#and who is also implied to not be long for this world

[dumbseee]

jude being in love with you implies him sending your random pictures of random things with, "saw this and thought of you <3". like the one time he sent you a stray cat following him in the streets and sent it to you with the caption, "i met your cat self earlier today, i named her yournickname <3."

when he’s having an important game and you can’t be there to support him, he makes sure to call you a few hours before training, your voice being the only medicine to his anxiety. before the match, he kisses the beaded bracelet you made for him. he kept calling it his lucky charm and swore to never take it off. (carlo and the boys almost have to tie him to the floor to take it off him, before games.)

jude pays attention to you a lot, when your eyes wander a little bit too long on a book or a piece of clothing, you should know that the item would find it’s way on your bed, the very next day with a cute note attached to it, "for you my love <3 you deserve it." but he’s also very private and protective over you, your relationship is pretty much public and people know who you are to jude, but he refuses to share you with the world. when walking on the streets with many people around, he makes sure to tighten his grip on your hand, walking in front of you protectively.

when asked about his celebrity crush in interview he names you, "umm, i don’t know if you’ve heard about her but she’s amazing and so damn pretty. her name is y/n l/n!" he never miss the opportunity to compliment you. even in sweats and barefaced, he’ll look at you with those pretty brown eyes of his, making you feel so loved and appreciated. jude also do not tolerate any criticism or hate aimed towards you by his "fans". he often took his socials to call out some disrespectful fans who wouldn’t stop harassing you. "don’t call yourself a fan if you can’t accept that i am, in fact, very happy with this woman and as long as i’ll be breathing, i’ll love and protect her."

[marypsue]

Was talking with @seiya234 about Sam Vimes and the idea that seems to come up in some fan circles with some regularity that after his death, Vimes will become the 'God of Coppering' or in some other way some part of him will continue to protect the city/the Watch after his death. She mentioned that she thought the idea was kind of king-ish - the whole idea "that someone will keep swooping in and saving the day" - and that Vimes would haaaaaate that, and I agree.

However. It's true. Part of Sam Vimes will keep protecting Ankh-Morpork long after he dies.

It's the part of him he gave to Carrot, the part that Carrot uses to check himself every time he starts to get frustrated with the limitations of what he can do as a Watchman and wishes he could just - make people be better.

It's the part of him he gave to Angua, the quiet faith that of course the beast within can be brought to heel, of course it's never easy but it's always worth it.

It's the part of him he gave to A. E. Pessimal, a small dull man living a small dull life whose eyes were opened wide one terrifying night to how much of a difference one small dull man's small dull life can make to the great churning wheels of the world.

It's the part of him he gave to the grags and to Mr. Shine, the proof that the truth is worth digging for and worth hauling up into the light, that it's possible to look beyond hatred and mistrust.

It's the part of him he gave to William de Worde, the knowledge that nothing is really worth doing unless someone, somewhere, would really much rather you weren't doing it.

It's the part of him he gave to Reg Shoe, that keeps Reg believing in the necessity of fighting for a better world even when it seems absurd and impossible and foolish to try.

It's the part of him he gave to Sham Harga, who knows every now and then, a man just needs some burnt crispy bits.

It's the part of him he gave to any number of strangers in the street, a sense of what fairness and justice can look like, even in something as small as a night patrol.

It's the part of him he gave to Sybil, the very best part of himself.

And it's everything of himself that he gave to Young Sam, who has a chance now to make his own impressions on a thousand thousand lives.

It's not just A part of Sam Vimes that will linger after his death, protecting the city he loved and hated in equal parts, the city that was his. It's a thousand thousand parts, that he left behind sometimes aware, sometimes intentionally, sometimes without even realising. And it's not something inherent within Sam Vimes and Sam Vimes alone, not something special about him or that only he could do. It's what everyone does, leaves parts and pieces of themselves behind. A thousand thousand parts of Sam Vimes are still out there, still saving the city, little by little, in quiet unglamourous ways, day after day after day.

If anything can be saved by a part of someone who's gone, it's like this.

And I think Sam Vimes would be proud of that.

(And also swear about it quite a lot when he realises this also implies that technically he's a factor in the lives of crime that some of the many, many people he's arrested over his long career have gone on to lead, but alas. We don't get to choose ALL the ripples we make in the world.)

[holmsister]

Why I think Kabru was the first child Milsiril took in:

1) it coincided with the Utaya catastrophe and her leaving the Canaries. If she was already in the habit of taking kids in, Idk if she would have been able to still be in the Canaries.

2) it also makes more sense to me in terms of character motivation if leaving the Canaries and taking Kabru in is all one decision. Like. Young Milsiril doesn't seen particularly motherly. Think of how she treats Mithrun - she gives him motivation to live, yes, but she does so by inciting him towards revenge. (This happens BEFORE she takes Kabru in btw im pretty sure its explicitly stated somewhere. I say this because i saw some confusion on the matter). An older, less angry, more disillusioned Milsiril saw what the elves did in Utaya and decided to both stop being an accomplice and try to repair things how she could by helping a victim.

3) ...which also explains why she was so unprepared. Like there's no way around it - it's clear that she is incredibly unprepared to deal with a tallman child, let alone one who is as incredibly traumatised as Kabru was. She also seems to not have a clear idea about tallman growth and maturity rates etc. (She tries to spoonfeed an elementary age kid and thinks Kabru is going thru puberty at 22!) If she had previous experience with short-lived races she would have a clearer idea of such things, if nothing else, thru mere experience. Her lack of knowledge makes a lot more sense if taking Kabru in was an impulsive decision maturated in the context of Utaya, and only after she spent some years with him she was like. Oh actually I like taking care of children. I might want to keep doing it.

4) I know there's the Rin comic in which the other elves seem to imply Milsiril is the go-to for dealing with short-lived races children and also she says she doesn't have space to take anyone else in, but it's possible she started taking in more kids in after she felt like she got her footing with kabru (iirc kabru had already been living with her for a couple years at that point) or, what I'm tending towards, she meant that she couldn't take anyone else *besides Kabru*. Considering the other elves treat Rin as some sort of little wild animal l don't think it would take much for them to consider someone an expert in handling children.

5) there's never any mention of other kids besides Rin in Kabru's memory. It seems weird to me if he spent so much time in the house with those other kids he does not talk/remember them, especially considering how curious and sociable baby kabru was. It might be a facet of elven childcare we don't know, but we see elven families being reasonable sociable in canon at times, i don't see why Kabru wouldnt be allowed to befriend the other kids if they were there.

6) milsiril seemingly dedicates a lot of time to him and only him. This can be explained simply by noting that this is Kabru's memory tho. But still. She keeps track of him in adulthood, has him fully adopted into his family, dedicates personal time to his education and training, and even teaches him some coping mechanisms for his panic and anxiety attacks, like the whole "recite capitals of the world" thing.

I think that Kabru was the first kid she took in, he lived alone with her for a very long time, and only after he was with one foot out of the door (14-16) she started taking in other children, which would be at that point too young to be interesting as friends to a teenager Kabru looking forward to either becoming a Canary or moving out.

[dunmeshistash]

I really enjoy your deep dives and analyses of all the characters, and Milsiril especially. I haven't done as much research and investigation as you have, but I have my own ideas about Milsiril. I think she's rather... delusional might be the word? I agree that Otta was probably exaggerating and she didn't actually consider the children that she adopted as pets, but I think that she didn't have what we might consider a normal perception of the children, specifically Kabru.

First of all, she seems to have a bit of an idealization of him that doesn't allow for his own opinions and personality. It's innocuous and not uncommon for a parent, but it feels to me as if she has an idea of how he is, and it confuses and upsets her when he doesn't follow the picture of her ideal world. Her decision to train him when he asks is far from complete acceptance of his goal. What she says is "until you finally decide that you're ready to give up." That implies that her goal is not entirely training him to be ready, but rather trying to convince him that he doesn't want this.

Secondly, I think that there's a lot of symbolism around the dolls. Bear in mind that these are all my own interpretations. First off, Milsiril's love and friendship for her dolls shows her as almost a child-like figure. Her dolls do what she wants them to, but they're people to her. She's a child in her own little world, and the kids she adopts might be a part of that-playmates, just like her dolls are. Bear in mind that I'm not trying to infantilize her or say that she has one, straightforward motivation. One of the things I love about Dungeon Meshi is how complex every single character is. She probably has many driving forces behind adopting children, but it seems to me like this might be one of them.

That's about all I have for her, at least at the moment. I think she might have some underlying mental illness or trauma that's skewing her perception of things, but I definitely don't agree with the people who think she's completely unstable or immoral. Thanks for looking at this!

Hey! Thank you!

Yeah I think the dolls is what lots of people use to say she likes to "manipulate" people or be in charge of them in a way, and I understand the symbolism of a puppet master since she has full control of these dolls and wont deny that might be something!

I'm not sure if I agree with this part tho.

First of all, she seems to have a bit of an idealization of him that doesn't allow for his own opinions and personality. It's innocuous and not uncommon for a parent, but it feels to me as if she has an idea of how he is, and it confuses and upsets her when he doesn't follow the picture of her ideal world.

I think Milsiril mostly can't keep up with Kabru getting older so fast since he's short lived, to me its almost like she sees him as a toddler when he's already a teen. And that's a common issue between long and short lived races so it's not something unique to her.

To me the reason she's so upset seems to be trauma from Utaya tbh. She was there and saw all those horrible things happen, it affected her so much she retired, and Kabru is the only survivor, a small frail child that lost everything and that now she sees like a son. Wouldn't you want to protect someone you see as a small scared child? Wouldn't you be upset if you learned they want to leave the comfort and safeness you created for them to go back into the horrible world that caused all that suffering he went through? I would.

I think people forget she's basically a war veteran.

She might not know him very well especially now that he left home but I think she knows him about as well as moms usually do, if you mean the cake thing I'm pretty sure she was aware Kabru didn't like elf cake and it's just a silly gag about her being upset he doesn't like her hometown sweet. (And probably also to show he does struggle with having two different backgrounds, Utaya and Milsiril) I think she knows he doesnt like it cause Kabru is never fake in front of her in the interactions we see, I'm pretty sure he tells her when he dislikes something and when he likes something. The other proof is how she took him to the family gathering even tho he didn't explicitly ask, she knew he wanted to go cause she knows that's the type of thin he likes.

About this

That implies that her goal is not entirely training him to be ready, but rather trying to convince him that he doesn't want this.

Yeah that's completely right! But I see that as an act of love on her part, even if its misguided and like, not great. She wants to prove to him he's too weak to go on his own because she seems him as a small child. If a 5 year old asked you to teach them to be a soldier so they can go to war how would you feel?

He isn't 5 tho and he clearly COULD take the training. Nothing indicates he ran away from her to be able to go and he talks about how she trained him and helped him study all that he wanted.

So even tho she said something bad and wanted to convince him the world out there was too cruel, she ultimately let go of him so he could do what he needed.

And Kabru even acknowledges she was right, the world WAS as shitty as she described and even worse. When he says he still doesn't want to go back where he has a soft bed and cake I don't think it's because he hated it there, but because he has the determination to face the cruel world she described cause he doesn't want Utaya to happen again.

Again about the dolls I think they're a source of comfort for her, she was clearly traumatized and going thru something her whole life, you don't get nicknamed "gloomy" for no reason, even her fellow canaries bullied her and thought she was weird.

The children she adopts might be an evolution of her doll thing I'll admit. But more in the sense they're a source of comfort for her, she was someone who was alone for most of her life, being able to love and be loved by children is probably something that makes her really happy. Even if her "motives" might be a little weird and she might not be fully altruistic (who is) what she does seem to be a net positive. Considering the two people we know that she helped (Mithrun and Kabru) she successfully helped them become independent of her. They were both vulnerable people in her care at one point but both are now independent and navigating life. (Mostly independent in Mithruns case but he doesn't need her in specific) That's my arguments to why she doesn't really treat real people as dolls, dolls can never become independent of you.

[delightfullyquirkydoodles]

Okay, buckle up, friends and neighbours, because it's time for:

THE DOOPLISS DISSERTATION

(Obviously, you should take all of this with a HUGE chunk of salt, since I'm not only an internet-poisoned fandom blogger, but also a former English major with a penchant for over-reading.

Still, I spent a long time writing this, so I'd appreciate it if you gave it a read.)

So before we talk about Doopliss himself, I feel like we should talk about Creepy Steeple, since a lot of the topics I'm going to be touching on relate to the actual building.

Neither the original Gamecube version nor the Switch remake really bothers to explain what Creepy Steeple actually is.

None of Goombella's tattles say anything about the building's intended purpose. The name vaguely implies that it's a church of some kind -- in Japanese, it's called Odoron Jiin, or "Astonishing Temple" -- but that's still not very helpful.

Still, for the purposes of this analysis, I'm going to assume that it's meant to be a church.

This brings me to the Steeple's stained glass window, which shows a scary-looking Doopliss standing over some piranha plants.

From a design standpoint, I'm guessing that this detail was added to give the location a spooky vibe, but from an in-universe perspective, the implications are wild.

Like, who designed this? How long ago? And why? What the heck is it supposed to represent?

Unsurprisingly, the game offers no real answers, but I have a couple of theories.

The first is that the people of Twilight Town (or their ancestors, or something) created the window in Doopliss's honor.

Stained glass windows often depict saints or angels, so maybe the Twilighters used to worship him? Like, maybe Creepy Steeple was once dedicated to him and then, for whatever reason, the worshippers decided to leave?

It's not super likely, but I didn't want to rule out any possibilities. This is a weird freaking temple. Literally anything is possible, as far as I'm concerned.

My second theory is that Doopliss designed the window himself. He seems like a guy with a lot of spare time, so it's not too much of a stretch to say that he came up with the idea and then spent weeks building it by hand.

He could have also bullied the Boos into constructing it for him. I dunno. I just have this mental image of him pulling pranks on them and generally being a nuisance until they caved.

The bottom line is someone wanted to Doopliss's face to be front and center. And if that someone is Doopliss himself, then hoo boy, there is a lot to unpack here.

Maybe I'm projecting, but it feels like Doopliss is wrestling with some major self-esteem issues.

Despite being an incredibly powerful shapeshifter who somehow cursed an entire town, he seems very childish. He spends all his time watching TV and coming up with new jokes. He throws tantrums when he loses. He wears a party hat, of all things.

Based on that, I'd say that he's probably starved for attention. He's probably pretty lonely living in Creepy Steeple all by himself (doubly so if my theory about the Twilighters is correct).

I'd even go so far as to say that his scheme to turn the Twilighters into pigs is motivated by this need for attention. I mean, what better way to get people to notice you than to cause a town-wide panic?

I feel like the disguises he uses over the course of the main story also support this theory.

Though Mario, Zip Toad and Professor Frankly are quite different from one another, they all have one important thing in common: they're famous. Mario's a world-renowned adventurer, Zip Toad is a well-known actor and Frankly is a tenured professor whose students love him.

Doopliss even alludes to this after stealing Mario's body, telling him, "You're so popular around here! I just love being you!"

By transforming into beloved figures, Doopliss can get the attention he craves.

I also think that this is why he joined the Shadow Sirens. Sure, Beldam abuses him almost as badly as she abused Vivian, but at least she notices him. That's better than nothing.

The most conclusive piece of textual evidence is found in the epilogue. In her letter to Mario, Goombella explains that Doopliss has joined Flurrie on-stage in her production of "Paper Mario".

Obviously his shapeshifting abilities make the play a lot more realistic, but why would he bother participating in it at all? This guy was a villain for most of the game. Why would he suddenly decide to join up with one of his enemies?

Because, as far as I can tell, he's not a villain. Just a guy who's sick of being ignored.

I dunno. Doopliss's motivations have never been super clear, but I feel like there's more to him than meets the eye.

If you have any thoughts or ideas of your own, feel free to comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

[fayefics]

wasteland | part 2

part 1

and we’re back! sorry this took me a bit, i wanted to restructure some things. i think this part is (hopefully) a little more structured/detailed since part 1 was more of a rambling of ideas. thank you for the support and i hope you enjoy!

c/w: canon typical violence, panic attacks, implied assault, implied sexual violence, murder & death

reader is definitely a little unwell and mischievous (but who wouldn’t be in a post apocalyptic world)

word count: 2.9k

══════════ ⋆★⋆ ══════════

Within the first hour of your crash and subsequent capture, your captors had proven not to be the smartest survivors in the world. They were strong, yes, but if they meant for you to be some prize bound to them for the rest of however long any of you survived in this wasteland, then it wouldn’t be a matter of their wit that kept you all alive. It would be of pure brute force.

You had come to accept this fact. You had also come to accept that if they were taking you with them, and if you couldn’t fight your way out, you could probably outsmart them. They were gross and downright awful, but that was the standard nowadays. It was the standard taught to you at past settlements, and this shared knowledge amongst the wasteland gave you some insight. If you could just bear the initial pain, maybe gain favor with one over the other, you could manipulate them into a fight that would hopefully end up with them doing enough damage to themselves that you could carefully sneak away with all their supplies, leaving them abandoned and alone in the dust.

There were just two of them, after all, and if things got too rough, you knew you would always try to fight again. You weren’t the strongest out here, but you picked up a thing or two by surviving this long. You vowed that you weren’t going to die without a fight at the hands of some lousy, greasy scavengers who just happened to have a faster car.

The more they talked, though, the less confident you were.

You didn’t know how long it would take to get back to their so-called “boss,” but from all the groups you’ve been in, you remembered that most scavenge trips take at least a week to return home from their destined locations. You didn’t know where their home base was or if they even had one, but you could only hope you would have enough time to get these two idiots to turn on each other. Or to kill them yourself.

If not? Well…you’d cross that bridge when you got to it.

You finalized your plan within that first hour. You knew you were no better than any other desperate, starving survivor out here, but some pride filled you, knowing you at least still had some semblance of your brain left.

But nearing the end of that genuinely awful hour, your captors had moved to attempt to bash your ankles in - quite literally throwing a wrench into all that planned confidence. You didn’t even have a moment to process that maybe the world was more savage than all your careful plotting could handle because, on the horizon, a new and stronger force was coming to uproot them. Uproot you, like some damn harbinger of death.

Great. Just great.

The KorTac Dog, as the rumors and legends so nicely named him, was a mountain of a man. You could tell that much was true even as he was still barreling towards your crash site in the dunes. His vehicle — some modified monstrosity that roared like an actual living beast — was decked out in armor and spikes. You couldn’t even tell what kind of car or truck it originally was. From this close, though, you could see that your one captor’s eyesight seemed to be failing him. The flag he called out as a skull was instead a crudely painted wolf. From a distance, perhaps it could look skull-like, and maybe that’s where all these rumors of death on wheels came from. Only those watching the KorTac clan’s carnage from hundreds of yards away could spread rumors of them. Things were bound to get lost in translation.

What wasn’t lost on you was how the Dog’s vehicle was built to be intimidating. Unlike your once small and camouflaged car, this hunk of metal was meant to be seen. Smoke billowed out in ominous plumes, and along with the frankly terrifying sound of its engine, you knew that this man didn’t care that he drew attention to himself.

He probably craved it.

Craved the battle. The raids. The bloody war that he could win solely from his own two hands.

You couldn’t stop the tremors of terror that began to spread through your body. Your captors really were idiots if they thought they could reason with a man like this. And you? You were an idiot for thinking you could ever survive out here alone if people were crafting vehicles of war like that for fun.

Slimy was packing up anything he could into their little off-roader, which in comparison looked like a child’s toy to the gruesome machine that was hurtling towards you all. Wrench was arranging anything he could spare from your scrapped vehicle and supplies - including you.

Your carefully crafted plan withered the second they had mentioned the incoming rider. It had been crushed into a finite dust when they actually asked who was on their way towards you three. You suppose it really shouldn’t matter to you who was on their way. You knew by leaving the last settlement that if you didn’t find another sanctuary soon, you would eventually die out here - either by people like these two idiots or withered away all on your own.

But if you were going to go out, it might as well be from a legend, right? from someone who was practically a god out here. It would feel like dying with some dignity left in you. Like you would still live on in rumors and stories, not just scatted remains. At least, that’s what you kept telling yourself. It helped stop the impending panic attack.

The truth was, you had never faced a foe more formidable than the two in front of you. Survival was more of a hide, scavenge, and hide-again sort of situation for you. and you were good at it, for the most part. But actually having to confront a warrior like the Dog face-to-face might break whatever slim sanity you were holding onto.

The man was getting closer. You could tell now that he wasn’t wearing a mask like you thought. It was some kind of hood - like a medieval executioner would wear. His vehicle had one word on the bumper, painted in bright red for all the world to see as he came barreling toward his victims: JÄGER

You just knew it had to mean something violent.

He wanted to be intimidating; that much was clear. He had made a name for himself out here, and you doubted he would let his reputation plummet to something even close to regarding the word “merciful.” It would have been better to run. Your captors' vehicle was fast - that’s how they even got you in the first place. All three of you could have been out of his way by now, but no. They were scared, which was fair, and didn’t want to risk it. And now you just happened to be caught in the scheme of two of the most idiotic people the wasteland still had to spit up.

The Dog had clearly taken note of the fact that none of you were fleeing if the now slowing vehicle was any indication. You thought, maybe even hoped a little, that he would just run the three of you over. Grind up your organs under those monster truck tires. Maybe pick his teeth with your bones. But no - he stopped.

Maybe he liked to play with his food.

Both of your captors had their hands raised up, even had their guns and knives on the dirt away from them. You guessed they were trying to make the situation seem like a harmless negotiation meeting. They had tied your hands and legs earlier, as well as placed a cloth gag in your mouth to keep you from hollering at them to leave while they worked. You had to admit, it really did look like they were offering you up as some enticing meal. A placating gesture for their escape.

All too soon, the war machine JÄGER rolled to a stop a few feet before you. A dust cloud puffed over your shaking boots - the vibrations from the rumbling engine enough to move the ground around you. The Dog had yet to dismount his vehicle, but he leaned back. Crossed his arms. The bastard looked relaxed - amused even.

You heard Wrench gulp from behind you.

The Dog was clearly waiting for someone to begin or lead the negotiations they had prepared. Why was he so accepting of this? Had this happened before? For some reason, the idea of a so-called war dog accepting negotiations didn’t sit right with you. You kept your head bowed, trying to remember some past rumors that might save your life - just in case.

As silence passed, the monstrous man before you finally let out an unimpressed sigh.

“What’s all this then?”

His voice wasn’t what you expected. Higher than the deep baritone you were expecting and accented. A bit scratchy, but if he had to shout over that still-rumbling engine every day, then his vocal cords were bound to take some damage. But still, it was weirdly nice to hear someone so…calm. Commanding. You didn’t know how long that would last, though. His fingers were twitching - clearly a short fuse. You could feel his eyes scanning the three of you, probably unimpressed with what he saw but still not attacking anyone.

Yet.

Maybe these idiots had some semblance of an idea after all. It made your skin crawl. You knew you could, at the very least, survive a little longer with these two, but the Dog was an unknown. And unknowns meant danger.

Slimy, the leader of your captor duo, finally gestured with his hands to the bag of rations, two gallons of fuel, and you. “We saw you coming - wanted to make an offer so we could get home safe.”

You couldn’t help but look up. The silence from the man before you was going to kill you. As you did, the Dog tilted his head, looked you over again, and hopped out of his vehicle.

By god, he was massive.

Here, bound and gagged on your knees, you really did feel like a sacrificial lamb for some demi-god. You quickly turned your gaze back to the dirt, praying for the first time in years. The closer he walked to your trio, the quicker your heart rate spiked. You swore you were going to die just from his presence alone.

“Why the girl?” he asked. It was nearly a whisper as if he were baffled by the idea of a human offering.

“We just got her; she’s fresh. Probably a tight lay.”

You couldn’t help the sob that left you. God, you hadn’t felt this miserable and weak in eons. You thought you were tough, but you had just been lucky. Everyone knew the wasteland was hell, but you had become numb to it. You hadn’t been at the receiving end of this kind of treatment before - you had never been captured. You had only run, hid in camps or makeshift civilization, and ran again to the next point of safety. You only knew what kind of plan to form thanks to the stories and tricks traded by other non-warrior survivors like yourself at the places you found yourself in. You thought you could handle it when the time came, but this? This was breaking you.

The Dog’s boots stepped into your vision. You wanted to keep your head down, to at least give yourself the false hope that looking away will save you. But then his gloved hands grabbed your chin and lifted your gaze to meet his. It was surprisingly gentle for a madman. You went with the motion, too afraid of what would happen if you resisted, but you couldn’t stop the tears that began to flow.

He seemed so sad looking at you. Like he had just stepped on a puppy’s tail and was trying to figure out how to make it up to them. You knew he could feel you trembling, and it made you all the more sick. You didn’t want his pity. You were a survivor; you knew you were, but god, this was terrifying. Something must have hardened in your eyes, something he must have recognized. His own narrowed at you - were they blue? or green? You couldn’t tell but damn him, they were pretty - and he let your chin go.

Wrench shifted behind you, clearly unsure of how this was all going down. The Dog shifted to stand behind you, effectively becoming a barrier between you and your captors. He could easily snap your neck, shoot the other two, and take whatever supplies he wanted at this point. Slimy and Wrench didn’t seem to take note of this - instead, you heard them chuckle something along the lines of “I think he’ll take her.”

Again, your captors were complete idiots.

The Dog was tense behind you. It felt like one wrong word, and all three of you would become the next story that built up his gruesome reputation. If he was going to kill you all, you much would have preferred a vehicular slaughter. Now that you’ve seen him up close, you are sure that you don’t want to die by those hands, looking up into those unfortunately beautiful and gentle eyes. It would be too much for your brain to process.

You would probably thank him as he closed the final chapter of your miserable little life.

No. No, you couldn’t think like that. You would get out here, somehow. Even if your captors were beginning to anger him, maybe you could still appease him. Better to get on his good side than stick with those two weasels.

The Dog had said something during your panic-induced interlude. Something that had caused your captors to cease their excited chattering.

“What?” Wrench squeaked. You didn’t know he could make that sound.

“No.”

Oh. Oh, you were fucked. This behemoth didn’t want the trade. He didn’t want you. He was just going to kill all three of you, take whatever he could carry, and be on his merry way. Your captors finally seemed to register this if the sound of panicked shuffling was any indication. They should've kept a weapon on them. Idiots, Idiots, Idiots-

“We can negotiate! KorTac always does negotiations, right?”

“We negotiate with survivors, not mutts like you,” the Dog spat. “You took a random girl captive and used her as a piece of meat to trade. Worse than the worms, the both of you.”

“A mistake! One we’re sorely sorry for, but please take anything else, and we can-“

“I said no.”

Bam. Bam.

Gunshots. You didn’t even hear the Dog take out his gun to shoot them. He was fast, precise too. Your once captors’ bodies slumped to the ground with sickening thuds. You were surely going to follow.

Another sob forced its way out of your throat, causing the man to turn back towards you. He had holstered his pistol again before he kneeled in front of you, making sure you couldn’t look at the dead behind you.

“Don’t cry, Mausi, they are gone now,” he said. He gently raised his hands, afraid to spook you. “I am going to take these binds off now, and then we will go home, ja?”

Home? His home? Oh. Oh, he did want you. Your frazzled mind was trying to keep up with all of this while panic was simultaneously erasing your rational thinking. But some hindbrain survival part of you was kicking in. If he took you, it was no different than those two from before. You could manipulate him, too. You could still survive.

He still hadn’t touched you, which was a good sign. You nodded, and finally, those tight ropes around your ankles and wrists were gone, skin rubbed raw from the harsh treatment. He let you take the gag out yourself, and when you didn’t immediately bite him or make a move to run, he settled back on his haunches, pleased.

“What is your name?” he asked, still so gentle for someone you were convinced was made of nothing but violence. You shook your head, unsure if you were ready to give up something vulnerable and buried to this stranger. He sighed and leaned closer, “You don’t have a name?” Seconds ticked by. The fear of angering him with your incompetence was gnawing at your bones.

“What did you call me? Mouse? That works,” your voice came out rough from all the straining and crying, but still, he huffed. It was not entirely a laugh, but it was close enough to slightly lower your guard.

“It’s pronounced Maus. Say it like that, Liebling,” he said, rolling the word out slowly. You took a shallow breath.

“Maus.”

Damn, if those eyes crinkling didn’t relieve even more of your terror. “Very good,” he patted your knee, then raised himself to stand over you again. “You may call me König.”

König. It sounded intense, something more powerful than just Dog. You wondered if he knew the rumors about him, wanted to ask if he knew what people called him out on the road. That would have to wait.

König looked behind you, sighing at the work he needed to do. “Well, Maus, you just stay put, and I’ll get you somewhere safe very soon.”

You weren’t sure where you were headed precisely. You were even more unsure if this König could be trusted. But as you watched this mountain of man scavenge whatever he could from your ex-captors’ belongings, waving whenever he caught you staring at him, you began to hope that your new plan would work out just fine.

[misc-obeyme]

i always have to wonder how much demons actually know about humans, theyve been banned entirely from going go the human world for a long while it sounds like. do demons even actually terrorize humans? or do they just say that like a parent trying to wrangle their kid by saying theyll eat them? clearly theyre not opposed to killing humans (thanks season one basically Everyone for attempting to kill us), so they're not the most moral folk. how much human media do they know about too? is the ban from going to the human world a ban on products like books movies anime ect too?? much to ponder

🐈‍⬛

Well, it does sound like they can go to the human world if they have permission. So it's not entirely banned. I also think that if a human summons them, they have to go. Like Mammon and the witches. It's just going on their own without permission that they're not allowed to do? I think. I dunno they could change it on us, but that's how I've always interpreted things.

I also thought of it as they had access to books, movies, and anime, etc. I suspect it's mostly just demons who do go to the human world bring stuff like that back with them. But they don't really specify.

I like to think that there's a whole human world imports industry. Like there are companies run by demons where the only thing they do is import stuff from the human world. Media most often, but also food and goods. They have a contract with Diavolo and Barbatos that allows them to use the portals to the human world only at certain times, so they can move their stuff between realms. They have a handful of demons who reside in the human world full time, curating the stuff to bring back. But this is all just headcanon lol.

I also think demons used to terrorize humans. And I suspect there's a certain amount of that still going on, but mostly in terms of how demons deal with being summoned by witches and sorcerers. It's very much implied that only witches and sorcerers are even aware of the Devildom and the rest of humanity is just over here like ??? about it. I think that back in the day, you had demons who regularly went to the human world just to fuck with humans. But now, especially since Diavolo wants peace between the worlds, they can't really do that.

I headcanon that they're allowed to fight against witches and sorcerers if they have to. But if they're going to cause any other mischief in the human world, it's technically not allowed. However, I don't think it'd ever be fully eliminated, so probably there are a lot of demons who just do whatever they want still. But I think there's probably a lot less of that now since more demons are going along with the uniting of the worlds plan.

Er but anyway, this is just how I think about it! I think you can consider all of these details differently since most of them are not really explained very well in canon!

[themayomambo]

I don't necessarily believe that the "Petra Hate Train" is real, but whatever the hell it may be, I'm gonna use it as an excuse to talk about Petra because I love her soooo much!

A bit of a ramble below the cut:

Firstly, she is such a stand-out performance vocally from Ashley Johnson's wicked talent. I remember seeing her talk about the role once, and it's extremely clear that even though this was essentially a minecraft game more on the silly adventure side of things, she absolutely gives it 100 percent. I love how she starts the game as this cool loner type that oozes with a facade of confidence in her voice until she is forced into a state of vulnerability with the amnesia/wither sickness. Then in the portal arc we see a dorky competitive side revealed further and Ashley just excels in the balance between the dork who is finally free to adventure with friends after being solo, and also revealing the sap underneath who's probably wanted this for so long. Something that stood out to me after season 1 again was how truly frustrated she can get with Jesse if they take Hadrians deal. With just how Ashley played and was directed, you'll be able to tell that she cares a lot more for them than she usually lets herself show and just how much everything's been taking its toll on her in particular.

Secondly, Petra is so cool! Minecraft as an adventurer is difficult, especially in the hard-core world that mcsm takes place in. So many times, an excursion will end in a death or just getting utterly and completely lost. But Petra is implied from the beginning to be pretty good at what she does enough to have a bit of notoriety with her nature and behavior. One of the first scenes she's in being to save Jesse from a spider while attacking it rather viciously with nothing but a pickaxe? That's badass. Something that I love we got to see during the portal arc was to see just how exhilarating it was to have people match her skills beside her and just watch her let loose without the sickness/amnesia.

I could probably go on and on about more stuff but I'm just gonna leave it at these two points because I don't wanna keep writing this post for days. Maybe I'll make a petra deep dive video or something someday

[teslathelame]

accidentally thought about haru for too long 2 dead 45 injured

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

Garak is So much right from his first episode. Laura Palmer of Cardassia over here trying to get laid, foil a terrorist plot, AND work a retail shift, all while high as fuck. Dude’s schedule in Past Prologue is FULL.

[wof-reworked]

I’ve been thinking, and I think I’m going to change the way I talk about my headcanons and wof writing to something like a rewrite/reworking. I love wof but it’s become really apparent that the way I engage with it is really more as a world to expand and work in vs a book series I’m analyzing as-is. I think it’ll give me the freedom to actually post the stuff I’m thinking and working on bc I don’t have to keep chaining myself to making it work with all the confusing and contradictory canon tidbits that Tui barely remembers she established. Thoughts?

[batemanofficial]

hello upper middle class northern usamerican tumblr user. i want to play a game. you will notice that you are in a super america convenience store in rural kentucky - you have three minutes to purchase a snack and drink of your choice and make normal small talk with the cashier. however, if you use the word "cryptid" or generally make reference to appalachia and its inhabitants as "wild", uncivilized, or lacking restraint around alcoholic beverages during your time here, i will personally tie you to the chassis of a four wheeler and tip it into the river. live or die. make your choice

[pepprs]

is this anything

[glass-trash-bab]

I always get the urge to post on tumblr when I'm feeling crazy. Most of the time, it's from lack of sleep.

[salsa-di-pomodoro]

Does crying over fictional characters count as grieving? Even if they're not real, we've gotten attached to them, ofter enough to want to refer to them like we would a friend. If a character we love in such a way dies or goes through something horrible, and we cry over them and when we are asked if anything is wrong and we respond that no, you're just too emotional over a fictional character, is that a lie? Many have said that the fate of a favourite character is often decisive in overall mood, even outside of fandom spaces. Have we simply been grieving for someone who never existed this whole time?

[poisonouspastels]

Google Search i just saw a frog girl npc in Minecraft who was A posing and after looking to see if anyone else has seen her ive started experiencing vivid hallucinations and she is waving at me from the open tab. Google Search i am in a horrible state of delirium am i going to die