#and made the offhand comment about them becoming canon

[chilledmac]

i was talking to my friend about the potentiality of macdennis and how they Will become canon but she disagreed. so we phoned her sister who said verbatim: "you know they're having sex and touching dicks" WHEN I TELL YOU i have Never been so obnoxious when i heard that!! she gets it she really gets it

[secret-engima]

Shinobi Economics 2: Warring States Boogaloo

RIGHT IT’S TIME FOR NINJA ECONOMICS 2: WARRING STATES BOOGALOO.

Link to my previous 3k tumblr rant on canon era shinobi economics here , and a casual reminder that I do not study or research economics a whole bunch outside of a casual interest for fantasy worldbuilding. Most of this is just- trying to logic out some semblance of sense inside the Naruto setting.

But to summarize the stuff I think is relevant to jumping into this one, in the previous ramble I established that:

1. Peacetime is actually Really Profitable for shinobi villages of the Nidaime to Boruto eras, because that’s when the lower classes (Merchant and Worker) can afford to pay shinobi for jobs that are ultimately the most money for the least amount of risk.

2. Shinobi villages set the prices of missions, not the clients (as seen in the premise of the Wave arc, where the bridge builder lied about the risk so that he only had to pay for a C rank instead of a B or A rank mission), and that whatever prices they have set for missions, it allows even a single parent shinobi with an active child to live comfortably in a city. Not wealthy necessarily, but clearly able to feed, clothe, shelter, and spend time with their child on top of work and training.

3. In all of canon, all the movies, even in Boruto (up to the point I’ve watched so far anyway), there is not a single shinobi that suggests going back to the warring state era. Not even the missing-nin. Not even Madara, who was more than happy to plot the downfall of every shinobi village and the world at large, tried to get them to go back to warring states (admittedly he was more interested in brainwashing everyone with an overgrown weed, but hey).

In that previous rant, I also made an offhand mention that Hashirama and Madara ending the war between their clans and making peace was them essentially inventing a ninja union, and I kind of want to come back to that in this rant by talking about what the Warring State Era ninja economy was probably like, considering what little we know in canon (ie the anime flashbacks which YES COUNT AS CANON since it makes exactly as much nonsense as the rest of Kishi’s worldbuilding), 

Okay so. What do we know about the Warring State Era?

1. We know it was a very bloody time of frequent clan on clan fighting.

2. Medical chakra techniques/medicine in general were not as advanced (because Tsunade is infamous for her contributions to the world of medicine and she doesn’t exist yet) so fatalities or crippling injuries were definitely more common, and most shinobi wore samurai style armor which tells me:

2a. The armor was likely a response to how much easier it was back then for a shinobi to be crippled or killed through blood loss and infection (especially infection).

2b. It could also be a hold over from the Samurai era, since we honestly never get a straight answer from Kishi on where the heck Samurai fit into his swiss cheese timeline. There is, according to the Naruto wiki, a mention of them having split off from shinobi back when chakra use was still called ninshu but that makes … about as much sense as most of Kishi’s timeline and therefore is suspect at best and garbage at worst.

3. Child soldiers were even more of a thing than they are in the village era. For comparison, Kakashi was considered a prodigy for graduating and becoming a genin at 5, and Itachi was exposed to death at age 4, but that flashback is structured (in the anime at least) in a manner that implies that this was not the norm (thanks Fugaku) and that Itachi should not have been anywhere near the battlefield since he hadn’t even enrolled in Academy yet (canonically enrolled at age 6 and was allowed to take the graduation test a few months later). However in the Warring States Era flashback, Hashirama’s and Tobirama’s brother Kawarama died at age 7, and their father makes comments that imply Kawarama was considered at least enough of an adult to be a shinobi, which means he *probably* didn’t die on his first mission? Their other brother Itama, who we do not have an official age for but is clearly younger than Hashirama and Tobirama (who are drawn to at least appear 12 or younger) also dies young, probably around the same age as Kawarama did. We also see Izuna, during the river confrontation between Madara’s and Hashirama’s families, wielding a sword that is clearly *sized* for a child. Unlike Tobirama in that same scene who’s out here with an adult katana held on his back like a buster sword, Izuna is using a sword that looks like it was forged with a child his age in mind. Which … yeah. Not good. Hashirama and Madara also directly reference a desire for ending the deaths of children on the battlefield when they are discussing their dream of a village. So clearly children becoming shinobi at 6-7 and up was Not Uncommon.

4. Going off the continued existence of a Daimyo and his court in canon era, there were a lot of feudal lords in this era, hiring shinobi to do their dirty work. Not just Daimyo against Daimyo like we see in the village era Shinobi Wars, but likely neighboring lords hiring one shinobi clan or another to heckle, sabotage, and assassinate each other. Especially considering the Naruto world Warring States is clearly supposed to be reminiscent of the Sengoku period of Japan.

So, with those things in mind. How did shinobi economics in this era work and why was Konoha so revolutionary in more than just “hey the Senju and Uchiha aren’t killing each other!” way?

Well first thing is that the shinobi clans would have been at the whims of the various lords and the Daimyo rather than able to establish their own prices for missions, and the vast majority of the clan on clan conflicts would have either started or been fueled by the nobles of the era out of convenience. There are over 16 clans listed on the wiki as being “Konoha” clans, while we can discount a few of them (namely the Lee clan because that’s just Rock Lee, the Uzumaki who were from their own hidden village, and the Hoki family who I think immigrated in from Suna? If I’m reading the wiki right?), and those are just the clans that actually survived to the canon village era. That is a lot of competition for shinobi work in an era where most of those jobs would have come from the rich lords, the Daimyo himself, or a few very wealthy merchants would have been able to afford to both hire a shinobi clan and would have felt it worth the risk of gambling that their competitors wouldn’t also hire a shinobi clan to retaliate. The working class would not have been able to afford a shinobi’s services, and they also definitely wouldn’t want to risk going near a shinobi, because this era was when the clans would’ve had their bloodiest, most inhuman rumors and reputations as remorseless killers.

The staple/most common jobs for shinobi clans of that era would likely have been the violent ones that in the modern era get regulated to ANBU, because again, the Worker class can’t hire for D-ranks and the Merchant class probably either also couldn’t or wouldn’t want to unless desperate or trying to threaten their competition with the reputation of shinobi. These “common” jobs would have been assassinations of adults or children, kidnappings, sabotages, blackmail gathering, spying, and open battlefield conflicts (every Senju-Uchiha conflict we see in the flashback arc, not counting Itama’s death or the river confrontation, is on an open battlefield with both parties in varying levels of armor actually). And of course the other side of those common jobs would be missions from rival lords who are hiring a clan to prevent all the previously listed missions. Which is probably where a good chunk of clan animosities started, opposing contracts that got out of hand and started an all out blood feud. 

If a wealthy merchant hired a clan to guard their product/caravan, it was probably because some competitor or a lord who took offense to them for some reason had already hired another shinobi clan to sabotage said caravan and product. If a lord hired a shinobi to kill a rival or his family, that rival had either already hired shinobi bodyguards or was going to in response to this. Which, on top of fueling a lot of clan on clan grudges from being repeatedly on opposite sides of a job, means that shinobi clans couldn’t really demand a specific mission prices. A little bit of haggling over the price, yes, especially in the case of the more powerful/sought after clans, but if a shinobi clan tried to push for “too much”, the prospective client could simply leave and hire another clan. Likely a rival clan that had a blood feud with the first clan just to spite them. Any failed missions or missions that were refused because of the pay or risk involved would also definitely lead to the client spreading word against that clan to any allies, which would lead to less missions and valuable income down the line.

The clans with the most ability to haggle, at least in Land of Fire, would *probably* have been the Four Noble Clans Kishi mentions; The Uchiha, The Aburame, the Akimichi, and the Hyuuga. We never have it explained why they are noble clans or why there is only four, but basic logic says that they were clans who actually held positions in the Daimyo’s court, and having that position would have helped them set at least *some* level of wage standard for shinobi work they took on so long as they were careful not to annoy the Daimyo in the process. But even then, there was only so much they could demand before there was a risk of the client leaving and taking any future business from them and their social circle with them.

The Uchiha-Senju conflict was said to last for generations. According to Kishi it lasted since Indra-Ashura thanks to Black Zetsu specifically, but that is stupid on multiple levels that I won’t fully cover here. It’s much more likely that the descendants of Indra and Ashura clashed a few times and mostly tried to avoid each other until the Warring States Era actually started, by which point those descendants were the Senju and Uchiha (and Uzumaki but they’re canonically a neutral party in that whole deal iirc). The blood feud *probably* started when a noble lord spotted the natural avoidance/borderline animosity of the Uchiha and Senju and hired the Senju to sabotage either an Uchiha job or even to attack the Uchiha themselves if the Uchiha held a position in the Daimyo’s court at that point. And because Uchiha do not react calmly to basically anything, the response was very bloody and over the top, to which the Senju also reacted poorly and… *gestures at the blood feud*. After that, warring lords would have started to intentionally hire the Uchiha and the Senju to pit them against each other because neither clan would haggle too much over the price of a job for fear of it being thrown to their enemy instead, and with both clans so eager to get revenge on the other as the years went on, they were guaranteed to give their all on the battlefield regardless of the mission pay. Which is a technique that would have been used against most of the clans to keep them from getting too powerful or too uppity about the pay for their jobs, but especially the dangerous ones with kekkei genkai.

With the inability to really dictate the prices of their shinobi work, the civilians of shinobi clans likely would have sought to provide some other form of goods and services to help bolster the clan (the civilians not busy trying to keep the clan fed anyway). This has been explored by other fanfic writers in this fandom (shout-out to Umei_no_Mai’s series “the Compass Points North” for being really great at this), but of course depending on the size of the clan and their access to resources that don’t immediately go to either Feeding the Clan or Providing For Shinobi Work, how much money this actually brought in for each clan is entirely variable.

So there’s the Warring States Era cycle of shinobi work. Lord A hires Clan 1 to Do Thing, Lord B hires Clan 1’s most hated rival if possible to Stop Thing, both lords sit back and watch the two clans fight it out for far less than their work is actually worth. Wash, rinse, occasionally repeat with clans that are not hated rivals but are still going to fight it out viciously because if they don’t do a good enough job then they will lose any further work from that client and the client’s associates.

And then the Uchiha-Senju Alliance happened, and did not disintegrate within weeks or months as outsiders would have anticipated.

And this one thing. This one alliance. Completely destroyed the “comfortable” cycle the lords, Daimyo, and wealthy merchants had for their shinobi dealings up to that point. Because now, not only are the two most powerful clans in Land of Fire no longer available to hire against each other, but they also have two clans’ worth of civilian trade and shinobi revenue to keep them from starving the first time they said “no” to a client, and any client they do say yes to has the pick of Senju shinobi, Uchiha shinobi, or a mixed team of the clans’ respective powerhouses.

What do you think the response was the first time a client approached literally any of the other clans and tried to hire them to go up against both Hashirama and Madara, or, just as scarily, Senju Tobirama with a grumpy Uchiha or three following on his heels.

The answer was no. The answer was heck no. The answer was we would literally rather starve rather than choose that flavor of suicide. 

Because while other clans have clashed with the Senju and Uchiha before during this era thanks to it being logistically impossible for someone to hire a Senju to fight an Uchiha and visa versa every time, those clashes would still have been comparatively rare but memorable. Similar to the nobles funding these blood feuds, the other shinobi clans of Land of Fire would have grown accustomed to “your chances of dying via Tree Man or Angry Fire Cat Man are statistically low” and being able to kinda sit back and watch the Senju and Uchiha tear each other apart from a safe distance, with only minimal risk of running into far less skilled Uchiha or Senju on a job rather than the guy who gets named the “god of shinobi” and his frenemy rival. They’ve seen the damage either clan can do, and now you want them to go against both? Without the guarantee of Madara and Hashirama (and Tobirama and Izuna pre the latter’s death) being too busy trying to kill each other to bother with you and your squishy clanmates? Hahahaha no.

And now here’s where the Shinobi Villages are a Union thing really starts to kick in. Because the Senju-Uchiha alliance grinding the Warring States cycle to a halt would have been temporary if it had just been between them, if Hashirama’s and Madara’s dream had gone no further than peace between their respective clans. If it had remained just the Senju-Uchiha alliance, even with fear of Hashirama and Madara, the other clans would have eventually been prodded into fighting them, likely even being hired by enough lords who were all unhappy with this shakeup to the routine to temporarily band together in fighting the Senju and Uchiha and overwhelm them (or at least badly cripple the manpower of the Senju-Uchiha).

But Hashirama’s and Madara’s dream wasn’t just about their clans. And suddenly here’s Hashirama “my smile is photosynthesizable” Senju and Madara “consider my wrath as your alternative” Uchiha approaching the other clans and offering to let them join this alliance. To not have the risk of fighting either of these terrifying men or their clans, but rather to pool their resources together to make missions safer. To be able to turn down missions without starving thanks to the combined revenue of multiple clans and their civilian specialties (and the backing of the Uzumaki, who are generally accepted by fanon to have allied with the Senju by this point via Mito’s marriage), and to have other clans be extremely wary of taking any job against their combined might, which will make the jobs they do take a whole lot safer.

Not every clan jumps on board right away of course, canonically the first ones to join the alliance were the Sarutobi and the Shimura (fanon assumes that these two had connections to the Senju and Uchiha clans before this but I … couldn’t find mention of that in the wiki?), which means suddenly any job this alliance takes means that a rival will be up against a roulette wheel of anywhere from “maybe four Senju like normal” to “combined wrath of a Senju-Uchiha-Sarutobi-Shimura team that are working out their collective new-alliance stress on your hide”. The other clans would have chosen to jump aboard the alliance very quickly once it became clear that this wasn’t going away or splintering. Which means more and more clans are saying “no” to jobs that they feel aren’t worth the prices being offered, and less and less clans are willing to go against the alliance for fear of being stomped on. Suddenly the clans who are in the alliance can not only say no but can say “I want to be paid this much for this job” and the lords who once had the option to just take their business to another clan are stuck. They had to either pay up or not have the job done at all.

Tobirama comes in, probably somewhere very early on in the village founding with the start of what will eventually be the universal shinobi mission ranking system, and with that comes the ability for shinobi to have a set minimum wage for each level of risk. There’s an Academy for their children to learn skills from multiple clans and sources now rather than being forced to take to the field just to help pay for food/armor/resources for the clan.

In the real world, this kind of change takes … way longer on average. But in the Naruto world the options from the get-go were “be under Hashirama’s and Madara’s protection” or “be a potential enemy against them and their clans on a mission”, and none of the shinobi clans who survived to that point did so by being stupid. After they saw the Sarutobi and Shimura join without negative consequences (or subjugation as vassals), the clans of Land of Fire would have started joining the alliance faster than the nobles who used their blood feuds as a handy leash could keep up with or compensate for. Canon says something along the lines of the village negotiating with the Daimyo for permission to be there but realistically by the time the Daimyo realized this was not just a passing treaty, that the Ninja Union was not going away, it was already far too late to stop it. Trying to starve the alliance into compliance by cutting off their trades would have only meant that every shinobi clan now on board with Konoha’s existence (read; the majority of them) would overthrow the Daimyo and install a more cooperative leader in his place. Heck, for all we know that’s what happened, it’s not like Kishi bothers to keep a coherent history or timeline. But considering the Daimyo does have a say in who the Hokage of the village is and they are enough at the Daimyo’s beck and call to fight in the future Shinobi Wars, it is more likely that the budding Konoha did successfully negotiate with the Daimyo for a “our loyalty and your nominal supervision over our village in exchange for extra land and free reign over our internal structure” kind of deal.

The clans being united was also an advantage for the Daimyo, once he got over the “can no longer charge whatever he wants for assassinations”. Because with all the Land of Fire clans unified, suddenly any upstart lords looking to depose him or wars he might get up to with other Daimyo look a lot more winnable. The other major Elemental nations, seeing this and realizing it’s not going away, probably scrambled to get their own clans to unify, which is one reason why Kiri is … such a disaster in canon. Rather than being a willing endeavor by the various clans to unite for their own benefit, the Daimyo of Water basically threw all his feral clans off their respective islands and territories and said “you all live here now and you all do what I tell you or else the Land of Fire will wipe us out”. Which, as you can see, went swimmingly for them (sarcasm). That or the other shinobi clans in the various nations did actually unionize of their own will once they saw it worked for Konoha, but Kiri never got the memo of “actually make peace with your rivals” and instead just clustered together in a feral knot of “we hate each other but we hate outsiders MORE so we’re going to pretend we actually function as a society”. Which lasted… Not long.

And there you go, another shinobi economics ramble. I feel like this one is even less structured than the last one but hey at least it’s like. 100 whole words shorter.

[ciaossu-imagines]

sasagawa kyoko baker au or owning a pâtisserie? ✿

Aww, this is such a sweet, and light ask and I had a lot of fun imagining it :) Thank you so much for sending this in and I hope you'll enjoy the headcanons!

This is such a cute idea and it's really not a huge jump for me. I'm treating this less as an alternate universe and more as a potential way her future could turn out because I do see Kyoko as someone who enjoys baking and has since she was a child.

It's shown in canon that Kyoko really does have a sweet tooth, enjoying cakes and pastries and I see her, whenever she finds a new type of cake she enjoys from her trips to the bakeries in Namimori, researching recipes for how it's made and trying her own hand at making them.

I see her really being self-taught and by the time she does become an adult, Kyoko's baked goods are absolutely superb. They receive compliments from everyone who tries them, which is quite a few people because she does love baking for those she cares about. It's actually Hana though who makes the offhand comment that Kyoko's baked goods are just as tasty as any from the bakeries and stores and people would pay good money for them.

I think that really gets Kyoko thinking, after the first initial shyness and gratitude for the compliment. She's always imagined how nice it would be to work in a bakery and yeah, she's daydreamed here and there throughout the years about what her shop would look like or what they'd specialize in. But she's never really taken those thoughts seriously, not until Hana's suggestion and the agreement of the others that are close to her.

At that point, she starts to think about a shop a lot more, starts to really sit down and figure out if it could ever be a possibility. She shares her thoughts with those close to her and news of her idea gets brought around to Reborn, who mentions it to Tsuna, how nice it would be for Kyoko. But bakeries are, of course, expensive to start, which is where Kyoko is running into the issues and what's really stopping her from seriously pursuing this dream of hers.

Kyoko opens her shop after getting an anonymous lump sum donated for the creation of her bakery. She not only has enough to pay the rent on her shop, buy all the equipment, but has enough to hire employees. She makes it a 'family' type business, hiring the friends who have become family to her whenever possible. Hana takes care of all the money and keeps the books, Haru works part time helping out in the kitchen, I-Pin helps in the front shop whenever possible. Reborn even helps create a coffee blend specifically done for the bakery, while Fon creates a tea blend for the bakery, and those unique touches help with the bakery's success.

Her other friends support her business, help her advertise, spread the word. Though the first year or so was touch and go on how successful Kyoko's bakery would turn out being, I think it really hit it's stride come about a year and half and starts to really gain mainstream popularity.

They get a lot of business catering weddings and events, doing specialty cakes and dessert buffets.

Kyoko's becomes known for the best cream puffs in all of Namimori and their cheesecake is also considered the best in the area and a must-try.

[unpassive-viewer]

My Predictions for the Final Spider-verse

My semester is over, b*tches. You know what that means - I watched both the Spider-verse movies again. After seeing them with fresh eyes (meaning I thought about nothing but The Hunger Games and international relations for four straight months), I have a handful of predictions for the next movie. I am mostly interested in putting these all down so I can check my skill whenever the next film finally comes out. Disclaimer - this is motivated by no external knowledge. I've only read like three Miles comics and played the PS4 games, so this is all guess work. I have no idea how faithful this franchise is to the other media.

So, obviously throughout two movies we have the narrative of "Miles doesn't know who he is or what he wants". In the first movie we have the Great Expectations essay, and in the second we have his college applications where his advisor says "I don't know Miles, and I don't think he knows himself," (or something to that effect). We set the stage for the third film asking who Miles is going to be, both as himself and as Spider-Man.

Enter to Earth 42. We left Miles with the Prowler/Miles 42 and Aaron Davis on an Earth with no Spider-Man, which is being destroyed by the Sinister Six Gang. Based on the Spider-Man theme of redemption and how villains can always become good, I think they team up to help Earth 42.

Gwen + crew join the equation, with Miguel close behind. Miles needs his own watch to keep from glitching, so I have to assume there will be some dire scene where he's glitching out. A near miss, but he gets the watch. Either that, or Earth 42 Miles helps him build one, and he misses Gwen + co. altogether.

There will be someone who holds off Miguel. I think it will either be Miles42 or Spider-Woman, despite the former being a "villain" and the latter being unwaveringly aligned with Miguel's ideas in the second film.

Miles makes it back from Earth 42 just in time to fight Spot. I don't think Miles saves his dad, though - I think Gwen does. She's not lost anymore (she mended her issues with her dad), so she has to make up for betraying Miles in ATSV. We got a little foreshadowing of the Garfield-esque fall from TASM 2 in ATSV (I think in Mumbattan?), so I'm certain we will see the real fall in the third film. But of course, Miles can save her because he's an anomaly and from a different dimension and the rules don't apply to him the same way.

Based on Miles losing his uncle in the first film, I think someone close to him will still die in the third one. I just have no idea who.

I think the way that Miguel finds out that the worlds can tolerate Miles being an anomaly is that his canon event is interrupted and the world doesn't implode. I think they'll finally consider that despite being an anomaly, he's already had many of the canon events of a true Spider-Man.

I think they take out Spot the same way he came into being, by reversing whatever the process was that made him what he is. I think this mostly because there's no time to introduce new tech into the final movie of a trilogy. His first flashback scene in ATSV shows him holding something which reacts to the energy from the collider and transforms him. Miles, Gwen + co. just need to figure out what it was and reverse-engineer things.

Hobi was used a lot as a fast-acting plot device in ATSV, so I have to assume he will play a similar role in the last movie. He'll make an offhand comment about something that's obvious to him but not to anyone else, and it'll serve to expedite the plot.

Either that, or we find out more about Miguel's attempt to live in the alternate universe from Peter Parker, and they gain enough insights into how the multiverse works that they find a solution. Maybe both.

The only one I really don't know about is the Spider-baby. She obviously motivates Peter Parker to do the right thing (kids serve this purpose for him in both films), so I have to assume she'll just remain in that static role. Penny, Spider Noir, Pveter and Spider-Ham I think will just be muscle again.

Since we didn't get a real "What's Up Danger" scene in Across the Spider-Verse, I think the climax of the third film is going to blow the rest of them out of the water. What's Up Danger and the (lesser) scene on the train to the moon in ATSV both showed Miles breaking the glass he was perched on, because he's still scared. Logically, the climactic scene of the third film is going to be a reflection of those scenes, but we see he isn't afraid anymore. He is Spider-Man in the next film. Not a kid wearing a costume, trying to figure out what he wants and what his values are.

Oh, and obviously Miles gets and keeps the ability to go between dimensions. I also think the Spider Society will have some kind of overhaul and they begin to treat anomalies more fairly.

I know it's years out, but god I cannot wait to see this movie. The character motivations are so consistent between the first two films, I really want to know if I'm right about anything.

[icology]

I have a theory about the events that occur just before ICO begins. It’s not an earth shattering theory that changes everything, but it’s something I think works logically with the story.

The purpose of my theory is to explain in more detail why Yorda might be in the cage at the game’s start, and what the purpose of The Queen's Sword is.

For one, I think it's very unlikely Yorda has been in that cage since her birth/creation. Like, I know The Queen is evil and dismissive of Yorda's desires, but she doesn't talk to her like she's just a thing in a cage. She speaks to Yorda like she has a choice to come to her senses and understand her situation. “Why don't you understand? You cannot survive in the outside world.”

And this phrase further implies Yorda had some agency before this point. The Queen has potentially tried to explain or convince her of this before and failed. That is not something you are required to do with a captive, who has no means of disobeying in the first place. That alongside the fact that capture is usually a last resort after persuasion fails… it paints a picture of how Yorda's situation must've changed.

So if Yorda wasn't always in the cage, why is she there when Ico shows up? Going with the only thing we have to run on, it might be because Ico showed up. Yorda's disobedience, if it stems from anywhere, would most likely be regarding the sacrifices (The non-canon original ICO script aside, this just makes sense to object to, especially at the time of Ico's arrival.) Remember too, (if we are to take Ueda's offhand comment from an interview as fact) Yorda is 16 years old, not old enough to have witnessed and comprehended the passing of a generation. Unless the Queen is taking from more than one village, this is likely her first time being exposed to the sacrificial act itself, since it can only happen once per generation.

Ok, so she protests to sacrifices and gets locked up. How does this tie into The Queen's Sword?

Well we have to wonder in the first place, "Why is it necessary to have this thing?" I mean, yes, it serves as a key for the human priests to enter, but surely you don't have to hand them a weapon to do that, right? Especially not the one weapon that can dismiss your Shadows and kill you with little effort. Why can't The Queen escort them to the room of sacrifices herself? …Oh. She's too weak… Remember how Yorda opens the castle gate with her power, and it takes so much energy out of her, that her hair grays in an instant and she can barely run? That’s what the sword is made for and protects against. It's possible that The Queen has become so frail that even the simplest idol doors of her own castle could pose a challenge to her. We never see her open a door herself, she just teleports.

If not bring her closer to death, opening a door in front of the mortal priests might give her a coughing fit, make her stumble, and in general reveal physical weakness to her enemies, who only cooperate in performing the sacrifice out of ignorance to its true purpose, fear of her magic, and her seeming immortality. She can’t put a hole in that image.

So she doesn't even approach them, instead she leaves the sword. While it is a risk to hand it over to them, it is arguably more secure than giving them a single hint as to the purpose of the sacrifices. To even use the sword herself would imply a weakness, because if she cannot open the doors of her own home without a magic tool, how strong can her magic really be? Ultimately it's better to be enigmatic and leave the tool to their own hands, so they feel like they are weak without her boon to them.

All the same, leaving them the sword like a key under the doormat is a risk. And one she had to take for however many generations after she stopped being able to open the doors herself. Had she another option, she would surely prefer to use it instead. That's where Yorda comes back in.

What if Yorda was, on this last sacrifice, meant to escort the guards in herself? She wouldn't just be roaming in the castle at the same time as the sacrifice's entombment, she would have been an active participant in the process. All the more reason for her to object and actively disobey an order. And thus leads cleanly into her punishment. The Queen requests her daughter help escort the sacrifice, so that they might recover her sword from it's pedestal at the docks and secure the cursed child without any risk. And Yorda can't accept, even knowing the plan would secure her mother's safety. This leads to conflict, which leads to The Queen's anger, and thus the cage.

If true, it would mean Yorda played a part in The Queen's defeat before the story even starts, because without such a theoretical refusal, Ico would have never gotten his hands on The Queen's Sword and thus never have been able to defeat her.

That would actually make sense!

Castle In The Mist (Ico's novelization by author Miyuki Miyabe), although not exactly canon, was approved by the team and therefore we could look at the author's interpretation as a possibly valid one as well. In it, things go very similarly to what you said, with the Queen painting this image of being a very fierce, powerful ruler to every other kingdom, and Yorda having a more active role in royal affairs, though very reluctantly. She doesn't really know what her mother's obscure traditions are about, and she's very frightened once she discovers the true scope of it all (not saying any more to not spoil for those who haven't read it!)

Yorda also seems wary of the way she usually reacts, probably because she's experienced her outbursts before and knows there will be a punishment if she doesn't comply (when she says things like "I have angered her" and blames herself for what is happening, for example). Regardless of whether we get to see it in the game or not, there seem to be subtle signs of Yorda being accustomed to having bad consequences to her every action.

As for the sword, we can even take the other games as an example. In SOTC, the ancient sword is not just a sword, but also a compass that guides you around, a key to the last colossus and, indirectly, to Dormin's power as well. In TLG, the mirror is also a key and a way to control both the Tricos' power and to render the Armored Knights immobile. All in all, these magical weapons/artifacts seem to exist not just for their primary purpose, but also to lend a bigger power to someone who might need it, especially if they're doing something that would benefit the owner.

Every game also features a powerful entity whose powers are either weakened or dormant. The Queen needs a sacrifice to keep going, Dormin has been imprisoned and stripped of their abilities, and the Master of the Valley... well, just seems to be waiting for its minions to finish working on something that it needs. All of them rely on a third party to accomplish something that their power, if working properly, would easily do.

Yorda having a role in the Queen's own demise would also not suprise me, because if there's one thing that happens in the universe of the games is prophecies fulfilling themselves and the stars aligning just right to make everything happen, so your theory might very well be true!

What do you guys think?

[nobody-xalidin8]

A is for Aquaman

A while back I worked for a comic book review website called Do You Even Comic Book that renamed itself Comics Horizon and lasted around a year. From my limited perspective the site was forged out of a movement of people from Twitter that wanted to combat the growing Comicsgate movement. To have a real voice amongst the hate, I mostly just wrote reviews. I made a lot of short lived but impactful relationships with those strangers on the internet. I don’t talk to any of them anymore, but that’s just because I’m an anti-social autistic person that struggles with people he knows in person. So, if I’m gonna start this blog I wanna thank them before I get started.

When I would get stressed out or overstimulated as a kid, I would say the alphabet in DC comics characters. A is for Aquaman, B is for Batman, C is for Catwoman, etcetera. Now I’m the sort of guy that loves Marvel, DC, and any other comic indie or mainstream that I think is good, but for the life of me I couldn’t do the alphabet in anything other than DC characters. At least, not on the spot. So, I thought why not do a blog about DC characters and since Twitter seems to be dying thanks to Elon Musk I thought I’d try here on Reddit. I considered Tumblr, but that never clicked for me and Reddit seems to operate in a way I can vaguely comprehend so here we are.

I also wrote some articles on that website, mostly lists and conversations between me and other wordsmiths, that was our working title by the way, which was awesome. One of these was for the upcoming Aquaman movie. I don't think it ever saw the light of day, but I wrote a little thought piece titled “Why do we laugh at a Man that talks to Fish?” Based on the notion that I thought there was no sensible reason people laughed at Aquaman. Granted, like most superheroes, he’s not sensible by design.

Aquaman was created by Mort Weisinger and Paul Nortis to imitate the Timely Comics character Namor, the Sub-Mariner. A lot of comic book characters were imitations of other comic book characters back then, in fact a lot of characters are imitations in one way or another. I don’t think that makes them unoriginal. As Aquaman would very much become.

Now as many of you may know comic book canon is an ever changing and shifting thing. What was true one story could be untrue by the next issue. That said, here’s the baseline of Aquaman’s origin in the modern age. Arthur Curry is the son of a lighthouse keeper with strange powers, in reality he is half-human half-Atlantean and heir to the throne of Atlantis. He becomes a superhero that protects the seven seas against such threats as the pirate Black Manta, his evil half-brother Ocean Master, the fifth dimensional imp Qwsp, and the deadly assassin Mera that would later become his wife and mother to his child. He was also a founding member of the Justice League where a lot of the best or at least most consistent portrayals of the character take place.

Now that’s not the whole story and there’s a lot of other versions and a lot of weirder stuff. Aquaman is a victim of this ever changing mythology of comics. His appearance, personality, and narrative have changed harshly with the shifting of creative teams over the years. This was mostly due to the fact that despite being well known, he was never a very popular character. Because people saw him as silly.

Aquaman was a joke that people saw parodied in cartoons, SNL sketches, and offhanded comments in years. The common denominator of this joke being the fact that he could talk to fish. As if commanding a shark to strike isn’t cool or terrifying, if that’s the issue why are we terrified of the movie Jaws?

The short answer is presentation, Aquaman, like a lot of Golden Age comic characters, was ridiculous. Batman was too back in the day, but he grew out of that, got a serious take that helped the character grow out of the funny. Not that there’s anything wrong with funny, Adam West’s Batman is arguably the best and even Kevin Conroy’s portrayal in the animated series had a good bit of humor. The problem was people weren’t laughing with Aquaman, they were laughing at him, for no reason.

Thankfully the success of Jason Mania’s Aquaman helped give the character some structure and the King of Atlantis got a good run in the comics starting in the ill fated New 52 relaunch, that was a mixed success. Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, as well as other phenomenal creative teams, guided the character in the pages as James Wan guided him on the big screen. This has lead to the most consistent Aquaman to date, but this might not last because the Aquaman movie will be hurt by the Amber Heard trial, which is only her fault, and sucks. Plus he’s currently “dead” during the Dark Crisis event so who knows how the character will land is a mystery. We’ll like see more of Jackson Hyde as Aquaman, who Young Justice fans may know as Kaldur. Which would be awesome.

Well that’s the most I can ramble about Aquaman for a sec, except when I was looking into where we first started laughing at the character it was during Super Friends. People thought his swimming animation was silly, which is weird because they thought the flying was cool and it was the same thing just out of the water. He also talked to fish, but that always looked cool to me.

[the-rodent-gentleman]

Why yes, here comes yet another do-over for some old OCs of mine, my oldest ones to be more exact! 

These three dorks mean a lot to me since they hark back to a more formative time in my life as a writer and artist, but looking back it's come to my attention all the ways I could have done them better, Diego especially since I made so little use of him as a character. (Plus my gay heart ships him so hard with Hyunh. XP)

As for their backstories and biographies, the core details are all done although minor tweaks might still happen here and there in the future based on how I ultimately want their stories to go. As the three stand now, though, I'm satisfied overall. Here's their established canon:

Diego Lopez - (VA: Carlos Mencia) A descendent of a Green-Eyes woman and the previous La Sombra. He spent most of his youth treated as an outsider by his mother's tribe due to not only his mixed heritage but also his blood father's identity. Drawn to stories of heroes and swashbuckling figures, as an adult he made a name for himself as a rogue thief by the name of La Pantera, protecting both his tribe and other innocents. It would not be until a chance encounter with Arnold's parents that Diego would consider finding a life for himself outside San Lorenzo, a decision he would only finalize after much convincing by his mother. Quick-thinking and fast-talking, Diego is a goofball who has no qualms flirting with any cute guy around him (but especially Mr. Hyunh) with every available chance. He's much more clever and perceptive than his behavior would suggest, however, as he is skilled in catching details others often miss and thinking on his feet. In addition, he possesses a twisted chaotic imagination that often presents itself in both his crazy plans and offhand comments. He currently resides with Bonnie and Milo in Hillwood at the Sunset Arms Boardinghouse, and currently works as a both a self-defense instructor and freelance artist. Bonnie Mahana - (VA: Tia Carrere) An auto-mechanic and martial arts practitioner from Tahiti. The smallest among her siblings, she came to the U.S. to broaden her horizons and carve a place for herself outside of her extensive family. Formerly a pitcrew mechanic for racecar drivers - and (don't tell anyone else) mechanic later on for Bridget’s organization after a chance encounter at one of the races - she has an extensive knowledge of automobile repair. Don't let her chill and friendly demeanor fool you, genuine as it is; she can be very blunt (both verbally and physically) and a bit of a blood knight at times, especially when someone she cares about is in trouble. At times, though, she can be insecure about others taking her seriously, so she tends to keep her more childlike interests like video games under wraps. She currently resides with Diego and Milo in Hillwood at the Sunset Arms Boardinghouse. Milo Mahana - (VA: Alexa PenaVega*) Bonnie and Diego's biological son and the youngest tenant of the boardinghouse. Both an aspiring artist and technical wiz, he's notorious around the boardinghouse for his ability to quickly disassemble and reassemble various household machinary and tech. After being moved up from second-grade to fourth on account of his smarts, numerous run-ins and misadventures with Helga has led to him becoming her left hand alongside Phoebe. Though reclusive and secretive, those close to him are well aware (and cautious) of his devil-may-care attitude, sense of mischief, and penchant for playing Devil's Advocate. *For those of you confused as to why I chose a grown woman to voice a kid, I'm approaching these characters as though they were conceived for the show during its time (i.e. the 90s and early 2000s), meaning Vega would have been ages 8 - 14 during Hey Arnold's run, and I think her voice would still fit well years later for the Jungle Movie. 

Diego, Bonnie, and Milo are all my own characters. Mr. Hyunh and Hey Arnold belong to Craig Bartlett and Nickelodeon.

                        ————————————————

For better quality views: DeviantArt | FurAffinity | Weasyl

[systematicmasspoisoning]

Who is Sam's prison for?

If you're not up to date in DreamSMP lore, Awesamdude, resident Redstone expert, was paid stacks of diamonds by Dream to make an inescapable prison. It is located in the ocean next to Bad and Skeppy's mansion and is VERY large. Supposedly it will be using Elder Guardians to keep a prisoner from mining out due to Mining Fatigue. Even if the prisoner dies of hunger, they will respawn inside. This brings up the question of how

1. they force the prisoner to click a bed inside the prison

2. how they keep the prisoner from breaking the bed.

Regardless of the mechanics of the second one, I think the first is a clue as to who Dream will trap inside the prison. Consider the 3 canon deaths lore. He has used the threat of permanently killing Tommy to get the boy to comply and click on a bed in Logstedshire. So a 'permanent death if you don't comply' is definitely an effective tactic but ONLY for people with one life left.

The main two options are Tommy and Tubbo (or Philza). Or, Dream is planning on knocking another one of his potential opponents, such as Quackity, Fundy or Techno, down to one life in the time it takes to build the actual prison.

Quackity and Fundy aren't big enough threats yet, although Quackity certainly has the potential to be a threat, in this season of the SMP, El Rapids isn't big enough of a threat yet.

Most people would assume Dream's biggest enemies on the server are Tommy and Techno. Techno's role in the grand scheme of things is, as of now, undetermined. However, as Techno is one of the authors of this SMP season, he likely has something up his sleeve. He is currently 'retired' alongside Phil in their Antarctic Empire skins in a snowy biome, but he has made appearances in Tommy's streams to mock the boy for getting exiled (just like Techno predicted with the Theseus analogy.) An alliance between the sleepbois is possibly in the works, but right now, both Tommy and Techno have made it clear there is still a lot of animosity between them. So I don't see Techno, and by extension, Phil becoming much of a problem for Dream (for now.)

Tommy, on the other hand, has been visited by Dream almost every stream while Tommy is exiled; Tommy has been manipulated by him, gaslighted and threatened. Despite making the very real threat of giving Tommy his final death, Dream has stopped Tommy from any, um, self-harming actions. Dream told him "I need you alive." Narratively, that means that Dream has plans for Tommy (they are, after all, each other's main antagonist). But Dream has also said that Tommy will remain on exile for a long time and he told Bad and Sam as they were building the prison that he doesn't intend on using the prison on Tommy (unless he begins to act up was implied.)

Because Bad and Sam (and Eret) are working with Dream, I would assume imprisoning anyone from the Badlands is out of the question. But I think it's interesting how Sam is the primary leader of the building project.

Dream said that Sam is the only one who will totally know the ins and outs of the prison. So that possibly means Sam is the only one who would know how to escape the inescapable prison. The interesting thing about Sam being included in this storyline is his connections. He and Tubbo are very close, and Sam is also friends with Tommy. Its not long of a stretch to assume that Sam's storyline might eventually lead to HIM breaking out whoever Dream imprisons. Tommy, for now, is out of the equation, so who does that leave?

Tubbo. Someone who many people are now considering Dream's puppet. Dream has been laying on the manipulation lately, playing chess with him, complimenting him and trying to increase the wedge between Tubbo and Tommy. You would think Tubbo is safe, so long as he remains pacifistic and continues to make decisions that are to Dream's benefit. But there are things going beyond the scenes that we, the audience, need to consider. The script.

Symbolism and chekov's guns have been sprinkled into the story line for a long time, and it feels as though the roleplayers have upped the ante. It's hard to think about Ghostbur' compasses without crying, but I literally can't stop thinking about what they mean. When it comes to the duo, despite their estrangement, Tommy still considers Tubbo one of the most important things in his life. He placed the "Your Tubbo" compass right beside his discs in his enderchest. Meanwhile, Tubbo held his "Your Tommy" compass in his offhand nearly all stream today. They still care for each other, obviously, but think about one of the reasons Tubbo exiled Tommy in the first place.

He felt like Tommy was choosing the discs over everything else. He felt as though the discs were the only thing Tommy cared about. There has to be a resolution to this. It's been shown by the story that the discs and Tommy's other obligations (L'manberg, his friendships) cannot coexist together for long without it driving a wedge between them.

Tubbo has been streaming more Among Us lobbies and modded Minecraft lately. When he comes onto the server, he nearly has nothing to do. He loves big project and building houses, but as of now, Tubbo has so little materials to even bother making a home and his largest project, the ocean monument, has been placed on the backburner while Sam builds the prison. Its almost....its almost like Tubbo is preparing his audience and for a period of time where he has no reason to be on the SMP. If he's imprisoned, that's not very good content to watch, is it? I also noticed that Dream pointedly did NOT tell Tubbo about the prison today, instead referred to it merely as a 'project.'

My biggest theory is that the prison is for Tubbo. Tubbo is complacent to Dream now, sure, but Tubbo is very, very smart, and- most importantly to Dream - he still has one of Tommy's discs. And Dream wants it.

When talking sweet to Tubbo no longer works, I think the prison will be the next best option. Its possible Dream will frame Tubbo for some crime (foreshadowed by how Quackity and George tried to frame Eret for Karl's murder), or someone will threaten to overthrow Tubbo and Dream will bring him to a 'secure location' to protect him. Tubbo is very nervous about losing his one life, as exhibited by the safe room under the L'mamberg podium, and other comments about his fear of becoming the next Ghostbur. Dream said that he would protect Tubbo if someone tried to overthrow him. The only threats to Tubbo's current presidency is El Rapids. Ranboo is willing to wait until the next election to become president, but Quackity has shown a strong willingness to do terrible things in order to get power. In Quackity's war against Eret and Dream, Dream made many, many references to Tubbo being a better leader, possibly sowing jealousy in Quackity's mind. Sapnap, George and Karl, as apart of El Rapids also have a bone to pick with L'manberg and may also play a part in further separating Quackity from L'manberg and fueling his desire to be the most powerful nation on the server. Absorbing New L'manberg could be the next step.

Dream could pretend to protect Tubbo by bringing him to a 'safe location', the prison, and getting Tubbo to willingly set his spawn inside. Once it comes to light that it's a prison, with Dream his captor, Tubbo will have to make a decision. Give Dream the disc in his enderchest, or stay imprisoned. Freedom, or the disc, a compromise that has been made time and time again on this server.

I think that Tubbo will hold out and allow himself to be imprisoned, while Tommy returns from exile to make a prison break, with the help of Sam. I doubt that will end well, knowing Dream.

I also think at some point, one of the boys will need to bend. Either Tubbo choses to give up his disc to Dream for freedom, or he decides to take the disc with him to his grave. Its basically the Exile decision all over again. Life/freedom, or the discs/war. Selfishness vs. selflessness.

The two boys are learning throughout this current arc to be more like the other. Throughout his Exile, Tommy will learn to be self sufficient and has had to make big sacrifices consistently as Dream blows up the progress he's made. He's learning to chose his own life over property. Meanwhile, Tubbo (although he's only streamed on the SMP once so far this week) has already shown regret for exiling Tommy, and inherently by choosing to launch a war campaign against Techno, he is learning to chose war and bravery over peace and cowardice. He will gain an appreciation for the disks and/or recognize with greater understanding what they mean to Tommy. Maybe he will learn to care deeply for his compass and learns how willing he is to wage war if the compass gets stolen. It's about the symbolism - its what the object means that is worth protecting.

I think Tubbo will die protecting the discs. Or, Tommy will tell Tubbo to give it up. This is a better ending, in which Tommy will learn that the discs represent is his friendships. And, according to Ranboo, they also represent power, according to Ranboo. But on the server, according to Wilbur (when he asks Tubbo to spy for him) people have always represented power.

To Tommy, in this arc, I hope he will learn that keeping the discs is not worth losing his best friend.

[madlori]

A quick primer on Schitt’s Creek

So apparently going by the comments on some of my fics I’ve done the thing where some of you who have been reading my fanfic a lot over the years want to read my newest stories without ever having seen the canon source material! You are all valid and I support you. 

So I thought it might be nice to write a bit of a primer on the show so you at least know what these people look like and who they are.

First of all I recommend just...uh, watching the show! It really is fantastic, and not just because of the amazing queer normalization. It’s funny and surprising and strange and heartwarming.

Caveat. A lot of people struggle with the first season. It is true that some viewers find it a rough start. The Roses all have significant character arcs and to do that you have to start from somewhere, let’s say. Also the tone of the show and its pace changed markedly between seasons two and three, which is when Dan Levy took over as head writer and they got a bunch of new writers. But even if you’re not quite feeling it from the first episode (I did not have this problem but some people do) I promise, you will be rewarded. And it’s fast, the episodes are only 20 minutes, so.

So! WTF even is this show. 

The Premise: The wealthy Rose family lose all their money when their finance guy absconds with it having never paid taxes. They’re left with nothing but the clothes (and wigs) on their backs and the ownership of a small town called Schitt’s Creek that father Johnny once bought for his teenage son as a joke. They relocate there and move into a dilapidated motel, thanks to the good graces of the town’s rednecky mayor, Roland Schitt (Chris Elliott). There they occupy two adjoining rooms, the parents in one and siblings in the other.

The Roses

Johnny (Eugene Levy) - Patriarch Johnny Rose made his money with a chain of video stores. Johnny is the straight man of the family, finding himself constantly shepherding his dramatic spouse and offpsring. 

Moira (Catherine O’Hara) - a former soap opera star, Moira is a creature not of this reality, it sometimes seems. She is an eccentrically outlandish persona who cares deeply for her family but is often befuddled as to how to handle those emotions or express them. 

David (Dan Levy) - firstborn son David is probably the character most viewers connect with first and more strongly, for a variety of reasons. His personal arc(s) are really the show’s emotional backbone. A former gallerist and pansexual aesthete, David is constantly frustrated by the Incorrectness of everything happening to the family.

Alexis (Annie Murphy) - younger sister and socialite, kind of a Coachella girl, who has spent most of her life globetrotting and getting herself mixed up in outlandish scenarios (it’s a running joke on the show for her to drop in “That one time when I was...” stories as offhand remarks). David is very protective of her even though they fight constantly, and often bailed her out of her Situations when their parents were too caught up in their own stuff.

The Honorary Roses

While the central “character” of the show is the Rose family, in my opinion there are six core characters, which includes these two.

Stevie Budd (Emily Hampshire) - Employee of (and later owner of) the motel where the Roses fetch up. She is David’s best friend and the first person in town he connects with. She is snarky and deadpan and sarcastic. She and David have a short-lived romantic/sexual relationship which ends amicably in season two, but their close friendship remains an important part of the show (yet another thing SC does that’s quietly revolutionary - feature exes who decided to be just friends and then actually do that). She later develops a strong surrogate-father relationship with Johnny as he becomes the co-owner of the motel.

Patrick Brewer (Noah Reid) - David’s business partner, and by the end of the show, husband. Although the show has a great deal to offer apart from this, a lot of people watch mostly for the David & Patrick relationship (which is fine, it’s a big part of the show). Note: if you are watching for this, Patrick does not appear in the show until the mid-third season. At first Patrick seems like an oasis of down-to-earth normalcy amidst all these larger-than-life personalities but it doesn’t take long to realize he’s actually an enormous troll who expresses his love for David by gently roasting him constantly.

And the Others - The show is an ensemble, and apart from these six folks, includes a lot of great secondary characters. Veternarian Ted Mullens (Alexis’s on/off boyfriend), Mayor Roland Schitt and his wife Jocelyn (who is one of my favorite characters), town council curmudgeons Ronnie and Bob, cafe waitress Twyla (played by Dan Levy’s sister Sarah), the local all-gender Casanova woodworker Jake, and the Schitts’ adult son Mutt, Alexis’s first hookup in town.

The Arc: This show is about how the Rose family - who have historically been distant and disconnected - had to lose all their money to find themselves as a family, and later, for each of them to find new fulfillment for themselves. They start out chafing and struggling to get out of this new reality, trying to find a way to sell the town, get “back to normal,” but gradually, they fit themselves into the community. Their family reconnection is pretty strong by the end of S2 (the final scene of that season was my first teary moment) and starting in S3, each of them finds a way to rediscover themselves. Johnny invests in the motel and in Stevie. Moira joins the town council and the local women’s a cappella singing group. Alexis goes back to school and starts pursuing a career in public relations. David takes over a vacant general store and turns it into the Rose Apothecary (which you have probably seen on merch everywhere), a venue for local artisans to sell what they make. It is through this venture that he meets Patrick, who first consults and then decides to invest and become David’s partner in the store.

The show is at the same time outlandish, hilarious, touching, abrasive and over the top. The Roses are over-the-top characters - especially Moira, who speaks in an unidentifiable accent and uses words that may or may not exist - and the story seems to exist in a kind of alternate reality (it’s a fandom joke that the timeline of the show makes no sense - it doesn’t - and it is always summer in SC except for one time when it was Christmas). There is also, by design, no homophobia in Schitt’s Creek. The various iterations of queer characters and relationships aren’t just represented, they’re normalized in a way that I didn’t know I was missing until I saw it.

Plus, it’s fun. Like many of Eugene Levy’s previous works (although the show is really Dan’s creation), the show makes use of musical set pieces. Probably the most famous is the iconic mid-season 4 episode “Open Mic” in which Patrick and David host an open mic night at the store and Patrick serenades David with an acoustic cover of Tina Turner’s “The Best” (arranged by actor Noah Reid, who is IRL a talented singer-songwriter, check out his albums, they’re great). It’s one of the most romantic things I’ve ever seen, made more poignant by the really remarkable face journey David goes through as he listens.

Well, have a look.

Another big moment was season 5′s production of “Cabaret,” directed by Moira and Jocelyn and starring Patrick as the Emcee and Stevie as Sally Bowles. The rehearsals and performance were mined for a lot of great moments.

Anyway, that’s the gist. Probably more than you wanted or needed.

[businessbois]

hello blue :D i would like to know everything you would like to tell me about your favourite fic you've written

lyssie shrugofgod weirdly-enough this is the kindest thing ever i hope you're ready for vaguely comprehensible ranting.

okay so i couldn't choose between two fics "once i called you brother" and "the art and (mine)craft of war" because i could talk forever about both, but im gonna talk about "once i called you brother" because its the less popular one

heres the link :)

so i basically wrote this fic because i thought that the song "the plagues" from prince of egypt (or at least the opening lines) were incredibly perfect for c!tommy and c!techno and it was a shame that no one did an animatic for it yet. i cannot draw so i just wrote a fic for it.

once i called you brother once i thought the chance to make you laugh was all i ever wanted

is that literally not tommy with techno though?

and then the rest of the song can read as like doomsday or november 16th, you know, them arguing about selfishness and betrayal and all that. the song fucking slaps.

but anyways the fic itself? the opening is inspired by how like, if you didn't know who technoblade was during the beginning of the smp, he would just be this mysterious figure of legend that tommy, wilbur, or dream occasionally talked about. it hit me during the dream v technoblade duel stuff that since techno had never been on the smp before, he was just this invisible dude with a huge reputation and that was so cool to me.

"Alrighty, I've been here before, right?"

"Listen, Techn—Dream..."

these are quotes from tommy that i quoted in the fic. i used to do this a lot, just stick quotes with no context into fics because i assumed everyone had the same precise memory of everything that went on the smp that i did. the first one is referring to tommy being surrounded by people outside the community house and "i've been here before" is him remembering a similar scenario on smpearth and therefore technoblade. the second is when he accidentally calls dream techno (about 30 seconds into this comp) again adding to techno's thing of being just this widely alluded to figure.

"Who do you think will win? My bets on our boy, Dream, but feel free to be wrong."

Niki stays quiet, a small frown on her face.

i feel bad for cutting niki absolutely owning dream with "well, techno's my friend" but it simply couldnt stay in for fic purposes

waking up to a frantic Bitzel muttering about hypothermia and something heavy and red covering his shivering frame.

smpearth is canon because i Want it to be canon and in my canon there's a moment where tommy passes out in the middle of a fight and techno brings him back to business bay wrapped up in his cape because he's technosoft and all their fighting is more like play fighting anyways

Tommy knows that love is earned. That if he does well in some Championships, then his place in the family is secured.

this is inspired by the bet that wilbur and tommy had in like mcc8 that if they placed fifth or higher tommy could be in sbi. in tommy's pov it becomes, "you have to earn your place in this family."

“Because I’m not the vice president.”

this is from one of his exile streams where he's talking to dream about why people won't visit him anymore

Tommy is 10 and too big for his boots.

this section is inspired by tommy's story of how he met techno as told in this storytime.

there is something that flickers at the back of his mind when the ratty zombie child calls him The Blade.

i think it's so incredibly special that everybody calls techno The Blade but like,, that's tommy's nickname for him. theres this moment where tommy's talking about giving techno a nickname and techno's like "you call me The Blade!' again, everybody calls techno The Blade, but he tells tommy "you call me The Blade." like i don't know how to articulate this but, that's tommy's nickname for him. they're brothers.

Tommy's been to war with soft, pale blues.

ae reference because again, smpearth is canon cuz i said

Tommy is 13 and standing over the remains of Business Bay's storage area.

this is an smpearth thing. wisp and vop did a whole grief of business bay, it was very dramatic very tragic. the thing with techno coming to business bay to talk to tommy is from this comic and i hold this headcanon close to my heart.

"Tommy, if anyone gives you trouble—and I mean serious trouble, not the kind we have—you tell me.”

Tommy hears an echo of similar words from the man who just burnt down everything he’s worked for.

"Tommy, anyone that touches you fucks with me... I will kill Techno if it takes me all of my life to prepare for it, you understand me?"

im so proud of this parallel between wisp and techno man you have no clue. okay, so like i said before, the ae versus bb thing in my head is very much like play fighting. sometimes it gets serious like the scenario which is happening in the fic where things actually get destroyed. that's because they're stubborn teenaged boys and conflicts can go from fun to actual trouble real quick. these "similar words" and the following quote are references to one of my favorite wisp moments ever. wisp, for anyone unclear on smpearth backstory, was a part of business bay before he betrayed them for the antarctic empire. he was also the one who burnt down the storage area which is why tommy's remembering this quote so bitterly.

Tommy rolls his eyes. "I pinky promise, Technoblade." He sticks out his little finger like a challenge.

the pinky promising is Canon from like the post-exile streams i think and i headcanon it as something tommy just does with people

and so this is to put context to the "using techno" thing. because i've always kinda viewed as like calling in a friend (or a big brot—[gunshot]) in for help so this part of the fic gives it the background to be like that

But then, Tommy is 16 and standing in a cataclysm, once again watching everything he’s worked for get destroyed by a man who swore to protect him.

this line solidifies that parallel to wisp where techno made a similar promise to protect tommy and now he's destroying everything tommy's worked for (business bay in wisp's case, lmanburg in techno's case) im very proud of this parallel.

His tall brown-haired friend from competitions past

wilbur of course, the competitions past being mcm

He collects titles like music discs

i asked my friend for things that people collect and they said "records" and i said "wait—"

Technoblade is 17 and he has no family. He has a friend who makes sure he sleeps. He has a friend who creates bridges and mischief. He has a bug that he still hasn't squashed.

i've always loved the idea of sbi becoming this little found family on smpearth. like they're not super lovely dovey "we're like brothers" but they're so fond of each other and they hang out when they're not pretending to be at war. and so theres still that room to say that they're not family, but like they totally are

Bright blue eyes beg him for some entertainment, so Techno sighs and grabs The Complete Works of William Shakespeare off the shelf.

this headcanon that techno used to read them shakespeare comes from wilbur's offhand comment asking techno to recite king lear to them

Wilbur's planted himself at Techno's side for the duration of the finale, something that he's grateful for. Wilbur's always been his person to lean on for things like this.

inspired by i think wilbur saying that he was techno's like designated extrovert during mcc's and i really love that aspect of their relationship. because techno is looked at as "the older brother" in so many ways, but like in this way, when wilbur's guiding him through social situations and supporting him, he gets to be wilbur soot's little brother.

Technoblade never says I love you, but he reads his baby brother The Twelfth Night instead of Hamlet and ends Theseus' tale after the Minotaur.

this was one of the first things i had written for this fic. so obviously hamlet is a tragedy while the twelfth night is a rocking good time. so like going back to that shakespeare headcanon but techno protecting tommy in the little ways. the theseus part is inspired by me not knowing the rest of theseus' story after he gets home and his dad jumps into the ocean. like the exile and death stuff i didn't hear about until the dsmp so that's where that came from. techno, even though it kind of goes against who he is, leaving theseus' story as a victory where the hero slays the monster, just to give his little brother something with a happy ending

"Do you want to be a hero, Tommy? THEN DIE LIKE ONE!"

i did always think this could be seen as like "well if you want to be a hero, then you can die like one" and leaving off the unspoken "but if you don't want to be--if you choose not to be, then you get to live. so don't be a hero. please don't be a hero." and theres like that little tragedy there that i really love in techno and tommy's relationship. like, i love you, you love me, all i ever wanted was to make you laugh, but we don't speak the same language. we don't understand each other. everything you are is against everything i stand for. so yeah bedrock bros feels. i wrote this long before exile and all that so its even more complicated now gosh.

[cupcakemolotov]

Twisted Intentions: Chapter Two

@accidental-rambler​ let us not go back and check how long this chapter has been coming, yeah? But I think its finally finished? Probably. We are ending it here, at least.

Everyone please be checking the tags on this one. It is a fairly more darker take than I usually do, these two crazy murder fiends, and there is smut. The first scene below has some murder to it, but nothing smutty. You can find both chapters on A03: Chapter One, Chapter Two.

Warnings: Alternate Universe - Regency; Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon; Possessive Klaus Mikaelson; Vampire Caroline; F/F Smut; M/F smut; Non-Klaroline Smut (referenced); Referenced Threesome F/F/M; Canon-Typical Violence; Not Canon Compliant; Dark Caroline Forbes; Past-Prostitution; Klaroline End Game; no non-con; Suggested Sexual Coercion; Vampire Klaus Mikaelson; Hybrid Klaus Mikaelson; Compulsion; Murder; Dark; Violence; Smut; Orgasm Delay/Denial; Oral Sex; Sex; Murder Kink; Biting; Blood Kink;  Mutual Masturbation  

                                                          -

The pub was quiet so early in the evening, dust lingering the corners the same as the plague lingered on the street. It was not a place she would have willingly visited, but some summons could not be ignored. Casually, she ran her fingers over her lips to make sure she’d cleaned up any of the blood that might have lingered.

Today was her third day as a vampire, and tonight had been her first solo deliberate kill. Her sire had taught her how to compel a man, the taste of a rabbiting pulse against her tongue, the fastest way to a heart with her fingers, and she had taken well to the hunt. Caroline felt no shame in learning to enjoy what she had become, to embrace the choice that she had been given, that she had made.

Some monsters, after all, were not nearly so kind as to show their devil’s bargains with fangs and eyes, though she had learned to recognize them all the same. But while the life of a whore had taught her many things, this new existence had been illuminating. Caroline had learned to avoid the sun, begun to learn the language of the night outside of the stained sheets of her old bedroom, and not once had she gone hungry. Here in the midst of the plague, blood was as easy to steal as the streets made dying, and for the first time in her seventeen years, she felt strong. Powerful. The predator instead of prey, and it was a heady feeling after years of being powerless.

But dangerous. She could not forget the dangers of this new life. Dangerous that she had not yet fully come to recognize. While her sire was indulgent of his newest creations, she was not such a fool to take his pretty did not hide a terrible sort of lethal practicality. Those dimples masked a violence she had caught lingering in his eyes, and every instinct she had warned her that there was more to him than he wanted her to know. He was deliberately mysterious, and while he’d offered so few expectations for their behavior, showing them how best to indulge their sins, and Caroline wondered why.

Compulsion was no idle tool, and though it had opened the world to so many whims, greed was a risk she was not willing to indulge in. Not yet. Humans might easily be bent to her will, but she would do well to remember the lessons she’d learned and been taught in her handful of years. Avarice could leave her the fattened calf for others as easily she could take from those less wise. She was not the only creation her sire had made, and from his offhand comments, age seemed to make a difference in strength.

Better then, to teach herself control, to master every instinct and then indulge only when she controlled every aspect of the experience. She had no intention of letting the gift she had been given control her, not when she’d vowed never again would she have a master except herself.

Never again.

Though she would have to be careful.

Glancing towards the back of the room, she pursed her lips at the trio of men who unknowingly awaited her presence at a table. Caroline recognized two of them from her lessons, though her sire had not introduced her to them. She had not asked to know them, not when she understood how they watched her. Lustful, but stupid.

They thought themselves clever, and the new monster that lived in her bone and marrow that she knew in the back of her throat as hunger, did not approve of their ilk. They’d smelled weak. Eager. It wasn’t her place to judge her sire’s choices, but she’d been certain he’d picked up on her disapproval.

Chosen to be amused rather than offended.

Tonight, the blood that stained their clothing, the scent of sex and death that lingered on their skin did nothing endure her to them. Mixing those pleasures when you had so little control told her that her original assessment had been correct. Wrinkling her nose, Caroline wondered if leaving would be a mark against her.

She was not given the chance to find out.

Awareness and warning prickled down her spine, and Caroline turned to find her sire watching her from the doorway. His lips curled at the edges, a hint of dimple catching in one cheek, and he strode forward to meet her. “Good evening, love. I must say, your new life suits you.”

His eyes dropped from her face to skim her figure, the dimple deepening. Caroline gave the endearment little meaning, he dolled out charm too easily for it to be sincere. But even knowing some of his truth, the impact of him was unavoidable. Her sire was a feast for her eyes and the monster she had become did not find the violence of him unbecoming.

However, the compliment was sincere, so she allowed a smile to touch her lips. Her new dress was well made, but not so expensive to draw attention, but it was pretty and hers. It had been a very long time since she owned her own clothes.

“Thank you.”

His gaze swept back to her face as he approached and offered her his arm. She took it, because she would not be accused of not having manners, and he sighed, head angling as if letting her into his confidence. She took no stock in that either.

“It is a pity that the same cannot be said for the rest.”

Klaus, Caroline had learned, was as mercurial with his violence as he was with his mercy. He’d plucked her from the street as easily as he’d left others to die, had shown her the fastest way to a man’s heart with dimples and bloody clothes. Tonight, there was something in his voice, a hint of roughness that did not bode well for any of them and she had no intention of being a target for that rage.

“They seem to lack some... subtlety,” she agreed.

His smile shifted to a sort of dangerous amusement. “Let’s find out just how little they have exhibited, shall we?”

Very aware that this was not her choice, Caroline merely hummed in agreement and let him escort her to the table. Violence did not frighten her, but something about the way he moved, the pleasant tilt of his lips, was unnerving.

“Hello, lads. It seems that you have enjoyed yourselves.”

They went still in front of her, a court very aware of its king’s displeasure, for all that he was smiling. Lifting Caroline’s hand from his arm, he brushed her knuckles lightly with his lips. “Do make yourself comfortable, sweetheart.”

In the next heartbeat, he’d twisted and was suddenly holding a twitching heart in his left hand. Caroline paused from where she’d gathered her skirts to settle, her heart a thump in her throat at the ease, the speed of his strike. But it wasn’t exactly fear that danced beneath her skin, though wariness had her watching him carefully. Settling the heart casually on the table, he motioned for her to sit on the empty seat.

She sat.

Reaching into his pocket, Klaus removed a handkerchief and meticulously began to clean his hand. “It really is so much easier to deal with baby vampires when the sire bond exists, but I suppose you can’t win them all.” His smile widened at the sudden, sharp stink of fear. “I am a benevolent ruler, but there are some lines that will not be tolerated being crossed. Leaving bodies where they can be found by anyone, even during a plague, will not be allowed. Is that understood?”

Next to them, the body finally toppled to the floor, as if it had finally understood it was dead. Caroline stared at the heartless vampire, considered how quickly his life had been snuffed out, and she arranged her skirts to avoid the growing puddle of blood while wondering why she was here. She had not been so careless with her teeth or metaphorical cock.

Across from her, the remaining vampires stammered their understanding, but when her eyes returned to her sire’s face, it was to find him watching her. There was something about his expression, the set of his jaw, that left her very certain that this mess was much as a message for her as for them, and she worked through the whys. The point of this little warning. This show.

She had no care for these men, and she was certain, neither did her sire. Even with this warning, it was likely the remaining two vampires would be dead within the week. Klaus had never struck her as anything but calculating, even in his whims, and it dawned on her that perhaps that was his point.

Her sire wanted her to see just how easily he would snuff the life from his creations, should it be necessary. Should they make it necessary... Vampires were monsters, but they were hidden, tucked carefully between the shadows of the nights and humanity’s soft dreams of safety.

But if they did, he might offer a quick, clean death. That message was for these men. Her message was tangled in the quickness of the death, the way he had offered her his arm before leading her to this little slaughter. He might find her amusing, might be indulgent of her opinions, but she could not count on that indulgence to save her.

Caroline tipped her in silent acknowledgement of his message. Betrayal, she knew without it being said, would have far more dire consequences.

Link: A03

[good-forthe-weekend]

Better rundown of my Eris/Mor backstory theory

Okay so the way we’ve heard it is that Mor didn’t really know Eris before they were betrothed.

But. What if they did.

It’s not like they were childhood besties or anything, but they’re both high society high fae

It stands to reason that they’d run into each other at least a little at official functions.

So my theory is they knew each other.

They’d run into each other a handful of times through the years, and became friends

I like to think that maybe they exchanged magic notes, like Feyre/Rhys

Maybe they even started to love each other

Eris let Mor see past his bravado and facade

Showed her a side of him that no one else, save his mother, even knew existed (although he was for sure much softer before he and Mor’s story)

Because you can’t convince me that Eris isn’t a parallel to Rhys. He’s soft too, we just haven’t seen it

In fact, that side of him is the only side Mor ever really saw

And he was kind to her, in a way no one else was. Even the bat boys. Eris treated her like she was his world

He gave her some bravado of her own, made her feel valuable beyond what she was valued for by her father

But like, at the same time, they also only physically saw each other a handful of times before the whole betrothal thing happens

With this, almost no one really noticed that them talking to each other. No one saw them become friends

Except Eris’ mom.

When Eris’ mom saw her son interacting/being soft with Mor, she pulled strings to get her son married off to someone he liked and who brought out the best in him (unbeknownst to Beron, he thought that it was just a fantastic power move to marry Eris to such a high born noble of the Night Court)

In the meantime, Mor has been hearing from others that Eris is this awful brute, and hearing more and more about the facade he wears

After the betrothal, people started to realize they’d seen Mor and Eris around each other several times at past court functions

So, as more and more people in her direct circle heard about how she’d been seen around the prince of the Autumn Court, they started to make offhand comments about things he’s done, how awful his family (particularly his father) are to people, women in particular

Mor is also realizing she isn’t entirely straight, and doesn’t really want to be married off to anyone before she can explore that side of herself

Mor finds a way to meet with Eris (which would be a fun high stakes sneaking-out-of-the-Hewn-City scene) to talk to him, and try to get him to get the betrothal called off

(Spoiler alert, he doesn’t want to)

She’s telling him that she doesn’t want to marry yet (partly because she thinks she prefers females, but also because she doesn’t want to marry  into such an awful family, or be tied to someone who’s done the things Eris has done) when their mating bond clicks

Not as in fully (because idk if we’ve seen a mating bond fully solidify without sex, which they never had), but they can tell, they’re mates. Full on Lucien/Elain moment.

I’m picturing a whole confrontation, with tons of romantic tension in it. But in the middle:

“Why are you being so nasty now? I thought we had a connection!” Eris yelled hoarsely, “I thought you cared for me!”

Mor whirled around suddenly, fire in her eyes as she faced him. “I do care-” her sentence cut short and her eyes went wide with shock. She stumbled backwards. “No, no, no, no, no...”

She could see on Eris’ face that he could sense it too.

Idk, there would for sure be more, but I’m not in these guys’ head enough to really flesh it out

But you get the idea

Mor goes from mild freak out to FULL ON PANIC ATTACK about it all

She pulls a Rhys and immediately winnows out of Autumn Court and to Windhaven

She sleeps with Cassian, at this point both to try to get out of the betrothal AND to prove a point AND to try to see if she actually likes men (at this point mentally she’s a whole wreck)

She’s resolved to go finish her conversation with Eris when her father finds her (either at the Hewn City, or in the Autumn Court)

He knows what she’s done, can smell it all over her

Keir sends word to Beron, hopeful that he can salvage the situation, but Beron says no and ends the betrothal

In response Keir, ya know, tortures Mor and leaves her for the Autumn Court to find

In the meantime, Eris and Beron meet

Eris says he still wants to marry Mor, that he doesn’t give a shit about her virginity. She’s still a powerful match, and lets slip that he has feelings for her. (Secretly, he just doesn’t want to be parted from his mate, and wants the chance to flesh out that relationship. But he also knows exactly how much danger Mor would be in if Beron found out they were Mates)

Beron not only tells him no, but threatens him within an inch of his life

“You will not marry her. She’s damaged goods now. To marry her would be to sully our family’s name. It would undermine our Court.”

Eris stood tall and proud against his father. “You can’t stop us. I love this girl. And I will marry her, with or without your permission.”

“Oh, you think so, boy?” Beron chuckled darkly. “Then go ahead, marry the slut. See how welcome you are in this home. You will be banished from the Autumn Court, and hunted til the day you both die.” Beron’s eyes went colder than Eris thought possible, “You think that any Court will stand to protect a traitor and his whore of a wife? My hounds will hunt you for eternity, and when they find you, you’ll learn exactly what happens to those who would shit all over my family name.”

He basically tells him that he has to not abandon Mor, but also show adequate disdain for her, or risk people thinking him weak, which would set off his father’s temper, and potentially make Beron torture/kill Mor

I also think that Beron would torture Eris while Mor is also being tortured

This convinces Eris to drop it and do as his father says, at least until he can find a way to kill his father and ascend to the throne

But back to Mor, who’s been left bleeding and naked in the forest

Eris finds her (but here’s where it gets different)

He finds her before the official time.

The first time he finds her, he’s alone. Beron has just released him from being tortured, and threatened him again, told him that the only way to keep him and Mor safe is to abandon her.

So, after finding her, he goes home, finds a way to (anonymously) get word to Mor’s friend (Az) that she needs help, and stages a ‘public’ scene

Not that Mor is conscious for any of this. She’s unconscious until Eris shows back up, entourage in tow.

Which is what we’re shown, when he sneers at her and leaves her to bleed out.

This is the catalyst/start of Eris being the sonofabitch that we’re introduced to in ACOWAR

He basically gives up on being any sort of good person outwardly, and only half gives a shit about actually being good on the inside

Mor, for her part, is traumatized by Eris abandoning her (he’s her mate, ffs, he’s supposed to protect her! Little does she know, he is in his own way) but she’s also legitimately terrified that one day Eris is going to wake up and decide that he’s going to forcibly out her (both sexually, and as his Mate)

Which like, he would never, but she doesn’t know that. After he left her in the woods, she thinks he’s the person everyone told her he was

This could also play into her sexuality. Because yes, it is completely possible that she’s just bisexual and homoromantic.

But I think it would make an awful lot of sense if she realized while sleeping with Cassian that no other male would feel right. Because she knows her mate is out there. She loved him at one point. And sure, sleeping with males filled a void, but it just wasn’t fulfilling.

Females were different, though. The mating bond is, ultimately, tied heavily into reproduction potential, so imo, there would be a heavy tendency for mated couples (specifically those who realized they were mates AND were in genuine love w/o fully solidifying the bond) to have a harder time finding hetero relationships outside of their mate, because the bond/the Cauldron is telling them that this isn’t who they’re supposed to be reproducing with. But the Cauldron doesn’t really have a stake in homosexual relationships. So it’s more like “You do you, boo, idgaf” (also, in this headcanon, yes the Cauldron is kinda way overbearing with regards to reproduction, and yes, I agree that it would make the Cauldron homophobic when it chooses mates. Simply put, what we’re told about the Cauldron skews homophobic. We get told over and over again that the mating bond is about producing powerful offspring. Which makes it canon that its main concern is reproduction, which would automatically make it much harder, if not close to impossible for gay people in ACOTAR to have Mates. I hate it, but I didn’t write the canon. I’m just theorizing within the bounds of what we’ve been given)

Idk how I want this to come out, but regardless of how it happens, I don’t want Mor to end up going back to Eris

That’s partially a lie. I want this story coming out to be mildly messy. But at the same time, I want Mor coming out to be on her terms, so I don’t want it to be THAT level of messy.

But I for sure would love if Az and Cassian and Rhys confront her about lying to them by omission for 500 years

And for Azriel to confront her about stringing him along. Especially since she knew she had a mate

Anyway, I’m all for forgiveness and moving past things, and acknowledging that sometimes we do awful things to protect those we love

But I would SO MUCH RATHER Mor get a moment where she gets to tell him off

“Thank you for telling me the truth after all these years. It’s haunted me in ways I can’t even say.” Mor’s gaze was locked on Eris, her face cold and certain. “But that doesn’t mean I forgive what was done to me. What you did to me. I’m all healed now, physically and mentally. I’m finding my own happiness.” Emerie shifted on her feet from her spot behind Mor. She looked as though she was fighting against a look of beaming pride. “I loved you, Eris, but I’m happy without you. And I don’t want you in my life. At all. Ever.”

Like, that would be so powerful! Not only would it be great for someone to choose someone other than their mate

But also, it would touch on an overlooked concept in this series. The fact that no matter your intentions, the people you hurt are under no obligation to forgive you.

Like I love Rhys, I adore Nesta, and I love that they got forgiveness from the people they hurt, but I think it’s also important to have that idea in there that actions have consequences, no matter what your intentions were.

Anyway, that’s like..a whole fleshed out version of what I theorize happened with Mor/Eris

[newtedison]

my thoughts on the crank palace

i touched about this a bit on twitter (@newtedison_) but i figured i would Try and touch on my points more here (spoilers obv) again, its sort of lengthy

1. im gonna start with talking about the ending because i need to get it out of the way. either i havent read the books in a while and i forgot some canon (which could very well be true, i literally forgot that Bliss was a thing) or this ending makes no sense and is (somehow) setting up for a tdc sequel? so first off, newt was shot in the Head with a Bullet and somehow didnt immediately die? i know that that can happen in real life but it just seems so unlikely that not only would he not die, but he would survive long enough for someone from WCKD to transport him back to their labs and try to revive him. and who the fuck was he talking to? did thomas get newt’s journal at some point and i just dont remember? like i said, either im forgetting stuff or this ending doesnt make sense and is setting up a sequel which...i’ll get to later

2. why was this written? like, what was the point? i understand that this wasnt going to be all sunshine and rainbows but i feel like i was reading torture porn. like, literally all that happens is newt gets tortured (which is described in detail) by WCKD soldiers, has bouts of insane-fueled rage where he KILLS MULTIPLE PEOPLE, and then he dies. ??? what did this contribute to the canon? what was this trying to accomplish? truthfully, i never really wanted a newt-POV...well, anything except for maybe those little nuggets he wrote some time ago. but even if i HAD wanted a newt-POV novella, this is not what i would have wanted. he KNOWS that newt is almost universally the most loved character in this franchise. you can tell because he constantly uses him as a way to get fans in his good graces again. so why on earth would he take that character that so many people love and write a novella where its torture porn and a descent into madness before death? i am not interested in that At All. i’ve read fics (and even written a drabble) where newt is a Crank, and those were more respectful and easier to read than tcp. the parts where newt is having bouts of the Flare were literally exhausting to read; it was described in such vivid and torturous detail that it made me sick reading it. and it didnt help that newt is a character i care a lot about. i didn’t need to know what becoming a Crank felt like. the way it was described in the other books (and even the movies) told me everything i needed to know. the way thomas and everyone found newt at the crank palace in tdc and hes described as obviously not well, but not knowing what exactly happened to him...thats good enough on its own. the mystery of what exactly newt had to endure is part of what gives his journey more emotional depth. not everything needs to be written out and explained. not every gap needs to be filled in. 

3. me saying “the characterization felt off” is going to make some people roll their eyes because ‘duh, sami, the characterization will be off because he’s going insane’ to which i say...exactly. we weren’t really reading a newt-POV novella, were we? even if he isn’t past the Gone in the beginning, hes clearly not the same person we knew him as. the whole novella felt like an uncanny valley situation; i knew i was supposed to be reading about newt, but it felt like i was reading about someone else who looked like him. and that is part of what made this such a disconnect and made me lose interest at parts. not only that, but the world building and lore is inconsistent. newt makes a comment about how it used to rain in the glade, and apparently (as ive been told) that is simply not true. keisha having somehow working cell phone that magically connects her to her family also doesnt make sense. how would they have each others’ numbers? what are the odds that they BOTH found working cell phones in an apocalypse? i get that its a novella but you cant just throw something that crazy in there as a plot convenience. actually work on your plot and world building in a cohesive way, please. and another thing that doesnt make sense...

4. ...is newt finding out that sonya is his sister. if there was anything i would have wanted from a newt-pov novella, it would have been this. him finding out that not only is sonya his sister, but he already knows her post-WCKD. something that would have made this novella actually captivating, contributing something worthwhile to the canon that i would actually want to read, is if newt found out while in the crank palace that sonya was his sister; the Flare would remove that part of the Slice in his brain, and he would realize it was her. then, knowing that he couldnt go past the Gone before seeing her, he would try to find a way to get back to her. he could learn this after thomas and everyone originally see him, so it could match up with the canon. and then, by the time 250 comes along, hes lost all hope of that actually happening, and lashes out to thomas in a fit of rage. the journey of him trying to find his ACTUAL sister would have meant more to me than the story of keisha and dante. trust me, i love a found family trope as much as the next girl. but this series is FULL of the found family trope. it pretty much is the backbone of the franchise. so to see a blood family dynamic would have been a refreshing change of pace that i actually would have been interested in reading. also, the way that newt DOES find out about sonya is...underwhelming. he just randomly says “you remind me of my sister, sonya” to keisha in the WCKD truck. first of all, sonya is not the name you would actually know her by. you would know her by her birth name (which is lizzy? elizabeth?). second, why does he act like he didnt already meet her in the series? when the WCKD doctor tells him sonya is his sister and is alive, hes so surprised. wouldn’t he have known that already? why is there not more emphasis on the fact he already met her? that would have been a really interesting dynamic to explore, and im sad they didnt

5. the pacing and dialogue of tcp is so dragged out. i remember specifically there was a section where newt goes to talk to keisha after she starts abandoning dante, and i swear to god there was a page and a half of text before anything ACTUALLY happened or anyone ACTUALLY said anything. dashner described a launcher at one point as “the energy dependent electric firing projectile device.” that’s SIX words to describe a stun gun. a fucking stun gun! we know what it is! why did you have to use six words??? it just felt like everything was dragged and stretched to the longest it could possibly be and it added to the exhaustion i felt while reading it

6. okay i cant end it without talking about newtmas. its very obvious by now that newtmas is a VERY large part of this fanbase. its clearly the most popular ship and what keeps a lot of people interested in this series. even the marketing team for the MOVIES used newtmas as a advertising tactic (i.e.; using thomas and newt standing face to face as a thumbnail for the trailer, emphasizing newtmas based questions in interviews, even making a fucking facebook memories video for them. yes that last one is real). not only does dashner use newt as a way to lure fans in; he also uses newtmas. the parts that were sprinkled into this were so obvious that it didnt feel authentic. i cant speak for the original trilogy; i dont know the culture around ships back then, and i dont know how much it influenced his writing at the time. but the scenes in those books felt more genuine than tcp. by genuine i mean; he wrote scenes without a relationship in mind, but the chemistry had noticeable subtext that, while unintentional, was largely agreed upon by the larger audience. the parts of newtmas he added into tcp felt artificial and forced, likely as a way for people to take snippets of and use as a free marketing tool for him. one example you might have already seen; “he had already gotten used to his post-thomas, post-WCKD life.” the fact that dashner SPECIFICALLY used the phrase “post-thomas” rather than “post-his friends” or something similar shows that he is using newtmas as a hook on purpose. not only that, but to make newt’s last thoughts as he died “tommy. tommy will understand...” is...wow. first of all, i never wanted to know what newt’s dying thoughts were, but thanks, i guess? and second, when we all initially thought newt died underneath thomas with a gun to his head, i was pretty much inferred that newts last thoughts would probably be about thomas; they would sort of have to be, given the circumstances. so adding that in gives me the same feeling that “i’m coming for you, newt” at the end of the fever code gave me. not as offensive, but written very much on purpose. and the ending is implying that there will somehow be a sequel where thomas gets newt’s journal from...someone. at this point, i can only think that this sequel will retroactively make newtmas canon somehow. now that newt has been confirmed as gay, it could happen. which brings me to my last point...

7. hearing dashner confirm newt is gay was already mind-boggling before. now that i’ve read the crank palace...im angry. im very angry. i think its safe to say that newt is the character that suffers the most in this series. you can argue with me but hes definitely high on the list, if not #1. so; you take this character. you give him a horribly sad arc in the original trilogy, then decide to expand upon it and tell us, your largely QUEER fanbase, exactly how painful and torturous his last days were, in detail. and then you tell us he’s gay. something that is never mentioned in the canon, only in an offhanded reply to a tweet of someone calling you out. on a base level, i can understand why people would be happy. representation (i guess), seeing themselves in the character, having their headcanons be confirmed. great. but what i see is you telling your largely queer fanbase “hey, you see the only confirmed gay character? im going to literally write torture porn about him before killing him off and offer it to you like im providing a service to your community.” how fucked up is that? “hey, kids, if youre gay, you WILL be violently tortured and become violent and a danger to the ones you love. then you will die and your love will never be reciprocated.” what a message! and if he DOES end up retroactively making newtmas “canon” in some weird sequel...i will start foaming at the mouth. THIS is an example of how not all queer representation is good or genuine.

i’ve definitely forgotten some points but this is long enough already. let me know if you agree or if theres anything else you want to add! im interested in what you guys think

(8. I JUST REMEMBERED!!! if WCKD needed to study newt so bad bc sonya is his sister and is immune while he isnt, why did they let him run around the crank palace in the first place??? you cant test his vitals or anything you’re literally just watching him. what is the point????)

[veliseraptor]

“I think sometimes it tips that way in modern au settings for reasons I can elaborate on if anyone is interested” I’m interested! Elaborate away!

(related to an offhand comment/bait I left in this ask about my Xue Yang sex headcanons and how specifically his relationship to sex tips more actively self-destructive than I think it does in canon)

oh boy you have unlocked a whole new level of headcanon and like. I’m sorry in advance. this is the kind of thing where I’m like “dang should I make a custom xue yang tag so I don’t inflict my everything on everyone else” and then I don’t. 

basically the thing is: setting aside the idea of a reincarnation au where he has some/any recollection of what happened in Yi City, which would be a headfuck all its own...I tend to think that Xue Yang does just have some Brain Stuff - specifically regarding the degree to which other people are “real” to him (they aren’t). 

by that I mean that he sort of struggles with conceiving that other people have the same level of interiority and for lack of a better word humanity as he does, which makes it very hard to care about them, on the whole, as individuals. in canon that’s also there, but to a certain extent he made a deliberate decision to just go “well, fuck it! norms are for nerds and society is fake.” He doesn’t care to try (after all, on some level others haven’t tried for him; he’s spent a fair amount of time being perceived as subhuman/being dehumanized).

(still find it very interesting that this is one of the only places during his fight with Song Lan where he stops smiling!)

I think his ability to work within the structure of a sect like the Jin was always a limited deal.

furthermore, there is a certain degree of self-destructiveness inherent in the kind of reckless behavior that Xue Yang exhibits! like, not consciously, and he is very much oriented toward survival and self-preservation for the most part, but on some level that attitude of see-what-happens contains within it seeds of a bit of a drive toward self-destruction. it’s complicated. and the reason why I think a modern setting brings that out is - well, it kind of comes down to ableism and stigma, honestly.

because a Xue Yang who has some Brain Issues as described above, in a modern context, is going to become aware pretty quickly that (a) that’s weird, and bad, and wrong, and probably sort of evil, and (b) that showing any kind of antisocial behavior is going to create significant issues for his trying to get what he wants. so he’s going to do his damnedest to perform normalcy, if only for the sake of moving through the world in a way that doesn’t get him in trouble - and he can do that, when motivated, to a greater or lesser extent.

but there’s always going to be a disjunction between his awareness of himself and how his brain works and how he experiences the world and relates to other people, and the knowledge of how things are supposed to work. 

which. it’s not like “psychopath” and “sociopath” are words people use that have any kind of good valence to them. 

I very definitively do not see a canon Xue Yang having issues with self-loathing - self-doubt, sure, uncertainty, sure, anxiety and insecurity about certain things, sure. but he definitely does not hate himself or have any sense that he’s somehow, you know, bad. I think that changes in a modern AU where it’s harder to be completely disengaged from society, and he’s less likely to have the ability to ignore quite as completely the messages he gets about something being wrong with him - and more likely to internalize them. 

which is going to produce, I think, more of a tendency toward that sense of active perception-of-the-monstrous-self, and consequently orient that recklessness more toward an indifference or active investment in self-destructive or self-harming behaviors. because impulsive + adrenaline seeking + just a little bit of internalized sense of himself as monstrous can very quickly lean toward something more serious and intentional than I think it is in canon.

anyway! that is my brief treatise on one of the ways in which I think a modern au Xue Yang is differently dysfunctional than a canon one, thank you for listening.

[makeste]

I was originally going to send this message declaring my undying love for your metas and chapter reviews aND THEN - AND THEN MAKESTE - I READ THE ANSWER WHERE YOU SAID YOU WERE ARO AND THAT MAKES ME SOOOOO HAPPY. I'm aroace and it is SO FRUSTRATING to want to consume platonic or familial interaction between people and CONSTANTLY only get romantic or sexual. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING YOU CONTRIBUTE

woooo up top! solidarity lol.

for me it’s like... I don’t know if “frustrating” is the word I would use, but I do wish there was more gen out there. and that’s also something I’ve felt awkward about wanting in the past, because my early fandom years took place in a time where slash was much less of an everyday commonplace thing than it is now, and liking it was still a fairly controversial thing. the internet was a much more openly homophobic place than it is now. like, picture the purity police of modern day tumblr, but if they attacked any kind of non-heterosexual relationship as being sick and perverted and wrong. that was pretty much the general vibe. this was before AO3, and people who wrote slash often didn’t post it on ff.net and only posted it to their own private blogs and/or locked and moderated communities instead just so they wouldn’t be harassed. and there was absolutely no canon representation out there at all, or next to none. it was very much a “[rolls eyes] oh the yaoi fangirls are at it again” sort of thing where non-cishet relationships in fiction and fanfiction were at best not taken seriously at all, and at worst were treated with outright scorn and disgust.

and so like, with this being a common attitude at the time, I felt guilty for not always wanting to read slash myself. like, I don’t mind reading about romantic relationships at all, but for me there also has to be some other kind of element in play as well, or else it’s just not going to click for me. if a fic is just romance, just a lot of pining and slow burn stuff without anything else really going on in the plot, I just get bored and disinterested. I almost want to use the word tired, even though I’m not sure that makes much sense. I just can’t connect to the emotions, and so I disengage pretty quickly. and so I tend to steer clear of time-honored fandom staples like coffee shop AUs or And They Were Roommates, just because for me there’s rarely anything there for me to latch onto. I like angst, but I can’t relate to “so and so doesn’t feel the same way about me”, or “I want to be with them so bad but I don’t know how to confess”, or “they’re with someone else and it hurts like crazy every time I see them and know we can’t be together”, because none of those are emotions that I have ever personally felt, and I just can’t make myself feel them. what I can relate to are things like “this person makes me feel safe”, or “I feel a strong connection to this person”, or “I trust this person more than anyone else” because those feelings aren’t exclusively romantic in nature. I can relate to closeness and caring and love and affection and trust, but what I can’t relate to is the feeling of having a single person occupy all of your thoughts all the time, and very badly wanting to be the most important thing in their life as well, and feeling incomplete otherwise.

but anyway I spiraled away from the point I was trying to get to, which is that for a long time I actually felt guilty about feeling this way. because even though it’s rare to find fanworks where gen/platonic relationships are at the center, actual canon is chock full of said relationships. and so it’s like, what right do I even have to complain when I get to read all the time about so and so being friends, but the people who actually want them to be in a relationship in the actual canon so rarely get to see that actually happen. because that much has not changed in the past 20 years, even though society has become far more accepting of LGBTQ+ relationships. most canons are still far more likely to tease a non-hetero ship -- on purpose, even, hence why queerbaiting is a thing -- than actually commit to it. and so I often feel like I have no right to voice my desire for more genfic, because genfic has never faced the same kind of scrutiny as slashfic. gen has always been acceptable, and there is plenty of canon representation of platonic and non-romantic relationships, and so it’s not something I have any business whining about.

and even now I feel fairly uncomfortable voicing this lol. I write almost exclusively genfic myself, and up until very recently, I’ve always defined gen in my head as being just a lack of romantic or sexual content, rather than being its own distinct category. I think that’s one of the reasons it took me so long to realize I was aro (that, and I’d honestly never even come across the term until just a few years ago). for me, my lack of interest in romantic affection always felt more like a lack of identity rather than an identity in and of itself. I always felt like I was missing something. and for a very long time it never occurred to me that this might be a permanent thing; I just figured, okay, I just haven’t had this feeling yet. it just hasn’t happened for me yet. but eventually it would, and I just hadn’t met the right person, or whatever. but it was never anything I particularly wanted, and I never felt like I was missing out on anything by not having it. I never felt any kind of longing for it or felt incomplete without it. I was actually perfectly content!

but because society treats romantic orientation as the norm and places such a huge emphasis on it, I still had the uncomfortable feeling in the back of my head that if I never fell in love with someone and never wound up having a relationship with someone, my life would somehow be less meaningful and whole. like, we’re raised to think that romantic love is basically the pinnacle of the human experience, the purest and truest emotion that anyone can feel. and at the same time, there’s this idea that a life without that kind of love is just sad and unfulfilling and tragic. and so for a very long time my experience with my own aromanticism was characterized by me thinking of it as a lack of something that everyone else said was very important. and it took a long time to realize that that wasn’t the case, and that it was a valid orientation all its own and not just a matter of me being deficient in some way. and that was actually such a relief to finally come to terms with. I can be whole and complete on my own and still have a rich and fulfilling human experience even if I never experience romantic love, and that’s fine. I’m not missing anything. I’m not wrong for feeling like I’m not missing anything. it’s fine to be content with just me as I am. like, holy shit. and that was such a weight off my shoulders to finally get that.

I once wrote a fic which I was and still am very proud of. it was a genfic, and it had a really intricate plot with a big twist at the very end. and there was a ton of emotion in it, and it got very intense at times, because these were two characters who cared a lot about each other and would literally die for each other if they had to, and I’d put them in a situation where that possibility was very much looming over their heads at every turn. and I really put everything I had into trying to convey that kind of bond as strongly as possible. like I poured a ton of my heart and soul into that fic. and the responses were almost universally positive and kind and made me really happy.

there was one response though, that still sticks with me to this day. it was by and large very positive, just like the others. but it ended with a single sentence that, at the time, kind of just lowkey gutted me. Not gonna lie though, would have loved some slash in there.

like, that just cut me. way more than this person actually intended, I think. I’m pretty sure they just meant it as an offhanded comment, not even a concrit or anything. just “haha would have loved it if they’d kissed though lol.” but it stung. because this was something I’d put every ounce of emotion that I could conjure up into. and even though it wasn’t mean to be hurtful in any way, to me that comment read as “this is still missing something.” because there was no romance, the fic was incomplete. the characters’ feelings were incomplete. even though I’d struggled so much to convey all of these complex emotions which to me were so real and powerful, and even though the comment even acknowledged that I had by and large done so effectively, to me the single takeaway that stuck was that the feelings were less meaningful because there was no romance.

and that felt like a failing on my part. I even apologized for it. and here we are, ten years later, and that comment still pops up in my head any time I feel the urge to talk about a popular ship which I support but which I also enjoy as just a friendship. “just” a friendship. I still feel guilt over that. I still feel this urge to overexplain that I’m not trying to invalidate the actual romantic ship. I worry that I’d be perceived as ungrateful and/or a bad ally if I ever just came out and said “I wish there was more gen” like you were able to say so freely, anon. I worry about people getting offended if I were to say “I headcanon so and so as being aroace” because it might be viewed as an attack on their ships, or as latent homophobia, or something. like I have this paranoid fear that people might take it as me being puritanical and all “oh no, icky sex” or whatever, and so I end up just never bringing it up at all.

and that’s the thing about aromanticism, though; it’s so easy to just never talk about it at all, because for so many people it is just defined as a lack of something, rather than a something all on its own. it’s so easy for it to be something you just never bring up, and which just kind of quietly exists as the boring, bland, inoffensive yet uninteresting lack of a relationship; the default blank slate that most everyone is dying to fill in as soon as possible, except for you. and I’ve gone on thinking about it that way myself for so long that I’m still struggling now to sort out how to embrace it as an actual identity. it’s something I still have a lot of work to do on I guess.

anyway! so that all got very long and rambling and personal, far more so than I intended; clearly I have a lot of pent up thoughts and feelings about this lol. I guess I probably could stand to talk about it more, since the evidence would indicate that I clearly want to. but eh, baby steps. but anyways you are super valid anon and thank you so much for the love and comments. <3

[strangestdiary]

Light My Fire | Klaus Hargreeves

Relationship: Klaus/Reader 

Summary: Being back in the 1960s was a lot more comfortable the second time around Klaus comes to realize. 

Words: 2.3k

Warnings: Mentions of drugs and alcohol, light angst??, fluff, not going with canon of season 2 obviously 

A/N: Uh oh what’s this? Part 2 is possible. This was totally unprompted and I just really wanted to write it so here it is!

Also should I make a tag list? Let me know.

REQUESTS ARE OPEN

---

It wasn’t hard to realize what exactly he was doing down here, rifling through your recently stocked cabinets for some alcohol as he muttered to himself. You couldn’t help but smile to yourself while watching him clumsily push some bottles aside, swearing when one or two is about to fall off the shelf.

He backed away from your cabinet with a giddy smile on his face, kissing the neck of a half empty cherry smirnoff bottle. He unscrewed the cap and wiggled his hips a little before raising the bottle to his lips. He was slow to turn around but once he finally did he gasped followed by watery choking and clutching his chest in surprise. 

“Jesus Christ!” He shouted “How long have you been standing there?” 

A smirk found its way to your lips at his reaction. You shrugged, pushing yourself off the entrance of your family bar. “Long enough to watch you raid my alcohol and almost cost me a whole shelf of drinks that would be very expensive to replace.” You shot a playful glare at him and brushed past him to latch the shutter doors closed once again. 

It had been a few months since Klaus landed in your life in a very unceremonious fashion, quite literally landing on top of you in your bed after being spit out by a bright blue light just below your ceiling. You still had a small bump from where he accidentally elbowed your jaw when falling. 

At first you had convinced yourself it was an all too realistic dream produced from the weed you had smoked a little too much of earlier that night. That idea was pushed out of the window the day after when you woke up and the strange man was still in your room, laying in your silk hammock that was nailed up in the corner of your room. 

You both had gotten to know each other in the small amount of time you’ve known each other though, you had taken him to meet your friends who were all too enthusiastic to embrace a newcomer. He fit in well with them though, the smoking circles becoming more lively with him around and the conversations being the most entertaining talks you’ve had in your life. 

He was a curious but wonderful change to your life, and to say you were attracted to him was an understatement. 

Klaus hadn’t opened up to you that much about his past, but there were moments where he would let his walls drop just for a second. Sometimes an offhand comment about a sibling or sometimes indulging you in how exactly he got here in the first place. Everything he provided just sounded like some made up story he had spun for your entertainment. Especially when he would joke about being from the future. 

Klaus may not be the strangest person you had met but he was up there for sure. 

“Are you doing anything tomorrow night?” You asked, leaning back against the shutter cabinets he had been practically inside of just minutes ago. Klaus watched you curiously raising a brow with a gleam in his beautiful emerald eyes. 

He leaned against the bar idly with a smile playing on his lips “It depends on what you have in mind.” He brought the smirnoff back up to his lips, barely even reacting as the harsh alcohol burned its way down his throat. 

Pushing off the cabinets softly you walked up to him in three strides, a smile of your own threatening to break through “Marry and her girlfriend are hosting a get together in the woods behind their trailer, the usual smoking circle and maybe something else.” You felt him tug aimlessly on the black piano shawl wrapped around your shoulders. “There’s also someone I want you to meet too.” You said just above a whisper, your faces inching closer and closer by the second. 

“Yeah and who’s that?” His smile was breathtaking, his hands coming to rest on your waist. 

“His name’s Dave.” You whispered your lips just about to touch his. Klaus tenses up at the name, his fingers clenching against your waist, his eyes were wide and he was frozen in place. You backed off by an inch or two staring at him curiously “What’s wrong?” 

Klaus shook himself out of his shocked state long enough to look into your eyes, his mind reeling. “Did you- did you just say his name was Dave?” 

You nodded slowly confused why he was so bent up over this so suddenly, “Yeah he’s back home from bootcamp for a few months.” You detach yourself from Klaus to take a step back and look at him fully “He’s one of my closest friends and we kinda had a thing for a while before he left.” You play with your shawl idly trying to find the right words “I would have said something before but it’s hard talking about him without getting myself all worked up.” You chuckled to yourself before bringing a hand up to cup Klaus’ face in your hand, the stubble on his face scratching against your palm slightly. 

“We don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” You whispered studying his face, emotions clouding his eyes. He shook his head against your palm before smiling, taking your hand in his. 

“No I wanna go. I just... I don’t know.” This was the most speechless you had ever seen Klaus in your short time of knowing him. Usually he was jumping at the opportunity to join you and your friends. You remembered that one time when you both got drunk and he told you that he hadn’t felt this wanted and included since being with his ex, he never elaborated more than that though and you never pushed him to tell you. 

“Do you have any pictures of him?” He asked after a few quiet seconds. You nodded with a smile tugging him by the hand to the stairs that led up to your apartment above the bar. 

Once in your living room you walk over to the coffee table, sliding one of the drawers out you grab the thick velvety photo album that has all of your pictures with your friends and you. You sat back onto the couch and pat the space beside you, Klaus didn’t hesitate to sit himself down. You flipped through a few pages before finally landing on the page you were looking for, you smiled to yourself as you picked up your favorite photo. 

It was you and Dave sitting on the same couch you and Klaus were on, Dave’s arm slung over your shoulder laughing at some stupid joke you had told him. You remembered that day so clearly even after getting arguably a little too high, it was the day after high school graduation and you were both practically attached at the hip back then. 

You didn’t even notice you were crying until Klaus’ thumb was smoothing over your cheek. You chuckled weakly muttering a weak apology “It’s been too long since I’ve looked at these.” You said with a fond smile looking up at Klaus. He was staring at you with his own unshed tears. “Are you okay?” He nodded before looking back down at the photo still in your hand. 

“Do you have any more?” The adoration in his eyes was hard to miss when he looked at the picture, you almost wondered if he knew Dave... but that was impossible Dave would have told you about Klaus in some way or another. 

You decided to indulge Klaus and went through the rest of the album, a few more tears being shed by you as you retold the stories behind some of them. Once you were done and closed the photo album Klaus stood from the couch and put his hand out for you now. 

“I have something to show you.” His voice was somewhat strained but you decided not to question him on it. 

He led you to the spare room you had let Klaus sleep in while he tried to get his feet back under him. You stood next to his bed watching him go through the nightstand drawer before sighing to himself and standing. You looked curiously at the dogtags he held carefully in his hand. 

“Promise me you won’t freak out okay?” The skeptical look you gave him made him heave a sigh again, he grabbed your hand and urged you to sit down on the bed, your knees touching as you faced each other. “I know I told you about a boyfriend I had but I never really went into it for... well for reasons, but when you showed me those pictures I knew I couldn’t keep this from you.” You noticed his hands were shaking, the metal dog tags clanging against each other. “I need you to hear me out okay?” He looked at you hopefully, you urged him to go on with your hand “And I mean really hear me out even if it sounds so out of this world. I promise you I would never lie about this.” You couldn’t help but notice how his voice was trembling as well. 

You placed a hand on his bicep in hopes to help him calm down “Hey it’s okay. I’m listening to you Klaus. I mean, you fell on me from some blue portal thing above my bed. It'll be hard not to believe you about something you’re this worked up over.” You assured, a smile making its way to both of your faces. 

He took a deep breath before launching into a story about how he was never joking when telling you about him being from the future. How he had accidentally landed himself in the middle of the Vietnam War for ten months and how he had fallen in love with someone along the way. He hadn’t given you the name of the man he fell for but you had a wild guess of who he might be talking about. Everything he described this man to be reminded you so much of Dave, and when the reality of who he was talking about finally dawned on you Klaus had told you how that man had died in his arms, how broken up he was about it. 

“He was the first person I ever really went sober for...” Klaus said, trembling back in his voice again “I mean I had to see him one last time before everything ended you know?” The look in his eyes broke your heart. He looked back down at the dog tags clutched in his hands before looking back up at you again. He handed them to you almost reluctantly, waiting for you to reject him and accuse him of lying. 

You read the name over and over again before a sob tore through your throat. “I can’t believe it.” You whimpered looking back up at Klaus, his own tears streaking down his cheeks. You pulled him into a tight hug and you both just sat and cried in each other’s arms for who  knows how long. 

You knew there was something special about Klaus from the second you met him, the both of you screaming as you tangled yourself further in your blankets as you tried to push off the mysterious man who fell from a blue light in your ceiling. He was just as tied to Dave as you were, his love for your best friend matching your own. 

After the last of your tears had dried you sat back and looked into Klaus’ red rimmed emerald eyes. “So what do you say Klaus, you ready to go meet Dave?” Your grin was just as watery as his was. 

“I’ve been ready.” He muttered, his eyes fluttering and his eyelashes kissing his cheeks as you wiped away another tear that escaped the corner of his eye. 

He let out a chuckle and grabbed your hand “You know you kind of remind me of him.” He said with a wink. You snort and shake your head against his pillows, staring up at the ceiling. “I’m serious, you both are scarily alike.” 

You hum in agreement, turning your head to look back at him “That’s probably why we didn’t work out together.” You muse, smiling to yourself “We would get in these really stupid fights all the time and eventually we just had enough and broke it off.” Klaus nodded in understanding “We were always better off as friends but that didn’t mean we didn’t indulge in a little sharing every so often.” That caught his attention. 

“Oh?” His tone was teasing yet curious. 

“Man, you have no idea. We were both in a year long relationship with Sky, you remember him right? The really cute one with the long blonde hair that likes to cuddle up with people when he’s high?” Klaus chuckled to himself before laying on his stomach next to you, propping his head up with his hands. 

“So scandalous.” He joked making you roll your eyes a laugh of your own floating in the air. 

The night went on and on, the both of your trading stories back and forth going from Dave to what your childhood was like. He opened up to you about his power he claimed to have, the look on his face told you he was all too serious about the horrible things he went through as a kid. It made your heart clench. 

You both talked until finally you both drifted off to sleep one after the other, his fingers threaded with yours. It was comfortable, not being woken by one of Klaus’ nightmares he would have every so often. You couldn’t be more happy where you were.