 0/5 stop enforcing ur own will over Luffy's freedom u bastard

B: 4/5 stop breaking the fridge lock u bastard

Chopper

L: 2/5 whys he so angry?? He barely plays with Chopper but he's more compliant

N: 4/5 super fun but. It's eyes scare Chopper. There's madness in that smile and it's funny until it's not

B: 5/5 he's rebellious but he trusts Chopper to handle himself and he's fun to play with

Robin

L: 5/5 That's her captain and he can do no wrong

N: 5/5 That's her captain and it can do no wrong

B: 5/5 That's her captain and he can do no wrong

Franky

L: 4/5 He's a little angry but that's a-OK and he's loyal to his family so that's good

N: 4/5 It's funky and it helps Luffy's issues

B: 5/5 👍🌟😎🌟👍

Brook

L: 5/5 He still likes music and is perfectly kind to Brook. Understands what Brook needs during his Episodes more than a kid his age should

N: 2/5 fun to party with but its presence has hurt Luffy in the long run and that's Brook's captain

B: 5/5 That's just Luffy with different flavored mental illness

Jimbe

L: 5/5 He's come a long way and is loyal above all else.

N: 0/5 it has made Luffy emotionally reliant on it in the past, it may do so again, and Jimbe doesn't like it

B: 4/5 Jimbe thinks Luffy needs to overpower Nika like a cursed sword instead of working with it

Ace

L: 4/5 Ace can't emotionally rely on this Luffy but he very much cares abt his little brother.

N: 2/5 it doesn't care abt Ace, Ace doesn't care abt it

B: 5/5 if the df makes Luffy happy Ace is happy

Sabo

L: 5/5 not quite the kid he remembers not quite the Ace he remembers but that's his little brother and Sabo supports him 100%

N: -5/5 that thing being there changes Luffy, makes him less free, and Sabo Hates That

B: 5/5 Thats almost the kid he remembers! Sabo is very proud of him

Law

L: 5/5 Luffy is loyal and kind and this one listens to him more

N: 1/5 doesn't trust it and it scares him a little

B: 4/5 please seek help

Luffy

L: 0/5 having no fun, weak little crybaby, he only hallucinates Ace & Sabo when he's himself

N: 4/5 as long as Luffy's there to keep it from its apathetic impulses they're fine, it's stronger than him and can protect the people he loves better

B: 5/5 perfect balance