#anon idk if you meant this to be canon or based on one of my fics

[moonlight-prose]

Imagine: Missionary with Din while you hold his necklace between your teeth 🤤 you ain’t getting away from me, boy

YOUR HEART GOT TEETH

a/n: i know you sent in another ask saying you didn't mean for it to be a request, but i started writing it the second you sent it. i just only finished it last night. mainly because my inspo for din has been lacking as of late. although i've been on a small din kick recently which has me going feral over this idea. it's barely even a fic, but i had to write it. din and jewelry is my eternal fucking weakness.

summary: horny thoughts about din's necklace.

word count: 0.9k+

pairing: din djarin x f!reader

warnings: EXPLICIT SO MINORS DNI, biting, p in v sex, din's brain short circuiting, a tad bit of needy!din, unedited and no beta so there's probably mistakes.

Time had slipped away from you the longer you lay there, your nails digging into his lower back and head thrown back. It felt like ages since he came home, practically dragging you into the room with a throaty rasp of what sounded like your name and need you. And who were you to dissuade him? When you were more than willing to be spread out beneath him, his name was a cry that was permanently etched on the tip of your tongue.

“You feel fucking perfect,” he grunted, his teeth sinking into the hot skin of your shoulder.

The spot would feel tender tomorrow, but at that moment you couldn’t stop the way your body reacted. Your walls clamped down around his cock, a garbled moan ripped from your throat as he soothed you with his tongue.

“D-Din—” Your breath caught in your throat, legs trembling as he shifted the angle slightly, striking against something eviscerating.

“Mesh’la,” he panted, hand sliding down to hitch your leg up higher on his hip.

You could feel the cold metal of his necklace press against your chest as he dropped down to kiss you. Licking into your mouth—spit trailing along his chin when he pulled away. He began to speak then. An aimless ramble of how he couldn’t wait to fill you up, to watch you cum on his cock, but your mind had gone empty. The only thing registering, that familiar cold feeling that warmed up against your skin.

The silver of his necklace swayed in front of you. The chain, pristine and perfect even after years of wear. And you couldn’t tear your eyes off it. Could barely understand that he was in fact still talking to you. Din pulled himself up off you slightly and something registered in your brain—flickering bright. Overtaking everything until it practically burned through your body.

Leaning up, you latched your teeth into the chain of his necklace, dragging him back down until his body was pressed completely on top of you. Nearly pressing the breath out of your lungs.

His eyes widened, fingers digging into the meat of your thigh, and you felt it. The way his hips stuttered as his mouth dropped open. He moaned unabashedly, his thrusts speeding up as he desperately shoved you towards a release—his fingers swirling quickly on your clit. You remained where you were. Biting into his necklace and scratching your nails down his back as your release built and built.

Until something snapped so hard your entire body arched. A shout leaving your mouth as his necklace fell past your lips, dragging along your throat. Something about the metal pressed hotly against you unraveled you even further. Sending you so high you feared you may never come back down.

“Look at you,” he breathed, a tinge of awe in his voice. He shoved his hips forward, sinking deeper until a soft tinge of pain mixed with the pleasure. “You like my necklace in your mouth? Huh?”

You gasped, feeling his arm loop beneath your knee and pull your leg up—pressing you into a position that pounded the head of his cock right against that blinding spot inside you. Another orgasm was building fast, but you could barely get words out to let him know. He watched tears stream down your temples, your mouth open yet no sound came out.

“Oh fuck,” he breathed out, feeling his balls draw up and his stomach tighten. “C’mon mesh’la. Give me another one.”

His hips grinded down, the coarse hair at the base of his cock hitting your clit perfectly—shoving you towards another mind numbing release.

“Din!” you wailed, your thighs trembling in his hold—eyes rolling back as you lost all sense.

“Please, please—” He leaned up, his necklace hitting your lips—the plea sounding deliciously perfect on his tongue. “I need…maker—”

Without fully realizing it you latched your teeth around the metal, tugging until it dug into the skin on his neck, the sharp bite of pain all he needed. He fell apart with a choked moan, burying his teeth wherever he could reach as he spurted into you. That familiar warm sensation now sending a soft rolling wave of pleasure through your spent body.

He panted against your skin, his body hot to the touch, but you still ran your hands down his back—soothing him until he felt well enough to say something. Eventually he raised his head, his brown eyes sparkling and lips pulled up into a knowing grin. A look that made your heart flutter—warmth filling your heart.

“Didn’t know you liked my necklace that much.”

You huffed, unable to stop the smile from pulling at your lips. “Shut up.”

“Don’t worry,” he said, sliding his lips along your cheek. “I liked it.”

His fingers played along your collarbone, thumb pressing against the skin and tracing until he hit the base of your throat. “I’ll have to get you a necklace too.”

Your eyes widened, lips parting as the image of him biting down on your necklace entered your mind. As if the breath was knocked from your lungs, you felt your walls flutter around his softening cock—heat spreading beneath your skin. His grin widened, the look on his face so blatant and loud you practically heard him whisper it into your ear. For a moment you wondered if he had in fact said it out loud.

Yet his mouth remained closed, his hand pressing lightly against your throat as he shifted, thrusting shallowly into your leaking cunt. The message, now loud and clear.

Your turn.

[mana-jjk]

Do you think Inumaki has a lisp or some kind of bad pronunciation because hes used to saying a limited ammount of words? (Idk how those actually work lol)

omg hi anon !! 💞

this question has single handedly led me to vampire reddit and lisp quora and now i’m getting the weirdest recommendations in my emails (；ω；)

so i’m far from being a speech therapist, and this is based off of the little research that I’ve done and my own headcanons lol.

i think that if toge does have a lisp, it would be because of his fangs. vampire reddit has informed me very helpfully that due to fangs, the consonants in english would be limited due to how the teeth would interrupt the movement of lower lip. so f and v sounds might be impacted, however that is in english ! i am not entirely sure how it would translate to japanese.

i tried to mimic the words he uses, and can’t notice any movement that might be impacted in that case. but i also read that s sounds and th are likely to be slurred.

the only case in which we hear a slur is during this iconic scene -

i don’t think gege intended to convey that toge has a slur, more than likely this scene was a mixture of damage to his throat, blood loss, confusion, exhaustion, and hesitance. especially since they took his fangs away <\3

but canon is merely a suggestion to me lol

personally, i do think toge would have a slight speech impediment when combining his prominent fangs and lack of speech.

it’s a personal headcanon i have that toge’s clan limited his speech by limiting the language taught to him. he’s been speaking in his onigiri language since before he could remember and does have an understanding of his cursed speech. but if they wanted to limit accidents, it would be in limiting the words he knows.

the research i found also showed that if someone has difficulty interchanging with the t and d sound, it’s likely due to confusion. toge undoubtedly knows japanese, however he’s probably out of practice in speaking it outside of his cursed speech and safe words.

when you listen to him using both, his voice is very clear and particular in enunciating the sounds. in the case with yuuta, his voice was muffled, broken, and slurred. maybe even with a concussion that affected his speech.

so yes, i do think he has a slight impediment, but one that’s only noticeable when he speaks words outside of his cursed and safe vocabulary.

otherwise, everything he does is with clear intent, something you need to have when fostering something dangerous.

toge is probably aware of that, maybe even a little embarrassed of it. probably refrains from trying new words, partly because he doesn’t have the consistency or clarity to ensure there is no misinterpretation.

yuuta’s name was the exception, and continues to be the exception. he says it softly every time, and even though he could correct it, he doesn’t. saying it with a soft drop at the end seems to fit far better than the correct click of a t.

i’ve seen some interpretations of toge giving pet names to yuuta in the forms of potential safe words, but i think the way he says his name is the term of endearment.

the careful manner he sounds out in every syllable, the almost reverence he has, the quiet whisper of his voice as if it was meant for yuuta’s ears only.

there’s a gentleness to the cruelty of his circumstances, if only in the the way his words hold significance far beyond just any understanding.

any way, i think reddit thinks i want to be a vampire now and i’m just imagining yuuta googling this question and blushing at all the emphasis of fangs.

i hope this answered your question !! feel free to keep sending these asks so i can convey the full extent of my insanity <3 ! ( *｀ω´)

[darklordofthesimp]

OK IM BACK

I SRSLY CANNOT GET ANYTHING OUT OF MY HEAD

and i came back to basically another chapter worth of anon spin offs

let me give my two cents on our little babagirl birdy 🤭

No one in 141 is at base apart from Birdy and Price.

They’re all set to be back by around 8pm (idk military times srry homie), but it’s only six.

Plenty of time to let off some pent up frustrations on whatever poor piece of gym equipment they find first.

The equipment in question being the same punching bag they’ve been abusing continuously for the past week.

poor thing is tearing at the seams.

Birdys hands are wrapped in gauze. The white cloth steadily bleeding through as her sloppy, quick punches to the bag continue.

“You can’t do this to me Price. I can’t fucking do this.”

Her breathing was ragged, wet as her chest trickled full of sorrow. Pity; she pitied herself.

Prices eyes flashed. An inkling of regret breaking through his stupid, stupid façade as he peered up at her from his desk.

His hands clasp together tight. Fingers interlacing in an intricate pattern of scars and callouses. Maybe if he tries enough, squeezes tight enough, it might squash the paternal instinct in him to just hide them.

Steal his Birdy, his chic, and run. Keep them safe in the little nest he would make for them both. Father them until they could live by themself. Until they were okay without him.

He squeezed his hands tighter, knuckles whitening.

“I can. And I have to. This is what you need to help yourself,” his voice cut short.

“You don’t have to do shit!,” Birdys voiced dripped a cold, inky venom.

It seeped through his skin and into his bones, infecting anything it could touch to make him understand them.

To make him feel their fear.

Thwak.

Oh. Eyes trailing from the small split in the canvas of our beloved, and now passed, punching bag. To the sand creating a small mess on the floor.

In any other situation, Birdy would be impressed with themself.

You would think surviving something as critical as a shattered skull would give someone motivation.

A reason to keep going.

A light, or hope. A miracle if you believed.

If you survived that impossibility, then you could survive anything to come at you.

Birdy heard the whispers, the comparisons. They knew they beat the odds.

But god, why.

Why, if they could survive a weight of a 6’10 monster.

Why does it feel like they won’t survive the crushing weight of their own mind.

okay thx ☺️ my writing needs are now fufilled

although i MIGHT come back with more for u bc i’m like shaking with ideas ;(

\o/ <3

How

How am I meant to follow up from that.

YOU KNOW WHAT. IM NOT. I'm gonna put some fucking hashtags on this shit and let it speak for itself. This is Canon thank you very much for your addition to the Anything lore.

I LITERALLY HAVE NO WORDS

YOU MOTHERFUCKERS ARE ALL TALENTED

WHY ARE YOUSE WRITING THIS IN A FUCKING ASK BOX INSTEAD OF IN A NOVEL. YOU SHOULD BE GETTING FUCKING PAID.

The part of Price needing to fucking save them. To protect them and forcing himself to remember who the fuck he is and what their job is. BIRDY FUCKING THAT BAG UPPPPP

BRO

I cannot.

[jack-kellys]

west end question: i obviously love my brooklyn girls and would die for them all, but is it bad that it’s taken away the sprace dynamic for me? like i’m still 100% on board with a nowhere near canon ship and it shouldn’t affect me they’ve decided to have spot be a girl, but it lowkey has? and i feel kinda guilty about it? idk i love my proshot boys. but i am 100% here for all the uk newsies cast they are amazing and so talented and it’s definitely my favourite production by far!! idk if i’m making sense

ok part of me feels a litle baited actually because like. i feel like... im vocal abt mlm musical sprace not being a big vibe for me in the first place. so im a funny person to ask if you were looking for relief lmao. anyway here's my thesis below.

wait also if ur a white newsie fan a read-thru+rb of this would be much appreciated thank youuu (also yall have been eating up my character analyses anyway sooooo!)

TL;DR THESIS: if you're feeling genuinely let down that your ship did not see the light of day and a black girlsie spot conlon got to instead, then yes, you should reevaluate that.

followers, if you've been with me long enough, you know that i have quite strong opinions about how this show gets treated when it comes to interpretations and fandom/fanon. mostly, this is because i literally work in theater, and it's extremely backwards in my brain personally when shows get treated more like a movie or tv show than a performance piece.

im also one of the only ppl in this fandom that ever seems to dare speak on race (not the damn character smh). and anon, buddy, kiddo, this does have to do with race, gender, and sexuality.

firstly, what i think needs to be understood about newsies, is that it is theater, which means it is meant to be mutable. there is no one way. there should never be one way. it does not exist. secondly, theater does not exist in a fandom vacuum. its live every night, conceptually. theater is a live performance art.

interpretations change- it's the nature of theater. so i think asks like these really do illuminate the difference between fans of the show's content or fans of... i guess the show's culture's content.

this is a culture content ask.

one thing i really, truly, deeply need you all to understand: from an objective, script- and staging-based perspective, proshot sprace does not exist. they do not speak. they barely see each other. race does not even volunteer to go to brooklyn. the ship originates from the 1992 movie, where they do actually interact, which is why the ship has prevailed through the 90s to today. they're from the movie, not the musical.

of course, this doesn't bash the ship- it has history, and naturally fans want to create new history when they get a new source material (the musical). it's true for like every newsie ship lowkey (but also not lowkey because all the manhattan newsies do interact and sprace literally does not but thats a different post!!), which is something i do admire about the fandom- we do a lot of our own legwork here, we invent relationships and backgrounds from one-liners that could be given to tbh any frickin newsie. i respect the 30 years we have invented ships.

however.

when a huge, publicized, consistently sold out production comes along with spot conlon as not only a woman, but a woman of color (specifically black rn!) as the leader of the most feared group on stage, there becomes something much more important than a "sprace dynamic", which does not canonically exist in the musical anyway bro. you can't miss something that isn't there imo. often the story and casting within a story comes first, and goddamn if this isn't one of those times. lillie-pearl's spot brings bravado, swagger, confidence, and intimidation that is literally....fine maybe i'm being personal but it is slash gen incredible to see in technically a period piece! a black woman in leadership with that kind of assuredness! in such a popular musical! how is that not– automatically surpassing an often obsessed-over (yes i am. hinting at something here, straight girl fans) mlm ship?

and while i'm on the topic of the over-obsessiveness of mlm musical sprace, let me talk about uksies sprace. because what's also wack abt this ask is that sprace is not a hopeless case in this production- it literally has about as much 'evidence' as the proshot imo!!!!!

i got to hop over to 2nd row brooklyn seating for act 2 so i saw once and for all really close up, right. there's a moment when race is upstage letting the newsies in/down from the stairs. spot comes down and she does, in fact, share a look with him. race gives spot a nod and she keeps moving.

and like im gonna see the show again (every day i am counting my mf blessings fr), so if i'm wrong or they don't do it every time i'll correct myself, but that's what i saw with my own dang eyes on saturday. they do acknowledge each other in uksies.

and since they do, i really like. i have to ask. what is bothersome/unpopular abt uksies sprace, other than oh idk.... its not white/white mlm with a twink/manly bf trope? why can't race still love who spot is as a character, this strong and fearless ruler of brooklyn, in uksies? because tbh josh's racer...nahhhh because. this is such a side note now but they'd be so good together oh jesus am i gonna ship uk sprace. and it's not like they're 'taking away' from a queer ship because a) you can headcanon spot as a queer girl and race being trans is consistently popular and b) newsies has ten billion gayass ships bro we've been eatin for literal decades.

anon, i'm sure you didn't mean harm by this ask. i'm sure, honestly, that a lot of fans are feeling the same way as you and weren't quite sure how to put it in words. but, i'm also not surprised you sent an ask like this on anonymous specifically.

should you feel guilty about it? i don't think guilt is the right word. but i believe you should think more about how newsies is not.....static. it does not exist in one form, and it never will. if you're feeling genuinely let down that your ship did not see the light of day and a black girlsie spot conlon got to instead, then yes, you should reevaluate that. in theater, you should always question why something impacted you the way it did- a major point of theater is to discuss and think about it when you leave! i know this because ive spent three years literally studying it, to back up my thesis credentials.

thank you for reading this, newsies fandom. i do honestly say all this with love, and i hope it made u think !! ♥️

[scintillyyy]

Did Jack really didnt realize Tim was missing for months??? Like i know this is comic book fuckery, but still dude holy shit

alright anon, i believe your ask is referring to my comic book references in the endnotes in my janet fic where i mention that jack doesn't notice tim is gone for like 4 months during no man's land, so i'm going to answer it as if it is. correct me if i'm wrong, tho! and i'll be honest: some of those are meant to humorously poke fun at jack's parenting (or lack thereof).

but to answer your question, yes and no? it kind of boils down to two main points

honestly, in jack's defense, i truly don't think that chuck dixon's intention was to make it seem like jack was totally unaware of and not super concerned about tim being missing for months on end

due to the utter wackiness (and wonderfulness) that is the canon of the no man's land timeline, it definitely comes across that jack is very unconcerned about and/or unaware of tim being gone for a...not insignificant amount of time

under a cut for length

so for starters, we have to take a look at the no man's land official timelime as laid out in the no man's land secret files

our important months here are may and september. in robin #67, tim and dick sneak into no man's land together. based on the official timeline given, this happens in may. robin is then noted to be staying in no man's land and assisting batman through the months of june, july, and august. you'll notice it's not until september that he defeats killer croc and secures the west side.

this is important, because tim doesn't call his jack and let him know that he's in no man's land until robin #72 - after he defeats killer croc.

so now we have a 4 month gap of may to september where tim has been MIA and out of contact from jack and we, uh, haven't heard anything about this disappearance from his dad. no concerns, nothing. which, in all likelihood is because they didn't want to devote any page space to a subplot like this with jack when they had a lot of other stories they needed to tell, but since they don't flash over to jack worrying about tim at all, it kind of reads like jack isn't necessarily super concerned about the fact that tim has been gone for months on end.

and this is strange because, honestly, in canon jack is not the type who would just let his son be missing without addressing it at all, considering tim has gone missing before and jack....didn't take it well. right before cataclysm, tim runs away due to doubting himself as robin and jack not only notices within a couple of days that tim is gone, he goes all out to try and find him.

he contacts the police in robin #48 and robin #49

he even goes to talk to bruce in his desperation to see if bruce knows anything about where his son could have gone (which is actually my favorite bruce & jack interaction)

so we're left with this interesting juxtaposition of how we know jack will react to his son being missing for weeks and how jack is...not really reacting to tim being gone for 4 months at this point.

now we do get a panel that implies that jack is vaguely aware that tim has been gone for a bit. when tim calls him in robin #72 he does say this:

he does ask where tim is and where he's been, but also....

well, i generally disagree with policing people's reactions to stressful situations like this (unlike a lot of true crime enthusiasts), but, uh...idk, to me jack is not really acting like his son has been gone for 4 months at this point. because we've seen how he reacts to tim being gone for multiple weeks, if not months. it looks like this (from robin #52):

you can see here he is palpably relieved and downright exuberant that his son is alive and contacting him after being MIA for so long. he's not angry at all, just filled with relief that his son is okay. compare this to the no man's land one, where he just seems annoyed and angry, like it's just a situation where tim was supposed to be home for dinner or something and he never showed up because he went out with friends and didn't call and let his dad know his plans. like, nothing about the no man's land example reads to me like a father who has been worried sick at his son casually disappearing for 4 months (after recently doing this to boot and jack was shown to be absolutely sick with concern over it all!) without contacting him at all, considering we do know how jack reacts to this very situation. like, almost everything about those two panels are framed differently, even though it's basically the same situation. and of course, after jack finds out that tim is in no man's land, he immediately reacts like he did prior to cataclysm: with immense concern for tim's safety and a goal to find him and get him home. he calls the media and does everything in his power to get tim out safely! so as readers, we're left wondering about how this gap was handled since we didn't hear from jack at all during that time and we've got a couple of options, actually:

most likely, jack was very concerned offscreen over the four months actually, but at the same time he was also very annoyed because didn't they just go through this? he's very upset that tim just keeps running off like this. he probably reported it to the police and we just didn't see it because chuck dixon didn't want to rehash the tim is missing story with jack again or devote limited page space to how jack is reacting to his son being missing.

more hilariously, jack didn't really notice tim was gone for as long as he was. teenagers are slippery, okay? jack is doing his best, but it's really hard keeping track of your fifteen year old when you're jack drake. he just assumed that tim was having a busy summer with his friends and, you know, jack was busy too, working and doing stuff with dana and it's not until dana casually mentions around the end of august, hey, i notice tim hasn't been around recently, shouldn't he be starting school in a few days? and jack's like, huh, that's weird, where is that kid, i expect him home for dinner, i guess i haven't seen him in a few days, now i'm starting to get worried and then his kid calls and is like, hey i'm actually in no man's land.

and honestly, i don't think this whole 4 month thing is something chuck put a lot of thought into, or he definitely backtracked on how unreasonable it was to have tim be gone for so long and never show jack being concerned about it prior to tim calling him considering in robin #74, he has tim say this:

where tim is like "oh, he's mad because i disappeared for a month", which i think is trying to make it better in that maybe tim wasn't gone as long as the timeline would suggest, and jack clearly spent a couple of weeks with his media circus between when he finds out tim is in no man's land and when tim is able to get rescued from no man's land which would give us the rough month tim claims to be missing for, so the implication is that tim maybe didn't actually go missing for 4 months?

but this also directly contradicts the official timeline of events, and actually gives us an even more hilarious implication: you see, jack finds out in september that tim is missing and the issue that tim gets rescued at is meant to be read before catwoman #75, which is catwoman en route to to NML, which our timeline places in october...which is about a month from september. so there we have a month that tim is gone that jack is aware of, so to jack, tim went missing for a month in no man's land.

but for that to work, jack has to be unaware that tim was actually also missing for the four months prior. so there it is! jack being seemingly completely unaware that his son is MIA for four months. in large part, due to the utter ridiculousness of the no man's land timeline rather than any actual intent on the writers' part to do so.

fun times!

[indigoraysoflight]

9 "You're not allowed to pick the movie ever again." For caryl

Hey anon! Thanks for waiting. Life got busy. So…IDK if a movie is something they have the luxury to watch in the TWD (based on the time frame I ended up writing this in), so I’ll try to incorporate the dialogue. But actual movie-watching won't be involved, I'm afraid. For future reference, I usually write more angsty (sometimes with a happy twist at the end) style fics that go hand in hand with canon, so let’s hope I can achieve that here. One movie reference is based on cast interviews. And the movie choice is obviously a callback haha. Hopefully, this was worth the wait. Thanks for the prompt!

Missing Scene / 11x12 / Aftermath of “The Lucky Ones” 

~

One Day

Daryl idly browsed the CDs and LPs stacked in boxes on a table in front of the general store. Need to clear my head after Hilltop, he thought, as he glanced at the reflection of “Elodies Bakery” on the glass window in front of him.

Hilltop was barely holding on. Hershel was happier than ever, looking more and more like Glenn every day – even if he got his smile from his granddaddy. Maggie and Lydia met him with brave faces, but he knew them better. Some things can’t be fixed ya know? Lydia’s words kept looping through his head as his eyes drifted to the reflection of the bakery again. 

He hadn't really spent any time with her in days. Sometimes they bumped into each other. They’d share updates, talk about life for a minute or two and then go their own way. But their conversations were always to the point, quick, and distant. 

It was hard not to sound distant or cold when she gave him the same tight-lipped smile she gave everyone else. His mind would go back to their fight, and he would close up – remember the cabin, how he almost lost her in the cave, or when she led the horde away. 

Then I lost her anyway 'cause I told her I wouldn't stop her if she left, he thought. 

But she stayed and fixed everything. Saved everyone and kept them fed while he was stuck with the Reapers. He returned knowing more than ever where he belonged, but they were in the Commonwealth before he could do anything about it. The wound left behind from their fight still waiting to be healed. 

Feels kinda pointless sometimes, Lydia had said when she told him about wanting to leave Hilltop. He understood that feeling all too well. He felt for Lydia. The kid had suffered through enough in her short life; she deserved a bit of peace.

However short-lived peace will be this time ‘round. The thought left an acidic taste on his tongue. But it’d be nice to have her close. He huffed a laugh, wondering if she’d want to live with him and the kids. But something in his heart told him Lydia would go live with-

“Hey.” 

Her voice jolted through his heart, and he tried to pretend it was because she caught him by surprise as he turned to look at her.

Carol.

Her hair was in a messy bun, silver glinting in the late afternoon sun, and she wore a blue top that made her eyes look impossibly blue. She pushed a stray strand of hair off her face as she walked up to him and gave him that tightlipped smile. It instantly dunked him in cold water. 

“Hi.”  

“Finished my shift early, so I picked the kids up from Jerry’s and thought to give them a treat.” She leaned her back on the table and looked out. He turned and followed her gaze to the ice cream truck on the other side of the square. Judith and RJ were eating ice cream at a table with Dog sitting patiently, wagging his tail. 

“How is she? How’s Hilltop?” she asked quietly. 

Daryl’s eyes were back on the stack he was perusing. He chewed his lip. “She’s survivin’, and so is Hilltop. Seen worse days.” 

He wanted to kick himself for his choice of words when she stiffened up in his periphery. He hadn’t meant it the way she’d heard it.

Daryl squinted up at her nervously and changed the subject. “Hey, thanks for that jar of lollipops for Hershel. Judith told me you got 'em for her.”

"I wish I'd known sooner. If I had more time, I would’ve prepared a proper care package for all of them." Carol barely held his gaze and looked down, idly tracing the cracks in the masonry on the ground with her shoe. 

“...Everyone else ok?” her voice trembled ever so slightly and tugged at his heart.

“Lydia’s good,” he responded softly.

She glanced up in surprise briefly. Her eyes were glassy, but relief washed over her face.

“Good. That’s good,” she responded with a shaky voice, turning to look at the kids.

“She’s havin’ second thoughts about stayin’ there, though.”

“She deserves some peace after… everything. It would be nice to have her here.” 

Hearing her perfectly echo his thoughts about Lydia made him miss her so damn much, even though she was right in front of him. His eyes lingered on her as he noticed the beads of sweat dotting the side of her face and the long silver lock of hair curling around her cheek. Daryl turned to follow her gaze again, and they watched the kids giggling away, with Dog – who had given up his quest for ice cream – now resting by Judith’s feet. 

“Maggie isn’t joining, is she?” Carol asked, breaking the silence. 

“Nah. She still don’t want anything to do with ‘em. Oceanside is standing with her.”

“I don’t blame her. After what she’s been through, I’d be cautious too. Besides, they can’t exactly be trusted.”

“You changin’ your mind?” he retorted, unable to keep the slight edge out of his tone.

His mind still stuck on her words at the fair – maybe we don’t need to do anything to make it work. Every time they tried to talk, somehow, their words poured salt over the gaping wound between them. And he didn’t know how to stop it.

She bristled, “Never said I trusted them, Daryl. I just hoped for the kids' sake that it would be different this time. But it never is, is it?" 

I hoped it’d be different, too, he wanted to say. Daryl looked back at the LPs and CDs, idly fiddling with them. 

Carol continued, "I’ve picked up a side job to find out what’s happening behind the scenes.” 

“What job?” He asked, feeling his heartbeat pick up. 

“I’m working with that guy Lance Hornsby. Trying to make some connections, and see if I can hear anything that helps us. See why they’re so interested in fixing our home, ya know?"  

Daryl nodded. At least there's still an "us", he thought.  

He wanted to respond, say something – Be safe. That Lance guy looks like a prick, don’t trust him. Stay with me... and the kids. Don’t go puttin’ yourself at risk for no reason. I miss you. Do you need my help? Tell me how to fix us. I’ll go with you. But the words swirled around his mind and lodged in his throat, struggling to escape. He randomly picked a CD case from the box and twirled it in his hands to hide the tremor in his fingers.

“How exactly are you planning on watching that?” The shift in her tone snapped him out of his thoughts. 

She eyed his hand, and he saw that he’d picked up a weathered case of ‘On Golden Pond’ somehow hidden in a stack of music CDs. 

“Hmpf.” His lips quirked up slightly. 

“Even if you had a way to watch it, I doubt Judith and RJ would sit through it,” she replied playfully. But his heart clenched a tiny bit when she didn’t include herself in the mix. 

“They might. It's a classic.” He snuck into a theater when he was about RJ’s age and watched the whole thing. 

“Sure,” she snickered.

He looked at her incredulously. “Hey, don’t knock it if you ain’t seen it.”

“Who says I haven’t?” she quirked her eyebrows. “Watched it with my grandma when I was a kid. It’s cheesy.” 

“You’re right. It ain’t no tabloid,” he deadpanned. He couldn’t help but smile at the stunned look on her face.

“I think if we could watch movies, it’d be nice to watch something newer. Not something as ancient as ‘On Golden Pond,’” she teased.

Still smiling, he shook his head. “If they figure out how to play movies here one day, I’m gonna show you why you’re wrong.”

“If that ever happens, and you make me watch ‘On Golden Pond’, then you're not allowed to pick the movie ever again.” She turned to face him with a smile on her face. “AND I’ll find the trashiest tabloid and make you read it.”

“And if you like it?” he challenged, turning to face her.

“A scoop of ice cream.” 

“Pfft.” He rolled his eyes. 

She narrowed her eyes, still smiling, “Dinner then.”

It’s a date, he wanted to say, but the words fizzled in his throat when he noticed her smile – the crinkly-eyed Carol smile he missed so much. The one she only reserved for him. His eyes moved on their own as they washed over the map of freckles on her face, the faint pink tinting her cheeks, the mischievous sparkle in her blue eyes. He noticed that her lips didn’t look chapped anymore and that they had more colour to them. 

Daryl pried his eyes away from her as the proximity made him want to close the distance and pull her into his arms. Flop his head on her shoulder and breathe her in. Forget about their fight, the things left unsaid, and the gaping wound that pulsed and ached to be healed.  

“A’right,” he cleared his throat, looking down. 

“I should go. Early shift tomorrow – the side thing.” Carol stepped back and turned away. 

Daryl nodded. 

Some things can’t be fixed ya know? Feels kinda pointless sometimes. When do you know? When it’s time to walk away. 

Lydia’s voice echoed from Hilltop in his mind as he helplessly watched Carol leave. Daryl rocked on his feet as the widening distance pulled him to follow, a million different things jumbling in his mind. The wound between them growing, burning, aching. I won’t stop you this time; the words barreled into him as Carol walked away.

“Carol!” Daryl called out.  

She turned around with a furrowed brow. 

“You got time for ice cream?” He pointed at the truck awkwardly. She hesitated. Daryl continued before his courage fizzled, “Don’t gotta watch an ancient movie with me this time.”

The furrow in her brow softened, and an amused smile played across her face.

“Okay.”

They joined the kids and grabbed a table. Dog greeted him briefly and went to sit near Carol – flopping his head on her lap. Daryl forced himself to pry his eyes away when they lingered on her face for too long. They didn’t talk about anything important as they ate their ice cream, but he felt the wound between them heal just a bit. 

He could tell the coming days would be difficult for all of them. As more things about the Commonwealth came to light, and things pulled them in different directions – their future seemed darker and more uncertain. But one day, the fight would be over, and they would have time to heal.

I ain’t givin’ up on us, Daryl thought as she turned and gave him that Carol smile. Not ever.  

[psychewritesbs]

I wonder if Ryomen Sukuna is more of a title than Sukuna's actual name? And if that's the case, what are the implications of the first chapter in this context then?

'Ryomen Sukuna', and the first character we see is Megumi. People have been noticing similarities between Megumi and Sukuna and how even his idea of saving people by his own conscience seems to mirror Sukuna's 'saving/killing people based on his whims'. We've also gotten glimpses of Megumi's more violent and darker tendencies where he goes as far as to show little to no remorse for killing if he sees it as necessary. I've also noticed recently how Megumi has been shown on multiple occasions to particularly sense the fingers whenever they're exposed. It's not so much a testament to me that he's more sensitive towards it than others but Gege's choice to showcase him reacting to it, in particular. Maybe it's all just to foreshadow the eventual taking over in 212 but what if the relevance of these similarities goes beyond the enchain pact?

What are the chances of Megumi becoming a new Ryomen Sukuna?

Mmmm I see where you're coming from anon. My understanding of the name is that it is a name given based on the circumstances? idk how to explain well. Basically, he is Ryomen Sukuna because he is two-faced.

For me, my agenda is and will remain "Ryomen Sukuna" is a split off personality meant to represent inner evil. I'll probably be one of those fans who will die on a hill that has been shown to not be canon 😂😭. I just love this idea so much bahaha.

So to me, your idea makes sense from that perspective because the kanji for Ryomen Sukuna is something along the lines of two-faced. I wrote about the kanji in more detail here. But this also goes back to the idea that Sukuna has a twin brother, and I really like the idea that its more of a conjoined twin or psychic conjoined twin situation going on with Sukuna.

Again, from that perspective, ya, I feel like Megumi would be the new Ryomen Sukuna. The thing to keep in mind is that Sukuna does have his own agency, backstory, sense of self, and personality that is independent of the host's. Not to mention Sukuna has to suppress the host's sense of self in order to take over.

As for Megumi recognizing the sensation of the fingers, I think that's rather because Gege has shown Megumi to be highly intuitive and borderline psychic.

Another angle why your idea makes sense to me is that Sukuna, as a demonic type force, true to form, basically arrested Megumi's development and is feeding off Megumi's creativity and potential and using that for his own gain.

So there's this really fine line between Megumi and Sukuna if you think of the whole enchilada in terms of mind = body = soul. The only problem is... Sukuna has now acquired his og form.

Not sure if I got the meaning of what you meant 100%, but thanks for the ask anon!

[throw-away-your-mask]

Lo! Saw your response in the P5T tag and idk here's my two cents

I'm fine with the spin-offs mostly, the gacha game is admittedly a lil much, and I'm just hoping at this point it is non-canon...

Kinda view the spin-offs as comfort food while we wait for P6 which I'm fine with! I personally really like the thieves so I don't really mind 👍

I do get folk feeling like it's just beating a dead horse though! I'm sure I would've felt similar during the P4 era... I wasn't fully invested like I am now with persona back then...

So like I get it, if the thieves aren't really your thing you might not be super into the 5 spin-offs, so like I guess that's why I'm happy 3R is being released, gives fans other then 5 something to work with!

Anyway sure day-one story DLC sucks but I haven't seen my kids (Royal trio) since 2020 so uh- guess I'm gonna be there.

(Still miss the strikers duo though D :)

i do totally get what you mean, anon, and i really appreciate the add on! personally my comment was more a criticism of the company, i do like that these games exist and i absolutely adore having p5 content (it is my favourite persona game, and i will take any content pertaining to my special interest), i just think that it's worth acknowledging the nature of it.

i don't agree with persona fans that make out like they wish this content didn't exist, or that p5 content is inherently worse than that of other games because they're the most popular or what is being profited off them most, i don't subscribe to the "oh i hate that there's so much p5 content specifically" mindset because - yes obviously they're a company and p5 content gets the most traction.

but whilst i enjoy this content and am happy we are getting it, i do think it's important to acknowledge that they are profit based in nature, though this is mostly due to my own feelings about the practices of game companies (and large corporations in general) and not specifically about the persona games. i'm very critical of atlus.

i can see why it came off like i was anti-spinoff games, but i'm absolutely not! i just don't like the business practices behind it.. especially with the dlc, i think they're really pushing it. but i also am going to get the game, and i also am going to buy the repaint your heart dlc, because i love this franchise, i love the royal trio, i'm a hypocrite.

so yeah this post is way too much rambling so tldr: my criticisms of p5 spinoffs is not because they're from p5 or that i dislike spinoffs, it's more a criticism of atlus and their business practices. i am excited for tactica.

edit: if any of this comes off as argumentative, it isn't meant to, i struggle with tone, and i just really enjoy discussing these topics at length. my worst fear is somebody seeing my posts and assuming they're discourse or debate of some kind. they are not.

[bookofmirth]

Nesta targeted Feyre everyday for 20 something years, and at that point? That’s emotional abuse when it’s THAT consistent..That’s bullying, that’s not even regular nit picking. Feyre has always been the one Nesta let’s her anger and resentment out on.. It’s not abusing the term when it’s accurate, but people can call it what they want Feyre stans will always stand by her being emotionally abusive. She even threaten to Physically hurt Feyre before. I respect stan’s that don’t belittle what she’s done more than not yk. Some of us have siblings are bully us, it’s a thing

Sorry my response got long, your ask opened the floodgates of thoughts I've been having for weeks 😅 To preface this, this is not an Archeron versus Archeron post, I think we can have these discussions without making it black and white or trying to make excuses or accusations! I like all three sisters for different reasons and in different ways.

You're right, it's not misuse of the term if it's applied in the right situations, it's just that in this fandom (and in fandom spaces in general) people use the word "abusive" to justify not liking the thing they don't like. We have no problem saying that Tamlin is abusive, and I wonder if that's because we know that feylin is not endgame in canon. If they were still together, I'm willing to bet that people would have a much harder time calling his behavior abusive because then that would mean people would have icky feelings about shipping something that's abusive. (And he clearly had those tendencies in acotar, it didn't appear out of nowhere in acomaf. I tried to find my post where I discussed this but I can't.)

You're right about Feyre being targeted, too. Along with their father. Nesta never targeted Elain, and I have... thoughts about that that I think would be super unpopular if I explained them lol.

I really dislike any sort of sugar coating of what Nesta has done for a lot of reasons. I respect the need to stick to that more than I do the attempts to gloss over what actually happened. If you take away the way that Nesta was behaving, then you take away the core part of her conflict and journey. I know I had an anon a while back who made a similar statement regarding abuse specifically and I resisted it. But... idk, upon reread I understand that a bit better. (If you're reading this anon, whoever you are, I remember you!)

Since you mentioned it being consistent... I did a little bit of digging because this conversation does interest me in an academic sense. Nesta engaged in put-downs, bullying, and verbal abuse by these standards. I can see why people would argue that a one-off situation isn't abusive - we are all mean sometimes, we all have off days - but Nesta (and Eris, and Tamlin) engaged in these behaviors pretty consistently. And you'll notice that the description on that page is 100% about the way those behaviors impact people. Whether someone intends to be abusive or not is not only beside the point, it completely misses the point. So whether Nesta meant to act in a way that would be considered abusive or not, I can absolutely see why people would classify it that way, based on the impact she had on Feyre specifically.

I have siblings too, and while I never experienced any abuse or bullying from them, I totally respect how that experience would cause a lot of people to (intensely) dislike the way that Nesta treated Feyre. My romantic relationships and friendships are what have made me really dislike the way that Nesta behaves. It's just incredibly hard being on the receiving end of vitriol from someone you care about, when you're just trying to help them or make some sort of connection.

I wonder how much gender plays a role in this, too. I was thinking about nessian and how we might view their relationship if Nesta behaved the way that she did and she were the man in that hetero relationship. Would people be okay with a man acting that way towards a woman? It's not a 1-to-1 comparison because there are ways in which men have more power than women and so women acting one way isn't the same thing as a man acting that way. But it's just a thought I had.

Okay my final thought about this (for now, I'm sure I'll have more) is that saying Nesta is abusive (or Eris, or Tamlin, or Rhys, or whoever we want to say that about) doesn't mean we need to throw their character in the trash, nor does it say anything about the people who like those characters. That's the thing that pisses me off, personally. Someone liking Nesta isn't a bad person, nor is someone who like Rhys, or Feyre, or whoever. If other people want to take these statements and draw conclusions about real people from them, that's their business. I'm not doing that and I am in no way saying others should. In fact, please fucking don't.

[nekropsii]

sorry to harp on this!! i know kankri was based a lot on tumblr sjws in the early 2010s, and a lot of people identified as aroace at that time, so i can see how it would be relevant. but… he’s celibate? not aroace? i always thought it was more about him being linked to religion (the Irons necklace and such) or as a chirst figure of sorts himself? idk idr too much about kankri but if you wouldn’t mind shedding some light on how his canon character is offensive to aroace people i’d appreciate it ^^

(Including this anon as well as to not leave them out. Thank you both for your interest!!)

I wouldn’t say you’re harping, just asking a genuinely valid question. Questions are always welcome.

I’d like to first clarify that my point was not that Kankri’s character is offensive to AroAce people- it was that his Celibacy was set up in a way that’s meant to have overlap with/be analogous to his textual AroAcehood. Which, yes, is actually a thing:

I’m not denying that his character is offensive to AroAce people. It, in fact, very much so is, speaking as an AroAce person, but the focal point of my argument was that his Celibacy was set up to also be a shot at AroAces. Technically the same argument, but tackled from slightly different angles. One is addressing the real-world effects of the writing, the other is addressing authorial intent. As always, I am pedantic.

The reason this is a- as much as I loathe to use this word- problematic analogy within this specific context is because Kankri’s Celibacy is clearly defined as a choice that he made that he is bad at mentally and emotionally committing to. It adds a whole new layer of upset to his extremely creepy, almost stalker-ish behavior towards Latula. Hussie seems to view AroAces as nothing more than sexually repressed closet creeps that are actually secretly AmatoAllo.

It’s practically physically impossible to argue against the notion that Kankri’s Religiosity is deeply and purposefully intertwined with his status as a Tumblr Parody. The setup is actually pretty clever- if you lean too hard in either direction, it’s a failed reading. Yes, his religious theming is backed by the fact that he is a Pre-Scratch iteration of The Sufferer, but when you take a step back… Not only is it a very literal approach to the fact that Online Political Discourse in that era specifically was known for being “preachy,” but it’s also a pretty clever nod to the idea of a Savior Complex.

His Discoursing is tied to the image of a Sermon, his need to police people to maximize comfortability is tied to a Savior Complex, which is tied to the fact that he is The Signless, his Celibacy is tied to his AroAcehood. Simple equation. If all of his Religious Language and Imagery is also simultaneously tied to him being a Tumblr Parody, then his state of being Celibate- a Religious Practice- and his state of being on the AroAce spectrum- at the time seen as a confusing, Tumblr-specific label- are… You know, more likely than not also connected. It makes significantly more sense if it is- I find no plausible reasoning why that would not have been Hussie’s intention if that’s exactly what they did with so many other details in Kankri’s character.

[angelsdean]

Despite claims that Dean calls women "bitches" when they reject his advances.

Uhm??? That is not what I said?? I said he called women bitches when they did something he didn’t like? Namely their enemies. In fact when he was attracted to a woman he treated them like a true gentleman. It was their enemies he was aggressive towards. And saying the word ‘bitch’ was directed towards women 3 times is fair and all. But how many of their enemies in season 1 were women and how many were men? And did he actually ever run into a female enemy that he did not call a bitch in the earlier seasons? Idk no offense or anything it feels like you’re taking this a bit personally. The tone in your post about how much he used the word bitch was kind of coming off as confrontational. I’m looking at this as a case of bad writing rather than anti-deanism or whatever everyone thinks is going on here :(

I'm really very sorry if I misunderstood that! From the way it was worded in the previous ask: "it was because he tried to fuck anyone with boobs and the minute a woman did something he didn’t like he turned around and called them a bitch" I read that statement as suggesting "the minute a woman did something he didn't like" in relation to the flirting / trying to sleep with them. Like, woman rejects him trying to sleep with her >> he calls her a bitch. But now I can see what you meant in the context of villains / enemies. And I do agree, the three only instances from just looking at s1 were directed only towards enemies and it's something I do want to continue keeping track of as I watch.

I'm also sorry if my tone came off as confrontational, I definitely did not mean for that either. I was mostly in "academic" mode lol so it was more about "disproving" the claim that he calls women (who are not enemies, but potential interests) bitches. I really find all of this fascinating and engaging and like you said there is a lot of bad writing to look for and also just, the show being a product of its time. Unfortunately early 2000s television was rife with casual sexism and misogyny and we definitely saw that leak into the show and some of Dean's behaviors. The writers have their own biases and bigotry too which is definitely important to consider when we're doing these analyses / character "studies."

I'm not mad at you personally, anon, and do invite you to continue to share things you find too and add to this conversation. If I came across as a bit defensive or confrontational it was less about you and your individual ask and more toward the general "fanon" view a lot of people (dean 'crits' or 'antis' or whatever) have toward Dean that often is not based on actual evidence from the show or is based on one small thing that has gotten exaggerated or misinterpreted in fanon. And since I've been rewatching recently it's just so hard not to be like !!!!!!! when I see how canon things don't match up with some fanon interpretations.

I have some other asks in my inbox that may have been from you ? I'm not sure, that I also plan to answer but this was the most recent and I just wanted to clear things up and apologize<3

[swampstew]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗(No pressure to do this! 🖤)

Oh thank you anon ~ this is so delightful♥ I think I did something similar before but I will def do it again :) Thank you for spreading some self-love on self-care sunday, I hope you get yourself a treat for being a wonderful bean♥

What’s the Magic Word? - My original self-insert story about a Witch aligned with the Straw Hat Pirates who finds herself temporarily allying with the Kid Pirates in order to reunite with her crew. I felt like a lot of fics I read at the time about Eustass Kid were pretty dark (which I love reading don't get me wrong) but I noticed a lack in stories where a character could be a part of the crew where they weren't coerced or kidnapped by the crew first. So I wanted to take an approach where a character is forced to be with them by outside influences, and how Kid and the crew would react and handle that. Plus it felt fun putting in a type of character that has not been confirmed canon in the series, despite the jokes that Dr. Kureha is a witch, which I lowkey buy but until its confirmed I don't think there are any witch characters full stop. This story is centered between Kid and Rowena and how they spend the 2 year time skip together.

Turn Back Time - This was originally meant to be an reader insert AU where the characters were relatable enough that anyone could envision themselves as the characters, but doing Y/N - especially on a book as long as this one turned out to be - didn't sit well with me and so I gave them names, and after putting so much love and effort into them and their backgrounds, they became more based off my own personal experiences. In fact, Andrea and Candy are loosely based off myself and my childhood best friend! Again, I wanted to take a different approach on how Kid and the Kid Pirates interact with people who don't mock or insult them, and now this story is more about what it would be like to be on the crew itself, in addition to the romantic relationships between the OCs and the crew. It has been a lot of fun not only bringing these OCs to life, but also bringing the crew itself to life - even if most of how I write them is entirely based on personal headcanons, I do my best to align each character up to as much canon information as we get from them.

At First Sight - this was a one shot that turned into a mini-series and I surprised myself with how much I packed into it. Originally a stand-alone porn trope collaboration story, I've put a lot of love into this one to create a fun story where the reader is the main character and the reader gets to learn who they really are at the same pace as the Kid Pirates. This is a story where the reader gets to meet and sail with the Kid Pirates under amicable circumstances but its not without tension, angst, smut, and violence. My first Y/N story that is 2 chapters away from completion!!

KillerCook - I saw a hot dude make brownies on Instagram and thought ‘what if Killer.’ That’s it. I feel like I managed to create an authentic social media experience that readers can visualize as they read, and I think that's neat! Plus its fun to see the crew in a modern setting just hanging out and doing fun things. Plus plus, I felt like Killer really deserved his own fic♥

Captain_CumShot - I'll be honest, I've never used OnlyFans so this was a real shot in the dark but I'm grateful to my beloved mutual (idk if you wanted to be tagged in this but you know who you are) who was able to guide me so I could create another modern social media fic that was true to how a real OF account experience would feel like. This fic is 100% to sexualize the Captain of the Kid Pirates because he would irl undoubtedly have an account where all he has to do is show dick and get paid for it. Easy money, easy life!

[mickeymagpie]

Vampire ask: 2, 3, 14

idk if you meant to add a character to those first ones but the fact that you didn't means i get to go wild a little bit so thank you anon

2: How does their vampirism affect their daily life? Have they had to make any changes to routine or behavior?

So, in general, most vamps have to be partially or completely nocturnal just because of the whole sunlight thing. Different strains have varying degrees of sensitivity to it so it's kind of a toss up how much it'll mess with them, but it's for sure an adjustment if someone was an early riser or a very outdoorsy person before and now they're having to stay inside/in the dark for most of the day.

3: Are there perks that outweigh the condition, or is it too difficult to enjoy?

Perks vary by strain, but the general upside is the crazy healing factor and aging so slowly that you might as well not be. Then again, some vamps may also see that as a bad thing, especially when they're still pretty young and have to contend with outliving their human loved ones for the first time.

14: Do you have any general vampirism headcanons (or canon in your fiction?)

YEAH SO THE STRAINS-- i love talking about this; i have nine distinct types/strains of vampirism in my book, each one with different features/strengths/weaknesses, each based off of a different blood drinking or carnivorous animal. Bats, wolves, mosquitos, etc. Most vampires will turn into the same strain as the vamp who sires them. The exceptions are very rare and not really understood yet, though some have recently theorized it has something to do with genetic mutations.

[opinated-user]

Same anon who pointed out LO's anbyphobic behavior towards Stevonnie here again cuz i just remembered something. Idk if that comment is still there, but back then, someone pointed out under her "i rewrote a part of my su video" video, that Steven is meant to be gender non confirming. This was in response to LO calling him cishet in the video. Now admittedly this is a bit of a flimsy point; someone can still be cishet and also be gnc. But that's besides the point. I believe LO then replied with "the most gnc thing he does is wearing pink". Besides the fact that gender roles are still extremely strict and a boy even just wearing pink classifies as at least a bit gnc because of that, Steven literally wore heels, a skirt, a crop top and make up in one episode (the one where he sings "haven't you noticed that I'm a star") so even if he's not canonically gnc it's pretty safe to assume he's not insecure about his masculinity. I just thought it was worth noting. Now I'm not going to spend who knows how long looking for a comment that has probably been deleted by now, so if anyone's willing to fact check me on this, or even just use this as a springboard to talk about her overall attitude towards gender nonconformity, go ahead

i think it's worth remembering that Steven as a character was based on Sugar's real younger brother. we might never know how much was based on him and how much was the creative liberty of Sugar, but that makes him slightly different than any other of the characters that were created for the show. he wasn't thought as another way to get representation on her show like the gems, but as an homage of someone Sugar knows irl and cares about.

we can think and talk all day about how different the show would have been if Steven was a girl or gay, but that i feel is disregarding a little the purpose with which he was created. taking that out of the way, i think it's also a mistake to say that Steven is a conventional cishet dude because 1). steven basically only had a crush on one girl as far we have see him and never looked at anyone else like that. that sounds pretty grey ace/aro or demi ace/aro to me. 2). Steven's masculinity is very much not conventional. he wears pink, but he is also compassionate, sweet, kind and sensitive... many qualities LO actually despises him for. Greg never raised him to be afraid of being affectionate or talk when he is struggling, to ask help, which is very much not conventional with male characters, even on cartoons. Steven never tries to be "man enough", he just is, and that can be a incredibly powerful representation for little boys who are raised being taught to bottle everything and solve everything with violence to prove themselves.

if LO dismisses all of that and how good is just because Steven didn't crushed on another boy or called himself anything but s guy, then that's really unfortunate because she's sending the message that cishet men are doomed to not deserve more nuance than "traditional" masculinity.

[7-ratsinatrenchcoat]

today marks the seventh day I am trying to make a thing inspired by one of the anons on Sullina's blog. the alternate universe I have spawned in these seven days is cursed . . . but not nearly cursed enough. you will see what i mean when i finally post the first part. After about four days i pulled my head out of the keyboard and realized 'actually I have no idea how to craft a psychological horror plot.' Then I kept writing because I cannot be stopped by common sense, only by the fear of accidentally butchering the Themes.

Do you have any SDS au headcannons with a horror twist? I have butchered the canon timeline fyi. Still a character-based show so my strategy has been to make everyone just a lil more unhinged with their original canon traits. Like for instance Diane's habitual accidental (???) killing of Ban and the general destruction she causes. That is not explored at all in canon. It's like woah she's a bit crazy, just did something that would kill a human (They thought Mel was human!!) like it was nothing and didn't even aknowledge that she physically assualted someone over a misunderstanding (forest of white dreams). Meanwhile Ban has definitely killed people. But idk how much from canon I should veer off from in a horror adaptation au.

I've turned merlin into the mess she was always meant to be but I'm not gonna write a scene about that. Just imagine her doing unhinged chaos research while the newly assembled sins are barely getting along and no one is adressing the underlying issues of that. And then imagine one crisis is resolved only for merlin to burst out of her lab covered in soot, having abandoned the mission entirely, and declare that she's gonna ressurect god. And during the chaos Meliodas has to do a species reveal or risk them killing Merlin, who is broadcasting "I am at least half possessed" vibes and not listening to reason. dark crowded hotel room vibes the whole time. the demon reveal only makes things worse and merlin takes the opportunity to try to cast her spell. It backfires and would have killed everyone in the city if not for Meliodas's quick thinking. (Think that would be a wake up call, the events of Belualin happening again? imagine a shrunken merlin being in tears because that's defnitely how she is the next time they see her. not right after the disaster tho she's ditched) The kingdom is like wtf we are exiling you all, and the sins disband.

there's all the background info I haven't written down yet for season one. depending on how much of my time and braincells I want to pour into this, the sins becoming exiled from the kingdom they're supposed to be protecting could become a running gag among the sins. Like how many kingdoms are we not allowed in now? 2? Bet we can hit 5 by the end of the decade!

by now hopefully you are curious as to what's going on in my brain. And where the heck Elizabeth Liones Baltra and the others are if this is what's happening in season one. I have answers. Our sweet sweet girl is getting some real character development this time. (Several times acutally but that's a secret just between me and you shhh. The main horror I was able to inflict on this au so far is just dramatic irony. Not just what might happen as a consequence but also that secretly, quietly, someone knows. The obliviousness is enabled.)

I am a little in love with my own ideas here. I am spawning more as we speak.

If you are want to come up with a Thought for this, hit me with em! i welcome quirky traits to give an Elizabeth as well.

also Liz. I'm writing a whole thing for her. She is integral to the plot. as she should be she's great but also? I realized I don't know how to write Liz lmao. Oh well. she's a sweetheart. she can kick Meliodas's ass. she knows what healthy boundaries are and her kindness and selflessness is stronger than her fear. what more do we need.

also Mel knowing he can make connections and wanting to despite everything. he can hate himself for the Other reasons this time. the sad demon can have good fun

PLEASE THIS SOUNDS SO COOL. I want more of this so bad, the dramatic irony trope is so much fun. I would absolutely love more Ellie details, I made a post a while back about superhuman traits the Sins could have (it might have been a reblog? I think it was a reblog). If memory serves some of the Meliodas ones I had were seeing a little too well in the dark, detecting lies really easily, stuff like that. Something that would qualify the Sins as humans but a little to the left, if you know what I mean. I'd love to do a headcanon swap about your AUs and mine if you're up for it!

[dannyphantom-justiceleauge]

H2O Sam anon: Yes to all of that. Love all the additions and stuff! My favorite bit is Danny and Tucker taking the splash for Sam, they absolutely would. (Also for the straw thing I was imagining it was one of those collapsible ones or ones with a case? I dunno, just something easy to carry/store.) Love the thing with Jazz too! Jazz giving the fairy a name because she feels bad is great because now she has a fairy familiar basically. She'd probably call it her sidekick or something (which pisses it off lol), and with everyone else having supernatural responsibilities, I can imagine they come with her with "troubles" (aka ways to trick her into getting its name back) and through all that she eventually picks up her own responsibilities in faerieland or whatever (I imagine it's underground like in Artemis Fowl? Oh hey there's an option for a media to base the fae stuff on...) :D

having a small case would make sense. a straw is definitely something she can keep in her bag or purse.

Tucker and Danny absolutely would go out of their way to cover for Sam even if it meant ending up in embarrassing situations. they're all shown doing it for each other in canon just to cover Danny's secret. i see no reason why that would change if they have more secrets to cover and different weaknesses. i definitely see them having to come up with more increasingly frantic distractions and lies to prevent people from seeing them transform. i feel they'll probably develop something of a reputation for this.

jazz getting close to her fairy familiar is a whole vibe. she'd be so innocent and nice about it but also is too smart to be tricked. it's that combination of nieveness and shrewdness that makes her particularly annoying. her fairy friend, who really should have a name at this point... something sciency probably based on how she named her teddy bear, but still somewhat stupid because of the ways she named the ghosts. currently i'm leaning towards calling him Higgs after the Higgs Bosan particle. has some nice old man energy, implies that they're small. idk i guess it depends on what kind of character you want the fairy to be. either way, i see a lot of misadventures happening because jazz is trusting enough to go along with Higg's ideas and smart enough to escape situations unscathed, especially if she has Danny, Sam, and Tucker watching her back. any problem that's too much for her to face alone, Danny has probably sussed out because he's protective.

i do like the idea of this being similar to the artimas fowl universe. there's a lot of potential for that and the world building is already established. on the other hand it has been a very long time since i read artimas fowl and from what i remember the fae were very tech savey and very rascist. the tech i'm a little iffy on because i'm low key not into scifi. on the other hand there is a sort of balance with the fenton tech. also see the fae being irritated that jazz has this seemingly random effective and sometimes faulty technology. the racism could be a good source of conflict but also... i don't know it feels like a lot to tackle. especially with everything going on in this au. that's probably a job for another author who know AF better. either way lots of potential for this idea

if nothing else i do like the idea of the fae living underground and having a whole society there. AF isn't the only one that's done this. we could also reference alice in wonderland or the underland series or so on. i could forsee one of jazz's ongoing things is that the fae world, doesn't always make sense. like there are rules and as she starts to grasp them she can play by them well, but a lot of it isn't logical or sensible, and as a logical, sensible person this can often lead to her being rather wrong footed in the fae world. that can be a source of conflict. being childish helps at least. it's something she'll have to work on- Hestia