#anyway for now take these all equally serious theories (✿◡‿◡)

[supernovasilence]

Speculating Wildly About Liliandil's Parentage

In the VDT movie, Liliandil is a star and comes down from the sky. However, in the books, Liliandil is described as the daughter of Ramandu, a star, and that "the blood of the stars flowed in her veins", but she's never called a star herself. In fact, when she first appears (walking very normally out of a door), she's described as carrying a candle for light; when Ramandu comes out, he's not carrying a candle, because he's glowing himself. All this implies Lili isn't a star, only the daughter of one. Which raises the question: who is Liliandil's mother? Some random theories:

Liliandil's mother is one of the Sea People

Liliandil's mother is a sailor or shipwrecked traveler who found her way to Ramandu's island and fell in love

Liliandil's mother is another star. Lili was born in the skies but chose to accompany her father down to earth when he retired

Liliandil's mother is another star, and assumes human form to visit her husband in the world below sometimes. Lili was conceived and born during one of these visits, and because of this the form most natural to her is human, not whatever a star's normal form is. She has to live with her father until she's older and more skilled at transforming

We shouldn't make assumptions about Ramandu's gender or star biology. Maybe he was pregnant when he retired and didn't realize until he'd already come down to land

Stars don't need a partner to reproduce. Ramandu is Liliandil's only parent

Ramandu is Lili's father in that he gave her life and raised her and loves her but she wasn't "born" per se. He created her magically somehow

Coriakin is Liliandil's mom

[evilminji]

You know what's my JAM?

Extremes being treated as the Serious Dangers they ARE, even when they aren't "oooh its a spooky Grey morality and BADness!" Extreme.

Like? No, people. ALL of them are bad. They are ALL face melting dangerous. The void may crush your soul, but look upon the Face Of GOD? Not gonna be having a fun time! Doesn't MATTER if he's a cool dude! Face melting!

We are creatures of BALANCE. Tiny, fragile, little motes of dust. That can only exsist in the careful, blended, dances of territories and powers that be. We squishy.

Ghosts? Less squishy.

Poor impulse control, too. Especially ones with Fenton genetics. ABSOLUTELY ones with Fenton genetics and a trauma based aversion to therapy. That one? Pretty hardy. Made pretty tough, what with being Fates third favorite chew toy. But? Still gets the Sads, you know? The slightly longer then just seasonal depression.

Would medicine and some therapy help? Oh like a dream!

If medicine WORKED on his Ectoplasmicly contaminated ass. And he TRUSTED therapists.

But... surely, Danny thinks, as he sits grossly in his Depression sweatpants and eats suspect pizza on the floor of his moldering shoebox of an apartment, there must be SOME way to address his Depression? He should... he should DO something about it. Take a break maybe. Look up some ghost doctors or something.

.....

Oooooooooor..... >.>

He could break out that OMENIOUS af, bound in suspect leather, Big Book Of Forbidden Knowledge(TM) that he got from Pariah's.... what, fourth? Fifth? Library? Fuck that Lair is huge. He's STILL cleaning it out and it's been over half a decade. He swears it spawns more floors just to mock him. Bastard. Don't know HOW a building can be a Bastard, but it sure found A WAY.

Anyway!

Book it is! *horrifying Eldritch light as he opens it* huh. Neat. Comes with its own visual effects. *another bite of suspect pizza* Funky.

And so! Danny, the depressed King Of The Zone... fucks of to go cheer himself up in the Fields Of Bliss(TM), an area of Absolute Bliss. Which! Sounds GREAT in theory, now don't it? Lovely even.

Remember that little comment about extremes?

You can ENTER those fields. But no one leaves. No one CAN. The deeper you go? The more doomed you become. Less will to do anything at all. Eat, talk, move. So much as think. Like ALL extreme "Goods", it sounds lovely, but the reality is no gentle little thing.

It's a glue trap.

But how could Danny have known? Honestly, who would have TAUGHT him? Textbooks can only go so far, after all. And placing blame will not rescue the young monarch.

I imagine it's one of his helpers that pieces together what's happened. Come for further clarification on WHERE exactly he wants certain statues moved. Only? Your Majesty? Your Majesty...? Where ever could he BE? Oh? He's left out some of his books. Well, I'll just assist by putting them away for-.....

Oh.

OH ANCIENTS, NO.

But! What can the poor man DO? Ghosts are Beings of Will, Emotion, and Obsession. Were it some sort of Holy Blade or Sentient Tree, you know, something INDIVIDUAL with a will they could FIGHT? Oh no problem. But an area of effect? Especially an EMOTIONAL area of effect!? Ooooooh, this is bad. The Zone can't AFFORD to lose ANOTHER King!

We JUST GOT THIS ONE!!!

Wait. He's heard that there's an organization for this! That loudly cursing fellow who got violently thrown back into the Zone. "Ruined his fun" and all that! Perfect! He'll just hire THEM!

Smashcut? To a nice, peaceful, everybody's screaming Justice League Meeting. John's cursing life, extremely hungover. Zatana still has three cracked ribs. Wonder Woman is enjoying the new sword she... liberated... mid battle. Truely stunning craftsmanship. When?

Knock Knock!

Heads swivel. There... is a glowing green... accountant? Dandy? Dandy accountant. With an equally radioactive day glow green Actual Pirate's Chest Of Treasures, floating next to him. In the void of space; Just beyond the glass. What, the, fuuuuuu-

He seems to be under the impression they are some sort of Heroic mercenaries. And has come to request the retrieve-

"NNNNNOPE! Pariah can SHOVE it!" Snarls a suddenly very awake John Constantine, sitting up straight for the first time in hours. The rest of Dark grimly nod in agreement. Let the fucker rot. It's a kinder fate then he deserves.

No, no, NO! King PHANTOM! Pariah's SUCCESSOR by right of combat! They are not, and were never, allied in any way!

Well, all right then. Road trip to save a young idiot then.

@the-witchhunter @hdgnj @hypewinter @lolottes @mutable-manifestation @nerdpoe

[monkey-d-ezekiel]

Gear Reverse Theory (kinda)

okay hear me out. no the 3 week break is not messing with my mind. but WHAT IF Gear Reverse is an actual thing. we've seen Luffy in Gear 5 multiple times by now, right? and one of the consistent responses that Luffy has had to people acknowledging him as Sun God Nika has been essentially "Huh? I'm just Monkey D. Luffy!". Like he does not care for this Sun God business in the slightest.

The point is, Luffy has never wanted to be any sort of hero or God, and he doesn't take kindly to his new gear (Gear 5) basically being called a reincarnation of someone else, specifically someone who was worshipped as a God of Liberation. He always clarifies that he's just Monkey D. Luffy and doesn't really understand this Sun God business.

But we've also seen it be stated that Zoan devil fruits have a 'will of their own' and in the case of Luffy's mythical zoan, the will of the fruit is that of Sun God 'Nika'. We've seen Luffy undergo a fairly noticeable shift in personality numerous times while fighting in Gear 5. While his major fights pre-awakening used to be tense struggles with him adopting a more serious demeanor, his recent fights have been more characterized by humor and goofiness. This seems to be a direct effect of the will of Sun God Nika or Joyboy coming to the forefront. In a way you could say that Luffy's will and personality is sort of playing second fiddle in Gear 5.

We all know that Luffy is a headstrong and in a sense, selfish guy. He values his beliefs, personality and aspirations over the morality of a hero, as we've seen several times in the series. He was averse to Jimbei trying to frame him as a hero in FMI, and the same held true for one of his first interactions with Vegapunk, in which he seemed disenchanted at the thought of being some sort of hero. Oda seems to be indicating more than once that Luffy is yet to realize that his awakening has made him a reincarnation of a God.

So what exactly will Luffy do once he fully understands what his fruit and its awakening entail? He's going to be unhappy about it. Luffy does not want to be a hero, and especially not when it comes with the added cost of having your will taken over by a mythical deity. and this is where Gear Reverse comes in. Luffy is going to be the first human to go beyond his awakening. Gear Reverse is going to be Luffy asserting his will over the fruit and making use of all its powers post awakening while also making sure his will is the dominant one, and not that of the fruit. I'm not sure how exactly Gear Reverse would look, but I think it would be cool if it was Luffy simply in his base form and nothing more, while still being able to fight in the ridiculous manner he does, turning the environment to rubber and such.

I think one of the biggest indicators which point towards Luffy slowly gaining control over his devil fruit, rather than his devil fruit having control over him, is this panel from chapter 1108. It is in equal parts menacing and goofy, combining both those elements to create a terrifying atmosphere, and a bit of a departure from the overly humorous style of fighting that Gear 5 has been so far.

Anyways yeah, there's probably a buncha holes in this theory, but I found the concept of an internal clash of wills within Luffy, between him and his devil fruit, to be pretty interesting and in character for Luffy, while also being a fresh and innovative direction for the series to take with Gear 5 rather than it just being a chosen one story.

[etoilesombre]

hi! this is maybe very out of the blue, but - i'm reading 'our feast is but beginning' on ao3, and in a comment on part one you write something about the urca gold being a cursed symbol and that it makes zero economical sense. idk really what i am asking but maybe - do you have posts on hand that deal with that? or would you write down some of your thoughts on that? it sounds really interesting! thanks (:

OOOH I'm so excited to talk about this -- it is actually going to come up more in the final chapter of that series, and it comes up as a major plot point in longfic, because I think its a really great example of how in some ways Black Sails is Just a Story. Which is also to say: none of what I'm saying here is a criticism of the show. The Urca Gold is Pirate Treasure writ large, it serves its function in the narrative, we don't actually need to think about the real world implications of stealing it.

But IF, for instance, you were a fanfic writer and kind of a history and econ nerd, and inclined to 'well actually' stuff, then you might see a couple problems with the gold as a solution for a free and independent Nassau. I think of them basically as problems of scale and form.

Let's talk about scale first. Basically, if you are going to steal and not die, you have to make a few calculations.

If you can steal something big, run away and live anonymously ever after, good for you! No problems. (This was Silver's initial plan. He was smart.)

If, however, you are going to steal openly, and maintain some sort of defended home base (see: bandits, organized crime, pirates) you have to ensure it is not worthwhile for people to come get their stuff back. This is why, as a pirate, it behooves you to have a reputation for extreme violence, and also a remote hideout. Merchant ships have insurance, the right people quietly profit from the fencing of pirated goods; nobody actually wants to die, so piracy is cost of doing business, and the world carries on.

The Urca gold is in a completely different class of stealing. This isn't holding up a truck; it isn't robbing the bank. It's robbing the Federal Reserve. Five million Spanish dollars, in today's money (yes, there are issues thinking of it this way, but the point holds) equals somewhere around 250-300 million US dollars.* There is simply no way that it is not worth Spain's (or England's) time and resources to go get it back. The cache they were fighting over at the end was one share and it was enough to cause all that trouble. The full amount would be worth sending a good chunk of your navy for, and the fact that this did not happen immediately requires some suspension of disbelief. Anyway.

Flint's theory seems to be that it's enough money to allow the pirates to defend Nassau against that threat, and basically establish themselves as a rich colony the empires won't fuck with. This is treated by the show like a reasonably serious proposition. So why does it fall apart? You can buy anything with that kind of money, can't you?

Now we get to the problem of form. Gold is only useful if you can exchange it for stuff you need. This is a problem for the pirates on two different fronts, defense specifically and trade in general.

In terms of defense, the pirates would need, very quickly, enough ships and guns to fight at least one imperial navy. But only the major powers were capable of manufacturing those ships and guns. Even if the pirates bought up all they could in terms of well-armed merchant ships/found a corrupt governor or two to buy guns and powder from, it would always be a losing battle because no matter how much money you throw at them, the powers that make warships are absolutely not selling you any. Why would they, when they can use them to come take the gold instead?

So, if the pirates aren't going to live long once they have this gold, can they at least spend their last months being filthy rich and enjoying themselves?

Not really.

We see Jack's crew members getting huge shares, everyone else on the island taking payment to help with defense when the time comes, as well as Jack paying laborers exorbitant amounts. So there's plenty to go around right?

This is how inflation happens. If we all suddenly have twice as much gold, but there is no more actual physical stuff, almost instantly the stuff will cost twice as much. This problem at least theoretically could be corrected by increasing trade. [Also, realistically, people would leave. But let's say they're staying for belief in the pirate republic reasons.] Because in the wider economy of trade in the Atlantic money is still valued normally, you can just import what you need.

And, maybe. This is more plausible than the rest.

But that sort of correction takes time, and given the whole 'war with civilization' situation, there can't be legitimate and sanctioned trade. It's pretty hard to get enough illegitimate goods in for an economy to prosper --- especially because if you're relying on black market trade during wartime, notoriously there ends up being price gouging and then you're back to square one with inflation.

In conclusion: the show does not get bogged down by this, as it shouldn't. It's fine. But yeah, the gold is fake and makes no sense, and Flint and Jack especially are borderline delusional about what it can achieve for them.

*This is actually not as impressive as I wanted it to be, once I started looking up reference points, eg, how much outstanding student debt is there? how much money does besos have? how much is defense spending? Did y'all know we should fight capitalism and eat the rich?

[desultory-novice]

So with the revelation that Magolor isn't an Ancient, there are two equally funny interpretations of how he (probably) chose his name

Either he was so incompetent in his cultural appropriation that he pulled a “14-year-old anime fan on Twitter” and smashed two cool-sounding words together to make a name and didn't think of the meaning and connotations

Or

He knew what his name meant but picked it anyways cause it would be a funny inside joke that nobody would know to translate

Cause like, admittedly cool name aside, who names himself False Paradise?

I'll be honest. I don't want to talk about "Cultural Appropriation Magolor" because arguing against it is going to sound like (to massively paraphrase DuskTarot elsewhere talking about the same idea) "I might forgive world domination but I draw the line at cultural appropriation!" That or wearing blinders for your bias.

...Nor do I want to play into it (haha, bad kitty does crimes!) because that's just giving ammo to people who don't like Magolor or just want to enrage Mago-stans for luls and dilutes the fact that we got some amazing character development out of him this game.

(I file "Cultural Appropriating Tomb Robber Magolor" with "Child Murdering Psychopath Marx," "War Criminal Taranza", and "Late Stage Capitalist Colonizer Susie." And I find it about as "funny" as Kirby with human feet and realistic teeth holding a gun.) /neg

It is not and never will be what I am here for.

:deep breath:.

With those "pleasantries" (/sarcasm) out of the way, serious answer, I don't think Magolor picked his name at all. Kirby gets to the point where Magolor is willing to open up to him and bashfully admit he's not actually from Halcandra? If "Magolor" wasn't his true name, this would be the time to admit that too. But he doesn't.

Meaning that IS something true.

Now, why was he named that? To be honest, I heavily lean toward the "Halcandran descendant" theory myself. Not because it makes his Halcandran cosplay look better, but because it fits better thematically with the stuff in the epilogue.

Yes, he has to fight Mistelteinn because, regardless of what evils the past kings had done, HE was the one to steal it from atop Landia's head where it was at least relatively contained.

But him witnessing the destruction of Halcandra in the background? I feel like that kind of stuff only has emotional meaning if it's HIS ancestor's foolishness he is seeing.

(Also, as I wrote here, one of the pause descriptions uses the world "take back" the crown, so there is some evidence to support the fact that he felt he had even the most tenuous claim to it.)

Back to why he was named that...

Halcandra is a "dusty mess." It was a beautiful, idyllic place of legend... at one time. It's not anymore. Assuming Magolor was born after the fall of Halcandra, there's no reason he couldn't be named FOR the fall of Halcandra. "False Paradise." "Paradise" being Halcandra. We had something great, we messed it up.

It might be a bit like naming your kid "The Fall of Rome" but who are we to judge.

[incorrecttowerofgodquotes]

Gundam: The Witch Witch from Mercury Episode 9 Review

- I’m sorry Shaddiq, you struck out, and you struck out hard. I was right in my assessment that he loved her, but unfortunately he was never honest. If he had trusted Miorine and treated her like an equal, he may have been able to win her heart, but he didn’t. He wants everyone to act on his own terms, so he can be safe and secure in his outcome, but real people don’t work that way. They have their own thoughts and feelings, ones that could come into opposition with his own. However he refused to acknowledge this, unlike Suletta who’s a very open minded person. Suletta gave Miorine support but never coddled her, but Shaddiq only knows how to coddle. That’s why he’ll never be able to come into the greenhouse and why Miorine cut off the green tomato. Their love was unripened and will never come to fruition

- The battle this episode truly showed the definition of a team battle. Shaddiq just used his harem as attack dogs, leaving them to clean up while he takes all the glory of defeating the commander. But Earth House instead works together even after they were torn apart. Each one of them was broken and struggling but they came together to protect Suletta. That’s why she refers to them as “everyone” similarly to her GUND Bits. Earth House is now her family.

- But let’s stop stalling and talk about the elephant, or Aerial, in the room. This episode proves that not only can Aerial communicate with Suletta, there’s more than one being inside it. When I brought up the twelve Eri theory, it was mostly as a joke, but this episode pushes it pretty a bit. The scene where Suletta is talking to the robot while Miorine is confused was pretty terrifying. Hell, even one of Shaddiq’s harem called her a monster for her 360 vision attacks. I hope people start to really question what the fuck is up with this robot, cause so far it seems like the Purple Guy got transported into this universe

- Now let’s talk about the three MVP’s this episode, Chuchu, Till, and Lilique. Chuchu put up the best fight out of the Earth House kids and landed the finishing blow on Shaddiq. I wasn’t sure how good she would do in a sniper suit, but I think it helps reign in some of her more reckless tendencies. Maybe her new suit could be a sniper and up-front melee combination. Till came in super clutch as the one to reassemble the entire squad back together and get Shaddiq. He realized the mistake the harem girls had made in not finishing off the robots and used that to his advantage. Hell, even though he’s a mechanic he did pretty well in the suit. However Lilique once again shows just how perfect she is. Not just a management queen, but a decently talented pilot as well. Also the reveal that she turned down one of Renee’s backup simps boyfriends was hilarious. She has a body type pretty unique in anime but she’s also seen to be very attractive.

- The harem girls got a bit of spotlight this episode, but nothing too important. Renee’s pretty cute, but Felsi is still the best tussle brown haired girl. Sabina has her own lesbian fan club which makes so much sense it’s not even funny. And Henao is flexible as fuck

- Lauda went full psycho this episode, unnerving both Secilia and Rouji who just want to chill. He’s got a serious brother complex, and I’d like to know the backstory between them. He’ll definitely be a villain trying to “save” his big brother from the evil Mercurian witch’s grasp, without realizing Guel’s happier this way. Maybe we’ll get the Guel vs Lauda fight I predicted and a touching reunion between brothers, or most likely Lauda will let revenge cloud over his mind and die for it, possibly by Guel’s hand. I’m emotional either way. Also would be interested in seeing more of his relationship with Secilia since the series seems to be pushing the two sort of as rivals

- Once again, it’s Guel loving hours with me as your host. The moment I saw Suletta in the woods, I knew what was happening but god damn did I love it anyways. Guel calling her “country bumpkin” will always be adorable and I can see it transforming into a fond nickname. Though I was sad Guel didn’t participate in the battle, I think it makes better narrative sense to have Earth House alone work together. But even without a big battle scene, Guel still fucked with my emotions with the talk between him and Suletta. The moment the lights came on was gorgeous, and hopefully indicates that Guel will finally move on from his puppet life. Also once again the show makes the connection between Guel and his father and Suletta and her mother. I think he’ll be the one to support her when she learns the truth about her mother. But his asshole father fucks everything up by stealing away our Guel Camp and getting him unenrolled. Next episode better be him joining Earth House to get away from that shit or else I’m gonna scream. I know I’ve been saying it in every single review but GOD DAMN IT GUEL JUST JOIN!

- Prospera showing some actual emotion this episode with that tear. Her team, her professor, her husband, they were all stolen from her. She‘a been planning this revenge for over 20 years and now she knows nothing can get in her way. Nothing can stop Suletta and Aerial. Now she can put her true plan into motion.

- also finally, Suletta fucking emoted on his ass. If this was to mid 2000’s, you bet she woulda teabagged him

[zoroara]

OCtober challenge Day 19 - Stroll

Xanxus had asked him to take a walk with him. To Vittorio, this weighed equally as either it's for work, or Xanxus was finally going to take him out back and shoot him, or well attempt to.

"So~ Save my ass a few times, and vice versa then you finally got tired of me or what?"

"Trash, you speak when spoken to."

"Oh~? When has that ever worked for you with me, boss? You'll have to shut me up yourself~"

"I gladly will." Xanxus seethes and pulls out his guns only for Vittorio to remind him their opposing flame of stagnation happily consumed his flame of wrath before he could even manifest enough to shoot. Then putting his hand on Xanxus' shoulder and pulling him close.

"Come come, we can have a pleasant stroll~ How about you tell me what you've called me out here for before you regret doing so~?"

"I already fucking do. But fine, the unanimous decisions of I and the Executives is you'll be joining our rank and gaining a team of your own?"

"Oh is that so? I knew you'd come around on me sometime boss~"

"Tch, don't take it as that."

"Too late." He smirks at Xanxus, mostly because he loved to absolutely mess with a man who believed himself above everyone. Xanxus this time has enough sense to kick and space himself from Vittorio. "Ah you are always soooo good at playing hard to get. Alright, let's see if you've gotten any closer"

Just adding a wink, for effect as he prepares to spar.

So for those who don't know, the flames of stagnation use flame hybrid theory of the flames of wrath being storm/sky mix, the stagnation ones being sky/rain. I have all 6 combinations of sky mixes made, but Vittorio is the only sky hybrid oc I have in the Varia. Last year's OCtober had all of them.

Anyway, Vittorio flirts with anyone even under threat of death, it's pretty hard for another person to be able to tell when he'd being serious or not with his flirting most times because he does it with such confidence and seriousness that... Unless you're Vittorio himself you're not going to get it.

Most times though unless it's not a dangerous situation this is more just to piss people off and throw them off severely. And while he would very MUCH be willing with Xanxus, he's mostly keeping his hands off actually trying with the boss because he's fairly certain there's a line of people who'd send him directly to hell for it. Whether out of jealousy or not.

In other related, This is Vittorio getting his future squad in the varia after a looooong ass time working for them. Vittorio before the Varia was a highly capable leader of his own group the scrap vultures a bunch of scrappers who stole weapons off the dead of battles they didn't fight(but would definitely finish if needed) mostly for re-sale and for parts for vittorio's inventions/weapon upgrades and now he's going to get a new vulture squad working in the Varia.

[atopvisenyashill]

how goes ADWD?

bad aldsjflkdsj

idk if i'm like, burned out on asoiaf (i can't be, i talk about it all the fucking time i still get excited lol) or if it's like "oh god i'm so close to the ending and then that's it and we're never getting twow" or if i really am anxious about some of the later plot points - because like, i wasn't as nervous to read theon's chapters where he lets his men rape the women on the shoreline, or rapes kya, and i think part of that is it's a lot more vague? because theon is trying really hard to not think about what it is he's doing. whereas that block i had with the red wedding, and now i think with the tyrion chapter where he rapes the sunset girl, tyrion is Very Aware of what's happening because he's purposefully and actively taking steps Down The Wrong Path because he's testing himself, trying to see if he has the stomach to be a villain, to really accept that he is ~the monster they think he is~ so he's very aware that what he is doing is rape, and it's right there in your face. but i'm unsure if this is the block, it just seems like the most likely culprit? - but anyways i've been reading stuff just not a dance with dragons.

i did read a few jon snow chapters so i'm moving along a little bit? but i devoured this non fiction book called "no beast so fierce" which was about man eating tigers, i've been getting pretty consistently through "iron, fire and blood" as well as "madhouse at the end of the earth" which is another non fiction book (about a journey through the northern passage that went bad, as most did, and as someone with a phobia of dying at sea/drowning, i have an equal fascination with stories about people dying at sea because idk i'm a masochist and i've read/watched a lot about sea voyages gone terribly wrong, but i hadn't read about this one! i'm excited!) (i'm not being overdramatic about the phobia either, i had a panic attack while watching life of pi and the terror but good god was it so worth it!! humans vs extreme elements stories are fascinating to me as someone who would die instantly because of my disabilities!!!) and i speed-reread the queen of the damned and the vampire armand and the daniel molloy bits of...i think it was prince lestat, is the one where he's still with marius and trying to get marius to let him go out and flirt with armand lol, so i am reading a bit more (not as much as before) I'm just not reading adwd!

sucks because everytime i pick it up, i'm having a great time!! i love jon's story at the wall as lord commander, i love the horror fantasy of bran's chapters, i fucking love the meereenese knot, and i'm excited to get to all the aegon vi stuff to more solidly solidify my opinion there on whether he's a blackfyre or not and how that theory would even work (because every time someone is like "well they got sold into slavery" i'm like please be serious alsdjf), and i know basically everyone i follow/am moots with hate barristan but i love that useless old man so much!!!! but everytime i try to read my brain goes bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZzzzzzz like a bug getting zapped by a light.

[yesterdayiwrote]

Your anon is stupidly petty for trying to turn this into some stupid George vs Lewis thing. Of course Merc are taking this seriously. Imagine if Lewis has a serious accident this weekend. Whether it in actuality comes down to mechanical failure or driver error or outside influences, all the talk will be about possible sabotage.

And imagine the worst case scenario, where Lewis gets seriously injured or worse. It took 13 years for a conclusion to the proceedings around Sennas death, and those were manslaughter accusations. These emails are purporting premeditation. Even if a trial couldn't prove it, Merc would be hung, drawn, and quartered in the press, and how long before sponsors pulled out. Marussias main sponsor pulled out after Bianchi's death and it finished the team.

None of that is driver specific. Merc want to put to bed a liability, and make no mistake, this is a massive liability waiting to happen on multiple levels

Yeah, but the entire situation has arisen out of some stupid George vs Lewis thing so what's new? That's the seed that's started this entire sorry state.

Of course they're covering their legal behind, but equally, can you ever get ahead of a narrative that you're already 4-6 months behind? They get the police to verify that it's some crazed fan out for vengeance and retribution, but the rots already set in and the roots are already planted. It's going to rear its head everytime there's anything from now until Abu Dhabi, because there's nothing they can say or do or even provide that will satisfy the demands of the people who want to believe it.

And annoyingly, no, there probably isn't anything they could have done pre-emptively to stop it, but equally ignoring it as it built up under countless social media posts clearly hasn't solved the issue either, I think they probably didn't take it seriously enough and naively thought it would never get this far. As I said earlier, thank fuck we're only talking about an email and not a more direct threat or action.

The whole thing is just tiring though, and there's stupidity on EVERY side that has contributed to us being here. It's not enjoyable for anybody. Like I said yesterday, the negativity, abuse and conspiracies are a matter that have needed to be addressed for a while, but doing so still isn't going to solve the problem. It just all falls on deaf ears anyway. Conspiracy theories have replaced religion as the opiate of the people and once one takes hold it's near on impossible to ever vanquish.

[cinhomi]

HI RORA I sent you an ask yesterday about how apparently my ask did not get eaten, just my notifs cause i have your notifs on and tumblr never sent the notif about the ask that got answered-

and then tumblr ate that ask. how ironic.

anyways yes! I am so sorry that I've been inactive sending asks, I got a nasty cough and have been coughing my lungs out for the past few days 💀 it's much better now tho! hope uni has been treating you well (on the other hand here uni can eat my ass-)

yeah small update on moot guy: well a few days ago he said that he'd be occasionally online if he had time to reply to me, and then today he sent me this really long message about how he'd be helping out with his prof and his prof would teach him stuff, so he'd be really busy and he was sorry that he'd be leaving me with nothing. said he'd be thinking of me a ton no matter what. I sent a really short answer bc I wasn't sure what to say. he apologized again and said he was sorry and please don't be mad...I think he's having a panic attack as he posted on his blog. 💀💀 I love him and I wish this isn't ending this way but god if this shit isn't tiring atop my already very loaded plate. at the end, I'm a girlie who believes firmly in equal standing, so there's no point if he'll be gone, I guess. if he won't reach out, then I won't come back.

anyways, enough sad updates here! (skzflix broke my goddamn heart) aside from skz, who's your favourite musical artist? I'm curious 👀

- titracha nonnie :3 (literally copying this ask rn in case tumblr eats it again 😩) (second time sending this ask help)

hi sweetie! I did imagine you sent something but it disappeared again, happy to receive your asks again and to know that you're doing better now 😊 and yeah, I got this one twice but it happens often, don't know why! tomorrow I'll take a day to stay home and work on some projects so hmm it's kicking me hard and it hurts but I'll get through it in a way or another :)

I understand caring about someone and all but we all have limits. you're right and you have to treat yourself like you deserve and yes, we have to respect others but when things get to the point where we are stressed/sad/anxious because of a situation we're in it's time to slow down or stop. it's exacly what you said at the end, "if he won't reach out, then I won't come back" you got straight to the point. I'm sorry this is happening... I already said that I've been in the same situation (more or less, maybe a bit more intricate) and it's a saddening experience. hope you'll be good soon.

skzflix was devastating and I could talk about it endlessly because I love skz lore sm, with all the theories and stuff!!

and you know who makes these things too? Twenty Øne Piløts, my favorite band of all times! been a fan since 2016 and no one could ever take their place... they literally saved my life.

but I listen to all genres of music so I have a pretty long list of artists I like... I generally prefer death metal (yeah I'm serious I'm a metalhead lol), visual-kei, and all that hard/chaotic music. it's actually a very difficult question for me, always, so I generally send my spotify account to people to make them understand a bit!

if I really have to choose someone beside TØP it's Diaura, another band. I can't list anyone else or I'd feel guilty and want to say everyone... take a look at my playlists if you'd like, or at my followings!

if you want to know for k-pop, beside SKZ being my ult group I love BTS, NCT (all units) and recently Ateez too... I'm back from a long break so yeah, I'm starting to know them just now haha (as for girl groups I don't like them too much but I enjoy (G)-Idle and LESSERAFIM a lot). fav korean solist rappers are BewhY, Villain and Gwangil Jo!

[eclecticopposition]

OOTS theory that we have been sitting on for three years, should probably write it down so we can prove it later. Under the break for spoilers and also it's long

TL;DR: The Snarl is going to fuck Gobbotopia up.

This is mostly based on shoes that have not dropped and our hunches about the emotional story arcs of this comic. We know the rift is just hovering over the major population center that is so dear to Redcloak's heart, and he has done nothing to defend against it. We haven't seen the Gobbotopia/Azure City plotline resolve for good, there's no way it doesn't come up again.

Redcloak is facing serious narrative comeuppance for his choices. He cares about the goblin people and yet he is out here, acting like (and we say this with love) a complete clown. He's always been this clown! Like, he's sympathetic, and also our favourite character, but he's also fundamentally wrong. We love how wrong he is. And he has to WORK to be wrong! Like, yes, goblins need legitimate justice in this world. He is on the right side here! If you ignore the whole, you know, occupying someone else's homeland through violent conquest stuff. That is generally frowned upon. But hey, nobody's perfect! Doing bad things for compelling reasons is kind of complex villainy 101.

Anyways. Let no one say that we didn't give credit where it's due! Goblins deserve equal rights. Redcloak is the leader of a genuine movement. He is just a shit leader of a genuine movement.

Brilliant? Yes, absolutely. They never would have made the gains they did without him. Azure City would not have fallen without Redcloak. Stupid? Yes, also absolutely. He slaps away olive branches and opportunities to secure the future of goblinkind cooperatively because he just can't bear the sunk cost he's already paid. It's literally just him and his personal problems being put above what will actually help the people he is looking out for! We even see that in his most recent refusal to listen to Durkon and get legitimate aid for his people. THIS has to be worth it. Not a good ending, THIS ending. He has a point and yet despite being right, because he is myopic and a bad person, he floors the throttle into being unjustifiable. Gotta love Lawful Evil!

It's the same old story: he doubles down over and over, sacrificing everything in the name of some grand purpose, and in so doing he loses it all. And the goblin soldiers and civilians, the people who followed him in to take that city, are going to pay the price. For all we know, they have already.

We're very sure about this one because it will hurt our feelings very badly. It hasn't even happened yet and it's hurting our feelings right now.

[fyodcrs]

there's this headcanon that fyodor knew dazai when they were both teenagers and honestly its so cute? just two shitty little boys running around and causing mayhem while pining for each other

oh my gosh, this has just been sitting in my inbox, I'm so sorry anon, I saw it and didn’t have time to answer and then I forgot about it ;.;

anyway, asdfghjhgfdghj YES, imagining them pining for each other for years as they plot against one another is just so...*chef's kiss*

I love the idea that they met as teenagers. We still have no idea how old Fyodor is, but when we see him in the flashback scene at the beginning of Dead Apple, which takes place six years before the main timeline (when Dazai's sixteen), Fyodor doesn't look any different - he's even dressed the same. So clearly Fyodor is older than Dazai (or my half-serious theory that he doesn't age is true). But I can't imagine he's that much older (unless he’s immortal, hmmm). It’s my personal headcanon that they met right before the Dragon Head Conflict and Shibusawa’s arrival in Yokohama, when Dazai was sixteen and Fyodor was, say, around eighteen. It seems to be suggested that Shibusawa coming to Yokohama was Fyodor’s first move to try and get the book, by targeting Atsushi. It’s really confusing and the timeline isn’t very clear, but I’ve mentioned before that I believe Fyodor met Fukuchi eight years before the main timeline, when Fukuchi was fighting the vampires, and that’s when his plan started. It makes sense that Fyodor arrived in Yokohama two years later, Shibusawa in tow, and it was around this time that he and Dazai would have crossed paths.

They would've recognized kindred souls in each other instantly - that's their thing, after all, being able to read people with just one look. They would have just known. I can imagine what that would have made them both feel, meeting another person who's just like them, after spending so many years isolated and detached from other people. Fyodor said it himself - he's never been able to have an actual conversation with someone else until he met Dazai. Dazai has Odasaku and Ango, but they can't stand with him as equals. They can't match him move for move.

The attraction would have been instant - but so would the repulsion. They both would've known they stand opposed. Dazai would have sensed the danger in Fyodor; Fyodor would have understood that Dazai was going to try to stop him from achieving his ultimate goal. They go their separate ways, both knowing they would meet again, both knowing one of them has to die.

And they spend the next six years thinking about each other, moving in Yokohama's shadows, plotting and pining. Coming up with ways to defeat each other, but maybe also trying to impress each other a lil bit, ‘cause they both know the other is keeping a lookout and they really are just dumb teenagers with a crush, hehe. They can’t help but want to see each other again.

But also, like, can you imagine Mafia Dazai meeting Fyodor? asdfghjfghjhj it’s terrifying. 

I was actually inspired (when I remembered this ask) to write this little fic, so here, how’s this for a meet-cute scenario? 

-

Dazai descended the steps into the dim lights and soft sounds of classical jazz that permeated the atmosphere in Lupin’s, expecting to see Odasaku sitting in his usual spot at the bar. Odasaku was not there. That didn’t really surprise Dazai, though, because a part of him had expected this, too. A strange feeling had hung over him like a pall for several days, a premonitory sensation that something was about to happen, or that something had been happening and he was only now becoming aware of it.

Someone else was sitting on Dazai’s stool. The boy was looking dubiously into a glass of liquor, inspecting the amber liquid like it was something new and potentially dangerous. He was about Dazai’s age, maybe a couple years older. He was probably around Dazai’s height, too, tall, slender, and very pale, milky white complexion a stark contrast against the long raven hair that framed his thin face. He looked sickly, the hollowed cheeks and dark circles under his eyes marks of a lifelong struggle with illness. Severe anemia, perhaps. Even so he was beautiful, delicate and graceful like a porcelain figure, almost ethereal in the smoky orange lighting. There was something spectral about him, like if Dazai looked close enough he might be able to see right through him, like he was there but not really there, not all the way. He looked like something on the pages of a fairytale book. Snow-white, Dazai thought, and that was when the boy looked up.

Brilliant violet eyes met his, and a chill wormed its way down Dazai’s back and settled at the base of his spine, like a shard of ice buried in his skin. There was such a cold darkness in those eyes, such a depth of rage and despair and agony and hate, moving like shadows of monsters beneath a diamond surface. Dazai looked into those eyes and saw a reflection of himself.

They stared at each other for what seemed like a long time, but couldn’t have been more than a handful of seconds. The boy smiled. There was a soft innocence about that smile, but there was something enigmatic about it, too, a subtle edge that could cut deep as a blade if touched. Dazai’s skin prickled, the hairs rising on the back of his neck. He realized that as he was reading the boy, the boy was reading him in return. Dazai experienced something then he was quite unaccustomed to: a hint of doubt. People were always like open books laid out in front of him, their every thought, emotion, desire, and secret scribbled out in sloppy but perfectly clear letters across frayed pages. As he regarded this boy, he felt like he had been presented a heavy tome with neatly handwritten pages, easy enough to read, but off, somehow, like a work of suspicious translation. He felt a little as if he was being guided to read certain parts but miss the parts that were really important.

The boy tilted his head slightly. An invitation. Dazai accepted. He walked up to where the boy was sitting and gestured to the stool next to him. “Is this seat taken?” he asked, charming and just a little coy.

“Well, I suppose it’s about to be,” the boy replied. He spoke Japanese very well, but he had a heavy accent. Russian.

Dazai took the stool Odasaku always occupied. The bartender appeared to pour him his usual drink and give the two of them a single curious glance before moving on without a word.

“I take it you’re a regular here,” the boy said.

“I come here often enough, I suppose.” He picked up his glass and tilted it towards the boy, ice cubes clinking. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before.”

The boy shook his head. “No. I’m new in town. I only arrived a couple weeks ago.”

“Oh? And how are you liking our fair city?”

The boy scoffed. His tone was good-natured and amiable, but Dazai could hear the revulsion and the condemnation in his words. “There’s nothing fair about this city.”

“And why do you say that?”

“This city is rotten. It’s pretty enough, certainly, but it is a thin veneer, barely masking the corruption at its core. It’s like an apple that looks shiny and ripe on the outside, but inside it is black, decayed, poisonous.” The boy folded his arms on the counter and looked at Dazai. The muted glow of the lights glimmered in those gemstone eyes. “You must be intimately familiar with darkness of this city, young Mafioso.”

Dazai took a sip of his drink. Ice clinked and a tiny bit of liquid spilled over the rim of the glass as he placed it back down on the bar. It was only then he realized his hands were trembling, just slightly. Gooseflesh had broken out beneath the bandages wrapped around his forearms. He didn’t need to ask to know how the boy knew who and what he was, or if the boy had come here specifically looking for him. Exhilaration blazed in his blood even as dread chilled him to the bone, alien sensations, like a terrible fever. He had only ever felt this way staring down the barrel of a gun, wondering if this was when he would finally meet his end.

“What are you here for, then?”

The boy looked down at his own drink, still untouched. He traced a finger around the edge of the cut-glass, that gentle, mysterious smile lingering on his lips. Dark tresses fell over his eyes. Even this close, that creeping sense of half-unreality, like this boy wasn’t really there, prickled at the back of Dazai’s mind. He felt like if he reached out his hand would go right through the boy’s body, like mist.

At length, the boy answered Dazai’s question with a question of his own. “Do you think there is any true peace in this life, young underboss? Do you think there can be any happiness in a world like this?”

It was a long moment before Dazai responded. “No. No, I don’t. Life is a horrible thing to endure, and there seems no meaning, no purpose to it. It’s all so…empty. It’s—”

“A curse.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think death can bring us peace?”

Dazai contemplated this, watching the lights reflected off the empty bottles along the wall like a constellation of stars. “It must. If life has no meaning, surely death must. It must be that only in death we can really know peace, and happiness.”

“Did they seem at peace, the people you’ve killed? As you watched them die, did you see fulfillment, finally, in their faces?”

Dazai’s throat was dry. He took another drink. He felt unsteady, thrown off-balance. It was not a feeling he was used to. “I see fear. I see desperation. Regret. I see how little value people place on life, even their own lives…until they realize they’re about to die. Then suddenly it becomes like the most precious treasure. They fight with all the strength they have to keep it. I’ve always wondered about that. Is it only in that moment when facing death that life has any meaning? Is it only when we are released from this torment that we find something beautiful in our lives?”

“Is that why you joined the Mafia? To come face to face with death, and find some worth in living?”

Dazai tugged at Mori’s coat, laying heavy on his shoulders, too big for him, a constant weight. “Someone stole me away from death. That’s why I’m here.” He turned back to the pale boy. “Have you come here, to this rotten city, seeking answers?”

The boy smiled. “I’m here because someone stole me away, too.” He paused, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear. “Though I suppose I can hardly call him a thief when I was the one who made him do it, whether he realizes it or not.”

Once again a shiver went through Dazai, his skin prickling and crawling. This boy…

“What did he steal you for?”

“He’s seeking his own answers. He’s a soldier, a hero. He once believed his life had meaning, but slowly, agonizingly, it was taken from him, piece by piece, every time they sent him back into the battlefield, every time they told him to kill and to kill again, every time he watched a comrade die. He lost his faith. I gave it back to him. In a way, he gave me back my faith, too. You’re right that this life is empty. That it is a terrible burden we all must bear. On this bloodstained earth we are so far from God, lost in the darkness. I once thought we were forsaken, that there was no hope for us to return to His light.. But I’ve come to understand that it is not so. My friend doesn’t know it, but he showed me a way. A path to salvation. Perhaps I’ll show you, young underboss.”

Violet eyes blazed, and Dazai knew, suddenly, that here and now he was face to face with death. It smiled at him from a pale and beautiful face, and a rush of terrible images flashed before Dazai’s eyes: silent and empty streets enveloped in a dense fog; a city in flames, a great shadow of impending doom hanging over it; splatters of blood in a dark alleyway; a vast, abyssal space in which he hung suspended like an artifact in a glass case; the Agency office, abandoned and destroyed; twisted faces he had once recognized, with black hollow eyes.

The sound of footsteps down the stairs made Dazai start. He turned just as a middle-aged man stepped into the bar. He was tall and well-built, dressed in a faded gray suit, his spiky hair and moustache pure white. His gaze passed over Dazai, sharp, scrutinizing, faintly puzzled, but then settled on the pale boy. He grinned and strode over, clapping one big hand roughly on the boy’s shoulder. “Sorry I’m late, Fyodor. This place isn’t easy to find.”

“There’s a big glowing sign out front,” the boy pointed out.

The man threw back his head and let out a hearty laugh, too loud for this quiet little underground pub. “Yeah, well, you’re the one who always says I couldn’t find my own ass if I had a map, a compass, and a giant arrow pointing straight at it. You know I always get lost!” He looked at Dazai again. His attitude was friendly and easy-going, but Dazai saw in the lines of his face, the posture of his body, and the flash of his eyes a concealed deadliness. There was something familiar about him, but Dazai couldn’t recall where he’d seen him before. “You’ve made a friend, I see.”

“He’s waiting for someone, actually. We should leave him be. Why don’t you get us a table in the other room?”

“Sure, Fedya.” He reached out to ruffle the boy’s hair; the boy tried to duck away but didn’t quite make it. The man left, giving Dazai one last lingering glance.

“The man who stole you?” Dazai asked.

The boy stood up, taking his drink. “Farewell then, Mafia underboss.”

As he turned away, Dazai hopped to his feet, moving so quickly he almost knocked over his stool. He started to reach for the boy’s arm—but he stopped, just before they touched. The boy paused, and those startling eyes met Dazai’s once more.

“Your name,” Dazai said, oddly breathless. “It’s Fyodor?”

“Fyodor Dostoevsky,” the pale boy said. “Perhaps we will meet again one day, when we both have found the Promised Land.” He smiled. “In the meantime, be wary of fog. And if someone offers you a poisoned apple, don’t take a bite.”

-

It was not long after that night that the Dragon Head Conflict broke out and a white-haired man with a terrible Ability arrived in Yokohama. As Dazai watched the mist rise behind the man staring indifferently at him, firelight flickering in his hollow eyes, Dazai thought again of the pale boy and his final whispered warning: Be wary of fog.

And if someone offers you a poisoned apple, don’t take a bite.

[sunderedandundone]

AoR fridge moment, Mystic edition

[obviously, late-season spoiler] So...why didn't UrVa try just yelling at SkekMal to stop flinging little people around, and see if that worked first...? As opposed to shooting first (*not* a warning shot, either) and THEN saying "OH HAI halfsie, long time no see and BTW, get away from them"? -_- I mean -- they 100% had the drop, right? They certainly could've already had their bow nocked and everything. It's not like 'Mal would've said "pfft" and kept going because hey, their light half could always *miss*. Frankly, I doubt the Hunter would've even attempted to flee with a Gelfling in hand like they did, *except* that UrVa was drawing serious blood already and well -- at that point, turning tail and chancing a shot in the back is still a safer option than sticking around to try and melee your equally-badass UrRu, who's already signaled that maiming the both of you is not only *A-OK with them*, but very possibly their preferred approach. Besides, you're still outnumbered, because the only combatant you've taken out yet is the Podling. (Mind you, the Podling in question is Hup, so that's actually kind of a big deal, but. :-) ) Rian's still good for another ten rounds; Heretic seems to be in literal shock so well-played on instantly neutralizing *them* -- yet, they still could have it in them to deal some well-timed blow to the back of the head even with their good hand impaled; and hell, one the others might always wind up cooking up a quick gambit with any of the piles of crazyass stuff lying around the place. There are an inconvenient number of vines. At minimum, SkekMal clearly did *not* fancy their chances in a straight-up duel with halfsie. Whether they thought it was the light or dark shard that'd technically "win," they must've figured that either way M.A.D. was the result. I.e. -- they had *no* standing assumption that 'Va would lay off the hurting and homicide at any sane point. That's...pretty hardcore. Anyways. *Especially* if you're hellbent for the sake of your dumbass Hunt on taking someone with you as prisoner, fleeing once you're already shot and bleeding does makes sense..........BUT not up *until* then. Up till then, from any normal perspective, there was a more than fair chance of getting SkekMal to blink first in the standoff -- to skedaddle for now, NO prize in hand, WITHOUT anybody having to 3/4ths murder them first. Because unwounded, they'd almost certainly have preferred to just heave-ho and wait for the damn Archer to go away, or fall asleep or be rebraiding their damn hair or something. And while that's for sure a dangling plot thread that'd come back to haunt everybody...there honestly wasn't a better plausible outcome than that for the good guys either. Forcing the battle then and there was not going well for anybody. From Team Gelfling's standpoint, far better to let SkekMal skedaddle and use the respite to do some preparation/teamwork for another face-off, or else figure out a way to elude their pursuit. After all you've got the one and only Archer, conscious and alive, to help with that now! So why shut off that whole avenue from the start, UrVa, my dear space dino? I mean you're a *Mystic*, aren't you? Not keen on violence? Practicing archery purely as a spiritual discipline and all that shit? Isn't it a bit...off-brand to jump straight to the serious puncture wounds, without even giving the other party a chance to stand down? And remember, Aughra said "confront" the Hunter...NOT "KILL." So a little weird, yeah? There's only two explanations I can see for this: 1) UrVa was just THAT incandescently certain that somehow the confrontation was going to end with them both dead, so they might as well skip ahead to that part; or, what I think is more likely, 2) their self-hatred was just jumping THAT far out ahead of their rational strategizing. Which makes this a fairly epic (not to mention tragic) case of Telling On Oneself. [NB: As always: ALL HC ARE VALID, this is just my fan theory]

[sleepdeprivedsloth]

Wrong Answer

[MHA - Bakugou, Kirishima]

summary: Kirishima is struggling with math and asks Bakugou to help him study for an upcoming test. Unique tutoring methods are introduced, leading to some interesting discoveries between the two friends. (platonic KiriBaku tickle fic)

potential warnings: swearing, tickling

words: 1.7 k

a/n: here’s another mha fic because i’m obsessed :D if you couldn’t already tell i freaking love bakugou lmfao i promise my next fic will be for a different fandom but anyways please enjoy!

--

“How did I allow myself to be associated with an absolute idiot?” Bakugou asked aloud, fondly shaking his head.

Kirishima gave out an awkward laugh, embarrassedly rubbing his hand against the nape of his neck. “Sorry man, I seriously thought math was supposed to be about numbers. I genuinely don’t understand where all these letters are coming from.”

The two boys were seated on top of Kirishima’s bed, facing towards one another, with their notes and homework assignments scattered across the blankets. It had been the redhead’s idea to work on their homework together, knowing that he would be needing Bakugou’s help.

“This is just a review on the Pythagorean Theorem, Shitty Hair. You should’ve learned it three weeks ago instead of waiting until two days before the test!” Bakugou exasperatedly exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air to further emphasize his half-hearted frustration.

The blonde watched as Kirishima’s sheepish expression quickly turned into a look of distress, cringing slightly as he asked, “Wait… we’re having a test on the Python Theory?”

Bakugou facepalmed, dragging his hand slowly down the length of his face. “Oh fucking well. I’ve done all I could. At this point, you’re a lost cause.”

“C’mon Bakubro, I don’t need you to make me feel any more dumb than I already am! A little crash course is all I need, just please tutor me!” Kirishima pleaded, looking desperately into his friend’s eyes.

“You know what…” Bakugou started, an almost-evil smirk growing across his face. “I do have this one study method that I’ve been meaning to try out on someone.”

Kirishima beamed, oblivious to the suspiciously eager look on Bakugou’s face. “Oh that’s perfect, bro! You get to test out your new method and I can study for our math test, a manly win-win situation! So how does the method work?”

Repressing most of his excitement as to not reveal his true intentions, Bakugou explained, “It’s pretty simple really. I just have to ask you questions and then you gotta answer them. Here’s the twist though: instead of being praised or rewarded when you get the answers right, you get a little punishment if you answer them wrong.”

“Wait wait wait, hold on a second,” Kirishima butt in. “What do you mean ‘punishment?’ Are we talking like giving me a thumbs down, o-or like torture, or-”

“I wouldn’t hurt you, Shitty Hair, no matter how much of an idiot you are,” Bakugou quickly reassured.

Kirishima let out a sigh of relief. “Whew, thank god! You had me a little worried for a second there, man.”

“Don’t stress out over this, it’s just studying,” Bakugou said with a grin that implied that the pair were going to do more than just study. “All you have to do is answer correctly. Ready, dumbass?”

Kirishima gave the blonde two thumbs up, smiling warmly. “Ready as I’ll ever be! Hit me with it!”

“Good,” Bakugou smirked. “First question: what’s the formula of the Pythagorean Theorem? You’ve got five seconds, Shitty Hair.” 

“Five seconds?! Dude that’s not enough- WOAH!” Kirishima had started to object when suddenly Bakugou lunged at him, knocking the redhead down onto his back. Before he could fully process what was happening, Kirishima was being straddled just below the waist and his hands were pinned underneath Bakugou’s knees. The brief struggle made a complete mess of their papers and pencils, some even falling down to the floor. “Uhh.. Bakubro? I mean this in the friendliest way possible, but what the actual hell, man??"

Bakugou rested his hands on Kirishima’s sides, causing his friend to stiffen slightly. “What’s the formula of the Pythagorean Theorem? If your dumbass answers incorrectly, or doesn’t answer at all within the next five goddamn seconds, you’re gonna get punished,” he repeated, giving a small squeeze to emphasize his intentions.

Kirishima’s eyes widened in realization, a shaky smile coming across his face as he attempted to backtrack. “O-oh, I was actually just thinking that we should definitely try another method? Maybe we could- AAHahaha nohohoho!!”

“Wrong answer, Kiri,” Bakugou replied bluntly, starting to lightly wiggle his fingers along Kirishima’s sides, just enough to keep him squirming and giggling. “Why try another method when this one is working so well? Answer.”

Kirishima couldn’t help but tug on his hands, writhe from side to side, squeeze his eyes shut tight, anything that could possibly alleviate the soft, tickly sensations. Unfortunately, his attempts were only in vain. “Ihihihihi dohohon’t knohohohow! Thihihihis is wh-hihi-y Ihihihi need tuhuhutoring!”

“Alright dumbass, I’ll help you out a little. Just repeat after me…” Bakugou offered, showing a small bit of mercy towards his clueless friend. It wasn’t exactly a fair fight if Kirishima had no idea how to answer the questions; that’s why Bakugou was helping him in the first place after all. Without pausing his fluttering fingers, the blonde recited, “A squared plus B squared equals C squared.”

“Ihihi cahahan’t- EEHEHEHAHA” Bakugou dug his fingers into Kirishima’s sides in warning. “OKAHAHAhay okahay! A-hahahaha squahared pluhuhus B-hehe squahahared ehequals C-hihihi squahahared!”

“Nice job, Shitty Hair,” Bakugou momentarily ceased his tickling, giving Kirishima a chance to catch his breath. “Second question: can the Pythagorean Theorem be used on all types of triangles?”

Lucky for Kirishima, he had actually paid attention to that part of the lesson in class. With small, residue giggles getting mixed in with his words, he proudly answered, “Nohope, only rihight triahangles!”

“Correct. About time you started getting some of these shitty answers right,” Bakugou mocked playfully before a predatory glint filled his eyes. “Third question: where’s your worst spot?”

Kirishima’s head shot up and he immediately locked eyes with his friend, shaking his head pleadingly. “No noho no, I cahan’t!” Anxious titters slipped out of his mouth as he tried to bargain. “I-I’ll tell yohou my second wohorst spot, it’s rihight below my behehelly button!”

Bakugou wasted no time in slipping both hands underneath Kirishima’s shirt and moving them to his lower stomach. Forming miniature claws, he started vibrating his fingers deep into the sensitive flesh. Uncontrollable laughter spilled out between Kirishima’s pointed teeth, but Bakugou wasn’t satisfied yet. “I don’t want your second worst spot. Fucking answer the damn question, or I won’t ever stop~”

His head fell back to look up at the ceiling instead of Bakugou’s piercing gaze. Kirishima put as much strength as he could into trying to buck the hands off of his torso, but the redhead quickly came to the realization that there was no way out. If he didn’t answer, there was no doubt that Bakugou would keep tickling him until he died of laughter. Blushing at the thought, Kirishima surrendered, “RIHIHIHIHIHIHIBS! IHIHIHIT’S MY RIHIHIHIBS!!”

“Perfect.” Bakugou instantly slithered his hands further up until they reached the dreaded spot. He gently massaged his thumbs into Kirishima’s ribs, not hard enough to hurt, but with just the right amount of pressure that got his friend squirming hopelessly from left to right. “Damn, these guys are pretty sensitive, aren’t they?” Bakugou teased fondly.

“YEHEHEHEHES! IHIHIHIHIT TIHIHIHICKLEHES!!” Kirishima confessed, screams of laughters flowing out of him before he could even think about resisting them. But then again, he didn’t really want to resist. Kirishima had to admit that it did feel good to let loose from the stress of school and just laugh freely. Those thoughts were immediately pushed to the back of his mind the instant Bakugou’s fingers scribbled against his second lowest ribs, a particularly weak spot on his ribcage. “NO NO NOHOHOHOHAHAHAHA! BAHAHAKUG-AAHAHA! NAHAHAHAT THEHEHEHERE!”

Bakugou’s eyes practically gleamed with excitement as he honed in on the newfound spot. “Ohoho, what is this wonderful little spot I’ve found, Shitty Hair?” 

Kirishima was hysterically howling and shrieking, losing his mind to the sensations and barely able to form complete sentences. “PLEHEHEHEHEASE NOHOHO! IHIHI CAHAHAHAHAN’T!!”

The blonde slowed his fingers down, but drummed them against the second lowest rib to keep Kirishima wiggling and giggling. “Alright Kiri, final question: who’s the best tutor in all of UA? I’ll even give you a small hint: your dumbass better say that it’s me.”

Having more control over his mouth, Kirishima bravely teased, “Wohohow, suhuhuper suhubtle, Bahakubroho.” This earned his ribs a few ticklish pinches, causing the redhead to jolt and squeal before returning to his steady stream of chuckles.

“That loudass mouth of your’s is gonna get you into some serious trouble,” Bakugou lightly taunted. “Now spit out your fucking answer already!”

Through his giggle high, Kirishima quickly responded, “Yohohohou! Ihihihit’s youhuhuhu! Yohohou’re the behehest tuhutor to ehehever exihihihist!!”

Bakugou climbed off of Kirishima and helped him sit up before crawling back to his end of the bed. “Hell yeah I am, and don’t you ever forget it!”

Kirishima rubbed his hands along his ribs to get rid of the funny, tingling feeling that was left behind from the attack. “Geheez dude, I seriously dihidn’t take you ahahas the type to initiate a tihihickle fihight like that.”

Rolling his eyes as he started to pick back up their school work that was previously disregarded on the blankets, Bakugou retorted, “Oh please, this was just payback for what you and the other idiots did to me on my birthday. Karma’s a bitch like that.”

“Oh c’mon, man, there’s no need to lie. You and I both know that you loved it!”

Bakugou’s head quickly whipped around to look at Kirishima incredulously, eyes widened slightly. “No I didn’t, you ass! It was absolute torture and you’re honoestly lucky that I don’t hate you dumbasses for doing it.”

Keeping eye contact with his friend, Kirishima effortlessly came back with, “Dude, if you seriously thought it was torture, there is no doubt that you would have found a way to make us stop. Or, at the very least, you would’ve asked us to stop.”

Realization flashed across Bakugou’s face for a brief moment, accompanied by a light blush that Kirishima easily noticed. But in the blink of an eye, Bakugou’s defenses were put back up, as if they had never gone down in the first place. “Oh yeah? Then how come you didn’t ask me to stop the whole time I was tickling you just now? Explain that, Shitty Hair.”

A challenging smile spread across Kirishima’s lips. “I never said that I didn’t like it.”

--

a/n: ngl i had some troubles starting this fic, but let me tell you that when i finally got into it, everything just started coming together and now i love it! thanks for reading everyone <3

[talesofsonicasura]

Gregory and Glamrock Freddy getting some unique help

Five Nights At Freddy's. A series that I never played but observed through playthroughs and theories by MatPat. I honestly didn't see the games getting my attention until Security Breach. Maybe it's the added bonus of a concrete story and interesting characters that might get me to buy it. Anywho... Can be read as gender neutral or preferred gender. Your role will be maintenance but your secret role shall vary in any further instances. Contains spoilers for Security Breach. Enjoy!

Working at the Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex wasn't something you expected of doing. Yet here you been for a few months.

If your friends from your last job saw you, they'd get a kick out of it. No doubt bringing it up at the upcoming reunion over a cup of Gray Earl tea.

The pay was good and surprisingly all the animatronics liked you. All of their responses being so humanlike that you were amazed yet equally concerned.

Fazbear Entertainment had an infamous reputation that they prefer covering up than taking responsibility. They suck at hiding information from you more than keeping their old businesses alive.

Anyway, you knew all the animatronics normal behavior from the Glamrocks, both sides of the Daycare Attendant and DJ Musicman. So when Glamrock Bonnie suspiciously got trashed, you knew something was up.

Those suspicions only growing from the humanlike robots acting odd and sudden children disappearances until Freddy crashed one day on STAGE.

You were close friends with Freddy and had been there to help him emotionally when Bonnie got destroyed. So seeing the bear go down like that on stage was a horrible flashback in your mind.

Now what you didn't expect is to find Freddy with a little boy in First Aid. Said boy or Gregory got defensive until you managed to persuade him and the bear vouching for you.

In fact, Freddy was confused about why you were still here. A moment that had your friend just as shocked as you were. Chica bugged out and attacked you.

Explaining to the two that you discovered some sort of malicious virus on everyone's hardware. Something that made the other animatronics deadly and Freddy to glitch.

The bear was only safe as the animatronics recognize each other as 'Friendlies'. Anyone else was prey like you or Gregory.

Freddy became understandably upset until you explained that you could get rid of the code. You weren't the best tech wiz at your old job for nothing.

There were four things required: the data found in Princess Quest games, the strange upgrades given to Chica, Monty and Roxy and a Level 10 security pass.

The fourth was for last as it came from the code's source. And that meant finding the true culprit. As much as you hated it, Gregory would be safer with the both of you than outside the Pizzaplex right now.

So a system was made. Freddy and you would take turns helping the boy. If something happened to both of you, you gave Gregory something he could you as a last resort. Your old service pistol.

Under a serious promise, the boy promised to not use that pistol unless as a last resort. You did upgrade his Faz-cam and Faz-blaster so he had a better chance against the Animatronics.

You did apologize to Freddy and to the respective Glamrock that had their upgrade recently taken. Hurting them absolutely sucked and you were going to tear the w*nker responsible for this chaos apart.

Apparently even Vanessa was a victim to this as well. You had gotten attacked by psycho bunny mascot and aptly disarm and knocked them out. The person being the nightguard who also had a connection to the mysterious Princess Quest games that appeared one day.

Once Gregory gotten the data and Vanessa woke up, she came back to her senses alongside the service bots. After explaining what's going on, you requested her, Freddy and Gregory's assistance.

A temporary antivirus had been made to push back the malevolent code. Something that needed to be administrated to all the animatronics. Then all of them needed to get out of the building so the source could be taken out before it tries to regain control.

It was the final showdown and much to your surprise, both Gregory and Freddy were determined to see this through with you. Vanessa would keep the other animatronics and Glamrocks safe.

Below the Pizzaplex was the culprit and skeletons of Fazbear Entertainment. An bloblike amalgamation of the various Animatronics from the old diners and Pizzerias. Alongside the killer of all those children, a machine like corpse dressed as the rumored 'Spring Bonnie'. Springtrap or Burntrap to put it aptly.

And the bastard had the missing parts of Glamrock Bonnie. Consider yourself thoroughly pissed off. If you were any normal person, then you would've played the game of 'Hide and Burn the Rabbit'.

But you? You were 'Merlin', Legendary Tech Support and former member of the Kingsman Secret Service. You were 'On Leave' to find yourself after a great disaster in the agency, that didn't mean you wouldn't fight.

With some help from Freddy and Gregory, you manage to upgrade those various incinerators with enough power to match high grade lasers and a remote self destruct that would burn everything to ash.

Once the three of you got out of the Pizzaplex and the 'Blob' had Burntrap in its grasp, you lit the entire building skyhigh. Leaving nothing but a crater behind.

Before heading back to England for your workplace reunion, you manage to snag somethings.

This was how you, Gregory, Vanessa, Freddy, Monty, Chica, Roxy, DJ Musicman and the Daycare Attendant ended up partying at the Kingsman Reunion together with your coworkers alongside a repaired Glamrock Bonnie but also Glamrock Foxy. Fazbear Entertainment finally getting exposed all the way to rock bottom bankruptcy. Justice had been rightfully deserved.

I saw Kingsman the other day and this has been running through my head since. Just know that these are going to end with Fazbear Entertainment getting screwed with everyone else minus Burntrap have a good ending.

Will there more of these? Probably but your secret role will VARY in all sorts of ways. From reasonable at best to downright insanity. If I do a continuation of a part, I'll list it down as such.

Have a good day folks!

[ootahime]

Another one, sorry! I'm ashamed to admit it because apparently I didn't understand it Why is Gojo paying Mei Mei? I assumed it was to promote his students, since the panels are followed. Thank you so much!! Keep writing more GojoHime theories and content please

don’t apologize bby <3 i’ll gladly answer all the questions you have 

i always tag my posts under gojohime because i don’t want the haters to discover this account.......

Why is Gojo paying Mei Mei?

You know, I thought he was paying Mei to promote his students too.  But as time went on, I realized this most likely isn’t the case.  Of course, I could always be wrong.  Let me get into it!

Mei Mei is not affiliated with the Jujutsu High branches because she works on her own accord.  She is an independent sorceress.  In Gojo’s point of view, she’s an ideal person to hire because she only works for the money.  Mei doesn’t care about anyone or anything, as long as cash is flowing in her bank account at the end of the day, she will carry out the job.  This aspect of Mei guarantees secrecy for Gojo because she won’t spill the beans about the traitors.  

Remember when Gojo told Mei that he noticed discrepancies in Yuuji’s footage during the Kyoto event?  Mei makes the excuse that crows will always be animals so she can’t fully control where they choose to look.  Gojo obviously doesn’t fall for her lies so he asks her which side she’s on to which she replies with “The side with money, of course.”  It’s clear at this point that Gakuganji paid Mei to keep the crows away from Yuuji so Gojo wouldn’t notice that the Kyoto kids are trying to assassinate his student.

Mei lies to protect her employer, Gakuganji.  As long as Mei is working under someone, she will always keep the mission information under wraps.  She won’t even tell Gojo about Gakuganji’s scheme.  

This probably seems off-topic but what I’m trying to say here is that assigning Mei with the task to unearth the moles would be a good choice on Gojo’s behalf because she will always keep her private missions a secret, which is beneficial for Gojo and Utahime because they don’t want to let it be known that they are aware that someone is feeding intel to curses and curse users.

Okay, now let’s answer why I don’t think Mei was paid by Gojo to promote his students.  

Before he deposited the money into Mei’s bank account, he was on a call with Utahime.  He was bragging about how the three first-year students each defeated a special grade curse on their own--thanks to his spectacular teaching.  It’s clear that he’s referring to Megumi, Yuuji, and Nobara here.  

Then the two talk about Utahime’s progress with the investigation.  He ends the call thinking that it’s a hassle having to be careful because he doesn’t know who could be listening in on his conversations with Utahime.  This is where Mei could be useful!  He has to be extra cautious with Utahime because she’s a teacher that’s exposed to both the students and the Kyoto school staff.  It’d be hard for her to investigate because she could be close to the suspects.  In contrast, Mei is not associated with anyone so she would not have a problem snooping around.  Hiring Mei would be more convenient and much less of a risk for Gojo.  

After Mei receives the money and laughs, we are shown Mei and Todo recommending Panda, Maki, Yuuji, Megumi, and Nobara for promotion.  

Mei recommends Panda and Maki while Todo recommends the trio.  Although Maki and Panda are close to Gojo, he is not their teacher anymore because he’s in charge of the first-years.  Atsuya Kusakabe is the one who’s in charge of the second-years.  If Gojo paid Mei to recommend his students then she should have said Yuuji, Megumi, and Nobara instead.  I firmly believe that Mei and Todo were impressed by the feats of those they recommended for promotion, therefore their actions are sincere.  Mei did acknowledge Maki’s abilities during the event, after all.  We also know that Todo is a genuine guy, he would not recommend anyone if he didn’t deem them to be worthy, even Yuuji.  

In my mind, it’s out of character for Gojo to consider promoting his students to Grade 1 in such an dishonest way.  Early in the story, Gojo reveals that his dream is to have strong allies that are willing to help him change the jujutsu system for the better.  As he is talking about his dream to Ijichi, there’s a panel of Gojo with his students standing alongside him to represent that him and his students are on equal terms.  They are as strong, if not even stronger than him in his dream.  He wants to foster the next generation of sorcerers to be exceptionally strong, yes, but he doesn’t want to take shortcuts.  

I’m sure everyone is aware that Gojo is a super childish guy.  I find it funny because when he was a little kid, he was so serious.  I think all of the responsibilities that come with being the strongest stripped him of a good childhood so he made up for it over the years by acting like a complete toddler.  The whole incident with Riko, Geto, and even Haibara, once again emphasized to him that being a sorcerer is no easy job.  At this point, he’s seen the death of so many innocent children because they’re unfortunate enough to be involved in a system that not only fails to protect them but exploits their efforts as well.  He absolutely hates the higher ups for making it this way.  He doesn’t want the students to suffer like him and his classmates did when they should be out having fun and doing what normal kids do.  

When you are a Grade 1 sorcerer, you are expected to adhere to the standards of perfection in jujutsu society.  You will have to make sacrifices you don’t want to make.  The death of those around you is inevitable.  Ultimately, being a Grade 1 sorcerer demands one to harden their heart.  In one of the light novels, Gojo follows Nanami to Hokkaido because Nanami was on a mission there and Gojo wanted to make a request.  I’m too lazy to go back and read it so I’ll just have to rely on my memory.  What I say is accurate but likely out of order.  Anyway, after they finished the job Nanami sought out to do, they have a conversation about sorcery.  Gojo basically admits that being a sorcerer never gets easier, even for him, because he, like many others, experiences traumatic events daily as a part of his job.  They then go to a bar and Gojo asks Nanami to take Yuuji under his wing because he believes Nanami has a lot to teach him.  I don’t remember much out of the conversation but I do remember Gojo saying something along the lines of, “I don’t want to see Yuuji’s smile fade--not even once.”  This statement suggests that he wants to preserve the innocence of such a pure boy like Yuuji.  Nanami thinks the same because he tells Yuuji that being a child is not a sin.  

Gojo wants to protect his students’ childhoods.  It is unlike him to pay Mei to promote his students to Grade 1 because he knows that would mean they would have to leave behind their youth to be another casualty in the cruelty that is jujutsu society.  He doesn’t want them to be exploited by the elders.  Like I said before, of course he wants them to be strong, but paying his way to his goal is not characteristic of Gojo Satoru.